Happiness is...

...a finished sweater!

It took me just under a month to knit this cabled pullover for Liat. I got the pattern as a bonus inside the summer 2009 issue of Simply Knitting (a British magazine), which I bought at Borders.

The pattern was a disaster, full of mistakes and very unclear. If you are on Ravelry, you can find my detailed notes on the knitting of this sweater in my Projects (my name there is amysamin).

In spite of my frustration with the pattern, I love the finished product. I changed the pattern in a couple of ways, including using a thicker yarn (Cotton Ease) than called for, and making both the body and sleeves longer. Those belly-baring sweaters are SO last year, know what I mean?

Now, I wonder how far I can get on the next sweater Liat has requested before she leaves for Poland next month?

Hello in There

Does anyone remember this old John Prine song? The lyrics always make me cry. Anyway, for the last year and several months, my father and I have been on a mission to try and discover the identities of a group people whose pictures we have. My dad found them years ago in his aunt's apartment, when he cleared it out after she died. He had no idea who the people were, and it has haunted both of us. Those eyes just seemed to plead: "Don't forget us. Don't let us be lost forever."


Today, thanks to Facebook and the marvels of the Internet, I have learned the identities of the two people shown here. They are my great great grandparents, Ida and Joseph Joseph. Learning that has been like a gift for me, and I am eagerly awaiting my father's response to the e-mail I sent telling him what I learned, and how I learned it.

I had always felt that the only way we would ever discover the identities of the people in the pictures was if someone had seen the pictures before. As it turns out, the woman who contacted me yesterday has paintings of these exact pictures (ours look like drawings to me), and she knew who they were! I am more grateful than I can say that she took the time to write to me after reading something I had posted on a Facebook group.

CHORUS:
Ya' know that old trees just grow stronger,
And old rivers grow wilder ev'ry day.
Old people, they just grow lonesome
Waiting for someone to say, "Hello in there, hello."

Is the year over yet?

It's been a crazy year, and I'm looking forward to seeing the last of this one and the first of the new year. Around here, that will happen on September 18, Rosh Hashanah. Although my bad year officially began on 31 December 2008, I am hoping the start of the Jewish new year will signal the start of a year of good health and happiness for all of us.

Of course, some good things happened this year, especially in July and August when we went to the States to see family. We had a fantastic time, seeing people and spending time together. Of course I tried to use the time to further my genealogy research, too. The photo above is one I had never seen before, that my father found in a photo album. Pictured are four siblings: Uncle Phil, Aunt Hannah, Uncle Hal and my grandfather (dad's father). This photo was taken in 1965. A year and a half ago I didn't even know my father had had an Aunt Hannah; this is the first photo of her I've ever seen.

So yes, lots of good stuff happened this year, too. It's good to remember that.

Doin' Some of This

In a few short hours we'll be off on our vacation. Hope to do A LOT of relaxing, visiting, reading, eating stuff we can't buy here...shopping...

I'm bringing Meital's cotton top to try and finish that up, plus I have what I think is probably enough leftover sock yarn (for making small socks) to last until we get back. I hoping to do some genealogy research, but most of all I want to relax. Just relax.

Even if I don't post regularly here, I will likely be tweeting on Twitter, and checking in on Facebook. I hope to see you at one of those places!

Endpaper Mitts?

Here is the start to my Endpaper Mitts. I love both of these yarns from the Periwinkle Sheep, but I have a feeling the variegated blue yarn isn't the right choice. Not enough contrast in some places. Sometimes when I look at it, it looks okay, but otherwise...meh.

I think their ought to be more contrast if I'm going to all the trouble of doing the colorwork. Do you agree?

By the way, are any other Blogger users having trouble positioning a second photo in their posts? I used to be able to upload more than one, then just click and "drag" it into position. Now when I try that, nothing happens.

Still, one picture is better than none. In fact, I've heard that a picture is worth a thousand words. Or is it ten thousand?

And speaking of words, I have joined the ranks of Those Who Tweet. You can find me here. I've even broken down and joined Ravelry, so if you're on there, you can find me there, too. No cute pseudonym, just my name.

If you'll excuse me, now I'm going to get back to banging my head against the genealogical brick wall that is my great great aunt Anna Blau of Paterson, New Jersey. She's hiding somewhere, and one of these days, I will find her!

Washcloths

Here are the two washcloths I made as part of a hostess gift. Yarn is Sugar 'n Cream, and the patterns are the Waffle Knit Dishcloth from Homespun Living (cream) and Baby Fern Stitch Dishcloth (pink). They made a nice change of pace from my usual Grandmother's Favorite Dishcloth (the one knit on the diagonal) of which I have made many. These used up more than half of a 2.5 ounce (I used size 8 or 5mm needles) skein of cotton, but I was able to squeeze a Grandmother's Favorite out of the leftover cream colored yarn. Haven't tried with the pink yet, but since the pink cloth is a bit larger (though of course it is lacy which means it uses less yarn) I don't know if that will work. Or, I suppose I could knit to, say, 42 stitches instead of 44, before starting the decreases.

Meanwhile, I have been making some cards and am pretty pleased with them. They are a gift for someone, so more to the point - I hope she will like them! I am also trying to come up with a clever idea for a bookmark swap over on Club Posh. I'm having second thoughts about my first idea for that.

I hope everyone had a lovely Fourth of July. Ours was very un-Fourth like. Often we spend the Fourth in the U.S., which of course is way more fun than trying to celebrate it here (which we sometimes do. Just didn't work out for this year). Two years ago, the girls and I went to a parade with my father, where Uncle Sam was walking around randomly asking kids if they knew which birthday he was celebrating. Liat was the first person he asked who knew the right answer!

Happy Fourth!

Things have been hectic here at Bag of Chocolates. I have finished objects to share, but haven't photographed them yet. Instead, I share the lovely wonderfulness that is two skeins from the Periwinkle Sheep (Google that, you won't be sorry!) These have already been wound into balls (the old fashioned way) and are seeing how they like the idea of becoming a pair of Endpaper Mitts. I'm halfway through the first repeat of the colorwork pattern and can't quite tell yet if this is going to work or not. Stay tuned.

Other than that, I finished up some washcloths which I hope to photograph and share soon. I am also doing a little card-making, and am nearly finished with the 5th grade layouts for Meital's scrapbook. I was hoping to finish 6th grade before we leave on our vacation (in ten short days) but I have decided not to sweat that too much. There are too many other things that need to get done!

I am hoping to be at least somewhat organized, genealogically speaking, before we head to the States. I am planning to do some research while we're there, and I want to be sure I have all of my notes (and my questions!) lined up. I need to stop for a minute and remember that I want to have fun, too! I am sure I will. With luck, I will get a chance to meet up with some friends on this trip, and that will be wonderful.