Now Norma Knits

Uncle!

When it came time to write a blog post tonight, I did something I have almost never done before, but that some others write that they do all the time: I sat and stared at the screen trying to think of something to write. So I'm crying uncle and slapping up this photo of the scarf in progress, and going to bed. 

I've separated the red and the blue seed stitch with a couple of gold garter ridges. I hope it's a pleasing combo in the end. Right now I'm not so sure I like it. The scarf will be about 2/3 blue, with just a touch of gold and a red stripe down one side. Could be interesting and great, or could be weird. I hope it's not the latter. I'm too tired, sore (from a killer workout at the gym) and wrung out to make a decision about it right now.

(Morning-after addition: The yarns are Knit Picks Swish Worsted in Fired Brick and Saffron, and Mission Falls 1824 in Denim.  I cast on 293 stitches, using a US 9 needle, which I hope will result in a scarf approximately 60 inches long. In the morning light, I really do like the color combo.)

One Finished, One Begun

Red Scarf No. 4 - Seed Stitch

Cascade 220, Color No. 9404

(Most of 2 skeins used)

US 7 needles, 29 stitches wide

Finished dimensions after blocking: 6.25 inches by 68 inches

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And after I completed it last night, I cast on another:

As you can see, I am not yet tired of the seed stitch, and it goes really fast for me. I had a little bit of Knit Picks Swish worsted in Fired Brick left, but not enough for an entire scarf. I decided to maximize its impact in a stash-busting lengthwise-striped seed stitch scarf. After I finished the Cascade 220 one while watching a movie and some basketball yesterday, I went ahead and cast on 293 stitches on a long-cabled needle and started knitting more seeds. I've completed over an inch in width. That's a sixth (or a fifth if I stop at 5 inches wide, which is a possibility) of the way completed. Already. 

Who says there isn't time for a scarf before December 15th? 
 

Oops

Oops, I never did get to making the celery soup yesterday.  Instead I:

1. Did another practice LSAT test. (The result was disappointing.)

2. Made a gallon of homemade yogurt in the crock pot. (The result was NOT disappointing.) (In fact, it was awesome.) (I've got a bee in my bonnet about all the [plain and Greek] yogurt we eat and all the 1-quart plastic containers we throw away. Oh, all right, "send to the recycling center." But still, what most people don't know is that sending all that stuff to the recycling center should not leave one with a completely clear conscience. It's better than the landfill -- or is it? Does everything that we think we are recycling get recycled? Is there an outlet for all the recycleables? Is there a market for them? Is it economically sound to recycle them? The answer, more often than we wish, is no. I'm told by my recycling center reps that there is a huge glut of recycled stuff -- or more accurately, stuff that is returned by well meaning individuals who think it is really going to be recycled -- and nowhere to send it.) (Sorry for all the parentheticals.) (I won't do it again.) (I promise.) (Probably.) Plus, making yogurt was easy and fun, I didn't have to buy anything except a gallon of milk (I used 1%) and a box of nonfat powdered milk, and it will save (lots of) money. (Oops.)

3. Knitted on my red scarf. At last measure it was 45". (I'm thrilled to see the enthusiasm with which the blog community is taking on the Red Scarf challenge. If you don't already know, the Knitspot Ravelry group is having a knitalong -- with prizes!)  Erika has instituted a six-inches-a-day plan. I'm not touching that one with a ten-foot pole. (Oops.)

4. Went to the gym and had a hell of a good and varied workout, using the Tabata protocol, and taught the protocol to Abigail. She's a fan. 

5. Followed the workout with a light dinner of leftover broccoli-mushroom-cheddar soup and a huge salad, and grapefruit.

Life is good. Well, all except for that LSAT. Oops.

Black Friday is Prize Day Here At Now Norma Knits

Let's hear big congratulations to the following winners generated by random.org, in my Black Friday prize drawing in the Red Scarf Fundraising Drive.

1.  Donna wins a $10 gift certificate from Knitspot (lucky Donna -- this is the second time she has won)

2.  Susan!  In a what-goes-around-comes-around lovely karmic event, Susan wins the copy of the First Book of Modern Lace Knitting donated by Michele D.

3.  Angie wins a $25 gift certificate from Little Barn, Inc. donated by Susan R.

4.  K.T. wins the white bronze poetry buttons donated by Blazing Needles,

and

5.  Cathy B. wins the package of 4 Chic Knits printed patterns donated by Bonne Marie.

Congratulations everyone and thank you to the donors. I hope you all had a wonderful day yesterday and are spending today exactly as you wish. I'll be making celery soup (I had lots of celery trimmings from Thanksgiving dinner preparations), studying, and knitting on my red scarf. It stands at 34.5 inches now -- better than half way -- and I've already ripped out the fugly scarf to reclaim the yarn to finish this one, washed it and let it dry, so it's all set to go when I reach the end of the present ball of yarn, which will be soon. 

I didn't knit as much as I'd hoped to yesterday, as I was felled by a killer headache and allergic reaction. My sister-in-law, sisters, Abigail and I were dropping like flies -- my sister-in-law went to bed with a migraine, and the rest of us got headaches one by one. I was lying down on the floor with an ice pack on my head and most everyone was asking for Advil except me (I'm allergic to it). Eventually we discovered it was because my mother had plugged in one of those Glade air fresheners -- accckkk! My poor mom - she didn't realize she was plugging in the Air Freshener Of Death. Once we discovered what was causing the problem, unplugged the culprit, and threw it down the cellar stairs put it away, we all got better. But the scarf got lots of oohs and ahhs from my family members. They loved the color and the seed stitch. I do, too. It's flying along, really. I do not agree with those who say that seed stitch is tedious and slow. It's just the opposite for me -- it has a wonderful rhythm, it's easy to knit on while watching TV, it lies flat and seems to grow faster than many other stitches, perhaps because of the flatness of the fabric it creates? I'm not sure, but I know that I'm going to buy more of this incredible red yarn and make my long-wished-for seed stitch jacket, someday soon.

 

A Curmudgeon's Antidote To The Pervasive Thankfulness That's Going On Today

I know everyone is expecting all soupy-thankful today. I thought I'd buck the trend and share with you my latest pet peeve:  Cars that use the HORN, which should be reserved exclusively for DANGER! or ALERT-YOU-ARE-ABOUT-TO-BACK-INTO-MY-CAR, or YOU ARE AN A**HOLE WHO JUST CUT ME OFF, as the electronic keylock sound.

COME ON, PEOPLE!  Put a lid on it! 

I am convinced that this alone is why the worldwide economy has tanked. 

Every freakin' time somebody near me locks their car that way, I am backing out of a parking space or walking past, or I'm in a parking garage where it echoes and is 13 times even MORE LOUD, and I jump thoroughly out of my SKIN.

I would be THANKFUL if car manufacturers would all follow the makers that use that sweet little chirp sound for locking their damn doors. If they can't do that, they should stop using electronic keys.

CHIRPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE!!!!!  

And don't honk your horn at me unless you mean BUSINESS.

Scarves Are In Urgent Need!

In the sidebar of my Facebook page, for weeks on end, there was an ad for a nursing school that blared, "Nurses are in Urgent Need!"

After a while I couldn't stand it anymore, and I wondered in my profile: "Of what?" 

Several people responded to my musing in exactly the way those of us in the naughty corner might respond.  *cough* (you know who you are)

Oddly enough, after I wrote that, some editor apparently picked up on it and fixed the shoddy grammar so the ad then read something to the effect of, "Nurses Are In Short Supply." That's....somewhat better. The twitch over my right eye seems to have lessened by a little. 

But this is serious, folks.  

We urgently need scarves.

Or, This is URGENT: WE NEED SCARVES!

Or, scarves are urgently needed.

Or, there is a serious shortage of scarves.

Or, if you prefer, Scarves Are In Urgent Need!

Or rather, we are in dire need of scarves.

As of the unpackaging event held for the OFA last Saturday, the total number received stands at 1,287 scarves.

They need 3,000+

If you are able to eke out a scarf, or another scarf, before the December 15 deadline, (or even somewhere close to the deadline will be acceptable) I hope you will consider it. Remember the guidelines, but please don't be paralyzed into inaction by the guidelines. The goal is a nice, unisex scarf, and the preferred color is red BUT there are hundreds of shades that are unisex... just stay away from pink and lilac. And there are dozens of unisex designs... just stay away from the lace.   

Here they are again:  5 to 8 inches wide, 60ish inches long.  Unisex. Sport, DK, or worsted weight.  (bulky or super-bulky will not fit into the shipping boxes)

Mail completed scarves to:

Orphan Foundation of America 
The Red Scarf Project 
21351 Gentry Drive 
Sterling, VA 20166

I'm still working on my fourth -- the seed stitch one -- and I think I can probably get another one completed before the deadline. I will knit on mine all Thanksgiving Day, because I will be at my mom's house and I can't very well knit her sweater in her presence, now, can I? But I am IN SERIOUS NEED!  (...of my friends coming forth and knitting scarves, and spreading the word to anyone you can think of who will make a lovely scarf to send in.)

Go read Gale's thoughtful post here. She's offering for you to STEAL! Steal her poster both for your blog and take it in to your local yarn store! 

Thank you, everyone. I know you have done so much already, and I really appreciate it.  

This photo is not exactly a non sequitur:

...but is a little skein of heaven that the fine folks at Fibre-Isle Fine Yarns in Prince Edward Island sent me so I could testify firsthand what wonderful stuff their two donated prizes are in the Red Scarf Fund fundraiser. It is bamboo-merino-bison laceweight. People. You want this. You can't have my skein -- there are limits to my altruism. But they donated TWO kits for the fundraiser which include this gorgeous yarn and a pattern and -- Well, here in this post is the full description. Go take a look at it again.  (In fact, if you want to refresh your memory of all the wonderful prizes in the fundraiser, browse through this category.)

I don't even knit lace, but I'm going to with this one, I'll tell you. In fact, I might just cast on immediately. I know exactly the pattern I'm going to make in it -- Spiralucious. I bought that red yarn at the VT Sheep & Wool Festival to make it, but when I wound it up I was very disappointed -- it ranged from the lovely burnished red I saw in the skein, to many yards of hidden mauve that didn't even go with the red. God, how I hate space-dyed yarns. Trying to use that for that lovely pattern would completely obliterate the pattern, and honestly -- MAUVE with the red?  No, no, no. Totally wrong. Fibre-Isle to the rescue!  Thank you, Sylvie and Jacques! 

And thank you again to all who are knitting scarves, have knitted scarves, and have donated to the fund.  I am thankful for you all.

This is a test

This is a test.

Terrier Tuesday -- Another New Sweater For A Good Boy

Hi Everyone!

I'm very proud. Alpha Alpha says I've been a Very, Very, Very Good Boy this week. Not one mistake! I'm restricting my "marking" to the paper that she brought out. She hadn't put out any paper since I moved here, and really, that was her mistake, not mine! All this time I was just looking for a nice place to go with good manners, and she took it away from me and that made me very confused. Anyway, she agrees that it was her mistake, and she put a paper down for me now. She says that is better than just going wherever I want, and I think that is a good compromise, don't you? Sometimes she's on the phone for a long time, or studying, or typing on the computer, and she doesn't listen to me that I need to go out, and I just can't hold it, ya know? It's not my fault. 

[Pssst: The real truth? I realized she.was.really.not.kidding, and I'm no dummy. I know who's in charge of the treats bag. Plus, I really don't like her mean voice. It's ugggggly.]

And not only that, but she wants to let you know how proud she is of me for always coming to her when she says, "Come!" this week. She is very happy with me, and really that's all I want in life, is to make her happy. [See above.] 

She's so happy with me that she made me a new Peace Fleece sweater.

A really nice person named Cyndy sent us this Peace Fleece yarn in "Grassroots."  I like it a lot. It's a great color and so warm, but I'm not so sure about those buttons that A.Alpha chose. Do you think they're just a bit too girly?

Love,

Mr. Jefferies

  

Still Eating From My Garden

This weekend was full of good eating from the garden. Since it's almost the end of November, I can hardly believe it. Mind you, if I had a larger garden and more storage, it would not be all that unusual to still be eating root vegetables, winter squashes, and maybe even some cabbages if special care had been taken in their storage, even this far up in Vermont. But for me, with my tiny little patch and the lazy methods of storage I employ, it is quite something.

Friday evening I made a spicy bean and kale soup. I didn't use a recipe, but just followed my instincts, using the ingredients I had on hand. I used the wonderful Dolloff beans that I grew and dried. These were my first-ever attempt at growing a dried bean, and not only that, the seeds were a gift from a fellow Northern Vermont (but on the other side of the mountain) gardener. I loved these beans and am very excited to grow more next year from the beans I saved for seed.  I only ended up with enough this year for one pot of soup, because it was my first experiment with them and I didn't give them a whole lot of space in the garden. Next year I will devote three bean towers' worth of space to them.  In the wonderful soup pot were onions and garlic and kale and canned tomatoes, all from my garden. I spiced it up with some Liquid Smoke and cayenne pepper, and because I was a bit too heavy-handed on the cayenne, I added a small splash of sherry and a small splash of half-and-half cream right at the end to cool the cayenne down a bit. 

It was delicious and different, and as I'm writing this I wish I had more, but it's all gone. And I forgot to photograph it for the blog.  

Then, because my kale is still growing and I know I will kick myself later if I don't use it while it's here, for lunch on Saturday I made a kind of kale pesto. I chopped and steamed two dino leaves (as Manise calls them) of Lacinato kale, then I put it in a blender with some walnut oil, pecorino cheese, pine nuts, and garlic, and poured the pesto over an omelet and sprinkled it with a little more cheese.  

At the risk of sounding repetitive, I'll say it was......

.....delicious.

And different.

And holy cow.  

At the risk of sounding repetitive again, I wish I had some more!

And I forgot to photograph it. 

I was too busy devouring it.

Then Saturday evening I made chicken stew.  In the stew pot were onions, garlic, parsley, and carrots -- all from the garden -- and the one bag of peas I froze from the garden this year. I added mushrooms, celery, sherry, frozen corn and some herbs, and let the whole thing simmer for a long afternoon while I did my studying and knitting. I treated myself to some miniature parsley dumplings on the top of the stew. 

Delicious.

And yes..... different.  And we feasted on that for two days. 

And we saw that It Was Good.

All the better because so much of it came from our own backyard. 

The inventory of riches from this year's garden is dwindling. There are a few carrots left -- enough for another stew or another two meals of buttered or roasted carrots, or the addition of grated carrots to several salads.  There is a gallon-size bag of beets. There are four bulbs of garlic. There is a basketful of yellow and red onions. There are about nine pints of canned tomatoes, and a quart of frozen zucchini and two quarts of frozen green beans. There are two jars of pickled beets, and about six small jars of rose petal jam, and one quart of frozen asparagus, and two big buttercup squashes. The kale is still growing, as is the parsley. The broccoli is, too, but it's producing hardly any florets -- still, a handful once in a while is better than nothing. And the Swiss chard is still limping along, as well. 

I'm thankful for what is there, and I treat it with great reverence. But if we had to survive on this, it wouldn't take us very far.  I wish there were some parsnips with those carrots and beets in the crisper bin. Next year I will plant parsnips. Please remind me.

I forgot to photograph all the bounty of the weekend's table, so I'll give you a sneak preview of something I'm knitting.  

Heh.  I took about 20 photos under the Ott Lite, but this is the only one that accurately reflects the colors. So there you have it. Quite the sneak preview, eh?
 

For All Those Who Have Theorized That The New Gentler Front-Loading Washers Do Not Felt Things....

...I'm here to tell you, tain't true.

Exhibit A:

It may not be all that evident from this photo, but believe me, it's felted -- ESPECIALLY the alpaca tummy-piece. I wanted it to shrink a bit because it had stretched a lot, but this is way overdone -- about 40% shrinkage, I'd say, and the neck is almost as stiff as cardboard.  It's definitely too small, even for teeny-weeny little Mr. J.

This is after only one run through the machine, using hot water and with several towels in the mix. (friction is the key with felting) It's kind of a hoot, because back when I was doing all those felted bags in that old energy-guzzler SUV of washing machines, that top-loader I had -- the one that's supposed to be so powerful and the one that used tons of water and wore the clothes out sooner -- I'd have to put items through often as many as FIVE TIMES to get them to felt fully. This one is almost "there" after only one run.  

Good thing these are fun and fast to knit. I'll cut off the buttons and use them on another one.  

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Blue Fair Isle "Mom" Sweater Update:

I've finished the right front.