Boy Socks Done!

Well, I got the Boy Socks finished, but not, of course, while I was visiting Boy.  I got most of the way down the foot by the time I left Boy's house and all the way to the toe shaping before I got back to my house. (Gotta love a long flight for lots of good knitting time.)  Can't say I can complain about my progress.  I actually started my trip to visit Boy with a sock which was about 1 centimeter tall.

On the first flight leg of my trip, my seatmate asked if I'd have a sweater by the time we got to our first stop and said he didn't know how long it took to knit things..  I replied that we wouldn't have a sweater but we would have a good bit of sock leg.  He thought that was pretty cool. Later on I amazed him because I was reading the airline magazine *and* still knitting. Apparently he'd been watching me for some time. Initially he thought I was just flipping through the magazine, but not really reading it.  Then he realized that I was actually reading and continuing to knit (while not looking at my knitting at all). He was truly amazed when I told him that I sometimes knit at the movies, even though I told him that I keep to simple, uncomplicated stuff for knitting in the dark

On leg number two, my seatmate asked what I was making and we chatted about knitting in general. Being a Union electrician, he understood the concept of paying more money for a high quality, long-lasting job. The idea of paying $20 for the yarn to make socks which might last me 5+ years was not absurd to him. He also admired the finished sock #1.  We chatted nicely the whole flight about various things, including the nasty face the flight attendant made at a fellow passenger who left the overhead bin door open.  All in all, it was a fun trip out and I got all the way to the heel turning by the end of the travel.

During my visit with Boy, I got a goodly chunk of knitting done, thanks to one road trip and a couple evenings hanging out at home.  I could have gotten more done on the boat tour we did, but I was too worried about dropping a needle.  I also took far too many pictures to have had much time for knitting.  Most importantly during the trip, Boy tried on the re-knit Sock #1 and declared it to be an excellent fit.  Of course I didn't really take good notes on what I did to make Sock #1 fit better the 2nd time, so I'll have to hope that Sock #2 mostly matches.  (I know that I made the toe shaping more gradual, but exactly what I did isn't documented. Fortunately "close enough" will likely be good enough.)

The flights back weren't quite as prolific in a knitting sense.  Leg number one was spent writing a summary of my trip.  Knitting on leg number two was interrupted rather frequently by taking photos of the landscape passing beneath the plane (I like flying over mountains).  And I took a bit of a nap too.  But I got the second sock finished on the day after I returned so that's pretty good.  I'll stick the socks in the next box o' cookies I mail to Boy.  He's very excited.

Yarn Souveniers!
There are two yarn stores in the area where Boy lives.  One of them, Sheep's Clothing, is actually just a mile or two away from his house.  I purchased two skeins of Socrates sock yarn there.  I picked out the colors Dress Blues and Navi's Blue. To my eyes these are more of a purple heather and a teal heather, but they're gorgeous regardless of name.  I'm favoring the Fisher Price socks by Loumms and the Naive socks by spillyjane for these yarns.

The other shop is Knitty Gritty and I found a skein of Misti Alpaca sock yarn there.  The colorway I chose, Maple Gray, reminded me of the colors of the landscape in the Tri-Cities area.  I've decided that this yarn will become a pair of Tri-Cities socks.  I've chosen the pattern Pittsworth by spillyjane.  I thought it would reflect the three rivers that run through/near the cities and the three cities themselves, plus the steppes, orchards and fields.  These socks are rather high up in the queue right now.

I find it amusing that I all the yarns I bought were alpaca blends.  I hope that they wear well.  I'd hate to end up with gorgeous socks that wear out far too soon.  I'll have to pay attention to having a proper tight gauge.

Sis' Stripey Socks
I'm working on the heel flap of Sock #3.  I might get past the gusset shaping by the end of the weekend. I've got a metric bucketload of house- and yardwork to do this weekend.  Part of it is getting back on track after travel and part of it is getting things squared away for some house repairs/maintenance and an impending upcoming move.

Chemo Hat
The chemo hat is trying to entice me with its softness and nice color.  I really don't like the splitty yarn very much at all.  The hat will be needed by the end of the week, but I've already let the hat organizer know that it'll be closer to the end of the month the way my schedule has been.  Unfortunately it's not likely the recipient will grow her hair back by then so I'm still in good shape time-wise.  So, if I get sick of the stripey sock, I'll have a crack at the hat and vice-versa.  Perhaps I'll stagger things so it's 15 minutes each project.  Wonder where I put the hat pattern.....

*sigh*

I hate knitting for an obligation.  It never ends up being a project I care about. More often than not, there are other things I need to be knitting instead (like the two socks that need to be finished in the next two weeks) and I usually end up having to knit with yarn I really dislike because whatever project it is rarely is knit with a decent wool or wool blend yarn.  I get to knit a chemo cap that's supposed to be delivered in <2 weeks.  Nevermind that I'm travelling for about half that time.  Nevermind that I don't have much knitting time at all right now with the burgeoning novel H1N1 flu outbreak. Oh and after I announced what yarn I was going to use (complete with picture), someone else when out and bought yarn in the same color then expected me to change things.  Since there are apparently several people making hats, I'm tempted to just bail on it except then I would a) feel guilty and b) probably be bashed by the other persons involved, which shouldn't bother me but it does.

Knitting is supposed to be fun. This isn't it. :-(

Gauge Issues

My sleeve for the blueberry sweater was nicely on gauge with the recommended size of needles. Actually, the sleeve was the gauge swatch. After getting the sleeve to nearly the appropriate pre-underarm length, I decided to start the body of the sweater. Apparently I am knitting more tightly now as I have added 1/2-1 stitch per inch. Now I have to figure out if I want to find a larger needle (I'm already knitting with size 11 needles) or if I want to re-figure the math or if I want to concentrate on knitting more loosely. I'd rather not re-figure the math for the gauge I'm actually getting. EZ actually cautions about knitting this sweater at a different gauge because the shoulder shaping doesn't work right. At the moment, I'm not terribly excited about the idea of going shopping for a size 13 needle. On the other hand, I don't know that I could consistently knit more loosely.

Gauge lately has become a problem for me. My sister's two striped socks are actually at slightly different gauges. I have no idea why. I used the exact same yarn and needles for both socks, but the second sock is tighter than the first. I don't recall being more stressed for sock #2 or knitting particularly tightly, but apparently I did. The difference in gauge means one sock fits more snugly than the other. It will be interesting to see how the third sock fits and whether it's of the tighter or looser gauge. Here's hoping my gauge issues sort themselves out soon and I become more consistent between knitting sessions. It would be nice to have a sweater whose body and sleeves don't have wavy sides due to inconsistent gauge.

Incremental Progress....

The third sock is now about 3 inches tall. The first sleeve is about 3/4 of the way to the armpit. And I'm already trying to figure out what I want to work on next--shawl, sock or sweater. It might be a shawl, but I would feel obligated to finish Errold's Grove first. (For some reason it feels "wrong" to have more than one shawl going at a time. Maybe I think I'll get confused between the two projects, though it's perfectly normal to have three or more socks on the needles.)

If the next project is a sock, I think I'll skip the Monkey Socks I cast on for myself and use the Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in the blue/gray colorway that I don't much like. I might make another pair of Zombie socks or Anita Williams' Firenze the Centaur socks. I definitely want to make With a Twist from the Knitters Brewing Company, but with a different colorway than the blue/gray Lorna's Laces. I might use one of the new yarns I bought at Fine Line in July.

If the next project is a sweater, I haven't decided whether to find the Freedom Sweater or whether to start something new, like a Veste Everest or the Must Have Cardigan. Or I could do something completely crazy like finish sweater projects I've already started--like the purple vest or the orange tank or the green polo (that just needs seaming up). Perhaps when I start weeding through the boxes of junk in the spare bedroom, I'll weed through a box of yarn/knitting stuff and put all the works in project into a single labelled tote.

I'm becoming accustomed to knitting in the evenings at least a few nights a week. I've been too tired to do much yardwork lately and there's less of it to do anyway. It's been quite relaxing to knit for an hour or two while watching Hulu or a DVD. I've not quite gotten into listening to a book on tape while knitting, but I'm sure that would be fun too if I had the right book. Perhaps that will be my next task--find a good series of fiction audiobooks with which to knit.

Sis' Striped Socks Now With Picture!

Here are the first two socks.
The yarn is Colinette Jitterbug knit on size 2 needles. I cast on 64 stitches and worked in K2,P2 rib for the leg and top of the foot. Basic flap heel. This is essentially my generic sock pattern. (I prefer ribbed socks to stockinette stitch socks as I think they stay up better, being both a bit more grippy and stiff.)

Blueberry Sweater, Incarnation #2....
Some time ago I started knitting a seed stitch pullover in Cleckheaton's Drop Dead Gorgeous (DDG) yarn. It's a bulky thick/thin silk/acrylic blend yarn in blues and purples. I had started using the seed stitch pullover pattern in Simply Beautiful Sweaters but had to fudge the gauge. I wasn't really happy with the body of the sweater and I was really unhappy with the sleeves, so I ended up frogging it last winter. Now I've decided to make one of EZ's Wishbone Sweaters.

I started the sleeve three times last night. The first time I didn't cast on the right number of stitches. The second time I cast on the right number of stitches and started the sleeve in stockinette stitch only to discover that I really don't like this yarn knit into stockinette stitch. The third time I cast on the right number of stitches and have been knitting along in seed stitch. I still get 2.5 sts per inch (was getting closer to 3 sts per inch in stockinette) so I'll still be on target to follow EZ's instructions. It took me a couple of increase rounds to get the paired increases done in pattern correctly. At first I had three stitches in between the two increases, but eventually decided that a single stitch in between was the way to go. And I am absolutely not going to bother with a faux seam and drop the column of stitches down to be crocheted up after. I'd never find the stitches again with this yarn and if I did, you'd never see the "seam" anyway.

After a couple hours of television (and fussing at my increases), I have one sleeve that is about 5 inches tall. If I knit on it pretty regularly during my TV/Hulu watching, I ought to make pretty decent speedy progress.

New Beginnings!

I still haven't taken a good photo of the finished striped socks. I have, however, cast on sock #3. It'll be a helix-striped sock with one-row stripes.

I've also decided that I need to start a sweater for myself. I've cast on the sleeve (three times now) for one of the Wishbone Sweaters in Knitter's Almanac by Elizabeth Zimmermann. At first I couldn't count right and then after knitting two inches in stockinette stitch, I have decided that I really like this yarn much better in seed stitch. The yarn is Cleckheaton's Drop Dead Gorgeous in the colorway Blueberries. I'm using size 11 needles which gives me a gauge of 2 1/2 stitches per inch, so this ought to go fairly quickly. If things go as planned, I ought to have a sweater to wear in a month or two.

My first idea for a new project today was to start in on the Must Have Cardigan, except I could only find the yarn in my stash and not the pattern book. Then I thought I could start on a Veste Everest, but I couldn't track down the yarn. After that, I thought I would work on my Freedom Sweater pullover but I don't know which bin the the sweater is in, although I do know where the pattern is. (There seems to be a trend here....) What I could find is the DDG yarn, so I might as well get the Blueberry Pullover going again and get a long-term WIP off my list of things to get done.

Sis' Striped Socks Finished!

I just wanted to make the quick announcement. I still have the ends to run in, of course, but as far as I'm concerned, the pair is finished. I'll post a picture tomorrow. And cast on sock #3 of the set. Might get a good chunk of it knit up too, depending upon my energy level and the weather. There's a lot of yardwork that I could get done too.

First First Sock Progress....

Since I was home sick over teh weekend, I got a lot of knitting done. The first sock of Sis' striped socks was ripped back to the end of the first stripe and I started to re-knit. I'm now working on the heel flap. Assuming my head doesn't asplode on me tonight, I might get past the heel turn and another inch down the food. If I feel like death warmed over in the morning, I may decide to call in sick. Oddly enough, I said that about this morning too, but I felt pretty decent until just before the end of the day.

Still trying to figure out the next project. I'm kind of thinking a nice cardi for work would be nice. Let's not talk about the unfinished adult-sized sweaters languishing in the WIP bins....

Second First Sock Complete!

Here is the newly made second first sock and what's left of the unraveled first first sock. Had I been thinking clearly last night, I'd have taken a photo of the two first socks before I unraveled the one that is too short in the leg. The sock in progress will have a red heel and an orange toe, so will essentially be the "opposite" sock of this one.

I believe I will have sufficient yarn left to make a third sock to go with the first two. The third sock of the pair will be a helix-striped sock with one-row stripes for an even less identical pair of socks on my sister's feet. (She already buys the mismatched socks that come in sets of threes, so this will make sense to her and won't bug her a bit.)

This weekend should yield quite a bit of knitting time. I feel myself coming down with either a cold or an influenza-like illness today. If I develop a fever in the next day or two, I'll end up stuck at home for 7 days or until my symptoms resolve. That makes for lots of knitting time, assuming I'm not too miserable feelign to knit. (I'd really rather just go to work, but given that I'm the person who sends out the public health guidance about isolating sick people at home for a week, it would be rather inappropriate for me to blow off the recommendations and work while ill.)

Now for the Important Question....
What do I knit next? Start another pair of socks for me? Finish Errold's Grove? Start a new shawl? Start a completely different project? Finish spinning up the merino/tencel roving from months ago? Decision, decisions....

Travel Knitting Redux....

I headed north this past week for my sister's graduation from nursing school. I had her try on the first of the striped socks and, as I feared, the leg was too short. I did, however, get most of the second first sock knit with a longer leg, though I just realized (now that I'm three hours away and on my way home) that I failed to have her try on the new first sock to verify the leg length is good. Sis is thinking that to lengthen the first sock that all I will need to do is add on to the top of the leg. That would be true if this was a toe-up sock, but it's not and I wouldn't be happy with the sock if I just tacked on an extra couple of stripes. I'm perfectly fine ripping out the entire sock and re-doing it right. But then, you knew I was crazy.

Nearly all the progress made on the second first sock came while driving my Grandmother back to Iowa. Or rather, while sis drove and I knitted in the front seat. Grandma sat in the middle row, while the niece and nephew sat in the back row and watched DVDs. Niece is enthralled with my knitting (which she sometimes calls "sewing") and likes to hold the ball of yarn while she watches me. Perhaps I'll get her some needles and yarn for Christmas. She's just about to turn 6 years old. She could manage a garter stitch potholder/project, I think.

Travel Yarn Buying....
You may or may not remember that when Sis visited Nashville a few months back that she became enamored of the February Lady Sweater. We made a foray over to the Fine Line Creative Arts Center in St. Charles. I figured we might at least settle on a yarn color, if not actually find the yarn itself. We very nearly actually got the yarn, except they were a couple balls short. Sis has chosen Brown Sheep Naturespun in Plumberry.

While we were at it, Sis bought a pair of earrings that a student in a lampwork class made and I picked up three skeins of handpainted sock yarn, plus a skein of lace yarn with a label entirely printed in Chinese. I was only going to buy two skeins of sockyarn but when I asked Sis to help me decide between two particular colors, she said she'd buy one of them for me and then I wouldn't have to choose at all. Gotta love a sister who not only wears, but also requests hand knit items *AND* enables fiber purchases. I'll post pictures in the next few days.

Travel Knitting Report...

I knit exactly one round on the travel sock. While killing time before my poster presentation. That's it. That is all the knitting I got done.

Now that I'm back home, I'm looking at a long weekend with very little work that I have to do. I have decided that I'm going to throw in some DVDs and knit myself silly. I have some socks to finish by Thursday and I'm only to the heel on the first one!!

Travel Knitting!

I've decided that the Eastery/Spring-y colored yarn will become Monkey Socks. I was tempted by the Spring Forward pattern too, but Boy thought the texture of the Spring Forward pattern would get lost in the variegated color of the yarn.

Coincidentally, I have decided that when I make Sis and I the Crabby McHappypants socks that they will also be Monkey Socks.

As the backup knitting project (in case I get to a stuck spot or something bad happens), I'm taking the striped socks for my sister too. They'll go in my suitcase.

Tomorrow morning I head to the airport. I should get a couple of hours of knitting in between the airport and the plane. The meeting starts tomorrow evening with the keynote speech and a wine/cheese reception that is, oddly enough, sponsored by Kraft. I wonder if it will actually be Kraft cheese that is served or if it will be just paid for by Kraft. The technical sessions start bright and early at 8am Monday. The meeting ends Wednesday at 5pm and I fly back that night. That will be a looooong day. Of course, that's also the day of my presentation. On the other hand, with travel on Sunday and a couple of long days, I will have put in a full work week by the time I get back to my house on Wednesday. After a conference call on Thursday morning and turning in my timesheet, I'll have to flex off the rest of the week according to company policy. (We're not allowed to accrue overtime or comp time.)

Travel Knitting Time Coming Soon

I'll be travelling part of each of the next two weeks. That means I get to knit on planes! and knit in the car when other people drive! Too bad I can't knit while I drive as I'll have two 7+ hour drives.

For travel knitting, I will be good and take my sister's striped socks. Errold's Grove is too big to travel well. I don't want to risk snagging it on something or dropping any stitches. Part of me really wants to start a new pair of socks. Like either another pair of Fawkes or maybe a pair of Monkey Socks or Pomatamous. I haven't had a new pair of socks for me in ages a month or two. *sighs*

The only down side to my sister's socks is that they're striped, so I have two active balls of yarn, instead of one smallish ball per sock. Maybe I'll have a plane-knitting sock for me and hotel-knitting sock for her. Then I wouldn't have to worry about accidentally yanking a ball of yarn out of my backpack and having it roll to the back or front of the plane, tangling up everybody's feet and leading to a mid-air yarn disaster.

Ok. That's it then. I'm knitting myself some new socks. I think I'll pick a cotton/wool blend and see about some pattern that reminds me of spring/summer weather.

Update: Just snagged a ball of OnLine Supersocke 100 in color 788. This is a self-striping yarn in spring/Easter-y shades of pink, purple, gree, yellow and blue. Now I just need to pick a pattern....I think something with a wee bit of lace perhaps. Any ideas or suggestions?

Checking In

It's been a while since I last posted. I have actually been knitting. Watching Eureka on Hulu and on DVD makes for wonderful knitting time. Henry and Carter have some really good lines. I made good progress on the Errold's Grove shawl getting through seasons 2 and 3. Now I'm ready for Season 4 to start and I'm nearly finished with the Bond Birds border. I'm currently on round 115. The Companion Tracks border starts at round 123.

On the occasional evening when I haven't got the mental capacity for lace knitting, I've been making progress on my sister's striped socks. I'm just starting the heel flap on sock number one. I've decided that these socks will be a graduation present for her. She graduates from nursing school on the 23rd of July. That should be plenty of time to get 1.5 socks finished.

I've decided that Sis and I will have matching Crabby McHappypants socks for Christmas this year. I'll order the yarn either late this week or early next week. That will give me plenty of time to get them knit.

Then, since I started thinking about Christmas knitting, I started to think about last year's incomplete Critter Knits projects for my niece and nephew. And the pullovers I was going to knit them too. The evil bargaining process is trying to begin. You know that process "If I start now *and* I knit three days a week for an hour..." I can usually avoid it, but for some reason I have this urge to knit for Niece and Nephew. *sigh*

World-wide Knit in Public Day!

I'm not actually doing anything to celebrate. The closest official gathering is >2 1/2 hours away. I have too much work to do around the house to go hang out at the local bookstore/coffeeshop and scare people with my knitting.

This evening, however, I will be watching part of Eureka (season 2) and knitting. That'll just have to be close enough to WWKiP for this year.

With regards to my current knitting progress, I am on round 103 and going strong. That puts me at starting the 2nd of three pattern repeats in the Bond Birds border. This is going pretty quickly even though all the rounds are getting longer every other row.

Finally A Picture

Of course, it's still not blocked or even stretched out. I'm at round 95 according to the pattern, though with the extra repeats I've added earlier, that's not really accurate. But it's what I'll go with for the purposes of keeping track of things and noting progress.

I'm working on the Bond Bird section now. This will make lace hearts. If I read the pattern correctly, I'll have three rows of lace hearts. Then there are 30 rows of Companion's Tracks (uncharted), which might give me a bit of trouble since I added extra repeats into the center. I may end up charting this section myself just so I can keep track of things.

Now that I'm closer to the finish than I thought I was, I'm really excited to work on this project. I'm actually as excited now as I was when I first started this project.

Errold's Grove Update

I have finished the Ghost Cats in Border A. I am now starting the Bond Birds section in Border B. That puts me on round 91 out of 154. That's really quite manageable, when I look at it in terms of row count. Of course, I'm at over 400 stitches per round at the moment, if my math is correct. In the grand scheme of things, that's really not that many stitches per round either.

Once the body is done, I've got the edging to knit onto the shawl, which is joined to the shawl body every other round. This is a 23 stitch wide edging with a 10 row repeat. I've never done a knitted on edging before, so this could be fun. I may learn how to knit backwards on the return rows, rather than turning the whole project each row. We'll see how it goes.

Still no pictures. Perhaps when I finish the bond birds I'll get the thing spread out on a bit of scrap yarn. I'm not even entirely certain what this thing will look like when I'm finished, given that only one or two people have ever even knit this thing. I'm sure I'll like it though. And I'll have a bunch of yarn left over. I started with 2400 yards of Yarn Place Graceful. I'll have to weigh the finished product (or the remaining yarn) to estimate how much yarn is left. If I'm smart, I'll label the yarn ball with the yardage estimate and weight to simplify future project planning.

First of the Ghost Cats Completed

Of course, I have no picture of this because I haven't wanted to risk dropping stitches just to put the shawl on some waste yarn for a photo. I have been diligently knitting a round or two each evening. With a three-day weekend starting tonight and expected rainy weather (so no yard work), I might get some serious progress made on Errold's Grove. No where near finishing it, but I might get through the Bond Birds section. I'm still excited about finishing this project.

I do have a pair of socks to darn. The heels on my blue socks are wearing thin. I had forgotten all about that until I saw them tucked into my knitting basket this evening.

Sitting here, writing this blog entry, I'm now getting excited about the idea of spending the weekend knitting and relaxing. And maybe doing a wee bit of housekeeping to get things shipshape again. It'll be fun.

Slowly but Surely

After having bragged about starting the Sister Socks, I haven't even looked at them. I have, however, managed to complete at least one round on the Errold's Grove shawl every day this week. At the current rate of knitting, it'll only take me 82 more days to get to the border. I have no way to estimate how long the border will take me. I have only glanced at the border directions. I believe the border is knit onto the shawl, perpendicular to the edge. (There was something in there about joining a border stitch to a live stitch on the shawl.)

I am a teensy bit concerned that the diameter of the shawl won't be quite large enough. I'm a bit less than halfway through the knitting, but the diameter right now is perhaps 2.5-3 feet (estimated). If it ends up being six feet across, that would work. I don't want it to be much less than five feet. My wingspan from fingertip to fingertip is five and a half feet. A five foot shawl would do nicely, I think. This will be my first square shawl, so I'm not entirely sure how wide I want/need it to be. I'm sure I can figure out a way to add pattern repeats before the border if I need to do that too.

Baby Knitting
A colleague of mine is having her first baby in about 7 1/2 months. I have, until now, primarily reserved my baby knitting for charity or for family members. But colleague is a lot of fun and I think she'd get a kick out of a baby sweater made just for her baby. She'd appreciate the work that goes into it too, since she makes jewelry herself, so understands the time, thought and skill that goes into a handmade gift. I'll ponder the idea for a few more weeks.

Sister Socks Started

Well, I guess the "slump" has passed. I finished casting on my sister's socks this weekend while watching Firefly on Hulu. These are great TV/movie knitting since they are simple 2x2 rib. I just keep an eye on the tangling of the two yarns and remember to switch colors every 9-10 rows.

The colors really remind me of a fruit smoothie. I'll start the second sock with the strawberry color, rather than the apricot, so the socks will be fraternal twins. They'll have opposite colors on their heels and toes too.

Well, maybe not nothing after all....

For some odd reason, I felt compelled to pick out a round and a half of knitting on Errold's Grove so I could start knitting it again. That took about 45 minutes, which completely by chance perfectly coincided with the length of an episode of Stargate SG-1 on Hulu. I almost started to knit the first round after the ripping back, but wisely decided that turning right around and screwing it up after I fixed it probably wasn't a good plan. It'll still be there tomorrow. As my reward for cleaning up my house.

I'm on call all weekend and the weather is expected to be horribly rainy. I potentially have guests coming next weekend and, with the current H1N1 flu outbreak, may not have any tidying up time this week, nevermind cleaning the boxes o' stuff out of the living room. So this weekend is major clean out/up time with laceknitting rewards. I figure a round of lace for every hour of cleaning is a nice ratio of work to play.

After All That....Nothing.

I bought new yarn. I cast on half the stitches for my sister's sock. I dug out the next sock yarn for me. I moved my knitting projects around the house. After all of this, all my interest in knitting has vanished.

Largely, I think I'm mostly tired. I've been spending a lot of time outside doing heavy yardwork both after work and on weekends. When I do spend time inside, it seems to be catching up on the usual life stuff--paying bills, cooking meals, cleaning, doing laundry. When I finally sit down, I mostly just want to sit and stare blindly at not much. This is not terribly conducive to much knitting.

Of course, I just peeked at Lankakamero and completely fell in love with the Vernal Equinox Surprise shawl again. Isn't it gorgeous? I've got some J. Knits Lace-a-licious in Pueblo (very pale green) that would be perfect.

Yes, I am in complete denial about how mentally exhausted I am when I have knitting time and how complicated lace patterns are a disaster waiting to happen when one is knitting while tired. But it's a pretty denial, don't you think?

Sister's Stripey Socks
So, I cast on half the stitches for the first sock. I had intended to knit the socks with one-row stripes and to knit them using the helix knitting method for avoiding jogs in the stripes (see the current Interweave Knitting for more on this or Google Joan's Helix Hat). Rather than just knitting the socks according to my decisions, I called my sister and asked how she'd like her socks to be striped. She said 1/2" stripes. Hmmm. This complicates things a bit. First, there will be jogs to manage. Second, I will have to carry the yarn vertically between color changes, which is not impossible, but can be tricky to do smoothly. The lazy part of me says to just do it my way anyway. The nicer, more ethical part of me says to knit them per her request since they're *her* socks and I can't pretend I don't know what she wants. So they sit in my knitting basket. *sigh*

Yarn Shopping Results!

My yarn retail therapy day was a success! My sister was more than happy to visit a yarn store with me as part of our day running around Nashville. She was even happier when I told her she should pick out yarn for a pair of socks that I'd knit for her. Right inside the door at Haus of Yarn was a display of Colinette Jitterbug. She really liked the bright colors, but blanched a bit at the price ($20/skein). After looking at all the sock yarn in the store, I finally convinced her that she needed to pick out two skeins of sock yarn and I didn't care a rat's patootie what the pricetag read. She finally settled on Lobster Pinch and Apricot, to be knit in stripes with solid heels and toes (one set of each color, of course).

For myself, I chose a skein of Skacel merino lace in a dusty grape color and two skeins of Misti Alpaca lace in a wine colorway, with both colors sister-approved. One of these two yarns will become an Aeolian Shawl for me.

The woman who rang up my purchase was having trouble finding the right color code for the Misti Alpaca and ended up only charging me for one of the two skeins. I didn't even notice until late last night, then didn't get home today before they closed. I'll give them a call tomorrow and see about paying them for the 2nd skein. If they can't charge my card over the phone, I can send them a check via the mail.

While we were waiting to pay for the goods, I pointed out the shop model of Pam Wynne's February Lady Sweater hanging overhead, knit in a reddish brown wool. Sis thought it was gorgeous and mused that the sleeves might be modified to be more narrow and full-length, rather than the wider 3/4 length shown in the model. I told her it was a very easy sweater to knit, should be readily alterable and that I'd even seen it in a pullover version. She then asked if it was something that might be knittable by Christmas. I laughed and said yes. Now I just need to track down the right yarn. I think Sis might have had a stroke if I'd bought it right then.

Yarn Shopping Coming Soon!

I will be taking a day trip tomorrow to hang out with my sister, who is in Nashville at a conference. I'm going to take her out for lunch, we'll stop by the Parthenon and hit Haus of Yarn. There's nothing in particular that I am looking for, but I had a fairly crappy week, so a bit of retail therapy might be nice. I am thinking that perhaps a couple skeins of sock yarn or some lace weight for a shawl would be nice. I really have no idea what I want. Presumably the right yarn will talk to me when it sees me. And if none of it talks to me, then I'll leave it all in the store. Mostly the highlight of the day will be running around with Sis. Maybe I'll get her to pick out some sock yarn for herself. I haven't knit any socks for her in at least 5 years.

Queen of Cups Finished!

I have finally gotten this pair of socks finished. I actually put finishing the 2nd sock on my list of things to get done this past weekend. So, without further ado, here they are:
Pattern: Queen of Cups from Spring 2007 Knitty
Yarn: Shibui Knits Sock in color Jewel
Needles: U.S. Size 2
Comments: The cuff is a bit short for my preferences. I might have had enough yarn to add another 1/2 repeat to the cuff, but it would have cut things awfully close for the finishing. In any event, they're certainly wearable and they're gorgeous socks. I think this yarn would make for a beautiful scarf too.

Next up, finishing the first Boy Sock and getting it sent off for a fitting. I've been rather distracted from my knitting by my garden and yardwork. Perhaps if there is a bit of rain later this week I'll get the Boy Sock's toe re-knit longer and wider.

More Organizing!!

But first, there are giveaways to share with you!! I am not the only person having a spring cleaning and organizing spree this year. earthchicknits is cleaning things up too and also having a giveaway in the process. Head on over there to see her cleaning and organizing progress.

It doesn't involve spring cleaning at all, but it is a giveaway for a good cause. orinda5 is hosting a giveaway to benefit the Roseville String Ensemble. At the moment, the ensemble does not have sufficient funds for the 2009-2010 season. orinda5 wants to keep the ensemble going so she is giving away some lovely prize packages (enough Malabrigo worsted for a sweater, Malabrigo lace weight plus beads and a shawl pin, and a sock yarn package including yarn for two socks, stitch markers and a tote bag to hold it all). Please consider going to her site and making a donation to the Roseville String Ensemble via the conveniently provided Paypal button when you enter the giveaway.

Fiber Room Finished!
As for my fiber room, I think I've got it put back together now. I even put artwork up on the wall which I never do, as evidenced by the four or five framed posters/paintings leaning against various walls in my house. There are three bins of fleece headed to the garage. There are another three or four bins of fabric and clothing I need to sort through. I don't think the fabric will fit on the shelves in the closet, so may need to figure out an alternate storage place.

That's a Strauch's Finest drum carder in the back corner with a set of Indigo Hound 5-pitch combs next to it . I bought the drum carder used from a woman in Washington state last year with some of my tax refund, talked Boy into picking it up from her son (they were both located in the same town), and Boy shipped it to me. I love it. The combs I picked up at the Fleece Fair in Greencastle, IN (now known as The Fiber Event and happening next weekend!) With my worktable set up, I now have a nice place to use both of these tools, instead of sitting or kneeling on the floor next to the coffee table to use them.

The desk chair is a rather old, but ergonomically designed, wooden desk chair I found in an "antique" shop years ago. I think I paid $50 for it. I need to adjust its height, but other than that, it's remarkably comfortable even without padding. I love the lumbar support when I lean back and put my feet up.

The cloud of fiber on the table is some white Coopworth I washed just to see how clean it would get. It's a brilliant white. It will make some spectacular yarn. I'd consider dyeing some of the fiber or yarn, but I wouldn't want to screw it up with an ugly color or by accidentally felting it, so I'll probably leave it natural white.

The bins of yarn are toward the front, with the fleeces and prepared fiber at the back. That's a white shetland fleece at the top of the pile in the back.

The stereo cabinet is holding the two plastic boxes of knitting needles and patterns I got from my paternal grandmother. The bottom cubbyhole contains the Critter Knits book and the WIP totebag. The two boxes in front have been put in their proper places.

The three bins with the fiber on top are holding the grey coopworth fleece that I've teased open in preparation for washing. Once it's all washed, I'll comb it. I did some preliminary carding, but didn't like the end product as much as I like the combed product.

As for the loose fiber on top, that's Romney (I think) that I washed some time ago and carded. It wasn't washed thoroughly however, so it is pretty sticky feeling. I'll re-wash it in the next week or so. I really need to quit "sampling" the fleeces by washing bits and pieces and just focus on getting a whole fleece ready to go, otherwise I'll continue to lose track of what I'm doing.

It's very nice to have all my fibery goodness in one place. I will probably move my living room knitting basket and other odds/ends into the fiber room. To me it feels like I'll be more productive with an actual space to do fibery things, but only time will tell.

Darning Socks!
I found this marvelous sock darning tutorial today. I had been wondering how to fix a large hole in two of my socks that encompassed a 3x4 stitch area, but wasn't sure how to duplicate stitch/darn over a place where NO STITCHES were. Now I know! I'm actually excited to try this. Perhaps darning socks will be my reward today for getting other work done.

Shawl KAL Progress?
Yeah, nothing to report there. I got caught up with other tasks this week. I still haven't even swatched for it. I remain hopeful that I'll get the swatch done this week.

Re-Assembly in Progress!

I started putting things back together in the fiber room this week. In the process I discovered some yarn I forgot I had, like the two "cheeses" (1 pound total) of Fingerlakes Un-Spun Silk in a nice pale raspberry and some Lorna's Laces Bullfrog and Butterflies in a khaki color.

I have always thought the Un-Spun would make some nice gloves, though since the "yarn" has almost no twist, I don't think they would be very durable. Perhaps a scarf or scarves would be a better choice. I'm not sure it would be quite sturdy enough for a shawl either. I figure I have about 1000 yards if I use it as 2-ply. Not sure what I'll do with the Bullfrogs and Butterflies.

Anyway, this is what things look like now.

The yarn bins will be closest to the table and the sock yarn bin may remain under the table. (The lone skein of yarn on top will be the next socks I knit.)


The fleece bins are furthest from the table. There are approximately 9 bins of yarn and about 18 bins of fleece and prepared fiber. (YIKES!) There are some fabric bins too and I intend to store the fabric on the shelves in the closet, once I clean the crap out of the closet. I don't have that much fabric and a lot of the stuff on the shelves in the closet just needs to go away or at least go somewhere else. That would be a nice solution. Leaving the fabric bins in the room would take up too much space for me to be able to use the table.

My goal for today is to have the table cleaned off and the yarn bins neatly stacked up, ready to go. The fleece bins are all labeled with what is inside. I may or may not get to labeling the yarn bins. Right now the only yarn bins labeled are the acrylics, sock yarn and lace yarn. I think it's doable to get this room all squared away and presentable today. My reward for cleaning up really well today will be to mow my lawn tomorrow and to buy a new video card for my gaming computer. W00t!

New KAL!

I've joined the Secrets of the Shawl KAL. Yes, I know I still haven't finished the Critters for this past winter. Yes, I know all the bins from my fiber room are still spread around the house. Yes, I know I still haven't finished the 2nd Queen of Cups sock or Errold's Grove or the Boy Socks or even darned the 2 pair of socks waiting by my knitting basket. What can I say. I think I needed something new and group-oriented to work on. It's been a rough week and the new KAL sounded like something that might cheer me up a bit.

Now I just need to decide between the cone of red wool or the cone of black wool. And knitting a swatch would be a good idea. Perhaps I'll do that tonight while I watch Wall-E on DVD. Right after I put three bins back in the fiber room and finish my laundry.

Fiber Room Re-Build!

I got the carpet steam cleaned and the new work table assembled. The carpet on that side of the room didn't dry as quickly as I hoped it would, so I put plastic wrap underneath the ends of the table to keep them from soaking up moisture from the carpet. I'm excited about having an actual work area set up. To the right of the table will be a small set of cubbyholes/shelves. Not sure what I'll put on them yet. Further to the right (out of the photo) is my floor loom. On the left side of the room will be the storage bins and probably a short bookshelf. I'll still have to weed out the number of bins or else there won't be room for me to get to the work table, much less to sit at it.

(No, the room isn't quite as pink as it appears in the picture. It's much less pale and the carpet is a nondescript tan, not rose colored.)

A Good and Bad Discovery

I only wear handknit socks to work anymore. The bad discovery is that two pair of these socks have holes in the heels. They just plain wore through. They are at least five years old, so it shouldn't been too terribly surprising that they are wearing out. Now I need to decide if I want to fix the holes or just toss the socks. The frugal part of me says mend them, even if the mending isn't going to be terribly neat.

Now for the good part of the holey discovery. I realize that I need to hurry up and knit myself some more socks! I haven't knit myself socks since I finished the Fawkes Socks months and months ago. Time to whip out the second of the Queen of Cups socks and then turn out another pair right away. I think the second pair of socks will be a pair of Spring Forward socks from the Summer 2008 Knitty. I've got some nice spring-like wool from Unique Sheep that's already tagged to become Spring Forward. I'm also a bit fond of the Baroque Socks from Fall 2008 as well. I won't even mention the list of socks I have queued up on Ravelry. :o)

Cleaning Up
I had the crazy idea to empty out my fiber room this evening and steam clean half the carpet. I'll clean the other half tomorrow morning. Perhaps by tomorrow evening the carpet will be dry enough that I can assemble the work table that goes in there. Then I'll need to figure out how to arrange the table, loom, and storage bins and get things moved back. Not all of the bins will go back in the room, so I'll have to decide what goes elsewhere in the house and figure out where that elsewhere will be. I suspect that will be the garage. I can't wait until the first warm weekend so that I can re-arrange the garage and get a bunch of stuff thrown out of there too.

Once the work table is set up, I'll have a permanent place to leave my wool combs, drum carder and sewing machine. Right now I end up hauling them out to the living room if I want to use any of those items. This, of course, makes a mess in the living room and makes it highly unlikely that I'll work on any large project for very long since I dislike a messy, cluttered living room.

Crapadoodly!

I *completely* forgot about sign-ups for Sock Madness this year. Needless to say, they were full up about six days ago. Poopers. Last year was fun, even if I did only barely make it into round 2. Oh well. Maybe next year.

On the other hand, I'm seriously considering having a go at the Goddess Knits mystery knitalong #12. It's only $6 and the previous KAL patterns have been spectacular. I'm thinking that it could be my reward for losing 15 pounds over the past six months and becoming a regular gym rat before work.

In other not-so-great news, I had a crack at Errold's Grove last night for a little bit. I am positive I introduced errors into the last half round I worked on. This wouldn't be so bad, except that when I thought I was "correcting errors" in the previous round, I was actually introducing them. Oopsies. So I need to undo the past 1 1/2 rounds. I should probably let it sit for the next week or two and finish up the Gator Scarf though.

Yarn to Go!

Here's the array of yarn that I'm shipping off to the Society of St. Margaret in Roxbury, MA.


In the lower left are 18 balls of Stahl Hochland Tweed that I once thought I turn into a sweater for me. In the middle are some yellow and blue DreamBaby DK and Peter Pan DK.. The multiple skeins of white/cream yarn in the upper right are skeins of yarn from afghan kits I was given by folks who no longer crochet. Yarn weights vary from bulky to DK and fibers are mostly acrylic, wool or wool/acrylic blends. Some of it is yarn that I got on sale and figured I'd find a project for later. Some of it is yarn that I purchased specifically for a project, but ended up with much more yarn than I needed or never got around to knitting the project. The bright DK stuff is yarn I purchased for knitting baby stuff for my niece and nephew (now 5 and 3 years old, respectively). Since all of this is yarn I haven't touched since I moved almost three years ago, I figure it is time to let it go somewhere that it *will* be used.

I'm excited to get this yarn on its way to its new home, not only so that it can soon become something beautiful and useful, but also to make way for more creativity in my own fiber world. I almost have enough room to set up my work table in my fiber room now.

I'm Becoming an Addict!

I can't stop washing fleeces. I did find two fleeces that I need to save for washing outdoors though. I have two long-wool fleeces (I think one is a Lincoln or Romney cross) that shed an incredible amount of dirt when soaked in cold water overnight. An absolutely amazing amount of dirt. Almost enough dirt to pot a plant with. I can't wait until spring/summer arrive so I can soak these fleeces outdoors and then dump the water on my garden. The dirt and other sheep cooties might do wonders on the plants.

Right now I've got a chunk of white Shetland soaking. Of course, what I really need to do is just keep chipping away at washing the silly Coopworth that I wrote about a few days ago, but my ADHD tendencies are causing me to flit about without focus. I'm writing myself a note, which I will post in my fiber/fleece room, that reads "You may only wash the Coopworth fleece until it's all washed, *THEN* you c an wash other fleeces. Otherwise you may never finish with the first fleece before you burnout or lose interest." *sigh*

As for tonight, I might knit on the Gator Scarf this evening, after I finish the final chapter of my overdue library book. (It's only one day overdue, I can't renew it and I'm soooooooo close to finishing it and finding out whodunnit! I can only hope that the person waiting for it to be returned understands my logic and forgives me for making them wait.)

Coopworth Fleece #1 ready to wash!

I finally got the first of the grey Coopworth fleeces teased open and ready to wash. When I first started teasing open the fleece, I'd tease open a bunch, then wash it when I got tired of teasing. At this point there is already about 1/3 of the fleece washed. Now I'll alternate washing and combing. Given my rather restricted washing and drying space, I can wash about three "batches" of fleece in two weeks in the winter. I have discovered that this particular fleece benefits greatly from an overnight cold water soak, followed by a hot, soapy wash. There is a remarkable amount of dirt that comes out with the cold water. The end result is quite excellent. I look forward to combing and eventually spinning this fleece. I have no idea what project it will become or what sort of yarn I'll spin from it, but it'll be fun to work with.

For a brief moment, after I finished the last of the Coopworth teasing, I immediately went to my fleece stash and tried to figure out what fleece I'd start teasing open next. I nearly started in on the first fleece I ever purchased (a nice light grey Romney), when it occurred to me that I really needed to finish with the washing and combing of the first fleece before getting into the next one. If nothing else, I might remember what I'm doing and where I'm storing stuff if I do things that way. It also occurred to me that I need to start a spinner's notebook so that I'm writing down what I'm doing with a given fleece, just in case I end up having a big time break in the middle.

Destashing for a Good Cause!

While reading through the knitlist today, I came across a message from Sister Grace of the Sisters of St. Margaret in Boston, MA. She indicated that their group knits scarves using donated yarn, then sells the scarves to raise money for their mission work in Haiti. This is most excellent timing since I've been wanting to clear out my yarn stash quite a bit, but didn't just want to take yarn to the Goodwill store. I really wanted the yarn to be used by someone for a good purpose.

I made a cursory pass through my yarn stash this evening. I'm apparently ready to get rid of more yarn than I thought. Close to two Rubbermaid bins worth, actually. There are yarns in there that I'm just not going to use. It's not that there is anything wrong with them. Either my tastes have changed or they were a screaming deal on sale and I thought I had an idea for them at the time but never quite got around to actually knitting the project. Some of these are yarns I bought to knit baby stuff, but the "babies" are now 5 and 3 years old! Approximately a quarter of the yarn is stuff that was given to me when I was given my loom. It's good wool yarn--some of it is Harrisville wool on cones--but I haven't done a darned thing with it in over 7 years, so I think I can let it go to folks who WILL do something with it.

The determination of what to keep vs. what to donate came down to "Am I realistically going to knit with this yarn in the next 12 months? Do I have a specific project in mind for this yarn? Would I wear something made from this yarn? Do I really love this yarn and want to keep it/knit with it?" If I couldn't answer "yes" to these questions, I figured it was time to let it go.

When I wrote to Sister Grace, I mentioned that I could also send knitted scarves and she said that would be fine too, so I even have a place to send my charity knitting too! I haven't done any charity knitting in a while, but I would like to knit my way through my Mountain Goat yarn stash and also try out the beautiful cabled scarf patterns of SmarieK Knits. I'm a whole lot more motivated to knit things as experiments if they get used by someone at some point. Not only do I get to try new patterns, but I also get to do someone some good and perhaps my scarf or other project will bring someone warmth and joy.

Starting Bobbin Two!

I have spun up the first bobbin of the merino/tencel roving. There is still room on the first bobbin for more yarn, but I'm trying to at least approximate the same spinning order for the colors between the two plies. Once I get the second set of three pre-drafted roving bits spun, I'll look at what's left of the roving and divide it lengthwise for the last of the spinning.

I have definitely decided on making this a two-ply lace weight. I think it would be beautiful in a water- or sea-themed shawl. Creatures of the Reef might work, but I'm also considering MMario's Spanish Armada. I'm not sure I'll end up with quite enough yarn to knit Spanish Armada unless I use larger needles (size 7 or 8) than I would typically use for lace. MMario says he's done the whole thing with 1000 yards on size 8 needles. Other knitters have used 1400-1500 yards, but smaller needles.

On the Critter front, I have woven in the ends on one of the Gator Mitts and have finished the second mitt. I got caught up in cooking and cleaning this evening and didn't get any further knitting done.

Re-Thinking the Wool Processing

I had a look at my fleece stash. I've been thinking of it in terms of the number of fleeces, not the weight of fleeces, which is how the processing (and shipping) charges are calculated. I've got four dark Coopworth fleeces. Their total weight is at least 28 pounds. At $6.60 a pound, that's $184, plus shipping. Yikes!! Even with the March discount and the prepay discount, it's still beyond my budget at this time. On the other hand, this means that I'll have lots of hands-on time with some glorious fleeces, which is fine. Now I just need to keep on makinng incremental progress, one fleece at a time.

Fortunately, to help motivate me, I have the book A Fine Fleece. By sheer coincidence, the fleeces I have (Coopworth, Border Leicester Cross, Shetland, Romney and Merino Cross) are actually breeds featured in the book. Who knew!

At the moment, I'm finishing up the teasing/flicking of a Coopworth fleece. There is already about 1/3 of it washed and a small portion of it combed, plus two batts from the drum carder before I decided it really needs to just be combed.

I'm not sure which fleece I might work on next. I washed a couple of locks from the white Shetland fleece and was amazed by how bright and white it came out. I could see this fleece becoming a lovely 2-ply lace weight yarn for a delicious Shetland shawl. At the same time, there's a fairly coarse silver and steel gray fleece that I'm dying to work with. It was one of the first fleeces I purchased and it's just beautiful. I don't know what it would turn into though. Maybe a sweater or a jacket. It'll all depend upon how soft it is once it's spun.

I'm In LUST!!!!

Well, I suppose that's appropriate, given that today is Valentine's Day. I was going through some of my stash today and found eight skeins of bright green Naturespun Worsted. This was a gift to me probably ten years ago. It's far too bright for my tastes, but it should be easy enough to tone it down with a bit of overdyeing. A darker green should do the trick. Ideally this would be overdyed while in the skein, rather than after knitting.

The object of my lust is not, however, the yarn. It's the Nantucket Jacket by Norah Gaughan. The pattern is published in the Winter 2006 Interweave Knits. I found it while looking through Ravelry at projects being made with Naturespun Worsted. When I got out the magazine, I discovered that I'd even started making notes on the pattern about what yarn I might use, though I did not apparently consider the use of stash yarns, based on the notes I'd made. I may or may not choose to make the sleeves full-length or 3/4 length. I'm not sure I would like elbow-length sleeves.

In order to keep myself from starting yet another project while leaving the Critters unfinished, I'm going to use the Nantucket Jacket as a reward for the ongoing decluttering my house. Jared Flood at Brooklyn Tweed talked about reward carrots in his most recent blog post. He's using a cone of cashmere yarn from School Products as his carrot. I may actually end up getting rid of some cones of yarn to get to my carrot. Delaying the start will also give me time to figure out what color to use for overdyeing the yarn and get the dye ordered. Perhaps I'll get the sweater finished by next fall.

The Spinning Bug Bites!

I don't know exactly why, but I found myself sitting at my wheel last night. I am still working away on the Blue Moon Fiber Arts superwash merino/tencel roving I bought several years ago from The Fold. The color still reminds me of the ocean and mermaids. I'm one small ball of roving away from filling the first bobbin.

When I purchased this roving, I had intended to make a three-ply sock yarn. Once I started to spin it, I thought perhaps a 2-ply lace weight for a shawl. I'm still waffling between the two options. I did split the roving lengthwise before pre-drafting and have labeled each of the smaller chunks. This should make for more-or-less matching colors between the singles and in the plied yarn.

Processing Wool
I'm finally admitting to myself that I'm not going to get all of my fleeces processed myself. I have heard good things about Zeilinger's and, according to their ad in the latest Spin-Off magazine, they're having a processing sale this spring. I'll have to figure out which fleeces to send and whether I want them blended together or processed separately. I am still leaning toward keep the Coopworth fleeces for myself so I can comb them.

Half of Gator Mitt #2!

Well, I went all hyper to knit Gator Mitt #2 and now I've lost all motivation about halfway through it. I have, however, started a completely mindless One-Row Scarf. My only "excuse" is that I was listening to Ender in Exile as an audiobook and didn't want to miss anything good in the book by having to pay attention to my knitting.

Perhaps there shall be more knitting this weekend, since I've got Monday off for President's Day. Or maybe I'll work on sorting out my fleece stash. One of the nice fiber mills is having a 25% off processing sale for February. Maybe I'll finally admit to myself that I'm never going to process 15 fleeces myself. I'm definitely not going to do like another fiber person and just throw out all the fleeces after deciding she wasn't going to get around to ever processing them herself or having them processed. O.o

I interrupt this blog for a word about Fire.

If you've been watching the news at all this weekend, you may have heard about the wildfires in Australia. Victoria is burning. I don't mean a town. I mean the state. There are fires elsewhere in eastern Australia too.

Last night, the Kinglake Complex fire had a front line that was over 100 km long and had burned over 465 square miles (~296,000 acres). NASA has taken photos, but this was taken on January 30, 2009, BEFORE things got bad.

Melbourne's Alfred Hospital (the largest trauma/burn center in the state) has run out of morphine for its burn victims. There are over 90 people confirmed dead at this time and will probably quickly cross 100.

As far as I can tell, the town I used to live in, Kilmore, is still there. Fires started east of town and continued east, joining another fire and creating the Kinglake Complex. My "little brother" DownUnder, Justin Dally, is a firefighter with the CFA. I hope he and the rest of the family are safe. It's already been the weekend from hell down there. I hope it doesn't become the week from hell too.

If you feel so inclined, the next time you have a chat with whatever higher power you chat with, please say a few words for the folks in Australia--both the citizens and the fireys.

These photos came from the galleries at the Herald Sun. (Gallery 1) (Gallery 2)

Gator Mitt #1!

Well, it still needs the ends sewn in, but I did get it finished. (All I had to do was the thumb and the claws.) The second mitt will be easy to do in an evening.

Tomorrow evening, I think I will make myself weave in the ends on mitt #1, put the paw pads on the Puppy Paws and put the eyes and antennae on the Caterpillar Scarf. Then I'll start on Gator Mitt #2.

Book Over, Knitting Commencing

I have finished reading The Regulators. I was rather surprised to discover that it has a happy ending. I can't say that I recall ever reading a happy ending in a Stephen King book before, but it was a fitting ending and a good one. There was an earlier place in the book where an ending could have been made that would have been more typical of Mr. King's work, but this ending better suited the characters involved.

So, now that I've gotten the book out of the way, I'm ready to get back to my knitting. Since I need goals to help motivate me, I am resolving to finish the Critter Knits by Valentine's Day. I don't think I'll get them mailed to arrive at Niece and Nephew's house by Valentine's Day, but I will get them done by then. As a reward for meeting my goal, I'll finish my Queen of Cups sock and then get back to Errold's Grove while I ponder the next project....

Will it be the second Slippin' Stripin' Sock from Sock Madness? Will it be fixing the hole in the bottom of a pair of older socks? Will it be finishing the Boy Socks (still haven't re-done the toe on the first sock)? Will I finish one of the other UFOs (like the Blueberry Sweater)? Or will I start something completely new?

Pattern Found and a Conundrum

I tracked down my printed copy of the Queen of Cups pattern. I have even cast on the second sock. This is good, right? Of course it is.

Here's the conundrum: I started reading The Regulators by Richard Bachman (Stephen King's pseudonym) and I'm hooked on it. It's every bit as good as his work from the 80s and 90s. It's a struggle to put it down when it's time for lights out and I am now torn between reading and knitting in the evenings. I haven't been much of a fan of Mr. King's work in the past ten to fifteen years (though I must say I haven't even tried The Dark Tower series), but I have been completely sucked in by this book. It's deliciously creepy without an excess of gore. The plot is just twisted enough that I can't quite figure it out yet. There are, perhaps, just a few too many characters, but at the rate at which they're dying, that won't be a problem for too long. Perhaps because this is one of Richard Bachman's books, rather than one of Mr. King's books, it's actually set in Ohio, not Maine. I've even been having mildly disturbing dreams since I started reading it and ordinarily I don't have any dreams at all as far as I know. So far I haven't had to sleep with the lights on, but that may change.

The Gator Mitt I haven't finished since I got stuck in December is muttering unkind things about me as I continue to ignore it. LA LA LA LA LA! I'M NOT LISTENING!!!! Is it a sure sign of madness when you start talking back to your knitting?

Finished Object! Now with Picture!

I have, at long last, finished the Boy Scarf. It is currently drying in the bathroom. Now the question will be how long it'll take me to mail it.

Pattern: Yarn Harlot's One Row Handspun Scarf
Yarn: 2 skeins Takhi Sable
Needle: US size 9
The only pattern changes I made were to cast on 40 stitches and then I knit until I ran out of yarn. I didn't really block it, just shaped it a bit while it was wet. It's about seven inches wide. I don't know how long it is.

In celebration of the FO, I'm tempted to work on my own Queen of Cups sock, but I really should work on the Critters instead. I may work on the Critters for an hour tonight, then switch to the Queen of Cups. That would get me the best of both worlds.

1/31/09 Update: I can't find the Queen of Cups pattern print out. Yes, I know it's a Knitty pattern and I can just go print another one, but that seems rather wasteful of paper and ink, when I know there's a pattern here somewhere. Can you tell I really need to overhaul what I do with printed out patterns? That's high up on the list of de-cluttering/re-organizing tasks. I don't think I'll get to it this weekend, but perhaps next weekend.

Knitting Motivation

I am slowly regaining my knitting motivation again. I didn't get burned out with holiday knitting though. Mostly I just ran out of time to get knitting done on a regular basis. Time to finish up the niece and nephew's Critter Knits. They really ought to have them before winter ends, don't you think? Then I think I'll finish the 2nd Queen of Cups sock so I can wear the silly things. A gorgeous new pair of socks can't help but brighten one's day a little bit more, right? I'm beginning to get a hankering to work on the Errold's Grove wedding shawl again too. I haven't touched it since the yarn had that unfortunate meeting with the vacuum.

So, for a first step in returning to knitting regularly--I'm going to finish nephew's Gator Mitts by the end of the weekend. Then I'll work on the Gator Scarf. That will leave just the two hats and I'll be done! The hats ought to knit up pretty quickly.

Knit Compliments

I received compliments on the sweater I wore to work on Friday. It's a simple bulky pullover from a mid 1990s Vogue Knitting and, for several years, was my default favorite sweater on a cold day. It began its life as a men's XL pullover from Land's End. Of course, it was large enough to fit me and at least one other person at the same time, so I rarely wore it. I got the wild idea to unravel it and knit it up as something I would wear. That was a pretty adventurous approach to my very first adult-sized sweater, if I say so myself. (Oddly enough, I think I'm less adventurous about my knitting now that I know how much could go wrong.) Anyway, in this particular case it worked out quite well.

My coworkers were amazed when I thanked them for complimenting my sweater and commented that I knit it myself. I thought they knew I knit, but either they didn't or they forgot. I showed off my handknit socks too. This started a really nice craft/hobby discussion. One woman crochets afghans for her grandkids. We all did cross-stitching at some point. Someone else would like to try quilting like her mom and grandmother.

At the group movie I went to after work, I knit on the Boy Scarf. This led to all sorts of amusing comments, particularly since the theater appeared to be unheated. One woman leaned over and asked if I could knit her a pair of socks because her feet were cold. I replied that I could, but they wouldn't be done before the movie was over. I did get a good bit of the Boy Scarf knit during the movie. (We saw Last Chance Harvey, which was very cute and not nearly as sad as I expected.) I even managed to join a second ball of yarn in complete darkness, which I thought was impressive. I might get this scarf done in the next week!

Brrrrr!!

It's a mite nippy here this evening. My mousing hand got exceedingly cold at work today, mostly because the heat was off at work and it was 15 degrees out at 8am. With any luck, the boiler will be fixed during the night and we'll have heat tomorrow. Nonetheless, I'm taking my mouse hand's fingerless glove tomorrow. I knit this glove over five years ago and I have always intended to knit its mate. I even left one of the DPNs stuck in the ball of wool so I wouldn't forget what size needle I used. Yeah. Never quite got around to that one. I am, however, infinitely happy that I have the mouse hand glove. (My mouse hand is always much colder than my other hand. I'm sure it's a positional thing and the glove does really help.)

Project Update
This will be easy. There's really nothing to update. The Boy Scarf is about a foot long. I haven't knit anything else. Nothing. Between traveling and being exhausted in the evenings, until tonight, I just haven't gotten anything done. This may or may not change in the near future. You see, I came across a free, open source 3D animation suite today and I really really really want to play with it. Knitting may get put off a bit. I really should finish the niece and nephew's cold weather stuff soon though or else we'll run out of cold weather! *sigh*

New Books
I did acquire several knitting books recently. I was given Mason-Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines and Poems of Color as gifts. I bought myself No Sheep for You and A Fine Fleece. I have carefully put them on my bookshelf and am avoiding looking at them so I don't start yet another knitting project before I get a few other things finished (like niece and nephew's cold weather stuff).

I'm Baaaaaack!

Can you guess where I went?
Knitting did happen on two evenings. I now have a scarf which is about 14 inches long. I did not knit while at any of the Disney parks. I was either too busy taking photos of my surroundings or riding rides where it would have been disastrous to drop a ball of yarn. The lines weren't very long at all, which wouldn't have allowed for much knitting either.

Although I didn't get any knitting done, I did start percolating ideas for knitting patterns based upon images, shapes and colors I saw in the past week. Flipping through the Delta in-flight magazine today spawned a sock pattern! I have some loose ends to tie up in the next week or two, but will get to work writing after that.

On Vacation!

I'm out of town this week. I do have knitting with me (a black wool/angora version of the One-Row Scarf, aka the Boy Scarf), but am not getting much done. I didn't even knit on the plane, mostly because I got sucked into a pretty good book and was taking photos of clouds out the window.

Anyway, hope you all have a good week! I'll be back soon.

Well, That's Over

I did not give any hand knitted gifts for the holidays this year. I didn't even get the eyes sewed on the Caterpillar Scarf. I had hoped to finish at least the first Gator Mitt while I was out of town, but I discovered that I was short a spare DPN, which made it rather impossible to finish the claws on the mitts. So I worked on my One-Row Handspun Scarf. I did manage to get it finished while I was away.

And then I felt really odd because I had no projects with me upon which I could work. It feels strange to be without a WIP after years and years and years of always having some project with me.

Anyway, here's my scarf. The yarn is Mountain Colors Mountain Goat in the color Ruby River. It's a mohair blend. Personally, I would rather it was a bit softer, but it's not uncomfortable to wear against my neck. I will use the other two skeins of this yarn (in completely different colors) to make two more of these scarves to give away as gifts or donations.

Weeding Out the Stash
I have bundled up a selection of spinning fibers to send to my stepmom. Right now that selection includes some domestic wool roving, cotton roving (short staple and long staple), undyed silk and two pounds of a teal/multi wool roving. The dyed wool roving was one I purchased at a fiber festival over five years ago. At the time, I thought it was very pretty. Now it doesn't appeal to me as much, but I think the colors would suit my stepmom very well, were she to spin the yarn for herself. In any event, I'm sure all the fiber I send will be put to good use.

Half a Gator Mitt Done

I have discovered that the pattern is full of errors though. The numbers don't work out and the thumb stitches are put on a holder in such a way that the working yarn divides the thumb hole into two smaller holes. I'm glad I noticed that one before I got more than a couple rounds past the thumb hole. Now that I've looked for it at the Morehouse Merino site, I see that there is an errata sheet for the Gator Mitts. I'm a little disappointed that the errata wasn't included with the pattern, but at least this confirms that the problem is their math, not mine.

I might get a mitt finished today. I could get another one finished by Tuesday. Definitely going to be short at least one scarf and one hat this year. Niece will have her mitts and scarf. Nephew will have mitts and a hat. The rest will get shipped later.

I Think I'm Giving Up

I knit half of a child's mitten cuff last night. I didn't even pick up the needles tonight. I just don't have the energy. Today I realized I am definitely coming down with a cold. I was in denial about it last night, but it's unavoidable today. Between my newfound cold, stress from work and a general lack of exercise, I don't have much energy at the end of the day. I really needed to get the mittens finished by this evening so I could get two hats finished this weekend and a scarf done next week. I don't know when I might have the brain and energy to knit in the evenings. Right now I'm more interested in poking myself in the eye with a pointy stick and/or sleeping.

Now the question is, if I give up knitting these things to be done by Christmas, do I still try to finish them and send them later (like in early to mid-January)? I suppose I should, since I bought the patterns and the yarn.

On that note, I'm taking my mug of hot tea and going to bed.

8 Days Left

And I've only got a pair of mittens, one scarf, two hats and a Boy Sock to knit. I'm even behinder than the Harlot!! My goal is to finish the 2nd Puppy Paw this evening. I'll cast on the Gator Mitts as soon as the Paw is finished.

Fortunately, Boy understands that his socks will be late. I saw Boy this past weekend, but didn't have a chance to get his toe re-done for him to try on. I debated sending the first sock when it's done but that would be silly if it fit, so I'll wait and send them both together. I suspect these socks will be my airplane knitting when I go on my trip in January.

My spinning wheel is not tempting me nearly as much as it tempted me last week. This is good. I'd never finish my holiday knitting otherwise.

And now back to watching Shadow of a Doubt. Joseph Cotton is one of my favorite actors.

No, Really. Must Start Soon.

I have 1.3 Puppy Paws finished. I suspect the new, improved Puppy Paws will now be waaaaay too big. I have started to rip out the toe of Boy's Sock. I'll see Boy on Saturday, so it would be nice if I actually got the toe re-knit by then so we can have a fitting. I also need to actually pack and get organized to head out tomorrow.

So, since I'm supposed to be knitting, I've been spinning a little bit each day instead. That makes all kinds of sense, right? This is the sort of logic that works best for me. Avoid what you have to get done and do other stuff with no deadline at all that you've not even been interested in for months. Maybe I just like the whirring of the wheel.

Regarding the spinning, I had intended to spin a 3-ply sock yarn, but I had also toyed with the idea of a 2-ply laceweight. Now I'm leaning more toward the laceweight and considering making a shawl or stole out of it. The downside to this is that the yarn will be variegated with a lot of difference between the colors. I don't like lots of variation in color in shawls. Maybe it will be socks afterall.

Must Get Cracking....

I haven't been knitting very much. Well, I added an inch or so to my new winter scarf, but that was mostly done while resting my eyes/brain on Saturday when I had a headache. I still have Boy Socks to finish (and I see Boy in one week), the Puppy Paws, the Pony Tail Hat, and all the Gator Gear for the niece and nephew. I won't mention Boy's Scarf. Given that I have other things I need to get done this week, I don't think I'll be knitting every night this week. I'll aim for getting the first Boy Sock re-knit so that it fits better and then have the fitting on Saturday when I see Boy. After that, I'll have to really get cracking on the Critters. The Gator Scarf might take me a while, especially if I'm having to adjust the pattern for the gauge I'll get with the yarn I've chosen. Boy will understand if his socks are delayed until late December or early January. The niece and nephew may not.

Cleaning House
I've been making good progress on some long-delayed de-cluttering in my house. I am probably going to weed out my stash as well. Some of it I'll just donate either to a charity that solicits yarn donations or I'll take it to GoodWill. I may try to sell some of the better stuff that I just don't think I'll ever get around to knitting. Having a large stash is great, as long as it doesn't loom over you and make you think you aren't doing enough with it. I have, at least, managed to catalog it in an Access database.