Ya-Ya

Today I had a weekly gathering of phenomenal women at my house. I can't say enough how these women support and lift me. They are three intelligent, warm, caring, hilarious, creative creatures that I am so thankful crossed paths with me some months ago. Thank you Ravelry!!! There are a couple others that don't get to join us every week, but they fit in the phenomenal category too.

We don't waste our time trashing others. We agree on most things, but when we don't, it's ok. We can have healthy, intelligent debate, and it's always served on a plate of "what can we learn from this," garnished with "oh, the pretty!," and served up with a side of hilarity, and a heaping bowl of "well, allright then" for dessert.

We agree that we are not a group, nor do we have meetings. I think we need a new word, or perhaps an old word used in a new and provocative way to define what we are. "Support" can be called "advocate," "favor," "back," or "champion." We applaud, approve, endorse, pull for, adopt, embrace, defend, and sustain each other.

Being sister-less all my life, I've always envied women who had sisters. I've had many friends that made up for it, but I've never been involved in a group like this that meshed so quickly.

Since we're all beautiful, intelligent women, could we be called a bevy? How about a covey, a company, a kindle, an intrigue, a charm, a pride, or a wisdom? I like "a wisdom." It says what we bring to and what we gain from getting together. I also like "an intrigue." It makes us sound so brilliant and clever and deep.

"Sisterhood" works too. God knows we have all the "Ya-Ya" anyone could possibly have.

Whatever it is, and whatever we call it, I love it and I can't wait for next week!

New Word for the Day: Jacquarded/Knitters for Knockers

I had to be in the city yesterday for a meeting, so I took the opportunity to visit River City Yarns downtown. My friend Penny had shown me some Misti Alpaca sock yarn that had me bewitched, and I wanted to go check out the other colours available. Her skein seemed to have every colour in the rainbow painted on it, and she chose it to match with other sock yarn remnants that she uses to make her Frankensocks. I LOVE her Frankensocks; they're multi-coloured, and the striping never matches which agrees with my non-conformist side. This yarn was similar to the Fabel I had used to make my turquoise socks, and I loved how that yarn jacquarded. (That's my new word for today...jacquarded: 1 (verb) past tense; created a jacquard pattern that looks like you mastered some highly intricate knitterly dance with several vivid strands of yarn, but really just plain knit with one strand.)

Anyway, the other colours of the yarn I speak of didn't thrill me so much when I saw them. There were soooo many other rich-coloured yarns that were grabbing my attention by the throat. So I had me a good long session of yarn-fondling. Somehow, during my fondling stroll, a skein of Trekking XXL (great jacquardability!) and a Mrs. Beeton's Wrist Warmer kit found their way into my hands, so they came home with me, along with the Fall issue of Interweave Knits magazine. My new purchases are sitting by my computer right now where I can gaze lovingly at their beauty off and on through my day.

I'm still working the heel of the Hibiscus. I had to frog the half-finished heel in order to sort myself out on short row stocking stitch heel construction. Now I'm back to half-way through the heel and I hope to get past the heel and back to working up the leg today. Isn't the pattern gorgeous! If you haven't already done so, please go to MezzoDiva's blog and donate to her worthy cause, Knitters for Knockers. I was honoured to guest author her blog last week while she prepares for her 60K walk in September to raise money for breast cancer research, so scroll down and check it out.

Mary's scarf has progressed also; I'm almost half-way through the middle part.

The shawl is still on the back burner for now. I've started adding the border. And I've done a few more rows on the back piece of the Juliaca sweater, just past the armhole bind offs. But that one is a loooooong term project. Miles and miles and miles of really boring road--I mean 2x2 ribbing!

Dog Days and Knitters for Knockers

Well, I've had a perfectly lovely summer day. I got to go to my son's girlfriend's house to pick saskatoons and
raspberries. They have a saskatoon grove and about 1/2 an acre of raspberry patch. For those who aren't familiar with saskatoons, they're similar to blueberries, but they grow on trees rather than on low bushes, and they're more purple than blue. They have similar health benefits of blueberries. There is some kind of Zen to berry picking...especially on a warm summer day, with a light breeze and the bees buzzing lazily nearby.

Then I got to sit at the river and knit on the Victorian lace scarf I'm making for Mary, our daughter who lives in Inuvik.

I wore my river shoes so I was able to wade in to above my knees to cool off when the sun got too hot. Heaven! The water is clear and warm. I was dying to dive in but I didn't have my bathing-suit on and I didn't want to drive home in wet clothes. Tomorrow, I swim. We in the Great White North need to enjoy the hell 'outta these nice summer days.

With that in mind, I stopped for an ice-cream cone on the way home from the river and it was divine. All-in-all, it was a glorious day. I have work coming soon, so I have to enjoy the days off that I have now; I may not get many after the middle of August.

Sunday, I finished the Turquoise Fabel socks. YaaaY!!!

Now I can start on the Hibiscus for Hope socks. This is the pattern that Knitters for Knockers is promoting this year. If you make a donation to Ramona Carmelly's Weekend to End Breast Cancer walk, you get this gorgeous sock pattern that is based on the notes and charts of a pattern developed by my friend ThatLoganChick. It's a great cause and Ramona's a great champion for her heroic efforts. You can also find a link in Ravelry on Ramona's (MezzoDiva) page.

I also blocked a sample of my snowdrop shawl to see how well it would hold a block and to see what a garter stitch/faggot edge looked like for the actual shawl. I think it looks great, and I'm ready to bind off the top edge of the shawl. Then I'll pickup and knit the border on the two sides. I cannot wait to finish this one. The really great patterns seem to take sooooo long, don't they?