The Fiber Artist

January Birthday Rush

2012-01-12T22:39:00.002-05:00

This is part of what I got for Christmas from Carl. I have wanted a spindle rack for some time. I even ordered one from a son of a friend, but he never got around to making it.

And now I am into the great January Birthday rush, since thanks to 2 of my sons and one daughter I have 2 girlfriends, one husband, one grandson and one son-in-law's birthdays from the 21st of Jan. to the 11th of Feb. But the 2 in Feb have to be mailed, so they must be finished in January too.

So one cowl is finished, and one is underway. One pair of socks are finished except for the last half of the last toe, one pair of slippers has the first one to the gusset, and the smallest pair of socks has not been started.

I should finish he last toe, and at least one of the slippers tomorrow, and the last slipper on sunday, then I will switch off on the cowl and the Tiger Socks until they are finished, hey should all be finished by the 20th.

And then I can finally start the things I want to work on. There will be pictures soon.

Poor Blog

2012-01-01T08:34:00.002-05:00

You have been sadly neglected this past year. And I am running like crazy because there are 5 birthday's from now to the 13th of Feb. So I am just stopping by to list the finished stuff for 2011:

Socks for me 16 pair - the 17th will be finished today or tomorrow.

Socks for gifts 6

Dishcloths 6

Sweaters 1 finished Several more in the works.

Shawls 2

Hats for guys 8

Hats for girls 2

Cowls 2

The 16 pair if socks, one sweater, 2 shawls and 1 dishcloth are still here, all the rest went to someone else this year. Not too bad. But I need to finish she more sweaters in 2012.

Shawls

2011-10-25T11:20:00.002-04:00

The sun finally came out, so I could get some pictures outside. These are the last two shawls I finished the 24 Mystery shawl from Goddess Knits, and In dreams.

Hats hats hats!

2011-10-15T10:07:00.004-04:00

I have been making hats, for Christmas presents. Jared Floods Turn a Square hats. Using left over Encore. So some of the recipients will have matching sweaters.

More Socks, Still not dead

2011-09-27T08:35:00.003-04:00

The July socks in the Self-Imposed Sock Club was the Serpentine Socks by Windy Johnson done in Dream in Color Smooshy. Very nice combination.
The August socks are the Halcyon Socks by Wendy J. In Mountain Colors bearfoot. Next entry hats.

No, not dead yet.

2011-09-25T10:27:00.002-04:00

And I have knitted a thing or 6. Let's start with the socks. There have been both six sox Knitalong and Self Imposed sock club socks. Here are the Six Sox.

Scalloped Lace socks
Incurvation, Six sox/
Mitered Square socks.

Tour de Fleece 2011

2011-07-19T08:39:00.004-04:00

For most of the Tour I have been
spinning green (yes, it is actually green I don't know why it looks turquoise in all the pictures... stupid phone) cotton, which is fun but a bit boring to look at. this is spun on the charkha. duh!

So for a break (and because I just got a brand spanking new set of cotton cards) I have been taking this Merino Angora blend roving which is Merino (dark pink) on one side and Angora (that is actually white not light pink) on the other, which has a tendency to want to spin up in stripes, all the Merino first then the angora.

Once it is carded, both the color and the blend evens out.

After carding I pull the fiber into a roving and wrap it into these little puffs called "bird nests".

This is one-fifth of the total fiber and the second fifth processed and ready to spin.
And this is one-fifth of the fiber spun. this will be plied and knitted into a shawl. A pink shawl, won't that be different.

A Change of plans

2011-06-14T19:33:00.002-04:00

The self imposed sock club had a Lorna's Laces yarn that when I tried to use was entirely too busy, so save that for another pattern and I am using a Berroco Sox in shades of blue-reds and Opal in white and it is looking good.

Now to figure out what to do with the Lorna's Laces.

Socks Socks Socks

2011-06-13T15:34:00.002-04:00

Also finished the 2nd pair of May socks from the Self Imposed sock club.
Christopher's over the calf, shaped, ribbed,

black socks are finished, blocked and drying.

May Finished

2011-05-28T13:24:00.002-04:00

The Self-imposed Sock Club May sock is finished at least the first pair in the blues and purples is finished. The red ones still need to be but I do have 3 more days.

I have finished spinning the red Suffolk I like this one.

News

2011-05-16T09:34:00.003-04:00

This was my Mom's wedding rings. Christopher took it to a jeweler and had it re-designed for Anna. He leaves tomorrow to join Anna in England to propose. Good Luck Christopher.

April Roundup

2011-05-08T14:05:00.000-04:00

So I finished the boring white socks for Mom and sent them off for Mother's Day.

I finished the Six Sox Spring socks in Megan's size and they are put aside for her birthday the 1st of June.

I finished the Childs French sock from the SISC and added them to my sock drawers.

I picked this yarn and the Atlantis pattern, in the May sock, but Atlantis needs a smaller yarn so while I am still going to try to use this yarn I also picked out...

This is Opal which is small enough to work for this pattern, and I am liking it.

Here is the finished, blocked and buttoned February Lady, which I am wearing to death. I really like it.

For Mothers day I found out that Christopher's girlfriend discovered that some of the kids in her elementary school (she is substitute teaching) have shared their head lice with her, and she shared with Christopher, who has shared with the rest of us. So we are washing everything in the house. Not what I planned for today....but it certainly has been part of motherhood for me.

February Lady (in April)

2011-04-11T09:04:00.000-04:00

Oh Well. I like the way it fits and looks, so once it is dry. (blocking now) I will weave in the ends and find some buttons.

The Spring socks from Six Sox are started, and going well.

The Childs French Sock from the Self-Imposed Sock Club has been started.

And there are 2 gift socks that are very boring - the white socks for Mom for Mothers day.

And the black socks for Christopher's Birthday.

And that's all I have for now.

Hug Me!

2011-03-12T07:47:00.000-05:00

Sounds like a Conversation Heart doesn't it. Well they are done. Finished, on time and an addition to the gift basket.

After finishing those I cast on the SISC for March. The Butterfly sock in Lorna's Laces. one repeat of the lace pattern and so far so good.

March and Friday

2011-03-04T08:17:00.000-05:00

A new month means a new Self Imposed Sock Club: Lornas Laces Iris Garden, and Butterfly socks from Toe up Socks by Windy Johnson.

Got a certain amount of flak from the Odd Tuesday group for the amount of pink in the show and tell, but that is the way it goes.

Looking forward to working on these.

Hug me is a slow slog, but the foot is about done on both socks, or at least I need to decide who they are for, so I will know when to stop the foot.

February Lady got a few more rows on the yoke, garter stitch, but less than 20 rows to go, and then lace.

Speaking of lace I have finished the first chart on Wintersmith.

And the second chart on In dreams.

Swift meeting this Saturday so there should be progress on either February Lady or Hug me, or both.

And the new clue for In dreams comes out today. So that to look forward to on Sunday.

My life is so exciting!

Catsup

2011-02-28T09:09:00.000-05:00

The February installment of the Self Imposed Sock Club is finished, soaked and drying.

The Nanner sock by Windy Johnson knit in Sockotta yarn. It biased like crazy, I will have to see if it bothers me when worn. They are for me so I am the only one who will have to deal with it.

Terrible picture of IN Dreams, but I was too lazy to move it to a series of needles to spread it out and take pictures. Maybe later.
I have finished Clue 2, so will be ready to start clue 3 on Friday.

Then in a completely different color, a swatch for the Waltham sweater from Knitting plus. Once it dries I will take the gauge and see where I am. This is a cottage crafts yarn. I will be ordering the book this month, so I can do more than the swatch.

Also Brave New Knits, because I have fallen in love with the Kimberly Cardigan by Joan McGowan-Michael.

I am nothing if not Stuborn

2011-02-19T08:15:00.000-05:00

After 3 days of untangling and winding yesterday I rewound the ball of Merino Oro, into a loosely wound ball suitable for knitting it. In Dreams will be started later this morning.

I think this is a candidate for using from the outside of the ball. Hope I remember that when I start casting on later this morning. Starting from the center is such a habit.

I received the beads from Earthfaire the end of January, and we picked out the yarn at Odd Tuesday on the 1st.

I will cast on later this morning. I did add 6 rows to Wintersmith yesterday, after finishing winding the yarn.

Yesterday I also finished the knitting of the Domino Dishcloth, pattern from Holiday Mystery Gifts.

Next month another dishcloth.

I am so exciting.

February Socks

2011-02-15T10:02:00.000-05:00

For February I pulled the Sockotta sock yarn and the Nanner pattern by Windy Johnson. The lace pattern is easy to memorize and easy to work, so these are more finished than this picture shows. The 2nd gift socks are finished but when I went to take their picture, I took a video instead so I'll get the finished pictures tomorrow. This is the only summer sock yarn that I remember, (there may be more but that is part of the surprise. No?)

The cotton sock drawer is a little more full than the wool sock drawer so if there are no more, that is OK.

The Six Sox for February and March is Hug Me! Which at the smallest size given is too big for me so these will be gift socks as well. For one of the boys, haven't decided which one yet.

There are also a pair of pink cuffs, (no pictures yet) that I found in a bag, (that is where those sock needles went) They will go in the rotation once the Hug me are finished.

A New Month - New Things to Do

2011-02-05T09:09:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, after mailing Mike's Hat, I did not feel up to tiny needles so I took out a ball of Butterfly Cotton 10 and some size 9 (5.5 mm) needles and made this. The double sided Dishcloth, pattern from the Holiday Mystery Gift Yahoo List.

I finished this a week ago but was saving it to show to the Odd Tuesday Bunch first, but that didn't happen so here it is. The back

And the front, all steeks cut, and the shoulders 3-needle bindoff-ed.

Then I started the sleeves.

I have also started the February Lady in Rowan Summer Tweed. It would be a hoot to finish this month and then it could be my February - February Lady Sweater. But I am not holding my breath, because there are also The Feb. socks.

But the 2nd gift socks are complete to the heel, which means they have a designated recipient. April 7th is Amy's birthday so these will be hers.

Next post the February socks.

Are My Sons Too Big For Their Britches?

2011-01-26T07:38:00.000-05:00

Along with the knitting of socks, and the Kauni Damask, (almost to the shoulders) I have been trying to keep my sons in their pants. Christopher has a bunch of old jeans that he is wearing to work at his 2nd (or is that 3rd or 4th) job. he drives a forklift in a factory here in town during the week from 6-2:30. The jeans have holes, I had noticed that one pair had a hole in the rear, but as he wears long johns under, and coveralls over them he was not

concerned. Last week when I washed them the entire back of the jeans right next to the seam split. I mentioned it and he said to throw them out, but instead I went over to the studio, and got the jeans that Carl had worn out, cut off the lower leg, and patched the split.
Yesterday I found 2 more pair that need patching, this pair were easy so I knocked them out yesterday. I have another pair that have a large hole in the front crotch area that I will tackle

this morning, so the question is "Is Christopher too big for his britches?"

Then there is Chase, who doesn't seem to understand the concept of unbuttoning the jeans, as opposed to ripping them off, and therefore has a number of perfectly good jeans that he can't wear because without buttons he can't keep them up, he has been instructed to find all of them and I will sew on some buttons.
All of this repair work is being done as a break from the knitting on small needles, I have been trying to get the numbers worked out to cast on the February Lady sweater because that will be worked on the great big size 6
(4.0mm) needle to give my hands a break.

So are both my younger sons too big for their britches?

Even More About Socks

2011-01-23T15:16:00.000-05:00

The birthday socks for Mark are kitchenered and washed and are blocking. Out in the mail on Monday.

The January Self Imposed Sock Club socks are finished, washed and blocked.

They have this pretty lace pattern. Can't wait to see what is next. Come on Feb.

More Socks

2011-01-19T07:59:00.000-05:00

The Green socks for Mark need to have their afterthought heels Kitchenered. It was so dark yesterday that I decided that trying to Kitchener dark green sock yarn with brown woolly nylon was a recipe for disaster, so they have been put aside until we can find sunshine again.

A picture showing the whole socks, see done.

Therefore, I have started working on the second gift socks of '11. And one more repeat of the Self Imposed Sock Club (for which there is no picture because they now both look like the longer one from the last post).

Socks

2011-01-17T10:48:00.001-05:00

It is no secret that I like to knit socks, lots of socks. If I make the socks, they fit me. Otherwise - not so much.

I belonged to the Six Sox yahoo group years ago and quit a few years ago. I decided to join again. This is the Dec-Jan pattern. Three rows of mitered squares. which are 15 -17 -21 stitch starting row long. So that as the socks go from ankle to top they get larger, like me!

The pattern had the top row of miters as the top of the sock but I put an 80 stitch ribbed cuff of 1 3/8 inch. (As in I knitted the first until it looked long enough, and then matched the second to the first.) Then I picked up 64 stitches and knitted the sock down. Afterthought heels.

I also copied (the sincerest form of flattery) the Yarn Harlot's Self-Imposed Sock Club and the first sock is here. this is 2 repeats of the pattern.

And the other sock has 3. We are going to the library later and I want to take this along to work on while Sierra meets friends for a study session.

Then there is the first guy sock of the year, for the middle grandson's birthday in Feb. The short sock is much longer now due to a family discussion last night. These will go to town as well, for any times that I need to talk to someone.
Guy socks are a default, toe up, (so I can uses all the yarn) 2X2 ribbed foot and leg, afterthought heel. I can knit these practically with my eyes closed, and only need to have my list of foot

sizes to tell when to put in the waste yarn for the heels.

And there you have it the first 3 socks of 2011, one finished 2 in the works.

Last Year Cleanup

2011-01-04T10:12:00.000-05:00

This was finished the 29th of December, but it wasn't finished blocking until yesterday. but it is done now.

Stats: Goddess Knits Mystery 20
Yarn: JaggerSpun Zephyr in color: Cinnabar

Mike's hat is for his birthday in Feb. Finished the 28th of Dec.
So that is the end of last years projects.

Now on to 2011.

Left over skein of Woolpak 14 ply.
Plain ribbed hat.

Year in review

2010-12-31T08:09:00.000-05:00

This year I finished 4 Hats. (actually 5 I finished one day before yesterday for Mikes birthday but have no Picture yet)

One pair of Mittens.

Five fairly large Shawls.

Three sweaters.

And eight pair of socks.

Follow the Leader

2010-12-31T07:32:00.000-05:00

Last year the yarn harlot started a self-imposed sock club, which I thought was a good idea. So 2 days ago I picked out 12 lots of sock yarn and 12 patterns that I wanted to use. Then yesterday I paired them up and placed them into lunch bags, folded and taped the tops, and placed them on a shelf of the storage cabinet.

Then I went back to work on the Kauni Damask which is now 4.5 inches up the armhole and looks just the same as the last time I took a picture. It is getting there and I like it a lot.

Woolly Board

2010-12-29T10:20:00.000-05:00

Here is the Woolly Board set up.

And Then there was me.

2010-12-27T10:41:00.001-05:00

Carl almost finished a Wooly Board that goes from 20 inches around with a 2inch armhole, up to 120 inches with a 16 inch armhole depth. I can block any size sweater. the lighter area is where he still needs to finish the stain, and the whole thing needs varnish. He ran out of the trim that goes around the edge of the base. So tomorrow when he goes into town, he will get the trim and finish it up.

Anna gave me a gift certificate for Amazon, for books for the Kindle.

Christopher gave me Kindle books too.

Aren't the homemade cards cute. they have the Claim codes glued inside.

Sierra has been taking sewing in school and made a Quillow (a lap quilt which folds up and tucks into a pocket to make a pillow). She used two shades of green cotton that matches 2 for my nightgowns (the material came off of 2 bolts of cloth that I had in stash) so I can put on my nightgown and sit knitting with the quillow over me to keep warm. She also gave me earrings.

All in all a very good Christmas.

Christmas Past

2010-12-27T10:15:00.000-05:00

These are the knitted gifts that I gave this year.

A Shawl for Anna, Christopher's girlfriend, The Alpaca Merino handspun and the MMario MMystery 2.

Being modeled by Sierra.

Chase's hat, the Gansey Gayle hat. He cannot let me take a picture without making some kind of face. Oh well...

Chase's socks. He got more knitted gifts because, all he got bought from his dad and I is a professional grade torque wrench which while very expensive, (and really appreciated) made just one package under the tree.

Chase's Gansey Gayle mittens the last line on the shirt is: "but I'm really fun!"

DJ's Hat. (Megan's oldest son)

Mark's hat (Megan's youngest son)

Megan's Shawl: silk yarn Goddess Knits Flowing River Shawl, knitted as a mystery knit.

Mike's socks, which he appreciated but he wanted to know where his hat was. His birthday is Feb 10. Guess what his birthday present is.

Caleb's hat. Caleb is Chaun's son.

The last gift is Rayne's Cat sweater, which was just what she wanted.

The thing about knitting Lace...

2010-11-18T08:17:00.000-05:00

Is that while it is on the needles it looks like a ratty old dishcloth or pile of string. And you really can't see anything until it is off the needles. Of course if what you have is a gray shawl, on a gray carpet, on a gray day, it still doesn't look like much.

This is about 1000 yds of handspun Merino/Alpaca. And is the second of the MMario MMystery Knit-a-longs.
And now I have started the Goddess Knits Mystery 20.

Christmas Knitting? What Christmas Knitting? Oh yeah that...

Fall...maybe

2010-10-08T07:35:00.000-04:00

It has been much too hot here for August and September, so knitting has slowed down, but the last week or so it has cooled off some so I have gotten some progress.

There is the studio project, the Kauni Damask which is slowly growing: The pictures don't do it justice it fairly glows and shimmers in person, and I am very pleased with it and the way the numbers worked to put in the sleeve steeks.

Even though it is slow I am enjoying working on this sweater in the quiet of the studio. with no distractions, I can just become part of the rhythm of the knitting, it is very soothing.

Then there is the carry around project, the top-down raglan for Rayne which is just endless stocking stitch, until I get to the front pocket of the hoodie, which will have a cat face. I had gotten the sleeves knitted to the ribbing, and the hood to the 3-needle bind off, so yesterday at the studio I finished off the sleeves and hood. Now there is only the miles of stocking stitch to finish the body. Great for carry around knitting.

Also, yesterday, I got around to ripping out the fronts of Trip Trap. So that is ready when I get back to it. Yes it truly must be fall.

She's Back!

2010-08-14T15:28:00.000-04:00

Just before I left I finished Snow Queen, from Bad Cat Designs. (It came off the blocking wire the night before I left) But did not get any pictures. So the relatives saw the finished shawl before my faithful readers, (sorry about that).

Then on the trip I used the white Suffolk/silk from the Tour de Fleece and made a pair of socks for Mom for her birthday. Plain vanilla socks which is what Mom likes.

Measured the grands while I was at my daughter's house so am ready to go on the presents for the year.

Old Dog - New Tricks

2010-07-22T12:23:00.002-04:00

My desk isn't always this messy, sometimes it is even worse. And since everyone in the house thinks my desk is where you stick anything that you don't know how, or don't want to, deal with, I'll clean it up when I get back from the reunion. It will be much worse then.

I quite obviously have a computer otherwise I would not be here, but I also have a laptop, it is old and it's keyboard does not work well, (the teenager who had it before me tended to pound on the keys). But a $12 keyboard from a Meyers closeout, that fits handily into the laptop bag, fixes that.

If I leave the laptop in it's bag until I leave I find that it really doesn't want to work when I get there, so this year I smartened up a tad, and brought it over from the studio, (no internet over there) and plugged it in yesterday morning. So for the past 2 days I have had 2 computers running on my desk, (Sierra ask what was going on and I told her I was emulating her grandfather and becoming a multiple computers at once user - she boggled) connected to the house net, (and thereby each other) and have been removing things I don't need from the 8gig little laptop, (remember when a computer with a 512 meg hard drive was all one would ever need? I do!)

So I have been grabbing the wrong mouse for 2 days, And typing on the wrong keyboard. If you look at the top picture the mouse for the laptop is next to the white keyboard, and the main computer's mouse is in it's holder/recharger on the shelf just above, the black keyboard sitting on the trashcan is for the laptop, both computers have working touch pads, which I use mostly, but for games I use the mouse which is faster. Yes I am spoiled, why do you ask?

So after 2 days of installing and deleting, and virus scans and de-fragging, the lap top has a new wallpaper ( the cover art of the Way of Kings due out in 40 days not that anyone is counting) has the Kindle for PC program and a book or 2. Working e-mail, and browser. I-tunes is updated and ready to go.

I still have the most important part, I need to transfer the knitting patterns that I am using over to the laptop, this afternoon. Then I can turn my attention to the other things like the knitting bag, checking that all needed accessories, needles etc are packed along with the yarn, and any books I need. And I still need to get the Brag Bag packed with the finished thing to show off. Good thing I still have 2 weeks.

Red and Green and Green

2010-07-19T14:16:00.000-04:00

The Shetland is green. It spins very fine. It goes on forever.

The Suffolk is red. It spins very fine. It goes on forever.

The cotton/wool is green, It spins very fine. It goes on forever.

I don't think I planned this very well, I should have gotten out the Jacob that will be long draw spun into worsted weight, that spins very fast, it will go on for a while because I have at least one sweater worth. But it would be fast. and I could fill multiple bobbins in a day. That would be fun.

Red Suffolk

2010-07-14T08:47:00.000-04:00

Getting a break from the white Suffolk with some brick red Suffolk. This stuff spins up so thin and pretty much spins itself. (I am just there to feed the roving in and take out the trash) The vegetable matter comes out pretty easily, but there is a fair amount in it. But the red seems to shed it easier than the white. Wonder why?

I am going to have to take a break for a couple of days soon and get 4-6 more summer nightgowns made before the trip. I am also working on Snow Queen very slowly, 2 rows at most a day.

Day 5 and new sock yarn

2010-07-07T18:41:00.000-04:00

Today I finished spinning the second bobbin of Suffolk and then took 2 plies of Suffolk and 1 ply of silk, into a 3-ply fingering weight sock yarn. It skeined off into 247 yds so plenty for 1 sock, and the other bobbin will be plied tomorrow. The silk catches the light, and shines wonderfully.

My Mom likes white socks, and wool socks so these will probably be her birthday present in August.

Day 2 of Tour

2010-07-04T20:26:00.001-04:00

Green cotton/wool blend spun on the Charkha. Eileen Hallman says that one can fill a Charkha spindle in 10 minutes, and while that may be true for her, it is not yet true for me. But I am getting better at not letting it drift apart before I get enough twist to hold it together.

The last of the dark green Suffolk, spun and 2-plied. Still have to skein and measure.

And last but not least I have 75 grams of Suffolk, the roving has a fair amount of vegetable matter but it picks out pretty easily, it is spinning up really fine, and I am planning to 3 ply 2 strands of Suffolk and 1 ply of commercial silk thread. ( I was given a box of the stuff so I may as well use some of it.) The silk should add both strength and shine.

Tour de Fleece day 1

2010-07-03T22:49:00.000-04:00

Today was the start of the Tour de Fleece. This morning I got out the Suffolk fleece, and one of the green dyed cotton/wool rovings and started the Suffolk on the Lendrum, and spun until my legs got tired. Then I got out the Charkha and spun the cotton/wool until I filled one spindle. When I go upstairs to get ready to go to bed, I will spin some of the Shetland. If I am not too tired.

Unknitting

2010-06-10T15:56:00.000-04:00

I did not like knitting these socks, and consequently I did not work on them, and they have languished long enough. I pulled out the needles, and ripped them out. Wound the yarn and I will find a pattern I like better.

Then I got out this shawl, I found it tucked in the bottom of a knitting bag and I have no idea what pattern I was using, but it was knit on too small needles anyway, but the yarn is Alpaca/Merino Handspun, so I pulled out the needle, caught all the markers, and pulled out all the yarn back to these 2 big balls. I will find a pattern I like better, and make a new shawl that I will like better. The yarn is so soft, and gray.

I'm Just a Finishing Fool

2010-06-07T19:13:00.000-04:00

well don't get too excited the Central Park Hoodie has its hood, but not its
zipper, so while the knitting and the weaving in of ends and all that is finished, it really isn't totally finished, but I won't have a zipper until at least, next Tuesday(not tomorrow).

And before I wove in all the ends and such I finished the Lace socks, that have been in progress for 2 years and 3 days. Not my best time.

But they are done now and there are only 4 WIPs on the Ravlery page, (there is another shawl which has not been added because I Need at least 2 lace shawls at any given time). I have no idea why but it seems I do.

Central Park Hoodie

2010-05-31T17:13:00.000-04:00

So the fronts are knitted and the back sleeves and fronts are put together. I am 11 inches up the hood and am knitting the back cable across the top of the hood joining the sides to the cable. When I get to the front cables I will stop the back cable and knit the front cables up to the middle of the back cable, Kitchener the cables and then decide on the front bands. The pattern uses a ribbed edging, I want to have a zipper so a rib is iffy. Once I have the hood finished I will put it on and see how much landscape is still hanging out to decide what to do with the fronts, just an I-cord? a cable and I-cord knitted sideways? a double cable and i-cord? 2 cables separated by a filler and i-cord? and since that could go up to 8" (4 inches on each side) i would think that would be wide enough.

So back to my chair and knitting 10 stitches back and forth and joining each row until I hit the front cable stitches.
I should finish this just in time for summer. About my speed.

BTW (for anyone who doesn't know)that is not me in the sweater, it is my very skinny granddaughter.

Birthday Socks

2010-05-24T07:59:00.000-04:00

Megan, my younger daughter is having a birthday next week, and her birthday present will go in the mail tomorrow.

These are the Dragonfly sock pattern, Free download from Ravelry, with some really old KnitPicks Parade. Plus a little gray Regia for heels and toes.

Aren't they cheerful.

Finished shawls

2010-05-18T16:38:00.000-04:00

In the last 2 weeks I have finished 2 shawls, but the cloudy weather and rain that we have been having has not made getting pictures easy, but here they are, the dark one is Goddess Knits Victorian Romance I used about 1000 yards of

Makalu Yarns Fine Wool Cashmere.

The second is another one of Goddess Knits patterns called Ice Goddess but I call it Sheer Dumb Luck because I ordered the yarn and beads off the internet and they match perfectly. Used approximately 1500 yards of Colour Mart Cashmere.

I have been dyeing

2010-05-03T14:21:00.001-04:00

I have a large amount of a cotton wool blend roving, (all of my real life friends can just shut up right now!) Anyway, it is all white, and while white may be all well and good, I like color.
A friend gave me a large amount of Cushings Union dyes, that she had when they stopped making the union dyes and started making separate dyes for wool and cotton.

So armed with the correct dyes, soda ash and vinegar, I have been playing with the rovings.
Problem number 1: The cotton floats therefore the roving floats, and I mean floats, it will float all night, so I took the smallest of the nested pots and placed it inside the middle size, and poured in enough water to hold the roving under the water with soda ash dissolved in it. That worked once I jammed 2 cooking spoons in on either side to hold the smaller pot straight. It still wanted to float, but I noticed that after it is in the dyepot, and heating, it does not float as badly. So experiment number 2: place roving in soda water, stick pot on top, heat on stove, hey that works much better and the colors I am getting now are darker. So I may re-dye the first roving since I did have the presence of mind to record the colors that I am using.
The roving looks all matted when it is wet but puffs up once dry. I am having fun.

Rosy Fingered Dawn

2010-04-20T09:32:00.000-04:00

From this on February 12, to this on April 8th.
It blocked out much better than I feared.

Finally Something

2010-04-08T20:15:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Amy turned 35 and I finished the 1st girl socks for her. Finished photographed, wrapped and presented.
Whoo done!
Then today I finished the knitting on the Rosy Fingered Dawn. but it will have to wait until probably Sunday for blocking.

I even got a row done on Sheer dumb luck tonight!

No Gold For Me

2010-03-01T13:08:00.000-05:00

This is where I have gotten to and it isn't finished. I am ready to start the edging, which is knitted sideways, and until I have at least some of it knitted, there is no way to take a decent photo of the shawl. So stay tuned if you are interested, and there may be pictures of a shawl here sometime this week, I am estimating that if I get a side of the border done every 2 days I will be doing good, because the extended periods of knitting are taking a toll in the right shoulder. So no gold and a certain amount of sanity will now commence. I do think I am going to like it though.

It Is not a Myth

2010-02-19T08:58:00.000-05:00

We had heard that there would be a possible sighting this morning, later than is usual in these parts by 2 hours, but we have been so disappointed in the last 2 weeks looking for the thing, that we were not really hopeful.

But it did arrive. And Sierra caught it.

See there she goes out to get on The Big Yellow Troll Collector. And in 7 hours it will bring her back again and the weekend will start. Will it return on Monday? We will have to wait and see.

OK, enough nonsense there has been some knitting here: the next picture of Rosy: this is after row 70.

And the Stranded swatch got the Damask pattern finished:

And then the SSSweater:

I want to do one more pattern the Autumn sweater before I call this done. My husband and son have spent a considerable time trying to decide what I can turn this into other than just a swatch. They just don't get it.

Can I do it?

2010-02-11T08:46:00.000-05:00

Am I crazy to try? Anyway since I do not have enough lace on the needles, (I still have needles,empty, don't I) and since I have had this kit for a while, (or a long time depending on how old you are) and it is worked with the enormous needle size of US 5, which will get me a break from the US 0 and 1's that I am using now. And because I want to, so there, (insert picture of me sticking out tongue).

So at 7:30 tomorrow night I will cast on 8 stitches using Enily Ocker's cast on, on 4 size 5 DPN's and see where I can go from there. I had thought about trying the stranded sweater but I want to swatch 2 more patterns and then I have to do the math. There is not enough time, so I will keep working on the swatch as a break from the Dawn. Ice queen and Sheer Dumb Luck, (Renee, the designer, calls it Ice Goddess) will take a back seat for a while, but what else is new.

Speaking of Stranded knitting: here is the latest picture of what I have finished. It is very pretty. I need to finish the repeat, and then I want to swatch 2 other patterns, slow going but it is getting attention from all of the family, and they usually don't pay much attention.

Snow, Snow Queen, and Sheer Dumb Luck

2010-02-07T09:59:00.000-05:00

Friday I sat all day in the dealership in Dayton, while my car got its 170,000 mile service and a bunch of minor annoyances fixed. I had come armed with Jim Butcher's Captain's Fury on the Ipod and 2 shawls and a pair of socks to work on. First I finished Chart D, of the Snow Queen Shawl and once I finished that, I got out the Sheer Dumb Luck, and worked on that until they finished the car. And then I got to try out the new tires, and the amazing handling of the Saab all over again as I drove home for 4 hours, past a bunch of accidents and uncounted cars parked in unusual ways in unusual places. Stopped twice, once to get milk and stuff I knew we needed, and once to fill the tank on the car. Other than that I drove, slowly. Totally wiped when I got home and yesterday, except for taking Sierra around the corner (3 miles) to her dance lesson, I sat here and knitted on Sheer Dumb Luck, and finished clue 3, printed and set up clue 4 before bed last night, and the next chart for Snow Queen is supposed to come out today. Driving Sierra into town to hang with her boyfriend for a while. Then back to pick her up later. So less time today but should get some knitting done.

Snow Queen started

2010-01-30T15:41:00.000-05:00

To celebrate some breathing room from gift knitting, I cast on Snow Queen pi I decided to go with the silver because it looks like snow, and the crystal silver lined beads look like the sun sparkling on snow. So the first 3 charts are finished. Now to wait for the next section.

In the meantime back to Sheer Dumb Luck.

Can't make up my mind

2010-01-29T16:14:00.000-05:00

Which one do I want to use? the Silver is ColourMart 2/30 Merino on size 2 American. The Fuchsia is Jaggerspun zephyr wool/silk on American 4's.

So which one should I use for the Shawl?

3 Down

2010-01-28T16:00:00.000-05:00

Mike's birthday socks are finished and wrapped, Carl has his, and Mark's raccoon has his eyes and nose and is wrapped. He is also getting the 7th Harry Potter book, to finish his collection. All of them are wrapped and ready to be mailed tomorrow morning. Now I get to breathe for a bit because the next birthday is in April.

Busy...Busy!

2010-01-23T19:12:00.001-05:00

After the rush of Christmas presents, most people get a bit of a breather in January. I don't, on January 25 my husband has a birthday, on February 3rd Grandson Mark has his birthday and on the 11th his father Mike has one. So as soon as the new year starts I go into frantic birthday completion mode. Since Jan 1, I have finished a pair of double thick boot socks for Carl, a regular guy socks pair for Mike and have the front of the Raccoon Sweater for Mark finished. Tomorrow I will sew the sweater together and get at least a start on the sleeves. Mark's and Mike's presents have to go in the mail too, hopefully by Wednesday. Then they can go regular mail instead of Priority. The brown socks are for Mike and the blue are for Carl.

2009 Acomplishments

2009-12-31T14:29:00.000-05:00

Going back in the blog I find that I finished this year:

12 pair of socks, 11 guy socks and a pair for Megan.

5 Sweaters 3 for me, 1 for Sierra and one for Caleb.

4 Shawls 3 for me and one for my Mother.

2 Cowls 1 for Megan and one for Mom.

And 3 Hats 1 for Chaun, one for Caleb and one for Dwayne.

What did you get done?

The Ultimate Gift

2009-12-31T14:19:00.001-05:00

Christopher's socks are finished and I got a kiss when I gave them to him. While I have been working on them I have been working on the Goddess Knits Winter 09 Mystery, Which I have named Sheer Dumb Luck. I am almost finished with clue 1. I would like to get clue 2 done before clue 3 cones out on Saturday but it probably won't happen.

Penultimate Gift

2009-12-25T15:48:00.001-05:00

The next to last or penultimate gift got finished wrapped and under the tree, before Chase got home for Christmas. The Ultimate gift was given with some additional assembly required, so Christopher opened them, read the note and handed them back to me. Sierra is very very pleased with her sweater, and has been wearing it all day. How she can do anything without getting those cuffs in I really don't know. But they are what she wanted.

Anti-Penultimate gift

2009-12-22T20:50:00.000-05:00

Sierra's sweater is finished and wrapped and under the tree. Chase's socks are 3/4 done. Finish those in the morning, and then a pair for Christopher. Will I make it? We will see.

"Five Points...

2009-12-18T10:21:00.001-05:00

For Sheer Dumb Luck" Professor McGonagall, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the movie.

I have some Merino Oro in Turquoise, there is 1375 yards here. I wanted to use this color for a shawl but the pattern needs at least 1500 (the announced yardage requirements are 1700)

I thought I had turquoise in the coned Zephyr but when I looked I have pink and fuchsia. (I wonder how that happened?) But in the meantime I had gone to Earth Faire and ordered enough beads to make the shawl.

So not enough yarn and a whold bunch of beads.

Then I got an e-mail from Richard at Colour Mart. And he had some light Turquoise Cashmere lace-weight. So I got me a cone of that.

And wonder of wonders the beads and the Cashmere actually match.

So I get 5 points for sheer dumb luck! Yay Me!

A Hat For Caleb

2009-12-17T09:08:00.000-05:00

The last of the presents that need to be mailed. Will go in the mail later this morning. Then I need to sew Sierra's sweater together, and finish 2 pair of socks. Should be able to finish with no trouble. Then I can go on to things I want to do, instead of need to do.

More Presents

2009-12-13T18:57:00.000-05:00

This is the cowl for Mom finished today. Wrapped and in the mail tomorrow.

Christmas is Comming

2009-12-09T08:53:00.001-05:00

And if That is news to you, are you living under a rock? I have been getting some of the small things done. There is the hat for Dwayne's birthday on the 15th of December. This is the Thorpe from

the Through The Loops! website. He likes blue hats so he gets blue hats.

Next up is the Watch cap for Chaun.

Socks for Mike.

And a Harmonia's Rings Cowl for Megan.

A Bunnicula Book for Rayne.

And Alcatraz and the Evil Librarians for Mark and Dwayne.

Mike's, Megan's, Rayne's and Mark's presents will be wrapped and mailed today to avoid Priority Mail Charges.

And look at the pictures above to see Sierra's new dye job her hair is black, but much more natural than the goth black her classmates use. She likes it and I like it. (I mean if she has to have black hair)

OK, I lied.

2009-11-11T13:49:00.002-05:00

I promise there will be knitting next time because the socks and the Greenland sweater are almost ready to be photographed again.

But, the big news from here is that yesterday my oldest son's best friend from high school, Frank, (who I got started on Harry Potter and who consequently owns and runs my local independent bookstore) his wife, Kim, and mother-in-law, Tammy, and I went down to Joseph Beth Booksellers in Lexington, KY for The Gathering Storm (see last post) book signing.

Frank had gotten wind of the fact that Harriet McDougal (Robert Jordan's wife and editor) was going to be there too. So we hauled the huge load of books down and heard them speak, and Harriet read from the prologue of The Gathering Storm, the Death of Masema scene.

And then we waited around for our turn for signing, and pictures. Both socks grew appreciatively so when it was my turn, I ask Brandon to hold the sock, and he was most gracious, but I noticed that people who hold the sock for pictures, (except, of course, other sock knitters) all have that same look on their faces. Strange that.

Books

2009-11-04T09:22:00.000-05:00

The last I posted I was finishing the re-read of this book. Lord of Chaos, book 6 of the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. At that time I realized that if I was to finish the re-read of all of the books before the new one came out, I needed to read faster. So I stopped doing anything but reading in my available time, and rushed through:

Crown of Swords,

Path of Daggers,

Winters Heart,

Crossroads of Twilight,

And Knife of Dreams.

To get to The Gathering Storm. Which I have now finished and the next book won't be out for a year! Darn, why can't authors write faster?

So I am resuming knitting and there should actually be some next time. And house finishing pictures too.

House and Greenland

2009-10-13T13:08:00.000-04:00

In spite of the weather my guys have been working whenever they can, and they have finished the front of the house. Isn't it pretty!

And in other news the body of Greenland is up to the band just below the bust. Just the band and the top of the sweater left to finish.

Tonight is odd Tuesday knitting group so I need to get into the kitchen and put some chili on for the starving masses that I am leaving here. Later.

Knitting and Dentist

2009-10-11T08:54:00.000-04:00

I am getting tired of going to the dentist every week or so, I am ready for it to be over. It will be over for 3 whole months in November, by then the last 2 crowns will be on and the last of the cleaning done and I can make an appointment with hygiene for February and not think about dentists until then.

The 9th guy sock gets some work when I go to the dentist. So I am going to have to put in an effort to get that done at home instead. Which will be different.

In other news Sierra's sweater is coming along, the picture is half of the first repeat, and I am actually at one and a half now, need a total of 3 repeats so the body skirt is about 1/2 done.

The fronts of the Central Park Hoodie are well under way. I work on this until the stiffness and scratchiness of the yarn get to me, and I put it down for the alpaca in Sierra's sweater. Once washed even sketchily, it softens up like that old sweatshirt that feels wonderful and is totally disreputable, hopefully that does not mean that it will become disreputable looking really quickly. But it will feel really good.

I don't know if I mentioned that I started a pair of mystery socks...here they are after clue one. I tried getting a closeup but I needed to dig out the tripod for the camera and I think it is over at the (short-lived) studio. And I did not want to wait until 3 pm or later to try to get it. I will try to remember this afternoon to see if Dennis is up and if I can get in to look for it.

The TV shows have been piling up on the DVR so I need to go watch them and knit.

Red Room

2009-10-07T11:20:00.002-04:00

The door and everything else needs its trim back.
There are linen cupboards right outside this room between it and the chimney which need their doors put back into place.

This has been done long enough that Sierra is firmly in residence.

Tomorrow the electrician is supposed to return and put up the light in her room.

This room has cabinets along the north wall so she has a chair there and her bed in the corner, she put the quilt rack in the corner first and then put the head of her bed against it I think I like it that way.

Blue room

2009-10-07T11:11:00.003-04:00

The new opening into the attic space will give this room a storage space that it did not have before. And having windows on the south as well as the west side provides much more light.

The north side of both the front bedrooms are still sloped but but they now have all of the front two-thirds to walk around in. Dressers and bookcases will sit on the north wall of the blue room.

House Inside

2009-10-07T10:02:00.003-04:00

The Living room got its new fan and most everything, (except 6 boxes that are waiting on labels to be shipped back) is put back where it belongs, and is not as much of a disaster as it was.

The downstairs bedroom has new walls and ceiling, (when the roof was leaking, all the water was going into this room and the ceiling and walls were quite damaged), and this room is now much better. sunny and yellow it just looks happy.

We also put new fans into my office and I don't have pictures of them but they are the same as the ones in the living room and my bedroom. The upstairs bedrooms have all been repainted and have new windows in addition to the old windows having been replaced.

The West bedroom up stairs is now blue, and has a nice new recessed light. The east bedroom is red, and will have a light to match but it is not in yet.

There is still all of the trim that needs to be put back, baseboards and around the windows and doors.

My room has its window on the west side but is still needing those on the east. So 3 more windows and all of the trim. It is getting there, slowly.

Happy Birthday Caleb

2009-10-01T09:42:00.003-04:00

Hope your day is really special. Thanks to his mom, Kelly and e-mail, I got these pictures this morning. Living proof that my guess was a little small, and he will only wear this sweater this fall/winter and then it will be passed on to his younger brother. This is why it really is important to get measurements. The bottom rib is tucked under so it is the sleeves that are a little short.

Isn't he cute.

Cool

2009-09-30T10:34:00.003-04:00

The weather that is. I am really enjoying the 50's in the morning and no more than 70 during the afternoons. It could stay these temperature all the time and I would not be upset. Other people here would be though.

While my jaw has been hurting, I have been sitting and watching TV and knitting, so the back of the Central Park Hoodie is up to the shoulders, 3 short rows and one row back and place on 3 separate holders. This will wait until I get to the fronts, because I always have to fudge some to get the front and back shoulder numbers to work out. Blocked out nicely, drying now.

The 9th guy socks have benefited from the dentist visits and are well under way.

The $600 Ceiling Fan

2009-09-28T09:11:00.003-04:00

The blue box holds what Carl keeps calling the $600 fan. (Cost $35) You see as he explains it. If he had gone, alone, to Lowes to get the ceiling fan for the downstairs bedroom, I would not have mentioned that I wanted to change all of the fans in the house, because 1, the fan over my desk, is missing a shade because the boys were wrestling in the east bedroom up stairs and knocked it loose and it broke when it hit the floor, then the light switch broke so the lights cannot be turned on. I have tried to replace the shades several times but no where I looked, ever had 6 to match. 2, The fan in our bedroom cannot be reversed, and I would like to change the direction in the winter so it is not blowing directly on me, just circulating the heat. 3, I want the 3 fans in the living room and office to match. 2 of them match but one of them is the one with the broken shade.

I want to put a fan in the dining area and there isn't one there at present.

So we went to Lowes and finally agreed on the Grand Lodge fans which have a distressed pewter finish and nice, elegant detail without being gaudy. They had 3 in boxes, (on sale because of the season) and one on display, (half price). We also agreed on flat light fixtures for the upstairs bedrooms. Oh, yes the fan for the downstairs bedroom. Total cost with extra energy saving bulbs: Almost $600.

So he claims that If he had gone by himself, he would have come home with the one $35 fan. And I claim that we saved over $250 dollars. But maybe next time he will go alone. It is what I wanted anyway.

So the living room, my office, and the bedroom will have the new Grand Lodge fans. The downstairs bedroom will have the Weston II and we will move the fan from our bedroom to the dining room. And 3 can be free cycled.

Leaping Lizards!

2009-09-22T12:56:00.002-04:00

And it is finished and ready to go. Will be in the mail to Caleb tomorrow, for his birthday on the First of October.

I found the eyes, which I had put in a safe place. The book with the pattern for the embroidery was located, (in another safe place.) I am either getting smarter or running out of safe places.

Inching Along

2009-09-22T08:25:00.003-04:00

2 of the 3 coats of paint are on Sierra's room, burgundy with black and white curtains, and bedspread. Typical teenage cave.

The sleeves of her Greenland are finally finished, they are 6 inches longer than her arms so they cover her hands, she likes that style, except when she is dragging it through the cream cheese on her bagel, as she was this morning.

Caleb has a birthday Oct first so I dug his lizard sweater out and sewed it up and wove in the ends. Need to finish the embellishments. And put it into the mail, by Friday.

Dentist appointment tomorrow and I hope he will get this latest temporary crown to stop hurting, hopefully the permanent one has come in, and he will just put it in place, they take from a week to 10 days, and tomorrow will be a week, so not likely but hopefully.

Not doing much except watching TV and working on the lizard, because of the face hurting, not sleeping well either.

Yesterday when putting the sleeves in I was attaching sleeves with live stitches to an armhole
and worked it as Kitchener on the sleeve side and mattress stitch on the armhole side, it left an interesting look to the seam that I like, must remember this.

The Roof Is Finally On

2009-09-15T10:55:00.002-04:00

The last 5 pieces of the metal came in and were put on Friday.

Waiting now on the interior to be finished and the windows to be put in, and the siding and trim will be finished on the dormers.

I have been working on getting the 8th guy socks finished for Chaun's Birthday, the birthday is the 14th of Sept. and I finished them on the 14th. Now we have to find a time to get together to take him out and celebrate. This is the last of the birthday socks so 9-13 will be Christmas socks and then we can start over. Fun ... Fun...Fun!

It was Labor Day...

2009-09-08T09:10:00.004-04:00

So I worked! I had planned to get all 4 sleeves finished, and I got the first 2 done early Saturday. So getting the smaller in diameter ones done in 2 days really looked doable, until the house stuff fell in on me.

The wrist of the sleeve is the eyelet row so they are at about the elbow, the belled stuff below the wrist is the cuff down over her hands to the middle knuckles.

Mike (drywall finisher and painter extraordinaire) came on Monday, but ran out of paint, so only finished painting 3 walls, but that allowed us to move all of the furniture out of Christopher's old room, soon to be Sierra's new room, Because: 1, it saves a move, (Christopher's stuff out into our room, then once that room is done, Sierra's stuff into that room to stay, then once the other bedroom is finished, Christopher's stuff into the other room. and 2, the west room is slightly bigger, and Christopher has more stuff.

Today Mike is coming to paint the last wall in our room. Then stuff can be shifted slightly, I am trying to get the spare room downstairs empty as well so that they can do that one, but it is dependent on Mike getting finished. The room looks bigger and one can move around without hitting one's head, (even people other than me).
but the floor space is the same as ever was. I need a room stretcher.

I did get the basket trunk that holds the sheets for Carl's bed cleaned out and have 3 loads of linens to wash, but I packed sachets into it so things should not start smelling so musty. And I need to rotate the linens better.

But the rest of today, other than doing some laundry, is going to be spent in my recliner, knitting sleeves.

More House, and More house.....

2009-09-01T09:10:00.004-04:00

The front dormers are coming right along. They have their roofs and it sounds very much like the rest of the old shingle roof is coming off as I type. Hopefully they can get the rest of the shingles off and the paper and metal on today (it is supposed to rain tomorrow).

The inside of my bedroom is to the sanding, re-mudding stage, so paint should be before the end of the week, hopefully. (crossing fingers, [you ever try to type that way? It ain't easy!]). So I guess it is time to start thinking about curtains my bedroom is going to be the two shades of purple, so a purple and lavender print, as cafe
curtains with shades on the top. Must go look.

Once he is through in my room, we will move Christopher's room contents into our room, and they can finish his room, Then we will move Sierra into the east room, to stay. Thereby saving one move. Then when the west room is finished Christopher's stuff can be put in there.

Still a long way to go but, once the paint is dry in our bedroom, I will be able to go back there and sleep. Looking forward to getting off the couch, even though it is a daybed and quite comfortable it is in a main traffic pattern.

I have been working on sleeves to keep from standing over the workmen and pushing...(are you done yet?...are you done yet?...how about now?)

My dusty rose CPH (Central Park Hoodie) sleeves and the Greenland sleeves for Sierra. She wants them to go down over her hands, so there will be much knitting before the sleeves get done.

I am thinking of turning CPH into a saddle shoulder, and knitting the body as one piece to
the underarms, will see as I get there.

Thinking of knitting Greenland in the round as well, since I an changing every thing else about it.

Spinning

2009-08-30T16:49:00.003-04:00

I have been spinning Green Shetland, a whole bobbin full. This morning it was all spun sitting on the bobbin.

Then it was in a ball on the big ball winder.

And then it was back on the bobbin again as a 2-ply yarn.

I will wind it off on the niddy-noddy tomorrow. I am tired now and have to come up with something for dinner.

House

2009-08-28T18:20:00.003-04:00

See the mud, lots of mud, all over the ceiling. Now most of the time I would yell at a bunch of men tracking mud into my house, but I was so glad to see this, they were in danger of getting kissed all over their whole faces. I restrained myself with effort.

And then there is the Dormers which are all framed in and covered, maybe only a couple of moe days.

I Have Mud In My House

2009-08-28T14:20:00.002-04:00

I found the Inca Alpaca for Sierra's sweater the second time I looked for it. And I found the pattern Greenland (Vogue Knitting F 08) the second time I looked for that. Once I finish this I will get out the swift (shut up! I know where that is) and wind some balls of yarn to start. She doesn't want the ruffles, not on the sleeve and not at the band, so I am going to suggest that we put one diamond of lace at the bottom of the sleeves, which she wants to cover her knuckles at the base of her hand, (so 23 inch sleeves). But isn't that yarn just luscious?

The 8th guy socks are past the heel waste yarn,
so motoring right along.

And the House guys have the front almost to the putting-red-metal-on stage. Once they leave I will get pictures because both of the dormers are framed and covered with plywood and paper now. Today they are ripping the roof of the porch off so they can start the metal there.

Oh, and about that mud...The guy who does the drywall finishing and painting has finally gotten here, and is mudding my bedroom as we speak, (so to speak). I'll get pictures when he finishes, don't want to interrupt.

Happy Birthday Chase

2009-08-22T09:36:00.006-04:00

Today the 7th guy socks will be given to Chase for his birthday. And I started the 8th guy socks on Wednesday, at the dentist. the last cavity was filled then, now 2 more crowns, and a cleaning and I am done for 3 months. I am so looking forward to this because I am convinced that the scheduler for the subs thinks that I am having an affair or something, because every time she calls I am going to the dentist. And Nobody goes to the dentist that much! Oh well, I will accept the complement and let her believe whatever she wants.
Here is the yarn and the start of the 8th guy sock, The last of the birthday socks and I really
need to start the Christmas socks...wasn't I going to get ahead this year? Oh well, I guess the shawls kinda got in the way.

The toes are left over navy, (I think it is opal) and woolly nylon and the socks are some Mielinweit that I got at the Webs end of year sale to do guy socks.

Otherwise I have been working on a swatch for a Central Park Hoodie the Ampleknitters list Knit-a-long. Using some Jo Sharp Silkroad DK in the Paper Rose colorway. According to the pattern I do not have enough yarn but there are multiple balls for sale on Ravelry, in the correct dye lot, so I will decide if I need to buy some of them once the sleeves are finished and I can make some kind of estimate of what I will need.

In House news all of the metal is on the back section of the house, the dormers are drywalled in my bedroom, and the windows are ordered. They started tearing the porch ceiling off on friday. Found multiple wasp nests, and a huge bird nest in the ceiling, and were dropping trash on the fleece on the porch so I went out to cover it up, and found out that they were convinced that it was a pile of old insulation, so I did a fast and dirty explanation of wool processing and spinning, and showed them some roving so that they could see the difference.

I will get some pictures of the inside once Carl finally puts in an appearance.

Just house, no knitting

2009-08-12T18:40:00.002-04:00

The East side of the house as of yesterday is in the first picture. The east side of the house as of today is in the second.

No additional metal roofing but the paper is all the way up to the front ridge.

But look at the last two pictures the metal is all up on the West side.

And very nice it looks too.

Progress

2009-08-10T14:12:00.002-04:00

Look I finished one of the lace socks, it's only been a year or more. and the 2nd one is almost up to the heel.

And the 7th guy socks are up in the leg ribbing on both of them. If I spend 2 or 3 days sitting and knitting, I should finish them both. Then just one more hanging on sock to have them all done, so I can start some more.

And in other news, we are getting roof! Red Roof! They have started putting the metal on the back of the house. Yippee! Happy dancing all round the house.

See the pretty red roof! Soon now and then windows.

If the rain holds off.

On The Training Of Muggles

2009-08-06T13:28:00.004-04:00

For year every time we got ready to go somewhere, my Mother would say, "Leave your knitting here." and I would decline. This trip finally she did not once ask me not to take my knitting and when I suggested that I should take the shawls that I had with me to show off a bit, She said, "Yes, you certainly should."
So I did, and everyone ask what I was working on, and did I make the sweater I was wearing, (of course I did!)

One of the cousins said that they can always find me in a picture because I am knitting, and then next year I am wearing what I was knitting last year.

The shawls were admired and the Candlelight Kimono was as well.

And I am back, the builders have a east facing dormer, and the "felt paper" (which has no felt) on the back of the house.

The front of the house looks worser and worser.

Loose Ends

2009-07-28T15:21:00.003-04:00

Have all been woven in on the Victorian Romance Shawl. It has now been folded and slipped into a plastic bag to go into the gift bag, with the birthday card to be presented to my Mom for her birthday.

The Candlelight Kimono is finished except for the loose ends and the hooks and eyes which will be sewn in and on in motel rooms the next couple of nights so that I can wear it on Saturday to the reunion.

So we can call these done. I think I really like the Candlelight Kimono. Can't wait to wear it, I even bought a new pair of black pants and a sleeveless black and white shirt to wear under it.

Procrastinating

2009-07-27T12:16:00.003-04:00

I should be totaling up bills to get the money into the bank, so I can go shopping, so I don't have to listen to complaints that I left and there was no food in the house. (I have 2 freezers and 3 pantries, but when I leave there is no food-go figure). So what am I doing(besides moaning that I have a headache)? Sitting here playing on the computer. Yeah that will get stuff done.

Last night I fixed the dropped stitch in the Shawl for mom, still need to weave in the ends, and wrap it up.

I got some pictures of the 1st Green Shetland. It is all plied and everything, well except for wet finishing and measuring, but I will do all of the green at once, so I know that they have been done, and I don't need to wonder, "did I wash that?"

No house, just Knitting

2009-07-26T13:29:00.005-04:00

There actually has been some knitting going on, I dug out the 2 sock that have been hanging on, forever, and put them into the backpack so that when I reach a stopping place in the other projects I can work on them. Here is the lace sock, only one I need to cast on the other one or finish this one and then do it. I was surprised that I could pick it up and find where I was with very little problem. This is going to the reunion, so I will have something to work on at night after Mom goes to bed, I'll go out and see if there is somewhere to sit in the lobby, when we are traveling she wants to go to bed at 8:00 or so, and really doesn't want a light or the TV on so I need to go somewhere else. I will show the progress on the other ones next time. there has been some. I really don't know why these have not been worked on, I like the pattern, I like the yarn, they were probably just put aside to finish a gift and were not picked up again, after the gifts were finished, (probably because of more gifts). Anyway, their time has come.

Then there is the Candlelight Kimono which has had its ups and downs, but is finally at the sewing up stage, which means that I have successifully finished the knitting, and tonight while watching TV I will start the sewing up, Then the weaving in of ends and the sewing down (with sewing thread) of the end so that they will not work their way out. It is tedious but I have several movies on the DVR so I will sit in my comfy chair and just do it.

And last but not least are the 7th guy socks, which measure 8 inches and are 1 inch too short for my big footed son Chase. So one more inch and I can put in the waste yarn, knit 2 more rows on the foot side, then switch to larger needles, and change to rib all round for the leg.

I started another of the Victorian Romance Shawls (formerly known as the mystery shawl 09), because I had over half of the yarn I started with left, and I am giving the first one to Mom for her birthday. So we will have matching shawls.

But this afternoon I am going to shorten all of the short sleeves on the cotton nightgowns, which go past my elbows and need to not do that.

House and Spinning

2009-07-25T09:57:00.004-04:00

There is a dormer taking shape on the roof of the back part of the house. Next week should see windows and maybe the metal roofing started. The bedroom looks pretty much the same from the inside because they have not cut out the drywall.

So while the banging is going on I have finished spinning the first of the green Shetland, and the spinning time today will be spent on 2-plying it back on itself.

Next week I will leave on Wednesday to drive to Virginia, measure the grandchildren, hug my daughter, and go on to Norfolk, to pick up Mom and take her to the family reunion in Cuba, (actually Friendship) New York. A stop at the cheese factory, then back to Virginia to drop Mom, and back home. Be gone a week. I am taking the computer, whether or not there will be any blogging will depend on how tired I get, and the availability of internet. But by the time I get back there should be great progress on the house.

And maybe even some more on the Green Shetland, since I am taking the spinning wheel as well. Spinning daily is loosening the muscle that gets tight and cramps in the top of my left foot, so it is physical therapy. (That's my story and I am sticking to it.

Green, Green

2009-07-22T16:17:00.002-04:00

It's green they say on the far side of the hill...la la la.
Green Shetland pre-drafted. And being spun, prepare to be bored.

That is all.

One day of House Construction

2009-07-22T15:40:00.004-04:00

The contractors came and ripped off the roof. This is what the roof has looked like for months, ever since last fall when the hurricane came through and tore it up.

This is what my bedroom looks like now, the white is attic space that is supposed to have cabinet doors, and 3 different builders have "forgotten" to order them so they never got on, and the ceiling there is 3 feel off the floor.

This is going to be fixed, but not today because it is raining,it is raining outside, and, it is raining inside, in the spare room.
The builder came by this morning and I showed him the water, so he spread another tarp over the one he had covering the roof already. We are hoping it quits dripping soon.

They got all of the shingles and plywood off yesterday. That is the rafters and the drywall that you can see. They are going to cut a hole there tomorrow and put in a dormer. A big dormer that will run almost the length of that side of the house.
Then they will do the same thing on the other side of the house, so my bedroom will have dormers on both sides. then they will move to the front of the house, on the left of the picture and put a dormer in Sierra's room, and then the right side and put one in Christopher's room.

Anita Went to Georgia

2009-07-21T08:59:00.003-04:00

And came home talking about herself in the third person.

We went to Carl's 40th class reunion. I had a better time than I expected. It was cooler than I expected and it did not rain although rain was forecast for the entire weekend.

I took the last of the pink and really expected to finish it while there, but even though I spun at least a half hour every day, I finished it yesterday after I got home. This is the end of it. I had thought that I would just have enough to do some sampling, but that is a fair amount for just sampling. I suppose I will get the Roberta out and use it for the plying after I play with it to see if I like 2-ply or 3 ply. Any way the pink is at an end.

On to green Shetland.

While in Georgia, I met Clyde Taylor who Carl went to school with, and we talked about sheep, and all things woolly. And the result was that I brought 3 bags of fleece back from GA.

So I could have come home singing Baa Baa Black Sheep, but I didn't (for which Carl was very grateful I am sure).

It is not black wool, I think it is all white, some might be tan but it just might be dirty, we met the sheep it came from, but it is kind of hard to tell...anyway light wool.

The contractor finally arrived this morning, so there is banging, and scraping up on the roof. They are removing the roof, because the guy who did the roof, used thinner plywood than he should have, (probably pocketed the difference, he was like that as it turned out), so all of that comes off and a new roof, with dormers, and a red metal roof is going on. Exciting but we will scarcely be able to move, for a while.

I am an idiot, a very good, acomplished Idiot.

2009-07-13T11:42:00.004-04:00

There are people who are under the mistaken impression that I am good at this. Well this post should disabuse them of that notion.

I have numerous idiot proof methods of getting the knitting to somewhat resemble the pattern, one of them shows in the first pictures. See all of those pins, they are small brass coil less safety pins that I got years ago, (I found a place to order 2000 of them and figured I was set for life, I need to go order some more.) When I come to a direction to decrease (or increase) every X rows Y times, I count out Y safety pins, place Y-1 onto the last one and pin the whole thing to first
decrease (increase).

Then when I do the next decrease I move one pin up into that one, when I run out of pins I am through with that direction and need to look at the pattern again.

Now let's take a look at these pictures: In the first we see all of the knitting done since the instructions: " bind off 5 stitches at the beginning of the next 2 rows and decrease 1 on each side of
the next 13 right side rows." (instructions abbreviated drastically) See all of the neat pins, the next instruction is knit even until armhole length matches the fronts, see all that lovely mindless knitting...MINDLESS being the operative word. Let's look closely at the next 2 pictures. Hear we see first the left side of the back and then the right.

No go closer here is the right side again, see the 5 bound off stitches and the neat row of decreases. Now look at the left side, see how the 5 bound off stitches Are Not There! See Anita throw her knitting. Hear Anita say bad words.

I discovered the latest proof that as I age I become an even better idiot last night, that is when I threw the knitting down in disgust. Then this morning after I took those pictures I calmly removed all of the pins and pinned them to the markers that go 5 stitches from the edge, (the decreases go inside the markers). Then I (not quite as calmly, I have to admit) yanked the needle out of the knitting and started tearing it out, (that is also about the time that everyone else left the area, (coincidence I am sure).
When I got to the first decrease (2 rows above the mistake) I started to pick up the stitches and rip of the last 2 rows one stitch at a time, then I bound of those 5 stinking stitches. As I pulled out the knitting I came to the start of the last ball and I wound that up into a neat ball. then I continued to pull out the knitting. That yarn has not been rewound, but you can see in the last 3 pictures the 5 stinking stitches, and the yarn mass, and the neat ball. And when all of that yarn is gone I'll be back to where I was yesterday.

Now I need to go spin for 1/2 an hour and then knit, and knit, and knit...At least the sewing is all done.

Some Relief from Pink

2009-07-12T17:50:00.002-04:00

While the pink spinning is still going on, and I have reached the point to packing some extra roving on the previous bobbins, which were not as full as the latest one. Other things are also going on:

I went clothes shopping, I hate clothes shopping!
And then I came home and washed the new clothes, and cut off all of the pants, except the shorts which are not too long, and the one pair I cheated with and just folded over and stitched down. Here is what was cut off of the bottom of the pants, (note all of the hem seam are still sewed in).

There has been some work on the Candlelight Kimono the back is up to where it gets one more armhole decrease and then the top of the shoulders and neck once the armholes are deep enough.
I have one pair of pants that are hand sewing, (mostly because I don't have matching thread and I can fudge it by hand but not by machine), and then I can settle down with my knitting and finish this up. If I finish tonight then I can sew it together tomorrow, and block it Tuesday. It may or may not have buttons before we leave but I can do that Friday if I need to. I would like to wear it on Saturday but if it is as hot in Georgia as it has been here...That will not happen!

Day 4 More PINK

2009-07-07T11:56:00.002-04:00

After 2 more days I am up to 2 inches across. Another 2 days and I will need to start another bobbin, or pack the ones I am using, because I don't have very much roving left.

2-ply? 3-ply? I don't know. As a 2-ply I should have enough yardage to make a large shawl. As a 3-ply, maybe enough for a Rayne sweater, but I only have 1 pound. This is superwash wool, and not of the best quality, I keep picking neps out of the roving.

Still trying to decide. there is no law that I have to ply this as soon as I finish it. I could work on the Shetland because that is small amounts of roving and is to be 2-plied so I only need the one bobbin to do the rest of that. Decisions... Decisions.

Day 2 - another 1/4 inch

2009-07-05T12:03:00.005-04:00

This is going to get boring fast, bobbins with PINK singles. And more bobbins with PINK single. Sorry. but I can see some improvement, as far as the progress of filling the bobbin is concerned.

I did learn something: I can use the Schacht Woolee Winder bobbins on the Lendrum Woolee Winder. So I can finish spinning and then ply all at once.

The Schacht Woolee Winder is over 20 years old and needs to go in for an overhaul. So I am spinning on the Lendrum.

On Your Mark, Get Set....

2009-07-04T08:47:00.004-04:00

The Tour de Fleece starts today, so last night I took some of the bright PINK superwash wool and pre-drafted it what you see balled up there is the last of the pound of PINK that I have. I will sit down and pre-draft that bit later. Once it is pre drafted I put it into the plastic box (that came from Costco with a bunch of disposable razors in it) so that it doesn't compress again.

I have been spinning this for a while off and on and have 2 bobbins full, and had started on the 3rd.

I need to remind everyone (myself) that the goal here is to spin for 1/2 hour or more every day. It is not speed or most spun or anything like that, it is spin every day!

The bobbin I will start with is 1 and a quarter inches across the core at the moment and an empty bobbins is 1/2 inch so approximately 3/4 of an inch of spun yarn. I have no idea if the half hour will show up but I will try to measure after each spinning session to see how much progress shows. It certainly doesn't show by just looking at it.

Once this is finished I may find that Jacob that I have to spin fast and fat, now that gives a sense of progress, but I don't know, I will decide once the end is in sight with the pink.

That is quite pink is it not. Just makes me happy to look at it.

edited to add: after 30 minutes today the bobbin measures 1 1/2 inches so 1/4 inch added today.

Procrastinating

2009-07-02T13:34:00.004-04:00

I'm not much motivated to get anything done, I've already made a list of all the bills (which is just depressing), and filled the pill box for the month. But I just haven't gotten the motivation/energy to start something else. But I can show off my latest acquisition:

I finally finished my collection of Barbara Walker Treasuries. The first 3 are not the new reprints. (I really am old ) So it was time I got the last one, besides it has the Butterfly lace motif that I want to use with the Butterfly stitch from the first to make a sweater for Rayne before she outgrows her love of butterflies.

The Candlelight Kimono has reached the "I'm tired of this and want to knit something else" stage so I am having to force myself to pick it up. Once I have picked it up it is fine and I enjoy the knitting, it is just that I want to work on something new.

I promised myself that once the kimono is at the final blocking stage, (i.e. knitted, sewn up and button loops finished) I can wind the yarn for the Rosy Fingered Dawn Shawl, and once the boy's sweaters are finished and sewn up, I can start studying the instructions, and once the 2 pair of socks are done I can start knitting it along with Sierra's Sweater and also start the swatches for Rayne's. Can't make the pattern for that one until the middle of August, because I need to measure her, which will happen the first of August.

Tour de Fleece

2009-07-02T11:34:00.002-04:00

I haven't done this before, but I have wanted to get back into spinning regularly. So my challenge is to spin at least 30 minutes every day. Good thing I have a portable wheel, so I can take it with me when I go to Georgia for DH high school reunion. We have already had a tiff over the accommodations so having the wheel to calm me down may not be a bad idea, 4 days of anyone 24/7 is stressful for me, but someone who is high maintenance as well...yeah, having a de-stress mechanism along can't hurt.

Mystery Shawl Done!!!

2009-06-29T12:18:00.004-04:00

Everything but the shouting...SHOUT SHOUT! Okay now that is taken care of. I do have a dropped stitch and a pulled stitch- see it right there by the edge of the center panel. That will be attended to tomorrow morning if it is sunny. The Candlelight Kimono is in progress and is working up the armhole so the fronts of that will be finished shortly. And then the back and that will be done. If you check my projects page on Ravelry you will see that there are 2 grandson's sweaters, one needs sewing up and the other needs its front and sleeves, and sewing up. There are also 2 pair of socks that need to be finished. So those are the goals for the next month. Those socks are ridiculous and either need to be finished or ripped. The boy's sweaters need finishing. So I am proceeding to get behind myself with a stick and get them over with. In July!

Then I can start the oldest granddaughter's sweater, which should take no time at all. And on to one for Rayne. And I need to finish Trip Trap before it gets cold (hard to believe that it ever will with the heat we have been having here).

Father's Day

2009-06-21T13:32:00.002-04:00

Brown Guy Socks, with linen stitch toes and heels. Which take for-freaking-ever but should wear well. So the "Why am I bothering, You're not MY father" socks are finished. And we will have dinner tonight and give him socks and cards.

Now I can go back to the shawl and top.