Petunia rambles on and on….

Sydney is where the day begins. Sydney is where the first big televised New Year’s celebrations are shown. They celebrate before the rest of us – actually, 12 hours before we do here on the US east coast. They are first, and can stick their tongue out at the rest of us tagging along behind.

 

 

Once again, they’ll be first to enjoy World Wide Knit in Public Day, this year slated for 13 June, 2009 – one advantage we Northern Hemisphere folks have over them is that ours will be a warmer day! Here, June offers the possibility of knitting outdoors in comfort; I don’t expect they have that in Australia. Sally at PomPom already has a great logo designed, don’t you think?

Perhaps this is something our newly formed Kent County Knitters and Crocheter might wish to participate in? Get some planning started NOW!

The KCKC’s had another meeting this past Sunday (third Sunday of every month), held at the Loockerman Exchange in Dover. (Barbara, thanks for allowing us the use of your meeting room!). We continue with a core group of knitters, and new faces show, too. We gabbed, admired each other’s projects, indulged in wonderful refreshments, passed around info on upcoming Knitter events and books of interest to the group. We’re talking about the possibility of members getting together for a trip over to Maryland Sheep and Wool that will be held on the first weekend in May.

I’ve never been to MS&W, and would love to spend lots of money buy an alpace or two go there. But the first weekend in May has another, more personal significance. It’s when the family gathers to celebrate Twinsday – my twin grandsons were born on 05-05-05! Daughter has their party scheduled for the first Saturday, and they now live 3 hours away. Grandchildren outrank sheep – that’s a given. Still, I was trying to connive figure a way of somehow working things so that I could get a weekend that included both wee boys and sheep.  I looked at my work calendar and saw that I’ll be off on a Wed/Thurs one week in March, covering for our weekend person who’ll be away on vacation. Called daughter and invited Pop and I to her house for those two days, his days off, too. Went to Pop and starting laying the groundwork for all this. How, at the party with so many family members and friends around, he won’t be able to get all the individual time with the boys that he craves. There will be so many others that want to interact with the little guys, too. It’ll just break his heart, to be so close to them, and not down on the floor with them in his arms ALL THE TIME. Oh, Pop, that’ll be rough. Oh, my, I smeared it on thick.

“Hey,” says I, “well, look here. Look at these two days off I have.  Why don’t we go down and see Daughter and the boys. We’ll have the best part of 2 whole days with them. That might make stepping back and giving others a turn at the party a little easier for you, dear.”  (Is it getting a little deep here?) As he readily agrees that this is a wonderful idea, I casually tossed out the fact that MS&W is that same weekend, and while we’re over in Maryland anyway, we could spend one day with the CROWD at the party, and then head north, spend the night somewhere, and see the show on Sunday? 

He readily agreed. I did not pass out. I need to make our hotel reservations!

AND – after our meeting, after Pop got off work, we went back!!  To the Loockerman! On Sundays, from 4pm until 8pm, they are having a DJ that’s playing music from the 50’s and 60’s. And videos of the performances up on big screens!  Now all us women hate for our age to show, but I sure remembered all the lyrics to almost every song! This is a new thing that the place is starting, and not too many people even know they’re open on Sundays, but spread the word.  There’s a big dance floor there that needs folks to come on out. We heard Motown, that Surfer music, British Invasion, Buddy Holly, the Kinks! Unchained Melody!

Pop and I have many times complained about the music played in local joints.  This is a town with a younger crowd in it. With a military base and several colleges, the places cater to patrons who are a whole lot younger than us and listening to music that makes us just want to take two aspirin and leave.  Well, now somebody agrees with us. But if people don’t go out and support this, they’ll change it to something else that’ll draw a crowd in. 

And it’s so much more fun when there’s a good crowd. Come on out!

Yes, right on the edge.

On the edge of going insane of the cuff of these socks.

I’ll keep knitting until I’m almost out , then go into the bind-off – I want to use up all this beautiful yarn!

I sure know I’m not a fast knitter, but I would get more done if so many other things didn’t get in the way. Like dinner prep, or laundry, or work!! After work today, I had to go to two different medical offices and sign release forms. My Mega-Dental procedure is coming up, and with all the fun and excitement that happened last month when I went for a simple, routine test and ended up admitted to hospital, the oral surgeon wants all the records from the fiasco. I had to sign release permission forms in each office. Maybe there’s a chance that things will go smoothly now?  Maybe?

Did I mention that stuff/junk/sewing fabrics are coming home?  Pop is starting to bring home all the “stuff” that’s been in storage for so long.  Tubs and tubs full.

The wee white set of drawers on the upper left is full of scissors and small notions. Those rolls are the backing fabrics for doing machine embroidery; the top drawer is CDs full of embroidery patterns and my designing software. Tubs full of quilting fabrics, fat quarters, muslin for backing. Somewhere there’s bolts of white muslin. Sadly, he did not bring the tables, desks or shelves to put things on!! There should be a large corner computer desk, and another computer desk to sit right beside it – that’s where I did all my designing – and I had my Juki machine on the small desk. My big Brother sewing/embroidery machine is here at home, and my newer Singer machine may go to daughter.She’s indicated she might try her hand at sewing, and its a great machine still. Certainly capable enough for her to gauge her interest in fabric crafts.
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When I made one of many trips to the grocery store last week, I found Poppy Seed Filling.  Haven’t bought any in years – really, it must be 20 years at least. But I remembered my mother trying the recipe on the can’s label, and loving the cake – and I made it many times, too. Of course, I bought it. It calls for a Bundt pan – remember them?  Hell, everyone had one. Or two. Big damn things, took up so much space. Well, I started digging around and sure enough, I found my old, original one.  And you know how you can tell it’s an “original” ?   Well, by the color, of course.  Who the hell would buy anything in Harvest Gold today?

This gem probably goes back to about 1976?  It may be showing its years on the outside, but the inside surface is still fine, and the cake’s in the oven now.

Yay!!!!

Project Sprectrum for 2009 is almost here. See all the details over on the Lolly Knitting Around blog post that we’ve been waiting for.

Lolly does it again, and this may be the best one yet. A theme has been chosen. I can’t say that instructions have been given, because so much is up to us and how we wish to interpret the “suggestions” provided. This seems to give the participants the incentive to branch out, try new ideas and colors that they ordinarily don’t use. We are given so much room to grow. 

I like the more limited colors; in other years, each time-span offered more color choices to use. This year, one is suggested – March and April is GREEN. Hmmm, I don’t do much green but I just bought 3 of those 10-packs of skeins from Patternworks in Bretton Heather (and paid about half what they’re currently selling for – Whoo!!).  In the Garnet Heather, Denim Heather and Forest Heather!! And I’ve been looking at all of them and running my hands through them like Midas with a pot of gold trying to decide which color to use first. It would appear that Lolly and her Project Spectrum have made the choice for me – this is a good thing. It’ll get me out of the “making the right decision” stage and actually get me into the “knitting” stage!!! The materials for this time period are stones, gems or rocks – now, being a May-baby myself, my thoughts immediately went to Stones? Gems? Green? Emeralds. Instead of heading out to a jewelry store, I think I’ll use the stones/gems/rocks concept when I chose the buttons for the sweater? If that proves too much of a challenge here in Tinyville, well, then, maybe I’ll get Pop to take me down near the bay, and have him take my picture while I’m sitting on a rock.   

May/June will cause me to stretch.  The color is Yellow.  I love yellow.  When I got my first decent job, first decent paycheck, back in 1968, I ran to the mall with it and bought myself 3 or 4 yellow dresses for work – this was back in the Bronze Age, when pants/slacks were not permitted in the workplace.  I loved each one of them.  They looked wretched on me.  I have skin that veers off to the sallow side, was tall and thin – I looked like a walking banana!  I didn’t make that mistake again, and right now, can’t think of any clothing I own in yellow!  I’ll need to put some thought into this one!  Perhaps my interpretation of Yellow will have nothing to do with knitting at all, or perhaps I’ll work on a gift for someone with different coloring than me.

Anyhow, I’m looking forward to starting on the Bretton Forest Heather. I’ve noticed lately that my right wrist is aching almost constantly. I’m on a keyboard for at least 40 hours a week, and much of that is keying numbers on the number pad, very right-handed work, especially for a native leftie.  And at home, I’m on the computer way too much – that’s per Pop, but there’s more than a grain of truth there.  But these activities are nothing new.  I’m wondering if the current sock project, done on US size 2 needles, where I’m trying to work unnaturally tightly to increase durability, might be putting additional stress on my very tiny wrist.  My body may be telling me it’s time to finish these socks and get them off the needles. I’m way up the cuffs, doing two at a time, so the end is near! My wrist should like working with fatter yarns and needles.

The local knitting group is talking about starting a KAL making the February Lady Sweater.  So my yarn, my color and my pattern have been chosen by others!  That should get the next project going quickly!

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Hip! Hip! Hooray!

Pop is carrying stuff out of the storage locker, mucho plastic tubs of sewing stuff came back yesterday.   Fabrics, quilting rulers, notions, books.  Once upon a time, I had an orderly, efficient sewing room, and may indeed have it again.  He’s also bringing back much stuff that needs to be gone over, and perhaps many things just tossed.  Decisions will need to be made regarding what to keep and what to get rid of.  It’s not going to be easy.

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Today, February 12, is Abraham Lincoln’s birthday.  We were all taught that bit of information as schoolchildren, here in the US.  It’s also, we think, my father’s birthday. Today, the dates and times of a birth are accurately recorded; a nurse has her eye on the clock as the child emerges.  Not so, back then.  Most, if not all, births took place at home.  Later, sometimes weeks later, some member of the family went to City Hall and provided the data to be recorded.  I’m going to guess that it was my Ukrainian-immigrant grandfather that did this, conveying the facts as best he could in his broken English.  It shows the date as February 11.  We also have a baptismal certificate from the old Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Newark, NJ, and it shows the date as February 12.  He chose to celebrate it on the 12th.  He was born 99 years ago today.