Half n' Half

Was it only a month ago that I was sitting in a knitting abyss and making lofty goals for March?

I must have been thinking with only half a brain when I thought I would finish the North Sea Shawl by April 1. I had forgotten that life often has other plans for us.

March was a month with lots of rollercoaster moments and very little knitting.

The North Sea Shawl is now half done:



And, no promises, but it might be finished half-way through April. Life, you hear me?

Today, I'm doing the Happy Dance because it's the NY Yankee Opening Day and the hubster and I will be there!

And I don't care that'll it be cold and rainy this afternoon for the first pitch. I was born a Yankee fan and it's Yankee Opening Day! No half-love there!

F is for. . .

FICHU.

My winter uniform is black jeans and a black vee neck sweater. I have several of each so everyday, black jeans and a black vee neck sweater.

When it was very cold, I'd wear black wool slacks instead. But, you get the idea. Black slacks, black sweater. Typical urban armour.

To stand out a bit, however, I'd often wear a fichu.

The Shetland Triangle designed by Evelyn Clark and knit by my friend the talented Sonja.



The Forest Canopy Shawl designed by Susan Lawrence and knit by me.



I love these little shawls!

They don't take much time or yarn to knit up. But they provide so much. Warmth. A dash of texture and color. And it's just plain nice to wear something lovely and handmade around my shoulders.

Wearin' O'the Green 2008

I'm having a low-key St. Patrick's Day today. Have things to do and it's just too chilly out there for me to stand around and watch the Parade.

But that doesn't mean there won't be any celebrating around here.

Yesterday, the hubster and I had our traditional corned beef dinner.



Tonight we'll be eating corned beef sandwiches and for dessert:



Yes, it's the traditional green Icebox Cake.
What? You didn't know this was traditional fare?
In the hubster's family it's the tradition and green Icebox Cakes have been made all over the country to celebrate today.

Lest you think I'm not in the spirit--I'll be proudly wearing green today:



Have a good one, everybody!

E is for

EAVESDROPPING.



I'm a shameless eavesdropper!

Just walking around NYC or sitting in a coffeeshop provides snippets of conversations from which volumes could be written:

Young guy wearing a suit on his cell in midtown Manhattan:
"Um. . . . yeah. . . so I'm gonna be arrested for extortion."

A pre-school group waiting on the corner at Columbus Circle:
One 4 year old: "There's no horsies here. Just dogs."
Other 4 year old: "Horses. Not horsies."

Two chic women on the Upper East Side
"So, he was at your wedding?"
"Oh yes. I've known him forever."
"Did he like hookers then?"

In Starbucks. Two 20-something year old males:
"He's very friendly."
"Yeah, he's too friendly."
"Dude, how friendly is too friendly?"

In Starbucks. Two teens--male and female.
From the conversation, I gathered the girl was turning 16 and she was telling the boy about the birthday plans. My ears picked up when I heard her say:
"Then we're going to my Mom's apartment."
"That's like for everybody, right?"
"Yeah, so come over around 11:00"
"Stacey said you're gonna have Moet?"
"Yeah, my Mom ordered a case of it."
"Cool."

Woman and dog on an Upper West Side street. The dog was dragging a tree branch that had to be 10 feet long!
"Bingy, I'm tellin' ya this now--you're not bringing that home with you."
Bingy looked up at her and continued to drag, drag, drag the branch.
"Bingy, this is a warning. It's staying outside."
Look up. Drag, drag, drag
"Bingy, I mean it. You can't bring that home."
Look up. Drag, drag, drag all the way down the block.

All of the above were overheard within the past two days. In the comments, feel free to provide an imagined next line to any of them.

Whew! I just made it within the ABC Along 2008 time frame for E.

More than Knitting

When taking a knitting class with Annie Modesitt, you learn more than knitting. She also gives lessons in philosophy, metaphysics, math, self-reliance, self-worth and pop culture from the '50s. She even throws in some performance art!

Annie taught classes at my favorite LYS Knitty City the other day and I took the lace knitting class. During the class, Annie led me to a few "aha" moments--things that were just so obvious once my eyes were opened. This is one excellent teacher!

As an old NYC public school teacher, I admire Annie's way around a classroom. She's firm, funny, wacky, very warm and generous and giving of both her time and experience. I'd taken "cabling without a cable needle" at Rhinebeck with Annie a few years ago -- so I knew I was in for an adventure.

And what an adventure!

I'll never again look at the right and left leaning decreases without picturing Annie using her body to demonstrate how they're made. And I'll certainly work on banishing "Oh, I never make. . . . " from my knitting vocabulary.

Most importantly, I can't wait to start deconstructing lace charts a la Annie's way.

When I went to my stash to pull out yarn for the class, I found the yarn and the sample I had knitted from the cable class. Here are the samples knit from both classes:



These may look like some cabled cloth and a lace sample--but each is so much more. I look at them and I'm reminded of Annie's humor and grace.

Marching Along

I often find myself sitting in a knitting abyss. It's not a pretty place. This is where hours wasted 'net surfing and watching American Idol reside. There's plenty of coffee and wine there--but, no yarn or needles.

So, since I'm a person who needs to write out a daily "to do" list that even includes "take shower," "get dressed" on it and since I work best under a deadline, I'm blatently stealing this idea from All Tangled Up--knitting goals for the month.

March goals:
1. Finish (gulp!) the North Sea Shawl
2. Play catch-up with the second Chimney Sock. Knit it to the heel.
3. Cast on and begin a baby sweater. (I've never knit a sweater of any size, so this is practice before beginning a humungous sized one.)

Doable, I think so. I'm just glad there's 31 days this month.

From the blogiversary contest--some more blogs:

Today Odds and Ends is flashing 5,000 yards of Zephyr. I get woozy just looking at it!

Since it's the Wearin' O'the Green month, Share is sharing with us her pattern for a crocheted Shamrock Pin. Hmmm. . . something else to add to the goals list.

And Share also shared with us Dove Knits. I just love her idea for the notions roll-up.