Interweave Knits

I am trying, I really am trying to find something to make me want to renew my subscription to Interweave Knits. I love print magazines. I also prefer double pointed needles over magic loop too.

I hung on through the last couple years when practically every piece already looked awkward or ill-fitting on the models. Ok, so IK wasn't unique there; just look around. And I get that they are trying to capture a hipper younger demographic than I belong to. But dammit, if I am going to spend the time, money and effort to knit something, I want it to not look dated before I even finish it and be reasonably flattering. 

The Fall 2013 issue landed in my mailbox yesterday, and I opened it with both excitement and trepidation. On first perusal it looks promising. My three-and-a-half-year-old had other ideas for me last night. Only a couple looks where the garment is poised to do something odd if the model moves. So, do I give the new editor the benefit of the doubt? Dunno yet. 

GRANITE!!! (and Bradford pear trees)

If I see another house with cheap cabinets in a crappy layout that the seller just went ahead and had some granite countertops installed and is calling it an "upgrade", I could just scream! Why, oh why do they do that?!!? 

It's as bad as builders sticking two Bradford pear trees in the front yard and then saying the lot has nice shade trees. Once they get any size on them, the damn things just split in half during a garden-variety summer thunderstorm.

Bumper stickers

I have gotten more good reactions to my bumper stickers in the two weeks we have been back in HSV than I ever did in BHM.

Several times I have seen other drivers point and smile, and this afternoon as I was walking back to my car from the grocery store, there was an elderly couple leaning down to read them and laughing. I asked them which one they liked, and she smiled and said, "Both!"

Then as I loaded my bags, across the parking aisle, a "country boy" called over, "Just what do you do with them pointy sticks?" 

He seemed a bit disappointed when I told him hand knitting.

So, thank you, Tonni, and thank you, Penzey's*, for getting a few happy little conversations started!

* www.Penzeys.com (haven't figured out hyperlinks using this app yet)

The Squirrel is looking for a new Chez

Yep, we moved. We listed the old Chez Squirrel, figuring that it would take a while to sell, what with real estate still being in the doldrums in our area, and then WHAM! An offer the next freakin' day. And a contract the day after that. And closing a month and a half later. 

Just my opinion, but moving during the Alabama summer sucks. It is real estate silly season up here, amplifying an already more robust market than in BHM. We weren't able to find a new place that we liked enough back in HSV in time, so we are two weeks settled into a rental house (the same one we lived in 13 years ago). Squeezing 2500 sq ft into less than 1500 sq ft has been an interesting exercise. For the first week the house looked like it belonged on one of those shows about hoarders, but I have vanquished most of the cardboard boxes to the attic or the storage Pod in the backyard. The furniture arrangement is creative, and the yarn stash is staying boxed up for the duration. Creative juices are not flowing right now.

The best thing about the rental house, other than it being available when we needed it and the terms under which we have it, is the old gas stove in the kitchen. It looks like a total piece of crap, is a PITA to clean, and the upper oven doesn't work, but those dinky-looking burners are dreamy to cook on (well, the two front ones anyway, can't really reach the back ones). I learned to enjoy cooking on this stove, and the schmancy dual fuel, sealed burner one I bought for the old Chez.

: p

Two year old + lip balm = laundry nightmare

Waxy lip balm all over the sheets. MY bed, not hers. I think she ate some of it too.

I'm back....

Sometimes, when everything is getting too hectic and I don't know where to start, just dicing up an onion and lightly browning it in some olive oil hits my reset button.

Well, what do you know...

...the blog isn't quite abandoned. Everything, knitting included, has taken a back seat to the biggest project I have ever undertaken. Here are a couple hints:



















Yep, it's a baby! The furry children Chili the dog and Brrp the cat (formerly Muffin Top) have a sister!She's feisty! Isn't she just the most perfect baby ever?!!?

While I was pregnant, all my creative energy seemed to be utterly sapped, went into making the baby, I suppose. The two items above are two of the three handknits I was able to finish for my own child. Classic case of the cobbler's children having no shoes. Luckily, some of her "fiber aunties" stepped up.

Now that she's here, knitting (and cooking and eating and showering and so on) are utterly secondary to her (lack of) schedule. I've been working on another mostly stockinette baby hat for several weeks now with SLOOOW progress and haven't even started the socks I want to make for my rock star of an obstetrician.

So, the question is, how much does the baby take over the blog?