The highway in the backyard

The other day this little guy was scurrying along the top of the fences that connect all the backyards around here.

Actually, he wasn't so much scurrying as looking for a way down.

But it was a looooong way. Once the dogs noticed there was something out there they got into their usual frenzied barking, setting off the noise-activated New Orleans jazz statue music, and the possum sensibly decided to be on his way.

If only this yarn could talk!

I used to be able to look at some leftover yarn and remember exactly what I'd made with it, where I was, what stage in my life I was... It all brought back such good memories. Now I can look at something like this:

and wonder - where the heck did that come from? I don't remember knitting with it at all! but it does have my signature "wrap the end around the ball in the opposite direction for a while" move. If I'd never used it before the end would be just a little bit peeking out of the middle.

It took several minutes of intense investigation to discover that this was not Lorna's Laces as I initially suspected, but I think it's Shelridge Farms and I'm pretty sure I made these socks with it. The solid colour was a light green and this variegated yarn was used in the diamonds.

But I'll be darned if I can find these socks, and there's no index card for them in my usually reliable knitting project filing system.

Although I do make so many socks I stopped keeping track of them at some point, so just because there isn't a card doesn't mean I didn't make them.
I've given away a lot of socks, so maybe they are on someone's feet even as we speak!

I prefer to think of this as an indication of just how many socks I've knit over the past few years, not an indication of the increasing feebleness of my memory.

tada!

It's done! Sewed on the buttons and sewed down the facings while watching the Canada-US hockey game, then washed it, and it's laying flat to dry as we speak. I'll post more pictures of the inside once it dries, but for now I want to move on to something new!

much progress being made

Got lots done over the weekend - finished the body of the vest.

I'm using I tip I learned from Anne at Philosopher's Wool and picking up the stitches from the steeks before cutting them open. She's right, once you cut it open the whole thing becomes kind of floppy and it's much easier to pick up the stitches while it's still a solid piece of fabric. Here's the first side vent.

And then last night I picked up all the stitches for the neck edge. That's one heck of a lot of stitches so that might take a night or two.

This is the winter that will not die here in Houston - we're in another cold spell and might actually get snow again today!

relaxing on a Friday afternoon

This is what my couch normally looks like. The bearded one (Alex) works 30 hours a week at Home Depot and usually starts at 5 am. Then he goes to school. So when he's at home he usually looks like this. The little one (Harley) also works pretty hard. There's napping, playing frisbee, walking and, oh yeah more napping.

Clyde is in his preferred position on my chair under my shirt. That little piece of black is what I get to sit on.

The vest is rolling along, but I'd really like to get the body knit this weekend so I've got some time to do all the steeks and trim. There's a long neckband, both armholes and vents at the sides and I'll need to be careful in picking up stitches along the edges to get it to lay nice and flat.

think I'm going to make it!

As usual, the guage swatch wasn't quite a realistic indication of what I'm ending up with on the actual garment. But that's good news. I'm going to need less rows - I think 4.5 repeats of pattern C will do it. I'm almost up to the armholes/neck decreases. Here's some time-lapse photography.

I got a lot done last night while watching the US bag all their medals. Canada doesn't seem to be owning the podium - at least not yet.

Yesterday I picked up my regular medium share from the organic veggie co-op

and it had a bunch of cilantro that was so fragrant I just had to make some thing with it, even though I don't really like cilantro. I tried this recipe Bowties w/basil, cilantro and spinach. But instead of bowties I used penne and instead of basil I used oregano and I didn't have much goat cheese so I added some cream cheese and it was awfully thick so I added some buttermilk and I'm not sure if what I used was actually spinach or some sort of chard or kale or something. Anyway it tasted ok, but kind of looked like puke.

getting there

well I made some progress over the weekend - I love president's day!

I'm now finished the first 2 charts and have about 6 sets of chart C to do, which is 20 rows. I might just make it!

On the Saturday we went out for Valentine's day to Brasserie Max & Julie and had great foie gras, steak tartare and profiteroles. Bob had the beef bourguignon and that was excellent too. I know it's not the Texas way, but I would have enjoyed it more if the portions were a little smaller. You can have too much of a good thing (see my blog title).

Then we walked to The Black Labrador for a beer. It's got a good selection of beer on tap, supposedly better than the Flying Saucer, but I don't know about that.

After that we walked to Anvil Bar & Refuge. I'd had a drink there a few weeks ago that I kept thinking about, it was so good. I can't remember the name of it, but it's got blackstrap rum, ginger beer and habanero sauce in it. It's very dark and peppery and you need to sip it, which is just my style.

On the way to Anvil we ran into a couple of young guys with backpacks and asked them where they were going. They're actually riding freight trains across the country (I thought that was a depression-era thing) and had gotten off a train in Houston in the 5th ward and were trying to find a place to sleep for the night. They'd frozen the previous night because it's been so cold here and they weren't impressed with Houston so far. They're heading towards LA, then maybe up the coast to Canada and then back across Canada to the east coast. They were so friendly and enthusiastic we really liked them and hope they do OK. We gave them $20 and hope they found a warm place to sleep and a place to hop a train to El Paso or where ever their next stop is. They really had such a great attitude for 2 people who must be having a hard time - one of them had only one leg - and they also had a dog with them. One guy's backpack only had a sleeping bag and dog food in it. Anyway, I really hope they have a great adventure and people are kind to them.