Two Black Sheep

Private Lawns

In the last post, I shared pictures from my Flickr account.  The non-Two Black Sheep account.  I got that account before Tuck was born hoping that it'd be easier to share the mountains of newborn photos.  It worked well for awhile & then Facebook came along.  No longer did I have to send the "I put more photos up" email.  They popped up when my family members logged on.  You can't get easier!  I didn't add to it for a couple months.  I think I was caught up in everything else life was tossing my way.  Then, my hobbies changed.  Knitting became a manageable hobby.  Something that didn't consume me.  I wasn't snatching up every new book or buying yarn because it was a good price.  I was knitting because it calmed me.  More or less. 

Enter the camera. 

I wasn't as crazed about the camera as I was about needles & yarn, but I still wanted my camera with me all the time.  I started seeing things other than the kids to take pictures of.  I started to check the Photography section after the Knitting section when I was as B&N.  I became consumed with what my Nikon couldn't do & how I could get a new one.  When that happened, I began to take more pictures.  With some encouragement from one of my favorite bloggers & Flickr friends, I dove into Flickr.  She was right.  Join groups.  Become inspired by others. And you'll take better pictures.  She was right.  I can get lost in Flickr streams just like the old days of my Knit Blog love. 

The other day I sat down with knitting & a new photography book.  SK said, "Make your mind up.  You're either a knitter or a photographer."  I cringed & quickly fixed his statement.  "I'm a knitter.  Not a photographer.  I just like to take pictures."  There's a huge difference.  Photographer is someone who clearly knows what they're doing.  I really don't have a clue.  While I don't use the Automatic mode & I can muster up a good explanation of Aperture & Shutter modes.  But I can't tell you how to position subjects towards the best light, bracketing, exposure values, etc. I knew my shortcomings way before I ventured into the Flickr world.  That's good to know because it's a lot different from the sweet little Craft Blog-asphere.

I figured I'd share the three things I dislike the most about Flickr in the next couple days.  One, it will get me to blog more.  Two, maybe I'm not alone. Three, I just need to vent about something.  Ava has been really busy these days & I'm usually staring down a highway.  I swear that I'm not really bashing Flickr.  I love Flickr!  It's the characters that lurk.  Or maybe it's just a transition from the Knitterly-types to Photo-types.

I'm so tired I can't think of a single fucking song title.

Again work has kept me from doing anything other than being exhausted or moody.  So here are some quick photos from the holiday.  (Sidenote: these are from our family account.  I no longer have a good reason for two accounts.  I share more of them on that account & it seems wrong to not share this account with our readers.  No one on that account would get the Lola reference, so keep it hush-hush.  Apparently, my MIL enjoys flipping through that Flickr account.  Add me as a contact if you wish, I'd love to see your stuff!  More on this dual life in a later post.  Maybe tomorrow.)

I got a break from work & finished up our Halloween plans.  The boys got the best of me this year.  I had always planned for Tuck to be Max, but after watching the trailer on You Tube, Gus requested to be Carol.  Or as he put it, "The Wild Thing that smashes the other one on rocks."  Deal kiddo.

Tuck was delicious in his wolf suit & Gus loved running around scaring people.  I'll post details later.  Promise.  I'm not driving anywhere tomorrow & I've been told by a loving Husband to "sit around & do nothing".  Deal.

The Song Remains The Same

Busy, busy, busy . . . pretty much sums it up. But, there's always time for Martha. I wasn't going to go this year since the parent who set it all up in the first place has a student in the program again was chaperoning, I kind of lost my space on the trip, which was fine . . . until he got sick and canceled this afternoon . . . for tomorrow's trip. So, it's off to NYC for a Martha taping! The teacher who runs the trip queried when he called, "You have your knitting ready?" Luckily I remembered that I had students in the room before I answered, "Does a bear shit in the woods?"

Clear The Area

Being 40 is kind of stressful (thanks for all the birthday wishes):

• on-line course that is requiring beau coup amounts of time; 
• three classes of writing quizzes to grade;
• two presentations at work in one day that required me to summarize ten days' worth of training into two hours;
• children home from college for the weekend with pick-me-up shopping to be done;
• one of whom has a fever and now I am paranoid; and
• miles of garter left to go before I sleep (and many apologies to Mr. Frost for that bastardization). 

Ava

Help.

What's wrong with me?  If he wants to be a ninja in two days, I'll will sign him over to a circus.

Acid Tongue

My goodness a knitting post from Lola?!  Whaaa...  It happens, people.

I finished my first Ulmus around Labor Day.  I had plans to photograph it while camping.  It never was pulled from the tent.  After returning from the trip, it sat in the pile of Things to Wear.  But a warm stretch kept it folded up.  While Ava & I were in NYC, I stumbled on these two beauties.  I've passed over the Mulit one for the past couple of years.  I can't find the tag anymore, so there will be no sharing (maybe Ava remembers).  In its hank form, this yarn looks like Fall.  With a little encouraging from Ava, I snatched it up.  Knitty City happened to have an Ulmus example behind the counter.  "I could use this for the Rectangle version.  I like that better than the triangle one, but could I knit another one?"  Ava nodded and pointed me towards the Malabrigo Sock yarn.  Ochre was the perfect companion to this Multi.  But what to do with my current Ulmus?

I love knitting shawls, but a girl can have too many.  I was going to post it on FB.  That felt a little icky.  And then it hit me.  I'd send it to a friend that could use good surprise for once.  She has had a bad couple of months & I felt it might help.  Afraid that I might back out (shawls take a long time to knit), I folded & mailed quickly.  I got a message the next day that she liked it.  This gave me the freedom to start the Rectangle Ulmus.  Again, I'm smitten with the pattern.  It's the only thing I knit these days.  You'll find it on the couch.  You'll find it on the passenger seat of my rental.  You'll find it in the hotel.  You'll find it with me.

Lola

Happy Birthday Part 2

Happy Birthday!

I've already been kicked off this site twice, so I gotta make this quick.  I'm on the road, so this is a true drive-by post.  Someone I love is entering a new decade.  Wanna guess who?  Two hints.

1. She's the other half.

2. She's my big sister.

A fact that was not lost on me during our trip to NYC.  When asked by my colleagues about my plans, I answered vaguely.  I knew what we were doing & had a general idea of where we were going.  But I had no clue on the specifics.  Someone said, "How can you not know where you're going?"  I answered without thought, "Because my sister knows.  She is my big sister."  You'd think the Big Sister duties drop off after you've learned how to shave your legs or learned how to apply make-up so it looks natural.  Nope.  Your big sister always fills that role.  She'll always get you to your destination without fail.  Even if she hasn't been there before, she acts like she has.  And that's what makes a big sister cool.

Happy birthday, Ava. Thanks for making 40 & everything before it look cool.

Lola

Happier

I'm finally home for a day.  Since working in NYC, I've been on the road ever since.  Gus is at the age where this becomes difficult.  In the past week, I've gotten lots of "You always stay in hotels" or "Why can't you go on my field trip?  Cause you're on the room again?"  It isn't like I'm in hotels for 5 days a week, but one or two nights is a lot for a four-year-old.  All this road time makes it difficult to do anything let alone things that need to be done.  Laundry, food, dishes, flu shots don't happen on their own & I'm discovering this the hard way.  I'm drying off from a shower with hand towels.  Believe me I'm not slamming SK's housework abilities. He does a great job, but somethings I take care of & those things are piling up.

I did manage to take a couple photos the other day.  I'm painfully aware that days of rushing the boys outside are coming to an end.  Outside cures a lot with kids.  And I need to brush up on my indoor activities because it's getting cold fast.  I'm wondering with these photos if there's a thing as "Too Much Sun Flare"?  I knew taking these photos that I'd get the sun somewhere in these pictures, but there's a lot!  And I'm not sure if that's a good thing.  Maybe I need to learn to control the Flare.  Is that even possible?

Ava, enjoy your last weekend in your 30's!  It was a good decade, huh?  We're hitting the Horseshoe for a game.  I hope that the rain disappears for a couple of hours.  I love the Buckeyes, but I'm not watching the game in the rain.  Our recent downpour is going to change our pumpkin patch plans.  I don't feel like yanking Tuck out of the mud.  He'd probably like it too much.  I'm going to warm up some tea & knit on my newest project.  I'll fire off some photos & talk about it later.  I've got laundry to tackle.

B&V: study!

L

(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To

Let's see . . . since our last post, the following things have occurred:

1. I attended my first ever Stitch and Pitch along with several of the ladies I knit with on Tuesday evenings. We were going to take two cars but wound up only needing one . . . best thing ever to happen. It truly helps when your driver, the fabulous husband of one of the ladies in question who always calls to give us our estimated departure time on Tuesday evenings, is a former New York City cab driver. Enter car, sit down, laugh a lot, arrive at Citi Field without causing an accident. There were about 200 or so knitters in left field in the promenade (which sounds glamorous as all get out until you realize that it is a nice way of saying "nose bleed" section) all knitting away, which is probably what the Mets were doing, too. There is no other way of excusing the 10 run lead that the Braves had at the bottom of the 3rd. I knit on my EZ moccasins from The Knitter's Almanac; they might be one of the few patterns by EZ that I just don't get . . . truly not liking this pattern, but at least the girls will have a comfy pair of socks when I am done. Oh, and if you ever want free stuff, make sure you have Maryann with you . . . and by free stuff I am talking about books from Nikki Epstein that Nikki autographs to you right before she hands them to over (thanks for the Harding book, my Italian guru).

2. Owing to my crap skills of cabling and chatting at the same time, I crossed a cable the wrong way three times - it looks very, very drunken - on my latest project, so I had to drop down 18 rows and knit up the correct cable. I sure as hell was not going to rip out 18 rows just to fix four effing stitches. Then, to add insult to injury, the last cable that I knit that night after I actually got to knit was wrong. Maybe it's old age setting in.

3. Awesome segue . . . the Flyer turned 40 amid suffering from the flu. Sure it wasn't the flu, but it sucked ass nonetheless especially since the girls were home for the weekend. I debated whether I should get him a card that lamented what a pain it was getting older with the health issues or one that explained that he was just a few years away from making crap up . . . and chose the last one. Luckily he is on the mend, but between the two of us, we've been sickish since August 14.

4. Beth Brown Reinsel visited Mountain Knits and Pearls again for another workshop. This time, she demonstrated different gansey techniques with a small sample sweater. And, shockingly enough, I actually finished this one. Granted, it will never grace a person, bear, or Barbie, but I know of a really nice bottle of wine that has been longing for a hand-knit merino sweater.

5. Probably the best part of the blog silence, Lola had business in New York City earlier last week, so I hopped on a train (missing my first train by 30 seconds - I counted!) to visit with my sister for a day and a half. I treated her to her first Indian meal, which was excellent by the way, after which we both needed the ten block hike back to the hotel. The following day, I successfully got us to six different shops from the Midtown to the Upper East side to Soho and back again with only one wrong turn . . . and even that wasn't really a wrong turn since I simply didn't read the address on my print out correctly. Even Lola will admit that she was subtly impressed. Hits: Amma for dinner, School Products for the birthday yarn and yak, Knitty City just because. Misses: 'wichcraft for not living up to the hype, the R train for not having its schedule labeled better, and Purl for not having anything that piqued my interest (but I'll let that slide this one time). 

6. And finally, we bought a new mattress. We actually bought the box springs as well, but they wouldn't fit up the stairs . . . just another charming example of why living in a house that was built almost 100 years ago keeps you on your toes.

That's it . . . nothing major, nothing really new, nothing exciting . . . just life. I have several "obligation" knits that I have to get done before I can tackle anything fun and exciting. But all in all, fall is looking to be a pretty interesting season.

Ava