I can't stop starting!

I know you know this. For the past week I can't stop starting. I've been jonesing to start something new although I have, let's count them, 8 projects on needles. I know it's because of the summer weather that has just descended on Ithaca, and my idea that I need summer camisoles knitted for every day of the week before I go on vacation. It's hard to be a seasonal knitter because if I think of a nice summer sweater in mid-June, I'm lucky if I finish it by Christmas. Same thing if I get the fall issue of VK in August and then I have a back and a front of my Aran cardigan by May. (i made that up - I never got past the first 10 inches of my Aran cardigan that I've been planning since the mid-90s).

So I've started and ripped out 3 different starts this week, so now I'm going to try and temper my obsession by giving you an update of the Sonnet sweater:

This sweater is coming out great! I enjoy the pattern and the silk/wool yarn is gorgeous. What's my problem? Stick with this one Sue so you can wear it at the beach at night!!! Yikes.

Another part of my mania this week is that I saw an ad in the new InterweaveKnits of a sweater from Alchemy called Rock Star. I had to have it so I went to the alchemy site and they referred me to purlsoho.com to buy the pattern. In a rush to buybuybuy I ordered the pattern for 6.50 + .54 tax + 6.50 shipping!!! As I browsed around later I found the same exact pattern at Webs for 5.00. See what compulsion can do to a person (and a pocket book!) Arrgh.

Well, I feel better now. Back to Sonnet. I really need to finish a couple of pieces so I can start my Finished Projects page. :-)

have a great day!! sue

Tonka Poem

Hi,

As I walked across the Fall Creek footbridge the other day on my way to work, I saw something that conjured this poem. I wanted it to be a haiku, but I had too many syllables. Thanks to Joe, my favorite poet, who said that it could be a tonka (5-7-5-7-5):

EMPTY NEST

With Plathian oven mitts
She lowered the fishing line
into the abyss
With love notes for the missing
attached to the hook

Merrill Presidential Scholars is over (or now I can have a life!)

Hi,

I don't talk about my job much because this is my space to explore the other half of me that gets ignored while I'm running one of the busiest offices at Cornell University. I am the assistant to the Dean of Students and besides being sole support for the Dean (who is a great guy called Kent Hubbell, professor of architecture) and working with some of the most brilliant and fun students in the world (from all over the world, too) I have to coordinate this monster program called "Merrill Presidential Scholars Convocation." It's a two-day event which honors the top 1% of the graduating class of Cornell (36 scholars) who invite their favorite high school teacher and favorite Cornell faculty member to celebrate with them at three events hosted by the President of Cornell. This event dominates my life from early February till it's over the last week of May. By the time it's over I'm a brain dead wet rag of a person who needs to sleep for at least a week. When I'm able to come to consciousness the Thursday after the last event (which is today) all I can think about is what I am going to do with the amazing amount of time I now have back to live my life. Knitting of course comes immediately to mind!!

So I started another sweater. :-)
Sonnet

Why do I set up these percentage bars when they never move because I'm continually starting other projects? I guess that's for another post but since I am still working the Stashalong for the month of May, I saw this sweater in Knitty and decided it was perfect for this beautiful blue Chelsea Silk yarn I bought on ebay last year.

I will post my progress later in the week but this sweater seems to be going very quickly because it's a side by side design in garter stitch (I love garter stitch!!) I think my biggest problem will be deciding what buttons to put on it since this design lends itself to very funky buttons, which I'm excited about.

Stay tuned! sue

Yang-May Ooi's Lit Blog: Fusion View

A while back I received an email from Yang-May Ooi, a writer from England, who wanted to use one of my cell phone pictures for her essay on knitting. Wow! Another great internet connection! You can read her essay here: Knitting Blogs Yang-May's blog has so many wonderful stories usually about writing but also about any subject you can think of and she also invites guest writers, too. Check it out! I am getting a better appreciation of writerly blogs thanks to Brenda Dayne's podcast and all the wonderful writers she invites to read essays on Cast-on (not to mention her own beautiful essays). Thanks for finding me Yang-May!!

sue

Finished a Nautie!

Ok, so I had to do it. I jumped on the nautie bandwagon (see the nautie knitty button below to go to the pattern). This thing is so cute and my nephew Farrell loves squids and make it a dinosaur squid and we have kindergarten nirvana. I decided to make it so I can send down a gift box to Tom and the fam for all the May birthdays: that would include a present for Miriam (not going to tell unless she reads this) and also the Piper Tutu and Nautie for Farrell. FUN! The colors of the nautie turned out to be a little gross but that gives the little guy even more boy-appeal. I love the dreadlock/tentacles.

Well I had a tooth pulled today so I'm feeling a little under the weather. This week I will post about playing Joni songs at the Recovery Center benefit on Saturday night!! A good time was had by all!!

take care, sue

Piper's Tutu Dress

Here is the progress so far on the tutu dress. The bottom skirt is in Moda Dea Tutu color petal pink. I use a double strand with 11 needles to get the gauge. The bodice is in Royale Crochet yarn in white used single strand on 8 needles. I guess it's hard to see in this picture but both the Tutu and the crochet cotton has shiny rayon strands throughout the yarn which brings out the fairy princess details!! I want to get her white ballerina slippers and possibly a wand to complete the outfit. (although giving a 2-year-old a wand could quickly turn into a weapon against her over-active 6-yr-old brother!!)

Have a great day!! sue

My Percentage Bars are working!!!

I pride myself on being pretty html savvy but these babies were bugging me. It took leaving them alone for about 3 weeks for me to attempt it again. This time I concentrated while reading Matt Harvey's instructions on his blog Unlikely Words. Look to the left were it says: Offerings - semi-sweet html morsels. After concentrating and following his instructions obediently I was able to make them work. The red is a little intense so I may change it to another color.

In my Stashalong site, people are really finishing things left and right. Me, on the other hand, realize that, OK, I figured out how to get percentage bars on my blog but I've started two new projects and really haven't finished anything. Maybe I should just pull out the Joni Wig and finish it for God's sake. It would be just in time for the Recovery Center benefit I will be playing at next Saturday. Joe and I were practicing some songs this morning including Amelia, Cactus Tree and Comes Love. He is also thinking about doing Ode to Big Blue (gordon lightfoot) and Boots of Spanish Leather (dylan) for the event. It all sounded very fine!

Here is a pic of the ballerina dress I started this morning for my almost 2-yr-old niece, Piper. She's such a sweety!

take care, Sue

PS This picture is from the Berroco free pattern site. I'll post a picture of my progress once I charge up my cellphone. Also, I've already changed the color on my percentage bars to melon!! :-)

Cloud Heights is on the Knitting Blogs Web ring!

Wow, I'm so jazzed about this. I love reading the knitting blogs and this brings me closer to being part of the global knitting family! The internet is such an amazing thing.

I listen to Cast-on, Brenda Dayne's podcast, and she is such an amazing writer. She is doing a "muse" series, where she talks about the Muses in each episode and relates it to creativity and knitting. When she was talking about the muse of memory she touched a deep chord in me when she described picking up a piece of knitting and being brought back to the memory of what you were doing the last time you worked on that piece. This happens to me all the time!! I have so many UFOs in my stash that I can even pick up a piece of knitting and remember something mundane like a bad tv show I was watching or something profound like sitting with my daughter when she was 10 (she's now almost 24-how did that happen!)

But the emotion I felt most from listening to Brenda was the feeling that I've found a group of people who know how I feel. I've only found this in one other place in my life and that was when I walked into my first AA meeting. There is something about finding people who are so much like you that you almost feel like you've come home to something you've never known before. The emotions I feel when I'm with these friends is like my heart gets cracked like an egg and everything I've been holding inside comes out with a rush of release. How can talking about knitting be such an important experience? I think because it's a true art, and art and creativity are healing, safe ways to discover who you are. This is how I feel and it felt so great to know that at least Brenda knew how I felt too, and I'm sure a lot more of you out there feel the same way. I also feel this way about music and my other group of friends, the Joniphiles!! Life is connecting.

take care, sue