Nothing quite like being woken up by thunder and lightning in the morning. It was really cool to hear the thunder rolling in. After I got up it really started lightning. We had a good soaking rain and it’s suppose to rain or storm tonight too. This is the time of year that I miss Kansas. I miss the big thunderstorms. I even miss being a bit afraid of some of the thunder and lightning in the middle of the night. The threat of tornados weren’t that bad, I did get worried once when I was living by myself in Kansas city and my corner apartment faced southwest. I wondered where I would go with my kitties to be safe, fortunately there were no tornado warnings when I lived there.

I’ll never forget the time that my family, our pets and I had to go down to the basement at 2am. Great Grandma was living with us and we had two cats and a dog, it was an interesting night.

In college, there are two tornado warning memories that I have. The first was freshman year, I was living in the dorms and everyone had to gather in the basement of the dorm. With the dorm being on a steep hill, some of us lived in the basement. So there we were several hundred girls packed into a small area of the basement of the dorm. A lot of girls were crying and quite scared, it was obvious who the girls from Kansas and the other plains states were because it was no big deal to us. I’ll never forget a girl from Illinois crying that she may never see her family again. I just wanted to laugh and tell her, it’s just a tornado warning.

The other tornado warning story from college was sophomore year. I had gone to get my hair colored and cut at the salon. About 10 minutes after the color was put on my hair the tornado sirens started going off, which means “take cover there has been a tornado spotted in your area.” So all of the women in the salon and I gathered in the salon’s bathroom. It was quite cozy in there. While we were in the bathroom, my hair had finished processing, so the stylist had to rinse my head off in the sink. It was quite an experience. Later, when I was driving back to my dorm it was still really blowing, there were street signs blowing around and I was a bit afraid that a stop sign would fly off, come through the windshield and injure me. I managed to get back to the dorm without any problems, but couldn’t go to my room because of the winds. Everyone from the dorm had gathered in the lobby and were waiting until they would let everyone return to their rooms. When they finally did, we had to walk up the stairs. It was a long way up to the 9th floor.

Last night was my last beginning class. It was very touching, my students told me they didn’t want the class to end. I think I have a group of lifelong knitters, though, which is always such a nice feeling. During this past week, several of them didn’t just finish their class project, one of them finished a hat and two of them made some ribbon scarves. I was very impressed. I won’t be teaching at the high school next fall because they didn’t renew my contract due to budgeting. I will miss this class a lot, it’s very satisfying to know that I’ve passed on my passion and that they will most likely continue knitting. Two of them were high school teachers who know each other quite well, so I know they’ll help each other. I have one more class on Thursday and then I’m finished teaching for the summer. My class on Thursday is a project class, so I’m going to miss those students. Some of them have been in my beginning classes and two project classes. I love how everyone has gotten to know each other and I don’t feel like I’m really teaching.

I’m getting quite a bit done here and there on the Clapotis. It just seems to be working itself at times. I’ve managed to drop five sets of stitches so far. I never thought it would be so much fun to drop a stitch or that I would even look forward to it. The Yarn Harlot is quite right when she says that “dropped purl stitches look the same as dropped knit stitches.” Thanks to Erin for letting me know where I adopted this idea from. I read so many blogs sometimes, I don’t know where I get my tips from.

Poor Bryan’s sock. It has become quite neglected with all of the attention that Matilda and Clapotis are stealing from him.

Matilda and I have been spinning madly. I wound the second skein of my wheel spun yarn yesterday. Never did I think I would spin nearly 100 yards in one skein. That means, I spun more than 200 yards. This, in addition, to the 80-some-odd-yard skein that was my first wheel spun. The second skein looks much better than the first skein, I made sure that it was a balance ply before I wound it on to the bobbin. Although, I have to say, the first skein does have a very cool look to it that the second skein does not. Oh well, it will all look nice in a scarf of whatever I decide to make with it. Currently, Matilda and I are spinning some lovely Corriedale Cross that I received with my beginning spindle kit from Inspirations Yarn. It’s spinning up beautifully. I took the small ball that I had spun on my spindle and wound it on to a bombin and have managed to spin the same width on the wheel. I don’t know what I’ll make with this lovely off-white yarn, but I’m sure it will be something small. I may have to order a bit more of the Corriedale from Inspirations Yarn just to get enough yarn to make something.

Well, I must get ready for work.

A great weekend with the mom and sister. And I didn’t even have time to think about not going to Maryland S&W and, frankly, I wouldn’t have missed time with my mom & sister for anything.

Friday, I took the day off from work. That morning, I got my hair cut, she took two inches off and I feel like a new woman. After the salon, I went to my sister’s house to pick up my mom, then we went to lunch at Caffe De Luca, a nice 2 1/2 hour lunch. After lunch, Mom was tired and we decided to just head back to M’s place and relax until M got home. Mom napped and I worked on Clapotis.

(The photo doesn’t do the beautiful purples and greens mixed through the blues justice)

When M arrived home, I gave her “A Good Bias” shrug. She loved it. In fact, she loved it so much that she wore it all weekend.

Friday evening, we went out to dinner with family friends – two daughters with their mom – from Kansas to Piazza Bella. M has been friends with one of the daughters since junior high and now the two daughters live in Chicago and the mom lives in Kansas. It’s really funny how much alike our family is to theirs. They asked how married life was. I was completely honest with them, I feel a deeper connection to Bryan that I didn’t feel like I had when we were just living together. I don’t know what changes after you walk down the aisle, but something does and you really can’t explain it to people who aren’t married. No offense to the people who aren’t married, I wouldn’t have understood it either a year ago.

Saturday, we went to The Field Museum to see the Jackie Kennedy exhibit. It was so great. Not being alive when Kennedy was in office, I’m fascinated with her as a First Lady. She had such elegance as a First Lady, she was elegant even in her later years. I didn’t realize that she was only 31 when she became the First Lady, which is the same age I am now. I can’t even begin to imagine what it must be like to be the First Lady at any age, especially at such a young age.

The dresses that they had on display were gorgeous and so timeless. Someone could wear them now and they would have a classic vintage look. One man that was there made a comment that just irritated me, “Everything looks so homemade.” I wanted to turn around and say, they were handmade and that’s what makes them so appealing and lovely. The fabrics were gorgeous. A few people as I was walking out mentioned that the famous pink dress from that horrible day in November 1963 wasn’t on display, but I would have been surprised if it had been part of the exhibit as it was covered in blood that day. It made me long for the “elegant” days of the early 1960s, which I’m sure weren’t as elegant as those of us that weren’t even born then might think. One thing that I really admire about Jackie Kennedy was how she really tried to complement the country she was visiting with her clothing choices in colors and fabrics. And she was multilingual and could speak in a country coming across as an educated, well-rounded person.

After the exhibit, we headed north to the shops on Michigan Avenue for a little shopping. While shopping Mom and I went into a neat store called Teavana that had some really cool cast iron teapots. Then we went to dinner at a little Thai place in my sister’s neighborhood. Mom came home with me that night and we stayed up late talking with Bryan. When we arrived home, a nice little package from Sandy’s Palette came with the Corriedale that I ordered. Yum, I can’t wait to spin with it. I have no idea what I’ll make with the yarn I spin from it, but it will definitely be an experience. It will be my first hand dyed roving spinning project!

The colors look a bit washed out here than they really are. The colors are blues, greens and yellows.

Sunday morning, we got up and Bryan made all of us pancakes for breakfast. Then Mom and I went to Unitarian services (Bryan didn’t go with us because he had to work). It was the Flower Communion and Mother’s Day service and was beautiful. A year ago, the Flower Communion and Mother’s Day service was the first service that Bryan and I attended at the Unitarian church. We were so moved by the service that we knew we had to go back.

After a quick lunch at Noodles & Company , Mom and I headed into the city to meet M to see Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. It was a great documentary, it made me very angry about what happened with Enron. I think all of the people who made millions from selling their Enron stock while regular employees were losing their retirement savings should have to give back everything they made and help fund the former employees’ retirement funds. I think going to jail is too easy for these people, they should have to sell off their big homes and also be required to have a cap on the amount they can spend for attorneys. You know that the money they made from selling their stocks is what they are using to pay for top-dollar attorneys.

After the film, I took Mom and M back to M’s house and said our goodbyes. I got home about 7pm. Bryan and I had dinner and watched The Incredibles.

Tonight, I did a lot of spinning. I finished plying my second skein of yarn that matches my first skein of wheel spun yarn.

(detail of yarn)

I also worked on spinning some of the naturally white Corriedale that I had started to spin with my spindle.

It was so hard to get up this morning, it was Monday and cloudy once again. I told Bryan that there should be a law against it being cloudy and dreary on Mondays.

This is a quick post. I’m just posting photos, I’ll write more tonight.

“A Good Bias” from Interweave Knits, Spring 2005 for my sister, Meredith.

I finished sewing together “A Good Bias” tonight. I did one sleeve seam last night while watching Alias and did the second seam tonight after I got home from class. I am giving it to my sister tomorrow and will have photos to post on Sunday night. I tried it on and it’s beautiful. It was beautiful when it was being held up, but actually on it’s even more beautiful. I’m not someone to brag about my knitting being beautiful, but I have to say this is in particularly beautiful. I really think my sister will love it.

My mom is here this weekend so I’ll be spending a lot of time with her and my sister. Tomorrow, I’m taking the day off and just hanging out with my mom. Saturday, Mom, my sister and I are going to the Jackie Kennedy exhibit at the Field Museum. Then Sunday we’re all going to Unitarian services for the Flower Communion/Mother’s Day service, which will be very nice. A year ago on Mother’s Day was the first time Bryan and I attended services at the Unitarian Church, we were so moved by the service we’ve been going ever since.

I’ve been working almost exclusively on Clapotis this week. I’m on the fourth repeat of the straight rows. It’s really cool to be dropping stitches, I love the look. I’ll post photos soon.

Must get to bed.

It’s been one of those days where I just wanted to stay in bed and read all day. It was cold and deary outside. I was tired and I didn’t want to do anything but stay cozy warm in bed. I think the big weather guy needs a bit of a talking to. It’s May, it’s supposed to be sunny and lovely outside. It also needs to be sunny on Mondays or else I don’t feel like getting out of bed and heading to work. When it’s grey outside it makes the office feel grey and dreary inside because there is no light streaming in through the windows, not that I can tell that it’s sunny out from my cubicle, but everything in the office, people included, just seem greyer on cloudy days. It’s also a perfect day to stay home and knit.

I had a great time knitting with my friend, Dawn, on Wednesday, as I mentioned in my previous post.

Working on her beautiful shapely shawlette.

Here are the beautiful fibers that she gave me that evening. I can’t wait to spin with them soon. Dawn wasn’t sure if it’s Corriedale or not. I’m just happy to have more fiber to spin with.

(George had to check out the fibers, too.)

I must’nt forget about the great fiver that Toni from The Fold sent me last week. I knew she was sending me something, but I had no idea that I would come home to a large box with 2 pounds of fiber.

On to the weekend happenings. B and I were both a bit under the weather this weekend. I wasn’t feeling 100% and B was and still is recovering from a nasty head cold. So a lot of knitting was done this weekend. We had a very lazy weekend, which was nice. I think we both needed two days to just lounge around together.

Saturday, I watched Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason while B napped and knitted quite a bit on Clapotis, it’s a bit darker than I thought the yarn would be, but it’s going to be beautiful. I’m four rows from finishing the increasing rows at the beginning and will be ready to do the straight part soon. Another blogger, I don’t remember who, mentioned that she purled the stitch between the ktbl’s instead of using stitch markers. It’s working out just fine and I’m not using a gazillion stitch markers. I need to save those for the Barbara Shawl.

On Sunday, I managed to get a bit of spinning done. Not much but about 15 minutes worth. I’m working on the second bobbin of what I spun before so I have enough to make a scarf.

Psychologically, I think the project promise I made on Friday is working. Yesterday, I worked more than 10 rows on the Crazy Green sweater and started shaping for the armholes, finally. Thinking that there would be a million ends to sew in, I was right. I shouldn’t have counted but I did. Before the armholes on the back, I have over 40 ends to sew in. Ugh. Well, that’s what I get for trying to make a sweater with eight different balls of yarn and alternating them at different intervals. This calls for drastic measures, such as making myself sew in the ends on this piece before I get too far into the front of the sweater.

Another part of the Project Promise that seems to be working psychologically, when I was home at lunch, I sat down and worked a row of the Barbara Shawl. I think if I take the attitude “a row or two here and there” I’ll be quite surprised how quickly I can finish it.

After posting my Project Promise on Friday, I’m now determined to finish the Barbara Shawl and the Crazy Green sweater before the year is over. We’ll see how long it lasts because there is always that one project that pulls me away from everything I’m working on. Since I’m not going to allow myself to start anything besides a pair of socks or a quick scarf, I won’t have that project to pull me away from the large projects I have going now.

I blocked a “A Good Bias” this weekend. It’s nearly finished, I still need to sew the arm seams and will do those on Wednesday evening.

The grafting technique using waste yarn from Lucy Neatby’s website.

Step 1: Knit four or five rows using waste yarn, bind off.

Step 2: Hold pieces edge to edge. Using the first row of the waste yarn for both pieces, follow the yarn for each stitch for both pieces working from the bottom piece to the top piece.

What it looks like after grafting, before pulling waste yarn out.

Step 3: When finished grafting both pieces together, pull out waste yarn of both pieces.

I grafted together “A Good Bias” shrug without the headache of kitchener stitch and saved my sanity!

The lace grafting technique using waste yarn is from Lucy Neatby’s website.

I’ve put together this little tutorial on grafting lace.

Step 1: Knit four or five rows using waste yarn, bind off.

Step 2: Hold pieces edge to edge. Using the first row of the waste yarn for both pieces, follow the yarn for each stitch for both pieces working from the bottom piece to the top piece.

What it looks like after grafting, before pulling waste yarn out.

Step 3: When finished grafting both pieces together, pull out waste yarn of both pieces.