10.23.09
Posted in Photos, Rhinebeck, Uncategorized at 12:30 pm by delipics
Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival 2009 - a very important question needed to be answered . . .
What do I have to do so I don’t have the same old photos of sheep and yarn? (Because I already have plenty of photos of that from past Rhinbeck trips.)
Answer: Raise the cheese factor!
I need me some lamb sausage!
Aaaaarumppphhh!
Wall-o-wool
I’m sporting Sarah Dallas’ seed stitch jacket, from the book, Scottish Highland Knits. I finished weaving in the loose yarns on the car ride up. It did keep me warm and cozy on that brisk, autumn day, but honestly, I don’t know if seed stitch jacket and I are meant to be. It’s really really REALLY big on me. I was aiming for an oversized look but I think I’m just swimming in it. You can probably tell in the photo.
One of the problems I have with sweaters and cardigans is the sleeve proportion. The armhole is usually too low or too big. I think it’s a combination of being petite and not really understanding the pattern adjustments I think I’m doing correctly, but actually I’m faking it and keeping my fingers crossed. Plus I’m not a math person. I keep hoping that one day I’ll just “get it” - either that or the fiber goddesses, for whom I have been leaving burnt offerings, will stop giggling at me and look kindly upon their faithful pilgrim.
Now where did I leave my burnt offerings?
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05.18.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:26 am by delipics
One of my favorite things is A Word A Day. It’s a daily email subscription and each week has a theme for the daily words. This week’s theme is “fabric words used metaphorically.” Today’s word is tweedy. I’ve been trying to guess what else might come up this week; all I can think of is wooly.
Check it out here.
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04.23.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:40 am by delipics
I unsubscribed to two newsletters! And I feel great!
I think it’s time to admit to the burden of the internet and shed some of the weight. I do embrace the internet community - online knit or crochet magazines, the numerous blogs, the ability to find the information I need or people who can help, the endless array of resources and references out there for every one to access - but it was time to make some choices for myself. I admitted to a friend/KB@W there were one or two knit-related newsletters that I never read or delete right away and guess what, she was doing the same thing. It made me realize what do I want to get from an online newsletter, what I do not need, and then I was able to edit them out of my email.
If I could only shed body weight so easily!
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04.15.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 1:03 pm by delipics
Are you one of those people who sign up for every free newsletter related to a knitting/crochet/or other fiber-related website? Aren’t you excited when the newsletter comes in? You happily read the newsletters every day, perhaps print out important ones, save all the free patterns.
But then you think, okay, I’ll read this later because I have to INSERT TASK HERE and then . . . . a week goes by - and another - and another - and then you have all these newsletters piled up in your email account and you simply do not have time to catch up with all the reading.
I used to move my newsletters into different folders in an attempt to feel organized but that was just a ploy - as was flagging the emails. Unread newsletters are unread newsletters.
Yesterday, as I was viewing all the unread newsletters in my email, I realized - I HAVE NEWSLETTER FATIGUE! I cannot keep up with all the knitting tidbits, crochet updates, daily fiber info! I am no longer enjoying this. I really hate how all those unread emails glare at me accusingly.
Does anyone else feel like this?
So what to do ? Possibilities include winnowing down to the top three favorite newsletters, or pick one newsletter for knitting, one newsletter for crochet, etc., and then the most extreme example is to unsubscribe to all of them, but would I feel completely 0ut of touch? What to do, what to do . . .
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02.09.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:11 am by delipics
Take the Quiz here!
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12.26.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:39 am by delipics
What is it about December 26th? Is there anyone else who feels a mixture of relief and melancholy that the Christmas rush is over? So since I rarely had time to post before the holiday, here are my after-Christmas ruminations.
This is the first Christmas in a long time where I actually felt organized with my shopping/baking/mailing/decorating/knitting tasks. I actually did many things early (wow!) - with the help of a list - (what a concept-duh!) - and lowered my stress level. I worked really hard at not feeling any accompanying holiday guilt and watching what I ate, and I am now going to give myself a pat on the back.
These are little things I was grateful for through the crazy-Christmas-rush:
- The wisdom to accept what you can and can’t control - the NYC post office line first coming to mind. Truly always mail early and if you can’t, go to an out-of-the-way post office with fairly short lines.
- The wisdom of shopping on Monday nights, right after work - I seemed to have lucked out in choosing that evening to shop, no matter where I went. It’s probably important to note I didn’t go to large venues, like Macy’s on 34th street.
- The wisdom of Internet shopping - no explanation needed.
- The wisdom of realizing the limits that you put on yourself and that you can remove them - long story short, I thought I had to do one thing or the other when I had flash of brilliancy and realized I could actually do both choices! The funny thing is this happened while waiting in line at Barnes & Noble - sometimes wisdom reveals itself during the mundane moments of life.
- The happiness of having no flight delays and short security lines - I’ve heard nightmare stories of friends and family having flight cancellations or awful connections.
- And the happiness of seeing friends and family - I know this is a given during this time of the year but it’s important to acknowledge it. While I wish I could see everyone I love more often, I’m happy to have been able to spend time with the people I care about no matter the length of time - from meeting for coffee, to a dinner out, to a short day trip or a long weekend. The one thing is you never can see everyone you want to see, which is why email and sending photos is a good thing.
Now this is the seven day period before the New Year when one can’t help but think of the might-have-been’s, should-have-been’s and the hope-to-be’s, and while I don’t usually write about things like this, I’m going to say the first two should only be done in moderation. Yes, reflection can be a healthy thing, but I know for myself I can waste too much personal energy obsessing on things that already happened. I’d like to focus that energy on more positive things.
As for the hope-to-be’s, I think I’ve gotten better at being specific as to what I want to do, rather than the big-picture declarations I used to make for myself. For example, I wanted to learn Fair-Isle and Alex found a class and now are going to take the Fair-Isle workshop at The Point. I also don’t limit myself to doing this for January 1st - no New Year’s resolutions for me. I used to do this, full of good intentions, and I would write my list on a big piece of paper in red ink, no less, that I would post in my apartment. Nothing like a list of things you didn’t accomplish glaring at you daily to remind you of your humanity. Done with that! It’s good to have things to look forward to but I’m I also want to enjoy “the now” of my life. So here’s to you and yours - hope you had a wonderful holiday in whatever way you celebrate and to the journey for 2008, whatever it may hold.
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12.09.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 5:38 pm by delipics
Sorry folks - I’ve turn on the log-in option in the comments section due to spam issues. I’m trying to figure out how to fix this. Thnx for understanding! 
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11.29.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 2:03 pm by delipics
With a Christmas theme -
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09.27.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 4:56 pm by delipics
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08.28.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 4:37 pm by delipics
I did it . ..
. . . I saw Becoming Jane. I was worried it was going to have a high cheese factor, but for what it is, I thought the director did a good job with it. You have to let yourself go with the whole story. Yes, it is fictional, but if you have a romantic soul, you’ll enjoy it. (Personally, while James McAvoy is a fine actor as Tom Lefroy , I don’t know if he’s the guy who would make my heart thump. Now Joe Anderson, who played Henry Austen, hmmmm . . .)
. . . I bought the A&E production of Pride and Prejudice on DVD. I happened to be walking to the subway after work, took a detour into Best Buy and ended up in the video section. I watched it all the way through over three nights and now I periodically pop the DVD in the player and watch about 20 minute segments for pure enjoyment. It’s an illness, I know.
And . . .
. . . I’m so glad not martha mentioned Austenland - possible new end-of-summer-fun-read.
. . . if you follow the links, you get to Shannon Hale’s letter to Colin Firth - witty!
Austen Ad Infinitum continues - I thought I had a copy of Pride and Prejudice in my house and, gasp! I do not! I have all her books except Mansfield Park (I read it and threw the book out because I was so very angry with the heroine’s character.) Now I must go and obtain a copy!
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