Weekend plans

Summer isn’t over – although the air is so much more dry than it has been, it is still plenty warm out.  I am loving it, since the pressure of all that digging is behind me.

This morning we brought a ton of pellets in and stacked them in the cellar – A and L will do the 5th and last one tomorrow while I am at my brother’s BBQ.  How did that happen?  Well, it needs doing, and she wasn’t excited about a pool oriented party, since she doesn’t do pools. I think I got the better part of this arrangement.

Today we will be heading off to Ellsworth soon, to do some grocery shopping and get a meal out at a different restaurant than we normally use on the weekends.  I have to decide between fab pizza at Finelli’s and fab burgers at Fuddrucker’s.  I’ll let you know what I decide later.  🙂

A got a book on patio design the other day, and so I have been looking at and drooling over the pictures. The how-to is a bit overwhelming, as it involves digging.  Sigh.  But I think that we can *maybe* get away with not so much of this prep as we are building on gravelly sand.  🙂  The porch, pool and house have created a nice sheltered are which we both think would be perfect for a patio , and maybe a fire pit.  Now to decide on the material.  I am leaning toward loose stones and flagstone, so that water can soak in, but there are so many cool options out there, I might change my mind.  🙂

Anyway, I have to go get cleaned up for the trip to the big city – A is driving, so I will bring the gold/pink shawl along, maybe get it finished – it’s pretty close right now…

Missing photos

I got the last few photos off the camera.  I discovered that what isn’t working is the display.  So, I can still take photos, I just can’t see them, and I am not sure it will focus on what I want  it to.  I’ll experiment, and see what happens.  Unless it comes out pretty cool, I won’t subject you to my experiments, but will just learn to deal with the camera on the phone.  Ya know.  Later.

Here you go –

Lace leaf shawl… I have done one more repeat of the leaf pattern and started the edging since I took this one.

teal and gold waves stole/scarf… it grows slowly.

Gratuitous cute cat photo.  Allie supervises everything. Through cat slit eyes.  She only looks relaxed!

(You can see the fabulous tomato plants behind her.  They are producing like mad now, and already looking fall-like, plants are slowly dying.  There is ONE yellow squash on the 4 plants I planted there with the tomatoes – many male blossoms, but not so many females, I guess.)

A week since my last update?

Sorry about that!

The big news on that front is that my camera is broken. So until I sort that out, or really master the whole phone-camera-WordPress-thing I don’t have visuals for you, and I know how much you like seeing them.  🙂

We had a nice weekend – although it rained VERY hard Saturday, it cleared up for about half an hour in the afternoon, so I got a swim in. 🙂 And did lots of shawl knitting while I waited.

(Old photo of progress)

My lace leaf shawl in Purple Fleece’s Scarlet Tanager is nearly done – I have lots of lifelines so that I can use it all – I’ll just keep going until I run out, or it is obvious how far I can get with what’s left, and then rip back enough to do the border. I am well into the deep pink now, so I think I have only one more pattern repeat to do before the border.

Sunday, Mom and I had scheduled a sail, but sadly, there was no wind.  Naturally, we went out to lunch and yarn shopping instead. We rescheduled the sail for Labor Day weekend, though, so we won’t get through the whole summer with no sail.

As for the yarn, I used my shop credit and $20 reward to get a whole lot of gorgeous yarn to make two or three really nice shawls, for less than $5 cash! I can’t show it to you right now, but I will sometime soon.  I can tell you that one is a soft aqua or teal, and the other is a rosy gray-taupe variegated. I got a couple of skeins of gray merino lace weight to either go with that or be something different. I also got a pattern designed to go with the aqua.  So I think I have the yarn for four shawls all lined up and two patterns picked out.  Always a good situation.  🙂

Mom asked me if I actually use the shawls, and was surprised when I said yes, I wear them to work a lot, since it is cold in my office in the summer and in the winter.  Then her eyes lit up  “they don’t have to FIT!”  I think Mom might start knitting shawls as soon as she finishes her current cardigan.

But what my next project will actually be (maybe!) is a sweater vest made from all the blues I dyed for the leftie shawl.  I will be doing it by the seat of my pants – there is a pattern I have knit many times, but can’t find (I lent it to someone, I think) so I am going to do it by memory and logic.  Should be a lovely garment! Then I will make hats with whatever is left.

Last night I went up to Husson University to see niece B, who moved back to campus on Sunday.  We had stored a load of her things for the summer, so I brought them up to her.  She is still getting settled, and it is hot in the dorm, so it was just a quick visit. It is good to see her again, and it seems like she might be open to more auntie visits this year – she has a more reliable car and I have a pool.  Also a washer and dryer, and good food and a comfortable bed. All the important things for a college senior, right?  🙂 I am sure going to miss her when she finishes with school, even though I don’t see as much of her as I would like to.

Now, off to figure out the whole phone camera thing.

A recurring theme…

If…then.

Terry Gross did it again last night on one of my favorite radio programs, Fresh Air.

“If you are just joining us, my guest tonight is Toni Morrison.”

Deep, deep sigh.

For those of us listening to the whole show, who is your guest? Someone else?

The construction “if…then” has two parts, with a basic understanding that “if not, then something different”.

So, how about this, Terry Gross, and all the other offenders?

“My guest tonight is Toni Morrison.”  No need for extra words, conclusions, conditions. Just tell us what you want to tell us. Don’t try to get all fancy.

Here’s another one –  “I am in the conference room if anyone is looking for me.”

I hear it all the time at work.  If I know the person can take it, I will ask them where they will be if no-one is looking for them.  🙂

I am in the conference room.  If anyone asks, please tell them where I am. If they don’t, then do what you want about it.

Sunday update very late!

Yes, I know Sunday has come and gone.  I intended to write Sunday, but the thought of powering up the computer was just too much. Then I got busy last night.

Pool update:

Friday water delivery just didn’t happen. But bright and early Saturday morning, this came up my driveway,

and emptied itself completely into my pool,

and from then on, I was happy. I didn’t get all the chemicals sorted out and in until last night, but I swam in it anyway.

And was cool. In fact, I needed a blanket Saturday night.  🙂   A thinks I am nuts.  I think she is nuts to not get into it.

Saturday we went with L up to Moosehead Lake as planned, and rode on the steamship Katahdin for three hours – which meant we covered roughly the lower third of the lake.  It is amazing how big it is! The trip was fun, we sat in the shade and were quite comfortable watching the mountains glide by.  The clouds were (apparently) amazing, I filled the camera with shots like this:

The seats, on the other hand, were NOT comfortable – folding chairs for three hours is tough.  I can’t imagine how sore we would be if we took the 8 hour full lake cruise!

The lunch was delicious – the galley is run by a woman who clearly loves to cook – she was telling me how she loves her job, they let her choose the menu and the specials, so she has fun with it. Her husband is the Captain, and he is retiring this year, but she decided she is just not ready yet.  That is a sign of a good fit, employment-wise. Lucky woman!

This sign made us laugh – would people really wear high heels on a boat?

There might have been some knitting…

On the way back, we tried to go into the Davis Furniture store, which we see ads for all the time.  Sadly, they close at 3 on Saturday, so we peeked in the windows.  It looks like they have some nice lodge style furniture.  I liked the lines of some of it, but it was so predominantly BROWN, and that was just too much for me.  Unless it is chocolate, I am not a fan of brown.  🙂 But we liked enough of what we saw to decide to make a trip up there in the fall, when it isn’t so stinking hot.  🙂

We were more successful in Corinth when we stopped for ice cream – at a place (might be named the Corinth Creamery) that had good ice cream and a “make your own Sundae” bar with over 40 toppings.  That was supper…

Sunday I did chores early – dump and grocery store, and then spent lots of time knitting in the house with all curtains drawn, or out in the pool.  It was a day to not do much.  A even cancelled her standing golf date with my step-dad. Of course, she watched the PGA championship on TV, so we still had our golf fix.

I love my pool! I love my pool!  I love my pool! It saved my sanity this weekend.  It was too hot to think of a beach, or even our favorite lake.  I set the pool up so it only gets sun in the middle of the day, morning and afternoon it has some shade, so I can use it a good part of the day without disobeying the doctor’s orders to avoid the sun.

Life is good.  🙂

Here’s a photo of beautiful Mt Kineo in the haze to get you through the rest of the week.

WAAAAAAHHHHHHH!

I got it all lined up.

Called the local pool store, found out who to call for water.

Called them Tuesday.  Swallowed my shock at the price and said yes, send a truck, please.

As they instructed, called back the next day to confirm (?)

Made all the plans around a delivery at an unknown time.

Got a call at 8:30 this morning.  Excited!  They were coming earlier than I could have hoped for!  Only to have excitement quickly turn to dismay as she said “We can’t deliver your water.”  Not “we can’t deliver you water this morning”  or “Today”  but we can’t deliver your water.  Period.

It seems when they got the tanker truck out to fill it, they found it was dead and would have to be hauled to the garage, and they had no idea when it would get there or what would be wrong or when it would be fixed.  They had no other ideas of what I could do. The fire department doesn’t deliver water.

So, I thanked her nicely and hung up.  After a few moments of swearing and crying thinking, I called the pool place back.  they gave me the name of a company they use – a bit farther away. I called the number and did as instructed in the message.  left my name, my number, the size of the pool and where I live.  But was disheartened to hear “I’ll get back to you when I get in tonight” which leads me to believe no water this weekend.  I could be wrong, he could deliver on Saturday.  Of course, we will be gone all day.  How can it work?  Will he accept that I will leave him a check in the door?  What if he can’t find the place?  It isn’t really on GPS.

There is another pool store that I will continue to try to reach (busy busy busy) but I would be surprised if they know of a place that my first one didn’t.

The hose is on.  Half an hour at a time.

It’s up over my ankles now.

The weather report says high 80’s all weekend, going even higher into next week.  Perfect pool weather.

I’ll show them.  I’ll go knit.

Drum roll, please!

A Friday list!

A and I are both off this week, so it won’t be the kind of list you are used to, maybe, but here it is –

• The PO is on it – one of us will have to go as it has been a week.
• Waiting for the pool water to be delivered – HURRAH! and then a sub list – if it is delivered in time, take some over to the pool store for testing and buying the appropriate chemicals to get it swim-worthy; turning on the filter (and hoping it really does work!); jumping in!  I know it will be cold, but I am OK with that – timing is good, the weekend promises to be hot.  🙂
• Working in the neglected gardens
• Cleaning the neglected house
• Knitting on the two projects, and planning for a third – another shawl with that gorgeous rose-colored yarn.  MIGHT need to order some beads…

But, since I will not be home alone, this might change to this alternate list, depending on when the water is scheduled to be delivered:

• Go to Deer Isle to drive the cart (and knit) while A plays golf, and go to my dear old Stonington Farmers’ Market. If we don’t do it this week, we will do it when we are on vacation next month.

There will be other things happening, you can be sure, but I am so excited that swimming is likely a part of the plan.

The rest of the weekend?  We plan to go up to take a ride on the Katahdin steamship in Moosehead Lake for L’s birthday celebration – feeling better about it knowing that our murderer-at-large for the last several weeks (9!) turned himself in last night.  Not that he would have come after us, but it just was an edgy feeling.

Sunday, A will play golf, and I hope I will be swimming, knitting and gardening, but you just never know – stay tuned to find out if anything went as planned.  🙂

In which I am able to show you photos of TWO finished objects!

Yesterday, A, her sister L, and our friend Crimson Crow, otherwise known as B came over and helped me set up the pool!!!!!!!  I was out there around 7 doing more leveling, spreading the tarp ground cloth.  A came out around 8 and helped me get the pool liner in place.  When L arrived shortly later, we were able to begin assembling the frame.  they recommend 3 people for that job, and I have to agree.  It would have been awful to do together, or alone.  as it was, it went together pretty simply, faster than I expected.  By the time B arrived, we were able to have her turn on the water!  She helped me assemble the filter, and we were done!  I do have to put the new ladder together, but will do that this week.  No reason to get in the pool yet, it has only a few inches of water.  I will run the hose half an hour morning and night, and see what happens.  A has said I should buy the water, so we don’t take it out of the well, so I will stop by the pool store this week and see what they say about getting water. But meanwhile – CHECK IT OUT!  No more posts for you about prepping for the pool.  Now, there will be posts about swimming and doing yard work all around it, lol, I left a big mess!

My other finished object is the Gemini sweater for Over the Rainbow yarn store in Rockland.  I do like the sweater, and the yarn choice is nice – you can check my pattern notes over on Ravelry. It is all packed up and ready to go in the mail in the morning.

So, moving on from finished objects, to things in the works.

The garden continues to be strange – peas are pretty well dead, but tomatoes are starting to ripen up.  I picked the first one this morning.  I hope the plum tomatoes ripen reasonably close together as I want to can them.  But if they do not, I guess I will freeze them, or maybe even just eat them.  🙂

The knitting is different now, after a few weeks of purple sweater, it feels good to work on this project again – it moves along pretty fast.  It is coming out more gold mohair than I expected, but I think it looks pretty with the teal and gold of the wool.

To celebrate finishing the sweater, I cast on a lace leaf shawl in the yarn I got from Purple Fleece in June – I am excited to see how the colors come out in this pattern.  I like the idea of stripes and no ends to weave in.  🙂

This is where I got to last night, and then this morning I took a few quiet hours out on the screened porch with my coffee, and the second photo is where it is now.

Friday night I spent in Blue Hill visiting a friend in the area on a quick vacation.  There is a great shop in town, officially a florist, but in the space is a great chocolatier (Black Dinah) and also lots and lots and lots of yarn from String Theory Hand Dyed Yarn.  I got this great colorway, Ruby Slippers, to make a lace shawl.  I have a few different patterns in mind, and some of them call for lots of yardage, so I got two skeins.  Should be able to do most anything I want with that!

That’s what I have been up to this weekend – just a few hours left of the weekend, and in that time, I have to run to Ellsworth to do the grocery shopping, while  A is off playing golf with my step-dad. Then home to relax with the knitting.  My bright, colorful projects.  🙂

This week is a normal one for the first part – work during the day, no plans in the evenings – and no sand to sift! – so I am not sure what the evenings will look like.  We both have Friday off – maybe I will work up a Friday list post for you all – I have missed them!  🙂  Well, truly what I have missed is Fridays off to do the things I love doing.  I have not been swimming this summer, not been to a farmers’ market more than once, and not spent any time in the craft room.  Granted, that is partly because I was focused on the pool, but I know that working that 5th day is a big part of my decreased creativity.  I have to sort that out and make some changes in my time at home, to get back in the groove with the crafts that aren’t knitting on the couch.  🙂

What if?

I read the Knitter Nerd blog post linked here, and the bright beautiful photo in it got my mind thinking.

What if?

What if you took some variegated yarn, cast on enough stitches for a scarf or a stole or something where shape doesn’t matter too much, and then knit.  But whenever you came to a color you liked, you worked short rows until the color changed, then kept knitting until you came to another color you liked?  Or the same color?  What if you did it with the dominant color in the skein?  Or the non-dominant one.  What would it look like?  What would it be?

OMG,. what if you did it on the leg of a sock (or, ideally, two?)

Would it look like her beautiful circle? (Well, no, unless you cast on for a circle, of course.)

I’m curious.  I might add this to my list of things to try.

Thank you, Knitter Nerd, for letting me hijack your big ask with my wandering brain…I hope you hit your Kickstarter goal soon.

I do love a simple, clever idea

Sometimes the best things are so simple, you wonder why no one ever thought of them before.  I recently discovered one.

Check it out!  The pin is attached, so you can’t lose it!  Brilliant, I say.

The woman who makes these works with me, and when I heard she makes jewelry and sells on Etsy, I went right over to check out her work, of course. When I saw this, I had to have it.

(Photo from her Etsy shop)

What do you think?

Check it out, and her other work, because she clearly has many brilliant simple ideas – like the hoop earrings for non-pierced ears – NO PINCHING! I have pierced ears and still might need a pair of those as well.

Adroit Jewelers

And FYI, I was not paid or otherwise influenced to write this – just want to share a great find with you all.