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Dear Jan,

Gathering photos of my vacation knitting, I realized that I’m kind of vibrating between projects rather than pumping out finished objects.  Ah, well, they did suit their own purposes.

Like instant semi-mindless, second glass of wine of the night knitting while hanging out at the beach house (Hemlock Ring Blanket).

Or focused, early morning quiet before everyone is up knitting (Hanemi shawl).

Or beach knitting that reflects the colors of the surf, kind of a sea shell (Tune).

Or reflective and beautiful, for enjoying the moment (Rimfrost).

I guess I took enough knitting along that I felt no need to acquire fiber, despite the wool farm and alpaca ranch on the island.  That didn’t keep me from being delighted to come home to my birthday box from you.

It is going to be a hoot to spin up the merino/silk blend you sent, in colors that I can wear to an Ohio State game.

And don’t you think the possum yarn (grey) and merino (blues) that you gave me set off the brushed nickle shawl pin (a Romi design) that Karen gave me?  Did you two plan this?

Whether you did or not, thank you for these and for the other knitterly goodies you tucked in the box.

I also came home to the singles I had spun from Erica’s gift of handpainted fiber.  I finished plying them today and I think I’ve found my state fair spinning entry.  460 yards of merino, handpainted by Erica, longish draw right from the roving with minimal pre-drafting, a two-ply fine fingering weight.  She was masterful with the colorway and I am very happy with how the spinning turned out.

I am trying my best to keep these two out of all of this.  Wish me luck.

Love,

Ellen

Dear Ellen,

I did a quick trip to Ohio this past weekend.  It was very good.  I really enjoyed the drive back as I had great company in the car with me.  Ken had just finished his workshop at Trinity University, so I picked him up and we headed west.  The first two hours were filled with great conversation.  Our nephew is quite the thinker.  I don’t agree with his positions on everything, but you can follow his logic and our core principles seem to be pretty darned close.  We get into differences when we work on the execution of those principles.  I think I’m a bit more bounded by the experience that comes with, well, experience, so I’m a good bit more pragmatic in my final views on various policies and actions.  We did have to break off the talk so he could do some homework.  He drove the last couple hours which gave me a chance to make some progress on sock number two of Tropical Gorillas.  I’m about halfway down the cuff now.

Once in Ohio I had a great steak dinner with Tim and Patty (and Ken!).  Ken had to leave after dinner, but then the three of us stayed out on their porch for a while.  I love that swing.  Tim and I fed the chickens some table scraps and obligatory photos were taken.  In the morning I headed south so I could meet Terry for late breakfast.  We had a short visit, it was good to see him, but the conversation wasn’t as easy as with Ken.  Not awkward…but not bubbling along.  We were both fine with that.  We looked around for Radio Shacks after eating.  I had forgotten my phone charger and my phone was stone cold dead, a condition which leaves me feeling very uneasy.  We drove around to several locations, only to find they had closed.  In fact, many of the places around there were closed — and it’s not too far from where you lived in Hilliard.  After I dropped him off I did find one and it was right next to a PetSmart.  That gave me an inspired idea for the next phase of the trip — a cat for Mom!  How better to take the attention off of you than by injecting a new pet into the equation?  No, I didn’t get it right there, I just decided that as soon as I got to Marietta I would drag Mom out to get one.

And so I did…I tried to talk her into pedicures first, having wanted to maximize the time we had just the two of us, but that was a no go.   She was quite eager about the cat though.  We went to “We Luv Pets” the Marietta knock-off version of PetSmart and bought all the gear and stuff and then picked out a kitty.  Rather, she met the one cat that they had remaining in the adoption center and decided she was the one.  She was hiding in her litter box at the store.  (The cat, not Mom.)  And it bothered me a bit that she might be making a mistake since the cat was so shy and I was concerned about it warming up to her, but the girls working there said she was really very loving, but seemed to hide whenever more than a few people were around.  That made me feel better and I have to say, I think she’ll work out quite well. When we got back to the apartment she immediately hid behind the couch.  After letting her be for about a half hour, I got her out so Mom would stop fretting and put her in Mom’s lap.  She settled right in and hid back under Mom’s arm.  Then she gradually opened up to the goings on in the room.  When John came in she went right back behind the couch.  Smart cat.  In the evening when he left, she came out again and ended up sleeping right next to Mom.  She stayed out the next morning too…and proved she knew where her litter box was and was very dainty in using it properly.  And she really was very loving and very insistent on Mom petting her.  When John came in after breakfast, she hid again, but then came out and settled down with him around too.  Evidently she likes being the center of attention.  This last shot was not cropped at all…it is the result of her wanting her “close up!”

At first Mom wanted to immediately name her “Tessie II”, but now she’s going to wait to see her personality fully emerge and will probably name her something else.  I personally like “Jinx” or maybe “Felix” even though she is a female.  She’s very slinky, has an incredibly long neck and very triangular face for an American Shorthair, so I suspect she’s got something else in her genes.  On the second day she was earnestly into grooming and stretching and just luxuriating in surrounds that didn’t include barking dogs, ferrets and little kids poking fingers at her.

I left around 2:00 PM, got home around 8:00 PM, did a bit of knitting on TGIF and we turned in.  Yesterday we ran up to Pennsylvania to meet with the architects.  Left with a tad bit of sticker shock, but not too much.  The fact that the current quote includes the wells, the geothermal, the 1,000 ft. driveway, the septic field and other stuff that’s not technically the house made it better.  We do need to get the Vienna townhouse sold if we want to comfortably break ground this fall though.  We picked up a fabulous birthday cake from Musser’s grocery and headed back to DC where I got birthday wishes and a dress form from Dale.  I also enjoyed opening my box from you via Nana Rose.  LOVE the little pouch out of the skull and cross bones fabric and even more that you remembered me saying how much I liked that fabric.  The larger bag has some really finely crafted construction — she’s quite talented.  Thanks for remembering!  (I’m counting this as my thank you note!)

Enough for now!  Love, Jan, your older, but younger at heart, sister.

Dear Ellen,

After we Patty left Sunday morning, we through the sheets and towels in the wash and then made up beds for our next arrivals…Chris, Jim and Tom.  They arrived in time for the World Cup finals.  We enjoyed watching, but were a little sad about the outcome.  You may remember that they lived in Holland for four years and I’ve been to the Netherlands many times.  So, our family room was filled with people rooting for the Orange Men.  Other than the cup finals we didn’t do a lot…Dale cooked another great dinner and they left early in the morning.  Lots of stops for them on their vacation driving from Tampa to Maine and back — family visits, friend visits and campus visits.  (How is it possible that Tom is a High School senior this fall!)  We loved seeing them.

Love, Jan

Dear Ellen,

As you know, we’ve got the welcome mat out this weekend.  First up has been a very enjoyable couple of days with Patty and Ken.  We dropped Ken off at a workshop h is attending at Trinity University this week, but only after Patty and I made a trip to the memorials to see the Vietnam Memorial and get a bit wet in the on-again, off-again rain.  We came home, had grilled burgers (ready and waiting for us thanks to Dale!) and then headed out the door with Ken in tow.  We found his check-in point, bid him a great week and then headed across town to the National Cathedral.

I can’t believe it’s taken so long for me to finally visit our cathedral.  It’s a truly stunning piece of architecture.  We wandered through the Bishop’s garden, enjoying roses, sculptures, bees and butterflies.  We strolled through the nave and the apses and took in the ceilings and the visually striking stained glass windows including one commemorating the Battle of Midway.  And yes, we shopped in the gift shop.  We both found some nice things…Patty got a replica of this stained glass window and I found a lovely silk angels scarf for someone’s birthday later this month.

I’m sure she’ll love it.*

Once home we had delicious tortilla soup (again, courtesy of Dale) and watched a movie.  I worked on Tropical Gorillas while doing so.  I’ve got one more decrease and the toe grafting left on sock number one.  I would have stayed up to finish, but wanted to burn photos from our day to a CD for Patty to take with her and knock out this post, so I held off the finishing of the first sock till tomorrow.  Patty leaves early in the morning and then early afternoon we should see the arrival of Chris, Jim and Tom — in time for the Netherlands v. Spain finals of the World Cup!

Love, Jan

*Marian has a July birthday too. 

Disclaimer:  the advice expressed here is solely that of Dr. Yarn.  Twinset neither denies or agrees with them.  Use at your own risk.

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Dear Readers,

This square needle thing has reared its ugly head again. Please look in Volume 5, Appendix C, footnote 6 of my Introduction to Knitting. You will see that I positively recommend a “Don’t Use.”

I know that with the emphasis on health some rogue knitter claims that if you use square needles your arthritis will go away, along with carpal tunnel syndrome and high blood pressure. Don’t believe it! Several of the manufacturers aren’t careful enough. The square corners are too sharp and you will cut your fingers and bleed on the yarn. This would be bad.

A popular myth is that square needles don’t change the yarn to “squareness.”  It does. The smooth flowing softness of a garment becomes a mess of square turns.

If you have kitties, their tiny claws will more easily hold on to the squared knit products. Hence, the kitties can unravel a sweater in less time than Victor Borge can play the minute waltz (which is 58 seconds, by the way).

Remember the difficulty we had getting even small quantities of square yarn during the Valdez oil spill in Alaska? Can you imagine what it will be like with the oil leak in the Gulf?! I’ll bet most of you true knitters would really be put out if you tried to use square yarn covered with oil. Probably your needles would slip right out of your hands.

No research has been done on using square needles with square yarn, so I’ m reserving judgment on that one
Dr. Yarn