Blog Hub Swap 2012: Day 2

This Page of Pentacles from the Tarot of the Cat People indicates the start of a new practical project, and the preparation that goes before it:  very appropriate for today, as you will see.

  
I was incredibly restrained - I didn't come to open my 2nd package from my swap partner Denise until not only after I had taken the children to school, but also hung out a load of washing from the machine. But then my resolve crumbled, and so here we are. Baby steps, people, baby steps.

Today's beautifully wrapped gift felt somewhat booklike: heavy, firm and oblong. Opening the handmade card that accompanies it, Denise tells me that it is the 'local' element of the package ...

 Ooooh ! A pattern book ! I love pattern books, I get all miser-y and hoard-y about them, I look at them on  the bookcase and rub my hands like Mr.Micawber. Or is it Uriah Heep ? I never liked Dickens much.

A glance at the foreword shows me that this is the local gift because the authors come from Seattle, a city I am aware of because of grunge music and the TV show 'Frasier'; I think it is famous for the Space Needle, coffee shops and rain ...

But anyway, before I expose my  geographical lack of knowledge any further, let me show you what caught my eye as I leafed through. 

I was intrigued that the book is subtitled 'More Contemporary Sweaters', and going by the colorful cardigan on  the cover, thought Denise might be inviting me to explore colorwork further after my last two (one and two) attempts, as well as dragging me more 'on trend' with knitting fashion ... but you can relax - like I did - because there are some really pretty designs in this book that are modern but at the same time you can visualize a real person might actually wear them. There are 5 patterns that I would definitely wear, and 3 of those involve colorwork, like this 'Tanglewood Pullover'':

 The ''Pink Cabled Cardigan'' and the ''Gioiello Cardigan'' are also perfect for me; and if I cannot find or substitute the yarn, I will be emailing Denise to ask her to send it to me .... I wonder if she realizes what she may have let herself in for ? But it would be unbearably cruel to make me live as Tantalus ....

Denise is batting two for two ...

Woot ! Blog Hub Swap Day 1

This beautiful card from the Gaian Tarot is perfectly expressive of how I feel today; though if I were to dance outside in the sunshine, I would have a lot more layers on, it being seriously winter temperatures today.

And the reason ? Do you remember this ?

Well, having spent 5 days in UK customs (who knows why) today my package from my swap partner Denise at Voie de Vie finally got here !

I was so excited ! In spite of being the swap organizer, I had actually managed to forget that Denise was assigned to me, and I believe it is a sign of my impending grown-up-ness that I was able to not look at my lists to remind myself: it was actually Denise who gave the game away when she emailed me to tell me she had checked the tracking, and my parcel was en route ...she had been concerned about the delay.

Look at all these photos I took for you - I hope you realize the enormity of the sacrifice I made for you, Dear Reader, as taking photos further delayed me opening my parcel and first package !

  


An interested dog, and a cat's butt. Oh ! And a huge box.

The card said 'Open me first'. So I did. Elegantly written in what I call American traditional script, it told me my themes were travel and creativity. I have done lots of travelling in my life - the longest I have ever been in one place is the 4 years I have lived here. But I don't know how Denise could have known any of that.

Yes, there are only 3 packages - but the card says to check my Ravelry inbox on Days 4 and 8. Even so ... Denise enjoys messing with my head, obviously. Because when I opened the large package numbered 1, I found the rest of the swap packages in it: 

There was a slight fresh whiff of wintergreen - Denise had used it to get rid of the smell of varnish, she said. One of the mandatory elements of this swap was that one item had  to be handmade - and this is Denise's. She says it's the prototype for an idea she's had for a while - and this must also be the creativity theme she refers to:  I don't even know how you come up with this, let alone work out the hows and whys necessary. I know my frustration threshold is WAY too low for something like this - and I really admire people who can create things just from an idea.

                                         Ignore the obligatory cat butt. Same cat, by the way.

Lovely shades of red, purple, magenta and pink with the springtime Tulip as a central motif.  I love these kinds of colors - and in fact one of my FO's for tomorrow is in a very similar colorway. It's definitely stiff enough to be a proper hatbox (if only I had a hat!) - and who doesn't love pretty and unique storage that can be displayed ?    

Denise's attention to detail verges on the obsessive is totally amazing - look at this:

The inside of the lid and base are maps ! So very cleverly part of the travel theme. I am totally impressed - thanks, Denise !

Late to the Table

Today is the official beginning of the Lily's Slice of Pi KAL (you can find Chrissy's blog here) and, at one stage, I thought I would be starting it today along with everyone else who is taking part. I have the yarn, the needles, and have downloaded the pattern. What could possibly go wrong ?

However. Circumstances have conspired to thwart me - at least for today, it seems.

Firstly, the yarn: you may remember I took pretty pictures of it in its skeined form:

And having splurged £15 (approx.$24) or so on a ballwinder a couple of months ago, I remembered to try it out while DH was at home so that I had a huge banana fingers on handsome gorilla hands available to act as a swift. And also just in case the technical issues were more challenging than I had anticipated (they weren't, you'll be glad to know) so that after a mere 25 minutes - yes ! I know ! the marvels of the modern age never cease to amaze and delight ! - all 1000 metres of the Yarn Addict Silk Lace in 'Jewel' was beautifully and efficiently wound into a pretty cake:

Tick one box on the checklist. Next - print out the pattern. Usually not a problem as I have an Epson that is not prone to trouble. Unless it has been switched off because Moonheart, Mini Diva's cat, (cue Villain Music) has been walking across the top of it and the 'print' button in particular, and therefore printing random pages of stuff from the interwebz. 

When I switched it back on it told me it had no magenta ink left (but it LIED - I shook the cartridge and sprayed the miscreant cat with it) and it will not work even to just print black if one of the colors is missing. Unionization and solidarity in the printer world. Who knew. But one phone call, and that was sorted - someone kindly offered to print it for me, and drop it off today. They didn't even crack a grin when I said a knitting pattern was urgent, bless their cotton socks.

OK, two down, one to go: the needles. Lovely 3.75mm Addi Turbo circulars, exactly what the pattern calls for. Except. This is what they look like at the moment:

They are 6 rows in, out of 8 in the second repeat of Chart B of the Lady Bertram Shawl. Which I should have been able to complete last night - plus another repeat of Chart A, I think. But no. It was not to be. But - 'let me tell someting to joo': I shall complete the 2nd Lady Bertram tonight and tomorrow. 

Identify the quote for Kudos points ...

Dying Duck in a Thunderstorm

This miserable-looking person on this card from the Legacy of the Divine tarot illustrates one of the occasional consequences of parenting Destructo Boy. He came down with flu last weekend, and now I have it: my throat feels like I have swallowed broken glass and I have lost my voice, which makes me sound somewhat like Mumble from Happy Feet when he tries to sing: 





       

Triumph of Hope Over Experience

Mini Diva's birthday is next week - so I thought I'd make her a cushion to go on her bed. Clever Ania made me a machine-embroidered monogram and a lilac fairy to either patchwork or - more likely - applique. I have an idea in my head, of hearts, in different colors, layered and what we here in the east call 'on the huh'.

However. That sounds all fine and dandy, but - as ever - the issue will be converting this idea into something that does not look completely like the dog's breakfast ... always a challenge. So I will centre myself, breathe deeply an 'Om', remind myself that I really should have at least one virtue - and Patience is as good as any - then embark on this stitching adventure with a cheerful and happy outlook ...

And Destructo Boy is home sick with flu, so I can't shouldn't mustn't swear need to remember to close the door properly and firmly.

So now I am off to find some heart-shaped templates ..... 

The Sap is Rising

The final date for mailing out in the Blog Hub Swap is this Saturday, but thinking ahead I have signed up for two new projects: firstly on the 5th March is the KAL (Knit-A-Long) of the beautiful Lily's Slice of Pi Shawl, designed and organized by the lovely Chrissy of Stitched-Together. You can find the Ravelry group for it here, and if you join the KAL, Chrissy gives you a nice discount on the pattern.

I have been pondering what yarn to use to make this shawl, and once I had checked the yardage (1000m), I knew I had the perfect match: gifted to me quite some while back by my friend Steph, this YarnAddict Pure Silk Lace in the colorway 'Jewel' has been patiently waiting for it's soulmate project to announce itself:

So pretty I photographed it twice. You can see there are some interestingly faded looking parts - I'm curious to see how this will look when knitted; I'm hoping for a subtle graduation of color as opposed to oops the dye didn't stick to this bit ...

And secondly - FanFare - Knit and Crochet Blog Week is back for the 3rd time from 23rd - 29th April, 2012. Organized by the fablas Mimi, who is finally back online so that we are no longer Mimi-less, I am really looking forward to it: the blog topics she comes up with are always interesting, and as a result of the past KCBWs I have found some great blogs to read - and made some lovely friends too. You can find my last two starting here for 2010 and here for 2011.

Cheaters Lose

So a while back - quite a while back, it turns out - I blogged about my hunt for a Cissus, either antarctica or rhombifolia, I wasn't going to be fussy. It was a long search, so I was very happy indeed when I ran it to earth in a hobby nursery (I say hobby as it was in such a state it could not possibly be being run as a professional business - dead plants everywhere are not the bestest of adverts, don't you think ?)

I'll remind you that my loving DH paid £6.95 (nearly $11) for a teensy little rooted cutting which looked like this:

Almost totally abandoning my theory of mothering, I cosseted that plant - but only when no-one was looking. Cosseting doesn't count if you are the only one who knows about it and it is done secretly behind closed doors when everyone is asleep or out. It had the best windowsill, the correct amount of watering, the perfect compost, it was spoken to lovingly in the tenderest of whispers .... in spite of all this, last week DH compelled me to admit that it wasn't just dormant, but that it had literally curled up and died:

I'm not sure if you can quite make out that it had had a little growth spurt of lovely baby soft green leaves: titillating me and drawing me wickedly into a presumptuous and premature expectation - nay, more solid than that even - more of a complacent smirk of success.

Just as I had made the decision to admit defeat and add this to the brown bin, we happened to make a trip to The Range (tagline: 'if we don't sell it, you don't need it'). Out the back in the gardening section was this:

About 10 plants of Cissus rhombifolia 'Ellen Danica'. For the absolute bargain price of £3.99 ($6.30) each. I could not grab one quick enough. In fact, I nearly grabbed two, but I managed to overcome the impulse of greed. Handsome, healthy plants of a decent size - from Holland, I was told. And here is the one that came home with me and my huge smile so wide that it showed teeth and everything:

I know no fear. For XIII Death is inextricably linked with III The Empress. Without one you cannot have the other. But I shan't be cheating with this one.