What I Did On My Summer Vacation

I was talking to Handsome Phil at work today about what I did this Memorial Day weekend, and as the conversation proceeded I realized: the summer is over already. I can account for every weekend from now until Labor Day pretty much. If I give it a little thought, I can account for time right up to Halloween.

But here is what I hope to knit on my summer vacation with all the leftover yarn in the house:

• Brown Is A Many Splendored Thing Poncho. Which I have no idea how it looks, it will come to me in a dream.
• This Tie.
• Mitties for everyone. Last year was Socks on the Beach, this year it's Mittens.

And of course, the mitered square thing, which is now a blanket for sure.

I Felt Badly

I experimented with felting this weekend, with poor results.

Last summer I knitted this thing, with size 0 needles, for an infant who couldn't even even stay awake when presented with proof the stupendous efforts I exerted on his behalf. But this weekend I couldn't seem to get the right boiled-up-and-itchy texture for my - gasp! Swatch. Yes, I did a swatch. I did 50 swatches.

I consulted the experts. This chick at Knitty.com seemed to have good results with Lambs Pride. I used some cheapo Plymouth 100% wool because I couldn't bear throwing $7.75 into the washing machine. She has a point: the Lambs Pride has the right amount of coarseness and lamb sweat (or lanolin, if you're a lady) to get a real felt going.

This girl, Betz White, seems to felt up everything just the way I wish I could. (She is also the sister-in-law of someone in my knitting group, so does that make us related?).

My problem could be cheap yarn or water that isn't hot and cold enough. You would think it would be easy to mess up knitting, but it's not. It takes swatching.

I used the swatch to make a pair of brown mittens for a kid who has cold hands.

There's More to Maine Than Golf, Dammit

I didn't play so well today, that's for sure. But I did take a walk to this nice garden.











In fact, I lost a record number of balls. But I did find this nice piece of wood when I went for a walk on the beach, I plan to use it for a button for a sweater I want to knit.

First Golf of Spring

Well, if I have a great round of golf but I played by myself, does it still count as a great round of golf?

I played good golf today. I played at the par 3 course in Maine, with a personal goal of no more than 5 shots per hole, which I accomplished for 6 out of 9 holes.



I didn't loose any balls.

I wore the hat.

I kept my head down.

I had fun.

Be There or Be A (Mitered) Square

Thank you to this guy for the poster.

Divine Intervention

We voluntarily ventured into a church last Sunday for a family event, and I have been waiting for some bolt of holiness or hellfire to strike me since then. It's important to note that the Pagan Baby did not catch fire even once during the service in spite of her lack of religious education.

So it happened today. I was slurping down on an extra-woody Tasti-D-Lite at lunch today in this park overlooking the East River I had a thunderclap of a golf epiphany. Dinah Shore appeared on top of the Feeling Groovy Bridge and said: 125 is your goal this year. But don't try to score 125 or less in a game. Try to beat the hole: play until you reach a hole where your score equals 125 and then stop counting. Then, in the next game, try to do one hole better while still scoring 125.

This way, you can say you play about 125. You don't have to say it's the score through the 9th hole.

Underage Knitting

I dragged Clem and Em on an epic yarn crawl on Saturday. We went here, and here, and then I tricked them into going here by telling them it was just a few blocks away from the other place, and then finally here because they sell food and yarn.

They were pretty good sports, though, considering none of us bought anything except a brownie. Emily got deep down and personal with with this yarn and the thought that she might be into lace. Clem was seen lingering longingly over this sock yarn, but didn't feel she could make the sock commitment.

Overall the girls gave the highest marks to The Point, giving it props for both food and friendly service. I think it rocks because of the easily accessible ladies room.


I read a blog post over there in January 1 about the guilty pleasure of acrylic yarn. This stuff I bought for my current project, Brown Is a Many Splendored Thing, came from - can't say where, but you have to go past a lot of silk flowers to get to the yarn.

Some People Have All The Luck

Congratulations to Lynn, winner of the Trekker birthday yarn. I have to break the bad gauge news to her: this yarn is for extreme knitting, size 0 needles recommended. And the golf/porn combo goes to my golf buddy with more bad news: the girl on the front of the magazine might not be a golfer.

But the very biggest winner is my own self: a gift of a swift AND a winder. How great is that?

Great Day for Golf 'n Knitting

I mean the laying on the couch, watching on TV kind of golf, and knitting this woolly blanket while laying down - that kind of golf 'n knitting. Here is the blanket enjoying the sun at the end of a pretty much perfect day:



This weekend was Da Playa's Tournament. (That's not what it is called, it's what I have to call it because of my geographic point of origination). There was a lot of water and landscaping on this course,which made you feel like you were outside getting some sun and having a good walk.

It inspired me to actually get out and have a good walk. It was one of those great Hoboken days where you take a walk down the Avenue and you see everyone and I got so many kisses from I think I might have caught mononucleosis.



The best knitting related thing today was watching Hard Day's Night, noticing this hideous mohair sweater worn by the TV Producer. I got itchy and sweaty just watching this movie, thinking about London apartments with no central heating and those tea kettles you plug into your hotplate.
And reading Lucky Jim, which I haven't done in a long time, I think I will read it again tonite.

Happy Birthday to Me Raffle

For years and years and years I've said: oh, my birthday, no big deal. No need for presents, or cakes, or special phone calls or especially, flowers sent to me at the office. No need!

Well, I want you all to know: my birthday is this week.

In honor of this event, I'm having a little raffle. To enter: knitters should send me a card, or just an envelop even, with a length of yarn about as long as your arm span. I willl use all contributions for my mitered square project, which is still either a blanket or a rug.

Golfers: send me card with a tee or a ball marker. I never have enough of these things, since I either get so excited that I hit the ball off the tee that I forget to take it with me, or I am so despondent about my poor putting that I leave the marker on the green as I creep off the green in disgrace.

I have a Berlin theme for the prizes:


For Golfers: half a dozen Sponge Bob Schwamkoff golf balls, plus this peculiarly smutty German golf magaine. Berliners were crazy for Sponge Bob.

For Knitters: a skein of Trekking from the German manufacturer Zitron, in lovely autumn colors, enough for a pair of socks.

Winners will be picked at random on Sunday May 13th . Don't forget to put your address somewhere on the card or envelop so I know where to send the prize. Enter as often as you'd like, and send your entries to:

Hobonet
P.O. Box 6272
Hoboken, NJ 07030