Blogring!

Well, I've officially done it. I've now taken over the Fiber Arts Bloggers blogring. The previous owner, Joni, had a baby recently and decided that she probably wouldn't have time to manage the blogring on top of managing a new baby. She asked for volunteers to take over and I decided to go for it. Fortunately she left me some wonderful guidance on how to manage things. With any luck I won't botch things up too badly. I did manage to get a new blog set up for it. I suppose I ought to update the ringcode on my own blog page here. DOH! I did at least remember to change the URL for the ring's website, so that's a start.

Anyway, if you're interested, please consider joining the blogring! All you need to do is have a blog that involves fiber arts (knitting, crocheting, spinning, quilting, lace-making, embroidery, etc.), to include the ring code on the front page of the blog and to have at least one new post per month. The blog should be non-commercial. Certainly if you're a fiber-business person who is also blogging, that's great and absolutely welcome. No solely commercial blogs/sites, please.

Knitting Progress
I worked on the fuschia sock last night. Now that I'm about an inch away from the toe shaping, I'm wondering if I need to rip the sock back and start on fewer stitches. I was pretty sure that this yarn was fingering weight, but it's definitely heavier than that. (I have absolutely no recollection of even buying this yarn, never mind remembering what brand it is.) The sock is quite dense and a bit on the large side. The yarn may well bloom a bit when washed, however, so I'm reluctant to give up until this sock is finished and washed.

We have Zombies!

I'm done! I can knit a pair of socks much faster than I thought I could. At the beginning of the day, I was starting the heel flap (after I fixed my boo-boo). And now I have a completed pair of socks. I don't know that I've ever knit a pair of socks in a week. I also don't know that I ever really paid that much attention to how long it takes. It has always just taken as long as it takes. Anyway, there's the finished picture. It's a bit out of focus and doesn't show the pattern as well as I'd like.


The yarn is Wendy Sock Yarn that I bought several years ago. It took less than one ball per sock, but I started with a partial ball, so I couldn't tell you exactly how much less than one ball per sock. I'd use this yarn again and I'm already pondering what sock yarn stash will be turned into Zombies next.

Thanks to everybody for cheering for me!! I really appreciate that!! For those of you who haven't finished your Zombies yet, GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

One and a Half Down!

I'm working on the heel flap, but I'll be ripping back a wee bit. You see, I got a bit off on the ribs. I accidentally switched a non-dropstitch rib for a dropstitch rib. This wouldn't be a bad thing except that the drop stitch I currently have shifts over to one of the sides of the rib and will actually run all the way back to the top of the cuff. Sigh. Fortunately I caught it now. I'm not even going to try to fix it by dropping down a stitch. The eye of the partridge heel flap would make that too much of a pain in the patootie. Anyway, I figure it'll take 20 minutes to rip and re-knit and I'll be back on track!! There are currently 30 people finished with this sock in my bracket, so I have only to beat 9 other knitters and I advance to round 2!! w00t!

One Down, One to Go!

I have finished the first of the Zombie Socks. I'll cast on sock #2 shortly. I still don't know that I won't get eliminated in Round 1, but I'm a whole lot more motivated to work on these socks than I was over the weekend. The knitting ennui is definitely over now. I'm really glad that the Baylor Ball Bands is a fairly slow bracket.

The pattern is very clearly written, though I did need to translate from 2 circs to 4 or 5 dpns. At first I thought the leg was a bit shorter than I usually knit, but now I'm not so sure. It's a stretchy stitch pattern with the dropped stitches. At first I thought it might be too stretchy and too loose, but it isn't at all. It fits very well. I'm very pleased with this pattern and will certainly knit it again.

Halfway Through

Well, halfway through the first sock, at least. The pattern is easy enough and I like how it looks. I'm just starting the heel flap. It's supposed to have garter stitch borders to the heel flap and I hate how that looks. The rules say I have to follow the pattern as written though, so I'll do it that way. I may end up ripping these back to the heel after Sock Madness is over to make it a borderless Eye of Partridge heel flap.

I'd sit and knit all day tomorrow, but I have things to do. Errands, cleaning house, laundry, etc. I think I'd be pretty aggravated if I just sat and knit all day. I get fussy when I spend more than about 3 hours sitting and not doing anything physical. Today was a frustrating/annoying day at work too, which makes it even less likely that I'll be able to tolerate sitting around. Perhaps a really hard workout first thing in the morning will help clear my brain of bad energy.

Anyway, the sock is going well. When I finish the first one I'll take a picture.

Sock Madness Round 1!

Well, technically it starts tomorrow, but the specs for the first sock were given out. The recommendation was for a solid or almost solid color choice and the specified gauge is 32 sts/4 inches. One tester used 100grams of Jitterbug and another used 1 skein of Opal Handpaint. I have two skeins of Wendy Sock Yarn in a medium gray. I can't wait to see the pattern. There will be 40 knitters advancing to round 2. I don't know that I'll knit fast enough to be among the first 40 finished, but I'll give it a whirl. It'll be fun, regardless.

Now I suppose I ought to finish the first of the fuschia socks so I can get my favorite needles freed up and ready to go. Fortunately there's a Tony Curtis movie on this evening! I've never seen The Rat Race before.

Rippage has occurred!

The Freedom Sweater is no more. I knit a swatch with size 6 needles and discovered that I liked the feel of the fabric at that gauge a whole lot better. I went ahead and ripped out the sweater this evening. I am keeping the neck at the original gauge (it's a funnel neck) and will pick up the stitches in the morning with the larger needle. Tonight I'm going to skein up the yarn I ripped out and wash it. This thing sat in storage for a while and smells a bit dusty. I want to make sure I've killed any critters that might be trying to live in the yarn. The last thing I need is to discover this sweater has become a snack.

I'm knitting the heel flap on the first fuschia sock. Now I just need to decide if I want to work on the sock or the sweater this weekend. Decisions, decisions....

Elegant Ribbing Socks Done!

I even wove in all the ends on them. I used several small balls of yarn in re-knitting the toe, rather than the largest of the leftover balls. This was more effective at using up the leftovers, but does make for more weaving in to do--my least favorite part of knitting after sewing seams. The socks fit very well.

Here are the details:

Elegant Ribbing Sock Pattern
Designed by Sword Queen

Pattern available via internet archive here.
Yarn: Froelich Blauband in a blue colorway with bits of green and light blue. It reminds me of the ocean on a cloudy day.
Needles: size 2

Sock Madness Supplies:
I have gone through the list and my sock yarn stash. I think I have everything I need. It's not the exact yarn called for in the patterns, but the same weight so I'm happy with that. I was hoping to not have to buy yarn. I may have some difficulty deciding which yarn or which color to use, except for the one pattern for which I have the exact yarn, but I can use stash. Hooray!!

Sock Madness!

Well, the brackets are going up. It's official. I'm in Sock Madness 2. This does solve my "problem" of figuring out what sock pattern to knit next rather neatly. I'll have to finish up my blue sock this weekend and get it out of the way. I don't expect to survive past the first round, with my current amount of knitting time, but it'll be fun anyway. I already had the materials for one of the patterns in my stash. I'll try to substitute the rest. Perhaps I'll sit down this weekend and sort that out.

Peacock Shawl
Still nothing going on with the swatch. I think I've lost interest in this project for the moment. With relatively small amounts of knitting time at the moment, it might be a better idea to work on something not quite so time intensive. I don't want this project to take two years to finish. Perhaps after Sock Madness ends I'll re-consider. I also still have the Freedom Sweater to rip out as well.

Spinning Spinning Spinning
I have been working on the Blue Moon merino/tencel roving in Sea. It is spinning up very very fine, which I think is at least partly due to the amount of pre-drafting I did and partly due to the fiber itself. The tencel tends to not draft as easily as the merino, but I can get it to spin up evenly if I pay attention to what I'm doing. I had intended to make a 2-ply sock weight yarn, but this will probably have to be 3-ply to be sock weight. Then again, I may decide to make a 2-ply lace weight yarn for a stole or shawl. In any event, I've got plenty of time to decide what the yarn wants to be. It's going to take a loooooong time to spin my way through all of the roving.

The Other Sock

I ended up working on these socks last night. They're knit in Froelich Special Blauband, which has, of course, been discontinued. I'm just re-knitting the end of one of them, fixing a hole and I'm just about to start the toe shaping. The yarn from these socks was fairly fuzzy after I washed them and the fuzz subsequently felted, so the patterning is a bit obscured. I will have to try this pattern again in a different yarn.

I'll have to find another audiobook to listen to. I finished Shadow of the Hegemon last night. I have several other choices already loaded, but they're not sparking my interest at the moment. Maybe I'll just pick one at random and give it a whirl anyway.

Still no progress with the Peacock swatch. Just a few more rows added on the fuschia socks. I haven't done anything with the Freedom Sweater. It's just hanging out on the back of the sofa.

The Periodicity of Knitting
I think I'm approaching a lull in my knitting interest. I'm still making progress, but it's not nearly as fast as it was a month ago. This isn't a bad thing. Just different. I've gone through periods where I didn't do any knitting at all for months, due to time constraints and lack of interest. Eventually, I come back to it. I have noticed that lots of knitters experience similar changes in their knitting activity levels. Usually it's due to non-knitting live intruding and taking away the time or energy to knit. For me, I think a bigger factor is having other interests. Some weekends or evenings I prefer to read or bake instead of knit. Or I'll work on the computer. That doesn't mean I'm not interested in knitting at all, just more interested in something else at the time. I do think I'm getting better at periodically touching base with active knitting projects and at least making tiny bits of progress each week. That teeny bit of progress keeps the motivation up and keeps things moving forward.

Broken Needle!

I was merrily knitting away at my new sock last night, when suddenly the DPN in my left hand snapped in half. I don't know what happened. It just folded in half on me. I didn't think I had been gripping it particularly firmly. Fortunately I have plenty of size 2 needles from the same company, so it didn't interrupt my progress. I've got about 2 1/2 inches of sock cuff done now.

I still haven't gotten very far with my Peacock Shawl. I think I got about 4 rows into the swatch. I need to just make myself sit down and finish the swatch, then figure out if I want to use size 4 needles or not. I might go a bit smaller.

The New Sock is Chosen!

It's the plain ribbed sock pattern I posted about yesterday, knitted in a yarn whose name escapes me. It's fuschia, red, purple and mustard colored. Not my favorite bunch of colors now, but I'm sure I thought it was spectacular when I bought it years ago. I wound it into a ball some time ago and have lost the label, so I have no idea what it is. It is a wool/nylon blend and it is definitely not Mountain Colors yarn. Mystery yarn socks. *Warm* mystery yarn socks. And just the obnoxiously bright colors to wear on a rainy icky day.

Plain Ribbed Sock Pattern

This is the sock pattern I fall back upon when I haven't a clue what I want to knit for a sock or when I'm looking for something basic. It's a simple K2, P2 ribbed sock in which I carry the ribbing down the instep.

Yarn: ~400 yards of your favorite sock-weight yarn. I've used Socka, Sockotta and Marks and Kattens Clown with this pattern.

Needles: For me, I use a US size 2 needle and I use double points, not circular(s). I also like sets of five needles rather than sets of four needles, but that's just my preference. You should pick the appropriate needle size you need to meet the gauge.

Gauge: 7 1/2-8 stitches to the inch in stockinette stitch.

Cast on 64 stitches and K2, P2 around for 6".
Knit heel flap on 32 stitches. Sl1, K1 on right side rows. Sl1, purl across on wrong side rows. I make my heel flaps 2 to 2 1/2 inches long. I also center the heel flap so that there is one purl stitch on each end. This causes the ribbing on the instep to be centered on the foot. It's a minor detail, but I'm really picky about having designs centered. My eye picks it up when they're off-center and it bugs me.

To turn the heel, knit to the center plus one more stitch, SSK, K1. Turn.
On row 2, slip 1, then purl across until 31 stitches remain on the left needle, P2tog, P1. Turn.
Sl1, knit until 1 stitch before the gap, SSK, K1. Turn.
Continue until all the stitches are used up, knitting or purling the stitch before and the stitch after the gap together and slipping the first stitch of each row. You should end having just completed a right side row, even if you have to knit back across.

When I pick up the gusset stitches, I pick up only one leg of the edge stitch and I don't count how many stitches I pick up on each side. I pick up each slip stitch and an additional stitch between the heel flap and the instep. When I pick up and knit the stitches, I twist them. In my opinion I think it looks neater to twist the stitches. Try it untwisted too and see what you like best. It's your sock.

Pick up the stitches along the first side of the gusset/heel flap, then K2, P2 across the instep and pick up the stitches on the second side of the gusset/heel flap. At this point, I start to think of the center of the heel as the beginning of a round. Oddly enough, I usually put all of the heel stitches on a single needle, instead of dividing them, and I think of the heel stitches as the beginning of the round. The other three needles hold the first set of gusset stitches, the instep stitches and the second set of gusset stitches, respectively. I decrease the gusset stitches every other round, knitting to three stitches before the end of the first gusset needle and K2tog, K1. Then P1, *K2, P2 across the instep*, ending K2, P1. On the 2nd gusset needle, K1, SSK, then knit to the end. For the 2nd round, knit even with no decreases. Continue until you're back to 64 total stitches. Once you're back to 64 total stitches, continue knitting the sole of the foot in stockinette and the instep in K2, P2 ribbing.

Knit even down the foot until about 1 1/2 inches shorter than your foot length. On my foot, this is at the base of my big toe. Divide the stitches into the top and bottom of the foot. There should be 32 stitches in each half. Knit one round plain. Remember, the heel (or the middle of the bottom of the foot) is the beginning of the round.

Toe Decreases:
Round 1:
Knit to three stitches before the end of the sole stitches. K2tog, K1.
On next needle: Knit 1, SSK, knit to end. (approx partway across instep)
On third needle: Knit to 3 stitches before the end. K2tog, K1.
On fourth needle: K1, SSK, knit to end. You should now be back at the beginning of the round, in the middle of the sole.

Round 2:
Knit all the way around plain.

Continue alternating these rounds until approximately 12-16 stitches remain. Either graft the toe or turn sock inside out (with needles in place) and do a three-needle bind-off. As tricky as it sounds, I find it easier to turn the sock inside out and do a 3 needle bind off than to graft the toe closed. It looks nicer too and if I need to re-knit the toe, it is incredibly simple to pull it out and re-do.

Weave in the ends and you've got a finished sock! Now you just have to go make a second one.

*SQUEE*!

Rae, of Rae Knits in WA fame, has kindly picked my little fiber blog here for an award. The Make My Day Award is given to blogs that "bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland." Wow! I don't know what to say. Thank you, Rae! I'm glad you like my ramblings. Thank you for your encouraging comments!

Holiday Knitting
No work today thanks to President's Day. I got very little knitting done. I spent half the day puttering around on the computer, mostly cleaning up my bookmarks list(s), and the second half of the day cleaning up my home office and cleaning out my desk drawers. I may do a bit more cleaning out since there were three desk drawers left when I stopped.

Last night I watched Cast Away while working on my Mountain Colors sock. I remembered today what the name of the colorway is: Crazy Woman. I really like the colors, but I must confess that I bought this yarn mostly for the name. Who can resist Crazy Woman socks?! Anyway, I'm down to the toe shaping on the second sock. I could have stayed up to finish it, but decided I didn't really want to stay up too late and get my sleep schedule goofed up. So I have about half an hour of knitting to do and then all the ends to weave in. And there's the re-thinking of the first sock's toe. You'll remember that I have discovered that it doesn't fit quite right. I still haven't figured out just what is wrong with it. I'll put it on while I finish the second sock and see if the magic answer comes to me. (Of course now that I put it on my right foot, it fits just fine. Go figure.)

Update: the socks are done! Well, except for the weaving in of the ends.


Now the big question is what socks to knit next!

Mission Accomplished!

I have acquired the size 4 circular needle! I thought I was going to be stymied at first when I perused the rather woefully empty knitting needle section of the local Hobby Lobby. Then I spied the Balene circulars and found a 29" long size 4. Technically the pattern asks for a 32" needle, but I think I can probably squish all the stitches together into 29 inches.

Although I bought the exact yarn called for in the pattern (Jaggerspun Zephyr), I'm terrified I won't have enough yarn. I didn't get individual skeins, you see. I am interested in avoiding the weaving in of ends in lace projects, so I purchased my yarn on a cone. I ordered the same weight as the two skeins would be (4 ounces), which should get me 1260 yards according to the vendor's website. Inside the cone, however, the number 1246 is written. I really really hope that a) this number isn't the actual yardage I received or else is an underestimate or that b) the yarn requirement in the pattern is an overestimate rounding to the next whole skein.

I will also have to learn how to crochet a little bit by the time I get to the end of the pattern. The shawl is finished with a crocheted cast-off, which is what makes those loops on the bottom edge. I'm ok making a crochet chain for a provisional knitted cast on. For something like that, it doesn't really matter how even the crocheting is. For the border of this shawl, I'm going to be a lot more picky about it, since it will be very noticeable if it's uneven. I predict there may be some crochet practice in my future. Fortunately I have my grandma's collection of crochet patterns as well as her knitting patterns.

Casting On!

Today is the day to cast on the Peacock Feathers Shawl with the informal KAL group. I'll actually just start my swatch. That counts as casting on *something*, right? I guess that means I need to get out of my comfy chair now and go find a size 4 needle. (Update: It would appear that I don't *have* any size 4 circular needles available at the moment. Looks like I'll be going shopping in the morning.)

Sock Status
I am about 2/3 of the way through the foot of the 2nd sock. Barring any distractions or disasters, I should have a new pair of socks this weekend.

Last weekend I also started re-knitting part of the foot of a separate pair of socks. I don't know what I did to these poor socks, but I ended up with a hole on the top of the foot one day after I wore them to work. I didn't think there was anything sharp in my shoe and those shoes have never put holes in any other socks, so I'm not entirely certain what happened. Anyway, the socks were knit with a German sock yarn whose name escapes me. (No, it was not Regia or Opal.) I used Sword Queen's Elegant Ribbing sock pattern. Her site is now gone, but the stitch pattern can be found on page 45 of Barbara Walker's Charted Patterns book. It's based on 2x2 ribbing, but the ribs cross over each other periodically, making a lattice effect. I'll take a picture when I get the sock done.

Speaking of Socks.....
I have sent e-mail signing up for Sock Madness 2. I don't know if I'll get in. I know I probably won't survive much past the first round of the "competition", but this will certainly be motivating me to knit more socks.

More Sock Annoyances

I fixed the goofed up pattern row and kept on going. I'm now about halfway down the foot. Yay! I might actually have the pair finished this week!

Now for the annoyance: the toe of the first sock fits funny. It's plenty long enough, but it feels too narrow and my toes feel squished sideways. I can't decide if I started the toe decreases in the wrong spot and that has contributed to it feeling too narrow or if it's somehow twisted a bit. In pulling on it to make it fit better, it seems as though I may have started the toe later than usual which makes the overall length greater, but my toes end up wiggling into the end of the sock, which somehow results in the squished feeling. I haven't woven in the end yet, so it would be easy enough to rip back a bit and shorten the toe.

The Freedom Sweater is still watching me and waiting to die. I haven't tried a new swatch yet and, without a swatch I like better than the current sweater, I'm not going to start ripping it out. I'm so far into procrastination about this decision that I folded all my laundry instead. I also waxed my car. I did not get to the vacuuming, but it was close.

Sock Annoyances

For two, count them TWO, rounds now I have failed to actually make the twisted stitches on my braided toeholder socks. Grrr. I just fixed one round and then promptly made the very same mistake on the next round. Grrrr. The sock is now sitting in its little basket thinking about what its done. Maybe tomorrow I'll rip out the last round and re-do it.

Maybe I'll start the Peacock Feathers Shawl instead. Someone whose name escapes me is going to cast on this project in a week or so and asked if anybody was interested in knitting along with her. I figured I might as well join in since I've had the pattern and yarn for two years.

I've decided to frog the Freedom Sweater, but I can't bring myself to actually rip it out quite yet. It's hanging out on the coffee table enjoying its last few days in this iteration. I suppose I ought to just rip it out and start in again, seeing how far I get in a week. We'll see....

tornado news

yes, an F4 tornado hit my town. no, it didn't damage my house but it destroyed the fire station a mile away. I just got power back a few minutes ago but no cable modem so i'm posting from my phone. more later.

The Next Big Knitting Project

I hauled out the Freedom Sweater this evening. It's a lovely dark charcoal gray and would be wonderful to wear with the current icy/rainy weather we're having. The pattern was designed by Jacqueline Olsen by Amazing Threads. Sadly, Amazing Threads has since reorganized itself and doesn't sell the really cool knitting kits that it used to sell. Now I really wish I'd purchased the Tea Trader's Tunic, even if I wasn't sure it would have been particularly flattering to my figure, or the Sumptuous Cashmere Shawl. Fortunately I did purchase the Cascading Cables kit though I suspect it also won't exactly flatter me. Also fortunately, I tend to wear whatever I like, regardless of how flattering or fashionable it may be.

Now back to the sweater. As you can see I have most of the body and part of one sleeve finished. It's a lovely worsted weight wool and should knit up pretty quickly. The stitch pattern is beaded rib and is one of my favorite basic patterns. I actually use it for most of the socks I knit too. The trouble is that I'm not sure I like the gauge at which this sweater is knit. I'd like a bit more drape to the fabric. I already ripped it all out once and increased the needle size, but I'm still not entirely happy with it. It's not bad, but I don't think it's as nice as it could be. I've been working on this sweater since 1999. I'd like to finish it this year, perhaps even before the end of winter! I suspect I'll end up casting on again with a larger needle to see if I like it better.

On the Subject of Ripping Things Out
I think I'll be tearing out the Arrow Lace Socks. They're absolutely gorgeous, but they no longer hold any magic for me. I can't imagine knitting the second sock even if I finish the first. I think the yarn would rather be something else too, which is probably why it keeps causing me to make errors when I knit (I have knit the heel/ankle area three times now). I think it would like to be a highly textured sock, perhaps Eunny Jang's Bayerische socks. In any event, it definitely doesn't want to be Arrow Lace socks.

Yarn Arrival!
The yarn for my Must Have Cardi arrived earlier this week. I wasn't certain I liked the yarn color initially, but it's growing on me. My first impression was that it was a bit muddy and dark, but now I like it though if it was a shade lighter I wouldn't complain. It's just not worth shipping it back only to find out that I don't like the lighter color as much. This color is a bit like a latte and I think it will look great in my sweater.

Now I just have to get a few more projects out of the way first.

Finis!

Swan Lake is done and even blocked out. (I really need to get some blocking wires if I'm going to keep knitting shawls and, especially, stoles. It would be good to have a straight edge to the straight sides.) Here it is! What's funny is that I got up to the last two rows of the stole on Saturday, then didn't feel like working on it for two days. Go figure.

I wasn't entirely sure how to block the wing and whether or not the "top" edge of it should be straight or have a curve. I think I waffled between both answers. It's not really curved, but it's not really straight either. I'm not sure it'll matter once it is being worn.

Once it's dry, I'll weave in the two ends. For all projects except lace, I weave in the ends before blocking. For lace I'm always worried that the bound off edge will be too tight or too loose. So I wait until after the blocking, when I'm sure it's just right. Now I'll go have some porridge and wait for the bears to come home.

Next Project:
Finishing the Braided Toeholder socks. I realized this past weekend that I have been wearing hand knit socks every day. I think I knew that before, since I only have hand knit socks, unless they're athletic socks and I don't wear athletic socks to work. But this weekend it seemed like I had a LOT of socks in the laundry, so I counted them. I have eleven pair of hand knit socks, plus one pair that needs the toes re-knit. Finishing them, plus the red lace socks and the Braided Toeholders will bring the total up to fourteen. That's two whole weeks of socks! And somehow it just doesn't seem to be quite enough. I don't know if that's the sock yarn stash speaking to me, with it's two dozen pair of unknit socks, or if I just want to shoot for a nice round number, like 30.

Slow and Steady Progress

I'm not knitting like lightning, but I'm still plugging away at Swan Lake. I'm up to row 169 now, out of 192. I have a couple good audiobooks on the computer, about six new DVDs and no big plans for the weekend, other than the usual gaming on Sunday afternoon and working out. I have no reason to not get at least ten rows done tomorrow and maybe 5 done on Sunday.

Must Have Cardigan Plan
Remember the cardi I decided to knit for myself? I finally ordered the pattern and yarn at the beginning of the week. I decided that the cream colored Patons Classic Wool I bought in Chicago wasn't quite what the sweater wanted to be. Now I've got the same yarn in a dark natural mix, which I think will look much nicer than the plain cream color. I had hoped that the yarn would arrive by today, but since I'm not ready to start it yet, I can wait a few more days.

No actual spinning done

But I did decide that I needed to definitely not knit for a day. (Thanks for the extra nudge that way Raenwa!) Though I did ply two bobbins worth of merino 3-ply worsted and pre-drafted a bunch of merino-tencel from Blue Moon Fiber Arts in the color Sea. I have just under 7 ounces of roving. I bought this stuff several years at the Fleece Fair in Greencastle, IN. I remember thinking the colors were spectacular at the time and it reminded me of mermaids even before I noticed the color was labeled Sea. I'm not as wild about the colors now, but it's still very pretty and still reminds me of mermaids.

I split the roving lengthwise into five pieces and am pre-drafting it. Each of the five original pieces has been divided into three shorter pieces to make it easier to handle but I'm keeping them all in the same order to keep the color changes consistent between the five original lengths.
The colors are quite dark in the compressed roving (photo #1), but lighten up quite a bit when drafted out (photo #2). I like the lighter colors better. When I purchased this fiber, I wanted to make sock yarn from it. I was considering a two-ply fingering weight, but think I'll go with three-ply fingering weight for extra durability.

We'll see how long I can focus my attention on the spinning. I have a tendency to get most of the singles spun and then lose momentum before getting the plying finished, thus never quite getting the spinning/knitting project finished. Now that I have an actual endpoint (sock yarn) determined, I might actually be able to get there.

So tomorrow I'll knit a couple rows of Swan Lake and then spin for a while.

KAL woes

I'm presently a member of two shawl/stole KALs: Spring Shawl Surprice [sic] and Secret of the Stole II. The former is now on its third clue (and looks gorgeous), while the latter had its first clue posted today. Each of them takes 1500-1600 meters of lace weight yarn. Both should be knit in a solid-colored, non-fuzzy yarn. The color is recommended to be "earth-toned" for the stole and wide open, except perhaps for black, on the Spring Shawl.

The "woe" is merely that I haven't got any yarn suitable for these projects. The lace weight yarn I actually have in my stash are either short on yardage or are too thin/light weight. You see, the recommended yarns are 4000-6000 yards per pound. The yarns for which I have sufficient yardage are 11,000-12,000 yards per pound. While these yarns are beautiful, they are far too thin to work well in these patterns. I do have one yarn which would work, but it's 100% cotton and I can't decide if that fiber would work well in a lace shawl that will need to be blocked hard.

So I have two choices. I could wait to knit these patterns or I could find other suitable yarns and order them SOON! It wouldn't break the budget to buy shawl/stole yarn. I'm considering KnitPicks' lace yarns as possible candidates, but so far I'm not feeling the magic for either of the projects or the yarn colors.

Swan Lake Update
Perhaps by the time I finish the last 86 rows of Swan Lake I'll have a decision made. I've really been hammering through Swan Lake, while listening to Ender's Shadow. I think I'm getting a little burned out on knitting though since I've been knitting for three or more hours each night this week. And now I'm facing a three day weekend during which I figured I'd spend a good-sized chunk of it knitting. Maybe not. I dunno. Part of me really wants to crank out the Swan Lake soon, but part of me wants a change of pace. Like maybe spinning something instead of knitting.

Swan Lake Progress!!

I have finished the first half of clue six. I am now up to row 99! The second half of clue 6 will get me up to row 149. Clue 7, the final clue, goes to row 191. It seems quite easy to get ten rows done in an evening. Well, at least it was easy to get ten rows done last night and another five so far this evening. I might actually get this finished by the end of January!! That would be good because one shawl KAL I'm in has already started and a second one starts around January 18th. :-)

Commencing Movie Knitting!

The Bridge on the River Kwai is on TCM this evening. Given that I simply cannot let the opportunity to watch Sir Alec Guinness go insane pass me by, I'll spend the evening watching and knitting. I believe I'll work on Swan Lake while I drink my tea and absorb a bit of British properness. (I think I will try to get 10 rows of Swan Lake knit each week until it's complete, otherwise it may languish in its little basket for months.)

It has also occurred to me that I do not have a tea cozy small enough for my little tea pot. That might be a good use for my first ball of lumpy handspun from years and years ago. I think I might even be able to find that ball of yarn fairly easily.

A Century! \o/

I haven't got much to report, but this is the 100th post to my knitting blog. Yay!

I did start another chemo cap knit out of Lion Brand Homespun. If I can find sufficient brain entertainment this evening, I might even finish it. The chemo cap lady has already had her head shaved since her hair started coming out in clumps shortly after her first treatment. I don't know if the first hat still fits with less hair under it, but I figure a 2nd hat won't be unwelcome. You can't just have only a blue hat in your wardrobe, after all. (Note: this is just my theory and I haven't got any sort of fashion/wardrobe sense, so take it with a grain of salt.)

The Impending Cabled Cardigan
In thinking more and more about the Must Have Cardi that I will be knitting for myself. I'm not sure the cream-colored yarn is quite the color for this sweater. It has occurred to me that perhaps the naturally colored handspun I produced about ten years ago might be perfect for it, if I can meet gauge. And as long as we're on the subject of this cardi, I have to note that the Yarn Harlot is knitting this very sweater at the moment. Of course she'll finish it way before I will, if for no other reason than that I haven't even gotten around to buying the pattern yet.

Ok, so there was knitting

Just after I wrote that I didn't feel like knitting I picked up my sock and finished the ribbing on it. Now I'm ready for the leg. (It was only a couple of rounds of knitting, so it's not like I did very much.)

Tonight I feel like knitting, but I can't decide between the Swan Lake Stole and the sock. The sock would go faster and also be more mindless. I can't decide if I'm up to handling knitting that I have to think about yet, but I do want to get Swan Lake off the needles soon. I think I probably need to stick to mindless. Between the cough syrup and the end-of-day brain drain, lace knitting would be a baaaaaaaaad idea.

More No Knitting

It's official. I'm sick. I even stayed home from work today. I spent half of last night coughing myself silly and decided that a) I didn't need to take my viruses to work for others to share and b) that if I was tired enough to need a nap after taking a shower I really didn't have the energy to go to work. So I didn't. I didn't have the slightest urge to even look at knitting. That might have required moving too much.

Part of me says to not go to work tomorrow and have another long weekend to recuperate. Part of me says I'll go stir crazy if I don't do that and would also feel guilty for taking the day off. We'll see how rested I feel in the morning and if the newly developing headache goes away.

Hat for the Small-Headed

Well, I finished the Unoriginal Hat by Yarn Harlot. It looks good but it's way too small for the intended recipient. It's not only smaller in circumference than it needs to be, it's also too short. It barely comes to the top of my ears when I stuff my big head into it. I think it would be annoyingly snug on a bald head and lead to skin irritation and pain. I'm trying to decide if I want to try it again with another repeat added or not. It was a pretty easy hat to knit and it knit up quickly.


Knitting plan for New Year's Day
Well, I thought about working on either the Swan Lake Stole or my lonely remaining sock. There's a hitch in this plan. I have a bad cold at the moment and I feel pretty crummy. My head hurts, my throat hurts and there is an ocean of goo running from somewhere in my head down into my stomach, which my stomach doesn't particularly appreciate. The end result is that I'm fussy and not particularly tuned in to details. Obviously that means the stole is a bad choice of things to work on today. I'm not sure the sock would be any better a choice. What I really need is some sort of mindless garter stitch monstrosity. Of course, that would probably be too boring and merely contribute to the fussiness. Ugh. I hate being sick, especially when it's a holiday. I don't like to waste my holidays like that. I may end up playing computer games for most of the afternoon. That's a semi-mindless activity.

Well isn't that *lovely*. Not.

Had a rather unpleasant experience on a fiber e-mail list today. You see, I asked what I thought was a simple question about weaving with rayon chenille. One of the more experienced weavers on the list said it took "special handling". I asked what "special handling" meant, thinking that the answer might be fairly simple or that multiple weavers would chime in with their experiences/advice. It would seem that the question may be simple but the answer takes up about four book chapters, which is fine. I was referred to said weaver's book on the subject of rayon chenille, which she also stated was no longer available. I thanked the weaver for her response, replied that I wasn't asking for the book to be reprinted in e-mail and explained that I had thought there might be some sort of general guideline like "always/never wash in the machine, use a tighter/looser sett than for a similar weight non-chenille yarn, or always avoid/use a particular weave structure". The author replied that she understood what I was looking for, but was unable to provide it, which I understand. Others on the list were not so understanding, which led to a nasty discussion of how newbies are too lazy to look up their own answers and expect the experts to tell them everything even in violation of copyright law. ?!?!?

The part that really irked me was that I was advised by a list member to consult with my "weaving buddies" about this question. You see, I thought I was consulting my weaving buddies. I don't have fiber friends in real life, just on the internet. Heck, after moving eighteen months ago, I don't have *any* friends in real life, just on the internet or on the phone. Being ignorant and new to weaving, I thought I was asking a simple question. Apparently I was instead being offensive and an extreme burden to the "experts" who are forced to answer repetitive questions from idiots such as myself.

To top it all off, the list owner says she's tired of it all and is considering closing down the list. Mind you, the person who initially responded to my question doesn't think there was a problem with either my question or my reply back to her thanking her for her explanation of why she couldn't give a simple answer, because there isn't a simple answer to that question. I'm not quite sure why others have gotten their knickers in knots or why the listmom took this as the reason to consider pulling the plug.

Yay. This is the sort of thing that has resulted in my *rarely* ever asking for help with anything and also rarely answering questions on list. I ask one question and the universe blows up. I guess it's my fault that other people on the weaving list have overextended themselves and feel burdened by answering questions. I guess I'm responsible for taking care of people I have never met and making sure everything is ok for them before I say or do anything. I can't manage that for people I see at work or in real life, never mind people on the internet. Grrrrrrrrrr.

Update: apparently the listowner decided against shutting down the list. Now someone else has stirred things up, so perhaps people will forget about me. :-) I did, by the way, get several kind messages from list members who pointed out that I didn't actually start the flamewar, pinning the blame instead, on someone who protested unpleasantly about what she thought was a non-answer from the book author. Anyway, I'm still on the list, but in deep lurk mode, and may drop off in the next few weeks.

More Hat Madness

I am apparently on a hat binge. I have started another hat for the chemo cap recipient. This one should be a bit smaller than the first one, so should fit better after the hair hiatus starts. The yarn is Yarn Bee Mosaic Twist in the color Terra Rosa. I'm following Yarn Harlot's Unoriginal Hat Pattern and using size 10.5 needles. I got the idea by trolling Ravelry to see what others had made with this yarn. Threadbndr made this very hat with this yarn (different color) and it looked pretty good, so I figured I'd give it a go too. It's a cabled hat, so it will take a bit more work than a plain stockinette or garter stitch hat. I have not yet figured out how to do cables without a needle, so I have to fiddle with it, which slow things down. With any luck, I might get it finished by the end of the weekend.

Knitting Journal/Record
I found my knitting notebook last night. Well, technically I found it a couple of weeks ago when I was putting my knitting magazines back in order, but I actually looked at it last night. I have found the address of the hospital to which I used to send preemie hats and sweaters. One year I knit over a dozen hats for charity, using up yarn I wouldn't otherwise have used. I also donated a couple dozen skeins of acrylic yarn to a local retirement home for their craft program. Of course, said home was closed that same year so I have no idea if they ever had a chance to use the yarn. I really miss not being able to shop at the Garson Home's craft bazaar every fall.

I have dutifully recorded the current works in progress as well as all the finished projects that I can remember. Now that I think about it, I can remember more works in progress that I forgot to list. I also made a list of projects that I'd like to work on in the near future.

Knitting Weekend
I have four days off from work. I intend to spend a good chunk of it knitting. New Year's Day I'll be watching at least two football games, so ought to be able to crank out a good bit on my 2nd sock.

Holiday Hatness!

I am pleased to report that both hats were a big success. I have photos of the hats. I do not have photos of the hats on the recipients. Dude and Dudette were not interested in slowing down long enough to have pictures taken.

Dudette squeed loudly when she pulled her hat out of the gift bag and waved it around. "Look Mommy what Aunt M made me!" She also declared that she *loved* it and that it was very soft. I think she put it on for about 2 seconds before she got too excited and had to charge back into the rest of the stack of presents awaiting her.

The pink fluffy hat was knit with Yarn Bee Frosting in the color Candy Dots on size 10 needles using the Zebedee Hat Pattern. I decided against threading the ribbon through the eyelets as the pattern directed when I discovered that I couldn't actually find the eyelets. I laced the thread through what I thought were eyelets, but then the ribbon didn't really show up in the furry yarn, so I used yarn and both pink and purple ribbon to make the pompom. Technically the pompom isn't quite on the top of the hat. Apparently where I thought the top of the hat was wasn't really the top, but it's close and nobody but me is ever going to notice. Dudette loves it and that's good enough for me.

Dude's hat wasn't quite finished in time for the official present opening session. I very nearly made the deadline, but hadn't gotten the plain facing tacked down on the inside. That was accomplished just before lunch and Dude said it was cool, though he was way more interested in the new Play-Doh and definitely didn't want to wear it at the time. And who can blame him!? He did say there were spiders on it. I don't think the hat was quite as cool as the Spider Man pajamas that I gave him, but he did say it was good, it fits and he knows that Auntie made it for him.

The hat was knit in Wendy Peter Pan on size 3 needles using the Spidey Hat pattern found here. By the end of the top of the hat, I had a good handle on the two-handed, two-color knitting thing. I can't decide if I need to practice it more right now or take a break for a little bit and finish some existing projects. I feel a whole lot more comfortable with keeping my tension even between my two hands.

New Aquisitions
While visiting family, I picked up a bunch of Patons Classic Wool at Michael's, of all places. It was on sale, so I picked up enough of the cream/natural color to knit myself a cardigan. I saw the perfect cabled cardigan pattern a few weeks ago in the Patternworks catalog and conveniently I have a gift certificate I should use soon, since it's a couple years old.

Also acquired were: Elsebeth Lavold's Viking Patterns for Knitters and The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns by Ann Budd. Last, but not least, I was given two skeins of Unique Sheep's Verve sock yarn in Brookside and Lights. I didn't actually remember picking either of these colors, but I like them both very much, especially since I could use some green-based socks like Brookside will produce.

On the Needles....
Another chemo cap for the same recipient as hat number one. The first hat fits perfectly now, but we're not sure how well it will fit once the hair hiatus begins, so I'm going to knit another one a bit smaller. I have already cast on one hat using Yarn Bee Mosaic Twist from Hobby Lobby. This yarn is normally $6.50 a skein, but was on sale for $0.99/skein. I have two skeins in each of two colors, which ought to be plenty for a hat or four. I also have plenty of Lion Brand Homespun (the yarn from which I knit the first hat) in four different colors.

The Swan Lake Shawl is sitting in its little basket waiting patiently for its wing to be finished. I'm not purposefully avoiding it, but I'm not overly excited to work on it either.

On the sock front, I have started the second of the braided toeholder socks while I was traveling. I'm about halfway through the ribbing now. The Arrowhead Lace sock is still waiting to be finished. I didn't take it with me on my trip this year. I worked on it a year ago and ended up having to rip out about an inch of it. The pattern is just complex enough that I can't follow it accurately and carry a conversation, so I didn't even try this time. (See! I can learn!) I might get a big chunk of knitting done this next weekend since I have four days off. Then again I might get distracted by something else.

There are two knitalongs starting that I will probably do. One is the Spring Shawl Surprice and the other is the Secret of the Stole 2. SOTS2 has already started, if I recall correctly, and Spring Shawl starts in January. Or vice versa. I'm also a member of the Mystic Waters knitalong, but didn't actually start the shawl. I can't decide if I really like the pattern, now that I'm seeing it knit up.

I will haul out my Freedom Sweater as soon as I finish one of my socks and see if I can't get the sweater finished before the end of the winter. That's my winter knitting goal: finish the Freedom Sweater.

Spidey Hat, Update 2

I'm not quite halfway through the body of the spider at the beginning of the evening....

The color work is going ok. I'm starting to get the hang of the left hand tension. I will block the had hard to even out the knitting. The black stitches are a bit looser than the colors since they have more floats. This makes them look funny, but I think it will even out just fine in the wash. Now that I'm having my colorwork practice, I'm gaining confidence in tacking my sister's sweater again. (I started knitting her Alice Starmore's Armagh over ten years ago, but kept stranding too tightly so the knitting wouldn't lay flat. And no, that's not a picture of my sweater.)

Chemo Hat Update
The chemo hat should have arrived at its destination today. Today, coincidentally, is also the day of its owner's first chemo treatment. I included a note telling the recipient to let me know how the hat fits and that I'll be happy to send along additional hats so she doesn't have to wear the same one all the time.

Sock Knitting Plans
I discovered yesterday that my black socks are wearing out. They're really soft, fuzzy commercially made socks. I'll have to knit myself some new ones. Of course, I have no black sock yarn. I also need some dark green socks (and have no dark green sock yarn either). Sigh. I have plenty of bright spring-y/summery colors, but few darker, solid colors. Part of me says to quickly knit up the wool sock yarns I have and get them out of the way before getting new black or charcoal yarn. I think the cotton-blend yarns can wait until closer to spring.

Hat Pics

No, I still haven't put the ribbon into the Zebedee yet or the pom-pom onto the top of it. The ribbon is sitting on Pooh's feet though, ready to go. I'm mulling over how to secure the ends of the ribbon inside the hat. I might loop it around a purl bar and then sew it to itself. Hopefully the ends of the ribbon won't fray or else I'll have to find my Fray Check.


I'm just ready to start the red section of the Spider Man hat. I'm very glad that there is a facing/lining to the hat because some of the floats in the blue section are very long and would probably be played with by a 2-3 year old child. I know I'd have fussed with them if it was my hat. This hat may be a bit large for Dude too, though the gauge is spot on, so a lining would help it fit better as well as be warmer. With any luck, I'll get halfway through the spider chart this evening. Tomb Raider 2 is on....

Post-Movie Update: I got 5 rounds of the red chart done before bed time. I'll start earlier tomorrow evening, instead of surfing the web aimlessly, and make up for lost time.

In Other News....
The Spinners', Weavers' and Knitters' Housecleaning Pages website is shutting down in February. The owner of the site is burned out and didn't get the financial assistance she needed to keep the site running. A member of one of the Yahoogroups weaving lists is hoping to keep it going at a different site and I've volunteered to help with the technical end. With any luck, the site owner will share her files and we can just migrate and redesign the site before relaunching it on a new server. We could start from scratch, but that would make things more difficult and time consuming. So, if things go well, I could end up providing website support for both the Antique Pattern Library and the Housecleaning Pages.

Next step: to start bringing in some paying webdev/maintenance jobs. :o)

Update: The owner of the Housecleaning Pages has decided to keep them running, but to charge a fee to post an ad. Yay!

Who Knew Ribbon Was Hard To Find?!

It took me three tries, but I finally found some purple satin ribbon. Apparently nobody stocks satin or grosgrain ribbon, unless it's 2 inches wide and wired. I found plenty of organza ribbon in 3/8 to 5/8 inch widths and printed or striped ribbon, but not just the plain stuff. I finally tracked down what I needed at Wal-Mart where 5/8 inch satin ribbon is sold for $0.36/yard. The fabric department ladies were having a good time and enjoying themselves, which was fun too.

Now that I've got most of my household chores done for the day, I need to get a move on with the Spidey Hat. Or else finish the top of Zebedee. Time's a wasting!!

One Hat Down, One To Go....

The Zebedee Hat is finished. Well, the knitting is finished. It turns out the ribbon I bought isn't satin ribbon, but organza ribbon, so it vanishes when set against the hat. I'll have to get to the fabric store in the morning and get some 3/8" satin ribbon. Once I have the ribbon I can finish things up and make a pom-pom for the hat. I suppose I could use some of the organza ribbon in the pom-pom.

Spidey is Underway
I have started the Spider Man hat. So far I'm about 4 rows into it. I'm working on my two-handed color work and have discovered that I am basically unable to tension the yarn in my left hand. It's the pattern color, so I think it'll be ok if it's a bit loose tension-wise. I'm getting 7 stitches to the inch on the tension, so had to do a bit of last minute adjusting. I had initially planned on getting 6 stitches to the inch. With seven stitches per inch, I am able to work 4 repeats of the spider pattern in the hat, instead of three. I think it will look nicer with four repeats.

There are 58 rows in the spider chart, plus there is a facing for the inside of the hat to be knit (so another 58 rows in a single color). There are 11 days until Christmas, so I need to knit about 11 rows a day between now and then. I may end up knitting at my lunch hour and listening to podcasts. I've decided to NOT put a pom-pom on this hat. I think it would take away from the pattern design. Once I get past the blue stripe at the bottom of the hat, I'll post a picture.

Hat Progress

Thanks for the cheering and encouragement in getting this done!!

The Zebedee hat is moving right along. I'm done with the first repeat of the eyelet pattern. I don't know that I'll be able to find the eyelets in this yarn, but I'll lace through the purple ribbon anyway. I'll be the only person who will know that there are eyelets in there that may or may not have gotten ribboned. With any luck, I might get this hat finished this evening! My niece is going to look like she's wearing Muppet fur, but I think it looks really cute and it's definitely in her favorite colors.

The Spidey hat will take a bit longer since it's not only at a tighter gauge, it's also colorwork. On the other hand, I will get to practice my two-handed colorwork for the first time in a long while.

Here's a pic of the first chemo cap. It's a simple roll brim hat made from Lion Brand Homespun. It's not my favorite yarn, but it's soft and washable and it will wear well enough for the duration the hat is needed. I used size 10 needles and cast on 62 stitches.

As I mentioned yesterday, I also cast on a chemo cap in black and white Bernat Boa. I'm not thrilled about this one. I think it's a bit harsh looking in terms of colors and it doesn't feel as soft as I'd like it to be. I have pretty much decided that it needs to be frogged and turned into a scarf of some sort. I only paid $3 for both balls of the yarn, so I'm not terribly upset that it didn't work out quite how I wanted.

I have gone insane.

Ok, so remember a couple of days ago when I said I don't do holiday knitting? This morning, a scant 3 weeks before Christmas, I had the crazy idea that I might knit hats for my niece and nephew. This insanity was brought on by finding a pattern for a Spidey Hat. You see, my nephew really likes Spiderman. I've picked him up some Spiderman shoes and pajamas. The little dude likes knitted hats too, if last year is any indication. I had been working on charity hats last year. He had been looking at the stack of hats and when it was time to put is coat on to leave, he found a hat that fit him before going to get his coat. I thought that was a pretty favorable review for the hat, myself.

Since I can't knit Dude a hat without knitting one for Dudette, his big sister, I picked up some pink and purple novelty yarn and some purple ribbon. I'm going to follow the Zebedee pattern for her hat. She's quite the fan of the Disney princesses and all things pink/purple, so this yarn ought to be right up her alley.

Now, here's how I retain my sanity: nobody knows that I'm knitting these hats, so if they aren't finished by Christmas, that's ok. There will be plenty of winter weather in northern Illinois after Christmas, so even if I don't finish the hats until after New Years Day it'll still be ok.


Chemo Caps
I have one cap finished. I'm trying to decide if I want to make a couple more or not. I have some black/gray variegated Bernat Boa but I'm not sure I like how it looks in a hat. I did get some cheerier wool/cotton/acrylic today that's more of a mix of Lifesaver fruit colors. I don't know if that will be quite sof enough though I also had the notion that I could send the Kiri Shawl along with the chemo hat as an extra surprise.

The Promised Pictures

The blue Trekking sock. I have even woven in the ends so they're ready to wear!
Size 2 needles over 60 stitches in beaded rib.



The Mountain Colors Braided Toeholder Sock, up close.
I can't remember the name of the color. Also knit on size 2 needles over 60 stitches. I have cast on the second sock of the pair, but have only knit a few rows.


I haven't done any knitting in the past few days. I need to find DPNs for the chemo cap. Otherwise I've been baking cookies or too tired/fuzzy headed to knit. Perhaps on Thursday night if there is a new CSI episode....

Trekking Sock Finished!

That's right! That's *two* things I've finished this week. To make it even better, the Trekking sock is the second of the pair, so I have a new pair of socks to wear!

The pattern is my default "generic" sock pattern. It's beaded rib done over 60 stitches. The ribbing continues down the instep. If I were to guess, I'd say about half of my handknit socks followed this pattern. The rest are either plain 2x2 rib or are the Braided Toeholder pattern from 3Trails Designs (now defunct).

I have already cast on the second sock of the most recent pair of Braided Toeholder socks in Mountain Colors Bear Foot. I can't remember the name of the color for these socks.

Also on the needles now is a chemo cap. A friend's mom has been diagnosed with stage 2/stage 3 breast cancer. I offered to knit her a hat since she's starting chemo soon and her hair will be going on hiatus. It turns out that one of the first things she asked my friend was if I'd knit her a hat. It's a simple roll brim hat knit in Lion Brand Homespun. Not my favorite yarn to work with, but it's soft and it's in a nice blue color. I may pick up some Bernat Boa tomorrow and work on a 2nd hat for her. Perhaps I'll try knitting a hat when I'm at the movies this week, instead of a dishcloth.

Winter Holiday Knitting
For various reasons I don't knit people things for the holidays. That's not to say I don't give out holiday gifts which are hand knit, but I don't set specific goals of knitting X things for Y people. It's too hard to knit to deadline and, for me, it takes all the fun out of the knitting. If I'm going to spend my time knitting something for someone, I want it to be fun. Personally, I'd much rather knit something and just give it to them at random when it's finished. That also adds an extra element of surprise/delight since the recipient has absolutely no idea that the gift is coming. I do give away dishcloths at the winter holidays, but those get knit when I'm at the movies throughout the year. I give away as many as I get done and divide them up even among the folks who I know like them and use them. No pressure. No muss. No fuss.

Kiri Completed!

And I even blocked it! Here's a pic of it hanging out on my bed. I think the re-knitted section was done on a needle that was 1mm smaller than the original. Not enough of a difference to be particularly visible unless you look really closely for a long time.

Today I'm leaning toward working on my blue Trekking sock. I got to the start of the heel flap yesterday evening. The heel always seems to go pretty quickly. There are a couple of football games today I'd like to watch so that might be good timing. I really need to do a bit more work on my house too (patching holes in duct insulation), so the knitting might be a good break. By the end of the weekend, I might have a finished pair of socks!

Kiri Kiri!

Ok, so I'm focused again on the Kiri. I am on repeat number 3 of the four that I was going to re-knit. I ought to be able to finish that up this weekend, barring any difficulties or distractions. I promise to post pictures. (Sorry I haven't had many photos lately. There just hasn't been much to photograph.)

______________ While Knitting
Lately there hasn't been anything worth watching on TV while I knit, not even on my favorite Turner Classic Movies. So I have been using audiobooks from my library to keep my brain occupied while I knit. I can check out 10 books at a time for two weeks. The downloadable books are just *awesome*! This past week I listened to The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson (and read by the author). It was quite entertaining. If you like humorous essays, this might strike your fancy. Next up, Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card.

For some reason I need to be doing something while I knit. I can't just sit and knit. My mind starts to wander and then I make mistakes in my knitting. I also get distracted and end up not knitting for more than ten or fifteen minutes at a time. So I need to read, watch TV/movie or listen to talk radio or an audiobook. Just enough to keep me occupied so I can knit. I know I'm missing details on the movie or the book, but I'm able to knit for a couple hours at a time, so I'm ok with that.

What do you do while you knit?

"Stay on target! Stay on target!"

I am having all sorts of difficulties deciding between working on the Kiri or the Swan Lake/Mystery Stole. I'm sort of alternating between the two. I probably ought to just focus on the Kiri and get it done, then focus on the Mystery Stole. At the rate I'm going I could drag out the two of them for another month or two. It's starting to get cold out so I ought to finish one of the silly things before too long. And I have another five skeins of alpaca laceweight on the way too, which will, no doubt, get me thinking about starting a new project.

Just two more repeats and the border left on the Kiri. I've just started Chart H on the Swan Lake. I'm a member of the Mystic Waters shawl knitalong, but I haven't even started that yet. I'm curious to see how big it will be and what it looks like before I start. What I've seen so far doesn't have me completely enamored, but that could just be me being grumpy.

The New and Improved Fiber Room

The fiber room got put back together last night in good time. I have managed to gain quite a bit of space and will gain another 9 square feet when I get rid of my extra computer monitor (and box). I don't quite have enough room to set up my loom, but it's really close and I could rearrange a few bins to gain that space pretty easily if I wanted to weave.

Tonight I'm taking it easy and knitting the Kiri. I am fighting the urge to knit some baby sweaters for charity this Christmas season. This urge is probably being driven by finding my bins of miscellaneous acrylic and odd ball wool yarns. They'd be perfect for making baby surprise jackets or even wallaby sweaters, as well as hats. I feel the need to do something that would be appreciated by someone, even if just by a random baby. Of course, I cannot find the address of the hospital to which I used to send preemie hats. *sigh*

Oh Dear....

I am taking advantage of the long weekend to rearrange my fiber studio. I had initially intended to empty several boxes and then assemble the sewing table my Mom gave me when I moved. The former was accomplished successfully. The latter was not. You see, my evil plan included assembling the table and then placing my stash of storage bins under and on top of said table. Except that the table would actually obstruct more or the room than the bins by themselves. So I shampooed the carpet under the bins and will put them back in their places in the morning.

While I was at this mass reorganization, I happened to inventory my fleece stash. I had always thought I had seven fleeces. It would seem I was mistaken. I have thirteen fleeces and that doesn't count the two fleeces that I have put in the garden as mulch/compost. This includes four fantastic Coopworth fleeces from Hidden Valley Farm. I started collected the gray fleeces (one dark, one light and one medium) when I had considered weaving myself a Lord of the Rings replica cloak. Soon after purchasing the first two gray fleeces, I changed my mind about this but didn't let that get in the way of purchasing additional fleeces.

The rest of the fleece collection includes two dark gray Shetland fleeces, one white Shetland fleece, a dark gray fleece labelled "Munchkin", two fine wool crossbred fleeces (at least part Border Leicester)from Cascade Sheep and Wool, one medium cream colored fleece with some veggie matter in it, one steel gray coarse and curly fleece and two Romney cross fleeces I bought from some 4-H kids (mild to moderate veggie matter and possibly slightly felted from storage). I really ought to send some of these things out for processing, though what I'd be most likely to send are the very fleeces that I'd rather play with myself--the Coopworths.

So here's my question: why is it that the sheep's fleeces apparently multiplied but I still have the same 4 ounces of angora rabbit fur that I started with? Shouldn't it be the bunny that reproduced?


Spinning Progress
I plied up a bobbin of worsted weight merino three-ply on Friday night. I could probably get another bobbin plied tomorrow after work. Once the singles are all plied, I will start in on the Autumn Leaves roving for a change from the plain white merino. I might get enough yarn from the Autumn Leaves to make a vest. If I could remember which issue of Knitters' magazine the On the Point vest was in, I might consider adapting that pattern to use this yarn.

Speaking of yarn, I found where I'd stored all my handspun. I have enough gray Romney worsted weight to make a aran vest. I don't know if I have enough of the merino worsted weight to do much with yet. There are also the two skeins of lumpy bumpy stuff I made when I first started spinning. It might make a good hat, but I haven't even tried yet.

Knitting Progress
I re-knit the toes of a pair of Socka socks this weekend. It's getting chilly enough in the mornings that I like to wear socks to work now. This makes for marvelous motivation to get one's holey socks darned. I also fixed the toe from the turquoise JaWoll socks I made ten years ago. I was surprised to see how much they had faded, until I thought about how old the socks actually are. I suppose it's to be expected that they might fade after that long, even with handwashing. Of course, it's also to be expected that there might have been some wear in the toe area too.

The Washing of the Sweaters

It's the end of daylight savings time and the weather has gotten cooler. I have begun the fall edition of washing all my sweaters. This house and the last house I lived in both have carpet beetles, so I try to keep a close eye on things. Although I escort nearly all bugs and spiders out of the house, these little critters I squish. Mostly what I find are the larvae or larval skins. I rarely find adults. The larvae are voracious eaters of wool, skin, hair and even leather. The adults just hang out on the window sill, as far as I can tell. I have found larvae on the bathroom counter, on sweaters (next to holes they ate), on the carpet, on the bedspread and on the walls. I have, of course, found them occasionally in my yarn and fiber stash. That's part of the reason why I keep it sealed in big plastic bins rather than on shelves out in the open. I try as much as I can to deny access to the munchies.

So the cotton sweaters went in the washing machine yesterday and I handwashed about half of the wool and mohair sweaters. Later this week I'll wash the other half of the sweaters, then put them all back. It also gives me a chance to go over everything and check for pulled threads, missing buttons, and other minor repair issues.

Minor Knitting Action
I did finish a repeat of the Kiri yesterday (three and a half rows). I will knit three more repeats and call it quits. I keep thinking I can knit a whole repeat in an evening, but at the bottom edge of the shawl it takes a while to knit a row. I haven't gotten around to counting the stitches yet. Part of me wants to know and part of me doesn't want to know. I thought about knitting away the day today, but I brought some work home with me and really need to do that instead. I also need to finish baking cookies for Twitchh and the SCinet fiber team. Set-up for the SuperComputing conference, SC07, starts tomorrow morning.

Maybe this evening I can get back to the Kiri....

Horror Films and Fiber Fun!

I *love* October. Both TCM and AMC show scary movies. AMC is going all out and showing horror flicks 24 hours a day between Oct 22nd and Oct 31st. They're not always flicks I'm interested in watching, like the Scream series or Dracula 2000, but it's hard to resist the quality movies, like The Exorcist, The Howling and The Fog. I suppose, when you think about it, Halloween, being made in 1978 and being nearly 30 years old, probably qualifies for "vintage" status now. It's hard to believe it's been that long. On Halloween day, all five Halloween movies will be shown in order starting at 10am EDT. By the time I get home, they'll be showing the later ones, which aren't nearly as good as the first one.

For some reason I like to spin while I watch horror movies. I spun up half a bobbin of merino lace-weight yesterday. This is from my stash of merino roving that I pick up at the Amana woolen mill factory store at the Amana Colonies in Iowa. I have probably seven pounds of this stuff. I've been turning it into a light worsted weight 3-ply. I have no idea what I'll do with it, though it would make for a nice Aran sweater. I suppose I should go through my stash and find out how much I've already spun up.

The Spinning Queue
Next will either be the alpaca roving I bought three years ago at the Fleece Fair or the red/gold striped roving called "Autumn Leaves" also purchased at the fleece fair. The alpaca is eight ounces of jet black roving from the Oak Meadow Alpaca Farm. I think it would like to be a lace-weight 2-ply for a shawl or stole. It would certainly make a beautiful Leda's Dream or Moon Dance. I'm leaning toward Moon Dance at the moment.

The Autumn Leaves roving is 70% dyed Border Leicester and 30% natural colored Border Leicester and was produced by Maple Row Stock Farm. It's more of a red-orange than the picture shows. The natural colored wool adds a bit of brown to the mix. I have 8 ounces of this wool. I had purchased a similar colorway the previous year, but it had more brown in it. I actually removed the brown from the roving because I thought it muddied up the color too much. I think I spun a 2-ply DK weight from the previous roving. If I can find that yarn, I'll spin this to match and double my yield.

I also have some red, purple and yellow roving that I really think is quite unattractive. I'm sure at the time I thought it was quite pretty and I had some sort of plan for it, but now I'm not sure what I was thinking. I haven't decided if I'm going to re-card it so the colors are all blended together or even add some cream-colored or gray wool. I'll have to experiment with the drum carder.

Fiber Stash Inventory
Yep, I really need to get the fleeces and roving cataloged and then re-arranged the fiber room. It's time to get it organized so I can use it more readily. There's too much to keep track of in my head. I had started preparing one of the Coopworth fleeces, but I can't remember how much of it was washed or which bins are just picked fleece or washed fleece.

Travel Knitting, Part 2

I am again comfortably ensconced in my hotel room with a belly full of food--this time it's good home cooking from Monell's. The menu tonight was fried chicken, baked chicken with stuffing, fried porkchops, greens, coleslaw, Italian green beans, corn pudding, biscuits, fried green tomatoes, broccoli salad, mashed potatoes, fried apples and strawberry shortcake. The food is served family style and everybody sits at big tables. Although I was a solo diner this evening, I sat with four other people, which was nice. The food is superb, which you might expect from a restaurant that's been in business since the 1880s. If they didn't have good cooking figure out by now they'd have gone out of business by now, don't you think?

I got three pattern rows on the Kiri done last night. I got another pattern row done this evening before dinner and hope to get two more pattern rows done before bedtime. Right now I think I'll do two more pattern repeats after this one, then the border. That will add one pattern repeat more than the original, if I recall things correctly. I might go with three more repeats to make it even larger.

The few times I wore the shawl before its unfortunate accident, I really wanted it to be a bit larger than it was. Not so much longer, as deeper across the shoulders. I suppose I ought to design a shawl/stole hybrid. No pointy bit pointing at one's behind (which makes me think of my friend Dr. Pete who refers to men's ties as "dick pointers") and a nice wide covering for the shoulders/upper arms before tapering to the traditional pointy ends. I expect this trapezoidal shape has already been developed and I might even have a pattern or three in that shape. Will have to do some research.