duchessofgravity

you may well remember that many many moons ago in a far off land called orlando i started... the blanket. no? let me refresh your memory... i knit a garter stitch wash cloth to teach a friend's child to knit... i decided hey that would make a neat blanket. and i knit a bunch of strips in garter. and i hated how it looked seamed up. so i frogged it. and i knit it up in stripes on the knitting machine my mom found for me at a junk sale. in it's most recent incarnation it looked like this and that is how it stayed for over a year. every now and then i would wind in a few ends but there are a lot of ends there. and i didn't want to weave in ends. that is such a waste of time. especially when i'd rather be knitting! well. i guess if you get me bored enough. and you finish all my projects. i can be convinced that old projects need to come to a close! so 24 episodes of dexter later. it is seamed. the ends are woven in. yes i had nightmares after seeing that much gore. but tha...

some yarn just doesn't want to be what you want it to be. the pattern isn't right. knitting them just doesn't make you happy. you try a different pattern and that just doesn't help. heck sometimes. you just don't even want the yarn to be yarn after a while. you just want the yarn. and the project . to just go away. so say goodbye. these are headed to the frog pond. anybody want some slightly used but perfectly acceptable sock yarn? i'm just over it. let me know.

lots of sugar in my cappuccino please. or maybe iced. it has been a hot day... i guess as long as it is caffeinated it shouldn't really matter right? i think i deserve it! cause these babies are done! the venezia socks. or cappuccino as i call them. i used the pattern charts and just knit these up. for my second attempt at stranded color work i think they turned out great! if i had it to do over again i would probably have used a different pattern for the sole. the stripe is a little too bold for the swishiness of the instep and leg pattern. but hey. you learn. the specifics: pattern: chart from the venezia sweater by Eunny Jang yarn: sock it to me 4 ply in coffee bean and latte needles: knitpicks harmony circs size 1. socks knit as 2 magic loops simultaneously (these needles are actually growing on me) details: magic cast on 16 stitches in coffee bean, increase at edges on every row to 26 then every other row to 36 stitches. move one stitch from sole of sock(35) to inste...

so there is a sweater in the works... i just don't know what it is yet. i've been doing research. i just haven't come to a decision. you see shirley gifted me with some of her stash yarn a while back. ok so it was almost a year ago. and i thought i would make her a sweater. crazy i know. why knit a knitter a sweater? well she weighs all of 95 pounds soaking wet so it will be a fast knit. and she did gift me the yarn. and i don't really need the yarn seeing as i can knit at least 6 sweaters from the stash right now. so shirley is getting a sweater. i'm leaning in a couple of different directions. i want to knit an interweave sweater cause well i have the subscription so why not right? so here are the candidates: 1) nantucket jacket 2) wheat-ear cable yoke 3) tangled yoke cardigan 3) climbing vines pullover 4) diminishing rib cardigan and i also figure the recipient might want a say in said sweater... so i'll keep you posted. but in the meantime. what do you th...

we needed a little color here to brighten things up. the grass is all dead. and the heat is incredible (well for here it's hot). i can't wait for fall. soon i can already tell it is changing. maybe some fog tonight. now wouldn't that be nice!

yes i know this is a knitting blog too. i promise knitting content will arrive shortly. i've just got to narrow down the short list of sweater patterns :) oh, and photograph some socks. cause you know there are socks!

i just couldn't kick the flower bug. the veggies are doing well but the patio needed a little color. say hello to the newest addition to the family :) i love geraniums!

we were wandering the city with dave's folks last week and i saw the neatest building. i just love the details they used to put into the simplest things we

when in wine county you know are surrounded by wine and vineyards and it just follows...you're completely surrounded by grapes

the in-laws are coming. dave's mom and her guy are here to visit from philly. you know what that means right... touring, running around, touring, running around some more, and eating out way too much. i can do this. it's only a week...

when it is time to go home all there is time to do is to clean up house and head out with a last minute milkshake from the chatterbox of course wave goodbye to the eagles and the phillies and sit an hour and a half on the runway with 20 other planes for no apparent reason

with only a few days to relax. a trip to the beach turns into a blur of "i just want to sit here" mixed with "but we have to do this too" so several days worth of photos divided into day parts. cause really it is all running together :) think sandra bullock from that movie premonition where the days are out of order...but nobody's gonna die. sunrise: over the ocean. after waking up early not feeling well from a late night out with the family. i took one for the team ad finished the wine...don't do that. not good. i ran the 2 blocks to the boardwalk and over the dunes to the water to get these couple of shots. seagulls and beachcombers are your only company when it's this early! i've never seen so many mussel shells when it wasn't after dinner. midday: on the boardwalk. after the beach you go to the boardwalk to grab lunch at mack and mancos. apparently the best pizza ever. i'm not convinced. but heck i don't really get the wa...

8 people, one baby, crammed into one shore house because of rain. needless to say, i went for a 4 mile walk on the beach in the pouring rain. i only got a couple of photos because i was afraid i was going to destroy the camera. instead i used my eyes. i saw seaweed on the tide-line in every shade imaginable. bright shiney green, gold, and yellow. brown, black, red, pink, and rust. all those. plus everything in between. the reeds were broken and twisted by the storm. cast out among the suds like a giant's game of sticks. raindrops marked the sand and water. tiny craters pocked overlapping along the shore. stinging my skin as i walk into the wind. the lonely gulls cry as the soar in the wind while others stand patiently beak to the wind. the lifeguards wearing rain suits with and huddle in their chairs. their lifeguard stands wrapped in saran wrap against the wind and water. watchig the water. but no one is swimming.