blogdogblog

Friday

Check out the latest visitor to my patio:

I think this is male Green Darner dragonfly; these critters fly around the backyard fast and furiously. Legend holds that darner-type dragonfiles can sew your ears shut, so I kept the pups inside until this one could be escorted from the premises. Having your ears sewn shut would be a terrible thing to have happen on Talk Like A Pirate Day (thanks, Geane, for the heads-up! Yarr to ya!). Note to Corynna: this is not a true legend! Dragonflies will not sew your ears shut!! Just ask Grandmother T, she knows all.

Knitting News:

Yeah! One sleeve finished, complete with purl facing rounds, and one sleeve heading into the homestretch.

Pups

The pups and I think that tamales are the most totally awesome treat in Texas. Roll your own here!

Lots to get done this weekend; I'm sure those of you in the East are going to be doing lots of cleanup. Be careful and stay safe.

Oh! And Della says Happy Weekend!

A Cotton-Pickin' Moment

Yesterday, while running an errand, I got stupendously lost in my new town and wound up slightly southeast of Austin. Whoa! Today I go back to traveling with the map in the car! But yesterday, serendipitously, I was lost and passed a field that needed investigation. So! I stopped! And investigated.

Is it snow in Central Texas? Not likely!

A closer look:

Cotton on the boll! Cool! Did you know your cotton yarn starts here? Gene, the owner of this field, was on the premises and graciously gave me a brief tutorial on cotton conditions.

Before it looks like this:

It looks like this:

The cotton lint is contained within burrs in the boll, and within the cotton lint is a cotton seed, which Gene assured me that cattle find delicious. Or, you can re-use the seed the following year.

Gene said this was a poor season for cotton, because of the drought. You can see the cracks in the earth around the plants here:

In good weather conditions, the plants are about twice this size. But the leaves aren't naturally brown and dry, as shown in the image. Gene explained that the cotton plants are sprayed with something poisonous to kill the leaves, then the Cotton Picker Machine (see below)

rolls over the field and strips the bolls of cotton from the plants. The dry leaves just crumble up and fall through the machine combs. Gene's picker holds about a bale of cotton (not sure how much that is, and I felt by this time that I was already taking up too much of Gene's time...), and once the picker-cage is full, then the bale is taken to a big dumpster-looking thing (you can see it behind the cotton-picker machine; it's red, too), where another machine comes along and carries it off to the cotton mill. I think Gene said that the mill this cotton is going to is in Lubbock.

Gene let me pick a little cotton and I drafted it from the boll, and produced a little cotton thread (have spindle, will travel). Because of its very short staple, I find cotton isn't easy to spin. I think if I ever switch to cotton knitting, I'll be sure to buy mine already processed into yarn. But what a great unexpected field trip this was! Perhaps you know all about cotton already--if you do, will you add to this entry in the comments? I've been away from the hinterlands for a while, and this was totally fascinating to me. Raw cotton! Tell me more! While I've long enjoyed knowing where my wool comes from via the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, I don't think there is a cotton festival. I think this beats the Iowa Corn Cam by a country mile!

Knitting

Just a few more rounds on those endless sleeves. My sleeves, my endless sleeves.

Pups

Jack says Have a helluva Thursday! We all send safety-vibes to knitters and spinners and weavers (and everyone else) in Mid-Atlantic and NE areas today.

Woof! Go away, Isabel.

A Little Sleeve Music

Only a little knitting to report, but some knitting is better than no knitting, right?

My mom wound up staying overnight after our mechanically difficult Monday, and she likes to visit stuff in the Big City, so there wasn't much time for knitting until she left, and by then, I was exhausted. Moms can be tiring. But I like working on these sleeves more than I like working on most sleeves, because the pattern is easy, the colors are happy, and the rounds are gratifying in how quickly the pattern is revealed. Sleeve Music!

My mom and I are covering a rocking chair that belonged to my great-grandfather, and which I hope to be able to use as a big comfy knitting chair. I'll show you photos once we make some progress. Currently, all that remains of the chair is its oak-ness; it needs padding, springs, and that webbing stuff that holds all the other stuff up.

Busy-busy. Meanwhile, here's Mikey, happy to wish you an excellent and productive Wednesday:

Find the music where you can, and we'll see you tomorrow.

No Knitting To Declare

A first is declared; a day with no knitting whatsoever. A day full of weird mechanical difficulties, and me with no sock to knit in my purse. Early in the day, the automatic garage door malfunctioned and I was inadvertently held hostage in the garage until the repairman could arrive, and then, my mom came up to visit, and we took her car to the far reaches of Austin, where her mini-van instantly mini-died. Waited for AAA with no knitting. Waited for the tow with no knitting. Waited for dear Sister to come and rescue transportation-less us (with no knitting!). Blech! We have No Knitting to report today. And frankly, I feel a little directionless.

Let's get directed by looking at some other splendid knitting:

Antonio's fabulous cabled hat
Gorgeous Tokyo
Anne's Margaret Tudor
Flor's autumnal Oregon
Elaine's accomplished socks
Sheila's Saga Rose
Wendy's Marina, of course!

What are you working on? Do you have a project in your pocketbook or purse in addition to your regularly scheduled knitting? No? What if you have to wait somewhere?

Wishing myself lots of knitting time today, and wishing you lots of whatever you want today! The pups just wish for more Greenies, more often.

Badgers

Did I finish? NO! I'm still working on sleeves. I made some progress, but took a little time off from knitting this weekend.

My experience is limited, of course, but I wonder if Dales are easier to knit than Fair Isle sweaters. The knitting doesn't sing as it did with the Meg Swansen designs Mimbres and The Giant Latvian Mitten Cardigan, but it does move right along in an easily memorized way. This sweater has six colors, more than any other sweater I've done, but it still feels different than knitting a fair isle.

Weekend

Did you have a nice one? Sister took me to the river for a walk, and we saw a heap of red eared sliders! Way cool!

Pups

Except for a few intervals, it was rainy most of the weekend here. So the pups got pretty bored and followed me around the house, looking at me like this:

It's hard to knit when the little fursons are looking at you in that manner.

Badgers

Right! Find 'em here (Flash; via Metafilter). Feels like Monday! Have a good one, and the pups and I will see you tomorrow.