Introducing Spencer
Saturday September 29th 2018, 9:14 pm
Filed under: Family,Knit,Life

I wanted to officially finish the blanket the day the baby was born and so I held off on those last few things.

Meaning, I have some ends I need to go run in right now and a tag to sew on. (Edited to add, done!)

7 lbs 3.5 oz, 21″, and a perfect little baby boy in every way. We are over the moon.



Greens and blues, Sara said
Friday September 28th 2018, 8:40 pm
Filed under: Friends,Knit,Life,Politics

The last few days prompted a conversation wherein an old high school friend opened up yesterday and told me about her being a survivor.

I asked her her favorite color.

(Solis colorway. I had knit up all I had of that. I was actually out. I had to do something about that.)

Today I kept feeling like, go to Green Planet.

Cottage Yarns in the opposite direction has a better inventory on all things Malabrigo.

Go to Green Planet.

I finally said a little prayer, and felt like, yes already fer cryin’ out loud, honey, Green Planet.

Well alright then.

I brought the pair of needles I would be using, went there, found just the thing, waited while they wound it and dove right in, both the knitting and the conversation at the table.

Some old Purlescence friends happened to be there, and one of them asked me how I was doing. I told her the last few days had been pretty intense.

And with that everybody felt permission to talk about it and the conversation got going. Of the five of us sitting at that table, four had followed every hearing and every update.

The fifth, a younger woman, had not; she wanted to know but she’d shied away from finding out and was not even sure what the story was, and it hit me: we’re talking to a survivor and it’s still all too close to home for her. But we did not pry and we did not ask.

The woman across from me started talking about Jeff Flake and the woman in the elevator confronting him, demanding, Look in my eyes! We come to the courts for justice! We who are hurt, who have suffered injustice, we look to the courts and you want to put a rapist on the court! There are many of us and you ought to be ashamed! We come to the courts for healing, for justice!

I chimed in that Flake had gone back to that hearing room and had still voted yes–if. If the FBI were given a week to investigate, then yes, move the nomination to the floor. If.

Something changed in the room.

The witnesses will be interviewed after all.

The fifth woman gathered up her things now and said she had to go, but she had one request: could she give me a hug?

Yes! (Oh honey yes. Yes of course.)

She thanked me and then headed out the door into the waiting daylight.



Congressional hearing
Thursday September 27th 2018, 10:39 pm
Filed under: Friends,History,Knitting a Gift,Life

I promised myself I would use the time to knit. With the time zone difference and our morning schedule, I missed some of Dr. Ford’s testimony but what I saw was riveting and heartbreaking and as real as it gets.

Kavanaugh‘s Yale roommate said he was mean when he was drunk. Today we got to see the guy sober–and I wouldn’t want to be around him when he’s anything worse. Self-righteous, highly partisan, self-pitying, loud, angry, bombastic, rude, steamrollering, and over the top: this is the kind of man that women stay as far away from as they can.

Judy’s cowl is almost done.

I can’t change what the Senate might do tomorrow, but I can make a difference to one woman with it.



Lazy way to do laundry
Wednesday September 26th 2018, 9:06 pm
Filed under: Life

Yeah, it was time.

So I headed on over to the station that charges more. Punched Yes on the screen for Express, and no I didn’t want the super duper a la hoppity Hooper version, thanks, wax just blinds the cars behind me at certain times of the day. ’07 Priuses have no pretensions anyway.

Pulled the car over to the left, waited my turn in line.

And then couldn’t (oops) reach to enter my code without getting out of the car again; okay, no big deal. Back in quick and roll up the window and pull in as the green light blinks. I so loved it as a kid when my mom let us go through these; I remember giggling in fake-fright that those things would get us, look, here they come! Duck!

The rollers came down, the water started to spray.

And that’s when I figured out a chunk of my skirt was still on the outside of the car.



Holding onto summer
Tuesday September 25th 2018, 11:07 pm
Filed under: Food,Friends

It’s Catherine’s fault.

Her sister is flying into town Thursday and she mused out loud to me in a note that maybe she would be able to talk her into, rather than going home from the airport, driving south to Andy’s Orchard first in hopes they still had peaches. If she did, she’d be glad to pick me some up, too, just give her the word if I’m interested.

Hey. I don’t have kids in school and music lesson schedules to worry about anymore. She does. I saw no need for her to have to worry about how tired her sister might be–there are perks to this empty nest thing.

So I called the farmstand. I have a kid flying into town this weekend myself who loves everything about Andy’s but probably won’t have the time to go while she’s here.

Turns out this morning they picked the last of their Fairtimes for the year and there weren’t very many. The Last Chances had begun to come on, but, as the woman told me after I got there, they don’t have quite as much of that deep peachy essence like these others.

There was no one else in the little shop for awhile and she and I had time for a great chat, so much so that I thought, you know, I really ought to knit her a little something to keep her head or her neck warm on these cool mornings…

Catherine’s kids had huge grins on their faces as they opened the door to that box. They knew.

You can’t get ahead of their mom, though: she sent me home with honey from her hive in thanks for making the trip so she wouldn’t have to. Even if I was going anyway.



Slow down, take your time, do it right
Monday September 24th 2018, 11:21 pm
Filed under: History,Politics

My folks aren’t on Facebook so I’m going to put the statement from Mormon Women for Ethical Government here so they can see it, too:

 

“Given the seriousness of the allegations levied against Judge Kavanaugh, we call upon the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to immediately suspend the confirmation proceedings until a thorough independent investigation can be conducted.

We very specifically urge the four members of the committee who share our faith as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints–Senator Hatch, Senator Lee, Senator Flake, and Senator Crapo–to ensure that these charges be taken seriously and that every attempt be made to ascertain the truth of the situation. Our mutual faith teaches that any sexual abuse or assault in any context is contemptible and worthy of the most severe condemnation.

If these accusations are proved false, an investigation will prevent harm to the court’s legitimacy. If they are true, then Judge Kavanaugh must not be confirmed.

As we have stated previously, sexual assault must not be normalized or condoned in any way or by anyone, especially those charged with political leadership. We boldly condemn any attempts to justify such inexcusable and reprehensible behavior and demand that our elected leaders set a morally sound example.

# # #

Mormon Women for Ethical Government (MWEG) is a nonpartisan group of over 6,000 women dedicated to the ideals of decency, honor, accountability, transparency, and justice in governing. MWEG is not formally affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We do, however, fully sustain the leaders and doctrines of the Church.”



Stash to the rescue
Sunday September 23rd 2018, 9:49 pm
Filed under: Friends,Knitting a Gift

Judy! You like that shade of red so much (her face: you noticed?!) but it’s been a really hard one to find: yarn store after yarn store, and this is what I could come up with. (Reaching into my purse.) It’s way thicker though than… (and it’s not as soft as I want to knit for you. I didn’t say that part.)

That’s a lovely color!

It won’t be… (I tried to briefly describe its potential. It was fuzzy-ish and downright chunky. It was definitely for warmth, not for glamour.)

Oh but I like it! It’s very nice.

And then I pulled out my backup plan: some Malabrigo Rios in the deep Purple Mystery colorway. Much softer a yarn, much more of a weight you’d want for a cowl, perfectly spun and a little bit luminescent in that light and she actually did a little gasp as she saw its merino-y goodness.

Oh that’s PERFECT!

She was happy but now she was really happy, which was the point, and so, Purple Mystery is my project for the week whenever I’m not working on the baby blanket I just started for my daughter’s friend’s little one on the way. The fact that the cowl-to-be could withstand a trip through the laundry if her grandkids should get too helpful just made it all the better in her eyes.



Jimmy Fallon and…
Saturday September 22nd 2018, 9:20 pm
Filed under: Knit

On a lighter note: Lenny Kravitz and the giant scarf his friend had knit him.

Meantime, another hat, 7US needles, this time in the Paris Nights colorway: Malabrigo Mecha, 70 stitches, 8.5″,  at the top *k8, k2tog,* then one plain round, *k7, k2tog,* plain round, *k6, k2tog,* etc, till you’ve done *k3, k2tog,* at which point stop doing the plain rows between the decrease rows. This rounds off the top of the hat without making it pointy.



While trees grow quietly
Friday September 21st 2018, 10:48 pm
Filed under: History,Mango tree,Politics

Thank you for the notes and comments. To my great relief, today was, cold? What cold?

New mango leaves and inflorescence–today they have stalks. This is new.

Meantime, I’ve been riveted by updates on Christine Blasey Ford’s case.

There is no statute of limitations for felony sexual assault in Maryland. Montgomery County’s chief of police just tweeted that all he needs is for her to file a criminal complaint and he’s prepared to investigate.

That would mean that Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge could be put under oath by the county, at a time when the Republicans on the Judiciary Committee are doing everything they can to stave that off and rush a vote before any truth squeezes out.

Go MoCo! (I grew up in that county.)



Maybe draw an orange smiley face on it?
Thursday September 20th 2018, 9:07 pm
Filed under: Life

Someone sitting very near us on Sunday was sick. I was glad we’d gotten our flu shots, even if hers was just a cold (I hope, for her sake.)

Germ exposure=lupus flare=pleuritis+broken rib=a bad night=a fever+definitely sick this morning.

The day got much better as it went along, though, when it could have gone the other way entirely.

Turns out I had a face mask in my purse the whole time. Although: they scare small toddlers and at this time of year would probably make preschoolers wonder why do grownups get to wear their Halloween costumes to church? Can they wear theirs too? For a whole month?



It’s appearant
Wednesday September 19th 2018, 10:28 pm
Filed under: Food

When you have too many red pears and they need to get eaten and yes, it turns out you do still have that apple corer you bought years ago…

A little melted butter, a little Trader Joe’s brown sugar, 35 minutes at 350. And if they still need it (these did), a little maple syrup on top.



All in its day’s work
Tuesday September 18th 2018, 11:11 pm
Filed under: Mango tree

Well that was fast: the edges of new flower buds popped out from among the tiny baby leaves today.

Note that one of the sources of warmth was directly below.



Spring all over again
Monday September 17th 2018, 11:02 pm
Filed under: Knitting a Gift,Mango tree

If I think about the dozen cowls and three afghans in my mental queue it can be a bit overwhelming. Better to take it one project at a time.

So having a finished one helps a lot.

Photo’d,then rinsed, now blocking.

It was 44F this morning, which is why the mango tree has been back to being lit up and covered over at night of late. Right now it’s 49 vs. 68 under there.

Its response to the artificially warmer nights is that those fruits are growing fast enough to see the difference in a day or two–and some branches started doing a new growth flush today. Which means we could end up with holiday-season blossoms to feed the bees and start up the next batch.

 



Sunshine yellow
Sunday September 16th 2018, 10:56 pm
Filed under: Friends,Knitting a Gift

I was so close, but no, it just didn’t feel finished to my eyes today. But I did happen to start to open a door at church just as Hannah was pushing on the other side of it and we did a mutual surprised oh, hello!

Which gave me the perfect, unexpected one-on-one moment.

There’s this mill outlet, I started to babble, stepping forward to put my purse on the table and open it up, And they had this one single skein (I was not going to explain yarn cones, skein conveyed the idea well enough) and I knew it was just the thing. It’s cashmere. But it took ordering it and waiting for two weeks for it to get to me and all that anticipation… (Then there was the baby blanket knitting time in between because it had a deadline, but never mind.) Tell me if I got the color right?

For what? She had no idea what I was doing or what I was talking about. Did you make something?

I pulled it out and showed her what it was, and with it mostly done it offered a good account of itself.

For you! I answered.

She was speechless.

YES! I love that color! She couldn’t believe I’d done that for her. That I’d seen it and instantly thought of her. But I had.

Same time next week, then!

For my part, it almost feels like cheating that I’ll get to be happy twice over the same project. But I think I can live with it.



De-peches moi
Saturday September 15th 2018, 10:32 pm
Filed under: Food,Friends

I knew I wouldn’t have the car Monday, I knew it was the end of the season, and after calling, I knew that today, anyway, they still had some. Whereas this time last year they did not.

So on the spur of the moment and with some egging-on from my other half I drove to Andy’s and got more peaches, these enormous Fairtimes. Because we’ll be going through perfect-fruit withdrawal soon enough.

Afterward, I delivered two of the last from the previous batch to a friend; they’d kept really well in the fridge at their peak, helped by the layers of soft towel to keep down any bruising, of which there was none.

There would be no more Cal Reds until next year. For the person I took those two to, I could share.

We had a great time swapping stories and catching up on each other’s kids.

And I learned something new.

Thankfully, her husband likes a good ripe peach.