Well, we finally wrestle this thing out of the ground and he asks me why I just don't leave it there. "What if I want to plant a bush?!?" I mean, we're talking dead center of this huge 2000 sq. ft. area. Wouldn't I want to plant something special in the center? After all, I've cleared more square footage in my front yard than I actually have inside my house. It deserves something special, right?
Course, we get this durned thing out and I stand there, looking at it. Nope, forget a damn bush. I take all the other big rocks I've been "planting" around the garden and dump them all in the hole. Then we wrestle the mother rock right back on top of them.
Why? Because I've changed my mind. This rock is going to be my showcase. I'm going to paint the thing white and display the boulder I've dug out of this yard. Surround it with mulch and display it.
And Mark just stands there and laughs. We dug it out only to put it back.
What can I say?
I finished the yard just in time to go back to work. Now, here's the weird thing. I've started listening to a podcast called "Cast On" by Brenda Dayne. And she's inspired me. I want to expand my horizons and try new techniques. I've always been timid. Yup, I'm good at what I do, but I'm always afraid to try new stuff because I'm worried that I won't "get it".
Well, I pulled out my Latvian mitten book and started experimenting. Hey! I can do this stuff. It's not all that hard. Not once you learn a few tricks. Like I checked out the short video on Philosopher's Wool website and learned how to carry those colors without long stranding to get tangled on fingers and toes and all that. Easy stuff. Practicing knitting with both hands. (Yeah, like this stuff was really all that easy!!!
I've been back at work for 3 or 4 weeks. I'm not sure without looking at a calendar, to be honest. But I've been practicing and knitting and stranding and doing all sorts of stuff that I've never done before. All while listening to the old podcasts of Brenda Dayne who keeps me inspired to try this new stuff. And you want to know the _really_ weird part? I actually look forward to getting into work because then I have time to play and practice. I wake up in the morning, all psyched about getting into my booth and hunkering down for the day with my skeins and needles.
Last year, I got to the point that I dreaded another day at work and how on Earth I was going to fill the time. This year? I can't wait to get there. I'm experimenting at creating my own new designs and colorworks.
I have a book called "Aran and Fair Isle Knitting" and I spent Friday taking a 16 row Aran design and adapting it for use on socks. It was a struggle. The pattern is designed for straight needle knitting. So I figured that I had to rewrite the pattern with the first row going straight across but then having to adapt the even rows because I'd be knitting them not only backwards, but in reverse (where the knit becomes purl, etc). Well, it didn't quite work out that easy. It literally took me the full 8 hours to adapt the pattern, but I finally got all the notes written down. Including notes where I have to move loops from one needle to the next so I can twist them and then later move them back. I'm telling ya... It wasn't easy. But anyway... Then I looked at the durned sock. Right and perfect pattern. Yup, got it. Wrong yarn...
I'm knitting with Lisa Souza's Earth Birth and even though I wouldn't call it a variegated yarn, there's just enough color change that it disrupted the pattern of what I now call a "textured argyle". I call it that because the diamonds are created using baby cables and the diamonds are offset as some are knitted and the others are purled. So it's more of a textured pattern than one done with color. Anyway, just enough color change in the yarn to disrupt the pattern. So I came home, frogged the sock, and I'm now working it in panels of double cables. Ten panels of 4 stitches, offset with 2 sts of purl. Every other panel on the cuff has a double cable. And the pattern is perfect for this yarn.
The Textured Argyle? I'm pretty sure I know what yarn will work. I just forget the name of it. A trip to Country Yarns should solve that since I just made a pair of socks this summer in the yarn. But it's a heathered yarn with a change so subtle that you don't even notice it until you're all done and you can see the gentle and subtle change of color in the finished product. Anyway, I'm hoping to get over there today to get the yarn so I can announce what it is...
Off to do laundry today. Yup, today is my day to hang out, spin, knit and catch up with shows that I haven't gotten to see all week. I have the last 5 shows of "The Closer" that I loaded onto DVD last night and I'd like to watch them again. Course, I can always watch "Tristan + Isolde" again. Found the movie last weekend and absolutely fell in love with the story and the historical clothing. Very rough weaving in the cloth. I would imagine much more accurate to the time period than some of the "fine" examples movie people like to use. In fact, I was distracted the first time I saw the movie, so I had to see it again...
Okay, enough. Time to start the day...
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