June 30, 2004
Candygram!
No posting Friday or Monday, Dear Readers! Frankie and I will be under a bed, hiding from the nightly firecrackers.
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A shout out and a thumbs-up to all my Dear Readers who confessed to trying out the the new Mossy Cottage medical terminology, “mammygram,” especially to Greta who apparently wasn’t even able to make a mammygram appointment because she had a fit of the giggles halfway through the phone call.
Whatever your experience with mammygrams, I’ll bet a skein of cheap acrylic yarn that no one has a story to beat mine. As people who know me and long-time readers of the blog know, I am hellaciously endowed “up top"—and not in the nice way. Accordingly, the last time I had a mammygram, my “girls” actually fried the machine. Yep, fried it good, and apparently fried it in a way that it had never been fried before since, when the equipment stopped working, the technician walked over to the console, paused, and said, “Well! I’ve never seen that message before.” Come to find out I had overheated the machine, taxed it way beyond its high-tech capabilities, in fact, so we had to wait for it cool down and recover before we could try again. At which point it died again. And again. And again. It didn't help that it was my first mammygram ever, and I was already feeling awkward and uncomfortable and nervous...and then I go and kill the machine. (Nor did it help that later I heard the technician in the hallway regaling her co-workers, with loud hoots of laughter, with what had happened. But I can’t blame her. In retrospect, it really was pretty frickin’ funny.)
Knitting Knews
Not much Knitting Knews today. I've been swatching a scarf using a truly heavenly periwinkle blue alpaca yarn and white opalescent beads. Now I’m trying to wrap my head around the idea that the scarf has two ends, and I may have to knit it two directions from the center, or cast on using a provisional cast-on, and I don’t wanna.
In the meantime, make sure to visit YarnHarlot where the Dublin Bay socks she is knitting are traveling around much like the gnome in the Travelocity ads.
Dye Garden Dyegest
Our grown-from-seed indigo is thriving and is now about 10” or 11” tall. I’m surprised there are any leaves left on it since, every time it grows even one centimeter, one of us rushes out, yanks off a leaf, crunches it between her fingers, and smooshes it around in her palms to see if we can espy any blue. So far, nothing.
Woodworking World
A pile of oak that will soon be a Very Special Thing for a Very Special Person. I’ll post pictures as soon as I can but there is a one in a million chance that The Very Special Person may read the blog—once she figures out, bless her heart, that, no, we don't have to send her new URL every time I update the blog and, yes, the URL we sent her six months ago still works fine—so The Mysterious K and I are hesitant to post anything prematurely.
OMG the Pain!! I am giving up coffee until after I read your posts from now on. Please don't take this wrong, but I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall during THAT mammygram. Not that I am trying to get a peek at the "girls" but it would have been the first time a fly fell from laughter. Now I have to go figure out how to snort burn cream so it doesn't look like I am picking my nose. ooowwww.......
Have a Great Day!
Ok, I want more pictures of the indigo as it grows, ok? I have something growing in my yard called a "False Indigo," and I've always wondered what the heck a "True Indigo" looks like. And what makes mine "false"? Circle One: True or False.
Posted by: Norma on June 30, 2004 01:28 PMNorma, I'm not surprised you're confused. Finding indigo that we could grow in our yard was like looking for a needle in a haystack since (a) there are so many different kinds (which was a surprise to me) and (b) some are considered noxious weeds and you are not allowed to grow them in Washington state. I finally bought some polygonum tinctorium seeds from a lady named Elizabeth Merrill here in Washington, and the plants pictured in today's posting come from those seeds.
I did a little research on the web about your False Indigo, and nowhere does it say you can get any kind of color from it. But, like you, I am still puzzled because you would think a "false" plant would look at least vaguely similar to the "real" version, but that's not the case. The false indigo seems to be very feathery, while my indigo seems to have single, broad leaves. I'll keep posting pictures as it grows. Promise!
Posted by: Ryan on June 30, 2004 02:24 PMYou got the quiz wrong. The correct answer was "true." But I will hold you strictly to your promise to keep posting pictures. I do have a serious bone in my body -- I really do -- and I do love plants, I really do. (love your blog too) I will say that the False Indigo has one tough mother of a root system. I have wanted to dig it up and move it or divide it a couple of times, and I gave up. Even with my farm-girl muscles. It will certifiably take a backhoe, I do think.
Posted by: Norma on June 30, 2004 05:24 PMP.S. Inquiring minds want to know: Do you pronounce your name RYE-'n or rie-ANN? True or False? (oh, god, I obviously need some sleep)
Posted by: Norma on June 30, 2004 05:27 PMyou quack me up girl!
Posted by: vanessa on July 1, 2004 05:51 AMNorma, it's RYE-n but I answer just as well to "Hey, you!" :-)
Posted by: Ryan on July 1, 2004 08:20 AMOh, lord, that's funny. I mean, it probably wasn't funny at the time, but it sure is achingly great now...
Posted by: Rachael on July 2, 2004 11:32 PMHello rymorriss,
I am new to this blog thing. I do not know if I am doing the correctly. I normally do not knit free patterns since I have bad luck with free patterns. but your Dublin Bay Socks looked so good I deceided to give them a try! They are coming out beautiful. Thank you so much. do you have other patterns for sale?
Gayle
Posted by: Gayle on July 6, 2004 04:41 PMHi, Ryan--lord, you make my perimenopausal premenstrual breast pain seem like, like, like what...
My husband got a good laugh out of the comments about me taking over the world. But I gotta say--I love how your colors are working together. I agree--moderate the blue. You are starting to sound like a color addict: just one more hank o yarn in a slightly different shade. Soon you'll have a stash like mine, and your pillow will glow with at least 20 colors.
Any of you faithful Ryan readers living in the Bay Area? I'd like to meet up with you now that my official address is Berkeley CA!
Posted by: Janine on July 6, 2004 05:45 PMHi, Gayle! Welcome to the blog! I've sent an email directly to you regarding my patterns.
Janine, I'm sending you a mental "e-hug!" So glad you tracked down the blog again after all the craziness in your life!
I started the final version of the pillow before I saw your comment and, for now, I'm just going to stick to the four main colors, light yellow, light peach, light green and midnight blue. I have learned a lot through this process, though, and I think I'll be able to use even more colors next time. I'll post a photo of the pillow next week. Thank you again for all your help!!
Posted by: Ryan on July 7, 2004 08:56 AM