Randomly on a Tuesday

1. I originally typed Monday rather than Tuesday, in what I realize now can only be a desperate wave of hope that I could put another day in this week.

2. I don’t know if I want that actually, mostly this week is so full and so magnificently planned down to every single moment, that if someone did give me another day out of the blue, I’d probably die from the effort of trying to reorganize.

3. Thank you for your Birthday wishes – and donations. I had a lovely, if quiet day, and knit the whole way through.  It was perfect. So far being 46 is a lot like being 45.

4. I’m almost done the super-secret, delicious design project I’m working on.  I am crazy, stupid in love with it. The super-secret yarn I’m using is spectacular.

designthing 2014-06-17

5. I have ridden 200km in the last few days.

6.  I am not currently in a speaking relationship with the lower half of my body.

7. I leave for Port Ludlow and the Strung Along retreat on Thursday. My class is ready, and the materials are almost ready (if you don’t count winding a thousand tiny balls, which I don’t, except I should, because it’s a lot of tiny balls. Not really a thousand though, but it feels like it.)

8. My roses came out for my birthday.

yellowpink 2014-06-17 redrose 2014-06-17

9. I wish I had a friend who was so crazy about cleaning fridges that he wanted to come and do mine for free, just to feel fulfilled.  There’s a funny smell in there.

10. What did you do this weekend?

118 thoughts on “Randomly on a Tuesday

  1. Is that a trick question? Knit. And tried to get rid of the double vision that comes from living with a newborn and a three-year old for three weeks, then coming home to familiar routines.

  2. I just failed the human verification test. Too funny. On the weekend I gardened as well, with a friend. She muscled the front beds into shape. I knit, a little, and I had an especially splendid nap. I am impressed with the miles you’re putting on your bike. Ride On!

  3. Pingback: Randomly on a Tuesday | Yarn Buyer

  4. If a person shows up to clean your fridge, could you please send him my way too? The fridge fairy would be a lovely addition to the various other cleaning fairies I would like to have. Unfortunately my weekend consisted of migraines and not so unfortunately, quiet knitting, as that was all I could tolerate doing. Which means that today is chock full of cleaning the house for the house guests that are arriving tomorrow.

  5. I got to sit and spin in a lovely state park sitting next to a happy stream and watching my husband draw the lovely old grist mill in front of us. Yes, it was perfect!

  6. My favorite roommate in college used to iron when she was irritated or stressed. Didn’t matter if I was the one who ticked her off or not, she still ironed my clothes. Good friends like that are hard to find.

  7. I went to a beautiful beach that I lived near as a child and had visited a lot with my dad. I went alone, with a great audiobook (the latest Diana Gabaldon) on my iPhone, walked quite a ways, sat, knit and thought about my dad. That was how I spent Father’s Day this year. Glad you had a nice birthday!

  8. Planted eight flats of vegetable plants. My thighs and back are having a spitting war over which hurts more . . .

    Oh, and I drank wine.

  9. We went blueberry picking for the first time this season! And spent a ludicrous amount of time planning our upcoming moves to both North Carolina AND Canada. Happy belated birthday!

  10. I drove 7 hours with my son and my husband (from whom I’m separated) to attend a family wedding. Thank goodness there was an open bar. I also broke one of my interchangeable needles by, I think, kneeling on it. All in all, I suppose it could have been worse.

  11. Crosswords, scrabble with family, waited for children. Same old, same old.
    Cleaned car and aggravated shoulder bursitis, feeling very sorry for myself with it.

  12. I lost most of the weekend to a TrueBlood binge. I haven’t watched the show before so I checked them out of the library and now two days are gone. I should have at least been knitting at the same time. tsk tsk tsk

  13. I cleaned out thesis sources from 4+ years ago. I nursed my baby. A lot. I do that a lot all the time right now. My husband and I took him to the pool for the first time this summer and pretended like there weren’t still dirty dishes in the kitchen. We hate our kitchen right now (but we love our son). I knit, just a little…in the car on the way to and from the pool.

    I identify with needing more time but being afraid of what I would end up having to do with it. Probably something involving laundry or cleaning, though I would rather just go to the park.

    And just now I discovered that I cannot do drag and drop thing on my phone, I had to come to my computer to post this…a pity considering I use my phone as my computer 90% of the time now…often while my son is sleeping and nursing simultaneously (never while he’s awake…it’s far too distracting for him. plus I like to focus on him while he’s awake).

    • Kim, you’re the only other person I’ve heard say their child could nurse in his/her sleep! Isn’t it lovely when that happens??

      • My son would feed in his sleep for the first 6 months; it was my way of ensuring a longer sleep for me at night. I hadn’t realised it was unusual! Mind you, he was a pretty chilled baby compared to his peers.

      • It is lovely! Though it doesn’t seem that unusual to me, as several of my close friends’ babies do it too. We all do co-sleeping so I’m guessing maybe that has something to do with it.

      • I had a baby daughter who’d do that too. Once we realised – took six months – it made getting her off to sleep for the night a whole lot easier.

        Now she’s responsible for getting herself to sleep. And feeding herself!

  14. I spent the weekend recovering from my doctoral reliminary oral exams (which ITotally passed!). Now to plan and do the dissertation…

  15. I worked on a custom sewing job – putting in bound leather button holes and matching leather piping into handwoven wool twill.

  16. I spent money on a daughter (I bought her new jeans), I cleaned most of my kitchen (my floor needs some help still), I fed someone else’s son who couldn’t bring himself to be with his emotionally manipulative father on Father’s Day and, astonishingly, I did not knit.

  17. Well, I walked the dog a lot and knit some on a pair of socks from Nancy Bush’s Knitting Vintage Socks. I thought a lot about all the other knitters over the last hundred years who may have knit that pattern. It was really cool to think about them and me knitting the same pattern. I went to a church picnic and tried not to eat too much (it wasn’t too hard; the burgers were rather cremated). And that’s about it.

  18. Laia congratulations. I can hardly wait to be past oral comps and ABD (all but dissertation). I spent my weekend doing homework, gardening, knitting at a swim meet, picking up my daughter from camp, cleaning, laundry etc etc

  19. We went to the Central New York Fiber Festival in Bouckville, NY. Great fibers and classes and animals and of course the Artichoke French vendor was there! For Fathers Day my husband road his bike about 30 miles from our house to the fest! A wonderful weekend had by all!

  20. I ran a tech rehearsal for a Reader’s Theatre show that I’m stage managing and then ran the performances Sunday and Monday…and knit on some socks during the show when I wasn’t calling cues. Your roses look lovely!

  21. I have been working on writing up a new pattern and started making the sample for it as well.

    Sounds like you had a wonderful birthday! I guess I’m a little bit jealous of your whole day of uninterupted knitting time 😉
    Do your roses smell as nice as they look?

  22. went to visit my daughter and her puppies, ignoting the garden which needs to be weeded. made potato salad for a fathers day brunch with my ex my current and my soninlaws dad. knittied on a sock and ignored the sweater on my needles.

  23. Spent most of Saturday napping as I wasn’t feeling well, and then Sunday looking after a sick child. Fortunately the others are fine, so I think we got away with it (mostly) this time around.
    And knitting again, finally, after a nearly month long hiatus.

  24. Spent time with my two dearest friends in the entire universe at a ceramics sale, art gallery, Thai restaurant. That was Saturday. On Sunday ate at a seafood restaurant, took photos and was blown around during a hike at the coast, went another art gallery where I bought a print, then tried to recover and knit. Spent a lot of time tinking, but just a bit less than I knitted so there was progress.

  25. Celebrated my birthday! Which is why I didn’t check
    the blog. Seems as though you had a wonderful day.
    Onward to a fantastic year. Happy Birthday.

  26. I cleaned my refrigerator and knit on a market bag for my daughter who will be moving into a dorm 45 miles away all too soon. It seems all too far. I also knit on a hat and worked on designing a hat. I’m trying to collect 300 men’s wool hats.
    I’d come clean your refrigerator but considering I think 45 miles is “all too far” …

  27. Glad you had a great birthday! Here’s to many many more …

    As to weekend: entertained two complete strangers (acquaintances of friends of friends) for lunch and almost ended up hosting them for 3 days as my daughter leapt right in there with the offer — luckily someone else took them in as we have 4 people in this flat and one loo (Amercian: toilet), and that’s in the bathroom (American: room with bath in it, not toilet) so it would have been a bit too stressful. After dodging that one, spent Sunday (a) leading a 3 hour tour of the British Library (b) proofreading a colleague’s 165-page BA handbook for a new degree programme (not recommended except for insomnaics) (c) read an MA essay for a student I’m supervising (d) thought wistfully about writing my thesis (e) got in 10 minutes of knitting at 2 am when I finally got to bed … I’m hoping the rest of the week will be better ….

  28. I hosted the newlywed d-i-l of my best friend by cooking, making fruit salads and watching “girlie” movies like The Notebook (I never saw it before). 2 days later the newlywed hubbie arrived and I’ve seen very little of them! They spend every day and evening in San Francisco cramming in all sorts of things and have seen more in 3 days than I have in 35 yrs! Ah, to be 22 again….(not really)….While they’re gone I’m catching up with friends, cats, and crafts. Nice.

  29. I’m a reporter so there is no such thing as a day off. I had to go and interview a bereaved family in order to write a bio of a pillar of this community and a former colleague of mine so that was sad. But better me than some intrusive brash idiot who doesn’t know them at all. Then I learned something new about an old friend, which has led to me having a ton more respect for him, even than I had before, which is saying something. Talked to my sons; cleaned my house; did laundry and dishes (ongoing of course). Started three new knitting projects, finished none, and looked through books for inspiration for a bunch more new ones. Pretty awesome and productive, though not as productive as I would have liked, as the dandelions in my garden are still leering at me and daring me to do something about them.

  30. Saturday spent touring the roses garden at the Brooklyn Botanical garden with my NYC family (includes adorable grandson). Sunday I got up at a ridiculous hour and flew back to the west coast in time to take a nap. Then realized that the bug I have been fighting for the last week is actually winning. Oh yes, and there was knitting in there as well.

  31. Happy belated birthday! It sounds like it was fun.

    Last weekend I did something that had been bugging me for quite a while: Cleaning the carpets in the house. My DH and I had gotten to the point that we had runny noses and sore eyes. So, I did it. I do not have much of an excuse for procrastinating about it, since I own a carpet cleaner. But, I did enjoy the final moments when I scowled in disgust over the black (yes, BLACK) water that I was pouring down the toilet. I cannot believe how dirty we are. Other than that, I did the regular stuff to clean. I also worked on getting tickets to see Chris Isaak, since he is playing near us next month.

    All in all, lowkey, relaxed and satisfying.

  32. I spent a lot of time in my garden, planting giant radishes and doing all the things that I do when I go into the garden that take up oodles of time but that I can’t remember five minutes later. I like pottering about. I did not like pulling out rancid gobbets of ancient fat from the kitchen drain (cheers, previous house occupants!), but it had to be done.

  33. I knit.
    Then visited my dad’s grave and had a lovely chat with him.
    Then went to a garden art show with my mum.
    Then knit some more.

  34. I weeded the garden, did a load of laundry, cleaned up the kitchen, weeded the garden, weeded the garden, weeded the garden and then stared longingly at my wheel while I pounded back a hard lemonade….more weeding to commence shortly…

  35. I would come clean your fridge for free if only to give me some idea of what died in mine (which is currently more bare now than at any time since it was delivered, so wtf?). = )

  36. Finished a pair of socks that are really not very good but look fine on my feet, especially with shoes. Trying to decide whether I’ve gone off socks. Meanwhile the only thing on the needles is a wool vest and it’s 91 degrees outside. (That’s 33 Centigrade.)

    What do you knit in summer – seriously hot summer – if you’ve gone off socks?

    • i can’t speak for anyone else, but i either knit mittens for christmas gifts, washcloths, baby clothes or baby hats for the local hospital. i only work on big stuff if i have a table to put it on rather than my lap. since my hands sweat a lot, i stop frequently to sprinkle baby powder on my hands so they don’t stick to the knitting.

      • mittens, fingerless or regular, are my favorite projects these last couple of years. but someone told me that men don’t wear mittens. (i told them that robin hansen has patterns for fishermen’s mittens in her books, but they said that was an exception). is that true, do you think? if i stuck to solid dark colors, would men wear mittens? i don’t like knitting gloves, just mittens. and i am running out of women to knit them for!

  37. I returned this weekend from driving Sag-Wagon for my husband who was doing BRAN: Bike Ride Across Nebraska. For a Sag Driver, it’s really more like Bonanza of Rhubarb Across Nebraska. (Pie, cheesecake, and kolaches).

  38. Wouldn’t you rather have a friend that would come and wind tiny balls of yarn in multi colors for you?

    Not that I am actually close enough to do either…

  39. I spent my weekend removing carpet from my living room. Followed by the padding and the tack strip and a complete vacuum. Now for the next steps of finding the paint, painting and then installing laminate. Whee.

  40. On Saturday husband and I shopped for new flooring to replace the wood laminate damaged by a water leak in our home. It’s all very depressing and expensive, and I am not a happy person right now. On Sunday husband and I worked in the yard. It looks really good (unlike our master bedroom).

  41. Saturday, my husband & I spent 12 hours at airports and flying from Bonarie to Atlanta to Baltimore. Spent the time reading and knitting. Sunday was sleeping in, a bit of knitting and a family dinner.

  42. Weekend? My youngest graduated from high school and the smartest thing I did was have the family gathering catered so that I could enjoy the event. I am also training for my first triathlon and did a “brick workout” where you ride your bike hard for a long time then jump off and run. Geez, it feels like you’re running on somebody else’s legs.

    But I am so looking forward to the event on July 26th.

  43. Hello! I am glad, really glad that 46 feels like 45! All the biking that you are doing is paying off in dividends! You want to know what I did this past weekend? I made a trip to the library, I read a bit, knit a bit, snoozed a bit, played in the garden a bit, knit a bit more and had a neigborhood kid pressure wash my driveway, walk, patio, side walk and curb. Yes curb! I get a black mildew on the concrete and it really needed to be spiffed up a bit.

  44. I celebrated World Wide Knit in Public Day under a shady tree at Old Poway Park and met lots of knitters. Had a fun conversation with a fellow knitter about Rhinebeck, then came home and researched the whole sweater thing. I think we’re going to plan the adventure for 2015. Then on Sunday I attended the San Diego County Fair with my husband, where I spent lots of time talking and observing spinners. Of course we had to indulge in “fair food.” It was all delicious!

  45. I also spent way too much time researching what I could about southern Italian folk harp music and listening to some of it with the intent of transcribing it. I don’t even own a harp. (Okay, yet.)

    This includes watching rather long presentations by Italian folk harpists on YouTube. In Italian. I don’t speak Italian either. (Okay, yet.)

  46. I had to laugh at your #3 observation. Many years ago my son came to the breakfast table on his birthday. He was astonished that his pants still fit. He expected that the transition from 4 to 5 would result in something more dramatic.

  47. I think you could ask your Strung Along Retreat attendees to wind balls for you! It would give us a way to be helpful, which would be lovely. I’d do it – and I will be there – I’m not promising others, never met, to do it in my absence. This weekend I did a new thing – although I’ve run many marathons, including trail marathons, I ran a trail marathon at NIGHT – it started Saturday at 9p, and I didn’t finish until after 4a. Had to be extra careful about my footing, given the darkness and all, but managed to stay on my feet the whole way, which was something many weren’t able to manage. The rocks and roots often seem to come up and grab your toes and bring you down. Weird, but fun, in a good way. Sounds like your birthday was what you were hoping!

  48. Happy belated birthday!
    I cleaned my fridge, which consisted of throwing nearly everything away. The rest of the time was spent nursing my 10 mo. old, catering to my almost 3 year old, or knitting. I also tried to clean the bathroom, but I seem to have misplaced my toilet brush. Bummer.

  49. You’ve been in my brain!! I’ve been doing very similar slip stitch patterns lately, too! Way easier than fair isle!

  50. I joined the Smoky Mountain Knitting Guild in Waynesville, NC to kick off World Wide Knit in Public Day at the Appalachian Lifestyle Celebration! We knit in public and grabbed folks to add stitches to a simple garter stitch scarf “community” scarf that will be donated to our middle school students this fall. You can pictures of the day at the Guild’s FaceBook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Smoky-Mountain-Knitting-Guild/309821449128497
    (Honestly, it has been so hot, that’s the last time I’ve touched needles in days…)

  51. I played mini-golf this weekend, and tried a new local popsicle making place (ie. they make popsicles/creamsicles/frozen good things from local ingredients and then sell them to me). Good weekend! Then today I decided to try stair climbing as exercise. IT IS REALLY HARD WORK.

  52. I held a party at my house for my eldest son’s 18th birthday and high school graduation. I made a kick-ass chocolate cake.

  53. I did some knitting on the 2nd sock that I’m making for my sister’s birthday next month, and my husband and I took the kids to the St. Louis Zoo. Fabulous zoo if you’re ever in the area, and totally free!!! We got to witness some kinky action in the primate house (apparently the macaque is lonely. . .) so that was exciting to explain. Beautiful zoo and a beautiful weekend!

  54. Spent the weekend knitting on a baby blanket for a friend from work — became a father for the first time on Friday, just in time for Father’s Day! Of course, with the number of ends that will have to be woven in when I am done, I hope to have it complete before his son’s first birthday!

  55. I knit on a new sock pattern, read and napped – in between trips to the stores to track down items that my husband needed/wanted/ He cannot drive right now due to having a small stroke 2 weeks ago – so I’ve become the “chief of everything” at this point. Not complaining, I’m glad he’s still with me and able to do quite a bit for himself. But, I detest driving and am having to do quite a bit with Doctor’s appointments and such – and there’s not a yarn store remotely close to stop at and pick up a reward!

      • Thank you! It was fantastic! Best of all he did all the planning. Which meant we got married in a helicopter (we’re a different kind of couple). Even the rain couldn’t damper our spirits.

  56. I shied away from an icord button band…instead started up a gray/black/tertiary purple cotton baby blanket for a punk-rock baby due in about two months. Gardened, in steel toe boots as rattlesnake avoiders. the heat is funky here so did not ride bikes or take big walks…that is my excuse this time. got a hair cut 🙂 and enjoyed the heck out of the smell of hot eucalyptus, oak and bay trees..with the hot dirt and hot grasses…a wonderful smell.

  57. I demonstrated spinning at a 3 day country show. I sold a few spindles and planted 3 new spinners. I think that they’ll grow well.

  58. I wish I lived closer!! While I am not “crazy” about cleaning refrigerators, it is the job I mind least in the kitchen. I’ll come clean your fridge regularly if you’ll come mop my kitchen….

  59. Put a dent in the oft-neglected housework, took a lovely walk on the beach, and realized that I’ve knit the heel of the second sock on the opposite side of the sock from the first one and frogged it back to the bottom of the leg. Gah.

  60. Knit, surfed the net, knit more, drunk lots of tea, gardened.

    Also, those roses, so beautiful. You wouldn’t know what their cultivar name is, would you?

  61. I hardly remember the weekend– too long ago– but what I’m doing now is salivating over that glimpse of your design. That beautifully neutral and natural colourwork is making my fingers itch to play with it… You are going to give us details asap, yes?

  62. To be fair I have never had an actual speaking relationship with the lower half of my body! Great weekend. Turned the son and heir’s vacated bedroom into a room to leave the sewing machine and ironing board up all the time with a comfy armchair for knitting and a small tv. All ready to watch Wimbledon and perform the annual ritual of ’emptying the ironing basket’.

  63. I finished a signature quilt I made for a friend who is retiring. I do enjoy quilting but like knitting, do not enjoy as much as when it is on a schedule and it does interfere with my knitting as does grocery shopping, laundry and cleaning, but at least I like quilting. The dinner was last night and it was so worth the effort!

  64. I started knitting Highland Dance hose – it’s like Intarsia on crack with lace weight held double 🙁 They are $200 to buy already done so I’m giving it a shot with $50 worth of yarn. I love your roses and colours in the secret project!

  65. Thank you! Cleaning out the fridge is the perfect chore for my 12 year old who is on summer vacation (early due to the teacher’s strike) and bored already. That will teach him to tell me he’s bored! “Get a hobby kiddo or your hobby will become my to-do list!”

  66. I cleaned, then cooked, then went to a gathering at the community garden, ate, and gardened. Sunday was lazy, but we went to lunch at a local brewery and saw Maleficent (great fun, good story line). A nice weekend was had.

  67. I went to Seattle to cheer on my daughters and granddaughters who walked 17.5 miles in honor of my precious granddaughter, Maddie, age 15, who we lost to suicide in February. This walk was to raise money for suicide prevention and brought in $1.2 million Hurray for my amazing family who were able to do this.

    • Sherry
      I am so very sorry too hear about your precious Maddie
      my most heartfelt sympathy goes out to you and your family

      special thoughts to your daughters and granddaughters who walk in her honour to provide help for those who need it

      Donna

  68. Well, dang, if I had known that fridge cleaners were “HE,” things might be waaay better at my fridge!

    On the secret side…that yarn and stitches look beautiful. Can hardly wait for the disclosure.

    Happy Belated Birthday. Keep riding and 63 will feel the almost the same as 45…just saying.

  69. Made lovely Eggplant Involtini: sliced, pre-baked eggplant, stuffed with ricotta-basil-parmesan-bread crumbs, and simmered in tomato sauce AND Berry Fool, for husband’s homecoming from hospital, neighbor’s departure after 40 years; 20 years our neighbor, and tenants. Sunday lunch-brunch.

  70. My lillies have fallen off the stems so the ‘ta da! is over”. It’s so hot any flowers in the bed have collapsed from the heat.
    Working on my website featuring those lovely Jacob fleeces, and washing 52 skeins of Romney back from the mill…
    I’m thinking I’ll take a dishpan and a bag of ice to the 90 degree farmers market this afternoon to try to stay cool…yes, outdoor farmers markets in GA are too hot…
    Glad you enjoyed your birthday, and the new mystery project is lovely!!!!

  71. I took my parents to Disneyland and watched my daughter receive her PhD hood in Geological Sciences at UCRiverside. Great way to spend a weekend let me tell you.
    Now comes the long slog to moving a houseful of stuff to the next state over.
    Have a wonderful time at the retreat. Wish I could be there instead of here.

  72. When you find that fridge cleaning friend would you mind sending him my way…..and ask him if he has a ‘sweeping piles of dog hair/dust bunnines’ loving friend as well.

  73. Just home from a glorious weekend attending my daughter’s graduation from University which is really quite remarkable considering that she was near death last October due to a severe Crohns Disease flair that included a month in the hospital, very invasive abdominal surgery, and a colostomy. We should all have this young woman’s fortitude and determination. She always has her eyes on the prize and deserves all the good things that come her way. I am so proud to be her mother!!!!

  74. I spent the weekend writing on my 13th novel! (Still can’t believe it!) I finished one sock and started knitting on another. I also pieced together a table runner that I hope to start quilting this week–after I get my writing quota done.

  75. I cleaned up my crowded, claustrophobic yarn room..and yes, it is an actual room. It has a closet (full of yarn) a desk and two book cases in it and I can now actually walk in, sit down at the desk, knit and not feel as if the yarn is about to launch a sneak attack by falling out of the closet onto my head.
    It took a while and some planning but now, it is all clean. The yarn is happy and so is it’s owner!
    bjr

  76. This weekend we celebrated hubby’s birthday you share the same date not the same year. So we ate a piece of chocolate cake in your honour:-) if I lived closer I’d clean your fridge in exchange for yarn or fiber. No I’d really love cleaning fridges ( tho I seemed to clean my FILs every visit) I just love yarn & fiber enough to do that for job for you.

  77. Poor sit bones.

    I climbed rocks in Kentucky, well, really cliffs in the Red River Gorge. There were hot showers, real beds and AC, so we were not roughing it. I finally managed to climb a route that had defeated me in a past trip, so it was pretty successful in my book. There was not nearly as much Nuvem knitting cliffside than I expected.

    Molly : )

  78. Beautiful ! even if it is only a sneak peak.

    As for the fridge … I think Joe owes you for the DECAF snafu!

    M in nc

  79. When I first read this, I thought it said you DID have a friend who came and cleaned out your fridge. You can’t believe the intense and immediate jealousy that welled up in me!
    There’s more than one smell in mine.

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