Cindy’s Blog

I finally got a haircut yesterday. It was long overdue. I asked my stylist to make it longer in the front than the back. I told her I wanted a more obvious angle than I had last time and that I wanted the front to be chin length or a little below. This is what she did.

I told John that I have a Catholic school girl haircut now. He agrees.

Later he told me “It doesn’t look bad. It just doesn’t look good.”

Last time she was done in 15 minutes and it looked pretty good. This time she took an entire hour, cutting layer by layer, which isn’t necessary with my fine hair. It may have started out the right length in the front, but she spent a long time evening it out on one side, then the other. She charged me $10 more too. She told me she couldn’t make it any higher in the back. I don’t believe her.

Here I am with my cat, Maestro. Part of the reason I look so crappy is that that’s how I feel. I have a cold and am so tired. My spirits are lifted somewhat in this pic by the nearness of the furry ball of sweetness and the fact that I’m wearing the fingerless mittens I just finished knitting.

I didn’t plant anything this year, unless you count the kale and broccoli I planted last Fall. But this wonderful cucumber plant appeared and is growing well anyway. I haven’t even watered it.

Its doing even better than last years cucumbers, which suffered from crowding by the overplanted soybeans. I have a garden this year after all.

Here’s the shell tank, finally finished.

The point of the V turned out to be quite low. I’m not sure why. The armholes are small. It would be more comfortable if they were larger, but they’re small on the model in the book the pattern came from too. Even so, I like it.

bestbabysweater1199

Originally uploaded by cwalker5555

This is Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Best Baby Sweater. This one was made with baby yarn on size three needles so it will fit a small baby. Its as much fun as the 5 hour baby sweater which I believe was based on it.

Finally, some progress. The front of the drop leaf sweater is done. Here it is before…

and after opening the traveling stitches.

Now I just need to calculate how to convert the 3/4 length sleeves into full length sleeves. I’ll never wear it otherwise.

Here’s my attempt to photograph tonight’s full moon.

I’m sure there are tricks to use to make it look better but I just photographed it straight up. This pic however was made psychedelic with Fireworks.

As I walked to the club to return to my sister of steel routine I heard what sounded like numerous frogs. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard that in my neighborhood before. So odd. I haven’t been to the club in two weeks. My cough has been hanging on and I didn’t want to make it worse. After just two weeks I’ve lost so much. I felt amazingly weak. I wonder how much the fact that I no longer get to climb six flights of stairs on the way to my desk affected my strength. I so miss that. My new office (as of a week ago) is on the first floor.

Brandywine tomatoes, onions and marigolds have all been started and have popped their little heads out of their dixie cups. Photos of that later. I’ve learned that if you’re going to use dixie cups and keep them close together in their trays, you need to take steps to prevent the growth of mold on the outside of the cups. I had just read that fungi dislike alkali conditions so I rubbed baking soda on the outsides of every cup. It’s been 4 or 5 days now and the mold hasn’t returned.

It was warm for a few days last week and I captured daffodils in bloom.

On the needles…
I’m working on sweater #22 from Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2000. It has holes made by picking up a stitch, then increasing on one side and decreasing on the other as you knit. Here’s a swatch:

I needed to make a large swatch to be sure I had the technique for those holes down before starting the front. It took multiple tries.

See what the bunnies are doing to the basil? They’re turning it into basil trees. They’re nuts. They’re attacking everything, even the garlic, onions and mint they’re supposed to hate. It’s not like they don’t receive huge and varied amounts of food from me. Not good enough, apparently.

Behind this you can see the start of a fence that now surrounds the red clover field. There’s no other way to keep them out of it.

Here they are enjoying the clover field before it was fenced off. Do they look underfed to you?

Ed comes in for a snuggle with Lucy while Fred relaxes.

Aren’t they cute…

…as little buttons?

These photos were all taken through a window, thus the poor quality. If I had gone outside they would have moved.

Socks
Here are the latest finished socks. They were made using a random cable pattern. I created an excel spreadsheet with the cell’s height and width adjusted so that each cell was square. Then I copied a random number generating formula into each cell so it displayed a random number between 1 and 4. 1 - cable front. 2 - cable behind. 3 and 4 - knit two stiches straight. This is a a cable with two stitches crossing over another two.

Here they are in action. Nothing makes calves and ankles look bigger than socks photographed at this angle.

And here’s a closeup.

Here are pics of handknit socks donated for a silent auction to benefit the high school band. These were knit first. I almost didn’t donate them, but people seem to respond to the pink color quite positively, so I donated them anyway, even though they’re not perfect.
A closeup…

These were knit next. I love the little holes. You might have to have a foot or hand in them for the curvy holes to show up well.

Another closeup…

They sold for only $19 for both of them. That’s a wage of about 38 cents/hour. I was hoping for a bit more, but it’s better than not selling at all.