Now Norma Knits

Break Out The Champagne (or the Kentucky Bourbon?)

Okay, maybe just a lemonade or something.  But finally, I finished a knitted object.  It's a humble little thing, but it's something!

I present Gwen's Scarf, knitted for the Red Scarf Project.

I've never taken so many photos of a scarf before, but since I haven't finished anything in so long, will you allow me the indulgence?  Yeah, I thought you would. 

Specs: 
Pattern:  Anne's (reprinted below)
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash wool; color: Really Red; less than two skeins

Needles:  US 7, 4.5mm

This is the first time I've used Cascade 220 Superwash.  I like it better than most superwash wools I've used, and I'd happily use it again.  I stopped knitting just before it reached 60 inches long, and as is typical with superwash wools, the scarf grew quite a lot after being washed.  I like the generous length and the softness and the drape.

This project has special meaning to me:  I bought the yarn from Gwen the last time I saw her alive, and I started knitting the scarf on my highly enjoyable and special trip to Washington to visit the OFA folks.  Sort of a conglomeration of specialness.

While I was waiting in the lobby of the hotel before my flight back to Vermont, I was knitting on this.  A guy from Kentucky (how do I know this?  It said so on his name tag on his jacket -- he was there for a conference or something) started chatting me up.  He had all the right pickup lines.  First he "tripped" over and got tangled in my yarn to get around my chair to his sofa, which of course wasn't necessary since the other way around the coffee table was clear.  Then he asked me how long I've been knitting, and if it's hard, because he commutes, you see, and he had sometimes thought it might be interesting to knit on the commute.  Color me amused and charmed.  Dayum.  Who knew?  A whole store of knitting pickup lines, shot from the hip. Well, he kept me entertained for a while.  Then I told him I am from Vermont.  I imagined this would give him some pause.  You know us Nawthun women. (scary)  But he didn't skip a beat:  "Oh!  Do you live anywhere near Simon Pearce?!"

Smooth and sweet as Thoroughbred Pie.

Anywayyyyy,

I'm still not 100% convinced that "unisex" applies to this scarf pattern, especially after blocking. Is it just me, or does it have too much of a lacy feel for the unisex label?  What do you think?  I'm going to try to make my next one more "male."

Here's Anne's pattern again:

Cast on 38 stitches (if using light worsted or DK yarn like Cascade 220 Superwash)

Slip 1st stitch purlwise with yarn in front; return yarn to back of work. This makes a nice selvedge edge.   (selvedge edge -- is that redundant?)

*K1, K2 together, YO, P1*  Repeat from * to * to last stitch.  Knit last stitch. 

Each row is the same.  Keep knitting until scarf is of desired length.  Bind off loosely in pattern, knitting the yarn overs as regular knits.

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While I'm not sure about unisex, I do know this pattern really suits me. Simple, yet drapey, interesting, and elegant.   I look forward to making one of these for myself -- perhaps in the beeyooteeful handspun Margene sent me.  I'm gonna swatch it up, maybe with a strand of Kidsilk Haze carried along with it.  Stay tuned for further developments. 

 

Sadistic Murder in the Back Garden

I may have found the culprit (although maybe not, because the "lacy" look of eaten leaves is missing on the walnut tree baby).  But I discovered yesterday that the green beans, fruit trees, zucchini, and asparagus ferns in the back were positively overrun with fucking Japanese beetles, with several stems of the plum and pear trees killed from them. The dead stems of the pear and plum trees look remarkably similar to the dead leaves on the walnut. 

When I say "fucking," I do mean fucking.  It gives me no end of pleasure to catch those bastards in the act of sex and kill them together.  "Squish, squish; you're DEAD. There!  How does THAT feel?!"  Norma the sadist. (this entry should be good for some Google hits, I suppose)

It's disgusting and sometimes prickly to squish them in my fingers, but it's the best way to do it, I find.  When I couldn't stand the squishing any more, I pushed dozens of them into a bowl of hot, soapy water. 

*Sigh.*  A few years ago, I used milky spore powder all over my lot, and it really helped keep them away, or to a minimum, for a good amount of time.  I guess I'll have to do that again this fall.  My stupid neighbors, for years, had one of those yellow baited traps set out, which, of course, everyone finally learned was hugely counterproductive because all it did was call more Japanese beetles to the area.  I hate stupid neighbors.

Can you tell I'm in a Mood?  Japanese beetles and stupid neighbors (and men) will do it every time. 

Anyhoo.  For years and years and years, Sunday was my big cooking day, (I'd cook pretty much all day for the upcoming week) and every once in a while nowadays I remember that and get back to it.  Bringing in a big garden haul helps to remind me.

It may not seem like soup weather, what with the 90-degree temps and high humidity, but that's exactly what came to mind with the Big Turnip Harvest of 2007.  I've found that recently I've been harvesting too many turnips that have just gone to waste, sitting in the refrigerator or on the counter, so this time I decided to just throw them, along with some other good ingredients*, into the soup pot. Yum!

*You weren't looking for a scientific recipe, were you?  Because it is very unscientific:  purple-top turnips (peeled), carrots, red onion, garlic scapes, fresh ginger, a few parsnips, all sweated in a butter and olive oil mixture; a bit of sea salt, a splash of pinot grigio, some water, and you're good to go.  This is the kind of soup that begs to be pureed, so that's what I did. 

Then we've got some more of the extremely garlicky slow-roasted zucchini-sort-of-ratatouille (without the eggplant, because I just don't have any) thing I've become so fond of lately. I just coat chunks of zucchini (because I have zucchini coming out of my ears from the garden lately) and whole bulbs of the fresh garlic, separated into cloves, and a few chunks of onion with olive oil, pour a jar of my own canned tomatoes over the lot, sprinkle with salt and Italian herbs and crushed red pepper and roast it until it gets "just right" at about 325 degrees.  I serve it as a side dish or use it as pasta sauce, or even on a slice of toast.  Feta or Romano cheese on top makes it extra-special. 

Next we have steamed haricots vert to be served later with some fresh dill butter, and then the Swiss chard awaits a quick sauteeing.

Hungry?

I love the midsummer garden flowers.  They are powerful and cheerful and long-lasting.

Yay for daylilies.

These Asiatic lilies are so fragrant and beautiful, despite the insect damage to their foliage.

Black-Eyed Susans and Echinacea:  Who doesn't love 'em?

See the bean vine that's climbed up this sunflower?  I love it. 

Prep Work, My Style

Prepping for the next big event.  Well, not the next.  There's another one intervening, but this one requires some major prep, with both the accent and the vocab.  Never a dull moment around here. Thank goodness for the audiobook read by the author. 

There's a little knitting and wine-sipping going on, too. 

Well.

I was all ready to write a post entitled Mean People Suck, but then I took a closer look at the evidence and I think I will have to change the title to Mean Insects Suck or Plant Diseases Suck. 

This spring, I ordered some fruit and nut trees from an online nursery.  Sheesh, when will I ever learn?  When they say "trees," they really mean "twigs."  So anyway, setting all our foolish feelings aside, we dutifully planted our twigs, two of them at the street.  Friends were walking by when we were sticking our little twigs in the ground and joked, "Now, that's a true showing of a belief in the future -- planting something like that." 

Well, you know how green my thumb is.  Within a very short time, the little twigs sprouted a full head of healthy leaves and looked marvelous, though .... uh....a tad short.

But look how adorable.  A baby Black Walnut.  Sweeeeet. 

I came home yesterday to notice that its mate (two are needed to pollinate) looked like this:

  Was I pissed.  I assumed that the same jackass(es) (have I mentioned I hate people?) who routinely pull up our (and our neighbor's) mailbox and throw it across the street, or bash the mailbox with a baseball bat in the night, had taken something and bashed my little baby walnut. 

But this morning I went out to take a closer look, and I am quite sure that it's either a disease or an insect that did the damage.  It astonishes me that it could happen so quickly, but there you have it. 

This would be a good time to assume Roseanne Rosannadanna's Emily Litella's (you guys sure do keep me on my toes) voice and say, "Oh. Never mind." 

I hate being wrong.  And there I had all this good negative hateful energy ready to expend towards humankind.  Damn.

My Saturday Sky is cloudy:

I got a timely gift from Marianne:

Thanks, Marianne.  I think I'm starting to.

A Little Rundown of My Week

Holy crap, while Sandy has been on vacation, this has been the busy week to end all busy weeks for me.  It all started with Monday.  As I mentioned, I was away at the end of last week, so the manager in my office very kindly left me an email message that said, "You'll probably want to rest up from your busy weekend, so I'm giving you Monday off."  Well, of course we all know that "off" for a freelance court reporter isn't really "off," but it means, "You can catch up on your transcripts."  Or whatever. 

So it was 8:50 a.m., and I was just coming in the door from the garden, still in my sleep t-shirt, mud on my feet, suffering from a bad case of bedhead.  The phone rings.  "It's Tim."  Oh, dear.

"Hi, Norma. Remember that Monday off you were going to have?" 

Crap. A group of people were set up at a hotel down the road a piece, ready for the fourth day of an arbitration, and they had forgotten to schedule a reporter.  They had hoped to start at 8 a.m., and had called at 8:45 to ask where their reporter was.  I said I could be there for a 10:00 start.  I took the world's fastest shower and threw on one of my trusty TravelSmith dresses (thanks, TravelSmith!) and ran down there to rescue those poor people who had come from Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.  It was a lonnnnng day, especially given the fact that my back and neck were killing me and that before this happened, the one thing I really intended to do that day was get to the chiropractor.  (I made it later that night; thank goodness my lovely chiropractor works evenings)

The next two days I was doing something different.  I mentioned it to several attorneys that day.  "Tomorrow I'm doing something fun.  I'm going to assist some people who are taking the Vermont Bar Exam with accommodations." 

All attorneys in the room, in unison:  "the words bar exam and fun do not belong in the same sentence."   Heh.  (wimps)

Well, for me it was.  I've got nothing riding on it.  So while it was fun, it was long and grueling and a long drive from home.  But wait, the fun has only just begun.  As I was driving to the first day of the bar exam, Tim from the office called and said, "What's the status of that transcript that was due yesterday?" 

Oops.  a) I didn't know it was due yesterday; b) I have not even looked at it; c) I'm already on the road and the title page is at home, which is an absolutely essential part of the final product.  So after my first long, grueling day at the bar exam, I had to drive the long drive home and complete that transcript before heading back for my second long, grueling day at the bar exam. (originally I had intended to stay down there at a hotel so as not to make the long drive twice, back to back)

But seriously, helping with the bar exam WAS fun, especially the second day.  My client that day, a woman in the final stages of cancer, was an inspiration.  Completing it (and hopefully passing) was her dearest wish.  Fingers crossed that she passed.  I even was able to knit for much of the time while she was reading and formulating her thoughts.  The way it worked is that she dictated her answers to me and I wrote them in steno like I do for the CART work, and I also then did the editing she needed.  In the end, there was a good deal more typing than stenoing, which was hard, but it was very rewarding work, and as I told her when she kept apologizing to me:  I'm being paid very well to do this.  This is your test.  Don't waste time being polite to me.  Be a drill sergeant.  Dictate to me; consider me your robot.  After we developed a rhythm, and when she got over being self-conscious about us hearing her thoughts out loud ("us" = the proctors and me), and stopped spending time apologizing for asking me to go back to the previous paragraph or whatever, it worked out really well. 

So given the way my week had developed, I was sure that I was going to get Thursday "off." 

Wrong again.  This one was a video deposition that lasted all day and for which they need the rough draft tomorrow morning (or that would be "today" by the time this posts.)

So what the hell am I doing writing this?  I should get back to work.  Shhhh, quiet please!  I gotta work!  What's that I hear?  Cha-ching?!

Email Fun: A Reader Tip and Lily Chin Writes

I will try not to make it all red scarf all the time around here, but reader Margie has sent in this tip that I wanted to share with you all:

If your readers have Borders Rewards cards and get email alerts from Borders, they are currently offering 30% discount coupon with $10 purchase [you have to participate in a short survey]. You purchase $10 worth (and gift cards qualify) and you get 30% off another item (gift cards DO NOT qualify for 30% discount). The coupon is good until August 9th.

I purchased gift cards to be included with my scarves and then used the coupon to buy a paperback(knitting-theme mystery by Mary Kruger). I have found I get the best "deal" when I use the coupons on mass market paperbacks since Amazon et al don't usually discount more than 10% off those (list price of 6.99 or less). Even with a sales tax of 9%, it still is less than going through an online vendor.

AND what fun it was to find an email in my in box from Lily Chin.  Last year I received some inquiries in the comments of the Red Scarf Blog about the beautiful scarf she designed for the Red Scarf Project, and I was not able to answer them.  She heard through the grapevine (heh, Annalisa at the OFA) about that, and she writes that she is willing to field any questions people might have -- so speak up if you do!  I'm going to get me some of that Gramercy red yarn....

P.S.  Lily's Red Scarf pattern is downloadable free from her website.  Click on Yarns, Gramercy, and then look for the last photo in the pattern section.  That links to the pattern for the mock cable reversible scarf. 

 

Gwen's Red Scarf (and ISO crochet scarf patterns)

~It turns out, as a result of another last-minute change, I may be away for a couple of days for work, so I'm writing this post ahead of time to post while I'm gone.~

The last time I was in Gwen's shop before she died (and the last time I ever saw her), I noticed she had some Cascade 220 superwash in the bargain bin by the door.  I was with my friend Michelle, and we both shouted out, "Red Scarf Project!!" as I grabbed two balls of red.

A little while later, Anne sent me a simple pattern she wrote with the Red Scarf Project in mind.  It seemed like the pattern and Gwen's yarn were meant to go together.  I gave it a go.  I'm knitting again!  However simple and slowly, at least it's something, and I'm loving the result.  I'm almost finished with the first ball, and the scarf is almost three feet long, so with this pattern and two balls of Cascade 220 Superwash, it appears you'll get the recommended-length-and-width scarf out of two balls.  Pretty economical, a good-looking scarf that several of those polled (male and female, from the OFA and not) have certified as being suitably unisex. 

Here is Anne's pattern, and her commentary in her own words.  I wonder if we can officially rename it.

Gwen's Red Scarf

Cast on any multiple of four stitches, plus two for edges (I used 38) and then simply: Slip first stitch; *K1, K2tog, YO, P1* till one stitch remains - K last stitch. Do the same row, over and over until you've reached the length you want.

I have since scoured every stitch directory I could find, including both Barbara Walker treasuries, in search of this, and it doesn't seem to be anywhere. So, it might be unique enough to be worth passing along. It's not a flashy entrelac or stunning cable variety, but it sure is easy and stitches up great in a common old Wool-Ease or Caron Simply Soft. Perfect for beginning knitters.

Now, calling all crocheters!  One of the duties I took on during my meeting on Friday was to send links to free knitted and crocheted scarf patterns to the folks at the OFA.  They'd like to provide links to suitable unisex patterns of varying degrees of difficulty on their website.

I have already sent several knitted ones (all the usual suspects:  Irish Hiking, My So-Called Scarf, Basketweave, etc.), but have not been all that successful finding suitable crocheted ones.  Suggestions, anyone? 

A Mini Oasis (My New Toy)

Gurgle-gurgle, drip-drip.

Oops. I said I was going to talk about a scarf, didn't I?  How about tomorrow, then? I got called in on an unexpected emergency basis for a long day of work yesterday (on a semi-scheduled day off), and today is a very long day also. 

The sound of the water is calling my name...It's so conducive to sitting and knitting, or just daydreaming.  I can lose hours out there...

Red-Scarfers, Start Your Engines

It's time to launch Red Scarf 2008!

Before we get started, please go watch the video, "Fostering Dreams."  Then come back.  I'll wait.

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I'm all aglow after my recent trip to Washington to finally meet Annalisa Assaadi, National Events Coordinator of the Orphan Foundation of America, with whom I have shared a close email and telephonic acquaintance for the last couple of years.  Yes, you know what I'm talking about:  My favorite little cause, The Red Scarf Project. 

It probably comes as no surprise that Annalisa and I immediately fell into an easy old-friendship kind of conversation. This trip was filled with bonuses.  Two of them are named Doug Sprei and Lisa Parrott.  Doug is the OFA's Director of Communications and Marketing, and Lisa started out as a volunteer working on the care packages and is now a staffer working on coordinating the entire Red Scarf program. 

I had not been told to expect a "Doug."  I had a bit of time to kill after I had checked out of my hotel room, and was awaiting a call from Annalisa, so I sat in the lobby with my knitting -- a red scarf, of course:

I was a little taken aback when a man approached me.  He said, "I'm Doug Sprei, Director of Communications and Marketing with the Orphan Foundation of America.  I'm honored to meet you." 

He later told the story that as he was taking the Metro to the hotel, he wondered how he would know who I was.  He got to the lobby, looked around, and saw a woman knitting a red scarf.  Heh. Subtle of me, eh?

After a while, we were joined by Annalisa and Lisa, and we trekked down the street to find a breakfast place where we could work. We had the best time.

Annalisa and I are tied together with the award-winning scarf that provided the original inspiration for the Red Scarf Project.

Could we really even call it a business meeting?  Are business meetings supposed to be so much fun?  I vote yes.

But we did work.  Here I am, brainstorming with Lisa and Doug.  See how serious I look?  Working. 

What are we working on?  I'm so excited I can barely contain myself, but I'm not quite ready to tell you all the details yet, because they haven't all been finalized.  And besides, I want to tease and torture you a little, and build up the anticipation (subtle of me again, eh?).  A clue is here on the back of Annalisa's business card.

Que$tion $$ (pay attention; thi$ will be on the te$t) -- $$ What i$ one of the thing$ at which knitblogger$, knitter$, crocheter$, and knitblog reader$ excel $$?

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• In the meantime, you should start knitting or crocheting your red scarves.  Remember the new guidelines we've mentioned a few times before: 
• No more than five scarves per person. We're shooting for quality, not quantity, this time.  The OFA was overwhelmed with our generosity last year, in the true sense of the word. 
• Unisex and soft.  Machine washability is preferred, but hand-washable is fine, too.  No Fun Fur.  (remember unisex)
• 5 to 8 inches wide, with a soft drape, approximately 60 inches long
• Shades of red are preferred, but other unisex colors are fine, too.
• Fringe or no fringe; either way
• Notes of encouragement or personal messages attached to your scarves are strongly encouraged
• Please include a stamped, self-addressed envelope (for thank you notes and/or acknowledgments)
• Gift cards from national chain bookstores, fast-food places, stores like Target, etc., are strongly wished for
• Target dates of arrival are much earlier this year: September-October 2007, for 2008 Valentine's delivery. 

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Soon I will be opening a new blog for Red Scarf 2008 with a similar format to last year's, where I will share information and post links to developments, and post your scarf photos if you send them to me attached to an email.  Please put "Red Scarf" in the subject line of your email.  I get a lot of emails, and some things might get lost in the shuffle without that. 

I am posting this sans some important info, such as the address to send the scarves.  I assume it's the same address as last year, but I want to confirm that before I post it.  Hang tight on questions about some of those details if you would, please.  I'll get to explaining everything as soon as possible.  The OFA is spiffing up its Red Scarf site, as well -- it's currently a work in progress.  Soon there will be links to suggested patterns and other essential info posted there. 

Knit and crochet on!

Next post, I'll talk about the scarf I'm knitting. I'm calling it Gwen's Scarf. 

This "48 is the new 28"-year-old Sure Does Appreciate Her Friends

You guys.  Thanks for all the birthday wishes.  You're the best.  The BEST! 

I just had to share with you what Marcia sent me. 

Yeah, baby. 

So...I'm off on a little trip.  Here's a hint:  I'll be knitting something red (yes, believe it!  I'll be knitting! Get yourself back up off the floor....) on the plane.  Tell you all about it on Monday...