New Knitting Books

I just bought some new knitting books (so exciting!):

Lace Style by Pam Allen and Ann Budd

Just Right Wrap sweater

Lily of the Valley shawl



Hepburn Cardigan


Inspired to Knit by Michele Rose Orne




all images are copyright interweave press

Wall-e

If you have not seen Wall-e yet, get yourself to a movie theatre! Jack and I have been twice and Robin has been 4 times. It's a wonderful movie, suitable for children and adults. My husband described it to me as a love story, and it is. It is also a magnificent science fiction story, and a cautionary tale about obesity, complacency, and our abuse of the environment. Pixar's best movie, which is saying a lot.

Cucumber Heaven

Sally likes to lounge on the couch and watch Squirrel TV

This is her view. We had the world's most hideous blinds in this room (to go with the ugly carpet), and I recently took them down and started putting up curtains. They're expensive, so I'm doing one window at a time. The curtains are from Target, the rods are from PB Teen and I sewed a band of pale blue silk to the bottom of each panel.

Our first cucumber!

Climbing Joseph's Coat rose with lots of buds. I had to spray the roses for Japanese Beetle - we'll see if they perk up now. I love that climbing habit; I'm hoping to cover the whole front of the house with climbing roses.

renegade morning glory. They come up every year, and are trying to get into the garage.

Begonias in hanging pot.

This Old House

Okay, our house is not really that old (1953). It is a traditional Cape Cod, with the crown molding and the mantelpiece and the curved banister and everything. It's a lovely house that has been well-cared for, and I love it as much as a person can love a house.
We've done some work on it since we moved in in 2006. Not quite as much work as we'd like to do, because we work and have a 3 year old, but here are some of our upcoming projects:
The living/dining room will be painted with the following:
Behr Interior Eggshell Finish in Vanilla Custard
Ralph Lauren Candlelight Topcoat in Pearl

As you can see, at the moment it is sort of a Napoleonic grey-green.

The kitchen before:

The kitchen after:


The kitchen still needs to be completed, with a small patch of marble backsplash still to be installed, the painting completed, some of the molding replaced and switchplates installed. I will also install a pot rack above the range. We used Behr Lemon Chill for the walls, and Italian marble tiles for the backsplash, which my husband installed himself.

Fabric, Trim and Lace

Lots of my friends are having babies these days - I'm thirty and that's about the age when people start havin' em. I've been doing a lot of sewing and knitting for babies, and here are some of the materials and results:

Baby patterns

Baby fabrics - quilt cottons

More baby fabrics - natural linen, vine print, flower print and embroidered swiss batiste

baby kimono made from an antique linen pillowcase

dress from a lot of antique baby clothes purchased on Ebay

pattern and fabric for a baby blouse

Dick and Jane fabric and a couple of vintage-y prints from my local fabric shop

a lace shawl from the 1860s, purchased at an antique store on Long Island. Probably too fragile for baby use, but might be pretty framed under glass for a girl's room.

Trellis & Pretty Clothes

I went searching for pea trellis and tomato cages this weekend, and couldn't find either. But I did find these pretty bamboo arches for the cucumbers:


And for those hot days and nights, some pretty little things:



Old Navy Lace-trim Top

Gap Dotted sash dress

Urban Outfitters Porcelain Rose Earrings

Yarn Lust

Now I am the first to admit I have a lot of yarn. I have an extremely organized spot in the closet for it. I'm a very organized person. My underwear drawer is a masterpiece. Just don't look in the basement. Really. Don't.

My yarn is all lined up neatly in zip lock bags to keep out the moths. I am not buying any more yarn right now, because I have several projects in mind, and the yarn for them is sitting in my closet.

But if I were:

Inspired to Knit by Michele Rose Orne

ArtYarns Regal Silk in Cappucino

Colourmart 4/14NM double twist 100% cashmere DK in Brume

DROPS Kid-silk in 06 Light Grey Green

DROPS Alpaca in Raspberry (matches my blog!)

Just Right Wrap from Lace Style by Pam Allen and Ann Budd

Thalia from Louisa Harding's new book Dauphine

From Inspired to Knit

July Home and Garden

July is a lush time here in West Virginia, especially this year as we've had a lot of rain. Our garden is in a series of terraces and raised beds that my husband built last spring. We have a small herb garden (thyme, lemon thyme, rosemary, sage, French tarragon, oregano, dill, parsley, cilantro, lavender and basil).

In the bottom beds we have blackberries, peas, sweet peas, and 9 strawberry plants. In the main bed we have cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, marigolds and nasturtiums. The cucumbers definately get the "Most Rabid Growers" award this year. As you can see, they are mixing with the nasturtiums and having a big ol' time.

In front of the house, we took out a dreadful, half-dead evergreen and put in a rose garden (my husband did promise me a rose garden). It will be a few years before we get the full effect. There is a nice mixture of climbing roses and standard.

Here is the table set for three for dinner, with a bouquet of hydrangeas from the front yard.

When we were married, the bouquets had hydrangeas from my mother-in-law's yard, so they are very dear flowers to me, reminding me both of our wedding day and of my mother-in-law, whom I loved very much and who died this last October of breast cancer, far too young.

It's Not My Job

There are few things that get me angrier than this phrase. I hear it a lot, working for the state, always from lower-ranked employees. Maybe it's because their salaries are low. Maybe it's because they don't want to do more work, or, in some cases, any work at all. Maybe they feel that what they are being asked to do is beneath them. But any good employee or boss knows that while any enterprise needs good organization, one should never start believing that organizing the organization is more important than organizing the enterprise, to paraphrase Terry Pratchett. It can only lead to bureaucracy.

With promotion comes not only money, but responsibility and accountability. If the business does not go forward, it's the boss's fault. He or she must be willing to do everything possible to facilitate the work of the employees, even if that means taking out the garbage and vaccuuming the floor. At my first job, my boss asked me to put a lot of data into a database we had built. I told him data entry wasn't my job. When I came to work the next day, he had done it. And I never, ever used that phrase again. My job now is to make sure the University runs. That's the president's job too, and the janitor's job. As Scully says, "Don't think. Just pick up the phone and make it happen"

Comfort

Do you ever feel that maybe you are not experiencing all that life has to offer? Now, I'm not complaining. The universe would smack me upside the head if I complained. I have a wonderful husband, an adorable little boy. We both have good jobs, and the money that comes with them. We have a house old enough to be charming but not old enough to require expensive repairs. It comes with a forest and a big garden, and nice neighbors just far enough away. Our cars are paid for and we have no debt. In the summer, we sit on the porch steps and eat popsicles and watch the lightning bugs. In the winter I sit by the fire and knit.

Ten years ago, I did not have a husband, a child or a house. I had almost no money, no car, no college degree. I was hot in the summers, cold in the winters. I bought clothes in thrift stores. I walked to the grocery store, the library, to class. If I had many miles to go, I rode my bicycle. A bottle of wine was a special treat.

And now, I am never hot. We have central air. I am never cold. I have cashmere, a fireplace, toasty central heating. A bottle of wine is no longer a treat. I never have to walk or ride a bicycle, so I never really see the progress of the seasons, the new furniture in a lighted house at night, the very first crocus. I don't fall in love anymore. I have nothing to wish for at Christmas.

I started to give things up, to see if I could move a little bit away from this comfortable life. I stopped buying things I didn't need. I stopped eating meat. And that helped a little bit. But mostly, youth and uncertainty and glorious living breathing Life are gone now. There is just comfort left. Youth is wasted on the young, they say, and they're right.

Knitterly Resources

I spend a lot of time on the internet - I'm a programmer after all. Here are some of my best finds for knitters.

Ravelry is the best place to find patterns and yarns, discuss them with other knitters, and make knitting friends. It is really a remarkable site, and I believe the wait list is down to a couple of days now.

Garnstudio in Norway publishes DROPS patterns, hundreds of them, for FREE on their site, garnstudio.com. They bring out new collections every season, and their printed pattern books are also available for a couple of dollars.

Nordic Mart sells all Garnstudio yarns. They make a lovely, reasonably priced Alpaca.

Elann has a wide selection of their own brand yarn, and also some closeouts of other brands. Their shipping is expensive (they are a Canadian company), but the yarn prices are very low. I love their Baby Silk and Baby Cashmere blends.

Knit Picks is a great company that sells their own reasonably priced brand of yarn plus needles and patterns. Their interchangeable circular needles will change your life.

Yarnzilla sells lots of gorgeous luxury yarn, and is the place to go for a splurge. They have good sales, too.

Webs has a vast selection of yarn. Awesome sales, and they give a volume discount.

Knitty is an online knitting magazine that has free patterns every season and some interesting articles.

Banana Chocolate Coconut Bread Pudding

This dish would be fabulous for brunch (like French toast, but baked. So much easier!) with baked eggs w/parmesan and herbs, home fries w/sausage, fresh berries, coffee and Mimosas. If you're as thin as you want to be, make this with leftover croissants. Feel free to miss out the coconut and chocolate, and add pecans or almonds instead.

Banana Chocolate Coconut Bread Pudding

1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 banana, mashed
2 cups milk
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
4 cups cubed day-old country white bread or croissants

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Put bread cubes in an 11 x 7 glass pan. Whisk together the eggs, sugar and milk, add the mashed banana and pour over the bread cubes. Let sit for at least 1/2 hour. When bread has absorbed the milk mixture, scatter chocolate chips and coconut over bread and mix gently together. Bake for 30 minutes, let cool slightly and serve warm with whipped cream, ice cream, or with nothing at all.

Summer Treats

A few of the recipes I've added to my Epicurious recipe box most recently:


Raspberry Chocolate Ice Pops



Peaches 'n' Cream eclairs with bourbon caramel sauce


Coconut-macaroon and lemon ice cream sandwiches


Vegetable pesto salad with warm goat cheese toasts



Toasted-almond cake with strawberries in rose-water syrup



Orange-scented beignets

On the Needles

A-line Jacket, from the fabulous DROPS-Garnstudio folks, made in Wool of the Andes from Knitpicks in Iris Heather, on my pretty Knitpicks Harmony interchangeable circulars.

Flowers

We've put a lot of time and effort into our garden this year. We've taken out some plants we didn't like (holly with those prickly leaves! and a sick-looking evergreen) and planted LOTS of roses. I am afraid I have a weakness for roses, even with their drawbacks - diseases, insects, short blooming time.

I really like to arrange flowers, especially ones I've grown myself.

Home Toy Day

Well, Thursday is Home Toy Day here, which means Jack can bring a you from home to play with at daycare. Now I just think of Thursdays as Home Toy Day. Today he took this book: Planes, by Byron Barton


Barton's books are nice for younger kids - they have very bold simple graphics. We've also started reading Winnie-the-Pooh, an old edition that was mine when I was young. Robin read it to my stomach when Jack was in utero, but now he is a good age to start reading some books with more text than pictures.

For you West Virginia culture fans, I leave you with 2 windshield pictures:


My personal favorite bumper sticker: "God was my co-pilot, but we crashed in the mountains and I had to eat him."

Sallydog

This is the story of our dog Sally. We decided in April of 2008 that we wanted to get a dog. We had adopted one the year before but it was a young dog and jumped all over Jack and he was afraid of it. So we sadly took her back to the shelter so she could find a home better suited to her. Jack was potty training at the time and that experience seemed to set him back. He still wasn't potty trained a year later.

We picked out a hound named Lincoln, and we visited him and took Jack to visit. We were all set to adopt him, and I went to the shelter in the morning to pick him up. The people right in front of me took him - the first adoption of the day. I was disappointed, but I decided to look around.

I made the circuit of the kennels, but didn't see any dog that called to me. Then I stopped at the last kennel near the door, and there was Sally. She looks just like a little black wolf. She came right up to me and wanted to be petted, and was so friendly and happy. She had been at the shelter for 4 months, and had been brought back from one adoption because she chased livestock. She didn't seem to mind the shelter at all. She had her blanket, and some friendly people around and that was all she needed.

I called Robin and he told me to do what I thought was best. So I brought her home. She didn't want to get in the car, but when I picked her up and put her in, she was good as gold. I took her to work to meet Robin and then home to meet Jack. Jack was worried about having a dog that barked, but Sally never barks. She has never had an accident, never chews, loves to ride in the car now, and will chase anything on 4 legs. She is always up for a walk, has comfy beds all over the house, and loves veggie burgers, croissants, vanilla ice cream and especially sausage. She will let Jack sit next to her and feed her pieces of kibble from her bowl. She is so gentle and loving with us and every other person she has ever met. She is very aggressive toward other dogs, squirrels, cats, deer, etc. and must always be on the leash when we walk. But we all have our quirks!

Jack was fully potty trained, with no night time accidents, a month after we got Sally. We think he just needed something else to occupy his mind. She has been such a blessing for us.