Hunting Wabbits

I have frogged this so many times I hate the feel of the $80 yarn.

::::waving at the Pa Renn Fest Doctor::::

We had such fun at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Festival today. I checked the cast list and there are two doctors listed, so I apologize for not remembering your name, but here is the promised picture in color and sepia.





You can feel free to snag them here or different sizes at my flickr account if you double click I believe. I cropped them at 8x10. Hope the rest of the run is drier for you and the whole cast. You all did an amazing job in spite of a drizzly day. Visiting a Ren Fair on wheels gives me an interesting point of view on a subject I thought I knew very well as a performer. Without them, I might have missed meeting the more talented cast members, like you.

Break a leg.

Bonnie

Roll Your Leg Over ~ by Oscar Brand

If you want to add this song to your repertoire you need to start with sheet music, or at least this recording of Oscar Brand singing "Roll Your Leg Over" from his album Bawdy Songs and Backroom Ballads Vol 1 1955.




Thank you to rumandoldspice at YouTube.

This is the album that inspired our version of the song. When Laura and I started The Bawdy Balladeers in the '80s, we changed the song to a woman's point of view by changing ladies to laddies. I thought rolling a leg over "the man in the moon" wasn't funny. I came up with "it's better that way" and we gave it "the clap".

Countless Renaissance Faire groups and Pub Sings have sung our chorus ever since.

Please give credit to the originators of any music and lyrics or the recording you used to the best of your ability. If you are researching songs for yourself or a group, be creative. Or at least change the arrangement and how the song is introduced.

Perhaps one day, another budding musician will honor you in the same way.

Holy Saint Francis!

Where the Holy Heck have I been since November of 2008 ?????

I have no excuse, really. I hang out at Ravelry and do my knitting writing there. I even stopped posting pictures so bad I had to post a mass production for the entire year of 2009 for a special project, The 2010 Ravelympics. Here is every project and every bit of unphotographed stash I needed to enter.



And my Medal for completing my event.



So yes, I have been knitting, though less than I used to because I like the community of online knitters a bit too much . . . and that nasty winter kept me in.

Must work on that.

Lookee here

You can get one too at spell with flicr Thank javajem for showing it to me.

I'm thinking of making it my banner up there on top. What do you think?



I've been making toys for the Ravelry group Helping Kids at Hopkins. So far a knitted bunny and bear - and last night I finished a little crochet bird. The bird is my first actual attempt at Amigurumi. What fun! The bird directions were extremely simple, but I'm ready to tackle something more challenging now. The toughest thing about these is facial features. We have to avoid choking hazards, so none of those cute little plastic eyes and noses. Unfortunately, my embroidery skills are akin to the giant sewing cards given to blind children. Srsly. I am most proud of my bear nose. After three tries, I got it perfect.

I never thought I'd like crochet. I'm still not convinced I'll ever go "Oooo, I must make that crocheted thing . . ." other than these Amigurumi. It is better for creating a n eyeball or a bear's nose, I can tell you that. I guess each craft has it's place in my world :-)

Back to the hook . . .

Bonnie Bunnie

Did I mention that these projects are addictive? It took me all of eight days to finish Bonnie Bunnie. EIGHT DAYS! ME. Ms. Episodic, methodical, slooooow knitter.

BONNIE BUNNIE

The Ravelry Group, Helping Kids at Hopkins, is sponsoring this collection of toys for the kids in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. I had so much fun, probably more than this child ever will. As you can see, we get to attach names and personalities to them. I'll probably change her name to something unisex and I still need bunnie to let me know her personality, so I can give her an appropriate face. They especially are looking for Amigugrumi, but are taking all toys thank goodness. My crochet talent is marginal, although my eyeballs for Along Came A Spider did come out rather cute. I'm not even sure my single crochet goes through two loops or one. But I do have a crochet class at Stitches in two weeks. Then I can tackle that spider I have my eye on or find another amazing creature to delight a sick kid.

Cute doesn't always work when you feel horrid.

Lots of F.O.

Most of this stuff has been done for eons.

My husband actually began to nag me encourage me to take picture by putting the projects in a bag with the camera and sitting them in the kitchen by the deck. He even included my big glass head. I'm ashamed to say these are very late going to their charities, but now that they are washed and bagged, I can deliver them. And now, without further ado ~


Preemie Hats for Howard Co Hospital







Chemo Cap With Floppy Brim from Cancer Can't

It looks more like a cloche to me, but turned out nicely and is very soft, so who cares?

And of course another No Hair Day. This one I call Confetti.




Now then.

On Ravelry I have joined a new group that has become dear to my heart. Helping Kids At Hopkins (Ravelry link) is the brainchild of my friend Nittany Knits. You may recall her daughter Gabrielle had a brief but intense illness before passing last spring. The group knits items for (you guessed it) the kids at the Cancer Center at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. There are plans for projects in other Units too. The heart unit will be in February for instance. Every two months is a new theme - and there are even prizes, voted on by the knitters. But the incentive is the joy.

Our first effort was Halloween.

Isn't it he awsome? Oh! The hat too!

Taa Daa !

Introducing my finished April May Armwarmers. They took me a bit over a year I'm guessing, with a very long stretch between arms. I could have knit a body suit in between there - except for the fact that there's no way in hell I would do that. But they're done and they're lovely and I can thank the Ravelympics for pushing me to complete my event. WIP Wrestling was a toughie but this puppy would have languished in my knitting box for decades if it weren't for the event. Thanks Team BOB.

For Your Pleasure

Our CD For Your Pleasure from 1995 finally sold to the highest bidder at $31.75 on ebay.

I feel so much better.

However. I'm still working on the April May armwarmer. No wonder I put this aside for so long. The cotton yarn is going to be nice an soft once it's washed, but right now it's like knitting with twine. The pattern is beautiful, and actually forgiving if you "yo ssk"instead of "k2tog yo" two repeats ago, but the size 2 needles are a bear. I am not a fast knitter. I am not a dedicated knitter. I don't know how I made the Ravelympics' Team Bob in the first place. Was it the skeins of cashmere I slipped to the judges at the Ravelympic Trials? (geez, I was on steroids for a while, think I'll be tested?) WIP Wrestling. What was I thinking? I am supposed to be knitting right now during the men's individual High Bar and where am I? Messing around over here in computer world. Shame on me.

How long 'till Closing Ceremonies?

The Bawdy Balladeers

Once upon a time I was part of a successful A Capella group called The Bawdy Balladeers. We had two recordings. I cried when I saw this on ebay. The link will only be good for two more days so I'll summarize. My best work is currently worth $4.25.

Divided by three musicians.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am entered in the Ravelry Ravelympics '08. The rules are simple.

• Choose an event/project to be cast on during the Olympics opening ceremonies 8/8/08

• It should be a challenge for you to complete in 17 days, not "just another scarf"

• Olympic trials and training may be done such as swatching

• Finish before the flame is extinguished 8/24/08

My event is WIP Wrestling and I am on Team BOB. I am psyched because I am about to wrestle my toughest opponent. The mate to an armwarmer I made about a year ago. It’s cotton, it’s lace, and I altered the pattern to make it bigger to fit my queen size arms.

I didn’t write it any of that down.

Resistance was futile.

You know those silly questionnaires and quizzes folks have on their blogs that are supposed to reveal something about them? They are called memes. I generally avoid them but this was fun - and spoke to my creative side. My thanks to Javajem (I saw hers first).

It was very interesting to see the pictures that came up for my words and very difficult to chose the perfect picture. At first I thought I would just take the first one. Then so many cool pictures came up. What's a girl to do?

I mostly went for comedy.



1. Cinnamon Bonnie, 2. Summer on the Chesapeake, and the Living is Good, 3. Transit time tunnel, 4. Fly me to the Mooooon..., 5. Big Mike, 6. pb choco banana smoothie, 7. Bad Yeti!, 8. Los burros, 9. Pink Motel, 10. Getting to know you, getting to feel free and easy..., 11. My Most Treasured Possession, 12. t-shirt

Wanna do it? Here's how:

Here are the rules:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page of results, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker. (Register and log in first, trust me)

The Questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
   
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

Please be sure to include the code to credit the photographers.
Piracy is only amusing if you are making fun of Jack Sparrow.

A Sad Day

Earlier today I started a blog entry about how excited I was to announce I had been off of steroids for a week and felt it safe to put it in writing. I also asked for continued prayers for the child of my friend. Brie and her Mom had been living at The Johns Hopkins Children's Center for more than 2 months, seeking a miracle for her Severe Aplastic Anemia. I decided to put the only picture I had of her always smiling face here. I was cropping it a bit when our electricity went out and was still out when I arrived at my usual Thursday night Sit-n-Knit at Mr.Mikes. My knitting friend's faces said it all.

Brie was a sweet girl. This picture is from 2 years ago at a K1P2 Yarn Swap - she got my yarn and I got hers.

Thank You God for lending her to us.

Knitting on PBS

A new knitting show replaces Needle Arts Studio with Shay Pendray on PBS starting July 20. This makes the fourth PBS show in Maryland dedicated to fibre arts (that I’m aware of). Knitting Daily TV will feature Eunny Jang (editor Interweave Knits, designer) Kim Werker (editor Interweave Crochet, author Get Hooked, Crochet Me) Liz Gipson (editor Handwoven, designer), and the former show’s Shay Pendray (host Needle Arts Studio, designer). That’s a lot of talent and each episode should provide oodles of fiber satisfaction. The show will cover many angles of fiber arts and will have a companion website for patterns and clips fully functioning in July at

http://www.knittingdailytv.com

Far out.

Zooming Right Along . . .

. . . like The Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival never happened.

I went to The Massachusetts Sheep and Woolcraft Festival when Bobby and I were in New England for ten days at the end of May.

After a car show, The Baseball Hall of Fame and a few days of town hopping on the coast, it was on to stay in The Berkshires for the last leg of our vacation. Saturday was spent at the Massachusetts Sheep and Woolcraft Festival. Such a lovely bunch of laid back sheepie folk. It’s more intimate than MDSW and I could navigate the paved site quite easily on my scooter. The elevator to the fiber competition exhibits was apparently broken (it was blocked off) but Bobby said there wasn't much besides the fleeces so I wasn't that disappointed. There were Sheepdog trials all day and watching the working dogs was quite fun, especially when folks explained the finer points of judging to me. It broke my heart to see a good dog get a contrary sheep who just wouldn’t stay with the other two in the group but chose to run back to the pen and ruin everyone’s high marks. I love seeing the animals – sheep, goats, llamas. There weren’t any alpacas at this fair. Waaaah! I did get to see some shearing and the 4H showmanship contests. It’s serious business for these kids. I said to Bobby, next there will be Alpaca and Llama competitions at these functions. Woo Hoo !

There were two buildings of vendors and lots of outdoor booths, nicely laid out and accessible. There were only about a third I couldn't get into with my wheels and none of them had the big "drop" like at Maryland. Shweeet! In fibre, the lean at this fair is definitely toward spinning and weaving. Roving, roving, roving. And batts. The wheels, spindles and looms for sale were plentiful as well as all the trappings. There were spin-ins and weave-ins but not a knit-in. But yes, there was yarn. I bought some crazy soft white wool to pet for a while and some funky multi hued wool at a booth with discontinued yarns on sale. Bobby bought me a little sheep pin to remember the day. I put it on my hat with my Ravelry pins - oh yes, there were Ravelry folk there. The darling of the modern knitter. I recognized Ravelers and was recognized by my Ravelry gear – it's like a secret handshake. Very cool although there was no formal gathering of the Ravelry clan as there had been at Maryland’s festival. All in all a great day with lovely weather too.

And did I mention the lamburgers? And the $1 hand dipped ice cream cones?

It's good to be a knitter.

I know I am remiss in my duties to write about MDSW. I went. I had fun. I saw friends. I bought cool stuff. I ate lamburgers. I went to the Ravelry gathering Saturday and the party Saturday night. I did not win a prize. I beg your forgiveness for not cataloging my every sight, smell and dollar spent.

I know you are a forgiving lot.

Oh! Did I mention that I finished Bobby's scarf? Now I'm working on the matching hat. A wife's work is never done.

Enjoy the pictures - you'll have to look at the whole trip to see the sheep. If you're a real glutton for stories about the trip, click the button for my brain cancer blog over on the left and there's two days worth of blah blah blah there.

We did have a good time.

These were from a Yarn Harlot stop in Minnesota. I had to share. View top to bottom.










Thanks to The Heathen Houswife for the film

April Showers Brings . . .the Harlot?

Went to a fun lecture by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Yarn Harlot last night where she went on (and on) about knitting as her blog byline says. The girls saved me a spot right in the front row and it was great fun. She's an excellent speaker with a good sense of comedic timing. Her comments on her struggles to be recognized as a writer of knitting humor reminded me of my own pauses when people ask me what kind of music I sing. "Uhhh . . . A Capella. Bawdy and Humor. You know - songs of men and women. Drinking songs . . ." And they give me the deer in the headlights look. So yes Stephanie, when you told your tale of the publishers meeting and the woman who asked you when you were going to write a real book - I got it probably better than anyone else there.




At the end of the question and answer period, someone asked her the date of a blog entry mentioning Calgary and she couldn't remember it. We were then treated to a long bonus tale of her escapade into a hotel hallway wearing nothing but panties that said "Cowgirl" on the butt.

Priceless.

After the lecture, she signed autographs and I did get a book signed. On a whim I got her to sign my kitting bag which she thought was a hoot.

I think she was too.

I finished the little Mock Cables Baby Hat a few weeks ago. I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. I modified the decreases just a bit to keep the cable theme straight at the top and avoid the pointy top so many others got on Ravelry. It looks nicer I think. No, I didn't write that down for posterity. It's my secret formula.

BWAAAA HAA HAAAAAAAAA!

Funny thing is, they already had the shower for the baby and I didn't find out until my uncle, the Great Grandad told on me the day it was held. It was down in a basement though and I can't navigate steps yet. I'll try to get it to Billy and his girlfriend soon. I hope it gets lots of oohhs and aaahhhhs.

The Mock Cables were really fun. You slip a stitch, knit two more then use the slipped one to create the illusion of the cable cross. See? That long stitch that stretches sideways has two knit stitches going up through it. Verrrry cool. I'm finally able to "read" some of my knitting. (me?) It's about time.






My model is Emmy Lou. My Grandmother made her for my third birthday. The woman had thirteen (13!) children plus the grandkids(9 at the time)and still made me a present by hand. She made lots of handmade toys and samplers, so did my other grandmother. Guess I come by it honestly.







Bobby's scarf is now longer and gorgeous. This stuff is lovely to knit with but I wish the twist was the other way to better keep the definition of the two colors wrapped around each other. Ahhh me. It's soft and warm and he loves it just the same. Maybe I'll get it done now because (drum roll please)

my hands seem to be okay now

All of a sudden I noticed they weren't doing the wonky finger cramping thing any more. I swear it was related to the steroids/swelling putting pressure on some nerve somewhere. How come doctors don't know which nerve can affect hands that way? Nobody ever had their hands go wonky before? At my recent doctor's appointment they said it could be from the radiation or even the chemo. They don't know nothing.

Sheesh.

Anyway, I can concentrate my knitting efforts on his scarf now and won't have to stop every two rows. Of course there is the little matter that he gave me the yarn for Christmas when he asked for the scarf. But there was no real deadline and his birthday isn't until May . . . Weird thing is, I'm out of the knitting habit now. Since my hands got all weird, I haven't knit much. Gotta remedy that.

Countdown to Sheep and Wool

~~ BONUS POST ~~

Two great bloggers Jody at Javajem and Sarah from by Sarah are counting down the days to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival on a new blog called . . . ready . . .

Countdown to Sheep and Wool

The website is preamble to what will be at the Cloverhill Yarn Shop booth which will feature the wares of no less than 18 independent fiber artists. I think that's a very cool way to promote your peeps. Jody and Sarah are having a contest every day from now 'till then on the site so check 'em out. Win some yarn!

Don't know what Maryland Sheep & Wool is? Whoa sheepdog, you been livin' in a cow pasture? Check them out by clicking the sheepies on their official emblem for this year.

(which is butt ugly and looks like one sheep is humping the other but hey, they didn't ask me to pick it)

Maryland Sheep & Wool

Prioities

I am working mostly on Bobby's scarf and some on the Mock Cable Baby Hat (awwwwww ain't it cute?) for my cousin's grandchild-to-be-born-soon. Slow going on the hat but the yarn is the corn I bought at Celtic Knot a few weeks ago and is silky smooth. A big difference from some of the acrylic I have used from the charity stash. Oh, not for my hats. They're always soft and cushy for those sensitive heads. But a pet shelter blanket, Knit for Kids sweater, lots of Warm Up America blocks - oh yeah. I use up the stiffer, bulkier yarns I have for those. Hmmmmmm. Come to think of it, I guess it has been a while since I've touched that stuff, but not for lack of wanting to. It's been a while since I finished my last preemie hat too and I haven't touched my current chemo - The Floppy Brim Cap - in eons. My hands are still wonky, but I knit a row or two and stop to rest and that seems to help. I'm hoping it's related to some body swelling pressing on nerves (which I just got news should go down with a medication change as of today!)

So. I have a note from my doctor for the teacher, honest. May I be excused?

Happy Friday!

That makes three great knitting days in a row so I had to share.

On Wednesday Bobby was off and could take me and my scooter over to the Claudia Mayer Resource Center. I knit for charity there every Wednesday and haven't been able to go for about two months. I have missed them terribly. It was heavenly to see everyone and they were genuinely thrilled to see me too. We caught up a bit and had finally settled into knitting when one jumped up and said "Ooooo! Ooooo! You came the right day. We just got this in". There were new boxes of donated yarn almost every week but behind me on the table she pulled forth a box full of eyelash. Eyelash! I use it for my No Hair Day Chemo Hats and the colors she had were perfect to match yarns already in my charity stash. We loaded my basket with ball after fluffy ball.

It was meant to be.

On Thursday I went to my regular Sit-n-Knit at the Lakeside Cafe' and Deli. Mr Mike's place was nearly deserted and my friend Nittany Knits and I were the only knitters there. We had the best time, just the two of us talking about nothing but knitting, books and assorted other happy topics. It was the best Sit-n-Knit for some reason. Sitting with one friend and sharing your knitting time is, well . . . therapeutic. It restoreth the soul and sanity. Larger groups can sometimes stray into conduct unbecoming to a knitter. Discussions of acrylic snobbery, pattern burning, mass froggings . . . but I digress. Try knitting with one friend.

I highly recommend it.

And then came Friday. There was a light snow and a bit of rain last night. Even with a salting this morning, a few small scatterings of ice on our sidewalk nixed me going out for an appointment. The threat of more ice (even though it never materialized) around four in the afternoon canceled another appointment for me. Bummer. It was a totally grey and boring day. Then in comes my Boo. Look what my Boo brought home tonight! Happy Friday! He's all bright eyed and cheery bearing gifts of an armful of bright flowers, my favorite Starbucks Coffee (in the recycling and not pictured I'm afraid) and a knitting book. My Boo.

He loves me.

That makes three great knitting days in a row so I had to share.

LOL Tinkkintz

This is too funny.

LOL tinkknitz