Vacation, at last

Well, after a spur of the moment decision on Monday and frantic preparations for the rest of the week, the whole family is off on vacation. We'll be camping in Northern Wisconsin for five days.

I'd hoped to show everyone a picture of the Cable Down Sweater with the main body done and the sleeves underway . . . Alas, I just ran out of time. However, I do only have about 6 rounds left. CDS is staying home, only because it is getting too large to squeeze into an already grossly over-stuffed van. But the obsession continues and I'm sure I'll be finishing it up as quickly as possible when I get back.

What is camping without knitting, though. I am bringing along a scarf project for Dancing Diva. Oh, and yes, we registered for dance in the fall, although her ankle issues are far from resolved yet. She just can't live without some dance in her life. She'll be in far fewer classes in the fall (only 4) but she'll be dancing. So she can return to her former moniker without fear of confusion or consternation. Anyway . . . the scarf is a simple lace pattern in a bright Toefutsie sock yarn.

I'm also bringing a pair of socks I started months ago. I kind of burned out on socks for awhile but I'm hoping this little pair of Peppermint Pink Socks will bring back the sock knitting mojo.

Both projects are still in their beginning stages, so the projects fit compactly in my little backpack and won't take up too much room.

Well, off to finish packing the cooler and waking the clan to head off to the wilds of Wisconsin. Have a great week, ya'll.

Finally . . .

After struggling with uploading photos for a week, I finally checked in with hubby. Alas, he updated some security features and it was preventing the uploads.

All better, now!

Anyway, I'm a little further along than the photo reveals and still having a great time. In fact, I'm enjoying the cables so much, I picked up some new yarn to revisit the Dickinson Pullover.

More later . . .

Slow but sure

It's been somewhat of a grueling week for me. Since my boss took her first true vacation in over a year, I've been working lots of LONG hours at the ice cream shop. Fortunately, she hired an additional worker that can do what I do, so I haven't had to cover the entire week by myself. But it's been long enough for my poor feet and right hand. After a winter off of scooping ice cream, I've had to rebuild the muscles in my scooping arm in a hurry. And standing on my feet for 9 or more hours at a time . . . Uggh!

However, in the little dribs and drabs of spare time, I've been plugging away at the Cable Down Raglan. While I can't say I LOVE knitting this sweater as much as the long lost and loudly lamented Dickinson Pullover, it has been a fun knit. I'm finally on the waist cables and looking forward to working on the sleeves.

I'd love to show you a picture of my progress. I had every intention of showing you a picture of my progress. Alas, the server is giving Blogger conniption fits and interrupting the connection incessantly at the moment. So you'll just have to look at the magazine picture in the previous posts and just superimpose the beautiful green yarn in place of the aqua and use your imagination.

In the meantime, I need to get ready for the last day of Boss Lady's vacation.

Feet, don't fail me now!

There and Back Again

The girls and I took a weekend off to go to visit family in Iowa. (Hubby stayed home to supervise Hockeyman, who had to work all weekend. No wild teen parties in HM's future.) It was the one year anniversary of The Flood in Cedar Rapids and my Mom and Sister were having open houses to thank all the workers and volunteers that helped them rebuild their homes.

It was wonderful to see their "new" homes in all there fresh and shining glory.

However, while Mom's away, the cats will play. This little snapshot was sent to my phone while I was in Iowa.

I fought the yarn and the yarn won.

Free at last!

The Garage Sale of Doom is now officially over. We ended a few hours early today because it has been very wet & cold since we opened this morning. While rain may be bad for garage sales (only a few customers today), it is definitely a good thing for the dry, thirsty lawn and garden.

The good news is we did sell a lot of large items that were cluttering up our garage and home. We have a few things left to donate to some worthy cause but it feels good to have cleared out so many things.

The other good news is that we made a healthy profit over the course of the weekend. We will have a nice vacation later this summer - IF certain orthopedically-challenged members of the family make significant recoveries from recent injuries.

The best news is that the Cable Down Sweater is now out of time-out and progressing along nicely. I think the timing of starting this particular sweater was fortuitous because I had finished a couple of top-down sweaters before this one. If I hadn't gotten experience in the top-down genre, I might have missed the problems with the pattern and been very unhappy with the final product.

All in all, it's been a good day.

Now I just need to thaw out in a good, hot bath to be perfectly content. Brrrrr!

Garage Sale of Doom

Well, day one of the Garage Sale of Doom is now over.

For those of you who don't know this about me, I HATE GARAGE SALES.

I know, it's nearly blasphemy in this neck of the woods. Garage Sale-ing is THE national past time in this area.

However, I HATE them.

I've spent the past month blocking out the fact that the entire family has conspired against me to put this sale together. For months, they've been culling the excess possessions from their closets and cubbie holes and talking about how much money they were going to make. They avidly sacrificed any and all little treasures with the great ambition of getting enough money to take a really fun vacations this summer (or get a trampoline, which is Peeps dearest ambition in life at the moment). Piles of used goods filled the porch as teenagers argued over how much to mark things for and who had the better handwriting.

I turned a blind eye, pretended to be deaf and stubbornly refused to discuss anything remotely resembling a garage sale.

With uncanny accuracy, I predicted the final outcome of all this excitement and planning. I knew that all this enthusiasm was just a temporary condition. When the real sale started, kids would evaporate in every direction, hubby would head to work and I'd be stuck doing the one thing in the world that I hate the most - manning a garage sale.

I have to admit, Bubba toughed out the whole day with me. Peeps lost her ambition after lunch, The Girl Formerly Known as Dancing Diva pooped out at 11:30 (her ankle hurts - boo hoo) and Hockeyman decided shopping at garage sales was far more fun than selling stuff and abandoned me for several hours while he cruised the area looking for a drum set.

Ergo, I am sunburned, exhausted, have a headache and know why I have such a supernatural hatred of garage sales.

Cuz' Mom gets stuck with all the work.

Blech!

One of those patterns . . .

I am having some real issues with Cable Down Raglan. First, when I started it the first time, the raglan increases called for in the pattern were not symmetrical. With all the increase options available, I found it unacceptable that the raglan seams looked so lopsided.

So I frogged it and started over, using my own increases at the raglans, which make me much happier.

However, as I progressed, I had some niggling doubts about the way the neckline was looking. Specifically the transition from the rolled reverse stockinette collar to the cable pattern. Following the original magazine's directions, there is no definition between the rolled color and the reverse stockinette background of the cables.

When you look at the picture in the magazine, there is a definite demarcation between the collar and the body of the sweater.

So I decided to check the Errata section of the Interweave Knits website. Lo and behold, the raglan increases were incorrect in the original pattern and that is why mine were not symmetrical. Had I had the foresight to check for corrections before I even began the sweater, I wouldn't have needed to frog it the first time.

However, there was no correction for the collar transition.

Utterly frustrated, I decided to read the rest of the pattern.

I found that they added two rounds of knitting stitches between the body pattern and the lower trim edging. This instruction is not included on the neckline instructions but obviously were used in the sample they photographed.

Had I followed two of the cardinal rules of knitting (read the entire pattern and check for Errata before beginning), I would have saved myself a lot of time and frustration.

Uggh!

While I have decided to leave the neckline alone for now, and finish the rest of the body, I will cut the neckline off and re-knit it back on the way I think it should be - eventually.

However, since my knitting mojo has decided to take a (hopefully) short vacation, I plan to spend some time working on this project for now.

Cable Down Raglan project is going to sit in the corner and think about its failure to play nice and be pleasant.

Bad Sweater!

When it rains . . .

It pours. And pours. And pours.

Good news first, cuz I am in desperate need of some positive vibes around here.

The Wicked Green Eyelet Vest is done, done, done. Third FO in 30 days. Woot! The sweaters/vests are just flying off the needles.

This vest used just over 2 skeins of the Premier Yarns Serenity Sports yarn, I think. The back took just over 1 skein and I made both fronts at the same time, so was using 2 more skeins at the same time. Both are a little more than half gone. The great news is that I have 3 more full skeins, plus the partial skeins to make another project. There is a ton of yardage in one of these balls of yarn. I'm already on the hunt for another summer tank top to make with the rest of the yarn.

The top picture is not color accurate. However, the close up picture is far closer to the real color of the yarn. I absolutely love this color and have received numerous compliments when I wear it. So I can't wait to go out in this cute little number. Double Woot!

The Bad News - Hubby injured his calf last night and is now hobbling around on BabyBird/DancingDiva's crutches. We fear he either ruptured a tendon or severely strained his calf muscle. He felt a pop and thought he'd been kicked in the calf when it happened. So, we'll be back at the orthopedic doctor's office this week getting his injury evaluated.

In the meantime, Hubby and BB/DD will be holding regular arm wrestling sessions over whose turn it is to use the crutches.

Oy!

Mixed Blessings

Well, it's been one of those days where you're not quite sure how much to rejoice.

Baby Bird (aka Dancing Diva) had two appointments today - one with the orthopedist for the knee injury; and one with her podiatrist for her on-going ankle issues.

Good news - the knee structure is fine. No tears or damage to the ligaments or meniscus. There are obvious bone bruises on both her femur and fibula, where they knocked together when the knee hyper-extended. Guess it is one of those times when her ultra flexible Gumby-esque joints saved her from a far more devastating injury. She's only needs to do a few exercises at home to maintain her flexibility and strength and wean herself off the crutches as the pain allows. Woot!

Bad news - the ankle injury is far more troubling. While there are no obvious tears or structural damage, there is significant swelling within the joint. The podiatrist has recommended that she stay on the crutches for a couple of weeks, until her knee pain has subsided enough to allow her to wear "The Boot". Then she'll be in The Boot for a few weeks. If there is improvement, she'll start physical therapy in a month or so. If there is not a significant change, surgery is the next option.

Good news - only 10% of these types of ankle issues end up requiring surgery.

Bad news - this 14 year old girl, who is used to action, is already chomping at the bit to be back out there in the world, running around and doing the crazy things teen-age girls do, like going to carnivals, semi-formal dances and graduation parties. Keeping this popular girl down for 4 more weeks is going to be a CHALLENGE.

Hence, I bought her the entire Twilight Series of books by Stephanie Meyer and two season of the Gilmore Girls on DVD. When she runs through those, I'm going to make her finish the Harry Potter series. Anything to keep her off her feet for a few weeks.

Who knows, maybe she'll be desperate enough to pick up knitting or crochet again. Or . . . Mom will be desperate enough to MAKE her pick them up again. Mwahahahaha!

The Not So Stellar Holiday Weekend

It has NOT been a good weekend.

First, The-Girl-Formerly-Known-As-Dancing-Diva left town for a dance trip with her performance groups to Branson, Missouri. It's not easy being a mom when her Baby Bird starts venturing so far from the nest.

Second, I started a new sweater with the Dreaming in Color Classy yarn that jumped in my basket during my last trip to Coldwater Collaborative. I made at least 8 inches of progress on this project when I decided that I didn't like the increases the pattern called for and since I know it would bug me forever, I frogged it and started over with modifications that would please me far more. Then, I proceeded to leave the project and the pattern at work so I couldn't work on it anymore this weekend. Doh!

Third, I had my first 9 hour day at the ice cream shop this weekend. I am out of shape from a winter off of scooping ice cream and standing on my feet for 9 hours straight. I am SORE!

Fourth, while on her trip, Baby Bird fell and damaged the ACL in her right knee. Now she not only has an ankle issue that needs to be addressed, but she'll be having another MRI this week and a treatment program put together for her knee. The poor girl had to suffer through 2 full days of her trip on crutches, with a knee brace and only over-the-counter pain meds and ice to see her through. While definitely not pleasant for her, Mom found the fact that her little one was suffering so far from home nearly unbearable. Baby Bird may never leave Momma Bird's sight again!

On the plus side, the weather was gorgeous and I did get to spend extra time planting my summer garden, refreshing the mulch in my flower beds and knitting on the Wicked Eyelet Vest while traveling to a family gathering in Southern Minnesota yesterday. Baby Bird made it home safely last night and after a few hours of coddling and commiserating, we're all set to get her put back together as soon as possible.

Oh, and Baby Bird made the startling announcement that she was reconsidering her decision to drop dance completely (pre-knee-injury, of course). Now we need to get the Doctor's opinion before we go so far as to re-christen her Dancing Diva for blogging purposes.

Can you spell r-o-l-l-e-r-c-o-a-s-t-e-r?

(In answer to a question regarding Wicked Eyelet Vest - I never use a cable needle if I can avoid it. I am a liberated cable knitter.)

Ta-da!

Finally finished.

Modifications - couldn't make the crocheted neckline pattern lay down smoothly so decided to add the seed stitch ribbing to the neckline. I really prefer it, since it keeps it simple and cohesive.

Love, love, love this pattern.

Well, off to a romantic dinner with the hubby. Since all three girls are off on various sleep overs and Hockeyman has his BFF staying at our house tonight, we're free to go out and enjoy a night on the town. Of course, I'm wearing Pioneer to paint the town red!

Woo hoo!

Almost a FO

Well, in spite of some dedicated effort the past two days, I'm still falling short of having a finished garment to show today. Although I'm loving the Wicked Eyelet Vest (it's a super fun knit), I decided to set it aside and try and finish the seafoam green Pioneer. I finished knitting the main body and used the now favorite tubular bind off to finish the bottom edge. I've picked up one of the sleeves and started knitting. I'm 48 sleeve rounds from finishing both sleeves, then I just need to add the crochet trim around the neckline and I'm done.

However, the weather has put out a siren call to putz in the garden today. After two days of record high temperatures and a few rumbles of thunder in the wee sma' hours of the morning, today's weather is delightfully cool and moist. Just perfect for setting out tomato and pepper plants, as well as filling some decorative pots with colorful annuals.

So Pioneer is once again on the back burner, while I heed nature's insistent beckoning into the great outdoors.

Maybe tomorrow Pioneer will be finished . . .

(Photograph courtesy of Hockeyman)

Or maybe not.

End of an Era

Well, we survived the dance marathon recital weekend. Barely.

First, Dancing Diva has been battling an ankle issue for a few months. We've been to see a podiatrist recently and she has posterior ankle impingement syndrome with evidence of an old avulsion fracture on the back of her heel. We had DD in for an MRI on Friday and are awaiting the results before determining a course of treatment.

Second, DD has had an allergy to latex that has been escalating lately, and she had a serious reaction at the finale of the jazz show on Saturday night, when there was a balloon drop. She was checked out by an EMT who happened to be in the audience and she is okay but it really zapped her energy level for the final shows on Sunday. She was a trooper and battled through the pain from her ankle and the fatigue on Sunday and finished the recital weekend.

However, because she will be attending the local high school in the fall, the significance of the ankle issues and the escalation of her allergies to a component in many dance outfits and tights, Dancing Diva has decided to stop dancing completely.

Naturally, I am very sad because it has been a pleasure to watch her grow in grace and beauty as a dancer but am fully in support of her decision. She knows what she wants to study in college (architecture, with an emphasis on historical restorations and hotel design) and she is very interested in doing more theater and learning to play drums. So she will no longer be Dancing Diva in the blog. I haven't come up with a new moniker for her yet but will wait and see what develops as she pursues some new interests.

In the meantime, to battle the post-recital-let-down-and-sad-she's-not-dancing depression that has been plaguing me this week, I am actively working on my latest obsession love affair favorite project.

Unfortunately, the color in the photo is not accurate. Hockeyman has been messing with the settings on the camera again and I'm clueless on how to remedy it.

To admit I love this pattern would be an understatement! However, I have modified it slightly, carrying the right twist cable past the lower ribbing, the full way up the bottom half of the vest. I felt the added elasticity of the extra cable would really pull the bodice in on the thinnest part of my torso and be more flattering in the long run.

This photo really doesn't do the pattern justice either, because the cables and lace patterns really pop in this Debra Norville Collection Premier Yarn Serenity Sport Weight. Hopefully, after I torture ask Hockeyman to restore the settings on the camera, I'll be able to take a far better photo.

If not, he'll have to start doing the photography for this blog - pro bono, of course. I refuse to pay a camera saboteur.

Can't blog right now . . .

Been super busy this week with end of year stuff. But I've been spinning up a storm in my spare minutes.

I've finished spinning up 8 ounces of Louet Northern Lights in the Ocean Wave color way. I'm having so much fun.

In non-fiber news, we have a new licensed driver in the house as of 12:00 noon today. Guess I'll have to start lifting weights in case we start arm wrestling for control of the keys around here.

Where to begin . . .

I know I've been MIA for awhile. What can I say? First there was the Shepherd's Harvest Prep week, when I could do nothing but make lists, plan and pack because my excitement level made concentrating on anything else impossible.

Then there was THE WEEKEND. Yes, those are red letters because it was a red letter weekend.

Then there was the Post Shepherd's Harvest let down.

To say I had a wonderful weekend would be an understatement. It was fabulous. To start with, although the weather was a little chilly, the predicted rain never showed up. It was a true blessing because I had to carry around my spinning wheel and accessories and the last thing I wanted was to shlepp everything through mud puddles, like I had to last year.

Because I've been to the festival in very cold weather, I was prepared with warm enough layers, hats and gloves and such. I even remembered a cushion for the chair, so my rump stayed warm this year. Good planning and preparation are the first step in preparing for a red letter weekend.

In addition to the better than expected weather, the classes were wonderful. Patsy Zawistoski taught the Luxury Fiber class on Saturday. Of all the teachers I've ever had, her teaching style was the most perfect for my learning style. When she explained things, lights went on, bells rung and all the pieces fell into place. I learned not only how to handle the more tricky luxury fibers like mohair, llama, alpaca, angora, etc., but learned how to properly card and comb fibers for specific effects. I ended up purchasing a DVD from her on how to spin specialty yarns. I am so impressed with it, I hope to buy all of her DVD's and booklets to make a complete library. All I can say is if I ever get the chance, I'll take more classes from her in a heartbeat!

On Sunday, Carol Wagner taught us how to make novelty yarns. In spite of some technical difficulties with her wheel, she managed to do a great job teaching us how to make slubby singles, knot yarn, marled yarn, and beaded yarn. I walked away with some new techniques in my basket of tricks. So much fun.

I managed to buy plenty of new toys and fiber, too. First, I picked up a mini niddy-noddy and a new flicker first thing Saturday morning from Mielke's Fiber Arts. I visit their booth every year because they have such useful tools and supplies. I can count on them having exactly what I need every year. I knew I would need a much smaller niddy-noddy for the classes and Andrea came through for me.

Saturday afternoon, I picked up some silk hankies, two bags of merino/silk blend slivers and two balls of navy blue wool top from The Fiber Studio. I had a lovely chat withPam Angier about joining them for their open spinning sessions. I'm so excited about finding a spinning group to join that I'm hoping their classes will fit with my schedule. It's not a great photo of the fibers but it's kind of a gloomy day here in Minnesota.

Sunday, I found some mini double row combs so I can keep experimenting with preparing fibers for the novelty yarns. I'm sorry I can't remember who the vendor was because they used generic sales slips and didn't include a card in the bag. I suspect it was Earthsong Fibers but wouldn't bet one of my children on it. There were so many fabulous vendors and I circled all four buildings so many times, things began to mush together in my brain.

My last purchases of the weekend were two baskets and some sock yarn from Tall Tale Yarn Shop. The small basket hangs nicely from the spinning wheel, to hold tools and accessories. The larger basket is the perfect size to carry my larger accessories to and from classes and such.

To make the weekend even more perfect, I had a very nice stay at Holiday Inn Express in Stillwater. I reserved a king room with a whirlpool tub for the night and it was the perfect choice. After sitting in a cold fairground building for six hours, taking a warm bath was heavenly.

When I got home on Sunday evening, there were cards and flowers waiting for me. Talk about the perfect ending to a red-letter weekend.

Now, there are only 360 days until Shepherd's Harvest 2010!

Teenagers - sheesh!

I've been dying to post this week. Not only do I have a finished object to show off but some significant progress on a new sweater and some other projects that have jumped to the front of my summer to-do list.

Alas, Hockeyman has sabotaged my efforts. He has fallen in love with photography and commandeered our one and only digital camera. Somehow, he managed to alter the settings in such a way that makes all my pictures turn out over-exposed and blurry.

He keeps promising to figure out how to reset the camera to its original default settings but our crazy schedule has kept him from accomplishing this feat of photographic prestidigitation.

Alas, you will just have to use your imagination.

First, the FO is a table runner and/or scarf made from the leftover yarn from my version of the Daily Sweater. There was just enough yarn to eek out a basket weave patterned table runner, much like the one pictured in the latest issue of Vogue Knitting. It is 4 feet long, so it could be worn as a scarf, too.

Second, remember this project? Well, it is now a pile of rag balls and the beginnings of a knit log cabin rug, from Mason Dixon Knitting. After struggling to make the rug lay flat and attempting to block it out, I gave up the battle and unraveled the whole thing. I think I'm going to like the more modern graphics of the log cabin rug anyway. (At least, that's what I kept telling myself as I laboriously ripped out all those rows of toothbrush knotting - oy!)

Third, I've been plugging away on a new top-down sweater from Knitty.com. I have some inexpensive acrylic yarn in a lovely sea foam green shade that is working up nicely for this summer t-shirt. I have already progressed past the place where the sleeves are put on holders and am working on the main torso now. I can't wait to finish this sweater!

I am thoroughly sold on the top-down concept and plan on making several more top-down projects in the near future.

I've also been shopping at a local quilt shop and picked up supplies to make a rug hooking project this summer.

Well, guess I should go light a fire under the teen saboteur to get the camera back into some semblence of normal so I can take some pictures.


Gah!

Pride . . .

And prejudice. This is, without any doubt, my favorite sweater of all time!

At least so far . . .

This is my short sleeved version of the Daily Sweater from Mason-Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines. I used Ella rae Silkience (about 8.5 skeins) and size 2 needles for the body.

Modifications: I felt the neckline was way too floppy after knitting it according to the pattern, so I cut it off and picked up the live stitches and re-knit the collar with fewer stitches. I split the sleeve ribbing, to mirror the side slits at the lower hem.

I have also fallen in love with the tubular cast on and bind off. It was the technique I learned on the Pink Cardigan and it is, without a doubt, the slickest trick in my knitting arsenal.

What I can't believe is that it took me 30+ years of knitting to discover this gorgeous binding off technique.

Just goes to shows, you can teach an old dog knitter new tricks.

(In related news, my deepest condolences go out to Kay Gardiner of Mason Dixon Knitting for the loss of her beloved husband, Peter. My prayers are with Kay and her family.)

A new obsession

I seem to be in the grip of yet another compulsion love affair. My latest project is The Daily Sweater from Mason Dixon's new book, Knitting Outside the Lines. It's been on my mental to-do list since I purchased the book but I finally bumped it up to the top of the list when the Pink Cardigan was finished.

I cast on in the car on the way to Easter dinner on Sunday and have had an incredibly difficult time putting it down, as you can see from the significant progress I've already made.

The yarn is Ella Rae Silkience (purchased from Webs on sale) and it has the most delightful hand of any yarn I've worked with recently. I love it so much I went back online yesterday and ordered more of it in another color.

Since I only have 10 skeins of this color, I'll have to modify the pattern somewhat by making it a short sleeved top. I'm hoping to have enough yarn to eke out a 3/4 length sleeve but will make do with what I have. After all, summer is coming and a new t-shirt would be just fine, too.

If you look closely, you'll see the sheep stitch marker I recently purchased from Glastonbury Glassworks. She is so cute, I just had to use her on this project. Isn't she sweet!

Well, I've been away from my knitting long enough. One more row, then I'll fold the laundry. Or maybe two more rows. Or ten . . .

Happy Easter

Nothing like wearing a new sweater on Easter morning.

Hope all my friends have had a most blessed Easter!

A Cautionary Tale

It was a dark and stormy night, as I sat in my car outside a local church. At approximately 6:45, my children left the car to go to a fashion show/concert. Not being in the mood for loud music or a raucous roomful of teenagers, I opted to leave and run some errands.

At 7:00, I entered a grocery store to purchase laundry detergent. Mission accomplished.

At 7:10, a stop was made at the Walgreens to pick up some necessary medical items for DH.

At 7:15, I entered a local restaurant and enjoyed a Oriental Stir Fry Salad and piece of pie.

At 7:45, having paid my bill and exited the restaurant, I made the strategic decision to go back to the church and wait in the parking lot until the concert was over.

After circling the parking lot a few times, looking for a spot that had either a street light above it or some other source of outside lighting, I parked near the front of the church where a powerful floodlight illuminated the entire front of the building. There was enough reflected light for me to sit and knit without having to keep the car running or use the inside lights of the car.

There I sat, knitting away happily in the absolute silence and solitude of the car. I reveled in the peace I so seldom get to enjoy, being a full-time, homeschooling mother of four.

Until . . . .

A car pulls up beside my car and a large flashlight is turned onto my visage. After a moment, the car speeds away and I'm left wondering what on earth that was all about.

Five minutes later, the car returns and the window is rolled down. Cautiously, I start my car and roll my own window down.

A red-faced police officer, suddenly abashed by my middle-aged appearance and knitting-in-progress clutched in my startled hands, stammers, "I'm sorry to disturb you but I thought you might be a hooligan."

That's me, a knittin' hooligan.