Random Sunday Stuff

The final performance was last night. It was a fun run, but I am happy to be done. Gilbert and Sullivan music is somewhat simple and seems to roll around in my head almost constantly after playing it for two weeks. I am ready for a little R & R.

Did I mention we are going to Mexico tomorrow? For a week? To meet Jim's sister and family and lay around on the beach, belly up to the pool bar and basically decompress?

I didn't? Oh, bad, bad me!

We plan spending many hours gazing at this.

And Twig - thank you ever so much for nominating me for

What a sweet surprise. Now it is up to me to nominate five more buddies. Hmmm - This was difficult, since there are so many wonderful Rockin' Girls!

But here we go:

Sharon at Unraveled Again

Shrodinger Knits

LarjMarj at Knizzle fo Shizzle
Mer at Mer Knits

Lobstah Knits

There are really a few more people I would like to nominate, but I am only allowed five. So some of you are in my heart, but not on the list..... Please forgive.

Finally - some knitting content!

Even though we were in production, I did knit a few little (and I mean little) goodies:

How about a pair of tiny (3") baby mittens? Yes, I warned you they were little :>)

I am still trying to decide what to take for beach knitting.... in the meantime, here are my beach ready toes:

~~~~~ See you next week ~~~~~~

Pirates and Kimonos

Hi Bloggie Knitting Buddies!

Pirates has been going well. We got reviewed last night and although he wasn't completely kind to the singers and conductor, he wrote "Dr. (conductor's name) got mostly taut and carefully scaled playing from a compact ensemble of four winds and five strings." To me that says we did just fine, playing together and well balanced. Nothing wrong with that!

As for stage fright (or pit fright) Twig and Larjmarj - I do have random times of performance anxiety. However, in this show there is a lot to concentrate on so I haven't felt nervous. I guess after 40 years of playing the oboe my nerves are usually under control. Only now and then do I feel scared. I appreciate your interest and concern.

Shrodinger - thanks for the well wishes. One of the divas, oops, I mean singers said "toi toi." I know it meant good luck, but I had never heard that one before. Any idea what language??

Here are the bibs and kimonos from Mason Dixon patterns I just finished. They were knit with Sugar and Cream cotton on #5 needles. I know Twig's new (in the fall) grandbabies will feel loved in them. :-)

Quick View

Here is my view at work before the house doors open:

We are in producton of Pirates of Penzance with the

Living Opera.

The first show went pretty well and we are hoping the remaining ones do too.

See you soon -

UFO and FOs

As promised, here is the finished Soleil.

Pattern: Soleil from Knitty
Yarn: KnitPicks Shine in Sky
Needles: #5 circs
Began: June 11
Finished: July 5
Modification: I altered the neckline to the scoop from the designer's Ballet Camisole pattern.

I am pretty happy with this one!

Here is some baby knitting I am doing for a friend's twin grandbabies. The bib from Mason Dixon knitting:

And I found these adorable buttons:

And since I bought a humongous ball of this color Sugar n Cream cotton, I started on the a pair of the Baby Kimono:

We begin rehearsing the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta "Pirates of Penzance" tonight and over the weekend. Then two more rehearsals next week and the first of five performances begins on Thursday.

So until next time - happy knitting!

Blogger and Knitting

Blogger, Wordpress, Typepad

After some research and much consideration, I decided to stay here at Blogger. It seems all the free services have issues one way or another. It is somewhat comforting to know you all have the same issues with emails, spacing, etc. as I do. I also save (on my second address) the addresses of people who respond by email and reply that way.

I did look at the HaloScan forums and found that link you sent, Twig. Thanks for thinking of me and sending it. I tried pasting the html and it made things *very* wonky. Maybe because I really did not know where to paste it. So I did away with it. Blogger it is - at least for now.

Knitting Preview

Here is the almost finished Soleil. I decided to knit the neckline in a scoop instead of the V after reading comments on the Knitty Coffee Shop. Most everyone said the V was quite deep. I took Ballet Camisole (by the same designer) and will use that neck. I hope to finish tomorrow or Wednesday.

Wednesday is July 4th. While you are picnicking and listening to the orchestra while watching the fireworks, think of me as I will be working a symphony performance for the holiday.

Have a patriotic 4th of July!

Blogger Rant

Knitting content soon - but in the meantime:

I love that you all comment, and when I comment on your blogs, you send me a personal email. I would love to be able to do that in an efficient manner as well. With Blogger, there seems to be no way to do that!

So I downloaded Haloscan (many of you use this) and lost ALL the previous comments. The only way (according to the help forums on Haloscan) to get the old comments back is to cut an paste them all in. I have no idea how to do that, and if I did know how, it would take a long time to transfer 3 years of comments. Haloscan is not an option.

So - as much as I would love to be able to just email you back, I cannot unless you have your email available somewhere on your blog or profile.

I think this is a big short coming in Blogger. And if there are programs that will do this, they should be compatible with one another. Why even Mac and Windows talk to each other (now.)

Also - the spacing between paragraphs is always weird when I try to edit and publish posts. I am at a loss here. Maybe it is time to change blog hosts....

Did she fall off the face of the Earth?

Or was she sucked up by the great oboe vortex in the sky?

Neither - she was on a road trip.

First off, let me say thank you to everyone who commented on the baby items. I really enjoyed knitting the beanie and booties but found the blanket to be tedious. Not because the pattern was dull - I liked that - but because it was the same over and over. I like the variation of increasing, decreasing, short rows, etc.

And I wasn't the good time manager you might believe - the baby shower was June 16 (they were in town for father's Day) and I actually finished in the nick of time!

We left June 17 for Little Switzerland, NC to stop in at Wildacres for a day at the John Mack Oboe Camp. As you may remember, camp was cancelled last year because my beloved Mr. Mack fell ill and passed away. This one is the Legacy Camp - taught by his former students from CIM and who hold principal oboe positions in the Cleveland Orchestra. I had 2 students attend and it was a good experience for them. For me it was bittersweet...

Then we headed to Louisville to visit Jim's sister and family. Here are Jim and Lisa:

They live in the Highlands area that boasts the largest number of Victorian homes in any city. It was great to see them and their beautiful home.

Leaving their town, our route took us to Nashville and Memphis. I didn't know what the road was called until I saw this:

I had to pull over and jump out and take this shot! We also saw lots of this:

It was difficult to knit on the road because we drove so many miles (2270 in 6 days) and were *really* tired at night. I tried to knit while riding but it made me dizzy. It was when we returned home I was able to get some knitting done.

Here are the Almost Argyle socks from KnitPicks I began a while ago. I kind of like this pattern. It is nice but probably not one I would knit again - I prefer lacy. I do like the Eye of the Partridge heel, though. I think these will be finished by the weekend.

Remember Cece from ChicKnits? She has morphed into Soleil from Knitty. I liked the lace in the CeCe cardi, but not the band in front. I could not get the two sides to match the way I wanted. I may try it again at some point. Here is Soleil in KP Shine Sport:

That's about it for now - I hope the rest of your week is grand.

Blankie, Booties and Beanie

Fini!!

I began it on May 26 and finished June 11. The pattern is from Filatura di Crosa Baby and I used some Hobby Lobby acrylic/nylon "baby Bee" called Sweet Delight with #6 needles. It took 2 3/4 skeins (about 850 yards) of yarn.

Here is a close up of the diamond pattern:

I had yarn left over, so here are some booties I did. The pattern was on about.com, I think it is just called lacy baby booties. I used #4 needles for these.

And then I thought, why not a beanie as well - I liked the pinwheel decreases so chose this pattern:

And the side view:

So here is the ensemble:

I think this will keep that little Indiana baby (due in October) warm.

Beauty in the Burbs

Last night's view.

Yeah, Baby

The baby blanket is coming along.

Here we are at 19".

Only 20 more inches to go..... can she hang in there being monogomus to the blanket?

Ummmmm, well no.

I actually cast on the Argosy scarf tonight.

Change is good!

Here is a bit of eye candy outside my front door:

I don't know if I prefer pinky pink

Or crayon red

What do you think?

As I was walking this morning, I passed this tree. If my tree guy had even discussed topping a tree, I would fire him. But to do this is just a travesty.

I had to take a photo because it is unbelievable to me someone actually did this and got paid for it!

I can't believe the homeowner knew what he was in for. That tree service needs to be uprooted.

The poor tree.

Who knew?

That Laura Bush is a good friend of the stained glass window artist and would be at the dedication this morning?! Here I am thinking it is just special music they hired us for - I did not know we would have special people there too.

I took my camera on a whim just because this church is so pretty I wanted a photo. Who knew I could get the First Lady too??

I guess you never know who will be in the audience.

I'm a bad girl

Thanks y'all!!! Italy was very romantic. We would like to go back sometime. And Woodstock was indeed an experience for the then 15 year old attendee. And if you were wondering, my parents told me I could not go but being the rebellious young thing at that time - I went anyway. After all, it was only 6 miles from where we lived! How could I not!!??!! Strangely enough, for all my hard rockin' Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Band, Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers, Steely Dan, etc. rebellious youth, I have become quite conservative in my attitudes. Go figure.

Yes, I am indeed a bad, bad girl. And my husband does not help when he enables my by saying - "Have fun, I hope you find something you like!" You may think my misbehavior must relate to my colorful past, but no - it is indeed in the present. Read on~

I received an email from Jill telling me of her Woolie Ewe's Birthday Sale - 35% off everything in the store. So I drove over this morning and I found a few (HA!) little items:

I bought Mason-Dixon Knitting 'cos so many people have knit such cool items from it! The pattern is another Sirdar - #8872 - and the black ribbon yarn is the Ocean for which the sweater is designed. I thought it would be sweet for concerts. And of course, some yummy LL sock yarn in Denim. Like I don't have enough sock yarn .....

So as if that is not bad enough, after I arrive back home the postman rings my bell and delivers a box from KP containing this:

Here we have 3 colors of Essentials sock yarn on the left (what??? MORE sock yarn?), 6 Shine Sport in Orchid for a little tank top, the color card to go with said Shine, 2 packs of pins for blocking and one #3 circ.

But I am trying to be a good girl as well and put my personal UFOs on hold to knit this little blanket for a favorite former student who's baby shower is in 2 weeks:

I bought the (acrylic/ nylon blend) yarn at Hobby Lobby with a 40% discount (see, I am trying to be good). I know the pattern is a bit holey for a baby blanket, but I thought it was pretty. And it came from a Filatura Di Crosa baby pattern book.

Please cross your fingers that I can complete this (and keep my ADD knitting sanity even though I am staying on this one project until completion) by June 16.......

I've Been Tagged

Well, miss Kozy Kitty tagged me. So now you will know more about me than you ever thought you needed to!

Here are the instructions: List 7 random things about yourself on your blog along with the rules then tag seven other residents of the blogosphere to do the same!

1. I met my husband of 20 years in Italy while performing in the Opera Orchestra for the annual Puccini Opera Festival. We lived in Lucca for two months and were kidded that we had our honymoon first.

2. I am an advanced open water certified scuba diver, though I no longer dive.

3. I have toured with or performed locally with many, including Reba McIntyre, Willie Nelson, The Moody Blues, Yanni, and Andrea Bocelli.

4. I love sushi.

5. I do not buy movies to watch over and over, nor do I generally reread books.

6. I have lived in a total of five states: NY, Vermont, Florida, South Carolina, and Texas.

7. And last but not least, I attended the original Woodstock.

Okay, if there are seven of you who are dying to do this - have at it!!

Cece started

Thanks for all your encouraging words! I have been wearing my little Bolero with pride. The women at my LYS were also complemetary. Wooo hooo! And,(with a big smile on her face) I have begun my namesake sweater, Cece. Here is one side of the front:

I am using Shine Sport - soft and smooth! I really like this yarn - must get more :-)

My dear students have been gifting me with these beauties:

Lilies

Dendrobium Orchids

Bach and the Bolero

Last week was another hectic one, I performed the Bach Double Concerto at one of the music club meetings. Sarah, the violinist was great. Emily, our pianist was great, and Ceci the oboist - well, I should not toot my own horn. :-) Let's just say I was quite pleased with the performance.

Then we had symphony rehearsals and performance on the weekend. And on Tuesday, I subbed for a friend on oboe 2 and d'amore 2 in the Bach Magnificat. It has been quite a ride. Things calm down now and I can get in more knitting.

Ah, speaking of knitting, here is the Bolero!!!!

I began it on April 18 and finished May 9.

Specs: Sirdar pattern #8706, Luxury Cotton DK, #4 KP options circs

On to the next project ........

Picking up stitches

Good Monday to you all. Thanks again for your sweet comments - my back is much better :-)

The lace edging is fun to knit after all that stockinette! Here it is on the bottom edge of the back of the bolero:

But what a royal pain to pick up all those stitches! I am seeing why the directions called for doing each piece separately - the number of stitches to pick up is greater than the number of stitches on the edge (pick up 103 from the 96 and even more around the front). I think the math and the size would make it too unwieldy to have everything seamed and then do this procedure as a whole.

I used a crochet hook (as per Vogue Knitting) and it did work well - but I was very slow and it is certainly not my favorite technique! It is much easier to pick up the gusset stitches on a sock.

More to come~~~

Home and a new project!

Thanks so much for your comments! I wore my sweater at Mom's a few times and felt really special knowing I had knit it. What fun! (Note to self - must knit more garments)

Mom is doing quite well for an 86 year old who lives alone. She is in good health and pretty good mind. However I am beginning to see some forgetfulness and that concerns me. I worry even more since she is by herself in a 2 story house with a basement. My brother who lives 45 minutes away does not get there too often. I am trying to convince her (ever so gently) that moving to Texas might be a really good idea......

The flights in on Tuesday were fine but on Wednesday when I was cleaning the tub, my back went out. So much for my plans of doing the physical chores around the house! I was laid up for 3 days and began moving slowly on Saturday. I was able to get some of the work done on the weekend, albeit in slow motion. The rest of the outside (and inside) work got done on Monday and Tuesday. One good thing - I got a lot of knitting in. More on that in a minute.

Yesterday was my return. Due to bad storms in the Dallas area, our flight was diverted to Memphis. The airport was virtually closed but at least they let us off the plane. Instead of arriving home at 9:00pm, we actually rolled up to the gate at midnight. It was a minor inconvenience compared tot he people who had to deal with terrible rains, hail and tornadoes. My beloved husband drove out and got me - so all is well. But my back is still not good.....

Okay, here is the promised knitting content: After all the choices, I drove to my LYS for a different yarn since the Cotton Ease was just too thick. I ended up with a beautiful Sirdar Cotton DK.

The color is a luscious coral. The pattern I decided on is this Bolero:

The pattern is number 8706. I couldn't find it on any web site, so it must be really new.

And I made a modification. The sleeves are stockinette and they will curl, so I knit them a bit shorter and will put the lace border on them as well. Pictures soon - All that is left to knit are the two front pieces and the border.

I have a question for you all-knowing wonderful folks - the pattern calls for the border to be knit on in pieces before seaming - first the bottom back, then the fronts starting at each side and joining at the neck. Is there any reason I could not seam the sweater then knit the border all around? I don't understand the logic of all the separate parts.

One last thing - I was at WalMart with Mom and saw a little knit sweater that looked exactly like Bonnie Marie's CeCe pattern! And then I saw a woman wearing it - - - looked very sweet, so I am going to knit that one as well.

Oh my - it is late. I must get going........... Enjoy this beautiful Wednesday.

FO!!!

Well, here it is! This is from Garn Studio Drops Design, #94-27. I used Queensland Collection "Maldives" and #4 needles.

My journey began in April 2006 when I knit the back and sleeves. I hit a roadblock at the front pieces and put it away until last month. I was able to get some guidance from Sillyewe for those front pieces and was determined to finish! Then you all helped me in the finishing process - thank you!

The grand finale was this morning at about 10:00 a.m. It is quite amazing to me that it fits and looks pretty decent too! My disappointment is that I was hoping it would make me look young and thin like the model :-)

Ready and willing to jump right into the next project, I chose CeCe from Chicknits. Then I started looking at the new Drops designs for spring and summer and fell in love with this:

It is design #101-32. The lace has four different sections (and 2 extremely confusing charts) so it will take some major deciphering on my part. I think I can do it!!! I bought this yummy Berry colored Cotton Ease to use.

Oh Yikes!! I just saw this one:

#100-26

Egads!! Now what am I going to do???????

Thursday morning I am on a plane to NY to see Mom. Since her house is not wired, I won't take the latptop and will be off line until the next Tuesday. I guess I could find some WiFi access, but I thought since I play a Bach Concerto in 2 weeks, I think it is wiser to take my oboe instead to get in some good practicing.

And I will of course take my knitting - but which one?!

Seaming and Shostakovich

We performed Shostakovich 5th Symphony last night with RSO. It has the most beautifully forlorn oboe solos in our repertoire and our principal oboist performed them magnificently! It is a real pleasure and honor to be able to work with such wonderful friends and musicians.

Thanks to all your great suggestions, that fine link and with some more reading on my part I was able to seam up my cardi. I only wish we were all sitting together with that cup of coffee....

Then I realized I needed to crochet the border, so I practiced a bit on an old swatch. It was sort of like riding a bicycle - I haven't crocheted in over 20 years, but my fingers just went where they needed to!

Of course I need a different size needle than what I have, so I cannot really begin until I make a trip to the craft store tomorrow. I hope to have an FO soon 'cos I would like to begin my summer lacy cardi. This is CeCe by Chicknits. Now how could I not knit a cardi with the same name as me??!!

I am planning to use Shine Sport in Sky (light blue).

FO coming soon.....................

Sneak Peek

You know what this, don't you?

Yessiree - the back and front of my Drops Cardigan #94-27! (Please pay no attention to the color - it is really much more attractive than it looks in this picture). I ran out of pins, so the sleeves will get their bit tomorrow or Monday. I can't believe the knitting is finished! Now I must figure out how to assemble the darn thing.

Any hints would be gratefully accepted even though I have the Vogue Knitting Book for guidance.

I hope your Easter is joyous.

More Socks?!

Well, I made it through the weekend. The music was good but the drives not so much. We had terrible storms to drive through on the trip home Friday night. Thankfully I was not alone and had good tires on my car.

I was able to get a few more inches done on my cardi, so I feel on track with my goal to get it finished. And thank you for all your encouragement. It does feel good to figure something out. I hope to have this finished in a week or two but it depends on work - we are playing Shostakovitch 5th Symphony next week (lots of difficult notes) and I am playing the Bach Double Concerto for Violin and Oboe a few weeks after that, so my oboe is beckoning me to practice more. And when I get home after rehearsals, I cannot think too much with my tired brain.

My current sock project (yeah, like I need more socks!!!) is Almost Argyle Socks from KP. I am using their Essentials sock yarn in Burgandy and #1 Pony Pearls DPNs. I LIKE these needles a lot!

The top is what is called Latvian Twist - I thought it looked interesting (don't know if you can really see it here) but the directions were somewhat confusing.

This week is also a bit hectic with church rehearsals and services for Easter so I'll see you in a few days.

Happy Easter!