to rip or not to rip

Just look at that pretty section of knitted lace.
Now look closer. Towards the top.
See it?
A mistake.
The pattern 'shifted'.
See the shift? You can tell by the vertical lines between the leafy shapes. Those
lines are supposed to stay constant - straight - consistently parallel - not move over a few stitches at the whim of the knitter.

Arrrgh.

Mistakes in knitting. One is faced with a decision: to rip out and start anew from where the mistake happened, or let it go and knit on?

With the more complicated knitting projects I've been taking on, my goal is to re-do my mistakes, rather than casually knit past them as I've always done in the past.
Furthermore, to make an adjustment from the original design could cause problems with future rows as the pattern repeats itself.

So - I did the right thing.
I ripped it out.

Lace has to be undone a stitch at a time, rather than
with a quick pull to rip back all the bad rows.
Labor intensive, this lace stuff.

Then -
I made the same mistake again.
Egads!
How can?!?
I ripped it out a second time.

Many hours (and heavy sighs of frustration) later, the mistake has been corrected (it was a stupid mistake made over a dozen rows down) and recorrected. The knitting is back on track again.

It's been said that making mistakes when knitting, then correcting them - helps one to better understand the art and craft of taking needles to yarn to create beautiful fabric.

I certainly have become a master student - learning more than I ever bargained for regarding knitting lace in general. Getting into some serious one-on-one time with understanding stitch construction is surely beneficial fodder for ye olde brain cells.

It exhausts and delights me.

The finished item will be a shawl/stole.
5' in length.
At this writing, it's not even 18" long.

Aicheemama.

P.S. Lace knitting: something of a challenge, yet very rewarding.
One has to be mindful, lest the design 'shift'.
Hmmmmmm.

Make mine Hamburger Helper

Ten years ago, during a transition period in our home/housing situation, DollinkDaughterJrS and I moved into an apartment together:
Our place was on the second story of a two story apartment complex. It had two nice-sized bedrooms (her bedroom had TWO closets). Two full bathrooms. We had an entry way, a kitchen, dining room, living room.
There were two (?) big hallway closets, a linen closet. Almost more storage space than the house I live in at the present time...

Right off the living room via a slider door was a balcony-lanai. There was a big tree deciduous tree right outside for privacy and a bit of nature-always-on-view.
Carport.

The apartment complex had a large, attractive community room (free video rentals!), exercise room, handball room, two swimming pools and a spa. Lots of biking and walking areas. Well manicured green grass. Trees. Flowers.

Nearby shops, restaurants, grocery stores, banks, et cetera.

We lived there for a year.

During that time - we got into the ease-evils-aesthetics (?) of Hamburger Helper.
Ooooh - the varieties! Our local market always ran specials on the stuff, so we could
stock up.
So - we ate a lot of it.

Hamburger Helper became my Kraft Mac N' Cheese of choice.

Sure, it's full of sodium and weird non-food chemical thingys added for flavor, color
and texture. But - it's quick to prepare. A hot meal in minutes. It looks like food. Tastes like food.

Yeah - I loves me some Hamburger Helper.

Turn around...

(DollinkFriendC's recent comment over at fakeittillyamakeit prompted this blogpost.)

The song 'Turn Around' was written by Malvina Reynolds.
These are the lyrics:

TURN AROUND

Where are you goin' my little one, little one?
Where are you goin' my baby my own?
Turn around and you're two
Turn around and you're four
Turn around and you're a young girl
Going out of the door

CHORUS
Turn around
Turn around
Turn around and you're a young girl
Going out of the door
(Turn around and you're a young wife
With babes of you're own)

Where are you going' my little one, little one?
Little dirndles and petticoats, where have you gone?
Turn around and you're tiny
Turn around and you're grown
Turn around and you're a young wife
With babes of your own

CHORUS

Where are you goin' my little one, little one?
Where are you goin' my baby my own

In the decade the song was written/introduced, 'Turn Around' made the rounds amongst acoustic guitar strumming folkie circles. It was even featured on a TV ad. The tune and lyrics are really quite timeless. The song resurfaces now and again as a poignant reminder of how fleeting childhood is.

Here is a version I like very much - very sweetly done
by a YouTube member.

As mommy to two DollinkDaughters, the simple poetry of the lyrics tug at (the sappiest of) my heartstrings - big time. Hearing this song gets me pretty darn choked up. In a good, life-affirming way.

Ah - of babies and parenting and love and letting go so it can go on.

catch a wave

That guy O' Toole

Peter O' Toole.
Not just another pretty (well, I think so) face - or distinctive voice.

(I'm a big fan of voices that others may find a tad weak - those with a rattle, slight 'thinness' or even 'sandy'. The topic of voices could be another blog post unto itself, actually.....
O'Toole's voice is particularly captivating because it alternates between strong and fluttery).

In his acting and personal life, he's been up and he's been down. Many have, of course - trial and tribulation being par for the course of life.

Watched Peter O' Toole on TV today ~ in a 1991 flick: 'King Ralph' - with John Goodman in the title role.

At first, the finely-honed O' Toole and the ever-haphazard Goodman seem the ultimate mismatched onscreen pairing. Yet, both actors succeed at overcoming the incongruity of their odd coupling and manage to convey a convincing connection between their characters. Good on ya, boys.
All told, 'King Ralph' is a bit of a fun romp, lite fare, satisfying.

So -
back to Peter O' Toole. I sez to myself, I sez ... this guy deserves a HUZZAH or two or more. I mean, he is truly fine.

For me, Peter O' Toole was perfection in 'Lawrence of Arabia'. The 3+ hours of this mega epic is always quite an effort to view (no ladies, and all that sand!). But it's worth the effort, for O' Toole's acting can mesmerize. I get to scrutinizing even the smallest of his onscreen actions and hanging on his every word...

Likewise, as Reginald Johnston in 'The Last Emperor', Peter O' Toole demonstrates how riveting his delivery of even the simplest of scripted dialog can be.

Of O' Toole's (often very) memorable lines, my Mom even adored his kitschy 'I want all you cats to shape up!!!', an exhortation which he wallops with great aplomb in 'What's New Pussycat?', replete in crazy costume and wielding a whip.
(sorry - I could not find an accompanying YouTube video).
'Pussycat' is, admittedly - not one of his classier roles, but what the hey, it's O'Toole. He pulls it off.

Mom also enjoyed him as Chipping in 'Goodbye Mr. Chips' - yes, even with the singing.

HUZZAH!
HUZZAH!!
HUZZAH!!!

rediscovering Fosters Freeze

This could be good or this could be bad.
Good and bad being relative terms and all...



This summer, I've been to Fosters Freeze 3 times.
Thrice may seem an infrequent number of visits to some, but for me - that's a lot.

In the last (too many) years, I've eaten at that particular fast food franchise -
maybe - once every other year - or less.

27 + years ago, you could find me at Fosters Freeze a few times a month (so the cycle is coming round again, it seems).
Why does my recollection of this trivial act zero in on a time period almost three decades ago?

In 1980, I was pregnant with my second child.
The obstetrician's office happened to be across the street from a Fosters Freeze.
I'd go to my monthly appointment, get weighed in, the OB would declare me in fine preggers health and I could rest assured that baby-in-utero was growing nicely.

After seeing the doc, I'd get my rapidly expanding, unwieldy pregnant bod (that is to say I ended up waddling rather than walking) over to Fosters Freeze for one of their yummy corn dogs and/or a medium or large size soft-serve cone (I like the half n' half, maybe because my baby-in-utero was hapa - hee hee).

Towards the end of the 9 months, monthly visits to the doctor became weekly. So did my post doctor trips to FF for corn dogs and soft-serve.

After the birth of baby, I dropped off the Fosters Freeze wagon and went on to health foods, organic this n' that, even vegetarianism for a brief time. More time passed, and my diet morphed into a bit of this to more of that and then to something a bit more balanced: gourmet food, comfort food, fruits and veggies, less meat, more meat, hearty fare, lite fare. Even fast-food fare has played a significant part.

Yet not much FF fare.

Last year, I found myself craving a milk shake. A good milk shake. A thick with ice cream milk shake with flavor that is 'not too artificial'. Short of making my own homemade shake (which is really just a whole lot of ice cream blended with a tiny bit of milk), here was a chance to find the best milk shake in town.

My first stop was the local Fosters Freeze. I ordered a strawberry shake.
Oooooooooh - it was gooooooood.
Seriously YUM.
Cold and thick and chunky with real strawberries. Drinking that shake made me downright light-headed with joy. Brain freeze from the iciness could have attributed too...

This summer, I went back for another shake. Tempted to try their vanilla or chocolate, I again went for strawberry. It was just as delicious as before.

Recently, a friend of mine disclosed to me that she treats herself to a FF soft-serve cone EVERY DAY. DollinkFriend R claims it's part of her 'necessary female daily calcium intake'.

DollinkFriend R met me at FF yesterday and both of us ordered up a soft-serve.
She got her usual: a medium sized vanilla.
Mine was a medium sized half n' half. Dipped in chocolate.

Yup.
It's just as good as ever.
I am once again hooked on the tasty offerings over at Fosters Freeze.

Dang.
(read: I'm predictably habitual in my food cravings...)

P.S. Whoooooaaaaa! Did any of you early readers notice my major faux pas with mixing up my pregnancies?
Big time Senior Moment! Corrections have been made - but my mind - she is going going going....

I heart car storage organizer thingys

Last weekend, whilst browsing the odd n' end section of goods at my local Ross store, I bought this.
(Psssst - at Ross, it was half-price the MSRP)
It looked to be the perfect storage accessory for my car - to contain bags of groceries for the long drive home from the market. Hmmmmm - no more bags of food rolling around in the back storage area of the vehicle - wouldn't that be nice...

Practical-for-specific-use item - and then some:

Yesterday, I set the (foldable, collapsible) bag across the length of the back seat. I proceeded to fill it with stuff I typically take with me for a day out: portable crafty projects, numerous books and magazines, an extra pair of shoes, my camera, a sweater, additional bottles of water, snacks, stuff to be mailed, borrowed items to be returned to friends, items to loan to friends, etc.
These things are generally set directly - and neatly - on the seats or in front of the passenger seats on the floor of the car. They too eventually end up sliding here and there during the drive.

I took off down the hill to see friends. Zipped around town running errands. Nothing slid around and off into hidden nooks, crannies and difficult to get to recesses of the car.

At the end of the day, unloading all my unconfined items from the car generally requires several trips from car to house and back to car then back to house again.
No more!
Now, using the two openings on the sides of the (collapsible fold up bag), I can lift the entire container with everything in it.

Cool!
So cool that I went back to Ross today and bought two more. A second one for my car and one for HD's truck. I really like that these things fold flat when not in use. Though I doubt they will ever NOT be in use.

Check this out.
And this.
(both very clever, but I prefer my containers - more all-purpose, don't you think?)

P.S. If you can't find a bargain price on the Case Logic version, the similar, but even bigger bag pictured above is from thi$ $ite: http://www.online-car-quotes.com/v/products/180/