Rainbow Chills

Sometimes when somebody loves you

Sometimes when somebody loves you
Miracles somehow appear
And there in the warp and the woof is the proof of it
Charlotte's web

There must be something more to us than you and me
It must be tangled up somehow with destiny
I used to think the sum of one and one was two
But we add up to more, me and you

How very special are we
For just a moment to be
Part of life's eternal rhyme
How very special are we
To have on our family tree
Mother Earth and Father Time

Specs:

• Pattern: Charlotte's Web Shawl
• Pattern Source: Knits from Painter's Palette (Koigu single pattern)
• Designer: Maie Landra
• Yarn: Koigu in 5 colors, color codes forthcoming
• Yarn and pattern purchased: at Loop
• Needles: US 7 Knit Picks Options
• Started: February 18, 2008
• Finished: February 28, 2008
• Knit for: my Mom for Mother's Day
• Modifications: I didn't knit any edging on it. I may add something but I doubt it. I will definitely not be adding fringe.
• Notes:

My mom and I went to Loop on MLK day and she fell in love with the shop sample. I have never been a big fan of this shawl because I think the color variegation obscures the lace but my mom just adored it. She's been a crocheter for my whole life but had never stepped foot into a real yarn store before that day and was just bowled over by all of the options. I went to Loop last Monday and took advantage of the President's Day sale and got the yarn and pattern for this. Michelle is doubtful that I'll be able to resist giving this to my mom before Mother's Day but I'm going to try.

Two things made this knit go so quickly-- my love of knitting lace and the joy that is koigu. I really love to knit lace. It's so interesting. I will admit to having a problem in the rows between 30 and 50. I just couldn't get it. I kept ripping back and starting those rows over and over. But after that, I got it and it just flew off the needles. I haven't worked with Koigu in quite a long time. I may have only used it one other time- about 4 years ago for a pair of socks. I really loved knitting this.

I blocked it using my blocking wires. I think I'm doing something wrong with them. I keep reading that blocking wires make things so much faster but I feel like it takes much longer for me. Threading the wires through is a pain. Michelle suggested that perhaps it is taking longer but that I'm doing a better or more thorough job. That's possible. I don't know. Does anyone have any blocking wire words of wisdom?

Thanks for your contest guesses. No one guessed that I was knitting Charlotte's Web, a Koigu pattern that made the rounds about four years ago. Have no fear, there will be more opportunities for winning yarn in the coming months. Michelle and I will be launching our fundraising for the Arthritis Walk on March 1.

Note: All lyrics are from songs in the Charlotte's Web animated movie released in 1973.

Little Red Riding Hood

Picture swiped from my sister Cathy:

This is my niece Eve in her new Wallaby sweater. She likes wearing the hood up because she thinks she looks like Little Red Riding Hood. I made the sweater a little bit big in hopes that it will fit her next winter as well.

Merry Christmas

We had a great Christmas.

I made my nieces and nephew each a Wallaby sweater.

Here's Evie modeling her sweater.

Here I am explaining to Joshua that I still had five inches of hood to finish and that he couldn't keep the sweater. Argh.

And here's a sleepy Abigail using her sweater as a substitute blankie.

I started the sweaters back in November and would have finished Joshua's had I played fewer games of Sudoku over the past two months. I used an acrylic yarn called Leader by Phildar. It will be great for my sisters to be able to machine wash and dry these but this was a big reminder why I haven't used 100% acrylic yarn since my first few months as a knitter. It's not much fun to knit with. The yarn was purchased at Webs though if you are interested. They had a ridiculous color selection back when I bought the yarn in late summer.

Tomorrow, I'm spending the day with two knitting friends- Jody and Katy. I can't wait.

See you in 2008.

Christmas stuff

Christmas Meme

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?  Both but mostly wrapping paper. It's much more fun than bags. I especially love kids opening presents surrounded by wrapping paper.
2. Real or artificial tree?  Artificial. We had an artificial tree growing up. Now, we always put the decorations up before Michelle's birthday (12/7) and I like to keep everything up until the Feast of the Epiphany. An artificial tree does that job well. Also, we live in an apartment and at times, we've lived in places where live trees were not allowed.
3. When do you put up the tree?  Typically, we decorate on Black Friday or that weekend but it was very early this year so we decorated the following weekend. The goal is to have everything up before Michelle's birthday.
4. When do you take it down?  After the Feast of the Epiphany (12 days after Christmas).
5. Do you like eggnog?  I don't know that I have ever had it but my hunch is no.
6. Favorite gift received as a child?  I have fond memories of getting my Cabbage Patch kids (an original in '83 and a preemie the following year). I always loved getting Barbie stuff and I remember my mother being so frustrated at my aunt and uncle for getting us the Barbie kitchen set which had something like "64 fabulous pieces.") She did not enjoy assembling that one.
   
7. Do you have a nativity scene?  Three. I put two out this year.
8. Hardest person to buy for?  My grandmom. She likes everything but she doesn't need anything.
9. Easiest person to buy for?  Michelle. My dad- he loves anything you give him. We joke that you could give him a used handkerchief and he would be thrilled. My nieces and nephew are also pretty easy.
10. Worst Christmas present you ever got?  I have two sets of aunts/uncles who used to buy gifts I didn't like. We were always taught to be very grateful for whatever we got though so I'm not one to complain about that or regift.
11. Mail or email Christmas cards?  We mail about 60 or 70 cards. Michelle made about 2/3 of them this year and we sent cartoon-y cards to folks with little kids.
12. Favorite Christmas movie?  Where to begin...we had so many Christmas movies and so much Christmas music that we start playing it on November 1 to get it all in. In terms of actual feature length movies, White Christmas, It's A Wonderful Life, and Muppet Christmas Carol are my favorites. I adore animated Christmas specials though and have many on tape and dvd.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?  Usually around Thanksgiving although I often don't start shopping for Michelle until after her birthday. We're done shopping for the families but I stil have a few things to get for Michelle.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?  Michelle is pretty transparent about regifting. When people come over who she thinks might like something that we don't, she offers it to them. We don't rewrap things and pretend we bought it. At work, we have a regifting exchange at the holiday party. Everyone brings a regift and we do a pirate pollyanna. I sort of hate it because I just end up with a different piece of junk than I had to begin with. It's fun to see other people's weird gifts though.
15. Favorite thing to eat on Christmas?  When I was a kid, my mom started making Pillsbury Cinnamon buns on Christmas because there was too much going on to have a big breakfast. My sister Cathy and I have both carried this on in our adult lives. I also like to eat my mother's Christmas dinner which is identical to Thanksgiving. My mom also gets caramel smidgens from Gertrude Hawk that I love. Oh, and she makes these Crunchy Jumble cookies too.
    
16. Clear lights or colored on the tree?  Clear.
17. Favorite Christmas song?  In terms of Carols, I'll say O Holy Night. But I could go on and on and perhaps I will over the next two weeks.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?  Home. Even when we go to my sister's for Christmas, it's just for a few hours and the drive is about 1.5 hours each way. We have way too many traditions in my family to go anywhere. And Michelle and I will never give up our pajama day on the 26th.
19. Can you name all of Santa's Reindeer?  Yes. Duh.
20. Angel or star on top of tree?  Angel, although our Angel is quite fairyish which we like.
21. Open presents Christmas Eve or morning.  Morning except for one package. We always opened one present when I was a kid- new pajamas. Michelle and I have continued this tradition at our house.
22. Most annoying thing this time of year?  Obligation events, though I do a pretty good job at not going if I can help it.
23. Do you decorate your tree in any theme or color? No. Both Michelle and I grew up in families where the tree was reflective of the family- craft ornaments, pictures of the kids, ornaments we had received as gifts. We each have a Rudolph ornament that we put on our family's Christmas tree. It's fun for the whole family to decorate the tree if it is reflective of everyone. My mom's best friend decided one year that she wanted only angels on her tree. It was beautiful but every year she decorated it by herself because it wasn't fun for anyone else- the ornaments didn't have any memories or stories with them.
24. What do you leave for Santa?  As a kid, we left cookies out for Santa. He always left an empty beer bottle out with the empty cookie plate. I think it may have been an accident the first time but it was so funny that it became a tradition. Only in recent years have I learned that Santa drank beer at other people's houses. I thought we were the only ones.
    

I got this from Teresa C. Take it if you want and let me know in the comments so I can read about your Christmas traditions.
 

It begins

We decorated our tree last night. I love my very liturgically incorrect advent wreath- three glittery red candles and one silver. 

We live in a small apartment- between 600 and 700 square feet. These are the bins of Christmas tree stuff. There are two more big totes (the size of the bottom one) and one medium one that contain the other decorations- the Village pieces, Nativity, Rudolph figurines, etc.

MIchelle insists that I include the disclaimer that our decorations would take up much less storage space if I didn't insist on keeping the box for every decoration. It's the way my mom did it and while I don't do everything in my life according to my mom's example, I think the way that she handles the Christmas decorating is just right.

Our tree tells a lot about us- the we love Little Women, fairies, Rudolph, cooking, Barbie, Raggedy Ann and Andy, Peanuts, knitting and travel. We get a number of new ornaments each year, including ones from any trips we take.

We got a few ornaments in Rehoboth this summer but my favorite may be this one.

There hasn't been a substantive knitting post here since mid-August. I actually have been knitting a little over the past few weeks. I plan to put my most recent finished project on Ravelry later today. Stop by there for more info.

'Tis the Season

Thanksgiving was fun. We hit the Light Show on Friday afternoon with my sisters, nieces and nephew.

Afterwards, I captured my niece Eve, singing Feliz Navidad. Not only does she not speak Spanish, she gets the English words wrong too!

Enjoy!

We're Catholic and we love baseball

When the Phillies won the NL East on Sunday, my mom cried. What you may not know is that my mom is a hostess (usher) at the ballpark. She was crying while standing in section 123/124 behind home plate. Other fans were taking pictures of the crazy usher in tears when the Phillies won. What my mom tried to explain to people is that this is what her family is about- this is who we are. She told someone "we're Catholic and we love baseball." I would add that we have incredible enthusiasm for Broadway musicals and innumerable holiday traditions, but in essence, she's right. This is what we're about.

It's very difficult to explain to other people how much something means to you and why. I finished reading Ann Patchett's new book Run this morning. A passage that I read last night has stuck with me because it captures this idea. It's so challenging for someone else to understand why something is so special to you because they haven't lived your life. They don't have your memories.

In this passage, Tip, a senior science major at Harvard is entertaining an 11 year old girl he has only known for one day. They are in a lab where millions of fish species are preserved in jars.

He took her to the single jar he loved above all others, a jar that he had found himself one night a year ago when he had finished putting things away and was simply wandering, as he was prone to do, and looking at what was there.

The jar indicates that this species of fish was discovered by Henry David Thoreau but when Tip shows Kenya the jar, she doesn't recognize the name.

She wanted so much to undersand why this was important, why these fish were his favorites when there were over a million to choose from.
"He studied nature," Tip said. "All of nature. He had some pretty revolutionary ideas about how men should live. I used to study the fishes in that pond and I used to read Thoreaus's books, so when I found these fish that he had caught"-- He stopped. His explanation captured nothing of what was important.
"That makes sense," she said, lending him encouragement. "You liked the same things."
Tip nodded, but it was more than that. It was Doyle sitting on the shores, cutting up an apple with a pocketknife for the three of them to share, it was Doyle praising Tip for remembering the difference between the sunfish and the crappie. It was the beautiful water, clear and cold even in the summer. Tip watched his own feet stepping carefully between the rocks, and kept an eye on Teddy's feet because Teddy was dreamy and more likely to fall. All of that, and then the picture of Thoreau turning over his own cuffs and stepping into that self same water, living a life of studied isolation and yet still taking these fish, these very fish that he held, back into his cabin for study.

I feel a little like Tip when I try to explain what the Phillies mean to me.

Harry Kalas is the voice of summer. The voice of sitting in the yard. Of just returning from the beach. Of my Pop having a beer.

Sitting in my grandparents living room, pressing the baseball shaped button on the plaque commemorating Mike Schmidt's 500th home run. Hearing Harry the K say: “Swing and a long drive!!…There it is!…The career 500th home run for Michael Jack Schmidt…”

Sitting with my sister Cathy at double headers when we were kids playing clapping games when we were bored, cheering for Lenny Dykstra who, for some reason, we used to call the guy next door or something equally silly.

My mom calling me a few years ago after getting the job as a hostess and telling me that this was her dream job.

I love the Phillies. I love them like they are my own family. They are in my memories. Summer afternoons. Vacations at the shore. Long car rides listening to the commentary on the radio.

I love the Phillies and I hope they win today.

Wildwood in Pictures

Famous boardwalk

Mack's Pizza

Fudgey Wudgey Man

Henna Tattoo

Sibling bonding (I'm second from the left)

The best smiles!

PS I saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last night and I loved it!

Wildwood Days

"Whoa, those Wildwood days, wild, wild, Wildwood days,

Oh baby, every day is a holiday and every night is Saturday night."

                                          Wildwood Days by Bobby Rydell

Tomorrow morning, I'm heading down the shore with my parents, siblings, and nieces and nephew. I haven't been down the shore (that's going to the beach for the rest of you) with my family since 2000. I can't wait.

When I was a little girl, my grandparents rented a place at the shore for the summer each year. We liked nothing better than to stay with them, sit on the beach, walk the boardwalk, ride the rides, and eat Mack's Pizza. We loved the shore so much that my Gram told us we couldn't talk about it anymore and we started calling it the "s word." My Pop counted down to the shore-- using monthly energy collections at church to mark the time- "only two more energy collections." He loved it even more than we did. He was never happier than when he was drinking a beer in the afternoon, watching the Phillies game, after a great day at the beach.

I only went to the shore one time after my Gram died and I haven't been there since my Pop died. I'm ready to be be a little sad but I also know that I have so many amazing memories with them from the shore. I'm so thrilled to be sharing the same experiences with my nieces and nephews. I think it's going to be a great time.

What will I be knitting, you ask? The Curlicue Blanket, the third-- no pictures because even though my friend Deirdre knows that I'm making the blanket and has seen it partially knit, I want her to see the finished blanket in person before on the blog. So you'll all have to wait until next week. I'm also going to be taking a sock project, although I don't know which one. I will also be taking the Mystery Stole because I somehow fell into that rabbit hole. I'd been seeing the number of Stoles rise on Ravelry for the past week when it became the number one WIP, passing the Monkey socks. I've been itching to do some lace knitting which for some reason seems to be a summer thing for me. I think it was the Harlot that did it yesterday. Anyway, I picked up some Zephyr in Ebony (apparently I'm insane) yesterday and have knit the first chart of the first clue. I have about 50 rows to go until I begin the next clue which was released this morning.

Count on lots of pictures next week of the kids on the beach and knitting progress. I'm a little worried about Ravelry withdraw while I'm away (which I'll fixate on rather than thinking about how much I'll be missing Michelle who doesn't have enough vacation days to join us). If you are waiting to get in to Ravelry, hang in there. It's worth the wait. I didn't know exactly what to do with it at first but boy, do I have it down now.

I just spent a few minutes looking at flickr pics tagged with Wildwood and Boardwalk. I really can't wait. Be back next week!

Defying Gravity

Michelle and I just got back from a four day trip to New York to celebrate the five year anniversary of our commitment ceremony. We had a fabulous time, despite mediocre weather. We saw three shows: Avenue Q, Wicked, and Grey Gardens. They were all wonderful in different ways.

Avenue Q was funny and smart. What bad can be said about a show that features songs like Everyone's a Little Bit Racist and features Gary Coleman as a character? It's fun to mock child stars, especially when the mocking is being done by puppets. We had no trouble getting tickets at 5:45 on Thursday night at TKTS at the Marriott Marquis. They had tickets for many shows and plays and the line was nearly nonexistent. If you are willing to make an on the spot decision about which show to see, I highly recommend it. I'd skip the long line that often forms for the 3:00 opening time at TKTS.

Wicked was everything I dreamed and more. I bought the soundtrack last summer after hearing it on a car ride with my parents (we always listen and sing along to soundtracks on car trips). The current Broadway cast does not disappoint. Julia Murney as Elphaba was very good and I can't say enough good things about Kendra Kasselbaum as Glinda. She was silly and bouyant, just as Glinda should be. She was also incredibly likable as a self-centered spoiled girl. Seeing Wicked is an experience in being transported to an imaginary world, a world that we both know intimately (from the Wizard of Oz books and movie) and one that we've never seen before- through the eyes of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West.

Grey Gardens was unbelievable. It was a transforming experience for me. I literally felt as though I was being changed while I was seeing it. Christine Ebersole is amazing. She is such a powerful actress who is able to be vulnerable, quirky, and confident- a tough combo. Both Edith and Little Edie are so complex and seeing this reality portayed on the stage is something to behold. When Michelle and I were talking about the three shows, I said that contrasting Wicked and Grey Gardens was interesting: one is a world totally in fantasy and the other is based on reality, but not reality as WE know it. The layered concepts of independence, relationships, feelings of being paralyzed by one's circumstances, the concept of acting both professionally and in daily life, eccentricity, individuality, and mental illness all collide and combine in the second act. It's certainly not for everyone, just as I have heard varying reviews of the documentary. Some people see brilliance and eccentricity, others mentally ill people who need intervention. Can we see both? Are they mutually exclusive? I could talk and talk about this show! Christine Ebersole will win the Tony, no doubt in my mind and it will be well deserved.

A recent NY Times article said this about the experience of seeing Grey Gardens:

As absurd as they appear the Beales are comfortingly human too. Their decline from hopeful dreamers to withdrawn oddballs may be extreme, but it traces in unusually gothic style an arc that shapes many a human journey. The lives we live as adults are rarely in neat accord with the heady dreams of youth. The seismic change that occurs in the fortunes of the Beales while the audience is chatting away merrily at intermission is a sneaky metaphor for the stealthy progress of fate in our own lives.

Few will leave the theater thinking: Little Edie Beale, c’est moi! But everyone of a certain age (say 30) has probably lived through a few of those startling moments when you take stock of your life as it is and wonder: How did I get here, exactly? When did the curves come that moved me away from one destiny and toward another? I guess it all must have happened during intermission.

NY Times, 4/8/07

I could say so much more about the trip. About that most quintessential of vacation experiences- drinking wine at lunch time. About getting lost in Central Park looking for Strawberry Fields. About the beauty that was the Forbidden Broadway ice cream sundae at Serendipity for dinner on Friday. About the restaurant awning that dumped water all over me and Michelle on Satuday. About the football players in town for the NFL draft that were staying at our hotel.

I'll leave you with lyrics from Wicked's amazing Defying Gravity:

Something has changed within me
Something is not the same
I'm through with playing by
The rules of someone else's game
Too late for second-guessing
Too late to go back to sleep
It's time to trust my instincts
Close my eyes
And leap...

It's time to try defying gravity
I think I'll try defying gravity
And you can't pull me down