Wednesday, June 25, 2008

All That Ends Well...

Thursday. Two rows of Hyrna Herborgar left to finish.

4:45 am: Fix cup of coffee and sit down at kitchen table. Sip coffee. Sigh with utter contentment. Pick up Hyrna and knit two stitches.

4:46 am: Hear frantic squeaking and thumping in the dining room.

4:47 am: Separate cat from adorable little bunny rabbit. Bunny hops frantically around the living room caroming off windows, furniture, and fragile pottery. Cat hops frantically in my arms.

4:48 am: Yell for spouse, who tears down stairs in the altogether. Cat and I watch spouse chase bunny around the house with a colander and cookie sheet. (Note to self: Next time, grab camera instead of cat).

5:02 am: Spouse flops colander on top of bunny, slides cookie sheet underneath bunny, and removes squeaking animal from house.

5:04: am: Release cat, bandage arm, wipe bloodstains off cat, replace shredded nightgown. Remove bunny fur from furniture and spouse. Sweep up shattered pottery.

5:30 am: Resume position at kitchen table. Pick up Hyrna. Knit three stitches.

5:32 am: Oven timer beeps. And beeps. And beeps. Oven panel flashes an F1 error code.

5:40 am: Flip off oven circuit breaker and leave message on repairman's answering machine.

5:45 am: Resume position at kitchen table. Make fresh cup of coffee. Pick up Hyrna.

6:15 am: Finish row. Turn knitting. Knit 1 stitch.

6:16 am: Aliens land in back yard.

7:00 am: Finish printing out MapQuest directions to White House and give to aliens.

7:01 am: Pick up empty bottles of Romulan Ale tossed into the pachysandra by aliens.

7:30 am: Resume position at kitchen table. Check in on Ravelry.

9:00 am: Finish replying to numerous hysterical and/or angry postings about several tempests in a molehill. Or mountains in a teapot. Either mixed metaphor is an excellent description.

9:01 am: Pick up Hyrna and knit two stitches. Spouse wanders into kitchen and makes noise. Drop stitches.

10:00 am: Pick up stitches, perform successful stitch count, and knit three stitches.

10:01 am: House cleaner arrives and flips on the Vacuum Cleaner of Doom.

10:02 am: Pack up Hyrna and do actual, for-pay work.

2:35 pm: Spouse takes cat to vet for annual shots, House cleaner gives one final vrooom and exits.

2:36 pm: Resume position at kitchen table and pick up Hyrna. Finish row.

3:30 pm: Pick up crochet hook and begin binding off.

3:45 pm: Spouse returns with highly annoyed cat. Drop stitches.

4:00 pm: Fix dropped stitches. Delete hate mail from Ravelry mailbox.

4:20 pm: Flock of frolicking dragons land in front yard, torching hydrangeas.

4:22 pm: Chase dragons out of yard with fire extinguisher.

5:02 pm: Clean up dragon rubble. Replace smoke-damaged t-shirt. Notice alien ship teetering precariously in prize Japanese maple.

5:35 pm: Finish printing out directions to Kremlin because White House refused aliens entry (more than 3 ounces of shampoo in gift box). Give aliens several plastic trash bags and instructions for use.

6:45 pm: Finish Hyrna and pin out.

7:30 pm: Sit down to write blog post.

7:31 pm: Harry turns on karaoke machine and begins a horrific rendition of "I Like The Nightlife" (Alicia Bridges).

7:32 pm: Rip karaoke machine plug out of wall. Chase annoying spider with can of Raid. Spider tweaks pins out of Hyrna and tosses said pins into waterbed.

7:34 pm: Carefully tweeze pins out of waterbed. Patch holes.

9:00 pm. Re-pin Hyrna.

10:10 pm: Take photos.











Pattern: Hyrna Herborgar

by Sigridur Halldorsdottir from Thrihyrnur og langsjol / Three-cornered and long shawls
Needles: Size #4
Yarn: Hamanaka Parfait (55% mohair, 45% silk), 1 ball each white, black, light gray, dark gray

49 comments:

erasmus (aka jiva) said...

so so funny! and a stunning shawl. Well done you for having the amazing ability to finish during such trying times.

z's momma said...

Ma'am, you crack me up. You have the most amazing life.Frolicking dragons, indeed. Your Hyrna Herborgar is gorgeous!

Anonymous said...

Wow! That's a beautiful piece of work. Your funny tale of struggle sounds all too familiar. Yeesh!

RiverCitySTL said...

Wow indeed! Super stunning shawl!

Silvia said...

Gorgeous!
belive it or not, that's next on my list. I got the book and got the yarn ( but wrong color so I'll return it and beg the LYS for exchange). I bought 'Superior' from Filatura and feels great.
I was wondering (as a big shawls no-fan or anti-fan :)): Is it easy to resize to less repeats? I would like to have one less each side. I guess this is just rethorical at the moment but if I'll get lost in the math I'll come back crying :).
best wishes,
Silvia

Reluctant Penguin said...

And I thought I was having a bad day!!! The shawl is gorgeous, in spite of everything.

Soo said...

Beautiful beautiful beautiful! I've had this pattern for a while but hadn't been inspired to cast on. I love what you did with the edging in a different colour-- it really elevates the pattern.

(and I now have 'I like the nightlife' on the brain...eeek!)

Miss T said...

Beautiful work!

I'm a tad worried, though, about those aliens landing on Japanese maples. Mine are too small to hold spaceships!

Anonymous said...

Ah, beautiful…

But geez, what a day. And what's with the hate mail on Ravelry?

BadCatDesigns said...

The shawl is gorgeous. The mental picture of you, cat, naked man and bunny is priceless. The hate mail? Burn it all. By the way, how did the bunny get in?

Anonymous said...

Uh that was funny. And your shawl is stunning.

Opal said...

Hyrna is all the more beautiful knowing all the (hilarious) effort put into the finishing of it. I sure hope tomorrow is a better day!

Anonymous said...

Great play by play.

The hate mail? Not so happy. :(

The shawl? Very lovely!

Anonymous said...

That ended *far* better than merely "well".

(Wonderful post, too.)

RoadSide said...

Your Hyrna is beautiful! I love that you used the grey between the black and white. At first glance it looked like the white center section was set on top of the black edging and I was wondering how in the world you did that.
-Curran

Anonymous said...

Wow, that was quite a day, and look at the shawl you had to show for it! (So glad it didn't get scorched by the dragons.) Such a beautiful pattern, and I love your contrast-color edging!

Anonymous said...

hard to believe that some people think that knitting is boring.

Unknown said...

You have a very busy neighborhood. I am very impressed at your work in spite of all the distractions. The only ones I can relate to are the cat incidents.

Beautiful Shawl!!!

Shea said...

What a hilarious day! Sometimes, when all goes to hell, you just have to laugh.

The shawl is, as always, OhMyGod Fabulous!

I need shawl lessons from you, I really do.

I'm still hoping that one day I can ditch the kids and meet up with you. I'd love to see some of your stuff (and you) in person. :0

Karla (ThreadBndr) said...

How stunning! I, too, thought that you'd layered it somehow.

And (pout) I never get aliens or dragons. I do, however, get baby bunnies. Molly caught one right at the fenceline day before yesterday. Woe.

Anonymous said...

Hey! You copied my life... except for the fabulous FO after, I might add.

Very, very lovely... and very, very funny.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful shawl. Your work never ceases to amaze and impress me. Hate mail? I find that hard to believe, and if true, just insane and totally uncalled for.

Kitty Kitty said...

I hope you kitty it ok!

Though wow what an eventful period. As usual you had me laughing off my head.

I am in awe of your shawl as usual

florencemary said...

Very funny, and superb knitting! Off to check out the pattern...

Anonymous said...

Breathless! the sound of "ooof!" resounded in the kitchen.

And your day was hillarious! After a successful day like that is when a couple shots of your fav. libation is due.

Dave said...

And I thought I'd had a busy day. It was nothing in comparison to that.

Gorgeous shawl. The black edging is incredibly dramatic!! Kind of like your day, actually. :-)

Kris said...

"several tempests in a molehill"...that's the perfect description of mnay of those uprisings. :-)

The shawl is beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful shawl, providing a lift for the day.

Smitten Knitten said...

You shawl is gorgeous! And what a day bunnies, aliens and dragons, oh my!

Lorette said...

Stunning! And your rendition of your day had me laughing so hard I couldn't sing along with the disco spider.

And somebody should warn the aliens that the White House has invaded countries with less provocation than Romulan beer bottles on the lawn.

Laritza said...

You are just too funny! Lovely Hyrna :)

Nurhanne said...

Hyrna is gorgeous - love your use of of the colours. And thank you for the toning of my facial muscles ;-)

Lacefreak said...

I love the play-by-play run-down of your day! Who knew your home was the nexus of such drama? Your ability to concentrate on your knitting under such a huge load of distraction is formidable. Your Hyrna is magnificent! I love the color changes and the knitting, as always, is perfect.

Fancy Pants said...

When I grow up, I want to knit like you. That shawl is breathtaking...just like all your work. Thank you for sharing it.

Hege said...

It's gorgeous! I love the elegant way you used the colors! Good job dealing with dragons, aliens and cats while finishing!

Carol said...

Absolutely freakin gbeeeyoootiful! Thealiens will probably prosper in the Kremlin. Parking the spaceship in Washington would have been a real pain....

KSee said...

what a hoot!
Hyrna is stunning. I needed to blow up the 2nd picture to figure out what that was between the black and the white. Beautiful

Anonymous said...

The last few rows needed a lot of concentration!!! I finished mine two days ago with a house full of quilters. It was a fun knit. I like the color changes!

Rosemary said...

Gosh, love your shawl! The band of grey fools the eye! Love it!

Your day sounds a lot like mine, heh heh heh. Don't let the Rav turkeys get you down. Rav does for online fiber socializing what Jerry Springer does for TV.

Cheers!
Rosemary

Carla said...

What a lovely shawl. Considering the trouble you had finishing her, perhaps she should be renamed "Hyrnia"?

Judith said...

OMG! I hope that isn't a typical day in the Fleeges' household, hilarious as it was to read about. I hope you are all healed from cat scratches. the shawl is gorgeous of course - you've set the bar so high I've come to expect nothing less :}

madonnaearth said...

Ok, now I need to know how you did that, because it looks like there's sort of a halo between the main portion of the shawl and the black edging.

Just when I think there's no way you can top one project, you go and surpass yourself. I love this shawl!

From the sound of things, the animal kingdom is out to get you. You should start charging them a fee every time they interrupt you.

That said, I have a question. I have two different laceweights to combine into a shawl. The black edge for the outside is a strand thinner than the color for the inside.

Is this something that would cause the shawl to warp? Do I just need to use a larger needle for the thinner thread?

missalicefaye said...

wow--beautiful! and worth all the strife,I think! :)

LittleBerry said...

I think the shawl is stunning and under the circumstances you deserve a medal

Carolyn said...

A lovely shawl, and a wonderful commentary on your day. My son (11, non-knitter) has been pulling this up daily for a large dose of laughter. Maybe we'll convert him to knitting yet!

Monika said...

This shawl is stunning! I love the daring black edge!

Anonymous said...

As usual, Fleegle, you are hilarious and your knitting is gorgeous!

Anonymous said...

Delightful.
Me... I use a towel (usually dish) on the baby bunnies. Never thought of the colander trick -- but the bunnies stop screaming while wrapped in the towel.

Laughingrat said...

That thing's gorgeous. Hate mail? WTF? Madness.