Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my birthday, the 60th anniversary of my birth. I was born in Dallas, Texas at St. Paul Hospital, a Catholic hospital. Since I was born on a Friday morning in a Catholic hospital, my mother was served an entree of fish for dinner, which she refused to eat based on her grandmother's admonition that one should not eat fish right after giving birth. When the nurse in attendance assured her that the fish would not cause harm, my mother stuck with the "old wives tale" and continued to refuse to eat the fish. This is one of the family tales that has be told and retold throughout my life with very little embellishment, which is not always the case in my family.

Most of the family stories I have heard in my lifetime have been embroidered with various embellishments depending on the story teller. My Aunt Norma (married to my father's eldest brother) once queried, "Why is it that your side of the family keeps telling tales about family members whether the subject of the tale is alive or dead?" My response was, "We see no need to let a good story die just because the main characters are dead. A good story is a good story."

My current knitting projects are going well. The knitting has been uncomplicated, and, as the garments grow, I enjoy watching them develop into exactly what I had in mind when I started them. I suspect the Electra is telling me that it wants to live in my sister's closet; however, I am still trying to convince it that I would enjoy it more. The fact that my sister saw it last weekend and commented on how the colors in it are "her colors" does not help my case for keeping it for myself. I keep telling myself that if I do decide to give it to her, I can always make another one for myself. Decisions, decisions!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Knitting miles of stitches

I am currently working on two different cardigans, one for me and one for my daughter. The cardigan I am making for my daughter is the Katrina Ballerina Lace Layering Cardigan from No Two Snowflakes Alike (www.notwosnowflakesalike.com). It is a lovely top-down raglan with the top portion in stockinette with garter stitch borders and the lower portion or skirt in a simple lace pattern which resolves into a garter stitch edge. It is a lovely design which I think my daughter will enjoy wearing. I am making it from some DK weight mercerized cotton yarn that I purchased as a kit and decided to make something different with the yarn. My hands are "crying" from working with this yarn. I am hoping to finish the sweater in time to enter it into the South Plains Fair in September.

The other cardigan I am making is Elektra by Twisted Sisters (from their book Double Trouble). It's a rather simple design to knit especially since I made a pullover from that same book and that pullover uses a similar process. The yarns I am using are all fingering weight sock yarns in cool colors with a strand of blue-black lace-weight yarn carried along with the sock yarn. The blue-black lace weight yarn has the affect of blending together the sock yarn colors. I am alternating bands of multi-colored sock yarn with bands of navy sock yarn. This yarn is a pleasure to knit, and the finished garment will be light weight and warm.