Bats In My Belfry

moar humorous pics

Hee!

Boy, this sucker is large. It’s getting a bit tough to manage whilst working here at my desk (usual knitting place). I’m still concerned that it’s going to be a bit heavy to wear but, I’m in this for the long haul.

Mushy Peas, not just for eating. I suppose I ought to get those put back in the cupboard. Hard to see but I’ve gotten pretty anal about lifelines. Thanks to the sensible comments from Stellaluna and Himself, I’ve gotten over feeling like I’m “wussing out” using lifelines. In fact, I find it quite freeing. After counting stitches obsessively to be sure I’m on the right count and pattern, I run a lifeline and then, for awhile, knit on whilst watching DvDs. I generally run a line each day so that, at worst, I would lose one day’s work.

About half done, maybe a bit under. Not sure where in the hell I’m going to block this. We have no carpeting, no surface that is going to be big enough. This could pose a challenge. In fact, I don’t know anyone who does have any carpeting that I could pin this out on. But, that’s a bridge that’ll get crossed when I come to it.

Loving the Harmony circs. The points make the k2tog so easy. Avoids that desire I have with some needles to cram ‘em into a pencil sharpener. No problems with cables coming undone either (touch wood).

Well, last week I groused and grumbled about Jordana Paige’s Bella here and here

After conducting the experiment I find that I need to eat crow. Upon leaving Bella hanging…

…for 4 or 5 days, not only do the straps work a lot better (e.g. they actually pull through the tabs) but when they are pulled up tightly, the top closes up in a secure manner.

So, I was flat out wrong. Conclusions were leapt to and first impressions were wrong (despite the old adage). I have to say I had a lot of fun cramming the cans in Bella and conducting the experiment.

I figure it’s only fair after withering on about this bag that I set the record straight. It’s still on the smallish side but it would be excellent for those who are sock addicts and want to have a stylish bag that also is a good home for their WIP.

Jordana Paige? My apologies. Now, to figure out what seasoning goes well with…crow.

It’s tempting to think that Spring has arrived, especially when seeing things like this:

Not a cloud in the sky this morning. Brilliant blue skies every direction. In the 40s but you could actually feel the sun’s warmth. Was pure pleasure to be out and walking on a day like today. Some of the trees have buds and there is plenty of mud where last week the ground was crunchy. In some places the mud was so slippery that being dragged along by the frisky Dawg was like skiing.

I was so tempted to snag a branch of this…

…but I don’t feel right about taking things from Nature. Best to leave them where they are.

Walking out in The Fields can sometimes feel as if you’re nowhere near a town the size of Markdorf. This is a good thing to me. It’s essential to recharge and I’m blessed to have this area so conveniently located to wander about in.

To the left there is a little enclosed property. I have no idea what they are called. They are small fenced in areas, with sheds, bar-b-que equipment, small gardens (flowers and veggies) and sitting areas. There are three of them out in The Fields. An old woman frequents one and she tends some very pretty flower beds.  She is a bit ferocious about people walking by. I assume she prefers her privacy. Another is more a social gathering place with a large shed and seating area. The third is a large vegetable garden and you often see a woman tending it at dawn in the summer.

Don’t know what these plants are, kind of like pampas grass. I’m woefully ignorant about horticulture but not quite as bad as Himself who tends to “tree” “flower” etc.

This one, I do know. Willow. I spent a great deal of my childhood up a willow tree in our backyard, reading.  I remember having a transistor (über!) radio and listening to “A Summer Song” by Chad and Jeremy. Always associate that with willow trees. Looks like this tree is greening up a bit.

Beautiful, beautiful day. The cynic in me is wondering when Winter is going to make a return and smack us upside the head. But…not today.

Is mostly sunny today, in fact, a rather nice day despite the forecast. It did snow last night. At sunrise there was maybe half an inch all over everything but it melted by mid-morning revealing a very nice day.

Skies were beautiful with the white clouds floating by. The clouds were gathered over the Alps in cumulonimbus form.

You can see that just a couple hundred feet above Markdorf the snow has remained. Hard to see in this picture but the snow decorates all the evergreens at the top of that ridge.

Well, we may be in for more winter but days like this make it not-so-bad because you can see…

Buds starting to appear. The smell of damp earth was strong today too. The aroma of spring was present. Of course, it’s just a teaser, for the next 2 months will bring the most moisture and, depending upon the weather patterns, snow. Himself is all for it and I am, to a point, but I do hope it doesn’t get really deep because it will be a bit of a pain trekking through the fields in deep snow. But, then again, it would be beautiful.

I read that Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today.

Always a favourite day of mine. It’s the beginning of the end of winter and that is a very, very good thing. Time to look forward to those subtle signs that winter is loosening its grip. I’m especially looking forward to it this year as I am out in the country numerous times per day walking The Dawg. It has been a real treat watching summer wax and wane, then autumn with all its glorious colour then winter with its fogs and winds and snow and, of course, rain. Now, we’ll be seeing the heavier rains and, perhaps, snows.

But then…ah…then…spring. Nothing quite like spring unfolding after a long, grey winter. And today marks the shifting toward that. The days are already longer and the sun when it shines is a touch warmer.

Gaelic tale has it that if it’s a sunny day for Imbolc, Cailleach will be out to gather winter for the rest of the winter but if the weather is foul, it means Cailleach sleeps and winter is almost over. Tomorrow is meant to be a rather nasty day.

Funny how that is similar to the Groundhog  Day.

In any case, we’re past the worst of the dark days and moving on toward the light, once again.

Lovely!

I’m experimenting. Recently I groused a bit about the Jordana Paige Bella I purchased. I received (surprised me!) a nice comment from Jordana Paige about my comments and decided to experiment with adding weight to Bella in order to stretch out, a bit, the straps and effect a more “drawn in” top closure via the stretch. I’m a bit odd in that I tend not to carry much weight at all in a handbag/purse so the stretching would not have occurred naturally. So I hied myself down to the pantry and found some cans, all weighing 300 grams each for a total of about 5.25 pounds (2400 grams).

Note that I have used imported goods! My Bachelor’s Mushy Peas and Campbell’s Cream of Celery soup. I have to import these from the U.K. There was no issue in fitting ‘em all into Bella…

Then I decided that since I was in test-mode, I’d close it up and swing it around and see what happened. As I mentioned, the bag is well made and survived my flinging it about without issue (not sure the neighbours did after seeing me flinging a handbag around my head like a bolo) and…I think the straps stretched just a bit in that test. I was happy to see how much fit into the small looking bag. I would not have expected I could get eight cans in it and they aren’t even particularly crowded. All fit in one layer. So that puts paid to my moaning about it being small. Although I doubt many folk would be toting around eight cans of mushy peas and/or soup. Heh.

Here’s Bella closed up and sitting on my work table…

Well, not quite closed which is my remaining grumble. But, I shall hang Bella from a hook in the front hall (after tossing aside the husband’s coat…I mean this is an important experiment!) for a day or three and see how this goes. Serves him right. He suggested putting The Neem in the bag. Silly man.

To add:

Straps are certainly longer.

About 2 feet into the five feet to see it done. And not without a crisis. Heh. Always a crisis with me. All part of the learning process but sometimes I really, really, really wish I had a teacher. My biggest problem is figuring out how to fix errors. My brain works peculiarly, I guess, as I have trouble reading instructions in a book or online and then implementing them. Usually do okay when I can watch a video (thank goodness for all the great folks who make knitting videos!) but they don’t often focus on “oh look, this is wrong, no idea what’s wrong, but it’s obviously wrong” type situations.

Exactly the type I find myself in. Case in point…this shawl is a CO of 132 and a repeat of 4 rows. Simple enough, pattern easily memorised and requiring no particular fancy maneuvers. And yet, I have, twice now, made the same mistake. Bad part is, have yet to figure out exactly WHAT the mistake was. I end up with one stitch less on the “money row” (in Old Shale that’s the row with the yo and k2tog bits). I am pretty sure that I am missing a YO but every time I go to figure it out, I can never see where I have. Quite maddening, really.

So night before last saw me ripping back (always gives me the collywobbles) until I got to a plain knit row that had the proper amount of stitches. Happily this was only one pattern repeat. Then back on the needles and carry on. I did have the sense to run a lifeline which is kind of embarrassing but I’d rather be embarrassed than howling and cursing when I can’t get something fixed.

And so…

The colour just isn’t coming out correctly with the Ixus70. I need to investigate why. It’s more a tan/oatmeal colour.

Bottom edge. Shows the yarn and its heft. This is not going to be a dainty wrap by any means nor was it meant to be. It’s meant to be exceedingly warm and to be burrowed in. I do hope it’s not so heavy as to be unwearable though. Heh.

Lifeline. Meh. Well, as my husband pointed out when I was whining about the need for a lifeline, it’s akin to backing up your code when developing. Somehow that made it feel not so…uh…silly.

I think this is going to turn out as I envisioned and providing I can continue to count to six and stop mucking up with yarn-overs, I should be done with it in a couple weeks at the rate I’m going.

Even though it is frustrating to screw up, I did feel rather good when I took a deep breath (okay, several) and figured out how to try and un-screw it. Progress.

Happily, I discovered the TV series “House, M.D.” (on DvD with captioning!) and after viewing the first season in a couple days, got season 2 and 3 and am happily knitting away whilst watching the show. Love it. Hysterical and I am particular amused by the un-PC aspects and the rampant “smart-ass-ery” of Hugh Laurie’s character.

Messing with camera today whilst walking The Neem resulted in some telephoto shots of the Alps. Now the Alps are rather “shy” around here. Rarely see them unless conditions are “just right”. I’m told it’s to do with the Lake (of Constance) but I’ve really no clue. So, when I was out there and could actually see them, I decided to mess with the telephoto in the Canon Ixus70. Results are not that great but does give an idea of proximity.

Interestingly (well, to me anyway) there doesn’t seem to be much snow on the Alps for this time of year. Mind you, these are the foothills, the big peaks are behind and not visible today.

Pity that the Alps are not part of the daily view. We are pretty much surrounded on three sides and it would be nice to be able to see them more often. They rarely are seen in the summer but that doesn’t seem to dissuade the tourists from flocking to the area. Of course there is a lot more to see and do than just ogle the Alps.

From what the weather forecast is claiming, the Alps will be disappearing again. The word is “winter returns” starting tonight. That generally means visibility ’round here goes down to a mile or so.

Ah well.