Fishy Knits

Stuff that needs to be finished...

2010-01-02T17:13:00.000-08:00

So I poked around a bit in the wool room and found a few unfinished projects but; Ah geez... I really want to start knitting something NEW. Like the baby leggings found here. What? I was taking a break... and look... OMG they are just too cute! I don't think I will be able to resist long.

To Finish... so far I have found...
The Red Sweater...
An Afghan (little over a third done)
Socks for the new DIL (about 1/2 way) two socks one circular needle.

Found.... Two baby sweater kits that I have had in the stash for awhile... they jumped off the shelves screaming "Cast me on!"... So, they are now both on the desk, waiting for me to search for the proper needles.

Wait, wasn't I supposed to be finishing stuff? Ah well....

Knit Happy!

Hello 2010!

2010-01-01T13:02:00.000-08:00

Hope that everyone had a safe New Year's Celebration. We had a rather quiet one here. Out for a nice supper, then back home where hubby played on the computer and I knit until I couldn't see my stitches any longer. Unfortunately that meant that I didn't "knit-in" the New Year as I was in bed and fast asleep by 10pm. Also quiet as there weren't a lot of fireworks either. I assumed there would be more noise, being the end of a decade and all, but no.

I will be taking stock this weekend of the projects still on the needles from last year and getting them organized for either completion or a trip to the frog pond, whichever seems appropriate. The red sweater for the niece is moving along nicely, working on that all this weekend as it is overdue for it's delivery. No, it won't be finished this weekend... but it will be farther along.

Happy Knitting!

Happy Merry!

2009-12-25T10:39:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone has a Blessed Christmas!

Fall is Finished!

2009-12-21T17:42:00.001-08:00

Yay! We have reached the last turning point of the year. Fall is my favorite season, but I am glad that it is finished now for the colors have faded and it seems the past few days have been rather dark and gloomy. Tomorrow the Sun will be lighting the sky just a titch earlier, and with it's light increasing every day perhaps new changes will come. Only 1o days left in this year, and 4 till Christmas morn... so just where did all the days go?

We had an awful lot happen around the Thanksgiving Holiday, so that was our big celebration this year and Christmas will be pale in comparasion, but that is fine. All the family was together at TG. and that was what made it special. K3's first birthday party was celebrated on the Saturday following TG. and the third Family Celebration of that weekend occured on Sunday, and that was the wedding of our eldest son and his sweetie. Awesome! I have two of the best Daughter in law's ever! I am blessed!

Knitting... I know I did plenty, but blogged about little. Heck, I have rarely blogged at all since October. I doubt that I have any readers left. Finished 4 hats just before Thanksgiving for some of the kidlets and am working on a 5th, for my grandsons' cousin. Hers is going to be a pink beret with a flower. Almost halfway finished with the hat and still have to look for "flower"patterns. This will mean moving "Bella" (the CPW) out of the Wool Room as she is parked right in front of the bookshelf. How inconvenient. ;-/

New Year's Resolutions...
1. Knit More!
2. Try to blog more consistantly.
I have others as well, but those are the ones I am sharing for now. Who knows, if I keep up with #2, then you may find out.

Have a Wonderful Christmas and a safe New Year Celebration!

Cell phones and Cats

2009-10-27T12:43:00.000-07:00

Cell phones are such useful little things. We don't tend to think much about them unless they aren't working properly or we can't find them. Mine isn't working properly... well it isn't working at all. Ichabod vomited on my phone the other evening, sometime after I had gone to bed and the phone sat in a puddle of cat sick all night. Lovely sight first thing in the morning I can tell you that. So... cleaned the outside, opened it up and cleaned out the inside removing battery and sim chip, cleaned them up and left them out to dry. Two days later and still doesn't work. Purchased a new phone today as soon as I got off of work and they tried to copy data from my old sim chip. Nothing... absolutely nothing on the chip. ARGH! So I am with out my contacts. Family will be easy to replace... as they are all on the hubby's phone too, but I had plenty of numbers that aren't in his contact list and they are all gone now. ::::pout:::: So, if I am in your phone contact list... give me a call... my number is the same. (or shoot me off an email) Those of you who know me well know that I don't use my phone that often, but being without it for the past few days has made me realize that I was still quite attached to the thing.

I went with the Motorola Karma as it is hearing aid compatible and was one of the VERY few phones that didn't insist that you added a data or text package to your phone service. I've spent the past half hour or so figuring the thing out, and except for the fact that the actual keys are tiny (and I do mean TINY) I like it.

I lost more than phone numbers tho... also missing the photos of the grandbabies and my ring tone. Hoping that son #1 still has access to the ringtone. (he downloaded it to my phone in the first place) The photos can be replaced with a phone call as well. (probably easier than the ringtone to replace) Can also download photos from the computer if I can find my halfsized USB that is around here somewheres.

Knitting... Yes, still doing that. ;-) Nothing to report from the last knitting update however. Slower than molasses here.

Spinning... more than normal

2009-09-29T21:25:00.000-07:00

I am really loving my CPW "Bella" she spins so nicely and quietly that I have found myself spinning much more than normal. Have been sitting down with her for at least 30 mins per day this past week. I think that my spinning may be improving with the practice. ;-)

Plied up the bit of Crown Mountain Farms singles that I spun on Bella, and Navajo plied it on the Babe. Looks like it will be a fairly balanced yarn. I was really, really worried as I had a kinky mass of yarn. Couldn't hardly get it on the swift to wind it into a ball. Of course that might have helped take some of the twist out of the singles as well. hmmmm. Next time I ply the yarn that I have spun on Bella, I am going to release the tension on the drive band and ply it directly on the Babe instead of winding off Bella's bobbin to a niddynoddy then to the swift and then a ball and finally plying. Too many steps in that mess there. There is half a bobbin spun up from this evenings work of the dark chocolate brown Romney (cross?... can't find the information, thought it was in the bag with the fiber.) Feels like Romney, a bit coarse, will see if I get a decent yarn and yardage and may attempt a pair of socks. They should be warm even if they may be a bit itchy.

Knitting news... same old stuff on the needles. A few stitches here and there on the Helmet Liner. A few rows here and there on the DIL Socks, a few rows on the sock yarn afghan... like I said... same old shit. Haven't fixed the stitches on the Ninja Mask yet... I did a rip back and just threaded a smaller needle through. Still have stitches that are mounted incorrectly and a few that I missed in the pick up. Perhaps tomorrow afternoon I will get around to some of that. ;-)

Also have to repair a commercially knit hat for a friend. She brought it to me to work on in late spring early summer and I have just started to isolate the stitches that need repair work. What? It has been too hot to wear a wool hat anyhow... shush! Have run a sewing thread through the rows where there are stitches to pick up. Will duplicate stitch over the "missing stitches" using the sewing thread as a base. Found this neat tutorial quite awhile back and refer to it when ever I have to do fix up work like this. (my mind requires refreshing with stuff I don't do often) It relates to sock darning, but stitches are stitches. It is Judy Becker's blog, Persistent Illusion... check it out. I linked to the tutorial, but do take the time to browse her blog if you are unfamiliar with it.

Gosh... here it is an hour past my bedtime. Yikes! Morning comes far too early!

Happy Knitting!

Been Awhile

2009-09-26T14:58:00.000-07:00

I need to get a regular posting schedule going I think. Seems like I've only posted once or twice a month for awhile.

Just a recap here of what I have been up to. Left for a week in Hawaii on Saturday the 12th of September. Had an interesting morning at the airport. The fun started at the security checkpoint when they scanned and re-scanned and then sat staring at the x-ray photo of one of my carry on bags. Poor TSA lady had a confused look on her face. I knew what she was seeing and I started to smile... she looked over at me with a puzzled look on her face and said, "It looks like you have pick up sticks in here." "Circular knitting needles and a hell of a lot of yarn" I replied. A smile replaced her quizzical look and she said, "Oh"... scan over.

Stopped at *bucks and got my coffee and then sat down at my gate pulled out my knitting and knit while I waited. A fellow and his wife, probably just a few years older than myself, sat down in the seats next to mine. After getting settled, he went and got his wife a coffee and himself a big bottle of juice. Now I wasn't really watching them, but did notice when he bent down and pulled out his quart baggie of liquids... he was sitting right next to me... pulled out a mouthwash bottle, opened it and dumped the 3.5oz of "Mouth Wash" into his OJ. I could smell that it wasn't mouthwash, LOL, and I also noticed that he had another 4 bottles of the same "mouthwash" in his baggie. He proceeded to drink a total of three more bottles before the plane landed in Maui. They were sitting one row in front of me and on the other side of the aisle. I suppose that is one way to get your "liquids" past the TSA and have an adult drink on board the plane and not have to pay the fee for the alcohol. Luckily he didn't turn into a noisy drunk. He did talk quite a bit more as the flight went on, but he kept his voice down and spoke only with his wife, and was just a bit wobbly in the aisles as we were disembarking after the flight.

Finished up the Babies and Bears cardigan in a 0 - 6 month size. Ends woven in, just needs buttons. Heads up to anyone wanting to knit this pattern, there are a bunch of ends to weave in, one section to kitchner up, but nothing to actually seam up. Knits up fairly quickly and is an easy straight forward knit, all sizes have the same amount of stitches... so gauge in this pattern really does matter.

The Orange Ninja Mask was frogged part way back. Going to base it on the Helmet Liner pattern especially for the face opening area. It was a sagging and a bagging and trying to curl up on me the way I was attempting. Riiiiiiippppiiiiiittttt!

Need to sit down with pad and paper and figure out what all needs to be knit before Thanksgiving and what can wait till after Christmas. Thinking that I need to do this real soon. (I don't do actual Christmas knitting, I don't need the stress that would cause!)

Spent 8 days in Hawaii visiting with my DIL and the grandkids. Had a blast. Didn't want to return home, but alas, work must be done if I want money for yarn and fiber. ::::pout::::

Didn't get as much knitting done in Hawaii as I would have at home, but did managed to knit the Hat for Hat Wars and send it out to my target the morning after the pattern was released. My own Hat "bomb" arrived on Wednesday afternoon. Was fun but short lived, ah well, I wouldn't have had time to keep up really anyhow as I was back to work the day after I got home.

Spinning at the Fair on Sunday, tomorrow, I signed up for all three shifts so 10 - 10. Should be fun. Taking my babe wheel and a spindle and also a small knitting project. Just a bit more fiber to be spun up on this bobbin and then will need to navajo ply. That should go fairly quickly. The fiber is a Merino X in grey. Purchased this fleece last year at the Black Sheep Fiber Festival in OR. It's a nice grey color. Intending to spin up enough for a sweater, hat, scarf, and wrist warmer/gloves. It's a big, big, fleece... ~8 pounds of it after cleanning so no worries about running out.

11 Sept - A day of Remembrance.

2009-09-11T14:02:00.000-07:00

We shall never forget that day in 2001; the memories we have of where we were and what we were doing when we heard the news will always be vivid and sad ones.

Today on my drive to work I noticed that there was a distinct lack of Flags flying. Unlike in years past very few people had their flags flying outside their homes. Yes, there were the usual few that I pass by on a daily basis that had theirs out, but it just wasn't as prevelant as in the past. In fact I counted them today and including the 2 at the local Firestation I only counted 9. Granted I don't have a very long commute, but still... In the years past I could count past 20 before I drove the 2 blocks out of my own neighborhood.

This I find very sad and dissapointing, and I wonder why the lack of flags this year? Are we as a Nation forgetting those that lost their lives that day? Those in the Towers, in the Pentagon, those on the Planes, the Firemen, are they being forgotten?

Garlic Fest and the Wheel's progress.

2009-08-30T16:07:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning we went to the Garlic Festival, had to buy some for planting as well as eating. We still have some left from our harvest here at the house, but those are for eating not planting. Don't have enough to do that. Watched a fellow making a garlic braid. Interesting. Going to have to try it out.

You can't go to a festival without a trip to the beer tent. We sat there and listened to music and the guys had a beer. The one that belongs to me is in the blue shirt, the other fellow is our neighbor.

Saturday afternoon on the way home from the Garlic Festival we stopped in at The Olympic Pub for a drink... and a knit. Lighting wasn't the best, but it was good enough to knit on the sock. Lots of beer... but I don't drink beer... had a Martini instead. Yummy!

Here are the guys at the pub.

Thanks to my friend Jeanie who mentioned last night... to check into a ravelry group that focused on the wheel type that I have. She figured out what I had before I did. I was still trying to dig up info based on the info on the Makers Mark. I got that it was made in St. Hyacinthe Quebec, and I had stumbled across a few other's web sites that mentioned this maker but nothing with much information. So, as I said, she points me towards this group; CPW Lovers (That's Canadian Production Wheel... for those of you, like me, who were/are totally clueless) Yes, I knew that I had a Canadian wheel... figured that since St. Hyacnithe is in Quebec...and that the years they were in production ranged from 1860-1920... and there ended my knowledge. But that there was a compiling of information about such wheels? and On Ravelry no less? Huh. I don't spend enough time on ravelry me thinks. Now, I think my yard sale purchase is just getting better and better every minute.

So after 3 hours or so of reading on the site (and probably that many more hours to read, there is a lot of stuff) I find something that helps me with one of the obvious problems I was having. How to remove the whorl because someone put it together with out the flyer on the shaft. And It Was On Good and Tight! Needed a session with WD-40 this am and to have the shaft clamped in a vise, I put on a leather glove for grip and padding. Said the Lefty Loosy Righty Tighty rhyme and because this one is REVERSE Threaded that means it's backwards so which direction is Right. Yes I am directionally challenged. I can do North South East and West... but NOT left and right. Figured it out and off she came. Cruddy sticky on the shaft, and whorl so Murphy's Oil Soap to the rescue. Got it all cleaned and left it out to dry for a bit then rubbed it all down with Lemon Oil.

Notice the treadle is wrapped in a sock, I have a wire coat hanger acting as the footman and it is wrapped around the sock (don't want to scratch her) and up to the wheel arm there. Just a temporary fix. Going to see if I can find me a black smith or other iron worker who can make me a new one. From what I understand, these wheels had a rod instead of a wooden footman. So... will need to gather photographic evidence so that I can show the fellow what I want. The hanger works pretty well, but I have to shift it every so often.

Used # 10 cotton crochet thread for the drive band. Need to be a flipping octopus for this maneuver if you do it alone. Took four tries but I got it. I ended up putting in a slip knot, fastened that around the far maiden and then wound my way around and back to that point. Then carefully loosened that puppy, slid it up and off the maiden and tied a square knot. Tugged to make sure it was secure and then trimmed my ends up.... .... and she worked!

This pretty lady can spin!

She is definitely not at all like the babe! She spins far, far better, and quieter. I think that we are becoming friends quickly,... maybe. (grin) I fully expected to be spinning troll hair at first, and granted the first few yards are pretty rough looking, not as bad as my rank beginning days but still not something I would care to show off as a finished product. As I got a few more yards spun we seemed to be coming to an understanding of how she spins and takes up. Also, she seems to be demanding attention. I MUST pay attention to her, or she's a bit of a trickster because as soon as I feel I have the treadling - floating thing down pretty good and I am "zoning", she snaps the bloody yarn. ;-) Have to pay more attention this evening and see if I can "catch" what's going on when that is happening. {perhaps too much twist cause I wasn't fast enough?}

The stuff on the far back is pretty rough looking... but the front stuff is looking better.

The Maiden... she did not split

2009-08-28T16:56:00.000-07:00

My neighbor lady, she that plays with wood... she is quite talented... was able to fix the maiden. She evened up the rough bits, drilled a hole in both pieces of the maiden, inserted a hard wood dowel aproximately one inch deep in both pieces added glue and put the puppy back together once again. Today, she sanded off any rough bits and even stained and "antiqued" the surgery site to closely match the original color. If you didn't know before hand that it had needed surgery you would have to search to find the surgery site. Wow! Gotta love a master craftsman/woman.

I noticed Wednesday that the flyer wasn't on the bobbin shaft and also even worse it wasn't in my possession and I became very nervous. I know that would be the hardest part to replace. The woman I purchased from had said that she had a few items that belonged with the wheel, but they were in a can in the back of her shed and would I be able to swing by on Friday to pick them up? "Of Course!" Guess what was on the top of the can... The Flyer. Woo Hoo! I had even taken a photo of the one on my babe so that I could show her what it looked like if it wasn't in the can. The other items... some wool roving (that went in the compost... it didn't look too healthy and I didn't want it in my wool room) A set of older hand carders ( I vacuumed these out really really good with the shop vac) Oiled them up and am going to put them in a large zip lock bag for a bit to make sure that if there are critters that they don't infest my stash. Also inside the can was a shuttle for weaving.

So... Now how to get the flyer back on the bobbin shaft with out breaking anything... nothing wants to come off the shaft. The drive band wheel and the bobbin I would think should slide off the narrow end of the shaft but they won't. Don't know if there is a fancy trick that I am ignorant of or what I don't want to resort to brute force. Still need a footman... (what I was calling the "treadle arm" as I couldn't recall the term) Some of my hubby's friends are bending their brains around the problem. I will be visiting some of the antique shops in the area and seeing if they have any or know where to find one. (otherwise the guys will cobble me together one and knowing them it could be interesting) I am going to measure the space between points A and B at various angles so I will have some idea as to what I am looking for sizewise. Any one out there who has more info please clue me in. :-) Can't wait to get the "Old Lady" spinning once again. Have to name her pretty soon, or she is going to be Old Lady and that so lacks respect. ;-) Also want to go talk to the woman I purchased her from and see if she has any information at all on the previous owner. I know she was using it... as the bobbin came with some wool spun up. (That too went to the compost bin tho... it had been sitting a long while and looked iffy). Can't afford to take chances on infecting my stash... not enough freezer space in this house!

Knitting News!
*Finished up the Lucy bag. It needs a date with the washer for shrinkage. Then delivery to it's recipient.
*Only 30 more rows on the pattern insert on my Nieces RED birthday sweater. Then just a whole lot of seed stitch. That will be much easier than a cable pattern that changes every other row. Can't do the insert pattern unless I can sit in a quiet space.
*My Braids Cardi is out of the bottom of the basket and is now being worked upon once again. Only 4 more decreases at the armpit and then joining. Have to find my notes on the previous sleeves decreases. I am going to try to make this my airplane knitting when I head for Hawaii. (If it isn't finished before then) That way I don't have to pack a jacket for my return. I'll be able to wear my sweater. Which means of course that when I get back to SeaTac it will be 85 degrees at 6:30 am... unlike the blizzard when I returned last time with just a light jacket.

Knit Happy!

It Followed me home....

2009-08-26T16:01:00.000-07:00

That's my story and I'm sticking with it...

She's pretty, and in fairly good condition, I believe, for her age. I currently spin on my Babe or on one of my many drop spindles and I will be the first to tell you that I know next to nothing about an older wheel. I don't however, think that she will be too difficult to restore to prime old lady condition. If you know otherwise... please let me know gently. :-)

The arm connecting the treadle to the wheel is MIA. I have looked at a few photos online and plan to look at more, but I think that this should be a fairly easy fix.
This next fix will be a bit more tricky. There will need to be holes drilled in the center of the two pieces, a hardwood dowel inserted and glue applied. If the drilling goes well, then the prospects are good. If the maiden splits... (hmmm that sounds rather vulgar) if she splits... then I will require the services of a woodworker to duplicate the piece. And possibly an ironmonger/blacksmith type of person to re-set or duplicate the metal portion.

This is just a shot of the Mother of all and the one surviving maiden. you can see how the hole is plugged with the remains of the broken maiden. I did slip that piece out of the Mother tho and so the maiden is now ready for surgery. I don't know if I am going to attempt it on my own or have someone else attempt the surgery. Most likely someone else... I do know a few people that play with wood and major wood tools on a regular basis. I have a wood lathe in the garage and a drill press and some other fun toys that belonged to my dad, but I haven't spent much time using any of them since I was a teenager. That was long and long ago...

Makers Mark? There is writing on the bottom of this piece as well. One of the inscriptions reads to Mr and Mrs. (and then the rest is illegible to my eyes) also writing in another area of the bottom in what looks like pencil and I can't read that either. I am going to claim poor lighting and faint writing but it is probably just my eyes. Hopefully it will imbiggen when you click.

Here she is in all her glory. Yes she does still need a drive band. I was on the phone ordering that before I got home. The bobbin was not photographed. And yes, I know that the wheel is on backwards in this photo. The little arm crank looking thingy is where the treadle arm shoud be attached. I realized that the wheel was set in bassackwards after the photo op... as I was looking at the photos actually. It has now been turned. :-)Oh? Howmuch did she set me back? Fifty ($50) dollars. Figured if I couldn't fix her up myself, I could afford to have her fixed up as the purchase price was so reasonable. I think she's gorgeous.

Happy Knitting!

Baby SeaHawks Sweater

2009-08-18T19:10:00.000-07:00

Finished!

Music and Knitting

2009-08-15T23:41:00.000-07:00

Went out with a few Knitterly Friends this evening to the Northern Pacific Coffee Company (I linked to their My Space page), for an evening of music and knitting. We had a great time! M. and her friend Mo opened the music for the younger set... one of which was Mo's daughter. The younger two each played and sang separately. Awesome guitar and lyrics from all of the ladies. I enjoyed getting out for an evening and doing something a bit different.

Worked on the Lucy Bag while listening to the music. Perfect knitting for being out, round and round and round and round. :-) Only about 10 more rounds on the body of Lucy then working on the handle/strap. The "muggles" didn't look too freaked out to see a group of ladies knitting whilst listening. Tho the people from the table nearest ours did stop to talk to us on their way out. One of the ladies wanted to know if what we were knitting was all going to be joined together with what the others were knitting. (This struck me as funny as there were two or three pairs of socks, a square for an afghan, a sweater, and a felted purse... did I miss any? And all were being knit with obviously different yarns and were extremely different sizes) Makes me wonder what knitting looks like to the "muggles" as just glancing at the table I would have thought the diversity would be blatently apparant. Maybe only a knitter could see it? I don't know. :-) Hee hee... Told her that "No, we were all knitting on our own projects". She did seemed relieved to see that we weren't all using the same yarn. Which made me think that it might be funny if when we all get together out and about again to all have the same color yarn.... mess with their minds a bit.

Last night and this morning I worked on the Seahawks baby sweater and it is now finished except for weaving in the ends and button shopping. Plan on doing that tomorrow morning and delivering it on Monday. Nothing like getting something done before it is due. Yes!
Well, here it is almost midnight so I had better wrap this up and hit the sack.

Knit Happy!

The Sock Summit Marketplace

2009-08-08T19:57:00.000-07:00

Wow! Wool fume overload. Looked to me like there was quite the turn out. I was one of the first in the Convention Center parking garage Friday morning and I chose a spot near where I entered the parking area so that I would be able to re locate my vehicle when it was time to leave. Meant that I had a bit further to walk, but hey, I need the exercise anyhow. When I left a bit before 1 pm, the parking garage on the level where I was parked was completely full

There were plenty of vendors and I spent hours looking at all of their wares. Spent some $$ too. Didn't buy too much yarn, did buy a few other items tho. One vendor and darn it I don't recall their shop name. Have to check through my receipts real quick... ah ... Sassafras Creations. Have to see if they have an Internet presence. They had jewelery made from knitting needles. I bought a bangle bracelet made from a size 3 needle. (They do have a presence... I linked to their Etsy site). Also one vendor was selling vintage knitting tools. (can't locate that receipt) Bought a sock darning tool. Can't call it an egg... looks more like a mushroom. The handle unscrews for a needle storage area. Also picked up some vintage crochet hooks made from bone, they have hooks on both ends. Oh, and an orifice hook. I lost the one that I had, and I have been using a paper clip partially stretched out. Took a few photos, but the camera battery was dying. Haven't looked at them yet. Will try to get them loaded to the computer and post them later if they turned out.

Was tired today from all the driving and shopping yesterday, tho I went to the Ryan House in Sumner to spin with my spinning buddies. I was only there a few hours. There is a Street Fair Arts and Crafts type of thing going on. I can't really tell you much more about it except that there were lots of vendors selling their wares and what I saw of it was interesting. I tried not to look so closely as I spent plenty down in Portland at the Sock Summit yesterday. I did make one purchase of fiber. Bought 5 small balls of roving all Shetland and in different shades. Haven't weighed them, so don't know how many ounces I have, but there will most likely be enough after spinning to make a pair of gloves/mittens.

Will probably be mittens. And don't hold your breath waiting to see it spun up and knitted. I organized my "need to finish" stuff and got it sorted through. There is enough stuff on the needles there to keep me busy through the end of the year. Also I need to free up a spindle before I can spin anything else. The baby sweater is first... Deadline is first of September. Only 2 1/2 more inches on the body and then the sleeves to do. Oh have to buy buttons as well. Then my sweater has just one sleeve left to knit. I have the stitches picked up. Thinking that this will be good plane knitting for the trip to and from Hawaii. Will have to wind one more skein of yarn tho. This way I also don't have to take a jacket... as I will have one when I finish the sleeve. Incentive for getting it done. Right? My Neices red sweater will not be going to Hawaii. There is too much focus that needs to happen during the trees pattern. I don't want to have to pull that back out. I will get on that as soon as I get back from Hawaii. Due date for that Nov. 30. (her b-day is 1 Dec.) The Giganticus socks fit my soon to be Daughter-in-Law perfectly, so I will keep working on those when I have time. Socks usually live in my purse... so ... and then there are the other things on needles that need finishing too. Not going to list all of them.

Well, it is after 8pm and I am making many spelling errors. I am off to bed.

Happy Knitting!

Sweaters and beans

2009-08-02T16:34:00.000-07:00

Working on the baby sweater a bit today. Wanted to be farther along than I am but I guess it wasn't meant to be. Slow knitting in this heat. Have to keep getting up to fill my water glass and then have to get up to pee. :-( Ah well. Have till the first week of September to finish it and I am almost at the half way point. Soon, soon.

Had to buy another pressure cooker. I believe that my mom has the one that she gave me. I used two of hers a few years ago, and she gave me one... I thought that she loaned it to me so I returned them both to her. I have been over every spot in the house where it could conceivably be, including the attic. Now I believe that it is in her storage. We shall see one of these days. If it is... then I will have 2.

Canned 5 pints of green beans from the garden this afternoon. This is the first I have canned anything other than Jelly/Jam on my own. Helped mom out quite a bit when I was younger, (in the late 70's and early 80's) so has been quite awhile. My production level isn't any where near hers. My folks would drive over to Yakima ( I never went with on those trips... I was home mindng the younger two) and they would come home with all kinds of produce and we would then prep and can till it was done. Wonder where they went to get all their produce. Will have to ask my mom. Just in case I ever want to can up more than my garden can produce.

Waiting for it to cool off again and then I will knit some more on the baby sweater.

Knit Happy!

Giganticus!

2009-07-28T18:18:00.000-07:00

As you can see in the following photo, there is absolutely no negative ease. There is positive ease however. Plenty of it. Instead of frogging at this point, I am going to have my son's fiance come over so that I can see if it fits her foot. She is about 2 shoe sizes larger than me.... so I think it might fit her. If it doesn't... then the frog pond.Try to stay cool! Tomorrow is supposed to be hotter.

Knit Happy!

Temps are up!

2009-07-27T16:00:00.000-07:00

Wishing I had a swimming pool right about now. The thermometer outside says it's 98 in the shade. Yikes! Too hot for cooking inside this evening. Have some meat marinating for the grill. Will have to wait for it to cool off a bit before I go raid the garden for veggies.

The knitting will have to rest on the table as I knit. Can't hold it in my lap today. Luckily I have socks to work on. So not used to doing my socks toe up... have another inch to go before starting the arch expansion stitches. Following a pattern in Cat Bordhi's book. Seems to be coming out alright tho I am slightly concerned about the socks being just a bit too big. Using my standard of 72 sts. and my standard gauge of 9 sts to the inch ... in stocking stitch... and that should result in a sock that is 8 inches around; my foot is 9 1/2 inches at the mid point. That should mean that there is some negative ease. Which is good. But these socks have a very simple lace pattern. Lace is different than stocking stitch, more open... which means that I don't think that I am going to have any negative ease. So... they may or may not fit me. I might have to look for someone with a slightly larger foot than myself. Or rip it. Not sure which option I am going for at the moment.

The yarn I ordered for the baby sweater is on it's way. Should be here some time this week. Then it will be baby sweater all the time till done. It is a commissioned item. Must be done before the first week of September. Then I will be back to my Neice's December Birthday sweater and whatever else I happen to have going still. (lots... no worries there)

Knit Happy!

Back home

2009-07-23T13:38:00.000-07:00

This is one of the views that we had on our drive. We stopped at this viewpoint somewhere on the northern Oregon Coast. No I do not know exactly where we were at. I was more interested in being outside and in the glorious sunshine than anything else. I also learned that it is not advisable to be looking at the ocean while walking back to the vehicle. Tripped over the stinking curb and did a prat fall in the parking area. Skinned knee, hurts more than when I was 12, and of course we were not the only people at the viewpoint. Nothing like an audience when you make a fool out of yourself. We continued south on 101 until we reached Hebo and then headed east towards my SIL's place. Lovely drive, we also stopped in at the Tillimook Cheese Factory and bought cheese curds and ice cream cones. Yummy! Absolutely no internet access during our weekend... sure I could have driven into town and stopped at a cafe or something but I didn't.

Sample socks were finished this weekend, cast on for the "oatmeal" socks on Sunday. Toes are done, and have started on the "pattern". Have located some Seahawks yarn. Found some at my LYS and also in Shelton at Fancy Image Yarns . So plenty of options for the "commissioned" sweater. Now to locate buttons... footballs or helmets I am thinking. Going to re-use a pattern that I already have. Save me a bit of time since I have done the pattern before, tho am doing a different version. Not knitting a hood, will make a separate hat instead. (possibly socks too if I have enough left over yarn).

Knit Happy!

Things to take into consideration.

2009-07-17T15:09:00.001-07:00

Thanks for the comments on the ninja mask.

The first made me realize that I did indeed remember what a ninja mask looked like and also explained the comment that K2 made about "make a hole for my mouth too." And the second... Yes I will have to discuss with K2 what his thoughts are on a ninja mask. Little boys can indeed be very very oppinionated, thanks for reminding me. I think that pictures would be in order. (When he first made the request I was thinking more of a lone ranger style thing) Now then, will he die from heat stroke if he wears it in Hawaii? I think I will make a "lone ranger" one as well. Just in case... Please... no one show him the Saumari hat in Folk Hats. :-) I am sure that he would love it and I think that I would even enjoy making it... just not on a "scheduled request".

Well, this is short. Have to go shower and get ready to go. We are heading out for the weekend. I will be taking the laptop, but have no idea as to internet availability. I am not ready at all. I don't even have my knitting ready yet. (tho I do know what I am taking with.

Knit happy

Ummmm... Hi....

2009-07-16T13:15:00.000-07:00

Hello there... remember me? I see that it has been awhile since I last posted... almost 2 weeks to be exact. I have photos to share today. Here is the Pi Shawl laid out on the kitchen table.

Oh... this post is longer than normal... to make up for my lack? Who knows? Enjoy... or not. ;-)

Below is a close up of the border. Barbara Abbey's #1 Very Narrow Edging

Here is the shawl again, but outside. Yes I know my grass is brown.

Ok... now that you have the yarn po*n... I'll try to catch you up on all we've done. This is the time to click out of here unless you are truely interested. ;-)

Hope everyone had a safe and happy fourth of July. We were camping with some friends over in Belfair (near Shelton, WA). We were on lake front property that belonged to friends, so limited resources. H2O but no electricity. Just our propane and the battery back up. Awesome fireworks! The residents around the lake took turns shooting off their explosives.. first one, then clockwise around the lake round and round and round etc... until well after 2:30am.

Knitting while camping did happen, lots of it. I also showed my little friend Jess (she's 10) and the recipient of my chemo caps, how to knit. Unfortunately, she is a bit out of the way for us to pop over for a knitting lesson. I did leave her with yarn and needles. I was working primarily on the sock that lives in my purse. The yellow one (what?) for my husband. Hubby socks are always mostly yellow. It is now finished and I have informed him that the next sock set is NOT his and NOT yellow. The next sock is MINE!

It will be in an oatmeal (kinda boring after the yellows and oranges in his sock) I will be doing a pattern from New Pathways for Sock Knitters book one, by Cat Bordhi. I am thinking that the patterning will make up for the lack of color. :-) I'm doing a baby sock (single) in the pattern I will be using to check it out and make sure I understand the directions. It appears that I do as it is turning out correctly. I am using leftovers from the hubby's sock to do this and I am glad that I am using a solid color for MY sock. I will be casting this on tonight or tomorrow. It will be travel knitting and will live in my purse until done.

Currently trying to finish up more than a few projects. Some of which have been shoved aside and put on hold because of other stuff. My Braids Cardi will be on hold until further notice, as well as the afghan for the KAL. I am still loving them but they are for me and I have stuff to complete on dead lines at the moment. (I am sure there are more... but I don't want to depress my self by looking for them... out of sight out of mind)

The Red Sweater for the Niece needs to be done before 1 December 09 (just over 3 months) Whew! Maybe 6-7 inches into the sweater, so quite a bit to go but still do-able I believe.

I need to procure some yarn in Sea Hawks Colors (worsted weight) for a baby sweater and a seperate hat for my office manager's grand son. 12- 18 month size (commissioned project) Need yarn, Buttons and a Pattern This needs to be done by the second week of September. (Just about 2 months) Small... Baby sweaters are Small. Breathe! Roxie ... I need YARN!

Request from Grandson #2 last night. "Could you knit me a Ninja Mask. In Orange? (he is 5)Please Nanna?" and from Grandson#2's cousin Miss I.... "could you knit me a pair of socks? and a hat with flowers?" (she is 7) Umm... sure... As they chose the yarn from my stash for their prezzies. Always wanted to check out some of the designs in Nicky Epsteins book Knitting over the edge. that will be the pattern source of the flowery stuffs. I am thinking a "flapper" style hat. Hmmm. dunno. Oh... anybody know any Ninja's?? I need to do a bit of research I think as I haven't a clue. The only thing that comes to my mind are the Teen Age Mutant Ninja Turtles. And I don't remember what they looked like... other than being green. I will have to do some internet surfing/free pattern site searching etc in order to fulfill the wishes of this kiddo.

One dishcloth finished for T.A.P. Trying to get the next one done today. I will continue to have hope that this will occur. There is a benefit being held... an auction and as I understand it, the knitters are putting together a "goody basket" of knitterly household products (towels, cloths etc... ) that will serve not only as a center piece but an auctioned item as well. Check out their link and read it!

Alright... enough already!

Knit Happy

God Bless the USA

2009-07-03T16:21:00.000-07:00

Thanks to our Men and Women in Uniform who are keeping our nation safe. Freedom isn't Free. We should all take time to remember that during the festivities on our Nation's birthday.

Hope that every one's holiday weekend is safe and happy, and where ever you are hopefully the weather is gorgeous.

We are going camping this weekend, the first time this year. Usually we do our first trip in late May. Knitting is packed and ready to go.

Happy Knitting!

For those of you with Little Girls....

2009-06-24T14:53:00.000-07:00

Go check out this site... http://www.itzybitzybellabows.com/

The items for sale... and the model... are beautiful. There are a lot of photos so her site does load a bit slow... or maybe that's just my computer.

Check it out! Oh... if you are local to her, she will work to get your stuff to you directly so ... no shipping... Contact her before ordering if you are local to her. Oh? Where is she located?(She's in the Puyallup, WA area)

Now... all I need is a grand-daughter! hmm....

Knit Happy!

Washed and Blocking

2009-06-23T16:10:00.000-07:00

Well... the Pi Shawl is blocking. I love the way it looks laying on my bedroom floor with 144 pins stuck in the edging. That only took an hour and a half or so. Don't know if I did it correctly or not. Started placing pins at the 12, 3, 6, & 9 positions, then went between each of those, then between each of those, then went between each of those, etc and etc and etc until the bloody points were all pinned. Then went around the outer rim twice pulling them just a wee bit more, and probably could do that again except that my knees said "Hell NO". It was very hard to stand back up.

Photos MAY be forthcomming, and then again maybe not. It seems I did indeed knit a bulls-eye to cover my ass. I saw the bulls-eye forming as it was knit. I knew this... it should not have surprised me in the mirror. When or if I get the urge to do this again it will be in a SOLID yarn. This shawl will ALWAYS be folded in half while in use... at least when I am wearing it.

Speaking of the camera... it should be here in a few days give or take. Currently my camera is in Singapore and by later this evening may even be in Yokota, Japan. Don't know yet if the camera will fly into Seattle or make a detour through Hawaii as it is being escorted by the husband and he is not sure of which route he will take to get home. Hawaii will take longer to get him home, but there is a bonus of seeing the grandbabies. (I know which route I would take if it became an option) :-)

Stiff Neck

2009-06-20T18:09:00.000-07:00

Woke with a horrid stiff neck this morning, it has been bugging me off and on (mostly on) for a few weeks now, but really bad when I woke today. Have been able to look over my left shoulder barely in the last few weeks since it started acting up, but not today at all. Have to turn in the seat to merge into traffic, can't just look over my shoulder. :-( Spent the day in the recliner with my hot tea and my knitting. That probably wasn't the best place for me to be, but warmth and comfort were what I needed most of all and that is one of my favorite knitting places. So wrapped up in wool and knitting on wool soothed the nerves if not the muscles in my neck.

Progress was perhaps slower than normal, but the second sleeve stitches were picked up on the Braids cardi and then I worked on the Pi shawl, and now have only 24 more pattern repeats to go. I will be working on it again this evening until bed time. Needed to eat and make more tea before sitting back down. Oh, Fishy says he wants his supper too. Can't forget him!

Knit Happy!

Catching up

2009-06-15T20:25:00.000-07:00

Well, the weekend went by far too quickly. Spent Knit in Public Day, or rather the morning, knitting at Wright Park in Tacoma. First time I had been there, seems like it is a nice little park. Might want to go again and walk around it a bit more. The morning started out a bit cool, but once the clouds burned off it was nice. Left there about 1:30 to head back home. Glad that I did. Didn't put quite enough liquid in my lentil soup and I got home just in time. Yummy for lunch and supper!

Finished the first sleeve of the Braids Cardi while knitting in the park. Still have to pickup stitches for the second sleeve. Worked a bit on the Lucy bag Saturday afternoon as well as yesterday. Still too many rows to go. Down to 40 repeats on the pi shawl. Soon, soon, soon.

Going to try out a different dish tomorrow and if it turns out I will let you know. Well, bath and bed are calling my name.

Knit Happy!

Light at the end of the tunnel

2009-06-07T16:44:00.000-07:00

Only 53 repeats remaining on the Pi shawl border. That's about 4.5-5 hours of knitting as each repeat takes ~5 mins. I can see the light at the end of this tunnel. Have been picking it up first each time I have the chance to knit and doing at least a few repeats before setting it down to work on something else. This approach seems to be working better than looking at it sit on the desk and not touching it. Today was a good shawl day and 19 repeats were completed.

Almost finished with the first sleeve on the Braids Cardi. Probably another 20 - 25 rows. I know I have 12 more decrease rows yet to finish and then will need just a titch more to make it long enough. Will have to try it on frequently that last little bit so that I don' t end up with sleeves that are just a tad short or an inch too long. Then there will be the second sleeve and sewing on the buttons. Light can be seen at the end of this here tunnel too. Yea!

Started reading "The Vampire Lestat" this morning, quite good so far. Been working on the Lucy Bag while reading. Still quite a few rows to go since I am making the "tall" version. Having to turn pages makes you knit slower. Ah well... As much as I love reading, I won't give up knitting in order to read. Audio books are ok, but I still like the printed page. At times I think one of those Kindle readers would be nice... I wonder how the page feed/turn works on that? ... But still that isn't ink and paper and the smell of a new (or old) book. And for me, that is part of the love of reading. Tho the idea of a small extremely portable library in just a small hand held device certainly has it's own appeal.

Well, now for supper and then knitting before bed!

Knit Happy

Almost too Hot...

2009-06-04T21:16:00.000-07:00

Wanting some rain to help me water the garden, and to fill up the rain barrels again. Days like today it seems we've just got too much planted. :-) Can't complain too loudly tho I guess, as it means that we will have plenty of fruit and veggies this summer. Probably have enough water in the last rain barrel to water the garden one more time. Then will have to get the hose out, unless we get rain soon. The wind picked up on my drive home from Tacoma this evening, lots of smaller limbs in the roadway, hope that it means rain and not hail. Hail would be a bad thing about now. Don't know if the garden would survive a wicked hail storm.

Still working on the first sleeve of the cardi. I think I have hit a black hole. *Knit, knit, knit... try it on. Still seems like the sleeve is the same length. * repeat from * .

Parked my car this evening in the shade outside the bank across from the Tacoma Art Place. Walked across the street, started up the sidewalk, turned my head to check on my dog (he rode with me in the car) and noticed that I had yarn hanging from my basket. Followed it with my eyes to see where it went and saw it sitting quietly beside the car door. ::::oops:::: Quickly crossed back over picked up the ball and started re-winding. :-) Haven't done that one before. I am just glad I turned to look at the dog. I could have gone a lot further before I noticed I'd dropped the yarn cake. Anyone done anything similar?

World Wide Knit in Public Day is fast approaching. (June 13th) What is everyone planning on doing? I'm going to stay local, that's for sure. I don't want to take Fisher, or I won't be able to knit unless I give him plenty of doggy downers... he will totally stress out if he is in a park like area. (Takes him a good 24 hours to settle when we go camping in the trailer.) Fisher also knows when it is the weekend, and he sort of expects to be my constant and ever present shadow (yes I know that is redundant) so I will only be out for a few hours at most.

Knit happy!

This and That

2009-06-02T21:37:00.001-07:00

Finished up two more books. "Gone" was a good read, enjoyed it thouroughly. It has some graphic murder descriptions... just a heads up for anyone squeemish... it's a murder, kidnapping sort of tale. Also finished "Interview with a Vampire" and my eldest is supposed to be dropping the DVD by one of these days so that I can watch it.

Still plugging away at all my WIPs. Nothing any where near being finished. I really want to cast on for a few more things tho. Must resist this impulse! Too much already started that needs to be finished already.

Tried to burn down the house Saturday morning. I wiped down the stove top after breakfast dishes were done, and then showered and changed and took the dog to the store with me. Just popped over to the Safeway 2 miles from here and only needed a few items. (thankfully)! Arrived back home and noticed that there was a hot smell as soon as I opened the garage door. Immediately went to check the stove, thinking that I had left the burner on under the teapot. Nope! I must have snagged the oven dial when I was wiping down. Oven door was closed... broiler was on! I didn't use the broiler that morning. I had made omlets. Opened all the windows in the kitchen/dining area, turned on fans and left the oven door wide till it cooled off. I have yet to turn it back on to make sure that it works. So glad that it was just a quicky trip and not like a work day. Yikes! Shhh... don't tell my honey.

Thanks again to "TheMiddleDaughter" for a wonderful supper and knitty get together this evening. Every thing was wonderful ate way more than I should have, and I am going to need the details on the pizza sauce you made. I know, you told me, but I forgot them before returning home.

Knit Happy!

Wooden Needles...

2009-05-30T11:52:00.001-07:00

I am beginning to hates them. Circular ones that is. I WILL NOT purchase anymore of them. I tend to snap the smaller varieties, snapped off approximately an inch or so of the tip on a size 4 Ebony circular awhile back. This morning I decided I needed to cast on for the felted bag/purse that I purchased the yarn for last evening... so went through the needle stash to find the appropriate size; 10.5 US. Well, the only set of those I have free at the moment is a bamboo pair of circs. Not my favorite, this pair is blunt and non slippy. But they are workable, (or so I thought).

So I cast on, and proceeded to start work on the bottom of the bag. Have ~80ish stitches on the needle when the needle disconnects from the wire leaving a fair bit of stitches flapping in the breeze, literally as I was outside. Shove the needle back together, give it a bit of a tug, it holds, so I scoop the stitches back on and then try to resume my knitting when the bastard pops off again. Stitches are secured, and I am going to go look in the stash again and see where the other 10.5 needle is. I suspect that it (an Addi -Turbo) is in a half formed felted slipper.... which will shortly be on a yarn holder. I love the addi's as they are slippy but wish they had pointier ends. The lace ones do.. I know, and I will be purchasing more of them in the future as I need more needles. No more Wooden Circs for me!

Growl! This is cutting into my sunshine time.

More Sunshine

2009-05-30T07:33:00.000-07:00

Glad that the wonderful weather stuck around for the weekend, better chance to enjoy it, tho it also brings work in the form of weeding and mowing. Ah well. I will manage to sneek some knitting into the day somewhere. Taking a break from the "housework" at the moment. Got the laundry hung outside to dry before 7 am. Took some of my indoor plants out, watered them and put them in an area where they will get lots more light than being inside. Mostly Jade and succlulents. Might take the orchids out for a bit too. Need to finish the vaccumming and then the house will be in order. Oh wait. There are a few dishes left from breakfast, gotta do those too. Then Knitting time for an hour at least! Need to run out to the store and get some crackers and meats and cheeses this morning. My Mom is comming over for a bit today and I don't have any snacky stuff other than pop corn.

Purchased some yarn for a "Lucy Bag" for my brother's girlfriend and I want to cast that on in the worst way. But I also need to work on finishing up some of the other things that are already on needles. Anyone know a sure way to contract a severe case of Finish-itis? :-) I needs it!

Knit Happy!

A bit of excitement.

2009-05-28T21:08:00.000-07:00

Knitting at TAP this evening, when the fire alarms started going off. Of course everyone excited the building. We did all grab our yarn as it was obvious that there wasn't any real emergency right where we were. Fire department was called of course, they had to check out the building and reset/shut off the alarm system. There are apartments above the TAP and Subway in this particular building. As far as we know, there wasn't a fire, but the Firemen did take an exhaust(?)fan (that's what it looked like to me) up to the second floor. People on the second floor did have to wait to return to their apartments, but everyone else was allowed to return to the building after stuff was checked out. We were all standing out on the corner waiting and most of us knitting. Wish I would have had the camera. Got to have a "practice knit in public day." You know I Never do That.... :-) hee hee hee.

Worked on the afghan last night, just wasn't in to sleeves. Finished the 3rd square and started on the fourth. This particular pattern is flying right along, and is perfect knitting for reading. I decided to start "Gone" as it is just a single book as opposed to the Anne Rice books.

Well, it is after my bed time and need to get to bed. Yea! Tomorrow's Friday!

Knit Happy!

Reading

2009-05-27T16:44:00.000-07:00

Just finished re reading a few books, last read them in Jr. High I think. George Orwell's 1984, finished it this afternoon, and Bram Stoker's Dracula, which I finished up last night. I'm wanting to re read some more of the ones I read umpteen years ago. Not sure what is up next, tbo will probably be Anne Rice's Vampire series (haven't read these yet, but they look good and I do like some of her other books). Just purchased them a few weeks ago but they have been sitting. Also have Gone, by Lisa Gardner to read, it was in a "help yourself" stack at work.

Still working my way down the first sleeve of the Braid's Cardigan.

Had to rip out the other sweater, the one that I started for my niece. You know those instructions that say "join, being careful not to twist"? Yeah. I wasn't careful. Six rows into it I reailzed that it looked a bit funny. Colorful words were said. Grrr. Haven't done that one in awhile! Sweater will basicly be a simple seed stitch with a touch of ribbing at the sides and I'm going to stick a pair of cabled trees in one of the lower front quadrants. (sweater pattern pretty much using EZ's percentage system tho I'm not doing raglan sleeves, and the tree pattern is from Barbara G. Walker's Thrid Treasury of Kniting Designs pg 101) Anyway, have to cast it back on again. Must be done before Dec. Yeah there is plenty of time, but Procrastination seems to be my middle name.

Happy Knitting!

A bit bummed...

2009-05-26T15:38:00.000-07:00

There were a few (4) classes that I wanted to take at the Sock Summit, (I had made up my mind to just choose one tho) but the sign up was at 10am PDT today at which time I was at work. And while we do have computers at work, and some of them even have internet access, it was not possible for me to even have the time to think about registering for classes at that time. We are just slammed with clients around the holidays. I just logged on the Sock Summit web site @3:20pm (as I just got home from work) and of course all the classes that I wanted were full, I knew that they would be but of course I had to check. There were only a very few classes that still had openings. Ah well! Maybe one of these days the sign ups will be at the stroke of Midnight. :-) At least then all I would have missed would have been a bit of sleep and I would have at least had a chance. And I am so glad that I didn't reserve a hotel room prior to registration, as I think that they were filling up fast and furious.

Reached virgin yarn on the sweater sleeve around 2pm yesterday. The K3P1 ribbing is working great. The decreases are coming nicely and I need to check for fit today before I pick it back up to work on. Might want to increase the frequency of the decreases. Jessica's hat just needs the button sewed on and one yarn end to weave in. Then I have to contact her granny to get her address.

Garden is doing well, 45 baby corn stalks (the ones from seed) and another 7 that are about 3 weeks ahead (starts). More corn should be coming up the rest of this week. Based on the "pattern" my husband planted by, should be roughly 30 more. Tomato plants are still bitty but there are 5 flowers between the 3 plants. We should have a bumper crop of strawberries. Tons of flowers and baby berries coming on and the plants are quite tall as well, in fact they are almost as tall at the moment as our artichoke plants. Wish that I had a camera here. The strawberries 2 years ago that were in planters,(and still in those planters and doing well) 2 strawberry pots and 2 wooden "flower box" type planters, all sent out runners and now the back section is carpeted in strawberry plants. Blueberry bushes are loaded with flowers and baby berries, we have several different kinds, some early, mid-season and some lates. Potato plants are popping up everywhere. found 4 in the garlic beds and 6 or 7 under the newest cherry trees. I think that we must have had some potatoes in the compost that we added to the garden beds. hmm. Squash, zuccini, eggplant, beans and peas all doing well so far. May need to learn to can. :-) Have already had some lettuce for sandwiches the other day. yummy!

Happy Knitting!

Thank You...

2009-05-25T13:33:00.000-07:00

To all our men and women in our Armed Forces that have served and continue to serve, and to all those who have lost their lives in service to and defense of our country. We know that Freedom isn't Free, and we have you to thank for our country's freedom. We will always have you in our thoughts and wishes and prayers.

2009-05-24T09:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I managed to spend outside, mowed the lawn as soon as I heard one of the other neighbors fire up a lawn mower. Didn't want to be the first to break the silence of a Saturday morning. Finished by 11ish (only had the back yard to do thanks to my neighbor, he mowed my front yard on Thursday) and spent the next several hours parked in a lawn chair knitting.

Almost back to virgin yarn after the sleeve rippage. Much nicer with the additional stitches picked up. Decided to go with a K3P1 ribbing down the sleeves, which is what the base pattern is on the sweater itself. The directions for the sleeve call for a K2P1, but we all know that didn't work out well, tho to be truthful, it might have worked with more stitches to start with. Will have to pull out the directions soon, see what the sleeve decreases are and then go stand in front of the mirror and decide if I do the decreases as specified, or modify them somewhat. Am I even capable of following directions as written? hmmm.

Hubby comes home sooner than he had originally planned. So by mid June he should be back instead of at the end of June. Works for me! I don't mind doing the yard work so much, but it does cut into knitting time.

Spent the morning on the computer looking at photos and such. Need to drag the spinning wheel out of the corner sometime to day and practice. Need to fire up the other computer and print out some stuff. Need to go shopping sometime this morning. Store I need to go to should be open in an hour so better get out of my jammies and take a shower. Need to try on the hat for Jessica and decide if it will fit a nine year old, or do I need to rip and restart.

Need to walk away from the computer now.

Happy Knitting!

Long Day

2009-05-22T15:00:00.000-07:00

Dislike the days right before and after any holiday. They make for very, very, long, hard and hot work days.

Going out to a friends house for supper tonight, so I will miss my usual knit night. It wasn't an invite I was willing to pass up. She is an awesome chef.

The sleeve stitches have been picked up. Thanks Megan! ... She picked them up for me the other night, she knew I was frustrated with it, and she enjoys picking up stitches. huh.... who'd of thunk it? Well, everyone is different right :-) ; and even I don't hate it as much as I used to so maybe one of these days I may even learn to enjoy that process too. Who knows?

I may even knit some this evening if possible. My arms and hands hurt so bad I right now I can barely type.

Must. Go. Need. Hot. Shower.

Knit Happy~

However....I may be lucky...

2009-05-20T16:36:00.000-07:00

I stopped into my local Sheriff's department just a few minutes ago to discuss what I should do about this little situation, and they suggested that I call the RCMP (that's the Royal Canadian Mounted Police) to double check all the information. As soon as I got home however, I received a call back from the ICBC and went over Lic plate#'s, where the accident occured etc.

There was a transposition... in the letters and I just may end up lucking out here people. If the letters are as correct on the RCMP paperwork they are transposed and they are someone's plates from Bellingham and NOT mine. (My local sheriff ran the number/letter combo with and without the transposition.) So... I call the number for the RCMP for the city in which the accident occured and give them my name and the police file number and all the pertinent info and they are double checking to see. They will be calling me back soon.

WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!! The RCMP fellow called me back while I was typing that last sentence! I am sorry for the people in Bellingham who owned the car with the plates... but they aren't mine. Gotta call my husband!

KNIT HAPPY !!!!!!!!!!!

Not a scam....

2009-05-20T14:34:00.000-07:00

...Though that might be preferable at this point.

I looked online for the ICBC (Insurance Corporation of British Columbia) called their toll free phone number on the web page, and confirmed that the phone number that I was given, and the person I spoke with last night was a member of their corporation and that it was indeed a valid number. Just can't be too cautious about some things, and I do feel better now that I have checked.

I am still waiting on a call back from her however, and I am still looking for the plates here... even tho.. (One can always hope right?) I also called my insurance lady and told her the details so that if a claim did come through she would have a heads up. I still need to go to the DOL and the sheriff's department, and let them know about the disapearance; and since it is a knitting guild night I had better get moving.

There will be something knit (is that the right tense?) tonight. (knit, knitted, knat, ...) help me out here people my brain is fuzzy, not much sleep was had last night.

Thankfully I have a simple knit to work on this evening. Hat kit from Fancy Image Yarns I purchased this during the yarn crawl. I don't usually purchase kits for hats... but this seemed perfect for my little friend Jessica that has just finished her six weeks of radiation. She's just now starting to lose her hair. I can only try to imagine how hard that would be for an adult, but she is only 9 and I can only think that it would be so much harder at that age. Any how, it is in girly colors, and has some fun fur and a cute button, friends of mine who have daughters all say it will be a "winner". Can't trust my own judgement in this... I was a die hard tomboy and wouldn't have been caught dead in it.... well maybe for a double dog dare if the stakes were high enough. :-)

No photos. The camera is with the hubby. Knit Happy!

There has been a thief...

2009-05-19T20:19:00.000-07:00

Got a phone call today from the Insurance Company of British Coloumbia, Canada. Apparently there was an accident in British Columbia in November of 08 involving a car bearing the plates of one of our vehicles. (It was a newer model car, and not one of ours) The vehicle the plates are registered to is sitting in my drive way. Dead-lined as they say in the military. Head gasket issues for some time now. Because of the engine issues, the new plates were never put on the vehicle, the emissions wasn't done and the tabs were not renewed. The plates WERE somewhere in the house. (I say somewhere... as it was dear hubby who stashed them in the china cabinet he THINKS) I have been looking for them, in places other than the china cabinet as well, but not finding them.

Tomorrow... one more phone call to canada at least... I want the lady that called me to re-tell me the lic. plate number, vin number, and any other numbers/names that she has (I won't be giving her any of my info) . Also phone calls to my insurance company, and a stop by the local sheriff's office. I'd rather do that in person than on the phone.

Don't worry... I did not and will not give out any personal information out to anyone over the phone just in case it happens to be some sort of scam. It is very freaky knowing that some one WAS in the house and I'm wondering when... was it someone who was invited in? ARGH!!
But for the phone call... I would never have known that someone had been in my house.

Rippage...

2009-05-17T19:54:00.000-07:00

No... Not on the shawl.

I did finish a few more repeats of the lace edging tho, so I now have a few less than a hundred repeats to go. :-) No, I came inside around 3:30 and switched to easier knitting so that I could watch a movie. And the rippage wasn't due to watching the movie either. Knitting K2, P1 ribbing down the sleeve of my Braids Cardigan was easy peasy all during the movie. Pattern was already established, and there were no increases or decreases to worry about, just chugging around in a circle.

Then I took a break and tried on my sweater to see how long the sleeve was and how much farther I would be knitting. I was about 1/2 way down the sleeve as the live stitches were just above my elbow. Unfortunately, the sleeve was "quite snug" ... over a bare arm ... as I am wearing a tank top today. Snug enough that my fingers would have gone numb in short order had I not removed the cardi. This does not bode well for a cardigan when I will most likely not be wearing it during the summer and over summer weight clothing for only five minutes at a time, but over a regular shirt or even :::gasp::: a long sleeved shirt during the fall and winter and early spring.

I was yankng the needles out as soon as I had it off my arm. Only a few live stitches to worry about, just the ones under arm this time instead of the 80 when I ripped back the button/neck band. :::::RIP::::: They are now all safely picked up and resting on a dpn. Going to give it a day (at least) in time out, then pick up MORE stitches around the arm hole and then will most likely say screw the pattern (K2,P1 ribbing) and just do a stockinette sleeve. I don't like snug sleeves and ribbing does what ribbing does, and THAT is pull in.

Rip it, rip it... it has been a froggy sort of night!
Pass the scotch!
Night night!

Oh Beautiful Day!

2009-05-17T11:47:00.000-07:00

Just inside for a brief bit, spending the day outside in shorts and tank top knitting on a lace border for my Pi shawl. It had been in time out, not for being bad, I just needed a break from it. Decided that the edging needed to be finished so that I can block and wear it. Only 100 more pattern repeats to finish this puppy. Eight row repeats so not a whole lot of stitches in each repeat.

Using Barbara Abbey's "Knitting Lace" book and the #1 Very Narrow Lace Edging . I recently obtained a copy of her book, tho this particular edging can be found in several other sources. The pattern as written in her book and the symbols that are used are a bit unfamiliar to the modern knitter. You will most likely need to read over the symbols page :-) in order to work it out. In fact, if you get the book or borrow it from the library, go ahead and read the intro and the first 2 chapters before getting to the Lace patterns in chapter 3 it's interesting reading.

Sunshine and Lace are calling me back outside...
Happy Knitting!

Yarn Crawl 09

2009-05-16T20:23:00.001-07:00

It was a fun trip this year. I went with friends, and we split it up into 2 days so there wasn't such a rush as last year when I went at it alone. I drove on Friday along with one other lady, but today we were all able to fit in one vehicle. We had some who weren't able to do both days. Yesterday I had a bit of "excitement" after dropping every one back to their vehicles, we decided to do Fiber's etc. & Lamb's Ear as well, and follow each other there in our own cars, then each heading for our homes afterwards. We all found parking on the street above Fibers, which was nice since there is construction in that area. When we came out, my Left rear tire was flat. :::grrrr:::: Hubby had just had that tire fixed on Tuesday, as he had punctured it on his way home from friends. Anyhow, out with the spare and got it changed. Did have a bit of help from a fellow passing. He was wearing a suit... but didn't want to "not help", lol, so I went ahead and let him. The tire could have gone out in Paulsbo or elsewhere on our trip which would have been so not fun. So for all the frustration it was at the best spot possible really. Only had to remember to drive slowly home and not hit any potholes and such. Yes, I did stop at Lamb's Ear after putting on the spare ... it was on my way home anyway. :-)

Hubby has the camera.... so no photos of purchases. There weren't many anyway. Just a bit of lace weight, in Cranberry... I am not a red person but this called my name in a bad way. also 3 balls of sock yarn 2 in earth and grey tones and one in a green and yellow. (have to look in the stash and see if I have bought duplicates of stuff I already have, that has happened before) Cookie A's new book. Oh, and 4 ounces of spinning fiber. The colors in the roving aren't what I would normally choose, they have a strong teal cast, but when spun on the fold... the resulting yarn looks darker. I wouldn't have thunk it but the lady I purchased from showed me what she had done with it spun straight off the roving then off the fold. The color change was dramatic.

Happy Knitting!

Photos

2009-05-04T16:21:00.000-07:00

Here is one load of the Romney drying. I was spinning a bit while outside. This is a shot of my "help" They can't let the shawl blow away you know. I gave up on keeping them off. I'd remove them and they would hop back up within moments. Ah well, they kept they kept me company outside.

Knit happy!

Sometimes you just don't see it...

2009-05-03T17:13:00.000-07:00

Until you start to bind the F*&^%er off. Frog pond baby. Just look at the ripples.

The button holes turned out nice tho. Elizabeth Z's Knitters Almanac pg 80. Excellent button hole and extreemly easy.

Live stitches... 80 of them that I had forgotten were on 3 yarn holders were all successfully re-captured, Yarn cake rewound. One day's worth of knitting is history. Whisky poured.

Cheers!

What?

2009-04-22T19:16:00.001-07:00

Yes, this is all you get today folks. This is K3, just shy of 5 months old. Sure do miss him. Can't wait for June when they will be here to visit.

Knit Happy!

Washing Fleece

2009-04-19T13:55:00.000-07:00

Surprisingly I am enjoying the fleece washing process. It is going to take forever tho, I am surely not going to win any speed prizes. I'm on the third batch of the day and I will have maybe 1/2 of a pillowcase (standard size) full when today's last batch is done. That's with the clean stuff lightly placed inside. Of course I am doing smaller batches in the kitchen sink and not the bath tub. Trying to preserve the lock structure (and have no desire to be on my knees... getting back up is a bitch). Drying photos were taken and will upload them later (love the hot tub cover... I don't have to bend over much). The final batch is still in a tub in the kitchen sink in hopefully it's final rinse water. The big bag of dirty stuff dosen't look any smaller. hmmm...

Spinning on a spindle while out watching the fleece dry. More interesting than watching paint dry... the grey and black colors just seem to shine while out in the sun. I don't think the photos did justice to the beauty of the color.

Spring Fair

2009-04-18T18:51:00.000-07:00

So, I was just supposed to be volunteering at the Shepherd's Extravaganza, but I was followed home by a Romney Fleece. A beautiful dark charcoal grey in color. I seem to have my eyes caught by the darker colors. Next year my pusher ...um friend... is supposed to steer me towards the lighter colors. I am thinking blending with some of my darker fleeces as well as some for dyeing.

I am going to attempt to process this one myself. Yes, I said that last time too. But I really, really mean it this time. I even started on it this evening. Got a double handful of the wonderful sheepy stuff and washed it up. Had it outside on a towel for the last 30 mins of today's sunshine and plan on doing up a bit more tomorrow. Supposed to be close to 70 degrees tomorrow, I can sit outside and spin or knit while I guard the stuff.

I washed my cream shawl as well this evening. I swear that it was dirtier than the unprocessed fleece. Three Soapy water baths to get that rat bastard clean. The water was so dirty that I am surprised that I haven't ruined any clothes by wearing that filthy thing. Oh... and it is also no longer cream. It had a date with a full bottle of Spruce dye when it was fresh out of its final rinse. It is still outside in the wind laying on the hot tub cover. Had to lock all the animals inside as I came back past the window to see Ichabod our Black cat rolling around on his back in the middle of my still wet shawl. This is why I have to guard the fleece. They won't steal it, but the cats, all three, will roll on wet wool like it is primo cat weed!

Happy Knitting!

Happy Easter

2009-04-12T20:34:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone had a Happy Easter no matter how you celebrate, and a terriffic day even if you didn't celebrate in any way.

We had a quiet rainy day around here. A bit of Knitting a bit of cleaning and a bit of laundry and a bit of messing around on the computer. Didn't cook anything but breakfast, oh wait, I didn't even do that... hubby did, and just had a peanut butter sandwich for supper. Bed time in just a few minutes. Maybe enough time for one more row.

Have Knitty Dreams!

Don't know how to read a calendar

2009-04-07T17:53:00.000-07:00

No spinning guild tonight. It is next week. I just looked at the calendar and realized that tho it is indeed the second week of April, it is NOT the second Tuesday... yet. ARGH!

Oh beautiful sunshine.

2009-04-07T14:46:00.000-07:00

So happy to get off from work earlier than normal. Spent 3 hours outside knitting and reading. Love days where it is possible to just sit back and relax for a bit and not have to do anything for anyone other than yourself. I did let the neighbor's dog come over and play with Fisher tho. She heard us in the back yard and begged at the gate till I let her in. They didn't play too long, they decided that naps in the sun were better than chase.

Spinning tonight!

Back to Work...

2009-04-04T19:20:00.000-07:00

On the grey fleece as of today. I am spinning this batch up much thinner than the last. My aim is for a light worsted weight when navajo 3 plyed. I really want a sweater out of this fleece. My first attempt yeilded a bulky weight that I just wasn't happy with, at least not for the purpose for which I intend. That result was made into fingerless mits that now belong to my mom. She saw them and asked if I would make her a pair. Told her they were hers if they fit her. :-) They did, so she's got something to keep her mits warm when she sits on the back porch with her coffee in the mornings.

I am also not going to spend the better part of the day on the weekends (yes, there will be several weekends needed to get enough yarn for a sweater as slow as I go) camped in front of the spinning wheel as I did last weekend. That was a bit of a mistake. Once I had stopped treadling, and was just sitting there prior to getting up, I realized that I couldn't feel anything below my knees. Felt like I had been traveling all day with the buzzy legs afterwards. Probably spent a total of 3 hours spinning so far today, and will do a bit more later on before bed time. Thanks Rachel for having the group of us over to your house again for spinning and social time. I really enjoied myself. Loved getting in some baby snuggles with your little sweetie too!

Don't have a pattern in mind for the fleece-wanna-be-yarn as yet, but do think that a cardigan will be more useful than an actual pullover. It would definately get more use. I have plenty of time to decide on a pattern. Just so all my bases are covered I will spin till I have about 1,500 yards. (should be about 300 yards more than I need.) The cardigan I am working on now will use approx 1,100 yards.

Still working on the edging of the pi shawl. Did a few repeats of the lace edging this morning and realized that I am finally at the 1/4 mark. Only 108 pattern repeats to go... lol.. that's 432 stitches left to bind off. I am using Barbara Abbey's #1 very narrow lace edging, 8 rows to the pattern, and 4 stitches bound off per each pattern repeat.

The Braids Cardigan is one row shy of splitting up for the yoke. Have to finish up the last wrong side row before I can continue. Need to get that part done after supper tonight so that I will have some easy car knitting for tomorrow morning. If I can't get it ready tonight, there is always the sock that lives in my purse to work on. These are hubby socks. I dyed the yarn special just for him. They are at the heel flaps so won't be long before they will go to live in the sock drawer.

Off to deliver the socks for Grammy Emm and Grampy Pete tomorrow morning. They are our next door neighbor's grandparents. We purchased our truck and 5th wheel from them when they moved into an assisted living facility. We pop in and visit with them every few weeks usually, tho it has been awhile since our last visit due to our own travels and visiting family.

Knit Happy!

Happy April Fools Day

2009-04-01T18:49:00.000-07:00

Today all you get is a Grandbaby photo of K1, K2, & K3.

Now off to Knit a bit.

Happy knitting!

Plyed and done

2009-03-30T17:10:00.000-07:00

Finished up the Totally Tubular tube of funky stuff today. Most of Saturday and Sunday was spent in front of the spinning wheel. Breaks were taken for food and potty and shuffling the laundry loads through the washer and dryer. (Oh... and watching the snow fall on Saturday. We ended up with almost 4 inches.) I have 2 skeins of 2 ply weighing a total of 4 1/2 oz. I didn't count my wraps around so have no clue as to yardage at the moment. I will check that out later. ~16 wraps per inch so a nice Sport weight.

Knit Happy!

Freaky dog eyes

2009-03-28T18:36:00.001-07:00

This is just starting to stick really well. This was taken about an hour ago. There is now an inch accumulation on the ground.

This is a photo of my dog Fisher with an evil grin and his BFF Zoey with the Star Death Ray Eyes. I knew when I took the photo that she would have the "glowing eyes" but didn't expect the result I got.

Hey! What's up?

2009-03-28T17:01:00.000-07:00

Here I thought that spring was finally here. I have beautiful daffy's and crocus and the bleeding hearts are coming up and I look up from my spinning wheel and see that it isn't a nice gentle rain falling but SNOW. WTF? It is sticking to the deck, and coming down hard. Global warming my Aunt Fanny.... we are heading into another ICE AGE! Hooray for Woolies!

Knit Happy!

Finally done

2009-03-27T14:26:00.000-07:00

... With a pair of socks that has been languishing on the needles for longer than I care to think about. They are the second pair in a gift for an elderly couple of our acquaintance. I finished Gramma Em's socks a while back... but Grampy Pete's socks have been a long time coming. Now just have to set aside the time to drive up to see them and deliver the prezzies.

My DH, always the stinker, wants to put one sock of each pair in his pockets and just give them each a wrapped single sock, and tell them that they will get the second sock eventually. Then give them the second sock just before we have to leave to head home. We shall see... Tho Grampy Pete would probably love the joke as he is quite the trickster himself. He must have been quite something as a younger man. Whooo! The stories he has told!

Grandbabies all back in Hawaii since the first of March. Their daddy, my youngest, is on his way back to Iraq. He left Hawaii earlier this week for his fourth tour, should be home in the Oct-Nov time frame. Eldest and his sweetie have just announced their engagement. Looks like a wedding next year for them. Woo hoo!

Knit Happy!

Grandbaby time

2009-03-19T21:20:00.000-07:00

Took the day off on the 11th and spent the morning at the Pacific Science Center with the grandkids. (the big guys are 8 & 5, little guy is 3 months... he'll need another trip or three!) We had a blast. It was my first trip, as when we moved up here to Washington again, (I was here from '78 - '81) to stay in '98... the boys were in high school and a trip to the PSC would have been totally not cool as a trip. Nothing like dinosaurs and bugs tho when you are a kid. My boys did the dinosaurs in London when they were about this same age. After the PSC it was lunch time and then a date at the trout farm to see what they could catch. The two big boys caught 7 trout between them, good thing KungKung(grandfather in chinese) likes fish. All in all it was a long, long day. Everyone had fun. Unfortunately no knitting happened during the day. I left my my knitting on the table, I had pulled it out of my purse to organize a few things and didn't put it back in. So, instead of knitting to and from Seattle I stared at a sleeping baby. :-) They headed back to Hawaii on Sunday morning, won't get to see them again until June.

Lots of knitting on Saturday and Sunday afternoon as well as most of Tuesday, I am now out of yarn on the afghan project, two squares done, so will need to pick up another 2 skeins for the next two blocks this friday. Six inches from the armholes on the braid cardigan, that's moving along slowly but still quite nicely. Will need to put another skein or two in yarn cakes this week for that project. Working on the feet of a pair of socks, perhaps another 3 inches before the toe decreases. Also working on the border of the pi shawl, this section requires me to pay attention, so I had to put it away while we had family here. I had to tink (knit backwards) a section because I was trying to carry on a conversation and knit lace. Nope, can't do it.

Oh... got the yarn room organized before all the family showed up. Had a bonus cleaning day (and yes... I needed that extra time) as they messed up on their flight time and showed up for their flight 24 hours late. OOPS! We all got a giggle out of that, especially as they got really lucky and they weren't charged any extra for their mess up. (Hubby's sis did exactly the same thing about 6 weeks ago! ) Those flights that are just before midnight seem to mess people up easier than those at other times.

Knit happy!

Frustrated

2009-02-28T13:12:00.000-08:00

I need some one to come to my house and help me organize and pitch out clutter. Not knitting related stuff... but paper crap and misc. junk. I have way too much paper clutter. I am totally unorganized as well it seems. Rocks that I have picked up off the beach and on different trips scattered in baskets. Do I really need all this? I need some one ruthless to stand over me and say to pitch it.

Trying to clean and organize as my youngest and his family are going to be in WA for a couple of weeks. They won't be staying here, we don't have room for all of them at this point (would perhaps have space if it were more organized) but they will be over visiting for several hours at a time.

Bonfire? perhaps that is the answer. Just burn it all. ARGH! Three more days.... At least the bathroom is clean.

GAH!

Change of Plans

2009-02-20T12:44:00.000-08:00

No Knit Night for me tonight... and I forgot it was Thursday last night by the time I should have left, and didn't remember that it was Thursday till knitting was nearly over. (having a day off in the middle of the week sure messes up my mind) But for tonight, my Sweetie's flight arrived in country around 12:30 am and he is now just a few hours from Olympia where I am to pick him up.

Happy Knitting Everyone!

A bit of this and that

2009-02-19T13:27:00.000-08:00

This is Spicy. She has taken to sleeping on, or next to, any knitting project left unattended. Here she is keeping company with one of my husband's Felted Slippers... still not felted. waiting for him to return before I shrink them.

The tower of strange stuff. I purchased this at Madrona Fiber Festival along with a small spindle. This is destined to be spun on the wheel.

Ah the first bit. Looks like something you might find in the dryer lint catcher. Albiet with a bit more cohesiveness.

Not so bad spun up however. I am finding the odd bits that are in this quite interesting. Every section is different and the little bits behave differently when drafting out. This section they behaved quite nicely. The third section however was a bit more of a royal pain. I didn't take photos of that section. I am going to spin it all up and then ply it back upon itself. I get the feeling that a Navajo 3 ply won't look the best with the diverse colors that are in the tube. The changes between colors will be too extreeme

Look... in the front flower garden! Spring is comming at last!

All of my knitting projects don't seem to be making much progress even tho I am knitting and knitting away upon them. The pi shawl still has aprox 2o rows before the border... so endless rows of stocking stitch. The socks are still in the cuff stage. K3 P1 rib, a charity hat in a K2 P1 rib cuff. Um... yeah... nothing there photo worthy at the moment

Oh... I will be at Knitting tonight and possibly tomorrow night. My honey didn't get on his flight that was due at Sea Tac this morning so didn't get home today as planned. Hopefully will be on the flight tomorrow, but that one lands in California and if he makes that one, he will be driving north from the Sacramento area with another fellow that lives in Olympia, and I will drive down to pick him up there.

Happy Knitting!

Promised photos

2009-01-27T18:37:00.000-08:00

The brown was hard to photograph...

This is the antique in a close up

Still here...

2009-01-27T18:03:00.000-08:00

So I have been neglecting to post....

Lots and lots of spinning is still going on around here. I took some photos of the grey yarn, or rather what's left of it... I have been knitting it. The yarn turned into a pair of fingerless mitts and most of a hat. Yes, most of a hat, I have been distracted by yet more spinning. . (My mom has claimed the mits) She will get the hat too if it fits her. The hat will be too small for me. I washed and blocked the mitts last night and they are still drying.

I started to spin up some of the Chocolate Fleece so I could have a break from the grey. So far I have spun up ~150 yards 2-ply and ~58yards of single ply of the same Chocolate. Working out a swatch on size 5US 3.75mm with the 2 ply. This one is a bit too loosely plied I think. I did get the weight of yarn I was trying for... It is 11-12 WPI (wraps per inch) which puts it at a heavy DK weight or a Light Worsted weight. Perfect for a sweater I think. Need to work on plying a bit less loosely the next go around.

Yesterday I went through my fiber stash and found some "antique" that I purchased from my favorite LYS a few years ago. Had roughly 4 oz left out of the 6 I had purchased. Spun that up last night and today I finished spinning and Navaho plyed it to preserve the colors (umm that was the plan any how) I don't know how well I did on color preservation but I have ~211 yards of a nice 3 ply that will probably be a bit bulkier than I really prefer, but will turn in to... ?? Don't know yet... We shall see.

Knitting... almost finished with my hubby's felted slippers. One more sole to make and then to attach it and sew up the seams. Need to go shopping for some Camo colored yarn for my eldest grandson, who said that he would like a sock monkey if it could be in camoflage.... Have to see if I can find some in a yarn I can tolerate long enough to knit a monkey out of. :-) Have the yarn for the second eldest's sock monkey already. When is Easter?

Photos in the next post

Spinning Wheel, spinning round....

2009-01-04T13:28:00.000-08:00

... And as a result I now have 208 yards in 2 skeins of 3ply yarn from my Grey Fleece. Approximately 6.5 ounces spun up... leaving roughly 6 pounds and a few ounces to go. ;-) Umm, yeah.... I will be spinning the grey fleece for quite some time. As soon as these skeins are dry, I will measure the WPI (wraps per inch) I am thinking that I have a light to medium worsted weight. Which is what I was working towards. This first little bit of yarn is going to be knit up into fingerless mitts. I want to see how the yarn holds up and decide if I want to spin up a sweaters worth right away or not. (I have a funny feeling that this yarn is going to pill... ) It is a Merino cross. Photos of yarn to come later. Camera battery is dead.

I am thinking that I want to spin up a bit of my chocolate brown fleece next and see what it feels and looks like. It was yummy looking when I bought it all sheepy and dirty, such a wonderful color, and still a yummy color now that it is all clean. And the three drop spindles all have stuff that needs finishing on them as well.

It has been awhile since my spinning wheel has gotten much use, and thanks to three friends that decided to have a "sit and spin" day yesterday, I remembered how much I really do enjoy the spinning. Spent most of this morning spinning as well. I am glad that we have decided to make it a regular event. Now perhaps some of my fleece and roving stash will be turned into yarn stash.

Now to knit for the rest of the day and get this one project finished up. I can do it. There is very, very little left to do. Just have to attach the second sole to the bottom of the last slipper and sew up the final seams on both of the slippers. Then we are having a "felting party" on Wednesday evening. I am hoping to get the pair of socks I am working on close to the toe decreases as well today.

Knit On!

The Trip Home

2008-12-31T09:16:00.000-08:00

Well, this was left a bit late, but here it is.....

Left the house a bit after 1030am 21 Dec for the Honolulu airport for the trip back to Seattle. (My son lives less than 5 mins away from the HNL airport) Got through checking in my bag, paying the $15 to check it, getting my seat assignment, all the usual etc. Got through security, they didn't even blink at all the yarn and Addi Turbo's, and went to get a cup of coffee and a danish and a bottle of water.

Sat down at gate 58 and started to knit. At 12pm they made an annoucement. Gate changed to gate 31. Gate 31 is the farthest gate away from gate 58 that it is possible to go, minus 3. The gates go up to 60 in the wing that I was in. to get to the lower numbered gates you have to hoof it quite a distance. So pack up the knitting and start walking ..... got to the new gate at 12:30ish. Long hot walk. While waiting to board the news about the plane in Denver is being shown.. Lovely.

Anyhow, get on board, get my carry ons stowed and turn to sit in my seat 26G. There is a bag in the seat that wasn't there when I was putting my yarn under the chair; I assume the young fellow that put his bag there is waiting for me to get out of the way so that he can get to the middle seat. Nope. His boarding pass has him in the same seat as me. Hmm... and... HE IS NOT MOVING THANK YOU VERY MUCH. THIS IS HIS SEAT. We discuss it with a stewardess (there was a flight that was cancelled (HIS) and the pax have been put on our flight). She had me move to another seat since he was loud and vocal about his refusal to move, 3 rows up and in the next section. No problem, still an isle seat. I'm not going to complain. Little irritated about his attitude, but... I have a seat and it is an isle so it is all good. I had nice seat companions too. A lady from Eugene, OR and a fellow from Tacoma on the other isle seat. (we were in the center isle)

Got to SeaTac on time (9:10pm) give or take 5 mins. Snow. Lots of Snow. We are on the ground but stopped. Not moving to the terminal. Snow plows... have to plow us a way to the terminal First they tell us 15 mins. Ok, fine, no problem. I call my ride at the cell phone parking lot and tell them it will be a few mins probably. My ride has just pulled into the cell phone lot. Cool! Told her that I would call back as soon as I had my bags. As soon as I got off the phone, the Pilot comes on the intercom and says that the delay will mostlikely be another 45 mins. And so we wait. Then, we have a delay because they don't know what gate that we are going to get to go to. Mind you it is now well past 10pm and we are still on the plane. Finally they get the plane up to the drawbridge thingy. They can't get it all the way to the plane so there is a bit of a gap. And it is icy. Lots of people are grumbling. I am just glad we are on the ground and safely at the terminal. Get down to baggage claim. It is now about 10:45pm. Still snowing outside off and on. Get to Hawaiian's bag carousel;. Wait. Wait. Wait some more. Nothing new about the waiting ... heck, we have been waiting since 9 pm. Finaly a bag or two starts to show up. Then the carousel stops. About 5 mins later it starts back up and for the next 20 mins everthing is good. bags are starting to show up, slowly it's true but they are begining to show. Yea it is only a bit after 11:30pm and we should all be getting out of here soon. Right? Not so fast.... When there are still about 50 of us left standing around the carousel it grinds to a halt and this time it doesn't start back up in 5 mins. Not so good. Eventually we go enmass to the Hawiian bag agent... Poor, poor lady. It is Late, people are cranky and they want their stuff. She gets on the phone as she is clueless to why there are so many without baggage. She thought that all the baggage pods had been brought up and unloaded already. Her conversation with the ground crew: Is the plane empty? (yes it is.) Did some stuff get left behind in Hawaii because of the gate change? (No, all the pods made it.) Ok, then why do I have a crowd of people here with out their luggage? (Oh... Well a pod is stuck in the snow. We should have the bags there in about 15 mins.) Bag Agent Lady wants to know why she wasn't informed of this and who was the idiot that got it stuck in the snow? (She looks like she wants to rip someone a new one) Alright, so word is that the bags will be here in the terminal in about 15 mins. Ummm... It's after Midnight and still no bags. 15 mins? Someone can't tell time. 12:30 still no bags. One of the fellows from our plane said to the bag agent that he could probably get a group of pax together and go fetch our bags quicker. (He may have been correct) Another anouncement... Bags should really be here in 10 more minutes. Um yeah right. Ain't no body holding their breath. Finally got my bag off the carousel at 1:10. Called my ride who has been waiting at the cell phone lot all this time bless her heart, and let her know that we were (Finally) ready to roll. Knitting kept me sane through all the waiting around.

Did I mention that it was snowy out? Got home about 2:40ish; I had to go to work in a few hours. What a treat. Alarm clock set for 4:30am, so just stayed up and toughed it out. Went to bed at 5pm and slept for 12 hours. About 5 mins late for work the next day. I had hit my alarm off and went right back to sleep.

Oh, and Happy New Year Everyone!

I plan to Knit in the New Year... if I can stay awake that long.

Cute Dude in a Hand Knit Sweater

2008-12-19T23:52:00.000-08:00

This is Little "K" in his hand knit Mexicali Ole. This is the newborn size. I had my doubts as to whether it would fit him or not. (So of course I made him another in a 12 month size) This one fits him perfectly, at least for the next few weeks. May not be practical when he goes out, but it is fine in the house as long as the AC is on. Woolies in Hawaii probably arent the most useful thing.

He's fresh out of the bath in this photo. He'd done quite the number in his britches. A few measly diaper wipes just weren't going to cut it.

I have started on the heel flaps of the socks that I was working on before I left. I haven't really gone very far on them. Don't want to be fighting the dog for possession of the yarn. Also, holding little guy as often as I can. Sunday comes far too soon.

Knit on!

Sock Monkey

2008-12-17T08:59:00.000-08:00

Monkey done. I like the ears... but the way I read the pattern or the way the pattern is written... not sure which at the moment... both ears are knit the same. Which makes one ear appear, at least to me, like one ear is upside down. Ah well. Perhaps I will figure it out for the next one. And there will be at least two more.

The blankie is finished as well.

Smaller than I liked... but I will use a needle size or two larger next time as well as a few more stitiches.

Knit on!

Stormy night

2008-12-12T08:07:00.000-08:00

Had to wait till the rain died down and the sun(?) came up in order to take a photo. This and buckets of rain were what I noticed at 5:00 yesterday morning. I don't think that we saw the sun at all really here in Hawaii yesterday, it did get lighter but stayed overcast and rainy all day. Oahu was under a flash flood watch till a bit after 10 am. Several schools were closed. Not my eldest grandson's tho. Was however a wet and blustery drive to get him there. The dog had to be bathed after her morning constitutional. Luckily she is a little beagle so I was able to carry her through the house wrapped in a towel to the tub without too much trouble. She didn't get nearly as many walks yesterday as she would have liked. She absolutely loved being out in the rain and the wind. Leaves are very, very fun to chase after and pounce upon.

Sock monkey is knitted. Just have to attach his arms to his body and felt him on some eyes. I brought a felting needle with me, and some green Lopi scraps. If I don't totally mess him up there will be photos. If I do mess him up there will be whining and fussing till I figure out how to fix it. Can you pick off the felted on bits if you "F it up"? I am eager to get back to regular sock knitting and my sweater, but I have at least one more Monkey to knit. They are fairly fast tho, especially since I have pretty much made one. Not that you would know it from the speed that I have finished this one. The Grand puppy really is a terror when it comes to yarn. We had another episode two days ago involving a half knit monkey arm and the remaining ball of yarn. It wasn't pretty tho it did end well. No monkeys or doggies were harmed in the process, tho the monkey's arm was nearly pulled from the needles. Had to wind up the yarn from the needle end, then re ball it once I reached the end. After un knotting it of course. I was knitting from both ends of the ball at that point and the yarn cake was at the point of collapse already. No I didn't bring my ball winder with me. I did however consider it at one point. No room.

I have learned that it is possible to knit with a 4 year old on your lap. It does slow stuff up a bit more however, and little boys are wiggly. Ants in the pants wiggly. Not that I had forgotten that it is all but impossible for a healthy boy to sit still, but I had never tried to knit with a boy on my lap. Mine were past the sitting on the lap stage when I learned to knit. I haven't tried to knit whilst holding the baby tho. I can't seem to concentrate on anything but him when I am holding him.... ah well... they are only little for such a short time and I leave (boo hoo) in 9 days to go home. I can knit then. As much as I miss my hubby and my own animal family and my knitting buddies, it is going to be hard to leave here. This little guy looks so much like his daddy did when he was a babe.

Well, nearly time to hit the road with the big kiddo and get him to school. Thank goodness the rain is gone. Great big beautiful moon and a clear sky out there this morning.

Knit on

Wii

2008-12-09T13:53:00.000-08:00

Learning how to play the Wii with my 4 yr old grandson. I'm not very good. I am also the only one that he can beat. :-) Good for him to be better than someone else at something. We had quite a few laughs about my spinning in circles and bouncing us back to the main menu because I kept pushing the wrong buttons. I think we were playing something called Rampage. Funny looking critters (ala godzilla) that had to destroy a city.

One sock monkey almost knitted. The 4 year old wants one as well... So his is next up on the needles. I am probably going to have to mail myself some items home. I bought enough stuffing for quite a few sock monkeys I think. I don't know if I will finish knitting the one for Middle K or not before I leave. Depends on how much knitting the grandpuppy lets me do. Most of my knitting is happening between 4 and 6 am.

Well, I get to feed the baby... so gotta go.

Knit on!

Unable to send

2008-12-02T15:08:00.000-08:00

For some reason I am unable to send photos in an email... Keep getting a stupid error message. ARGH!

In Knitting news... there hasn't been much what with the new baby. I did however, finish knitting the baby blanket... still have to weave in the ends tho. The Grand puppy Coco doesn't like me to knit. She prefers to have me chase after her after she has snuck up and grabbed my yarn and run off. Granted she is only 6 months old, so is still a cute little beagle puppy... but I don't like playing chase and recovery, at least not when it is yarn. She has plenty of toys, and I would be happy to play the same game with those. Took me almost an hour to recover and restore the last ball of yarn to it's original untangled state. We won't speak about the drool. I am just glad that it happened to be a super wash yarn. And worsted weight, and the yarn was all still in one strand tho horrifically tangled. I have managed to squeeze in a few rounds of sock here and there, but other than that... Knitting deprived. :-)

Hopefully I will have the time to go out to the local yarn stores while I am here. We shall see.

Not wishing to return home, tho I miss my knitting buddies, my animals and of course the hubby. Would like to stay and snuggle grand babies and nothing else.

Knit on!

New Grand baby

2008-12-01T13:12:00.000-08:00

Little K entered the world on 29 November after keeping his mommy awake for three nights in a row He's a cutie.... see....

Bye now... I'm busy being a granny.

Multi-tasking

2008-11-22T20:54:00.000-08:00

This morning I knit on the Felted Slipper, and as I was sitting in the sleep inducing chair, it took longer than it should have for the progress I made. I fell asleep. With a cat on my lap. Was hoping to finish it today... well I suppose it is still possible to finish if I stay up awhile longer. If not there is always tomorrow.

Then switched to the sock in progress. As you can see, I was multi tasking. Playing Yahtzee on the computer. Granted it does slow me down a bit, having to take my turn and all, but my companions don't complain if I must finish the row before rolling the dice. It also keeps me out of the sleepy chair. It's a win win situation on some days.

Yarn is Pagewood Farms. Color is Misty. Don't have the ball band as I traded with a knitting buddy who lusted after the brown skein that I had. It's all good! Love this color too. Reminds me of grey days and sunsets and misty mornings on a small pond. The yarn is very yummy and squishy. As you can see, one sock is darker than the other. They will be siblings... not twins. I divided the ball in half by weight. I noticed this effect when viewing the socks my friend has knit up (in different colors) with this yarn as well. This yarn trait doesn't bother me at all. I don't mind if my socks are unique or on rare occasions match perfectly. I do know of knitters that this would drive completely batty. If you are one of those knitters... you have been warned. :-) Though honestly, I don't know if every skein is like this or if we just managed to get odd balls.

Doing a simple K3, P1 ribbing down the cuff. I may or may not carry the ribbing down the top of the foot. Undecided on that at this point. I am doing both socks at the same time, using the basic instructions in the book "2-at-a-time Socks" by Melissa Morgan-Oakes. (linked to Amazon cause it is easy) Both yarn and book were purchased at my LYS though.

On another note:

Kitchen is cleaned, living room straightened and most of my clothing is located and washed, one load yet in the dryer. Back pack halfway packed. Sudoku book(s) and pencils are in the lap top's bag. All cables and cords located and stashed there as well, except the cell phone charging cable. I will grab that and pack it on Monday. Still have to wind yarn cakes and divide a few balls of sock yarn. Have to simplify my necessities bag for my carry on. Will stash most of my knitting tools in the main back pack. Must still decide what to take for plane knitting besides the socks.

I will be trying to go to all the yarn shops I can locate near Honolulu. Will probably not purchase much while I am there... hard to justify yarn purchases when I am taking more yarn than I know that I can knit. Will see about writing up a bit on each of the ones that I make it to. I was surprised to find that there are indeed several listed in the 2007-2008 Travel guide. The book shows 8 in Honolulu, and 5 others in different cities on Oahu. (there is at least one on 2 other islands as well it appears)

Knit on!

On Vacation

2008-11-22T06:46:00.000-08:00

Whoo!
Don't have to be back to work until the 22nd of December! Flying out on the 25th to spend time with my youngest and his family in Hawaii and awaiting the birth of their newest one. Hoping to get plenty of knitting time in. I know what yarn I am taking... but still must wind some into cakes. Haven't packed ckothes yet at all... will have to do that sometime this weekend. (or Monday) ;-) The pet sitter has been briefed and has spent a few nights here so that the animals all get accoustomed to having someone else here. (0ne of hubby's friends will be staying here)

Trying to get another Christmas present finished before I leave. Another pair of felted slippers this one for my eldest. Have the pair for his Sweetie done already. They will both be wrapped and gifted un-felted. I think we will have a little felting party while they are here so that they can try them on for fit in the process. They both have larger feet than mine and I don't want to be guessing and guessing wrong and felt them too small. Photos later... will do a before and after shot. I am using the Fiber Trends pattern and Lopi yarn

Well, tea water is nearly done and so I am going to finish fixing that and curl back up in the recliner and knit some more with a nice cup of mint tea.

Happy Knitting!

sock swatches

2008-11-15T09:40:00.000-08:00

Lately it seems my "standard" cast on number will often resort in a sock too small to get over my heel, which means that sock pair goes to my mom or I frog it. With all the different sock yarns I have been purchasing, I have noted that my cast on number has had to change at times as well.

So, I pulled out half a dozen different sock yarns off my shelf and started making little swatches out of them last night. I am casting on 40 sts with a size US 1 (2.5mm) additurbo circular knitting an inch or so, picking up the US 0 (2mm) purl a round then knit an inch or so and then one more time with the US 00 (1.75mm). Need to pick up some tags at Office depot or some such place so that I can mark the swatches with yarn type and the needles I used and the gauge I obtained. Won't do any good to make the swatch and then not be able to tell what the yarn is in a year or two. WPI (wraps per inch) might be a good idea to record as well. hmmm...

By doing all this I am hoping to cut down on the amount of time frogging. I know that if I can feel the difference in thickness between the yarn types by running the yarn through my fingers that there is going to be a definite difference in the circumference of the knitted item. I would rather spend the realatively small amount of time kniting the swatches than ripping 5 inches or more of cuff because it won't go over my ankle. (bad words, bad words, bad words). This makes more sense to me now that I plan to start doing both socks at one time. It is painful enough to send one cuff off to the frog pond and I know it is going to be more than double that with two. I don't suffer to badly from SSS (second sock syndrome) but it does indeed take longer for the second sock to be completed, that is one reason for starting to do the socks in this manner.

Also started a new project(s) yesterday evening. My DIL has the little one's room done up with a monkey theme. And... I have a sock monkey pattern/kit from Blue Moon that I purchased down at the Black Sheep Fiber Festival earlier this year. Also ordered two more skeins of Heavy weight STR this morning hoping that they will arrive before I leave so that I can wind them and take them with me. Just Right Red (red obviously) and Sunstone (orangy yellows). EldestK likes red, SecondK likes orange, and LittleK is going to get one of my favorites, Pond Scum, since he isn't born quite yet and can't vocalize his opinion on the matter.

Happy Knitting!

Another one done

2008-11-09T12:33:00.000-08:00

Yea! Love getting stuff done. (quit giggling) I really do enjoy getting things done. Just, sometimes the actual doing takes forever and ever.

Two skeins of southwest trading company Bamboo 250 yards per skein so 500 yards in this scarf. There is aprox 3 feet of yarn in that little pile... that is all that is left. The pattern can be found here at the Yarn Harlot. Love the pattern, works well with any yarn, not just handspun.

This scarf is aprox 6 feet in length and aprox 7 1/2 inches in width. It is a gift, (over due) and I don't mind posting it as I don't think she knows about my blog. Will be getting it to the recipient this week at any rate.

I'm itching to cast on another pair of socks... but I am going to be strong and go and get another UFO instead. We'll see how long I can hold out without casting on something.

Go see Rachael's baby! She's a cutie!

Happy Knitting!

Done and done

2008-11-08T20:51:00.001-08:00

This " Lilly's Little Sweater" is for my DIL's sister who is due in the next couple of weeks. Decided on a fairly neutral green as they opted not to find out the baby's sex.

Just have the buttons left to sew on. Should get to that tomorrow.

Too late for me this evening to go and find a sewing needle. I know that the yarn needles won't go through the button eyes.

Two hats for the knitting guild charity. I am so slow at getting things done. A product of having way too many things on the needles at one time. Lots of variety and while I am knitting all the time it seems that very little gets done in a timely manner.

And yellow socks for the oft complaining hubby. He has been sadly neglected during this year of Baby Knitting. Poor thing. (not!) He says that he hasn't gotten anything so far this year. So these will be awaiting him in the morning.

I am holding off on casting on anything new... and picking up another UFO to see what if anything can be finished up this evening or tomorrow. Failing finishing, perhaps I can at least get a little further along on something. Oh... one other finished item but it is a christmas present and so don't want to post till after it is gifted.

Knit on!

Election Day

2008-11-04T13:44:00.000-08:00

Please get out and VOTE today!

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T13:24:00.000-07:00

May your holiday be full of frightful delights and loads of candy!

Wet and rainy out today. So glad my kiddos are grown and I don't need to do the "trick or treat" thing any longer. Of course, we did start a bit of a tradition once they hit 11 or 12. We would go out for pizza, rent some movies, come home and pop up a huge bowl of pop corn and shut out the lights and settle in for a long night of movies. We started doing this when Ellora, the dog (rottie) we had at that time, decided that she really, really didn't like the hordes of kids in costumes coming to our door any longer. She was about 6 years old at the time. She loved all people as a general rule... just not in costume... or hats of any kind for that matter.

Knit night this evening... YEA! Gonna be a mess getting out of the neighborhood with all the ghoulies and gobblins running rampant through the streets tho, so will probably head out early. Reminder to self to bring some easy knit in the dark kind of stuff for the wait in the car.

Stay warm and dry and Drive Safe!

Almost finished

2008-10-19T19:55:00.001-07:00

I have to admit the first hour was fun. Then the experience went downhill from there. I have decided that I don't really like to paint celings. I don't like to "tape in", and I didn't like removing the waniscoting. Walls I didn't mind painting however.

The color on the right side of the photo shows the olive green 'baby turtle" color correctly. I couldn't get the color on the top half "flowering herb" of the wall to show up properly... it is a very light green. The area on the right looks a bit greyish... but it isn't really. (flash too close to the wall I think) I re-painted the celing with the "flowering herb" today, I didn't like the pale yellow with the greens in reality. They looked good together on the color cards tho. Will use the remainder of the yellow in the laundry room, should have plenty. Was planning on yellow in there anyway. I think that it needs to be a bright and cheerful color since I don't really like doing laundry.

I still need to rip out the toilet and get the wall paper off of that one bitty section behind said toilet and then wash and paint. Have to wash and then re-put up the wainscoting and it will be done. I have decided to wait till the hubby comes home before ripping out the toilet. I don't want it to be my fault if it breaks. :-) I'll get the wainscoting washed and ready but I think that I will let him put that back up as well.

Finished knitting 3 items. Yea! Two hats for a charity knit and a pair of baby socks for a young lady at my Thrusday night group. Trying not to cast anything else on. I still have way too many items to finish. So far I have been good... we will see how long this lasts.

Spinning

2008-10-14T15:02:00.000-07:00

I'm going to a spinning guild meeting tonight with a Knitterly Friend.

I have been spinning for a few years now... though by no means on a regular basis. I have an on again off again relationship with my spinning. As in I walk past my spinning wheel (a babe double tredle production model) and or spindles (I have 3 drop spindles and 1 turkish spindle currently) and will think I need to sit and spin a spell... granted, some times I do, and sometimes it's just a thought. I do however keep buying Fleece and Roving and show no signs of slowing that process any more than I could give up buying yarn that takes my fancy.

I can spin a decent yarn, and I enjoy knitting with my hand spun. I also know enough to realize that there is so much more that I don't know. And those thoughts make me want to learn a bit more.

For instance: How to make a yarn for a specific project, instead of spinning the yarn and deciding what to make based on what I have spun. How to recognize when I am mucking it up and how to fix it before I totally screw it up. (Fiber is expensive if you muck it up; I can almost always justify the expense if I get a usable object). How to spin a lace weight... tho I think that I can do this with silk, but not wool or at least I don't think that I can. How to spin a 3 ply sock weight.

I am thinking that if I enjoy tonight, and I am reasonably sure that I will, that this will give me that extra little push towards my wheel (or spindles) just a bit more often. And you know what they say about Practice. I also need to move my wheel back out to the main room as there isn't room in the "Yarn Room" for spinning. I can store it there... but no room to sit in there and have the wheel in front of me. Yet. One of these days. Of course keeping the wheel in the main room has issues attached to it as well. I moved it to the "Room" in the first place because the dog is allergic to wool, tho he doesn't usually bother my knitting and spinning so I might bring it back out and cover it with a drop cloth and see if that will work.

Well, have to get away from the computer and get ready to go if I am going... and I am... so that means stuff to do before I can go play. Like Laundry and Dishes and Vaccuming. Some times (like now) I don't want to be a responsible adult. But a balance is good, tho I do think sometimes that work gets in the way of play. Ah well... that's a rant for another place and time.

Happy knitting!

Book Signing in Seattle

2008-10-07T15:30:00.000-07:00

The drive to Seattle... Lake Forest Park looked a bit like this. Cold, wet, grey and rainy. Perfect for knitting. The trip to Third Place Books took me a little over an hour.

This was the occassion:

A wonderful talk and reading from her current book. Much laughter. Many people.

And till this point in the evening a perfect ending to my day... then I turned my cell phone back on and listened to my messages and returned some calls. One of my co-workers had been found in his room.

Dead.

Just a young fellow. About the same age as my own kids, mid 20's.

Life is short. Tell those you know and love that you do indeed love them.

Photos and stuff

2008-10-05T08:51:00.000-07:00

From my eldest child on Friday... my birthday

What I did Saturday afternoon... Yellow socks for hubby and bruised pink for me.

What I started doing last night. Half of the room is stripped... can't quit now. :-) Have to find the paint sample that I picked out a few years ago. I procrastinate a bit.

Happy knitting

A knitting kind of day

2008-10-03T17:18:00.000-07:00

My Favorite!

Finished the sleeve of the Mexacali Baby in the Opal Tiger this morning. Have to pick up the neck stitches still and knit that up as well as sewing up the side seams. So still a bit to go on that.

Went to The Lamb's Ear , my LYS and knit there for a few hours today. Had the dog with me, he stayed out in the car tho. :-) He didn't want to stay home alone this morning. worked on the Lilly's little Jacket while I was there. I had ripped out the neck ribbing the other day as I had made a mistake, and what ever I was doing, it certainly wasn't a K1 P1 rib. That's all fixed now and am an inch or so past my idiot spot. Also cast on for that other project... The Braided Cardigan. It is knit virtually in one piece with very little seaming. I am using Cascade 220 in a brownish color. Will get it put up on Ravellry one of these days... complete with color numbers etc. Scored yarn for 3 pairs of socks and another "tank/shell" type of top as well. yummy fiber! The shopping for yarn from a gift certificate from a very good friend who's birthday is Sunday.

I will be heading back for Knit Night in about an hour. Like I said it was a knitting kind of day. Now I just wish that the yarn shop was a little bit closer.

Happy Knitting!

The Time Suck

2008-09-27T16:50:00.000-07:00

I have just been updating some of my Ravelry projects. I Love Ravelry for various reasons. It is however a horrid time suck. I have spent the last 3 hours uploading some photos to Flicker and entering some of the items that I have started and some even finished that had yet to make it to the Projects page. Three hours.... and I am no where near being done.

Speaking of another Time Suck I also need to get started arranging my stash again. The plan is to take photos when I go in and shake the stash up this time. ( Still have to enter a lot of yarn in the Stash portion of Ravelry) Shake it up is probably the wrong phrase to use. Skeins of yarn are being pushed off the shelves at me when ever I enter the room. The yarn on the back of the shelves are being squashed as more keeps being added to the front. I am thinking of getting some of those large ziplock bags... I think that they would be cheaper than the Vaccume seal bags. (not the kind used for freezer food storage) the kind for sweater /blanket storage. However, I did see roving packaged seal a meal style while at the Black Sheep Gathering in Oregon. So, will the hubby notice if the large roll of seal a meal stuff is gone?

Vaccumed the floors in the living room and bedroom today and took Hubby off to catch his flight. He will be gone most of October to Malaysia. Visiting his parents, his mom's birthday (87th) is the 1st of Oct. I went in late January with him for our yearly visit. I am not fond of traveling there during our winter... too much of a temperature change and way to many sick people traveling. The last 2 times we have gone during this time frame one or the other of us has gotten sick. So the next visit will be in Spring, Summer or Fall. He may get to go yet again this year after our trip to Hawaii. We will be heading there in late November or the first week in December.

I am going to try taking advantage of his not being here to get some of my "junk" cleaned up. Go through closets and drawers etc and get rid of whatever has dust on it. :-) So what am I doing in front of THIS time sucker.??

ARGH- There is always something!

Happy Knitting!

UFO Outing

2008-09-23T15:00:00.000-07:00

This is Sophie... who is checking out the sweater that is taking forever. I don't reccomend knitting a 40-44 inch sweater with 2mm /US 0 needles and sock yarn unless you are a fast knitter. Which I am obviously not. That or I am extreemly bored by black sock yarn in stocking stitch. I don't want this to be a textured sweater. Just a plain and simple sweater. You can't see the body of the sweater because of Sophie dear... but it is only 3 inches in length. The arms... they are done.
A washcloth... I wanted to see how this yarn worked up. Hempathy ... like it so far. Just a wee bit splitty but not too bad. I don't know how well the blend will work as a washcloth, hemp, coton and modal. (think that was the spelling. Can't find the ball band. Will have to look that up and see exactly what Modal is. A synthetic of some sort I am sure.

A baby blanket for our little grandson due in Dec. Have made it almost through one skein of yarn in both colors... 2 more of each to go. I will probably be picking up stitches on either side and knitting on a border. I think that it is turning out a little skinny. We shall see. Using Cascade 220 superwash.

This is a Lillie's Little Sweater for my DIL's sister who is due in Mid November. Should be able to get this one finished. Also have to do one in Pinks for a friends co worker. Using Dream in color yarn. Love it.

Hubby Yellow socks.... what you were expecting another color? If I can, I do his primarily in yellow as it surely is his favorite. He likes short socks too... and he has smaller feet. Did I luck out or what? I did have to frog the second sock, I was at the turn heel, or rather I forgot to TURN the heel, picked up the gusset stitches and started the decreases and hadn't been looking at my work. I was disgusted when I finally did look down to check my work and realized that I had nearly finised the decreases but forgot to turn the heel. ARGH. I was a bit enthusiastic about the frogging and didn't stop till the sock was gone. Now I have to restart.... Haste makes Waste. Must remember that.

This is a feather and fan shawl for my daughter in law. As you can see, she will be waiting a while before she gets this. Luckily for me, she doesn't know that I am knitting it, so she isn't waiting for it to be finished. Good thing huh?

This is another of the Baby Mexacali Ole sweaters but in the largest size this time. Just about finished with the last sleeve, then have to pick up the neck stitches and make the collar.

This is the Marihone by Dale of Norway. Only partway to the armpits as you can see. The hat is all but finished. Have yet to weave in the ends and put the spots on the lady bugs.

There are a few projects that didn't end up making the photo op. One is a pair of purple socks that I am knitting (baby) for a lady in my Thrusday night group. Made her a cute little hat as well and already gifted that to her. Didn't take a photo. Also the sock yarn scrap blanket. Didn't get a photo uploaded of that. It disappeared twice after uploading. Don't know what I did, but sure it was me and not the computer. The MS4 Stole that I showed you yesterday. A Philosophers Wool Sweater that I started a few years ago, one sleeve nearly finished.... It stayed on the shelf in all the stash tossing that I did the other day. Now I have to organize it by how much to do and when it needs to be finished and START working on them. All in all I am shocked that there are so few I somehow expected more. Now to curb the urge to cast on a few more items... for the moment any way. I am doing a KAL with a friend and we will be casting on next weekend (not this one) I believe.

Knit on!

Finished and Unfinished objects

2008-09-22T14:16:00.001-07:00

First the UFO. This is my start at the Mystery Stole 4. Only part way through the first clue, so ages behind the crowd I know, and no hope of catching up. I should be getting a bit more time to knit in the next few weeks, which will be nice but there are quite a few projects on my knitting "plate".

The beads on this project are Amethyst... tho they are dark in this photo. I will try another day to get a better shot. I'll wait till I'm further along as well. The color of the yarn however is quite accurate.

This little guy is wating to go for a hot water swim in the washer, and then a bit of stuffing once he's had a chance to dry out. He was one of the many projects I pulled from the UFO shelf this weekend. He was all but done, when for whatever reason he was stuck to the back of the shelf. Probably cause I needed to take 5 flippin minutes to sew his body together and then pick up stitches and knit his apendages. I will be needle felting on his eyes. once he is stuffed. ( It was finish work... not knitting, that's why he got the back shelf). I realized that he would be done in about an hour if I just sat myself down. So... he will be off to Hawaii this winter, to live with his new owner... my soon to be born Grandson Kaden.

This is a finished object. Hooray! I have been working on it about 2 years. It has had a few incarnations, and spent rather a lot of time in time out for bad behaviour. It started out with a feather and fan motif on the lower half and then switched to stocking stitch for the upper portion. Couldn't have the ladies covered by lace... When I tried it on, I discovered that the lace did indeed come up way, way too far... and frogged that puppy back completely. Restarted just as a basic shell. Details on my Ravellry, didn't think to bring the pattern out to the computer. If anyone is interested, leave a comment and I'll get back to you with the details. Missed getting it finished for this summer, but I am going to Hawaii this winter, so it will be worn lots then. Glad that it is finally done.

So, that is 2 sets of needles that were freed from use, and I frogged 2 other long term UFO's as well. Wow! Now need to organize the UFO piles. There are quite a few projects stacked around. I think that tomorrow's post will be a PHOTO of each and every one of them and details as to how much work I think that they will actually need. Maybe this will shame me into resolving their status one way or another. Gotta do something. As much as I love my LYS I'd rather be buying yarn and not duplicates of needles that I already have that are just in use. And the pity is that while they are indeed in use, holding the yarn on UFO's, for the most part they aren't being used actively. The turtle sat for over a year... granted I don't use size 10 1/2's on a regular basis, but that isn't the point.

Off to take photos of those that haven't seen the light of day in a long, long time.

Back Again

2008-09-19T16:25:00.000-07:00

The computer arrived yesterday afternoon about an hour after I arrived home. So nice, as someone needed to sign for it. Surely did miss my toy. Yea for fast service!

I've started on the mystery stole 4. I am dredfully slow. Still on clue number 1 and clue number 3 arrived today. Doing both ends at the same time, so each "row" is forever long, I timed myself on the row, both sections takes me 40 mins. The "way back" is a purl row for the most part and no beads, so much faster. I think the final estimate on the bead count is aprox 1000. Yikes! Hope that I have enough. I was told that each of the tubes I purchased had about 800 beads. I surely hope that number is correct. I am keeping the ones that won't slip easliy onto the crochet hook in a separate baggie. Just in case there isn't enough, I will see about getting one of those bead borer thingies. Or begging to borrow one at the shop where I purchased the beads as I won't be using beads enough myself to really warrant the purchase of one.

It is an interesting process, but is a bit tedious. Each of the beaded stitches is done individually, the beads aren't threaded onto the yarn in advance. I am using the smallest crochet hook I own (1.25mm- I believe) and size 8/0 beads. Oh... and I need to wear magnification glasses so that I can see the buggers. The beads are amethyst colored, and are a higher contrast with the yarn than I originally intended. (I was thinking about a barely there beaded look) However, I believe that this will be a good thing. I didn't end up purchasing the beads until after I had the first clue and could see how important a role that the beads were to play. Going to be a pretty piece. I will have to purchase clothing to wear with this stole. I don't have anything that would do it justice.

To bead the stitch, you first knit the stitch you wish to bead, then slip a bead onto the crochet hook. Slip the bead up past the hook. Grab the stitch you just knit with the beaded crochet hook, pull it (the stitch) taut, and slide the bead onto the stitch and place the stitch back on the needle correctly oriented with the bead below (obviously) the needle. Did I mention that this is a slow process? And that the pattern calls for nearly 1000 beads? I think that this stole will be a long time in the making as I really don't have vast amounts of time to knit and there are a gazillion things I wish to knit. Don't look at my Ravelry listings.... that is not nearly updated enough. I don't seem to have much time for that, can't knit and play on Ravelry.

Photos soon!

9-11

2008-09-11T15:23:00.000-07:00

We will never forget!

Computer Update

2008-09-09T17:24:00.000-07:00

Just got off the phone with the HP guys. Boy was this an improvement over the Dell Customer Service. I was really happy. One hour total on the phone. Good and bad news though. Bad news is the computer has an issue with the mother board. But... good news is that it is a known problem and so it will be fixed free of charge even though my warranty is of course out of date. A computer won't break until a week past your warranty coverage. So I will be without my laptop for a week or two... Fellow said 9 days average... but it will be fixed! Back up is done.. just in case they have to wipe it.

Happy knitting!

Harder than it looks...

2008-09-09T15:49:00.000-07:00

to pick the pit bull out of a line up. Took me 4 tries to get it right. I thought I would be better than that. However, I don't think that they used a very good photo either.

I heard about the "photo line up" while listening to the report about the elderly lady that was attacked in King County. I hope that she recovers fully from the attack.

OUCH....

2008-09-03T16:55:00.000-07:00

Screen doors hurt... Just ask my kitty.

I went out to the back deck last night and shut the screen door behind me. Spice ran up the back steps and through the closing screen door... and very nearly made it... but not quite. I took her in to the vet today, as she was comfortable last night and in good spirits despite the sore tail. Unfortunately, she did have to have her tail amputated as the cut was deep and went nearly all the way around. So her long beautiful tail is now just a short four inches. I talked with her vet just a few hours ago and she was waking well from surgery despite the funky cone hat, and wrapped up tail. Let's hear it for good kitty feel good pain drugs.

What's more important?

2008-09-01T19:17:00.001-07:00

"What's more important, Knitting or Camping"? That's the question my husband asked me. My answer was of course "Knitting". He then re phrased his question stating what he really meant to ask. "What's more important.. Knitting or Me"? Well, put that way, I had to answer that he was more important.

No that doesn't mean I have to stop knitting, it means that I will not be at Friday Night Fiber Frenzy at the Lambs Ear this friday night. I will instead be up at Silver Springs camping. As much as I want to go to this knitting meeting I have to admit that my husband comes first. This should also be the last camping adventure of the year, pity that it coincides with the restart up of knit night. I tried to get him to agree to let me drive out later that night, but there is a $9.50 charge for additional vehicles. Ah well.

I finished up my bamboo tank top. Will be wearing that to the Thursday night knit group. If I make the pattern again I will have to make a few changes. The shoulder straps are to thin for my liking, and the neck shaping is higher that I would prefer. It fits nice, with just a wee bit of negative ease... I was quite unsure of that bit, but it worked out well.

Still needs to be washed and blocked out. Have to check and see if "blocking" would be the proper term for the bamboo yarn. May just need to be gently patted and smoothed into shape. Have to find that swatch and check it out. No I did not block my swatch... I knit it and it gave me the gauge I was looking for and all was good. amd so I knit. My swatch has never touched water. I am now afraid to let my tank touch water. I need to test this before Thursday. Yikes.

What's more important?

2008-09-01T19:17:00.000-07:00

Missing file

2008-08-27T20:51:00.000-07:00

I will have to call HP in the next day or so. The file that I need to update is listed on their downloads page, but that particular file is not there when you actually try to download. Grrr. Hopefully it will all work out in the end. I have all my files that I don't want to lose backed up. Mostly photos. 10 gigabytes of photos. I didn't know that I had that many.

Long weekend coming up. Camping out at Ocean Shores for the holiday. Yea! Knitting will happen!

Home Again..but still wireless

2008-08-21T10:29:00.000-07:00

I thought that I may have had my internet issues taken care of when we were in Idaho on the way home. Unfortunately that "fix" only lasted a short while. I am currently on line (internet) with a tech support fellow. Have been on with him and one other person for about 2 1/2 hours so far this evening. I am currently on ignore I believe.

ARRGH . He just got back to me, wants me to do a system restore from the recovery disks. I don't want to! Have to back up all the photos and a few other things before that can be done. I think I might also talk with some one else before doing all the recovery bit. I will definately do the backing up tho.

Knitting... yes it has happened. I am about 1/3 of the way through a baby blanket. Almost finished with the baby Mexacali Ole sweater Opal "tiger" in the 18 month size (I think it is that size anyhow) and picked up one of my languishing projects... my bamboo tank/shell. It is only August, and winter is just around the corner and this tank still isn't done. I started it awhile back, I think that this is its second summer in the construction phase. Luckily I will be going to Hawaii in December so maybe it will be worn this year. At least there will be a chance for that to happen. I had put it down due to my inablilty to count correctly and needed to tink back through one armhole bind off so that I could get the correct stitch count for the front. I was 13 stitches off. Couldn't figure out why I had 26 stitches left before I reached the marker. Cause I counted twice, and got the number I was counting. But I was counting 70 for the smaller size and not 83 for my size. Tink, Tink, Tink, pass the scotch. That is corrected now and the back neck and shoulder shaping is correct. I have the front neck ready to bind off stitches for the neck shaping so all in all just a wee bit to go. Will have to pick up stitches around the arm holes and the neck band and do a round or two. Remind me to read the "Constructions" as my hubby would say. I am going to kitchner the shoulder fronts and backs instead of doing a three needle bind off as the pattern suggests tho.
Take care all... and Happy Knitting.

Wireless Woes

2008-08-11T13:09:00.000-07:00

I know that it is because I am going on vacation, and wishing to take the lap top with me that it has decided that now would be an excellent time for the wireless to have a glitch. I had to bring it out to the main computer and plug in the DSL cable to get on the internet. Going to see if I can update the drivers... as checking for new updates didn't do the trick.

Knitting is packed, the trailer is packed but I still have to clean house and pack my clothes. Also have to give our pet sitter the "tour" and the mail box key.

If I can't get this wireless thingy fixed before tonight then there won't be any postings from me until the end of next week. Take care everyone and Happy Knitting!

Vacation

2008-08-07T15:34:00.000-07:00

Today was my last day at work until the 25th. Hooray! Hours have been long and hard since the begining of June and I feel a bit burned out. Four days to rest and get my yarn ready for travel. Tuesday we will be leaving for Colorado. Taking the fifth-wheel, so turtle like, we will have our home away from home with us. Hubby's niece is getting married the weekend of the 15th. More about this later. Taking the laptop with me so may, if we encounter service, post while gone.

Enjoy what's left of summer!

I just signed up...

2008-08-03T10:40:00.000-07:00

...For the Mystery stole 4 this morning. I missed last year's sign up because I delayed checking out the various links I saw while reading different posts until after signups closed. If you are interested, sign up closes on 12 Sept 2008. Should be fun. New skill to learn. I have used beads with cross stich projects but never with knititng. I have a drawer full of lace weight, with 3 different colors that aren't already "spoken for" and are also in an amount that should work reguardless of my gauge. The supply list calls for 1100 yards w/notes elsewhere in the "help section" saying the orginal was knit with ~200 yards less... the extra being added for "insurance".

I have decided to go with the Jagger Spun Zephyr Wool-Silk in a 50/50 Merino Tussah Silk blend. 4 oz and 1250 yards. The color is Mushroom. So a nice easy off white. Now for beads... I am undecided as to whether I want something that is of a high contrast, or something that will definately show, but not be shouting "Look here at me... I'm shiny"! Hmmm... having just writen that I think I will go for the more subtle "Beads? Yes there are beads. See just there."

I think that my yarn and I have a shopping expedition ahead of us. I think I need to have my yarn with me to help make the decision easier. I know that there are some bead shops in the area, have to check them out. Now the question will be if I can get out of the store with ONLY the beads needed for the stole and nothing more. Ha! I think my chances are probably small.

Finished Object

2008-08-02T08:36:00.000-07:00

The Shibui Cardigan is finished. Ends woven in and button attached. Still needs to be washed and blocked. That is a project for next friday as I am taking the day off from work. Will be getting all the baby gear ready for the shower.

Button close up as you can't see the detail in the larget photo. The colors are darker in this shot, (indoors w/flash)

I used Koigu 5 skeins with approximately 94 grams or 3 3/4 oz left over. Plenty for a hat and some socks for the kiddo.

Thinking of making a helix hat and will be checking out some sock patterns sent by a friend last week for making up some matching socks. Several pair probably looking at the left over sock yarn.

I will be visiting my LYS soon and hoping that she still has some of the yellow Koigu in stock. I made the mistake of telling my husband that the yellow was originally planned for HIS socks and instead I made a sweater for our grandbaby due in Dec. "Those were my socks?" with a pitiful look on his face. Like he Never, Ever, Gets Socks. Ha! I know he was just teasing me... and because he was teasing... he Will Get Socks. Yellow ones. Made from Koigu.

Baby knits

2008-07-31T13:49:00.000-07:00

I am going to try to get as much done on the baby knitting as possible this weekend. Have to go shopping and get a bag, card and some baby tissue, and perhaps a few purchased items as well. Need it all ready to go for the baby shower next weekend. I am a procrastinator when it comes to finishing up on the "little details". But the shower will be for my DIL and my first grand child... So I want to have my act together. :-) As much as it is possible for me to do that. Then it will be a slightly slower pace for finishing up the rest of the baby knits that I have planned.

This next week will have me organizing what I need for a road trip, yarnish as well as clothing. Need my yarn shop locator book too. Don't know how often or even if, I can get hubby to make a yarn store stop... but I have to try. More to come on this later. I will be taking the laptop, so will be able to post if I can get internet access. Can't wait!

Roving

2008-07-28T17:09:00.001-07:00

This is the roving that my friends purchased for me. Pretty colors! I am having a bit of trouble with this however. I literaly cannot draft it. I am thinking that it is the addition of the icicle. Or maybe it felted slightly in it's journey to me. I am not sure.... Any ideas? I will keep playing with the piece that I have managed to work loose. It may just end up being spun up as a chunky.