I just finished these socks:
These are Charade socks knit with Socks That Rock lightweight in Nodding Violets. I loved making them, I love them.
I also loved spinning this:
It's Delphinium, from The Silkworker. One word? Yum.
And now I'm working on this:
It's Gust from Knitspot, knit with merino/silk laceweight from The Plucky Knitter. Easy pattern, lovely yarn.
I'm also working on some more socks that I didn't get a decent picture of. Next time!
Ms Poultry went to live with one of my friends yesterday. She was mostly fun to make, though there were a few tense moments when it was debatable if she would get eyeballs. Also, if you're going to fill a belly with beans it will keep expanding. I should have felted it firmer, but I'm not sure if that would have stopped the waistline creep.
The lace shawl was fun, but now I'm back to stockinette. All stockinette, all the time. I. Can't. Stand. It.
I'm done with the body of my gray sweater, but on initial fittings it looks hideous on me so am not certain of its future. I'll probably finish it just because with the flicking and spinning there's an awful lot of time already invested in it, but it will likely never be seen on me in public. We'll see.
I had a wonderful time at the Madrona festival in Tacoma! Since the first question out of everyone's mouth is "Did you buy a lot of stuff?" I will tell you that yes, I did. No matter what your scale of "a lot" is, I bet I rank right up there. Surprisingly with my recent lace advenrues my focus was all about lace yarn. I bought a bunch of different sock yarns, but mostly it was laceweight. Here's a picture of the lace pile:
Left to right we have:
Blue Moon Fiber Arts Laci in Thraven
Malabrigo laceweight merino
Just Our Yarn cashmere
Prism laceweight
Handmaiden Sea Silk
and the two on top are Plucky Knitter merino/silk laceweight
And more yarn:
Top left are a couple colors of Kauni
Top right are Toots le Blanc's yummy rambo/angora
Left to right: Trekking dyeable sock yarn
2 Socks that Rock
Boo Fly merino/bamboo/nylon
ShiBui sock yarn
Flat socks - knit by a machine then dyed, unravel to make socks.
Roving in earth tones:
Crown Mountain Sock Hop "Under the Boardwalk"
Butternut Farm angora roving
Handmaiden merino/seasilk
Crown Mountain camel/merino
Artful Ewe's merino/silk
Roving in green tones (all Blue Moon):
Sheep to Shoe in Bruiser
Merino/Bamboo in Lunasea
Merino/silk in Thraven
And other fun stuff:
Spindles are Grafton mini-swan in laminated Hazelnut and an Ebony & Holly Spindlewood (a wonderful gift from Mr. Steve himself, OMG!)
The shawl pins were purchased at Just Our Yarn but I can't remember the guy who made them - I've bought stuff from him on eBay, darnit. Wish I could give him credit! And the glass orifice hook is from none other than the glass goddess herself, Sheila Ernst. This is a welcome home present for my Betty Roberts wheel, that should be here in SIX MONTHS. (I'm being tested by a cruel Fate.)
The Grafton spindle had me worried at first because it completely freaked out on me. When I bought it, I spun some of that camel/merino on it and it spun so smooth and fast you couldn't tell it was even spinning - those circles just stayed perfect circles. So then I bought that merino/silk from the Artful Ewe and had to spin it right away. The spindle wobbled and danced and after about 12" would flip itself upside down! I was extremely frustrated. So I got it home, figuring I must have whacked it somewhere and it needed some tweaking. I tried some straight wool and it was significantly better. Hmmm. I took the cop off that had the merino/silk and spun some more wool. Steady and perfect. The spindle is allergic to silk. I'm very glad I didn't return it, which was my first thought.
Of course, the BEST part was getting to see a bunch of friends I rarely get to see, and making some new friends who I look forward to seeing on an annual basis! Wish it was more...
Anybody remember this from last year?
I was getting ready for Madrona and had a Lace Incident.
Meet the 2008 version.
As Renee said when I told her about it, "Well, you've got blog fodder." Yes, indeed I do. Always with the silver lining, that girl.
But looky here!
Already fixed! Not perfect, but hey, I'm MUCH happier than I was last night. To say the least.
Details:
Design: Wing o' the Moth by Anne Hanson
Yarn: Zephyr in sage green
Needles: Addi Turbos size 6
Finished Measurements: 90" x 45"
Started: Dec. 17, 2007
Finished: Feb. 11, 2008
Comments: Aside from the meltdown last night, I loved everything about this.
So here is the gallery of shots I get to post because I have a floaty lace FO!!
This sweater will never show any of Owen's cat hair. BREEEEEELIANT.
What's not so darned brilliant is that I was so focused on knitting for a deadline that I just kept knitting and knitting and knitting and forgot to divide for armholes. Doh! I didn't realize this till, I kid you not, it's time to shape the neck. Good news is that I may actually get this thing done in time for Madrona. Bad news is that I have to learn how to make steeks under pressure. I also wanted set in sleeves, which will not happen. Ohhhhh weeelllll.
Other than this little wake-up, I really like how this sweater is turning out. I'm using coopworth yarn that not only did I spin it, but I processed it by hand myself! Kind of exciting. I'm getting pewter sheep face buttons for it, sort of like Girl Scout badges.
unless they're preceded by F*.
It's really F*cold. And that just makes it seem like another winter day, but no, right now the F*windchill is F* -41'F and it just knocks the F* breath right outa you. Yesterday the temp in Minneapolis was +41'. F*Ironic, don't you think?
Good night for knitting. And it's not snowing. My house is making loud boom-type noises as it does its own version of freaking out, but it's not buried in the avalanche they're getting out west. I don't have to shovel and that makes me really F*happy.
I was googling to see how cold it is in Antarctica, thinking we may have them beat. (I really am a drama queen, aren't I?) And truthfully, we ARE colder than many areas. I found out many things about vacationing in the antarctic that made me think some people are just pretty whacky. Like the fact that people have meltdowns after SPENDING A YEAR THERE when they finally see plants and go into grocery stores after EATING A DIET OF DOG FOOD. Then I found this on the page of Antarctic Slang Terms:
"Three-hundred-club - To belong, you need to go through 300 degrees Fahrenheit, this is achieved by rolling naked outside in a chilly Antarctic temperature and then going inside to hit the sauna."
F*nuts.
It's so cold that my feet have not been even room temperature in a week.
It's so cold that I've taken to whining almost non-stop.
It's so cold that when they say it's going to be above 0' I think "woohoo! WARM!"
Only a couple days left of this nonsense.
I've knit one of the Bird in Hand mittens, almost.
I just have the thumb left and grafting the tip.
And I've started some socks, the Charade pattern. I love this pattern more than I can say. Most of my socks are a 3x1 rib, I love that they stay up and have become mindless knitting for me. These don't require much thought after the first couple of rows, either. They may take a little longer but I'm silly happy with them. For this pair I'm using Socks That Rock lightweight Nodding Violets on #1's.
These make me so happppeeeee!
Wing o' the Moth progressed a whole 16 rows over the weekend. I am now on the fourth set of the twin leaf border. This is a fun lace project that is not nearly as hard as it looks. If you've knit a little lace and know how to do a yarn over and knit some stitches together, I encourage you to give it a try.
I'm home today with a sick doggy. She's much better already, but I came home to a much barfed-in Oakley kennel last night. She usually likes to hide when she's sick, but she stuck her face right in my face to show me that she had a creepy eye. The white tissue between her eyeball and lower eyelid looked like a big blister and she couldn't close her eye. Eww. We were up all night and sort of thank God for the internet because I pretty much figured out she just needed antibiotics, but I also got to see all sorts of other horrible pictures that wouldn't let me sleep. By the time we got to the vet this morning it was already almost completely better, so aside from needing some sleep we're all okay once more.
I am headed for the Madrona Festival in Seattle next month, so I'm feeling the urge to hurry and get some things done so I won't feel so guilty shopping the market. What that means is I'm frantically putting little bits of time into lots of things and not really accomplishing much of anything.
Wing o' the Moth has progressed into the twin leaf border. Unfortunately for picture-taking purposes it doesn't look much different than the last picture.
The red sweater is still very red. I am very close to having the second sleeve at the point where I join the whole thing together, which both excites and overwhelms me. It's a great milestone, but the rows will be endless for a while. I don't ever remember complaining so much about a sweater that I really like.
I have decided the lumpy things on the Noro Blossom sweater are not to my taste and it has been thrown on the floor in the corner. Bad Sweater!
I have been spinning lots of this:
I think it's my favorite fleece ever. I can't remember what kind of sheep it was, though. Doh!
I came across these mittens and I'm just nutty over them, so I will be using a wonderful cashmere gift to make them:
Also, I've been having a great time seeing all the color combinations people have been using for Matrix Mittens, so will probably be making some more of those soon... I think I have some variegated handspun that will be a good main color, I just have to figure out what will be a good match.
There is only so much stockinette a person can take before cracking. I made some socks, I made some mittens. Stockinette, stockinette. Sweaters are both in stockinette. I was so bored I could barely make myself knit anymore.
Add to this boredom, a real need to knit. I have been struck down with the crud that is sweeping the country and have been suffering from a monumental cold for the last week. I don't even know if it can be classified as a cold. That's where you still go to work, look like they really should appreciate your sacrifice, and take some Comtrex. No. I've missed most of the week at work and I have been totally useless to the universe for days. As long as I sit in my recliner and watch a good 16 hours of tv a day, I figured I'd survive it.
It's getting close. I think the demon is thinking about leaving my body. Not soon enough, though. My family is celebrating Christmas without me today. I'm feeling sorry for myself.
HOWEVER, if I can't be opening presents and stuffing myself with cookies, what do you think I'd rather be doing? That's right, I've been knitting something spectacular for the last few days. A year ago at my knitting group's Christmas party we all bought Zephyr for a lace shawl KAL. Well, we all bought yarn, anyway. Renee actually finished hers, Judy's been plugging along and is almost at the half way point. Out of six of us who jumped into this plan, that's pretty much the extent of the KAL participation. I think for a while Judy thought KAL had come to stand for Knit ALone. I've wanted to join in all along and have actually started a few shawls but none were anything I wanted to commit to. I even bought more Zephyr, thinking I just had the wrong color. But no. I wasn't getting anywhere. Then a friend gave me the Wing o' the Moth pattern as a gift and the original sage Zephyr was perfect and I took to it like a germ to a petrie dish.
Lest you think I have turned into a knitting blur like some popular bloggers, understand that this is all I've done. Sometimes I get up to make another cup of tea, but I get right back to business. And don't think the lace hasn't kicked me in the butt a couple of times, either. I had a dropped stitch in the very row BEFORE I decided to put in a lifeline, so that sucked and I lost 4 rows. Then, two pattern repeats later, I realized that on one side in every row I'd suddenly decided to skip the psso. But just on that one little fir cone. Still, there go 16 rows. Good thing I had that lifeline that time! I'm still trying to figure out how that error could be so organized. If my calculations are correct I only have two more repeats of the fir cone pattern.
Well, I've been away from the tv for a while now, I hope I haven't missed anything. As long as I'm trapped, I hope I am sucking up all the negative energy for y'all and you're all healthy, happy, and surrounded by those you love! (Please eat a bunch of those peanut butter cookies with the chocolate kisses for me!!) Merry Christmas!
Every year I spend some time volunteering with Sponsor A Family, a local charity sponsored by Lutheran Social Services and Catholic Charities. The program is for all people who need help at Christmastime, regardless of faith. I am not a churchgoer, but I really like this organization and it's become "what I do". This year I wasn't able to put in as much time since Mom was sick, but they welcomed me for the time that I could put in. My friend Sandy and I always adopt a family and we have a lot of fun shopping and wrapping presents for our "friends". This weekend was when people came to pick up their gifts and I man the check-in post. I've done it for years, I plan on doing it till I die. It's my favorite event of the year.
I always reflect on what were the important things I learned or at least revisited, over the weekend at SAF.
I learn over and over again that you can communicate with people in ways that don't require language. I was able to guide people to where they needed to go, how to find restrooms, what a gift card to Target was without having words in common (well, sometimes we'd hit on something we both knew: "Target money" usually was a winner). I'd brought along a mitten I was knitting for the slow times, and it was a common thread I was able to share with a lot of people. They'd want to touch the yarn, and sometimes they'd motion like it's a cuff? and I'd show them it was a mitten and they would light up and show me the cap they'd made for their daughter (and the daughter would look appropriately mortified) and we'd smile and get all excited that we'd had this "conversation".
Acts of kindness from a stranger are necessary for some people to feed their families. The recommended grocery gift is $10/person. There was a young woman with a toddler who was given a $100 gift card to the grocery store and she started crying. "Baby, we're gonna have a real dinner tonight."
Kids are amazing volunteers. They get to me every year. There are usually dozens and dozens of them there, running everywhere with non-stop energy. They run after packages, they haul stuff out to people's cars, they see snow and they grab shovels (you KNOW they wouldn't do this at home!), they lead people to the bathrooms when I am unsuccessful at directions, they bring cookies and pop to us old folks sitting at the front desk, all without anyone even asking them to. They are constantly looking for ways to help. I don't know, I'm GUESSING these are the same brats I see at the mall, but they're barely recognizable.
When I first started doing this, there were some people who had the attitude that they were entitled. I haven't see any sign of that this year. For a couple of years. Actually, there are a lot of recipients who ask if they can volunteer next year. A lot of the people who come in make it a point to shake the hand of everyone they speak to and say "thank you". They feel the love, even though it's anonymous.
