Long Time Coming

Quite a long time ago, perhaps in summer, 2010 I had an idea for a shaped shawl with a contrasting border and simple neckline. Not quite a triangle, not quite a circle or a rectangle, it was loosely based on a ruana ( a sort of open-fronted poncho made from a rectangle of fabric), but not nearly as long.
Knit Picks generously provided me with some yarn, and I started working out the details.
Then life happened, new ideas came, I got sick, and well, and sick etc. and I never seemed to find the level of focus this challenging-to-write pattern needed.
In the meantime, the colorway of yarn I was using was discontinued, which moved it even further to the back burner. The beginning of this year I was determined to finish the pattern, and if Knit Picks liked it, to re-knit it in a currently-sold colorway.
Then the summer of no brain arrived. I used to be able to count on at least a few hours in the morning 3 or 4 times a week that I could think well, do math, design in mental 3-d etc, but this summer the fibro fog took over my life 9 days out of 10.
Then last week on the advice of Oscar I started taking a morning dose of Ginko Biloba. And a few days later my mornings came back. Monday I backslid a bit, and was foggy after the long and physically difficult day of travel and visiting my family and yesterday was just so-so, but today I woke up and began crunching numbers and thinking of changing angled edges and did a solid 3 hours of work on the shaped ruana pattern! I hope to have the sample done next week! (along with a hat/scarf design for which a blog reader is patiently, having offered to test knit it for me). Whew. I can't tell you what a relief it has been to be able to think again.
(image is of the stitch pattern (unblocked as yet) that I am using for the shaped ruana)

Hats for Sale $20

UPDATE: The hat has found a new owner!!

I will be selling hats.
If you are interested in a specific design (for example, a fair isle design in two specific colors, or a certain word or name knit into the hat) Contact me at otterwise AT gmail DOT com and I will knit them to order for $25.00. The hats will be made from 100% wool for the most part, with perhaps some occasional alpaca.
We have a paypal account with that email.

I will also be selling ready-made hats, as I get them finished.
I visited home yesterday, and most of my hats have new owners now (I let neices and nephs choose) but I still have this one ready for someone, if you want to buy it.
It is a combination slouchy/beret rasta-type hat made to fit a head between 22 and 23 inches around. On a larger head it looks like it does on Oscar. It is 100% wool.

The Joy of Lefse

Oscar has a strong Norwegian background.
One of the oddities of the world is that some traditional Norwegian foods are more celebrated and loved here in the US than back in Norway. I guess that isn't such a surprise when you consider the descendants of the immigrants who moved here are fairly close in number to those who still live in Norway.
Add to that, the folks who came here were much more likely to be of agricultural background, people who knew the value of nutritional food that could be made inexpensively and keep for a while. In fact, the only place that still makes lutefisk the old way is in Minnesota, and most lutefisk is imported to Norway from the US rather than the other way around. When you consider lutefisk is, to put it kindly an acquired taste (what's not to like about salt cod soaked in lye?) it is not surprising it isn't that popular back in the old country. As a non-Norwegian observer, it seems eating lutefisk might be a way to show how very tough and durable a person is.
They still eat it especially during the holidays in places where many Norwegians settled. It is commonly served with potatoes and plenty of butter (the butter is said to help it slide down the gullet more easily).
I haven't tried lutefisk, and thank goodness Oscar is not a big fan of it either.
The Norwegian traditional food that really warms Oscar's heart is Lefse.
He has even learned to make it in the traditional way and written a tutorial still available online.
(When the Minnesota state fair had a lefse competition, the now-traditional way of making it with instant potatoes won hands down. Perhaps the dehydrated potatoes have a more concentrated flavor?)
While you are there, check out more of Martin's magazine, particularly the Norwegian recipe section.
Anyway, the reason I am writing about lefse is that when the mail arrived today, it contained a huge envelope from Hanska, Minnesota stuffed full of packages of lefse, enough to put back in the freezer to have some at Yule, and some to enjoy right now. His mom Liz ordered it shipped as an early holiday gift just before she left for Florida this winter. You should have seen Oscar's face glow when he opened it up, and his excitement as he made a small plate of the buttered and rolled-up quarters. I must admit I enjoy a piece or two myself, but I make sure to tell Oscar it is his. I am lucky that he wants to share it with me on occasion :-} If it were lutefisk, it would be 100% his, all the time (and I'd likely ask him to eat it outside).
(photo is of Oscar wearing the Equalizer Hat)

before the gray

Hat Parade

I spent some time this summer knitting hats. When my mind was not quite up to the task of writing or working on the logical side of designing, I fell back onto the pure pleasure of designing on the needle, and made hats. No pattern, no particular size, except to be big enough to fit someone.
I think a few of these turned out to be proto patterns that may end up published later on.

As always, Oscar provided moral support and great modeling :-} The hats will either be sold on Etsy to bring in some much needed funds, or failing any interest there, will be donated to charity. Do you think $20 would be too much for the more complex ones?

Berries

Mary's Kaleidoscope

I am blessed to have people willing and able to test knit some of my patterns.
In the case of the Kaleidoscope shawl, this was especially important as I was using techniques new to me while describing how others would replicate them.
In Mary's case, she decided to use some yarn that came 'bare' so that she could dye it herself. She created a subtle purple and pink, combined with a beautiful clear turquoise and named it 'Salt Water Taffy'. After she had it knitted up, she decided she didn't really like the resulting combination in the fabric as well as she liked it in the skein. She decided to over dye her shawl with the help of her sister, and it came out a glorious luminescent blue-purple. I love how the edges of the triangles are a slightly deeper tone. The story of the dying process is told HERE in her project page.

Synchronicity and Unexpected Opportunities

First to answer a few questions on my last post: 1 1/2 hands meant one hand does 25%, the other 75% of the work. And the photo is of Granny from the Addams Family, played by a woman delightfully named Blossom Rock.
I am now typing almost equally with both hands, but my shoulder complains if I type or knit too long. I have managed to publish two reviews so far this month, though. I am planning to try knitting again today. :-}
Oscar has a full week. He is attending the penultimate class for the first swath of his planned series of certifications about an hour away in Troy. Earlier this summer he had an interview with a company that he really liked, and planned to submit a new resume to them after the first swath of certs is done. When he got to the class on Monday and he and his fellow classmates shared names he found the fellow in the seat next to him was someone from that company that he had interviewed with (it was a phone interview)! He and four other employees were travelling more than an hour from their home base to attend the class in Troy. Not only that, but they told Oscar that they had a big project coming up the first quarter of 2012 for which they will be hiring new people.
So, in effect, Oscar has a unique opportunity to show his stuff this entire week to someone who can help him land a job he would love, with a company he respects. The fellow told Oscar to submit his updated resume directly to him, as soon as the final two certification tests are finished.  Although Oscar plans to take more classes beyond it, the final class in his first selections will be in December. He will be done well before this company will need their new people.
Don't you love it when the universe takes an interest (in a good way)?

Healing Quickly!

I would say I am 75% healed to the point I was before last week's fall. I am typing with 1 1/2 hands again, and was able to knit for 10 minutes yesterday. Thank you for all the positive thoughts, I believe they made a huge difference.
And Oscar. he deserves more superlatives than those existing in the English language. He has been a rock.

Taking the season too literally?

Ok, I know it is officially 'Fall' but this is getting ridiculous!
Yesterday I sat on my bath stool and it broke beneath me. Oscar was on his way home from class so I only needed to wait 30 minutes, and I only made my existing injuries a little worse and added a bruised right elbow to the tally. VERY lucky! We realized the stool was at least 15 years old, so a break shouldn't have been a surprise.
Although I can't type for long, I have been hand writing rough drafts f book reviews so I feel a bit productive.
The book reviews are 300 words. I hope sometime next week I can get all these rough drafts into published form!

better yet!

I am learning to type rather well with one hand.
I woke up scratching my good arm with my bad arm, which means I can reach the center of my torso now, much better.
I tried knitting and managed for two minutes before I had to stop.
My computer has a bot, my apologies for any spam that has come from my comcast account. We are on our fifth different deep scan (this one by Avast) and will keep digging until we roust it out.
My toe is still broken, but the rest of that foot is much better and pain levels are much lower.

a little better every day

I can lift my left arm about two inches, so it is getting better. the broken toe is better, too.
pain levels are much less.
I will only be online every few days or so, so email replies will be delayed. Oscar needs to lift and position my laptop for me and he has plenty on his plate already.
No knitting until the arm is healed, but  I love to read and have plenty of books!
I have become the main cat roosting site and have plenty of fuzzy companionship.
Thanks for all the good thoughts!