Affected by Color Affection

If you are a member of Ravelry and like shawls, you might be aware that one particular shawl garnered an unusual number of likes, the Color Affection shawl designed by Veera Valimaki.  My friend were discussing it in the spinning and knitting group one spring afternoon.  Thanks to her electronic gizmo, my friend Laurie could even show it to me right then and there. 

I love playing with colors and textures. Try as I might, thoughts of that shawl kept creeping into my mind.  It wasn't long before I scrolled through the project photos on the site. I saw some lovely combinations, but only one or two in my favorite colors.

I learned about the shawl before the  Massachusetts Sheep and Woolcraft Fair  on the Cummington Fairgrounds.  A friend and I went there together.  It was one of the first hot days of the year.  I wore my favorite batik clothes by Global Village,  a scoop-neck top and a paneled gathered skirts in complementary fabrics in two leafy prints in purple and green (sorry, no photo). I couldn't think of anything I wanted to buy, but since I loved my purple and green batik clothing so much I thought a shawl to wear with them on chilly summer evenings would be nice. 

I walked into my friends' booth Sliver Moon. Here is the same booth at a different fair. 

I happened to find a fingering yarn in just about the exact shade of purple I wanted.  The price for the yardage was great. Because of the way Laurie hand-painted it, it shades to a pink that brings out other colors in the fabric.  Kay had the last of some green yarn she'd dyed.  I don't think I could match the green of the fabric much more closely if I tried.  There was some shading in the green yarn, too, that would echo the batik effect of my clothing.  Both women were amazed at how well the yarn looked with my clothes when they hadn't known what I was wearing that day or what the other was bringing.

I have to admit I immediately thought "Color Affection shawl."  I didn't knit it immediately though.  I lacked a third yarn to go with the yarn.  On the rich purple background of the batik print there is a tie-dye double leaf design in white, shades of green and blue. In the stall that day we all decided that blue would be the color, and a shade they didn't have that day.  I've put off buying the blue yarn because of finances.  I have the fabric that I cut off when I shortened the skirt. This past week Laurie told me to bring in a swatch so that she could dye a blue to go with it and I can knit my shawl. 

On a completely different note, the animal barn were right in the midst of the vendors.  We couldn't hear the music from the other part of the fairgrounds.  The soundtrack for the day were the various vocalizatons of the sheep and goats.  Some sounded very forlorn, some upset, others angry or insistent. At the end of the day after the public had gone, in the barn in the middle of everything it sounded like the animals were talking over the day.  One little black lamb was standing in the center of his pen and for all the world sounded like he was saying he was tired, he was hungry, he wanted his mama, he wanted his own pen and he wanted to go home!

Cameraless

The old HP digital camera is dead, as well as the much newer one. This time it wasn't the camera's fault.  I blame it on the design flaw of a monument.

I wanted to take a photo of the plaque at one side of the Daniel Nimham Memorial at the Putnam County Veterans' Park.

I had the plaque in the viewfinder of the camera and I was stepping back very carefully to site it, since the zoom doesn't work in the camera.  The next thing I know I'm tumbling backward into the small circular structure in the middle. I was first aware of hitting the bottom of my head and my lower back.  I landed on a sharp rock, that I could literally feel in my back the next morning when I woke up.  My thighs came to rest against the interior of the stone wall.  The camera went flying and landed on the gravel. The door of the battery compartment sprang open and the batteries fell out.  I held onto the stone wall, keeping my aching head up and yelling, "Ow!  Ow!"  I was in enough pain that I couldn't think of yelling anything else.  A couple leaving the park stopped and pulled me out. I don't think I would've been able to get out by myself. I remembered I had a blue ice pack in the cooler and put that on my head for a while.  It was not fun driving two hours home.

The next week was pretty much a washout.  The fall aggravated the bursitis in my hips. My neck was so sore.  I was very glad that I already had a cervical collar at home.  I put that on and it helped so much.  Any one position hurt after a while so I alternated between sleeping and sitting. 

To add insult to injury, I had just finished sewing a ribbon dress.  I wore it for the first time to a pow wow at the park that day.  It did not survive unscathed.  The fall must have torn at the fibers.  Washing the dress weakened them further. One stroke with the iron and they gave way in the pattern of a tear from a sharp point.  The dress is made out of one piece of fabric, so there is no way to make it look like new again.  I'll darn the tear to keep it from raveling and then I'll probably patch it.

For the immediate future I'm cameraless. I know of a way I can buy a good used digital camera reasonably priced.  I'm going to check reviews first and stay away from the brand I had before.  I don't know how long it will take since finances are very tight. 

It's been a month since my fall.  I wish I could say I'm all better.  I've just entered the worst part of my outdoor allergy season.  For some reason September is worse and I don't know why.  It's a shame because there's usually some beautiful weather during the month. This coming weekend I'm going to the Cherry Valley Kite Festival, something I haven't done in a few years.  I'm in serious need of some good, old-fashioned, pointless fun and I think it's worth some stuffiness later.

Animal Practice Uninformed and Offensive

 In the opening sequence in Animal Practice, on NBC right after the closing ceremonies of the Summer Olympics, a vet tells an owner her Himalayan cat was in heat, and she ought to be let outside in the city to breed. That was a very irresponsible answer from a vet.  No vet would ever tell an urban dweller to let her cat loose in the city. The average life of a cat that lives outdoors is only 4 years.  It faces too many dangers.  Inside cats can live to 20 years.   Only 1 out of 10 canines and 1 out of 12 felines ever find a home in this country.  It would have been by far much better if the vet would have urged his client to have her cat spayed.  It would be even better if the program could be a new way to educate the American public on animal population control.  I could even imagine the comedic potential of animal rescues, too, a la the Meg Langslow murder mysteries by Donna Andrews.

Molly and the Snuggling Olympic Event

My youngest cat Molly Kayleen I got during the previous Summer Olympics.  I was given money I didn't need at the time, things weren't going well at work and I needed to do something good.  I didn't know that I could just donate money to a rescuer or for foster care.  So I rescued a kitten from an old-fashioned kill shelter in Georgia.  It must not have enough money to always care for their animals because Molly didn't even have any shots.  Her middle name is for the staff member who persuaded me to adopt her.

Molly's "mugshot" from the web

Molly was brought up by a vet tech who spent his weekends transporting animals rescued from southern kill shelters to either the upper Great Lakes or the Northeast.  I met him and the rental van in a motel parking lot outside of Kingston, NY.  He took a skinny, small kitten with bright colors out of a carrier and she meowed.  He said that was the first noise she'd made during the entire trip, which started the day before. 

First meal in the rest area

She was very happy to be out of the van.  She started to purr after I put her in the carrier.  I buckled the carrier onto the passenger seat, got into the driver's seat and started driving home.  At a rest area I stopped to feed her because I knew she probably hadn't eaten much.  I'd brought some dry food and water.  After a drink and a few nibbles, she started hopping up in the carrier to reach my hand.  I picked her up and petted her.  She was purring away.  She rubbed her whiskers against either side of my mouth.  She started licking me, too, all over my mouth.  Then she snuggled against my neck and climbed her way up to my collarbone, and perched there with her front half on my shoulder, watching the traffic and purring.

Here you can see how skinny she still was.

Of course my cats had no idea they were about to gain a new sister.  I thought the older cat would be tolerant.   I was right.  The next day she was eager to play with her.    I used to have to go to bed a half hour early so that she and the kitten could wrestle for half an hour on the bed.  Molly usually laid on her back and Midnight nibbled her neck and tummy.

There is never anyone around to introduce cats the way the experts say you should.  I just set the carrier down in the hallway and let the other cats look.  Midnight hissed once at her and walked away.  For the life of me I can't remember which cat it was that followed her around as she explored.  I think it was Emily. 

In the evening Molly stayed on the sofa with me.  When I was busy, she disappeared.  It turns out she went under the bookcase in the living room.  There was plenty of room.  She didn't like using the litter box where the big cats could see her, so I bought a disposable one to put under the bookcase too.  She lost her fear quickly.

Emily was actually a little scared of the kitten and didn't know what to think of her.  Then she realized she was entertainment, like a wind-up toy.  She was four years older, and in about a week she wondered how you turned the toy off.  Turn around is fair play, because when Emily was a kitten she was a hyperactive dynamo.  One weekend she retreated to a corner to sleep, but after that she and the new kitten became best buddies.  As a matter of fact, Emily lost most of her bad habits.

As for the Olympic Snuggling Event, Molly had to sleep with me that night.  First she snuggled up to my neck on the right side of my head,  then she snuggled under my chin, then she crawled over and snuggled against my neck on the left side, purring loudly all the time. At some point she began grooming me, washing me all over my mouth and chin, nose, too, outside and in.

Another fun kitten event, yarn-winding.

All grown up

A Happy Find But Not So Happy Pattern

Recently in a Tuesday Morning store I found some very nice yarn on sale.  It was skeins of Louisa Harding Jasmine yarn in a pretty reddish purple color called “Cheer.”  Jasmine is a dk yarn that’s 48 percent cotton, 39 percent bamboo viscose, 10 percent silk and 3 percent polyester.  It’s 3-ply with a thin metallic silver thread twisted around for a subtle twinkle effect.  The only effect this has upon the feel of the yarn is a coolness mixed with the softness.  For some reason the color photographs bluer than it actually is, so I used a photo closest to the actual color and it's a different color yarn.  It was just the color that I wanted to use with a very pretty sleeveless dress I had in a very dull blue gray color.  (I never thought of such a color as being particularly feminine or romantic.) 

I already had a dk pattern I was eager to knit, SMC Select 1846, a casual yet sophisticated bolero.  It was one of the few knitting patterns I’ve purchased in the last few years.  Unfortunately the booklet SMC Select Moments doesn’t have a very large photo of the finished garment. 

 I’ve been struggling with the pattern since I started knitting it yesterday and took it out several times.  The first time was because I hadn’t cast on enough stitches while in the knitting group.  Another time I decided I wanted to reverse sides.  I usually prefer the opposite edge to the smooth twisted stitches that are formed when you cast on.  So did the person who knit the garment the model wore, even though that was opposite to the directions.  Yet another time I had messed up the drop stitch pattern. 

I didn’t like knitting the twisted drop stitch pattern.  The swatch below is very similar. In the bolero the model wore this was the reverse side.  I don't know why.  (Then again I don't know why a store was selling a summer dress that was essentially sewn inside out with the pockets hanging out on the outside.)  I could see why one would like it, but it wasn’t easy to knit, it distorted the gauge, and I don’t like long loose strands in knitting.  Something eventually gets caught in them.  So I took it all out again. 

 I went through a few pattern stitch books until I found an eyelet and garter stitch pattern I can substitute instead.  I've always found my old Mon Tricot Knitting Dictionary very useful.  This time I chose the Horizontal Lace Stitch I pattern. 

This photo shows the reverse side I'm knitting and there will be a purl ridge between the three or four repeats.  It is what I thought what was used for the front edge of the bolero anyway.

 My cats were not very patient with me while I worked on this.  I hadn’t knitted in a long time and wanted to do so.  Midnight and Emily kept trying to lie on the booklet.  Emily kept walking back and forth across my lap until I yelled at her.  It’s not like I haven’t been at home paying attention to them. 

I think I'm happy with the new version of the bolero that I have on the needles.  I've spent the last two evenings wrestling with it.  I hope now I can just enjoy knitting it, in shorter spurts of activity.   I should be able to play rounds of Da Bird with the cats in the evening again.

Blogs a Challenge

I'm not quite sure how I'm going to continue with this blog.  I bought a newer digital camera because the old one was going.  Even with new batteries there would be dark edges on photos.  They were definitely grainer than those by the newer camera and I never could figure out how to use the zoom.  My mother set it for me once and it really wasn't a zoom.  However, the newer camera, an Olympus 7030, is dead.  The charging part doesn't seem to be made very well.  It died on the first camera, but I thought I'd dropped it one too many times.  I bought one secondhand.  Once again it won't charge.  That part has got to be weak.  Since I have no income of my own right now, I'll have to struggle along with the old one, and hope that doesn't give up.  I know I won't ever buy an Olympus camera again and I'll definitely buy the extended warranty. 

Sewing Ribbons

I went down to my mother's yesterday to take her to Walmart and to use her sewing machine. The walls in my apartment complex are so thin I don't feel like I can use my sewing machine.  It's a cast iron Singer made in the 1940s, very similar to the one my mother had when I was growing up.  I remember how much noise it made.  I wouldn't mind having a Pfaff.  Those are pretty quiet.

I have been in the process of making a new ribbon dress for a while. It took a while to cut out because I wanted to use the long tables in the craft room of an organization I belong to, the Keepers of the Circle.. The first two tries the room was already busy. The third time was the charm, as they say.

Now I have to sew the satin ribbon on the yoke of the dress. I spent most of the evening pinning on the three colors of ribbon in rows around the yoke. I just started sewing down one of the colors. I started having problems so I decided that was a good stopping point. I can see sewing the ribbons will take a while and I'll need patience.

The fabric is a print of pink and purple flowers scattered on an aqua background. I chose bright pink, purple and Christmas green ribbons to use. My mother liked it very much.  Ribbon shirts originated with the Cherokees, and ribbon dresses are derived from them. It is customary to let the ends hang loosely. They replace the fringe that was worn on the pre-contact deerskin Native clothing and represent prayers for the children and elders.

At pow wows I used to wear 18th century style clothing: a long-sleeved shirt, a wool skirt and leggings. I eventually decided the clothes were just too hot for summer and thought it would be nice to have a ribbon dress. I didn't do anything about it until I saw the tie-dye ribbon dress for sale and bought it. I really liked the dress. It was my only one, though, and I wore it so much it faded badly. I really miss the bright colors. I went into my fabric stash this winter to find fabric for 3 more, but alas, none are tie-dye.

I eventually made turquoise deerskin moccasins to go with my dress.  I guess I'll have to make another pair of beige ones.  The ones I had were too big.