So. Anyway.
Ahem.
See, I’m finding it hard to think of what to write today, because I had a good date last night. I know, I’m not dating. You’re totally right. Completely anti-dating, me. But come on, she’s a knitter who plays the banjo in an old-time band. I had to meet her. I was surprised I hadn’t already.
I had fun. That’s all I’m sayin’. (I ‘fessed when I found her blog and anted up with mine, so this is not a secure channel, as we say at work.)
And as we return to our previously scheduled broadcasting, I present to you Brick Joy:
Specs:
Yarn: Fairy Hare Softie: Merino/Angora blend, 4 skeins
Pattern: Debbie Bliss pattern, Cotton for all Seasons
Size: 38in
Gauge: Let’s call it 20st/4in, since I’m too lazy to look it up (to pattern specs).
Needles: 5US
Then I got distracted by the purdy flowers:
And my favorite (for so many reasons), the nicotiana:
Digit tried to help with the photo-shoot:
She ain’t being modeled, not for any shyness factor (you know me better than that) but because she needs a zipper, and I haven’t got around to picking up one yet. And I might not today, either. Today, I’m throwing myself a little Alone Party (at least until I go to work tonight). Yeah, not that anyone would remember this but me, but last week I said Saturday would be my alone day. Then I agreed to work for a friend, all good. Then I said, firmly, assuredly, that Monday would be my alone day. Bethany was supposed to be on the road home to Mom’s that day, and I would hide away, watching TV and knitting and not answering the phone or checking email.
Bethany, however, was such a sweet loving little person yesterday, and did NOT want to leave. We had lunch with Christy and Kira and Rachel at Cafe Colucci (best Ethiopian this side of Harrar), and then went shopping (the other thing I swore I would not do yesterday) at the East Bay Depot for Creative ReUse, which is a fancy name for Place With a Lot o’Junk for Real Cheap.
But dude, I fully scored. Check:
(The chair, not the cat.) And the backs in the sun:
I’ve been eyeing chairs like this to go with my formica table (given to me by my friend Laura), and they usually price out at around fifty bucks each. Kitsch is in. Vinyl is hot. These puppies? I led the green young man up to the front and outside, where five of these were languishing in the sun and dirt, and asked how much. “Geez. I don’t know. Two fifty each? Or all five for ten?” This is the same place I got the Cascade Sierra for fifty cents a skein. Just like last time, I nodded slowly. “Oh, all right. I suppose I’ll take them.”
Rachel helped me spit and polish them—lord, they were dirty—and I’m in love. Look at those legs! Hooray!
Oh. Tangent, sorry. Alone day. Anyway, around five-thirty yesterday I started to ask Bethany what time Mom expected her to arrive (the folks live four hours away).
“I still have to call her,” Bethany said.
“So call her,” I said, sitting on the couch, icing my shins.
“When I get up and find my cell phone.”
“Let me get it for you. Here. I found it for you. Want me to dial?”
She tells Mom she’ll leave in another hour. One hour later I say, “Won’t Mom be upset if you’re late?”
“I just wanna hang out a little longer here with you.”
“But you don’t want to let Mom down…. She’d be so sad.”
“She won’t mind.”
“YOU HAVE TO GO NOW OR I’M GOING TO LOSE MY FREAKING MIND!”
“I’m out.”
Beth’s such a good egg. She didn’t mind that I kinda flipped, and she got out of my hair pretty darn quick after that. Of course, I only had a couple of hours alone before I had to leave for said date, but I regained some composure in those few hours. That alone time, man. I don’t know how you mothers do it. I firmly believe that’s why bathtubs come standard in most homes. They’re an escape. Hey. Good idea. I’m off to escape right now. (Long-ass post. I guess I thought of something to say.)
Brick Joy. I covet. I covet. I intensely covet. I was going to make that Patons aran hoodie (the one in the same booklet as the Must Have) but now I think this one. Yes, this one. Oh my. And that color! (No, I won’t make the same color as you. Promise. I may have to get that yarn and that color for something else though. Or just dye my hair that shade next time)
Ohhhh, that Brick Joy is gorgeous! And it sounds like it is super squooshy soft. And yay for your anti-date (nondate? Pseudo date? Fake date? Not so datey date?). Hope you have a wonderful alone day, and I love how you “encouraged” Bethany to leave. Hee hee.
Bricky Bricky Joy Joy. Love that sweater. The color is one of my faves. Glad you had a nice date.
I have seriously considered knitting that aran cardi for a year now. Now that I see it in real life (or at least in the versimilitude) it gets closer to the top of my list.
Oh and the mother-lack-of-alone-time-thing….
Bathtubs don’t always work. They usually want in with you. Naps are the answer.
Brick Joy is GORGEOUS. I long admired that pattern and it looks lovely in that color. NICE SCORE on those chairs too. AND on the date. er…
Bathtub doesn’t cut it for this mom ~ door doesn’t lock; she’d hop in ~ that’s why I cherish my (knitting hours) when Wee C sleeps. Gorgeous sweater, m’dear. You’re freaking amazing at this knitting thang. OK, and Alone day be damned, G & I are ringing you tonight for details!
Brick Joy is gorgeous. I’ve had this one on my list for a while. Can’t get there yet.
I hear ya on the alone time thing. I’ve finally gotten to the point where I actually like it. Still, it’s nice to know that Bethany loves you so much that she can’t bear to leave.
By the by, I’ve got another friend over in Oakland who knits and is an Article Pract devotee. When are we gonna have another get together?
Ah not only a banjo playing knitter but someone who can put a word or two together if she blogs. Have fun:0)
I like the idea of wearing a colour swatch for that condo that is waiting for you a bit like a glass slipper for the right foot.
Love the chairs they shine with your effort and their coming home. Is that Geirge in the background, don’t you think that it is rather dangerous to have wee potted plant where it can get ideas from watching George grow.
Here’s to alone time especially when made all the more sweeter by other attentions be that from a sisterly point of view or banjo point of view:0)
With a ‘long ass’ and ‘frozen shins’ some body!
Oooh, BrickJoy indeed. Me likey. Your cat is gorgeous too…and I’m totally not saying that because at that angle, he (she?) looks just like mine! Okay, maybe I am. But my cat is gorgeous too.
Brick Joy is beautiful!! Congrats on the find of the chairs – they look perfect with your table!
I perfectly understand Alone Time. When my older one was little (2), after she was asleep I used to make frequent trips to Barnes and Noble – it was open late and I could decompress…
What a great brick color! Amazing color! Wow!
And could your garden be any cooler? Nope!
Oh I don’t know about a banjo player. Now a bluegrass fiddle playing knitter; I could leave home for that!
Wow! Your Brick Joy is fabulous…I have been oogling that sweater for a while. Those chairs are perfect! What a steal. They look great.
I’m sorry to double post, but I saw Nathania’s post re: Article Pract–Rachael, do you ever organize blog knit-togethers? If so, I’d be up for it–I’d have to drive a bit, but I’m in the general area.
Wow. I want to go on a date with Brick Joy. She’s sooooo beautiful, Rach! Get that zipper in so we can see it on you!
Great score on the chairs. I love the photo with the chair, the sweater, Digit, and sunshine. Ahhh.
Sarah & Maggi are right, bathtubs don’t cut it and even if the doors do lock, they stand at the door and talk and talk and talk. Susannah Wesley used to throw her apron up over her head as a signal she was to be left alone. I’m with Melissa — nothing like a trip to the bookstore for alone time. But not on Saturdays! LOL
I just KNOW your latest sweater is going to look fantastic on you. What a beauty!
Alone time as a mom?? WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!? 😉 I gave up the bath tub 12 years ago when son was born and mastered the 3 min (with two babies in their seats watching me) after the twins came along. But yes, alone time so important and why my kids go to bed EARLY, so momma can have 3 hours of blissful ME time..
Funny, I was just thinking what a great life you have WITHOUT a partner, how busy and content you seem, how you are always having great adventures with your friends and family.. And then you go and meet someone! Hoping she does nothing but enrich the life you already have 🙂
Sorry.. make that “I mastered the 3 min. SHOWER”… Things are better now though.. I can take a 5 min shower and only be yelled at through the door once or twice 🙂 Enjoy your freedom for us Momma’s Rachael!
yummy chairs! the sweater’s cute, too. 😉
Brick Joy is truly fab!
Um, she knits AND plays banjo? Be still, my heart.
You know, bath time used to be alone time until a certain kitten came into my life. Yes, Peony likes to dive in the tub. What’s up with that??
My boys are 13 and 16 and I keep waiting for the time when *they* want to be alone, but…not so far! (Really, I’m exceedingly grateful for that, not to hear “Mom, leave me ALONE!”)
I got in the shower the other Saturday and realized there was no soap. My first thought was “Oh, no!” but my second thought was “Not a problem.”
In fact TWO people knocked on the door to ask me questions (before I had even finished shampooing….so I had soap even before I needed it. So, I told myself, sometimes it’s good that they can’t leave you alone.
Rachael (back to you! We’ve not forgotten you), the sweater is to die for. I think if everything I knit for the rest of my life is cabled I would still not get enough cables. The way they catch the light in “Still Life With Digit” is fabulous.
Good work!
My boys are 13 and 16 and I keep waiting for the time when *they* want to be alone, but…not so far! (Really, I’m exceedingly grateful for that, not to hear “Mom, leave me ALONE!”)
I got in the shower the other Saturday and realized there was no soap. My first thought was “Oh, no!” but my second thought was “Not a problem.”
In fact TWO people knocked on the door to ask me questions (before I had even finished shampooing….so I had soap even before I needed it. So, I told myself, sometimes it’s good that they can’t leave you alone.
Rachael (back to you! We’ve not forgotten you), the sweater is to die for. I think if everything I knit for the rest of my life is cabled I would still not get enough cables. The way they catch the light in “Still Life With Digit” is fabulous.
Good work!
The Brick is indeed a joy… and you are a knitting goddess, Rachael. I particularly love your Digit photo – looks so much like my dear, departed Matisse, who was with me for 16 years.
Gotta love a woman who plays banjo, a most underrated instrument.
Hi, Rachael. Know you from Greta’s, enjoy your blog. Just FYI. I’m curently a stay-home mom of 3 and our house DOES NOT have a bathtub. Nope, none. Just a shower. Really!
the sweater is awesome. that’s the kind of stuff i love to knit actually. when i have time or rather when knitting doesn’t cause me to feel guilty that i’m not doing something instead like applying caulk (heh heh i said caulk — sorry home improvement joke in bad taste). anyway, your nondate i used to call “meetings.” i’m not going on a date, i’m going to a meeting.
and i love the chairs. seriously good find.
Baths . . . well three since 1988 and maybe a dozen since December of 1982. I think that children are given voices in the higher register so that they may be heard over the sound of running water.
excuse me when did you knit that sweater? how did i not even know you were working on it? can’t wait to see it on, very cool
Yeah, I have to echo Carolyn..when did you knit this? You are so sneaky like that. It’s so, so pretty, and your chairs are rockin’ too. I’m glad about the date too, Miss Thang. I hope there are more good ones to come.
Joy indeed. Lovely as usual, and golf clap to you for being able to knit something like that in the warm weather. I love arans with zippers so I can’t wait to see this one all finished and zipped up.
And great score on the chairs–they look like they came with the place, they’re so perfect.