mary makes merry

We'll let her slide on the grammar thing for now

A little Ellie story in honor of her second birthday, which was yesterday. Sesame Street is on at the moment, and the Elmo's world segment is all about telephones. As many of you are probably not aware, Elmo has a pet goldfish named Dorothy, and Dorothy has a blue telephone in her bowl today to show her enthusiasm for the telephone theme.

Ellie looked at the screen, said, "Blue telephone in Dorothy's bowl so he can make a call. He don't have any ears." (Who really knows the gender of a TV personality when (s)he's a fish, anyway?)

I'm pleased to know that the media won't be able to pull anything over on her. A fish needs a telephone like a fish needs a bicycle, if you ask me!

Acting against type

Another laundry story, this one much happier: Today one of Ellie's (store-bought) cardigans lost a button in the dryer. Of course, my first thought was to put it on the sewing machine table and move along. Instead, I sat down, threaded a needle, and sewed it on! Perhaps you can tell something about how my life has been going this month from the sense of achievement this gives me. Pathetic.

Possibly also pathetic, but I'm willing to 'fess up anyway: Here's a new-to-me trick for halving the time it takes to sew on buttons. Is this something the Whole World But Me has been doing all along? As you get ready to thread the needle, fold the piece of thread in half, or nearly in half, thread this doubled-up piece of thread through the eye, and knot the ends. Presto! Twice as much thread being placed per stitch! Half as many finger-pricks as you sew on your button in record time! Happiness and joy! Credit: Wendy Mullin's Sew U book. About which more will be said anon, but (spoiler alert) all comes out well in the end.

It takes a village

I have two things on the needles, both for me and both almost at the point of casting off for the armholes. First, the project that gives rise to today's title: Ariann. Not only the pattern, but also the yarn come from our own Bonne Marie, and I borrowed a circular needle from Carolyn to get started. (I scored the yarn in the SuperBowlSundayStashOut some weeks back.) Thanks, guys! I'm really enjoying it, though I rocked through the first ball of yarn like my hands were on fire and have slowed considerably since then. It's such a beautiful lace pattern. I can't wait to wear it.

Project 2 is also a Chicknits classic -- a flat-panel Ribby Shell. I got the pattern ages ago and hadn't yet made it. The yarn is Rowan's Tapestry, which I hadn't even seen until I went to a season-ending sale at Knitting Workshop and bought six bea-you-tee-ful balls of it. The gauge is slightly smaller than called for, so I'm knitting a larger size than I normally would. But I believe it's going to fit nicely. I sure do like the yarn. Soybeans and wool; who knew?

Do you know where your hand-knits are?

Gaak! When I pulled a load of Ellie's laundry out of the washing machine yesterday, I found her cardigan in Rowanspun 4-ply, wet and felty. It could have gotten into the hamper in any number of ways. Note to self: check carefully before jamming all and sundry into the machine. At least it wasn't Trellis. The felted fabric is sort of nice, actually, though it doesn't fit terribly well anymore. I'm being fairly stoical about it, but it's not a happy thing.

P.S. to Trope -- thanks for commenting so quickly! I am glad, all in all, that I saw that baby through to the end, but....

Swamped

It's been nuts around here, but I'm working on draining the swamp. I haven't even been reading blogs but hope everyone is well and will catch up on all the news! Some knitting news here: I actually did mail a Red Scarf out on Jan. 31 -- nothing like waiting till the deadline. The hat for Ellie that I brought to KIP long ago actually does fit, though we all agreed it looked huuuugggge. It is a little big, but not enormous as I had feared.

I finished Ellie's Trellis cardigan and just love it. It fits fine and she seems to like it, too. It's a great pattern. I used just slightly more than 2 skeins of Cascade 220 to knit the largest size. I also used the size 7 metal knitting needles on which my grandmother taught me to knit when I was 8. Since she grew up in Ireland, knitting my first Aran on these needles was even more meaningful. Yay, Knitty!

Probably the biggest news is that I finished Clark's brioche vest (begun in Feb. 2004). He really likes it, the dear. I had all kinds of trouble with this and didn't resolve all the issues, but it's finished. And I did find some really cool buttons. And if I look at him from certainly angles as he wears it, I almost forget about the problem with the v-neck.

OK, that's the update for now. Will try for pictures soon.