Once again, I am listening to Sunday Edition on CBC Radio. The stories this morning include a feature on immigrating to Canada and another with a fireman talking about living in the moment. (Both topics have been discussed in our household recently.) I am hoping that by setting aside Sunday morning as blogging time that I will be able to post more regularly. I also still don't know how I could have done without Sirius satellite radio for so long!
The week started off well. How could it not when one is blessed with views like this from the deck of the cabin? The rhododendron standards (because of the deer) are beginning to bloom. It was very difficult to leave this sylvan retreat on Sunday night, but Monte had to work Memorial Day. So we loaded up the dogs and headed back to the concrete jungle.
I spent the day alone on Monday, confronting the mound of clothes in the bedroom and tackling my first organizational project of the spring: the linen closet. I have been reading some very interesting books recently:
Getting Things Done by David Allen;
One Year to an Organized Life by Regina Leeds;
Upgrade Your Life by Gina Trapani; and
The Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss. Highly recommended if you are feeling overwhelmed by clutter in your physical surroundings, as well by insecurities in your emotional life.
I have also taken up competitive Scrabble, an obsession which I had always been able to avoid in the past. Unfortunately, I was challenged to a game by an arrogant colleague (which I won 401-326) and I decided to devote some time this summer to memorizing innumerable word lists and possibly play in some tournaments.
Word Freak by Stefan Fatsis was a fascinating read, as is
Everything Scrabble by Joe Edley and John D. Williams, Jr., which is helping me with my strategic game. Thursday night, I went to my first club night with the
Farmingdale Scrabble Club. I won my first game, playing a word I had studied last week, CRISTAE, but I was then given three lessons in a row. These people can play!
I drove a colleague to his weekend home in Mattituck on Friday afternoon, using an altruistic excuse to justify shopping at a fabulous yarn shop that I discovered the week before.
North Fork Stitches in Cutchogue is owned by one of the sweetest women I have ever met. I unknowingly arrived after the store had closed, but I rapped hopefully on the window and Jamie graciously opened her doors to me. My haul included two balls of Fiori, from which I had previously produced my Rose Trellis Scarf; two units of Touch Me for my first felted project called Raspberry Beret; and two beautiful skeins of Berocco Jasper for landscapes.
I also picked up two Donegal Chunky Tweeds by Debbie Bliss for artistic expression; an amazing clump of Ozark Handspun in a colorway obliquely entitled Rambo; and a sensuous, hand-dyed skein of Lobster Pot described as Drawn Butter. This splurge on 100% cashmere, which almost necessitated yet another mortgage, will be totally worth it this winter when I brave the elements in an obscenely soft neck warmer.
When I got home Friday night, I immediately attacked the Ozark Handspun, picked up the largest needles I won, US 19's that found their way into my bag fortuitously at
Sean's store in Boston. Within an hour, I had finished the perfect scarf for a fellow teacher, who fronts an
amazing band in New York City. It was sadly nameless until I visited Granny at her shoppe in Islip. With a barely concealed look of horror on her face, she declared that it looked like roadkill. I took it as a compliment, as I just know that Francesca will love her new Roadkill Scarf! The fact that it was such a quick project also caused me to pick up a smaller, wooden pair of US 17's and a gorgeous carrying case to hold them. I plan on making a run on Jamie's supply of Ozark Handspun and sell these scarves for $50 apiece at my arts and crafts table during the Bethel Woods Harvest Festival this summer.
What else did I pick up at Granny's? I'm glad you asked. I grabbed some of the new Noro Hotaru and have already started That 70's Scarf; some Plymouth Encore in yummy landscape colors; some more Maggi's Irish for clouds; some Park eyelash yarn for texture; and some Needful Joy, of which I am sure we could all use a little more.
I also grabbed some very useful notions, particularly since I have taken up intarsia knitting. My favorites include a ninja star pendant from Clover that doubles as a yarn cutter and a cute little koala bear case that eats all of the little things which frequently get lost. Finally, I bought some more double-pointed needles, as it was just easier than trying to find complete sets in my needle drawer.
Additions to my knitting library consist of a great collection of functional patterns called Reynolds Kids and Elsebeth Lavold's stunning designs in her Viking Knits Collection. If you love all things Scandinavian, like me, you will love the Lavold book! The cables appear to be pretty straight-forward, but it is the way in which they are deployed in these patterns that is so revolutionary. However, if you want to spoil your a grandchild with an adorable baseball cap or a fairy princess sweater,
you will definitely want to track down the other...
This afternoon, Monte and I are heading into the city to catch "Lunar Sea" by the innovative dance company,
Momix. We are meeting up with a bunch of his oldest friends from high school and college for a mini-reunion. We haven't been in New York City on a Sunday afternoon for a LONG time, so we will probably head to Gym Bar, The Dugout, and Ty's for a drink or two (or three).
I hope that I can keep making weekly updates at the very least. It has been nice to get back into blogging, as well as catching up on what all of my blogging friends have been up to lately. I take a break from blogging and I find that both
Franklin and
Carol have become published authors. It is so reassuring to see good things happen to good people.
See you next week, if not before!
