Ah, Family

Hope you all had a nice day off if you got one. Sweetie had Saturday and Sunday off, but as usual, he worked the holiday performing start up at the plant.

He stayed home Sunday to mind the live stock while I traveled 41/2 hours to my paternal family reunion. My first but it was the 87th annual. I have such mixed emotions about family, especially my father's side, but despite my misgivings, I made the trip if only to see two of my three brothers and their families.

The event was in a rented hall, and the first person I saw greeted me by name! I hadn't seen that second cousin in over 30 years. Her three brothers knew me right off, too. I met more cousins than I knew existed and most of them knew my dad. They were all related to him. There were maybe 50 to 60 people there - all of them my family - and I was welcomed warmly by everyone. It was a strange feeling.

The coolest thing, though, was learning about the ancestors, (although I didn't learn nearly enough in the short time I was there.) The family tree begins with Ambrose H., Sr. in 1810. He was Generation One and lived in South Carolina. I am Generation Six. I hope someone can eventually trace our roots back to England.

Another very cool thing was what one particular second cousin said to me. When we would visit every summer, one of the few of my dad's people that we would go see was this cousin's family. All of us kids were about the same age and I remember that time fondly as there seemed to be no underlying tension, no amorphous anxiety. Anyway, this cousin looked me in the face and said, "You look so much like your mother." I was touched to the core and delighted at the same time because I always admired her looks - tall, slim and blond. For someone to say that this short, chubby and brunette woman looked like her - well, of course I was delighted.

My package from Yubina arrived Friday, a brown paper package decorated with a variety of Chinese stamps. I had ordered 150 grams of cashmere lace weight yarn and 100 grams of cashmere and silk lace weight. Soft and luscious stuff for Future Shawls.

Knits and Notes

It’s SCATTERGORIES, and is harder than it looks! Thank you, JenLa:

Here are the rules:
~Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following.
~They MUST be real places, names, things…NOTHING made up!
~If you can’t think of anything, skip it.
~Try to use different answers if the person before you had the same 1st initial.
~You CAN’T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

Have fun!

Your Name: Fuzzarelly
1. Famous Singer/Band: Freddie Fender
2. 4 letter word: Frog
3. Street Name: Fourth Street
4. Color: Fuchsia
5. Gifts/Presents: Fingerless Gloves, French Perfume, Faberge Egg
6. Vehicle: Ford Fairlane
7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: Figurine
8. Boy Name: Frank
9. Girl Name: Fredna (this is my aunt)
10. Movie Title: A Fish Called Wanda
11. Drink: Flaming Hurricane
12. Occupation: Fire fighter
13. Celebrity: Franklin (The Panopticon)
14. Magazine: Forbes
15. U.S. City: Ft. Wayne, IN
16. Pro Sports Teams: Falcons
18. Reason for Being Late for Work: Flat
19. Something You Throw Away: Fag end
20. Things You Shout: Futhermucker!
21. Cartoon Character: Fred Flintstone

Knits and Notes

The purple and white socks are at the heel flap, and I did dye the "over twisted and over plied," second-place merino a fire engine red and I'm using it for the heel and toe.




For the heel, I using what Nancy Bush calls the Shaped Common Heel because I am tired of the other heel methods. Why not live a little? This method knits the heel flap extra long and it is then folded in half and grafted together to fit under the heel. (The Shaped bit means that the middle/back edge is decreased slightly to achieve a rounded shape.) Stitches are then picked up along the sides and gussets are created by decreasing - just like a regular heel flap. I got tired of the Opal yarn, too, and that is why I put in that funky red line up the back.

I have solved my dilemma concerning how to dye the 1350 yards of lace weight merino several different colors/shades - I'm just going to skein it and cut it. I tried the Russian Joinwith this yarn and was well pleased with the technique. Life is too short to agonize. Only now, I have to agonize about what colors/shades to use. I don't know...maybe purple and fuchsia?

I knit in the continental style, and Norwegian Purl all the time. I thought some of you might be interested in a short You Tube video of the technique.

Let's have a moment of silence for

Iduma Best, 76, Elizabeth, died Sunday, Aug. 26, 2007, at Floyd Memorial Hospital and Health Services in New Albany. She was a retired burnisher at Bruce Fox in New Albany.

For me, the worst part of the colonoscopy (aka The Roto-Rooter Special) came the day before, when I had to drink 4 liters of a purgative, 8 ounces every 15 minutes until done. It didn't taste too awful, but it seemed heavy and thick and it was hard going sometime to get it down.

The second worst thing was having to be at the hospital at 7 damn o'clock. In the morning.

I remember being wheeled into the operating room, greeting the doctor, being told that I could watch the whole thing on the TV. Fade to black. Two hours later, the nurse is trying to get me to stay awake. "Honey," she said, "You're going to have to get up soon to go home." My reply was to snuggle deeper into the cot. Get me up, they did, though, and Sweetie drove me home. For a nap.

Nothing was painful, even though one polyp was found and removed. (Because of that, I get to go through this again in two years, not ten. Lucky me!) So, if you are due for this procedure, let me say that it is nothing to dread.

As if that wasn't enough for one day, we drove to the Kentucky State Fair grounds to pick up my entries. Actual ribbon count was 4 red/second, one white/third, and one pink/fourth. All of the skeins were critiqued, which was nice and I wish that were done for all entries. On every one of my skeins, though, my singles were said to be uneven although the plied yarn was balanced. The merino was spun and plied with too much twist, although it was "nicely balanced."

So. I see what I need to work on.

Sweetie goes back to work today after having a week and a half vacation. He also celebrated his 45th birthday last week. He's such a kid! It was a pleasure to have him home but I won't mind having my evenings to myself again.

I've begun a pair of socks out of Opal in an interesting purple and white print. The resulting pattern is a subtuttle swirl of solid purple and heathered purple. I had planned to make the heel and toe from some pink but now I'm thinking of using the overtwisted merino. Maybe dyeing it. Red?

Another day to explore the great indoors! The forecast high today is 98 degrees. Our "normal" temperature for this time of year is 85. So, I'm stayin' inside.

Had to venture forth yesterday to guitar lesson. Here is my cute gifted instructor, Chad.



Yours truly, getting that G chord thing goin'.



Wednesday, Sweetie and I finished painting the front living room. All except for the molding at the ceiling and the quarter round molding on the base boards. But first, we need to buy, paint and install said molding. We are getting there, though, and may well have it all complete by my birthday. In February.

I visited my archives for August 2006 and was surprised at how sick I was from my allergies. Almost every entry mentioned that I felt awful or had just gotten over feeling awful. I have been feeling pretty good this August. My allergies are under control and I am able to take the heat. Also, there was Murgatroyd at his most ornery and adorable. I miss that little guy.

But we have Heizen and Sheila as house bunnies now and neither one of them pees on the couch. Here is Sheila in the litter box. The tufts on her ears look ridiculous, don't they? Cute as all get out and ridiculous.




This is a picture of rain on the window. Yes, we got us some rain - three inches worth today! Not nearly enough, though. Most corn crops around here have fried in the field and soybeans are nice and green but with no beans. Also in the photo is dyed angora. I've dyed green, rusty red and navy.




Instead of spending two hours every day on Sudoku, I am now using that time to knit. Not lace, but simple hats out of handspun. The one in the lower right is a crocheted cloche. I am ready to start another pair of socks and I am researching lace shawl patterns.



I visited a yarn shop with a great name,Grinny Possum, last week and picked up two balls of sock yarn and some merino laceweight that I want to dye. Not space dyed, but rather dyed in long runs. I have an idea how to do that flopping around in my brain - skeining and tying off hundred yard sections that I don't cut apart. The trick will be not making a huge mess or tangle, but if each little skein is well secured I think it will work. I am also awaiting delivery of some cashmere and cashmere/silk laceweight. Yum.

I admit I was not happy to find that, although I received 5 ribbons at the state fair, not one was a blue ribbon. Both of the shawls and 2 hand spun skeins received second place ribbons, and one skien a third. My socks didn't even place. Sweetie says that I am going to have to actually try next year. He thought it was good for me to be brought down a peg, to not be able to merely coast to victory for once. The bastard. He's right.

My good friend Blue Acorn won first place for her beautiful woven wool rug. NancyNeverSwept received the blue ribbon for a pair of socks that she labored over for months, on size ones, battling hand pain.

The weather has broken, a little anyway. We are still in a severe drought, but the temperatures are no longer in the 100s. The overnight lows are in the 60s and the highs are in the low 90s. It's supposed to hot back up this week, though, but not to the mind fry-ingly one hundreds.

Sweetie is on vacation this week and we have made tentative plans for one or two day trips. He'd like to go see the museum dedicated to his favorite crazy general, George Patton. It's at Ft. Knox and not far from here. (Some nights, we can feel the ground rumble and see the sky flash from their artillery.) There's also the Wright Museum in Dayton, Ohio. We'd go canoeing, except that water levels are too low. I'd like to take him to Pleasant Hill, Kentucky to see Shakertown. If it gets too hot, though, we may just stay home.

For those of you who still have to work, give up.