What up?

Just a few things to share from Knitsburgh of late...

Walk in the woods this past weekend.

From the front I look like normal...

Egad! From the side, you can see Wee Too is still on board. Sadly, no trillium were spotted yet.

New larger bibs sewn for Wee One. I used two different prints on each side so they are reversible. I also used different colored thread in the bobbin so each side has a contrasting thread for top stitching detail. Made fourteen bibs total.

These three are my favorites, made from two of Wee One's flannel receiving blankets. Love to upcycle! Each bib has one side of polka dots, one side of green gingham. Used brown thread for top stitching.

Knit up a Mikey Hat for Wee One. Modified THIS PATTERN which is for an adult head. The fit was good but...

...it really needed a good blocking! I finished it the eve before the annual St. Pat's parade so I did not want to chance it still being wet. So it was worn with wonkiness, the stamp of handmade upon it! When it was worn that is, it came off several times. The plastic inside the brim is cut from an old plastic coffee can. We have a stockpile of these as Nature Boy's father cannot bear to throw them away or recycle them as they seem so useful so he saves them and gives them to us. We have also made a "drum kit" out of several of these in different sizes duct taped together; one is poised under the leaky sink in the bathroom; and several hold odds and ends like nails, screws, etc. If you need any coffee cans, you know who to call...

Knitsburgh is an Amusement Park?!?! What the...

This week has had some ups and some downs. Quite roller-coastery. As evidence, I give you...

LIST OF HIGHS AND LOWS
1. Dropped pint of blueberries in the driveway and half of them rolled down the steep grade while I stood there helpless and watched; made some yummy vegan blueberry muffins with the 1 and 1/2 remaining pints plus some neighborhood birds are quite full!

2. Departed for a hike to a waterfall only to find the directions were wrong (thanks so much Fall 2009 issue of Pennsylvania Pursuits) and the waterfall was not really what it was made out to be; on the way home stopped at a state park with a lake and had a lovely swim with Wee One!

3. Weeded, hoed, and watered the garden and everyone who lives there looks much happier; discovered someone got some new mulch and decided to throw their old mulch behind our garage in the alleyway and probably killed the transplanted daylillies not to mention poisoned our yard and garden with pesticides and lawn chemical-ly runoff.

4. Sat on my butt hardly moving for four afternoons and still sweated like crazy cause it was pretty hot; made some jammies out of a housecoat one afternoon because it was too hot to clean!

5. Went grocery shopping, ran errands, did laundry and cleaned the house top to bottom on Friday; went grocery shopping, ran errands, did laundry and cleaned the house top to bottom on Friday! Plus I sweated but it was because I DID SOMETHING! Hooray!

6. Saturday we went car shopping; Saturday we went car shopping. You can decide which is high and which is low...

7. We got a new digital camera from Best Buy that appeared to meet our criteria; we came home and discovered the girl who helped us and told us the underwater housing case from Sony for the camera runs about $20-$30 was full of it or lied or is maybe not too bright and has trouble with decimal placement because it is actually $229.99 which is somehow more than our new camera even cost. Still waiting for an email back from customer service...

I'm kind of excited for tomorrow I think. Another week to start fresh and hopefully have things tip more towards the high side. Hope your week goes up and up too!

Indian Summer

What a great warm weekend we just had! How did we spend some of the time? We walked with the Wee One downtown and on the north shore, then toured some replica ships built to the specifications of the Nina and Pinta of Columbus' fleet. You can read more HERE about the "floating museums" and see the schedule; they are going to be spending the winter in some tropical place. There was a sign in the Pinta advertising for crew members...

We also went to see the new Fred Rogers statue.

We ended the day in a Mexican restaurant, tofu and bean taco with chips and salsa...the best day. Wee One did not sleep once, he was too busy taking in all the sights.

Oh, the knitting, right. The stuff this blog is supposed to be about. The Wee Yule Stocking is about 6 rows shy of the start of the heel. Its ok, I'm not happy with something on the round joining and will show some photos of the problem later when I feel strong enough to face it. At this point I will not rip back and Nature Boy assures me no one but I will notice it. The problem is I will notice it and know it's not my best knitting. I could care less when it's on a sweater for me, but the Wee Yule Stocking? Oh dear...

Knitting, Hormones and Proclamations

The nursing wrap is coming along, although slowly it seems. Sometimes everything seems slow; then I think about all I have to do until the Wee One arrives and it seems time is moving too fast!

Nature Boy and I took a hike this past weekend. The going was quite slow at times but it was all worth the effort!

Today was Food Day at work. I made some vegan pasta salad and vegan cupcakes. Not many ate the pasta salad but all but 2 of the cupcakes disappeared. I came away from the whole thing with a bad taste in my mouth, to be honest. One woman, who I don't know very well and doesn't work in my department anyway, came over to use the printer and commented, "Chocolate and fruit--now who would even put fruit on chocolate? As if that makes the chocolate healthy!" I swear, it took every once of fibre in my being from letting some choice words loose. Instead I sat there and said inside my head "ok, in about 4 weeks you will be done with her and this place forever, who even cares what this wisp of a person even think, stupid meaningless shrew that she is." Now, the previous part has been edited a bit so that I can post it here without feeling too badly about my inner thoughts, if a girl was to be perfectly honest. But you get my drift, it took some talking down inside the head to keep this pregnant volcano of emotional turmoil from spewing lava all over her insipid little face.

Here's the thing; who says shit like that out loud in front of people who either made them or knows who did? Why do people act so rudely? I find a lot of food not to my taste either but I don't walk around declaring my every opinion about it, especially in front of someone who got up at the buttcrack of dawn to make it. One of my coworkers was overheard saying it would be nice to have a Food Day every other week--I think I'll pass next time and bring the food I like to eat for me alone and be very happy with it. And do other things when I wake at the buttcrack of dawn every day. Like knit!

Growth

Here's our newest addition to Knitsburgh:

He's got two sides, a summer side and seen here, the fall side:

I can't tell you who made the Tree Friend, but I can tell you this, it was not I. Someone else who lives at Knitsburgh made him for the Wee One. You can rule out those who don't have opposable thumbs and you may be able to guess...

Here is a Red Velvet Cupcake of the dozen that were made for Bill's birthday. Vegan of course. I am not the biggest fan of Red Velvet cake but the recipe, from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, is so close to the original, I swear Bill wouldn't have known they came without any animal byproducts whatsoever!!!

Besides the Tree Friend, there has been more visible growth. It was so lovely outside we took an urban hike this past weekend. We felt the sunshine on our faces and heard the birds. We saw a small garter snake who ran too fast from me to get a good picture of her. We heard a woodpecker but didn't get to see him.

I'm trying to grow in other ways besides the physical. I'm also saddened and frustrated by others who don't seem to be growing much, who falter down the same wretched path time and time again, who think there is no other way. I'm trying not to shake this person and yell at them and tell them what I think is the way they should handle things. Truth is if I lived closer to them, I might have done this already; I curse and thank the distance at once. Truth is it's not my issue, not my decision, not my life to choose how to live. So I will sit here and continue to grow. In silence. There is nothing more to do right now but let it be.

Forest Magick!

I love spring! Can I shout it loud enough from the rooftops? I love flowers and leaves, grass and trees. I love the warmth of the sun and the smell of soil. Throwing wide the windows and doors. I worked for four hours today on the Knitsburgh grounds and I loved every second of the hard, dirty work!


I was lucky enough to fully immerse myself in a woodland bliss this past weekend. Some wonderful souls accompanied me and I had so much fun! I love the city but there is just plain magick out there in the forest.




Speaking of magick in the forest...we hiked 10 miles, but did not fully intend to. More on that tale later...point is, we had hiked maybe 8.5 or 9 of those miles and we were very tired and by then, completely out of water. The kindest man in the world, an experienced hiker (by this, I mean he had hiked this trail before, seemed to know every turn, and had two metal walking sticks and a water system hooked up to his backpack), showed up with cold, pure, bottled water. A large bottle for each of us! He also thought he had chocolate bars but gave all of them away to the rest of our group who were ahead of us. Just like that, just being very kind and not expecting anything in return, walked right out of the trees, then right back into them. Amazing!

It's this stuff that makes me feel good about being human. The past week I had again doubted this horrible animal, this human creature that seeks to hurt and belittle and demean others, thinks only of his or her self and wants to make others sad in order for them to feel better. Not all the humans are like this! I will sock this little glimmer of hope away for use later when despair slinks up to my doorstep again. Some people are worth letting in, are worth counting on and trusting.

Speaking of trusting. Madison Penelope has executed two, count them two, escapes from the Knitsburgh estate. Not to be outdone, Isabella Maria has also made one escape. But you all knew, after the recent crimewave in Knitsburgh, that the Iz could not be trusted. Hmmm...maybe Madison has been her accomplice after all?

I also want to say a very sad farewell to my friend. He was much too young to have met an untimely death, a cruel horrible Hitchcock-ian death at that. He was known in Knitsburgh as Lil' Garden Snake. He was found on the walkway, having been found sunning his small cute striped-y body and accosted by...birds. The rumors were true; he was indeed found naked but there is no evidence of any illegal substances playing a role in his demise. Lil' Garden Snake, in his lifetime, kept the garden at Knitsburgh clear of even smaller snakes and possibly an assortment of varmints. He will be sadly missed. Please send all monetary donations to the "Snakes: We are not very tasty" national ad campaign and/or to Ralph Nader's election fund. He did love the Green Party, Lil' Garden Snake did.