Shop Update!

Do come by the shop. We have six new rovings, two new colors of sock yarn, and one loveley, soft, squishy lace yarn added to the shop.

As we are into the last week of swim and dive, life is its usual flurry of activities. There has been time for poolside knitting.

This sock is a Jaywalker for my Sockapalooza pal, knit in my own Squishy Sock Yarn in the Tangled Up in Blue colorway. I've been waiting for a color pretty enough to name after my favorite Bob Dylan song, and this is it. I'm in love. And it's a good thing, too, because I decided not to re-consult the pattern before knitting this much and have a grave knit pattern error. Some crazy jaywalking going on! Now, I have a sock with the correct knit pattern that is just about this size, after a several MORE hours of knitting.

And what have we here?

Sock number one in my own handspun. It's looking very Trekky, is it not? I certainly could have knit a taller sock, and depending on my life, i may go back and unpick the cast-on and do just that.

Oh, and it couldn't a be a summer post without these:

Nothin' but the blues

I dyed on Friday. When I opened my dye notebook, the last entry was April 26th. I was tired, but it was great to back to making pretty colors.

Nice, eh?

Back from Vacationland, Part II

We're back from a lovely visit with our family in the City that Care Forgot. New Orleans is coming along. Slowly, in parts. On the West Bank (of the Mississippi, that is), where the resources are less, they combined the two Catholic girl schools into one. My adorable brother Tommy,

high school coach extraordinaire at Archbishop Blenk weathered the storm, but just barely. Families and faculty jumped ship right and left. It's hard to say goodbye to Blenk, but I'm sure he will help craft the new school into a great place to learn, and play. Here he is teaching the girlie to high jump. More on him later.

The Riverwalk is looking good. We happened to be on it as a big thunderstorm rolled up the mighty Mississippi. On our way to the Aquarium on the 4th.

I love the Sea Dragons. They would be Seussian, if they weren't so beautiful.

For Tommy, who knew that this Moon Jelly would be a beautiful picture. And having grown up in Hampton Roads, off the Bay, I can tell you that their sting hurts like the dickens!

A face only a mother could love. We learned from the Crocodile Hunter, who we miss very much, bless him, that the albino gators can't survive in the wild because they can't camoflage. I'm thinking that must be why there are white gators in the Aquarium and the Zoo. Go ahead ask me how many times I've been to both.

The Lovely Jack and I had a rare date. It was embarrassing to realize that our last date may have been when we were there at Christmas. Even better, it was a lunch date, and Jack allowed himself to be dragged to the yarn store. After all, I needed a crochet hook. Who goes away without their notions bag? And, if you are looking for great, real New Orleans food, go here

It's called Ignatius, and it's on Magazine street. I recommend the Roast Beef Po Boy and the Chicken and Sausage Gumbo. Trust me, you haven't lived till you stuff your self full of that good cooking. Yum!

We went to the very lovely Garden District Needlework Shop and met Diana Johnson, who was kind enough to spend lots of time sharing with me the joys (and down and dirty details) of owning a yarn shop.

Located on Magazine Street in a very funky neighborhood (in a good way) that is looking more and more like the Haight in San Francisco, trust me it's wonderful. The store is in a great space, with 15(?) foot ceilings and crammed with inventory. A truly smashing selection of yarn, needlepoint, and accessories. It doesn't hurt that Diana is an interior designer and really knows how to create a space that you just want to move into. And she has a spot for the man toy, too.

Oh, and the needlepoint canvasses, created by the very talented Annie, tried to seduce me. Lucky I have some understanding of my limits. But is you are a New Orleanian at heart, and like to needlepoint, check her out. The Camellia Grill canvass was my favorite. Annie, by the way, was known as Anne Marie when my dad went to grade school with her. It seems every time I walk in a yarn shop in New Orleans someone recognizes my name, "Is your father Stan Chiocchio?" Dad really must have been a terror in grade school, driving all these women to yarn:)

Until I return

A few random thoughts before I leave for New Orleans.

My boy, a bit high strung or a big freak, whichever you prefer, is working on facing his fears. Luckily, he and his sister are both big water rats, like their mother, although at this point, I enjoy the pool more for knitting. Both are on the swim team in the summer and both have great potential if they're willing to work hard. I'd say the jury's out on who's more into it, them or me.

The boy decided he'd like to join a number of his friends on the dive team as well. And started freaking out about it almost immediately. So, before the summer even started, we were working with him and not quitting 'cause you're scared and following through on what you commit to. Keeping in mind he's a high-strung 6 year old and that diving can be really scary.

He got over the first hurdle and found he really enjoyed it. The sport is, like gymnastics and karate, a natural fit for him. Diving requires movements that his body wants to make anyway. Whether he posseses the discipline and courage on the mental side of the sport are another matter. The jury's still out. It's really up to him. Not me. All I can do is take him to practice, encourage him, and Back Off. So anyway, he had his first meet after we'd been at the beach for a week. On his first dive, he was so focused on the approach ("the hurdle") that he did the wrong dive. Automatic zero's. Ouch! Cosmic meltdown. No amount of coddling was going to get him back on the board.

He did, however, get back on the board after the meet (thank you, loveley Jack) and the next day and all week for practice. Next hurdle is that a diver must go backwards in at least one dive for his scores to count for the team. No amount of coddling, pushing, or guilting was going to get that child to jump backwards of the board.

I tried it one afternoon, and it is reallay very scary. He's happy to do back jumps off the side and even stood backwards on the board once, before turning around and jumping forward. By the end of the week, his very fabulous coach decided that he'd just do two exhibition dives in the meet and that's that. He'll do it when he's ready. But in the meantime, he did a great job in the meet tonight. Look at that form!

In knitting news, I thought I'd show you a pre-felting shot. Honestly, I haven't even sewn the pieces together. When completed, I hope it will be a small messenger bag with a long over-flap and a longish strap. Strap size is tough to anticipate. The yarn is Lamb's Pride Bulky from Sheep Shed Studio and hand-dyed by me in the Blue Dolphin colorway.

From more experiments with blending on my fabulous drum carder, I give you Fairy Dust II singles

and 2-ply yarn.

and remember Astroturf? Here it is in a yarn cake

and knitted. Very tweedy, eh? Remind me to tell you what I learned about spinning and plying from this exercise.

And one more thing, as we approach the July 4th holiday. This is a bit out of character for me, but here goes. My friend Fleming, who may kill me for this, is on a six month deployment to Djabouti, Africa. She is a Navy nurse and the mother of three of my favorite little girls. The older two are good friends with my kids and Jack and I enjoy their parents a great deal. This is her third deployment - one of the others was to Iraq and I believe she went right on into Bagdad in the beginning of this crazy war. She and Kell have never complained and both bravely go on about their business, she on the job in Africa and he home with the three girls. I am in awe of them both.

Before she left in January, I "reminded" her how to knit. Here she is modeling her completed scarf. It's wool, of course! What else would you knit with so close to the equator?

Happy 4th!