Of Faith & Fiber

Fall gardening checklist

2011-09-23T10:08:00.000-05:00

Various shovels & hand tools - CHECK
Wheelbarrow - CHECK
Overgrown garden beds in front - CHECK
Naked, empty NEW garden beds in back - CHECK
Big box of hundreds of new bulbs to be planted - CHECK
Ibuprofen, acetominiphen & ice packs in freezer for my aching arms, legs and back - CHECK

Guess who is spending the weekend working on fall gardening projects...

Knitting Post - FINALLY

2011-09-12T07:41:00.000-05:00

When Airman finished Air Force Basic Training, we received a packing list for civilian clothes he wanted. Top of the list was a stocking cap. Of course, I was not satisfied with sending 2 of his ready made hats. I just had to knit him a new hat.

So when an email from Patons came with this free pattern, I was inspired to use some of my sock yarn stash to whip out a light weight, breathable stocking cap, suitable for the hot weather in San Antonio, Texas.

Not only was this a quick, easy knit, but I fell in love with the mitered square shaping of the crown. Believe it or not, that was a new technique for me. All in all, this pattern was the perfect inspiration to get me back in the mood to knit. Lots of mindless knitting in the round with a little challenge at the very end. (excuse the poor photo - the hat was in the mail before I realized what a bad picture I had taken)

Of course, with Airman being so far away, I had to use Peeps to model the new hat. She wasn't too happy to be interrupted during school but she helped me out anyway. Of course, she didn't put down her pencil or stop working the whole time.

My Peeps is so happy to be back to work on homeschool. I am blessed!

A long and eventful summer

2011-08-30T09:48:00.000-05:00

I've been sooooo busy this summer. I was working 2 part-time jobs, both resulting in long hours on my feet and one requiring lots of scooping. Yes, I was back at the ice cream shop this summer. Needless to say, there has been little gardening, no knitting and lots of time spent trying to catch up on housework. Hence, nothing to blog about.

However the biggest news of the summer is ... my son is now an Airman First Class. We travelled down to his graduation from basic training this month. We couldn't be more proud. Not only did he make it, but he graduated as an honor graduate. He was in the top 10% of his class of over 600 trainees. Now he is in tech school to become a loadmaster. He won't be home for months yet but we are e-mailing, calling and skyping on a somewhat regular basis. Those were all things forbidden during the 8.5 weeks of basic training. I never knew I could miss someone as much as I missed my son this summer.

Anyway, here he is:

My son! My Airman! My Hero!

Too busy to write - wish you were here.

2011-05-30T08:39:00.005-05:00

Preparations for Airman's graduation are in full swing around here. Too busy to say much but lots of photographic evidence of my garden progress.

This little fella was just hanging out in a pot of Hens & Chicks I have awaiting transplantation into my perennial beds. Frankly, I don't see the attraction of this particular napping spot. Seems a bit too uncomfortable, doesn't it?

One beautiful day sandwiched between days & days of RAIN

2011-04-29T19:53:00.006-05:00

Well, at least one day this week was sunny and somewhat warm. It is has been such a gloomy, wet, depressing spring that the only thing that has kept me up and moving was my dreams of a stellar garden this year.

So, of course, I took advantage of this one lovely day to get some work done for the garden.

First, I transplanted all the seedlings into bigger and better homes. The pansies all went into their outside pots and they are in the process of being hardened off this week. I also transplanted tomatoes, zinnias, marigolds, basil, lavender, Queen Anne's Lace and a few pepper plants that survived (some nibbling creature has been eating the leaves off all my pepper plants - grrr) into bigger pots so their root balls can get a little bigger before transplanting them into the garden next month.

I then got to try out my new soil cube tool. I actually won this little gadget recently in a drawing at Highly Uncivilized. Since I so rarely win anything, it was a real joy when they contacted me. And now that I've actually tried it out, I am THRILLED that I won. It is one of those little gadgets that you look at and say, "Cool!" but then don't buy because you are just not quite sure if it is worth the investment.

Well, this thing totally is worth it. It was produced by Deeply Rooted Organics. Look at the nice, orderly blocks I turned out in a quick hurry this afternoon. The beauty of using soil blocks is the roots will air-prune themselves, meaning, when they reach the outside of the block, they send a message back to the stem to put out more roots. The result is a compact, healthy root system that will not suffer from root shock when you transplant them. Plus, there is no plastic pots to wash, store or throw away. So wonderfully green and organic, it makes me swoon.

It even came with a specially made pair of tweezers to move the blocks when it is time to transplant them. And it works, too. I had a few blocks that needed to be shifted around and it held the blocks together nicely as I lifted them into a better position.

I planted more tomatoes and peppers, so I can stagger harvests this year, as well as some sweet alyssum and sweet peas. For kicks, I started a few radish seeds as well. I plan on direct sowing most of them but thought it might be fun to experiment a little. I have room under my grow light for at least 3 more trays, so I'll be blocking up some more soil and starting more seeds soon. I just need to mix up more of the special soil mixture they recommend.

Might as well keep starting seedlings while it rains this weekend.

Come on, Sun. We miss you. Come back soon! And stay awhile next time, please!!!

Progress!

2011-04-25T17:41:00.003-05:00

Well, I've tried to post this a couple of times and Blogger hasn't been too eager to let me. I don't know, maybe it is discrimination against worms. Or maybe it hates my amateur photography. Needless to say, it has been a while since I could get things to work. Perhaps this time it will work (fingers crossed).

We arrived home from our spring break trip to a delightful little surprise on my doorstep - WORMS! Yes, the worms I ordered back in December finally arrived. I had purchased a black file box to house my worms quite awhile ago. I drilled 30+ holes all over it and filled it with damp newspaper shreds, coir and my new babies.

They seem to be adjusting to their new home quite well, although when I open the top to feed them, quite a few of them try to wriggle out. I keep reminding them that they will starve to death outside their new box but I guess you cannot reason with red wigglers.

It will be a few months until I can harvest the castings to use in my garden but I am having fun with my vermiculture experiment anyway.

In garden news, the trellis I made are installed and the garden beds are all weeded and ready for planting. I'll get some photos taken and up soon. The clouds have rolled in and the rain that is in the forecast for the next two days appears to be looming. So, I'll wait for a little sun before snapping progress photos for your enlightenment.

In knitting news, the baby blanket is almost finished. I need to knit 5 more inches or so, then I can bind off. THEN, I promise to take a photo of it and post it. Maybe I should just spend a day taking pictures of all the knitting I've finished in the past 5 months and get everything updated. Well, only if we can get some sun. It's been way too gloomy this month for successful photography anyway.

Disclaimer: All these excuses are merely a smokescreen. Truth: I have been too lazy to get the camera out.

Well, off to take Bubbles to swim practice. Ta-ta!

Gardening - At Last

2011-04-08T19:03:00.003-05:00

The weather has been absolutely glorious this week. So, in spite of a sprained ankle and wrenched knee (long story involving skis, Lutsen Mountain and poor judgment), I got out into the garden this week and started a long-delayed, much anticipated project of adding some new flower beds.

I decided to be extra ~~lazy~~ efficient and do a lasagna layering method to get rid of the grass the new bedding area. I had harvested 30+ bags of maple leaves last fall and had them stored in black plastic bags over the winter. So yesterday, I spread the leaves over the grass, covered them with black plastic and spread wood mulch over the black plastic. The photo above shows the three different stages. Fortunately, the wind was not too strong, so I was able to tackle the job largely on my own.

In knitting news, I have started a baby blanket for a dear friend who just had their 5th baby. They had thought they were finished and had donated all of their baby stuff years ago. Then God blessed them with a miracle and they are starting all over again. I can hardly wait to see their newest son. Alas, I do not have a picture of the knitting progress but hopefully I can get one before I give it away this time.

Well, back to the garden. . .

Winter Sowing

2011-03-21T12:38:00.003-05:00

My first venture into winter sowing is now underway. I used this booklet as a guide as I prepared my containers and sowed the seeds. As you can see, I made a bit of a mess but with the rain we had over the weekend, the mess is now all gone.

You can also see in the background that we will have snow on the ground. In some parts of the country, it is too late for winter sowing but, alas, in Minnesota, there is still time.

I have located a few more containers lurking in my stash of recycleables, so I may be adding to the collection. And since we have more snow in the forecast this week, it seems I won't be running out of time to winter sow for awhile yet.

It may sound like I am complaining about the snow but it is providential, actually. We took a chance and booked a ski vacation for spring break. The snow this week ensures that we will have good skiing while on vacation.

In other news, I have another great experiment in the works. I found a potato in the bottom of the pantry that was sprouting. So I cut it into a couple pieces and potted it in a container to see what would happen. Well, it is growing like gangbusters. I doubt I'll end up with any new potatos but it was fun to see what a potato plant looks like.

On the fiber front, I have recently resurrected an old passion for cross-stitch. I've been working on a small project in my spare time. I am also plugging away at cotton wash cloths. After listening to numerous complaints by my Hubby about the state of most of my kitchen linens, I've decided to replenish my hand-knit washcloth stash.

I've chosen a new pattern from Lily's Sugar'n Cream pattern website (you have to log in to see the pattern but membership is free) called Feather & Fan Dishcloth. It has a lovely ribbed texture that will work well for all the scrubbing we have to do around here.

Well, off to finish school with the girls and check in on all my little seedings in their various and sundry locations. Ironic how homeschooling and growing seedlings are so similar. They both require almost constant attention!

If a picture is worth a thousand words . . .

2011-03-17T15:49:00.007-05:00

Here are a 8 thousand words for your enjoyment.

Seeds are growing well. This weekend I plan on winter sowing more, and transplanting the bigger plants into real pots. With the warm weather this week, spring fever is reaching a peak.

Come on, snow, MELT!

Trellis follow up

2011-03-14T16:28:00.004-05:00

Sorry about the delay. Life - you know - ummm, well, anyway.

Here is the next step. Now, the book tells me to glue the joints with pvc cement. I bought the supplies to do it but I am thinking about not gluing the pieces together. Just drilling some holes and screwing them together. The advantage to me is that I can disassemble them later. If something gets damaged, I can easily replace the broken part.

However, living in a climate that is prone to severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and blizzards means these should be very sturdy to stand up to strong winds. Would the joints be strong enough with just a few screws through them? Then again, nothing will stand up to a tornado anyway . . .

Any thoughts, friends?

Finally, the trellis sheet will be screwed to the frame. I am making four of these so far. I have several ideas on where to put them. I do need some vertical growing space in my vegetable garden this year, since I plan on growing peas, beans, ornamental squash and cucumbers vertically. However, these are so cute, I thought about lining them up along the side of my garage and training some flowering vines up them instead.

I am excited to get these finished and in the garden. Just got to wait for the ground to thaw enough to dig the holes.

Oh, and I found a plan for pvc garden furniture. The old grey cells are percolating away . . .

Easy Garden Trellis

2011-02-16T08:03:00.004-06:00

The Garden Fever 2011 continues to dominate my waking hours. And with the unseasonably warm weather this week, I was actually able to get out in the garage and start working on a new pet project.

I found this project in Easy Garden Projects to Make, Build and Grow. I purchased the supplies in early January, when the gardening bug was just too overwhelming to resist. The total cost for four 8 foot tall/2 foot wide trellises will be under $100.

I had the local lumber yarn cut the 10 foot pvc pipes down to 8 foot lengths. I then cut down the 2 foot lengths at home to accommodate the elbow joints and still fit within the 2 foot width of the trellis material.

I then used some fine grade sandpaper and removed all the print from the PVC pipes. Everything is now prepped and ready for gluing and assembly. Stay tuned for the next installment of Building o' the Trellis.

In weather news, we have had several days of above freezing temperature and little bits of grass are starting to appear around the edges of the yard. However, I am not getting myself too excited yet because the weather forecast for next week includes a significant (i.e. plowable) snow event.

Which is probably okay, since we have scheduled our spring break trip to a ski resort here in Minnesota and snow will probably be a good thing to have around.

Can't help but brag a little!

2011-02-11T15:24:00.002-06:00

I just happened to attend an epic, historical event at my son's hockey game last night. If you happen to be into hockey at all . . .

Yup, my boy is a member of that varsity team.

Oh, and yes, I am very hoarse today

More Gardening Projects

2011-02-09T16:33:00.006-06:00

Yup, gardening fever shows no signs of abating. I've been starting seedlings, transplanting, making new biodegradable pots and reading every gardening book or magazine I can get my hands on. I've made lists, drawn layouts for the vegetable garden and researched ways to recycle, upcycle and generally repurpose stuff for use in the garden.

At left is a picture of my new mini greenhouse hard at work sheltering my first transplants. After the little seedlings have developed their first set of true leaves, I move them out from the big germinating grow light set up and move them to the transplant set up. I purchased this inexpensive shelving unit from The Greenhouse Megastore for under $50. It is not the sturdiest shelving unit in the world but I bought it mostly for the three covers that came with it: A clear plastic cover, a black mesh cover and a solid black cover. I plan on moving this unit out of the basement and onto the deck later this spring and use it to harden off the seedlings before planting. I figure I can always find a sturdier shelving unit (or make one) later that I can still use the covers on. I bought very inexpensive florescent fixtures and hung them from the wire shelves to provide light for the plants until they are sturdy enough to bring upstairs into my 4 season porch. Having kitties means I have to protect these babies until they are too big for bratty cats to uproot.

My other big project is making more biodegradable pots for transplants. With a family of 6, we tend to accumulate more grocery bags than we can reuse. So I've been cutting them up and making little square pots out of them. Each paper bag yields 8 three inch pots or 24 one and a half inch pots.

I carefully open the bottom seams of the bag, and then cut down the side seam to open the bag up. I carefully peel away the handles, if the bag has them. I cut the bag in half lengthwise once and widthwise twice to make 8 nine inch (approximately) squares.

Then I fold the 9-inch squares in thirds in both directions. I cut one crease on each side to make flaps that can then be wrapped around the outside of the pot and stapled or taped. I'm not too fussy about these, since they are going to be filled with dirt and eventually rot away in the ground, so rough edges and uneven sides don't bother me. I use little staples from a tiny stapler that I figure will rust away very quickly underground. They are so fine, I am sure they won't last more than a year.

I set these pots in aluminum catering pans I bought in bulk at a party store. Then I can just pour water into the pan and let the moisture wick up into the pots, to keep from disturbing the little seedlings. The aluminum pans reflect the florescent light up and around, so it magnifies the light somewhat. I may end up adding some tin foil tents to the set up, just to further magnify the light from these low wattage florescent fixtures.

Well, there you have it. How to get a gardening fix when you live in the frozen tundra of Minnesota and your vegetable garden is still 3 feet under snow and the outside temperature is 3 degrees Fahrenheit.

Eureka! I have seedlings!

2011-02-02T13:17:00.004-06:00

I'm so HAPPY! The ol' green thumb is alive and thriving underneath 60" of snow here amongst the Chosen Frozen.

It looks as though I have nearly 100% germination so far. Some of the pansies are still popping up and I have a few onions that haven't quite broken the surface but everything is looking FAB - U - LOUS!

I am knitting a little (new washcloths) but mostly, I'm playing around on my new toy, Nook Color.

Back to mooning and crooning over my itty, bitty, widdle seedlings.

Another long gap

2011-01-25T15:56:00.007-06:00

Well, my well-laid plans have gone the way of those of both mice and men. But I am still here and kicking. I know I promised some pictures of FO's but everytime I pull the camera out, the battery is dead. Lacking any initiative and drive, I simply put it back, instead of plugging it in. Blame the grey, gloomy weather . . . blame the deep cold that has settled around here . . . blame whatever. I am just too blase' to care.

What is more, the knitting mojo seems to headed south with the birds. Instead of dreaming of cashmere and alpaca, knitting cozily way in front of a warm fire and sipping hot cocoa, I find my waking (and a few sleeping) hours consumed with plans for spring gardening. Yes, folks, I am completely backwards in the hobby mojo department.

However, I refuse to let the 40" of snow in my gardens deter me when I'm in the throes of garden fever. I have been pouring over the seed catalogs online, ordering flower and vegetable seeds willy-nilly. I've set up the grow light and ordered my sterile seedling mix. I've purchased and potted some new houseplants. I purchased and set up a little greenhouse unit in the porch to house the future seedlings. And I started a little herb garden for use in the kitchen.

And today, I filled some trays with potting mix and started the first round of seeds for spring planting. I have a flat of Giant Pansies in purple and gold all tucked up in it's black plastic tent and warming nicely in the dark. I have Marigolds and Zinnias and Lobelia set up under the grow light in their mini greenhouse and I even started some peppers and tomato plants to get a jump on the harvest season this year.

I also joined the American Horticulture Society, with the thought of becoming a Master Gardener someday.

Yes, I feel triumphant because I am overcoming winter. Yes, there may be 4 feet of snow on the ground. Yes, there are months before the first blades of spring bulbs pierce the frozen tundra. Yes, it is colder than a witches nether regions outside. But I will have flowers soon.

Mwahahaha! Who knows, maybe I'll feel energized enough to actually charge the camera and take pictures of the new baby plants.

(Any bets on whether the knitting mojo strikes right about the time I should be transplanting stuff outside?)

Christmas Gifts Part 1

2010-12-06T14:12:00.003-06:00

Still a busy little beaver around here. I managed to finish my Starter training for USA Swimming this past weekend so I am now officially a Starter. Thank you very much.

Thankfully, our homeschool academy wrapped up it's Fall Semester and we have one less activity on the calendar for the time being. I taught Beginning Knitting and it was a blast. This group of young girls was an exciting group.

Finally, still frantically knitting away on Christmas gifts. Alas, the FO I have to show today has been long anticipated and will NOT be a surprise on Christmas morning. But Airman is very happy with it. In fact, he is sleeping under it nightly.

Nothing like having a knitted gift be thoroughly appreciated by the recipient. One down, 6 or more to go. Yikes!

Meet Airman 1st Class Hockeyman

2010-11-18T16:04:00.003-06:00

It has been an eventful start of the school year. Obviously, the big gap between posts should have clued you in that things have been a little busier than usual. One of the biggies is that Hockeyman is now a senior in high school. College visits, PSEO classes, hockey practices and a burgeoning popularity of his rock & roll band have all had me running around more than ever.

However, the biggest news is his enlistment in the Air Force Reserves. He officially became an Airman 1st Class this morning. He will leave for basic training right after graduation in the spring and, if all goes according to plan, will be a loadmaster within the following year.

In other news, I am furiously trying to finish knitting up Christmas gifts. I am still working on TUSKAUFOFE as well.

Oh, and by the end of the weekend, I hope to be certified as a Starter by USA Swimming.

See, I told you I have been busy.

Gah! Record-breaking gap in posts!

2010-08-16T10:53:00.001-05:00

I knew it had been awhile since I posted but I had no idea it was almost 6 weeks. I am so ashamed! What a loser blogger I am!

Okay, I'm not that upset. Life just has a way of getting in the way of the fun stuff. After all, even Super Mom can't juggle absolutely EVERYTHING.

I have been crafting. Not as much as I'd like. Not nearly enough. But in the dribs and drabs of time that the kids' crazy schedule will allow. And I've been learning some new skills as well - like canning. All the fresh produce at the farmers' markets around here has inspired me to try and capture some of it for winter. Anyway, here is a synopsis of what's I've been working on.

Finished Objects: Diagonal Lace Socks (#6 in TUSKAUFOFE), canned 5 pints of strawberry jam and 5 pints of Zesty Salsa and 4 trays of peach puree ice cubes (great for the morning protein shakes) and 5 pints of frozen peach puree.

Almost Finished Objects: Drop Stitch Pleated Tank (about 10 more rows and this baby is off the needles) and Easy Drop Stitch Scarf (the latest UFO to be resurrected for TSKAUFOFE).

Newly Started Object: Shetland Pi Shawl for KAL on Wendy Knits. I've been a follower of Wendy Knits for years and when this little KAL popped up, it was just the thing to get my knitting mojo back on track.

I also warped my little mini loom to make some coasters for the family room. More on the weaving progress later.

Well, it's pretty hard to sum up 6 weeks of insanity in just a few paragraphs. But I need to go get Peeps from dance studio now and you all will just have to stay tuned for more details.

(Whooosh - Super Mom wisks away for another dramatic rescue of a Damsel in Distress {i.e. Peeps, who is STARVING after 2 hours of dance class}.)

So long, for now.

2010-07-05T09:25:00.005-05:00

Heading out on vacation, so I'll be out of communication for awhile. However, couldn't resist updating a few things.

First, Arwen for Peeps is done. She asked for a belt to tie the sweater (not shown), so no button shopping for me.

However, after seeing all the nicely wound balls of singles on Turkish spindles on Ravelry's Tour de Fleece, I've decided I just have to get me one of those things.

In the meantime, I'm still spindling away on some purple sliver I've had in my stash for several years. I know I got it from Detta's Spindle but I have lost the little label that came with it, so I have no clue what breed of sheep it came from. But it's spinning up beautifully, once I got past the dropping stage of drop spindling.

Well, I'm off to finish packing. Have a great week, all!

Tour de Fleece Day 1

2010-07-03T18:41:00.002-05:00

Well, the race has started and I've managed to get in 1.5 hours of spinning on a spindle today. Since I'm going camping next week, figured I might as well spend the first full week getting reacquainted with the ol' spindle. Since I got my spinning wheel several years ago, I haven't even seen the spindles, much less used them. But there just won't be room for the spinning wheel in the van when we leave to camp, so spindling will be my camping activity.

Other goals during the Tour de Fleece:

Bust Stash! Going to use as much of my stash as I possibly can during the Tour de France.

Learn to spin silk! I have several sets of silk hankies that I've been too scared to touch. But during the mountain stages of the Tour de France, I'm going to challenge myself to learn to spin silk.

Attempt at least 3 different novelty yarn techniques I learned over a year ago at Shepherd's Harvest. I haven't decided which ones, yet, but I will as soon as I get back from vacation.

Finish washing and carding the Coopworth fleece I've been working on. Of course, since this work will have to come after the spinning, it may or may not get done. But nothing ventured, nothing gained.

In other news, I managed to get a 26 mile bike ride in this morning. My Hubby and I have a favorite trail we like to do on Saturday mornings. It starts in St. Bonifacius and runs all the way to Wayzata. Since Hubby has a rode bike, that is much lighter and faster than my trail bike, he takes off at his own pace and proceeds past the end of the trail as far as he feels like going, then comes back. So he squeezed in a 40 mile ride this morning. So we both get a good workout but I don't hold him back and he doesn't push me to go faster than I want to go. Win/win, wouldn't you say?

On the knitting front, I'm nearly done with Arwen for Peeps. After trying it on her, I decided to add a couple more inches of length to the sleeves. She's apparently grown some since I started the sweater. Fortunately, the body is more than wide enough and plenty long enough. I've knitted the cabled cuffs for the sleeves, so once the sleeves are long enough, I'll sew the cuffs on and call it done.

Except for the closures. I haven't decided yet how to do the closures. It will probably require a trip to the yarn shop to look for buttons. After all, buttons are not yarn, right? So a yarn diet wouldn't preclude the purchase of buttons, right? And the fact that there is a new yarn shop within 20 minutes of the campground I'll be at next week means I just have to stop in and check it out, right?

(Hint - This would be the perfect time for all those enablers out there to lead me on!)

New Season - New Look

2010-06-25T10:21:00.008-05:00

I spent some time re-designing my blog today. It is the first day I've actually been home for more than half an hour at a time, so I decided to take advantage of it. Hope the new design is as bright and happy for you as it is for me.

I started a new project this week, called the Drop St Pleated Tank. I figured that summer is the time to make and wear some summer tops. So TUSKAUFOFE notwithstanding, I decided to spend a little extra time revamping my wardrobe as well.

I'm using Ella Rae Silkience, which is a 41% cotton, 39% Modal, 12% silk and 8% rayon yarn. It has a silky hand and significant weight, so it should drape beautifully. The pattern is from the Early Fall 2010 Vogue Knitting magazine I just picked up. It was the back detail that really sold me on the pattern. I love little design surprises like this.

As usual, I'm a little nervous about the amount curl the bottom hem is exhibiting. However, I have a couple of redesign ideas to take care of that if strenuous blocking doesn't cure the curl. (Mwahaha - evil knitting genius laugh). I have also revised the pattern slightly by using a twisted knit stitch on the upper ribbing. This yarn has no memory, so I figured it would fit a little snugger and keep it's shape better if the ribbing included a little extra twist.

In other news, I'm just in one heck of a joining mood this summer. Not only am I in training for the Tour de Fleece on Ravelry (a group of teams who are spinning their way through the Tour de France in July), I also joined the Knitgirllls group and am participating in the 50 Skein Stash Down. The goal is to use up 50 skeins of yarn over the 3 months of summer. I joined a little late but am hoping to catch up with the group in a short hurry. The Ella Rae yarn has only 119 yards a skein and I'm using up a skein a day right now.

Well, I'm rather alone this morning, having 2 of my kids off at a camp, Hockeyman at hockey and Eldest Sister up in her room communing with all her friends via Facebook, so I'm going to head back out onto the deck to enjoy knitting, listening to a book on CD (Magyk by Angie Sage), and the temporary, blessed solitude I so seldom get to enjoy.

Ahhhhh! Bliss!

Still Drifting About

2010-06-21T13:11:00.005-05:00

Life still seems very disjointed. First of all, with summer comes a total change in schedule. Kids have camps, lessons and fun activities galore, which keeps me hopping from place to place. So far this morning, I've dropped Peeps at drama camp, picked up Eldest Sister's best friend and dropped them both off at community center to exercise, driven Bubba to and from piano lessons, taken Hockeyman to and from hockey camp, as well as gone to the pool to do my own work out. All that before 1 pm. I still have to pick Peeps up from drama camp, take Bubba to swim team practice and hopefully make it to my knitting group this evening. Gah! And I thought summer would be more relaxing.

Anyway, knitting is still happening in the little snatches of time spent waiting for various and sundry kidlets. I managed to start and finish one of those spur-of-the-moment projects last week.

Meet Annis from Knitty.com. After visiting The Yarn Garage and seeing a lovely shawlette, I was suffering from "Didn't Buy The Pattern, What Was I Thinking" remorse. So I did a little searching on Ravelry and came up with this pattern to knit instead. I used some Tofutsies sock yarn I had in my stash and whipped up this little baby in 5 days.

What is even better than an instant gratification project like this is the fact that I conquered my fear and/or aversion to nupps on this little beauty. I simply pulled each stitch of the nupp a little longer to make them slightly looser. This made purling all the stitches together on the following row much easier. SWEEEET!

Also, I am making gradual progress on carding the Coopworth wool. Granted, I have a long way to go, but every rolag I make is one rolag closer to finishing up the carding and getting to the spinning. Whilst I'd love to finish washing the entire fleece and have it all carded before the Tour de Fleece, that is beginning to look like a long shot at this point. But it is still moving forward, which is for the best. (I have a very pretty picture of the basket of fluffy rolags but Blogger is giving me a some difficulty posting pictures. So you'll just have to wait for that little photo.)

Also on the needles is the 6th installment of TUSKAUFOFE - The Diagonal Lace Socks. Still not totally burned out on socks yet but looking forward to some of the more complicated patterns. I'm in the mood for something more challenging.

On the UFO front, I'm trying to finish up Arwen for Peeps - still. It's just one of those "yawn" projects that I have a hard time getting the gumption up to work on it. Again, I'm itching to tackle something really intense.

Well, off to pick up Peeps at drama camp. Then I'll actually have a couple hours at home to do laundry and chores before the evening running begins.

Doh!

Rollin' along

2010-06-10T17:39:00.005-05:00

Lots of little steps forward on multiple projects. Sometimes I feel a bit schizophrenic because I am working on so many disparate projects at the same time but it just seems to be part of my personality. It drives my loved ones crazy sometimes but I do eventually get things done.

Finished Objects:

The Go Green Sock Knitting Tote is finally finished. I had all the components done but it required a little hand sewing to finish, which I managed to put off until today. I'm nothing if not a champion procrastinator. But 'tis finished at last.

The Lacy Rib Socks are off the needles as well. These took a little longer than they should have, only because I've been working on so many other things at the same time. However, they were still finished in under 20 days. Again, the yarn pooled in a very annoying fashion at the gusset/ankle area. This tendency in hand-painted yarns ticks me off sometimes but they are still very soft and comfortable. They should be just fine under jeans or inside boots.

In Progress:

My big gardening project is actually a furniture refinishing project. I've been stripping and sanding our patio dining set. Once I started the project, I found that all four chairs were very wobbly and some of the joints were damaged. So what started as a simple refinishing process ended up being a reconstruction project. All four chairs had to be disassembled and rebuilt with new dowel joints and stronger glue. Hubby did most of the reconstruction (I'm better at destruction) and I finished painting all the furniture with primer and a base coat.

I'm trying to decide if I'm going to go for a crackle finish/distressed finish or just polyurethane the paint finish and leave it bright and light. The advantage of a distressed finish is that this furniture sits outside all year around and is likely to get distressed all by itself. If it starts out that way, the subsequent wear and tear will look intentional. But I have to admit, I like the buttery yellow color I concocted from two cans of leftover paint. I may just do a little stenciling, age it with a little tinted wax and let it weather from there.

Finally, I am still carding the Coopworth fleece, little by little. I took it with me to our homeschool beach day last week, and to our little knitting group at Dunn Brothers Coffee on Monday night, and it is always a conversation starter. Everyone who is new to this process is just fascinated by the carding process. I get lots of questions and even more requests to touch the finished rolags. I have a long way to go to finish all the wool but I feel good about the steady progress I am making.

Well, that's it for now.

Going to go work on the TUSKAUFOFE #6 intallment - Diagonal Lace Socks.

Ta-ta.

Washing o' the fleece

2010-05-28T13:16:00.010-05:00

Since this is my first fleece washing experience, I had lots of mistakes to make and things to learn. This post is not an all-inclusive how-to about how to wash a fleece. It is a post about my misadventures one hot, steamy day in May.

The yellowish blob of fiber tucked in the blue sheet was the Coopworth fleece in such dire need of a bath. So early one morning, I girded my loins, rolled up my sleeves and dove right in. With my handy dandy Spinning Bible in hand, I heated the water, added the soap and plunked a lingerie bag full of fleece in the water. It was sent through two baths with soap and 3 or 4 rinses (I can't remember how many now), all according to the proper procedures and instructions in the Spinning Bible.

Mistake number one: Must open up the fleece and fluff it up or it won't all come clean. This first bag of fleece was washed and rinsed completely, then taken out to the deck to dry when I discovered all kinds of VM and dirty tips hiding out inside. So a good half hour was spent fluffing it up and picking out the debris before sending it back to the tub for a whole new cycle of washing and rinsing.

Since subsequent rinse water is not as dirty, I was sending bags of fleece through in a train. Basically you just add soap to mostly clean rinse water and start the next batch through before draining the tub, refilling and rinsing the first batch. With organization, you can train quite a few bags of fleece at a time, draining and refilling only as needed. This conserves water and energy because each tub of water is used multiple times.

Mistake number two: Don't try to wash too much fleece at once. Bag #2 was bigger than the first and it didn't get clean the first time through, either. So it had to be divided into smaller bags and be sent through the process again. So much for saving energy and water because two batches were now having to go through double washings.

I eventually had a good system down to get everything through the washing and rinsing cycles. I'd learned my lesson on the first two bags of fleece and was making steady progress.

Mistake number three: Don't over agitate the fiber, trying to get it clean. After having to rewash the first two bags of fleece, I got a little more aggressive with my swishing and the last few bags came out slightly felted. Not so much that it is not usable but enough to make fluffing it for the drying rack more difficult. So much for saving time by getting it clean the first time.

In spite of it all, I was pleased with my progress. Approximately half of the fleece made it through the first day and now that I know a little more, the second half shouldn't take quite as long, nor as much water and energy. I guess you could say it was well worth the effort in the end.

And isn't it so pretty and white now?

Now to get it carded up before July 3. Yikes! Guess there will be a few ~~mistakes~~ lessons in that little process, too.

Yipee-Skippee

2010-05-25T14:08:00.007-05:00

I'm just having so much fun here. So many fibery things going on so I'm going to play the random paragraph-ish/bullet post thing (with pics).

*TUSKAUFOFE #4/Dead Simple Lace Socks are now done. These are going to be gifted to a dear friend who is battling ovarian cancer and is starting an intensive round of chemo on June 1st. I figured some lovely socks would be just the think to keep her tootsies warm while laying around in a hospital bed.

*TUSKAUFOFE #5 is on the needles and going strong. Another super simple lace pattern, already memorized, so I don't need to refer to the book. However, I am mulling over the idea of re-printing the basic heel shaping instructions onto 3x5 cards and laminating them. The only time I have to refer to the book at this point is to memorize the chart and to turn the heels. Since I don't like carrying around books all the time (I already lost one copy of this book and had to buy a second), it would be a sweet and simple solution. Still mulling though. Haven't followed through. Too much other stuff going on.

*The Go Green Recycling Project has become my UFO project of late. I started cutting up old sheets a long time ago, with the thought of using it as yarn and making rugs. Well, I loved the Beach Bag I finished so much that I've started a Go Green Sock Tote. I'm nearly half way done now (further than the picture shows) and loving it, loving it, loving it. I have a huge pile of sheets to recycle and am on the hunt for more pattern ideas to use even more of this recycled yarn.

*I even have a few ideas about how to spin these strips into some fun and funkier yarn. Stay tuned for more later.

*I have also signed up for my first Tour de Fleece competition on Ravelry.com. From July 3 through July 25, you spin every day (except for 2 designated rest days). I have pulled out my full stash and started making plans so I'm ready to go on July 3. First step is to scour and card the fleece I bought at Shepherd's Harvest last year. Then I need to finish plying some bobbins of singles I have on hand so I can free up all my extra bobbins before July 3.

*I've joined 4 teams so far: Rookies, Stashbusters, Knitgirllls and Knitter's Palette. It's a lot of spinning to do but July will be the perfect time to do it all. I am so excited, I can hardly stand it.

*Besides all this fibery activity, I'm working on a plethora of other creative projects. I'm currently sanding and painting some old cedar deck furniture, planning on building a headboard for our bed with Hubby and preparing to create yet another huge flower garden bed in my back yard. And I'm trying to train for a Sprint Triathlon in my spare time.

*On a sad note, The Girl Formerly Known as Dancing Diva Who Has Yet to Find a New Passion So Will be Called Big Sister For Now participated in her last dance recital as a backstage helper last weekend. It was a highly emotional time as she said goodbye to her life as a dancer. She is still wrestling with the ramifications of the arthritis diagnosis and struggling to find a new passion into which to pour her very considerable talent and energy. Whilst I would love for her to share my passion for fiber arts, she is very different from me in temperment and personality. I am encouraging her to pursue acting and singing and music in some form or another, she has yet to latch onto anything yet. A few prayers sent in her general direction would be greatly appreciated, so she can move through this dark time into a new life path.

Am I a bit insane? Probably but I've decided that after the crazy year we've had that as a family, we are going to go for the joy this summer. Do what is necessary but find the time to go above and beyond the mundane and have a fabulous summer.

Shepherd's Harvest Swag

2010-05-11T10:02:00.005-05:00

Woot! Had a great time at Shepherd's Harvest again this year. I didn't take any classes this time and spent most of my time volunteering at the information booth in Building B and manning the Ravelry.com table.

I did manage to pick up a few things, though. The red yarn was on sale for $10 a hank. I got enough yarn for a short sleeved top for $40 dollars. Silver Creek Cabin was the booth where I scored that little bargain.

The buttons are hand-made buttons by Jennie the Potter, as is the yarn bowl. I've been eyeing the yarn bowl for several years. It has a curved channel carved in the side to thread the yarn through. She was featured in Knitty.com last summer, if you want to see more of her work.

The bag of fleece was purchased from Dakota Carding & Wool. It is called Opalescence and the color is Caribbean Blue. It has just a touch of glittery angel hair carded into it, so it has a very subtle sparkle. I can't wait to free up a few bobbins and spin this lovely stuff up.

The braid of wool was a gift from River's Edge Weaving Studio. I volunteered to organize a Ravelry Bingo/Vendor Crawl for Ravelry.com members who were attending Shepherd's Harvest. The lovely ladies from River's Edge not only generously provided gift certificates for the prize basket but also gave me a personal gift of Hand Dyed 100% Bluefaced Leicester wool. What a sweet thing to do!

The line up of little finger puppets was picked up at a vendor in the back corner of Building D, next to the Yarn Garage booth. I forgot to pick up a card but I knew the little girls would be thrilled with these little guys. Bubba is especially fond of putting on shows and often makes her own puppets.

The black headband was a gift for Elder Sister (formerly known as Dancing Diva), since her new passion is snowboarding. It is an alpaca headband from Alpaca Treasures. They show a website on the Shepherd's Harvest Vendor list but I can't get it to work right now.

The Sea Turtle was purchased from Saori Free Style Weaving Studio, mostly because the packaging was entirely in Japanese. Hockeyman has been trying to learn Japanese on his own and I knew he'd get a kick out of trying to translate the packaging. Again, the Shepherd's Harvest Vendor list shows a website but it doesn't seem to be up and running at the moment.

I also managed to finish my Go Green Tote bag just before leaving. It was very helpful as a shopping bag at Shepherd's Harvest. I inherited a bunch of double bed sheets from my mother in law. Since all our beds are singles or queen, I decided to recycle them into "yarn". I cut 1.5 inch strips on the bias and then crocheted them into this extra sturdy tote. It will be perfect for beach days because it is porous enough to let sand filter out of it and yet large enough for numerous beach towels.

Well, it is time to get back to the normal routine of life - sort of. We have our home swim meet this weekend, so I'll be working hard at that from Friday through Sunday. Then next weekend is Peeps dance recital weekend. THEN, only then, will things slow down a bit.

Then again, there is a new garden bed just begging to be laid out and dug up. And all the wonderful fleece to spin. And of course TUSKAUFOFE which is in full swing.

Guess "slow down" is a relative term, eh?

Shepherd's Harvest is coming!

2010-05-04T17:28:00.002-05:00

I am giddily preparing for Shepherd's Harvest this weekend. I will be leaving on Friday and spending the weekend camping and wandering through all kinds of fibery wonderfulness.

I am also in charge of the Ravelry Bingo/Vendor Crawl for our Shepherd's Harvest Ravelry group. If you are a member and haven't checked out the group, click on the Ravelry link and check it out. We have a nice basket of goodies that will be given out to some lucky participant in the game.

In the meantime, have a very happy Mother's Day!

Spring, Glorious Spring!

2010-04-27T13:02:00.007-05:00

Sorry about the long absences from blogging. It has been such a glorious spring here in Minnesota that I've been spending all my free time working on the gardens.

One of the new, exciting things I found is a special service Holasek Greenhouses offer every spring. They sponsor open houses in March, when you bring your pots in, get to fill them with free dirt and then purchase beautiful hot-house grown annuals and perennials to plant in the pots. Then you register the pots with Holasek and leave them in the greenhouse until you are ready to put them out in May.

I took full advantage of this service this year, planting over 20 pots with plants. I ended up picking up my pots a little early. We have had such a mild and warm spring that I risked putting the pots out a little early. So far, so good, although I do have old sheets ready in case I need to cover items to protect from frost.

I've also been freshening up the garden beds, weeding, dividing perennials, replanting the divisions, setting out annuals and generally working myself sore and silly. But I love it. The garden beds look so fabulous this year.

I have been getting socks done. Because I still have all the usual running and waiting for kids, I still seem to be making tons of progress on TUSKAUFOFE.

The second of the plain, vanilla socks was finished several weeks ago. These are for my hubby, hence the wonky toes. My sock blockers are too small for his socks but they looked way too wimply without something stretching them out. These socks used the gusseted heel, which I absolutely love. They tend to hug the heel better than the slip stitch heel I've always used and are much smoother. Total winner in my book.

I also finished the third plain, vanilla socks, using Lorna's Laces sock yarn I purchased at Shepherd's Harvest several years ago. I love the yarn - EXCEPT where it pooled around the heels. This yarn would have worked much better with a contrast short-row heel or with an after-thought heel. I also ran out of yarn before the cuffs were as long as I wished. Had I known they'd be this short, I might have substituted an hemmed cuff instead of ribbing.

Finally, I am nearly finished with the Dead Simple Lace Socks. I finally broke down and bought a pair of Addi Turbo needles in size 0, so I didn't have to refigure all the heel shaping instructions. I did substitute the gusseted heel for the short row heel in the pattern because I do like it so.

Well, I need to go get the oil changed on my car and start running kids everywhere again. The only advantage to all this end-of-year running is the extra enforced sock knitting time.

Then maybe you'll find me back in the garden tonight for a little more weeding and planting.

Ahhhhh, I love spring!

Arrrgh!

2010-04-18T17:29:00.002-05:00

Sometimes I wonder whether becoming attached to our electronic "conveniences" is really beneficial. They are so wonderful and convenient . . . until they break down.

Case in point, computers.

Our home computer was infected by the most malicious and nefarious of viruses. Hubby spent days and days trying to track it down, kill it and immunize our computer against further infections. In the meantime, e-mail was not functional; internet was not available and even my online calendar was beyond reach. After a valiant battle, my beloved Hubby declared the old computer DOA and went shopping for a new one.

So, here we are, a week later, with a brand new computer, but without all my favorite blogs bookmarked. I had such a long and lovely list of favorite friends whom I would visit via blogdom and now I have to go out and recreate my favorites list.

If you haven't heard from me in awhile, feel free to pop in and comment. Then I can click my way back to your blog and re-enter it on my favorites list.

While I wait for long lost friends to check in, here is an update on the progress on TUSKAUFOFE. All three basic socks are finished and Dead Simple Lace Socks are on the needles. My plans to work on UFO's has not come to fruition, mostly because the weather here has been so beautiful that I've been out in the perennial garden, freshening and primping it for its annual spring bloom extravaganza. When I come back in, I'm just too tired to do more than knit a few rounds on a sock. Forget about figuring out where I left off on the pattern and finding energy to tackle a long dormant project. So, sock knitting is what is going to happen until the garden is all weeded and ready for showing off.

Then maybe I'll even find the energy to photograph all three pairs of the finished socks.

Now, I am going to take a couple pain relievers, put some cold compresses on my brand spankin' new sunburn and knit a few rounds on the socks du jour.

Owwwww!

Ups & Downs

2010-04-06T08:22:00.002-05:00

Life has been a roller coaster this past two weeks.

The Good: We spent a wonderful 4 days in Chicago during spring break. We visited some of the best museums I've ever seen. The Museum of Science and Industry was spectacular, with the highlight being the tour of U-505. It was amazing to see a piece of WWII history up close and personal like that.

The best part of the trip was the fact that I found the Chicago City Pass. Not only did it allow us to see the sights we wanted to for a discount but it also gave us special privileges. On Good Friday, we went to the Shedd Aquarium. When we arrived, the line to purchase tickets extended for 2 blocks or more. However, because we had the City Pass, we were able to go to another line that allowed us to get into the aquarium within 10 minutes. And the wait at the Sky Deck (Sears Tower) was 1.5 hours for those purchasing their tickets there. We were able to pass to the front of the line - another 10 minutes wait for us. In time alone, we estimate we saved more than 3 hours. I'd definitely recommend looking into the City Pass if you plan on visiting any major city in the U.S.

The weather was superb and we all had a wonderful time.

The Bad: Just prior to leaving for Chicago, my upright freezer died. Not only did I have to throw away a significant amount of food that had gotten ruined, but I was frantically cooking up stuff that only partially thawed and was trying to squeeze still frozen stuff into the small freezer in our kitchen. The freezer had leaked stinky stuff all over the floor in the basement and I had to clean the floor and the inside of the fridge to prevent a nasty, stinky smell when we got home. Bah!

Also just prior to vacation, we found out that Dancing Diva probably has a form of juvenile arthritis called spondyloarthropathy. She had been battling fatigue and joint pain for several months. After exhaustive testing at our general practitioner's office for everything from Mono to Lyme's Disease, we were referred to a rheumatologist, who performed even more tests. Although he was unable to give her a definitive diagnosis yet, she did test positive for the HLA-B27 genetic marker. Since this is a particularly difficult disease to diagnose, we will be watching for additional symptoms and going back to the rheumatologist on a regular basis to follow-up. As a result, DD has had to withdraw from all her dance classes because it had become too painful to continue and the wear and tear on her joints was more than she could afford to risk. I now need to come up with a new moniker for The Girl Formerly Known as Dancing Diva.

The Ugly: TGFKADD returned to school on Monday to the news that one of her classmates had committed suicide over the weekend. It was yet another case of a young person who was not accepted by his peers and teased about his unconventional attitudes and appearance, who found his lot in life to be unbearable. This young man was a friend of a friend and, although TGFKADD never was unkind to him herself, she was shocked and devastated to find out how deeply the teasing affected this acquaintance.

For my part, I am deeply sorry for the family and friends of this young man and am praying earnestly for them to find comfort in Jesus. And for the entire High School, that this experience may serve to teach everyone how to be more accepting and tolerant of our individual diversity. To have them learn that everyone - EVERYONE - has value in the eyes of God and that teasing, bullying and unkindness has no place in this community.

May God forgive all of us for our callousness and unfeeling behavior toward those who are "different"!

And She's Off!

2010-03-25T08:06:00.002-05:00

Well, it is official - I'm off to the races with TUSKAUFOFE. The Short-row Toe and Heel Basic Sock is finished and Gusset Heel Basic Sock is on the needles.

I have to admit that I am not a huge fan of the short-row heel. I have a high instep, so these socks tend to slip down under my heel. I had decided early on to make these socks into anklets, since the Patons Stretch Socks yarn is cotton blend and suitable for summer socks. This choice means that I may be pulling these socks up in back all the time. I am also wondering how they will stand up to multiple washings.

I am currently working on two other projects. First is the 2 for 1 Hat pattern by Ravelry friend SwordofaKnitter (Ravelry link). I am test knitting it for him. It is taking me much longer than usual because it is double knit and I can only work on it at home and in a quiet place because it takes so much concentration to make sure I keep the pattern straight. I am currently working on the decreases at the crown of the hat and should be able to finish it soon. It will be a very warm hat, having two layers and should be fabulous for skiing next winter. I have no photos yet, so you'll have to stay tuned for an update.

The UFO I'm working on is Arwen for Peeps. I am knitting the cable bands for the front of the hoodie. Then I only have the cable bands for the cuffs and this baby is finished. I don't have a current picture of it either.

I am way behind on photographing WIP's. With the beautiful, spring-like weather around here, we've been spending extra time outside. I have also been spending more time at our local pool, learning to swim. I have a secret yen to do a sprint triathlon and was most afraid of the swimming portion. So I started taking private lessons to learn how to swim and am now trying to build up my stamina. I can now do 500 yards of breaststroke without completely dying. Freestyle is still too hard for me to maintain for long distances but I'm pleased with the progress I've made so far.

Well, I'm off to finish school with the kids so we can take a quick shopping trip to buy a suit and new shoes for Hockeyman. He has a formal dance he will be attending next month. I assume he will also need a suit for interviews at colleges and other events in his upcoming senior year. It is hard to believe my baby boy will be 18 this year and graduating next spring.

Where has the time gone?

Fear of Commitment?

2010-03-11T13:39:00.003-06:00

Maybe.

After announcing to all of knitting blogdom the advent of my upcoming Toe Up Sock Knitting Adventure, little niggling thoughts began tickling the back of my brain. Doubts and fear began to creep into my subconscious, giving me crazy nightmares and random flashes of goose-pimply, gut-tickling shivers throughout the day.

First thought to rear it's ugly, guilt-inducing head was the list of unfinished projects cluttering up my normally spacious, but now dangerously over-crowded, craft studio. It whispered, "Wouldn't it be more prudent to knock off a few of those before attempting an epic journey through toe-up sock knitting that may well take a couple years. After all, Hockeyman's Blanket is so close to done; and that Center Medallion sweater you know you couldn't stand to wear because it is too itchy and plan to recycle into a tote-bag or pillow . . ."

Next, the overwhelming stash of yet untouched yarn began a siren song of lonely longing, calling me, calling me to, "Go ahead and cast on that Fair Isle cardigan, the lime green summer cardigan, the purple cotton hoodie . . . And what about the Fair Isle hat and mittens you purchased yarn for before going on Fiber Fast 2010 - it is so lovely and quick to knit. It's okay, go ahead and submit to startitis. It's what you do best."

Finally, stark and raving fear crept up on me. What if I run out of sock-knitting steam half way through the book; what if all my bloggy friends find out what a flaky, easily-distracted ditzy dame I really am . . . Oi, what have I gotten myself into?

After some serious soul searching and stern, self-directed lectures and very inspirational internal speeches, I decided to follow through on my original plan to knit my way through Socks from the Toe Up, with some minor alterations to the plan.

First of all, I will knit my way straight through the book, one pattern at a time, starting with the Plain Vanilla patterns before moving onto the more exciting lace sock patterns.

However, after each pair of completed socks, I will finish (or frog) one unfinished project. My goal is to finish one pair of socks and to finish one UFO per month. However, if the UFO in question takes longer than the remainder of the month, I will cast on the new sock and continue to work on two projects until one or both are finished. I will include other crafts in the UFO completion marathon, like the rug hooking project I'm half done with and some unfinished quilts in my sewing basket.

Once the UFO's are eliminated from my over-flowing craft room, then I will allow myself to cast on a new project after each pair of socks.

Another goal is to burn through some of my stash (hence, Fiber Fast 2010), so I will use up all my accumulated stash of sock yarn before purchasing any new. However, once I have run out of sock yarn, I will allow myself to purchase sock yarn, even if Fiber Fast 2010 has not concluded.

Henceforth, I will be referring to 2010 as the year of Toe Up Sock Knitting And Unfinished Object Finishing Extravaganza, or TUSKAUFOFE for short. I am taking the plunge and putting this commitment out into the blogging world with the hope that it will be motivation enough to urge me forward to meet the goal of unlimited sock exploration, endless UFO elimination and ending world hunger . . . okay, maybe I'm getting carried away.

In the meantime, I did have a couple of prior commitments to live up to before diving into TUSKAUFOFE full time. Therefore, I submit for your approval HABS 2010. Granted, they are a month and a half too late for Hubby's birthday but I figured I'd better finish them off before getting too wrapped up in TUSKAUFOFE. He's very patient but with the Hockey Expo and High School Hockey State Tournament this weekend, he really needed a new pair of warm wool socks to keep his toesies all toasty.

I also promised a Ravelry friend that I'd test knit a new pattern for her (Ravelry link). I am working on that at the moment and plan to finish tonight or early tomorrow.

Oh, and on a sock knitting note, I have been attempting the short-row toe used by the first sock pattern in Wendy's book and not having a great deal of success. So far, I've knit and ripped 4 separate toes. I understand the directions but when I start picking up the wraps with the stitches and knitting them together, I keep dropping stitches and getting things all tangled up. Grrrrr!

Perhaps my mistake was trying to cast on and knit short-row toes late at night, by the light of a small lamp, so I wouldn't disturb my sleeping hubby during my commitment-phobic, anxiety-induced insomnia last night. I'm hoping attempting this new-to-me toe pattern will go better in full daylight, and after a full and restful night of sleep. IF I can actually go to sleep tonight without dreaming of half-finished socks chasing me through crowded warehouses of whining UFO's and lovely, lonely yarn singing alluring songs in the background.

After all, I am a flaky, easily-distracted ditzy dame who gets all goose-pimply from time to time. Not a pretty picture but, hey, you all are likely to figure it out sooner or later.

Searching for Inspiration

2010-03-05T19:11:00.002-06:00

I have to admit that knitting for the Ravelympics was exhilarating. However, after the torches were extinguished, I have to confess that I was left feeling a little flat. With the completion of Cables & Lace, I had reached my goal of 12 sweaters in 12 months. I earned the medals I was competing for and then . . . pfffft!

I've lost my knitting mojo. Everything I picked up looked boring. "Been there, done that," became the mantra as I thumbed through books and magazines, looking for something - anything - that might get my blood pumping once again.

I was resolved that I'd have to explore some new craft - or resurrect an old craft to find inspiration. Not a horrible thing but knitting has become such an integral part of my identity that I was afraid friends and relatives wouldn't recognize me without my ubiquitous knitting bag and needles in hand.

Then, today, as I was teaching the sock knitting class at our local homeschool cooperative academy, lightening struck!

In front of me was Wendy Johnson's Socks from the Toe Up. As I thumbed through it and talked with my class about the different toe and heel configurations Wendy demonstrates in the book, I realized that I had barely scratched the surface of toe-up sock construction. Here in front of me was a recipe book for endless explorations into sock construction and design. I began to feel like Julie in Julie & Julia (which I just read recently) when confronted with Julia Child's monumental tome of French cooking.

Why not spend the next 12 months knitting my way through Wendy's awesome book? What is more, when her second book comes out, why not progress through that one as well?

That is not to say I won't be working on other projects along the way. After all, I do have a few other UFO's floating around here that could stand some attention. And Shepherd's Harvest is coming up and attending that always gets my spinning mojo back in gear.

But what a fun goal to have - knit my way through a book. A pair of socks a month would leave plenty of time for other projects, since I could knit a pair in a week if I really concentrate on it.

And it will be much less fattening than cooking my way through a Julia Child cookbook.

A Win-Win situation, don't ya think?

Talk about cutting it close!

2010-03-01T02:10:00.003-06:00

Official finish time!

Knitting Completed

Still need to weave in tails, wash and block, and purchase/apply buttons. But every stitch of knitting was completed during the allotted time frame. Barely!

As for the Gold Medal Men's Hockey Game, all I can say is Sidney Crosby attended Shattuck-St. Mary Boarding School in Minnesota for a year during high school. Perhaps the U.S. (and Minnesota) had a little stake in that Gold Medal after all. Not that I'm biased about Minnesota hockey players but this is the "State of Hockey" after all!

Nuff said!

Good Night. I am E-X-H-A-U-S-T-E-D!

It doesn't get much better than this!

2010-02-23T21:04:00.002-06:00

Guess what Hubby managed to win this week:

4 tickets to the University of Minnesota Golden Gopher vs. University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldog hockey game in Duluth on Saturday;

Oh, and a luxury coach bus ride with free food and beverages to and from the game;

AND a pre-game dinner party at Grandma's with Coach Doug Woog;

As well as 4 t-shirts for us to wear at the game.

Can you spell e-x-c-i-t-e-d!

Best part, long bus ride to and from to knit like a maniac so I might just possibly finish Cables and Lace before the Olympic Closing Ceremonies, as planned.

Yeah, Hubby.

Oh, and Go Gophers!

My first 2 medals - Squeee!

2010-02-18T09:04:00.003-06:00

The American Girl Sweater Set was entered in 4 events and two of the medals have come through so far. I feel so proud!

This is, by far, the most fun KAL I've ever done. Go Teammn2010!

Ravelympics Progress

2010-02-17T10:05:00.004-06:00

After all that soul searching, poll taking and decision making, you'd think I'd have a clear goal for the Ravelry Olympics. After all, I spent weeks agonizing over which sweater to attempt. I spent 2 weeks drafting and rewriting the chosen project's pattern. I even fussed a bit at my husband when he surprised me with a dinner invitation on Friday night, when I'd planned to cast on with the thousands of other Raveletes during the opening ceremonies.

So what did I do . . .

Started a different project and finished it - all before I was 6 inches into my Ravelympic project.

Granted, this is a special gift for a lovely little girl who invited Peeps to her birthday party on Friday. Being a American Girl Doll fanatic, it only made sense that I could whip up a sweater set for her favorite doll. And I certainly did whip through this project.

Cast on Monday night at about 5:00 pm. Finished knitting everything by 10 pm Tuesday night. I finished the buttons at 9:00 am this morning (Wednesday). I used some Deborah Norville yarn I had in my stash and made up the sweater pattern, hat pattern and scarf as I went. I also invented little crocheted flowers to embellish everything. I am going to put this project up on Ravelry as an Olympic project, too, even though it is going to be a last minute entry. After all, I did start and finish it within the required time frame.

However, now I am back on track with my original Ravelympic project. It is moving along fairly smoothly but I am concerned that 5 of the original 14 days has already passed. I am really going to have to buckle down and focus if I'm going to cross the finish line in time.

And pray that no one else has a birthday party invite for my girls in the next 2 weeks.

Gotta go for the Gold!

Oh My Goodness!

2010-02-11T16:29:00.001-06:00

Look what just popped up on Knitty!!!

Whaaaaaa! And I have already committed to knitting Cables & Lace for the Ravelympics! (Ravelry link)

Alas, I have been working very hard on rewriting Cables & Lace as a top-down raglan pattern. Even though I can't cast on until 8:00 tomorrow night, I've been "training" very hard this week (i.e. swatching, drafting the pattern, calculating gauge, etc.).

I'm just about ready for the Olympic Opening Ceremonies tomorrow. A little more pattern refining, a little more measuring and I'm all set to compete.

Oh, and my new reward for finishing Cables & Lace before the Closing Ceremonies: Casting on Skew!

Talk about going for the Gold!

The Votes Are In!

2010-01-29T09:49:00.003-06:00

I have tallied up the results of my completely unscientific polls, both here on the blog and at the Team Minnesota-RavelryOlympics forum, and there is a clear winner:

Option #3 received a total of 5 votes, with two people suggesting that I convert the Cable and Lace Cardigan pattern into a top-down version. This suggestion intrigued me quite a bit, since I've been making up sweater patterns lately anyway. This would be the most complicated stitch pattern to incorporate into a top-down version that I've ever attempted. Very Interesting!

Option #2 received 2.5 votes (the half vote coming from someone who chose to vote for both Option #1 & #2). Whilst this would be a fabulous sweater to work on while actually watching the Olympics, I'm just fooling myself if I think I'm going to spend a majority of my knitting time in front of the television. Life is just too busy and I'm out and about a lot. And straight stockinette is deadly boring to work on while waiting in the dentist office or at swim practice.

Option #1 received only 1/2 of a vote, with the comment that if I love color work, I should just cast on and enjoy the process and not worry about crossing the finish line for the Ravelry Olympics. A valid argument, if I ever heard one. However, when I attempt that little challenge, I think it would be better to have no deadlines or stress attached to the process. I want to focus and master two-handed stranded color work.

Now, simply because I reserved the right to veto any of the Options (in my head, if not in writing) for any reason I deemed valid (certain elected officials shouldn't have all the veto power in the world), I have still been weighing my options and doing some sincere soul searching.

My conclusion is: The people have spoken! If a majority (albeit a very small one) wants me to proceed with the Cable and Lace Cardigan, then who am I to disagree with the democratic process. And for those two lone voices who lobbied on behalf of pattern adaptation, well, they deserve to be heard and heeded as well.

Ergo, I will be proceeding with the Cable and Lace Cardigan pattern re-write immediately and shall make every effort to complete the entire knitting and finishing process within the time frame of the Winter Olympics. And if I finish it on time, my reward will be casting on the Colorwork Cardigan that has been wooing me with it's siren song of beauty for the past 6 months.

However, if I don't finish in time . . . hmmm, would it really be considered a punishment to knit the Daily Sweater first?

Decisions, decisions!

2010-01-19T07:42:00.005-06:00

A New Year without some kind of resolutions or challenge just didn't seem right. My world has been all out of kilter since I hadn't managed to find that one perfect goal for 2010.

In my younger days, I'd done the "Finish all the UFO's in the house or you can't start anything new for the entire year", "Lose 50 pounds in 4 weeks and figure out how to look 10 years younger as well", "Exercise every day until you Puke before giving up on January 5th", and "Clean house then keep it spotless all the time, even if it means alienating your children and ending up in divorce court" resolutions in the past. You can guess how successful I was with completing those crazy goals.

With age, however, I've become a bit wiser and much more realistic about resolutions. And I've learned to have fun with it. It's my humble opinion that resolutions should be about improving the quality of your life, not altering your life beyond recognition. So, given my love of all things crafty, New Year's Resolutions have become fiber arts adventures for me.

Those who have been with me for awhile will probably remember the great Ravelry Puck This Hat Trick 2009 adventure, when I completed 9 hats in the month of January (6 adult/3 baby). The whole challenge seemed to fire my imagination and I had a total blast trying new techniques and churning out WIP's in rapid succession. However, since we still have a large box overflowing with hats in the closet, Hat Trick 2010 just didn't seem all that appealing this year.

I had done some mulling and meditating on the whole dilemma. January 1st came and went and I still didn't have a clue what to choose. Eventually, though, Ravelry came to the rescue - again.

The Ravelympics 2010 is gearing up to start and I have joined the Team Minnesota-Ravelryolympics Group. In keeping with the whole sweater obsession I've been enthralled with since the end of Hat Trick 2009, I have decided to try and complete an entire sweater during the course of the Olympics this year. One sweater in 16 days. That's the challenge I've set for myself.

However, having also suffered from compulsive shopping for the past year, each trip resulting in one or more sweaters' worth of yarn each time, I find myself with a plethora of choices for this epic Olympic event.

(I have also considered the whole "yarn diet for a year" resolution this year but decided that was even more far fetched than the "lose 50 pounds in 4 weeks" resolutions in the past. Let's get real, after all! No yarn for a whole year. Yeah, right!)

I have a couple weeks to choose, swatch and prepare to cast on during the opening ceremonies on February 12th. I've narrowed the choices down to three options.

Option #1: The Fair Isle Cardigan (on the cover) from The New Stranded Colorwork Book. I picked up the book and the yarn at the same time this past fall. This would be the most challenging project to attempt in the 16 days alotted. I would be trying to perfect my two-handed knitting technique while working on a fine gauge yarn and having numerous high quality finishing techniques involved, including steeking, picot turned hems and hand-sewn ribbon trim embellishments. Whist I may not be able to meet my goal of finishing it during the Olympics, it is the project I've been dreaming about most in the past few weeks.

Option #2: The Daily Sweater (Ravelry link) from Mason-Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines. This project would not be nearly as technically challenging since I've already made one sweater from this pattern. There is a chart to follow for the raglan increases, which takes some careful counting but after that, there is a lot of plain stockinette. It would be highly conducive to watching the Olympics but likely to become a bit boring otherwise.

Option #3: Cable & Lace Cardigan from the cover of the September 2007 Creative Knitting Magazine. I bought the yarn for this sweater shortly after purchasing the magazine in 2007. I love the combination of cable and lace and the yarn has such a soft appearance and silky hand that I've had this in my queue for a long time. It is a bulkier yarn and should work up very quickly. However, since I've fallen in love with top-down, seamless sweater knitting, I'm less than enthralled with the thought of having to sew this one up by the deadline. I'm notorious for finishing pieces and then procrastinating on the blocking and seaming. The challenge would be to follow through and actually FINISH it by February 28th.

Well, it's your time to help. Got an opinion? Let me hear it. I'm completely kerflummoxed, so I welcome input.

Oh, in the meantime, I'll be ripping out carpet. Been working on that "little" project (2000 sq. feet of carpet to remove - oy!) since Saturday. I have 2 rooms and the upstairs hallway/stairs left to finish before Thursday morning when the new carpet arrives and is installed. We saved over $800 by removing and disposing of the carpet ourselves but it's made for a physically grueling week. Especially since Hubby has a very bad back and has been unable to help as much as he'd like.

Let's hope my hands and forearms have recuperated from this massive project by February 12. Or else I'll be learning to paint with my toes during the Olymics instead.

Things I Hate . . . errr, Dislike Intensely

2010-01-08T13:10:00.003-06:00

When you live with a child who sees the world as black and white, with no shades of grey, the word "hate" is a bad word. I am routinely lectured on my use of the word "hate," even if it is the word that best describes my true feelings.

For example, I HATE washing dishes. The fact that I spend 50% of my waking hours either dirtying dishes (meal prep and cooking) or washing dishes, it's a pretty strong feeling being evoked by the sight of yet another mountain of dishes teetering in the sink. Especially I've gone to bed, leaving a clean kitchen, and wake up to the mess caused by a group of miscellaneous children who have decided that they needed some bedtime snacks, and a teenager gets up at midnight for a little refueling and decides turkey bacon and eggs make a good snack and leaves the egg smeared pan and plate drying on the stove, and hubby gets up in the morning and fixes breakfast and leaves the cereal box, rice milk carton and cereal bowl on the counter. Can you blame me if I growl a bit about how much I hate dishes?

I also hate bitter cold weather. Winter is fine, as long as you can step outside with a reasonable amount of warm clothing protecting your body. However, when the temperature and wind chill combined dips into the double digits below zero and your teenage daughter asks you to drive her to school and you forget your mittens and the drive is too short to truly warm the engine enough to heat the car and your hands are so cold when you get home that you can hardly turn the key in the ignition to the off position, "hate" seems like a very reasonable word to use.

Alas, now I even have a knitting "hate." Nupps! Believe it or not, I am knitting nupps for the first time in over 30 years of knitting and now I know what all the fuss is about. I used to hate bobbles because I had to turn the work so many times. But I learned to knit in both directions and I no longer hate bobbles. They are a piece of cake. But nupps . . . grrrrr!

It seemed like a fun little pattern. I picked up some Land O' Lace yarn from Creative Fibers in New Prague. They had a lovely little sample scarf knit up from a Land O' Lace pattern. So scrumptious I just had to purchase the required two hanks and pattern. I cast on for the scarf and was rolling along merrily when I discovered that this was a two-ended scarf that needed to be grafted in the middle.

No problem, I cast on the other side, knit it to the same length as the first side, then transferred both sides to the same needle and started knitting both ends at the same time. Then I arrived at my first nupp. Argggh! I wrestled and fiddled, perspired and pouted, growled and grumbled. It was official, I joined the Nupp Haters of the Knitting World.

The scarf is now in time out, whilst I seek out a pair of Addi Turbo Lace needles in the appropriate size to see if the pointer tips will make nupps less objectionable or not. If they don't, I'll be heading directly to the frog pond and seeking a nupp-less lace pattern for a new scarf. Life is too short to spend precious knitting time HATING.

In the meantime, I've gone back to knitting Arwen for Peeps. I am working on the hood right now, then I will have the sleeves and the cabled band left to finish before sweater #12 is off the needles. I am also continuing to work on Hockeyman's Japanese-inspired Blankie whenever I'm sitting in my armchair, watching television. I am also carrying around Hubby's Annual Birthday Socks as my travel knitting project. Plenty of projects to keep me busy without returning to the dreaded nupps.

Feel free to send any tips for knitting nupps my way. After all, what we need is LOVE . . . especially in the knitting realm.

Busy Holiday - Relatively Speaking

2010-01-02T10:36:00.007-06:00

I've been a busy little bee over the past 2 weeks. Having made the decision to stay home for the holidays made for a relaxed, quiet time with family (and a few friends). An uneventful holiday season had the added benefit of allowing a bonus of ample knitting time.

As you can see from the photo, I have been working on a number of projects. First of all, as soon as Amused Revamped was finished, I cast on a blanket for Hockeyman. Having made a blanket last year for Dancing Diva, I was not about to make the same mistake twice of making a twin-sized afghan out of worsted weight yarn.

This time, I opted for Lion Brand Wool-Ease, Thick & Quick, which is working up so fast, my head is spinning. The pattern is my own adaptation of Mason-Dixon's Modern Log Cabin blanket. (Ravelry Link) I am enlarging it enough to cover a twin bed and hope to have it finished in a few weeks.

Because of it's large size and weight, it has become my "recliner project". So, obviously, because we had a hockey tournament up in Hibbing this past week, I needed to find a more portable project for the car trip up and back. I decided to pull out a couple pairs of UFO socks.

Actually, it was decided for me because Hubby's birthday has snuck up on me and it is time to cast on the Hubby's Annual Birthday Socks (HABS). I needed to finish one of the pairs of UFO socks in order to free up a pair of needles to use. The first socks I pulled were the Peppermint Twist socks I started ages ago with yarn I won in a drawing. They are Tofutsie Sock Yarn and I have to admit it is not my favorite yarn to handle. It was a loosely plied yarn, which made it very splitty. It also has a fairly harsh hand. However, I will reserve judgement on whether I'll knit with it again after I've worn and washed them a few times. Some of the most delightful yarns to knit with do NOT wear well and I'd rather have long lasting socks that weren't quite as fun to knit than spend all that time knitting something wonderful to end up throwing them away after a couple wearings.

Knowing that the Peppermint Twist socks wouldn't take that long to finish, I also brought along another pair of UFO socks. I think the yarn is Trekking XXL Sock yarn but I wouldn't bet my first-born child on it. It was an emergency knitting project I picked up at Coldwater Collaborative when I had forgotten my knitting bag at home. Being the obsessive-compulsive knitter that I am, I was unable to go on without something to knit. Hence, another pair of socks was born. However, this little project doesn't have a fancy name yet. If you have any suggestions, I'm open to ideas.

Finally and of course, as soon as the Peppermint Twist socks were off the needles, I had to cast on the HABS. So far, I haven't done much more than start the toes. I need to dig out a knit stitch dictionary and do some hunting for a nice textured pattern.

The yarn is some received through Wool Girl's 2008 Sock Club. It is Hazel Knits Artisan Sock and is 90% superwash merino and 10% nylon. It has the beautiful hand of a nearly all wool yarn and I'm hoping that the nylon will make it a longer wearing sock yarn.

Whew! As if all that knitting time wasn't enough, I also managed to find time to finish a 500 piece puzzle with my hubby and parents AND a 750 piece puzzle all by myself. I still have a 1000 piece puzzle waiting in the wings but will wait to start that one after I finish the Yet To Be Named Socks.

Then again, I do have two more days of holiday vacation before homeschooling starts up again in earnest. And I absolutely love puzzles.

Hmmmmm . . .

Merry Christmas to All

2009-12-24T10:33:00.004-06:00

I'm spending the next two days with my kids and wonderful Hubby. You can bet this new sweater will be seeing a lot of wear this holiday season.

Oh, by the way, those swirly designs on my t-shirt aren't really there. They were the early snowflakes of the lovely Christmas Snowstorm we're enjoying. Eight inches so far, with at least that much more on the way. So happy we're NOT traveling this year.

Off to build snowmen with the kids . . . Merry Christmas!

Another Drive By Posting

2009-12-16T08:38:00.004-06:00

I'm on my way out the door in 15 minutes to start the now normal craziness of our daily existence - namely, running kids to and fro, whilst knitting frantically in the spare minutes of waiting for them at one location or another.

So, rather than wait until I have #11 all finished, with tails woven in, buttons sewn on and blocked into lofty loveliness, it seemed prudent to share it with you now. I plan on doing all the weaving and button attaching on the road today. However, since it will be dark long before I get home again and my night time photography skills leave a lot to be desired, I figured you all would enjoy the unfinished version.

The yarn is Aslan Trends Del Cerro, purchased from Coldwater Collaborative on sale last spring. The buttons are also from Coldwater. The pattern is my own cardigan version of Amused by Jordana Paige. It was a super easy rewrite, in that I just didn't join the cables and kept knitting downward to make it a cardigan. I also lost the deep ribbed waistband and cuffs because that design feature just doesn't work on my rather buxom torso. I split the cuff so I'd have an excuse to add yet more lovely buttons to the sweater.

I love how the cables just pop in this yarn. However, it was not an easy yarn to use. It was a fairly loosely plied, 10-ply yarn. So it was super easy to split the yarn while manipulating the reversible cable stitches. I almost (ALMOST) abandoned cabling without a cable needle on this project because of the splittiness of the yarn.

I am debating the placement of the buttons on the collar. I am thinking that the collar might be wearable as a turtleneck, as well as in an open collar style.

Sweater Number 12 is in the knitting bag and nearing completion as well. I am working on the sleeves at the moment. After that, I have the hood to knit and then the cable band that will run up the front, over the hood and down the other side left. More fun cables to look forward to!

I do love cables but I'm in the mood for a change.

Fair Isle, anyone?

Wednesday Night Bullet Points

2009-12-09T18:01:00.003-06:00

Not to be a thief or anything, but after several weeks of insanity (schedule-wise) and a total absence from the blog sphere, Sheepish Annie's weekly wacky random-osity seems to be the best way to catch up on all the bloggable tidbits that have been bouncing around this nutty noggin of mine. So here goes . . .

Hockey tryouts are over and Hockeyman made JV-A. He's also been guaranteed some playing time on the Varsity squad by the head coach. Hooray!

Speech Team tryouts are over and Dancing Diva did not make the team. Boohoo!

I cooked Thanksgiving dinner for my family this year for the first time in a decade. It was delicious, if I don't say so myself.

Did I mention that I put a halt to all traveling over the holiday season this year?

I DID! I decided that we have 2 Christmas left with Hockeyman before he's off to college and I wanted these holidays to be spent in my own home . . . making my own memories.

Does that sound too selfish?

I don't care if it does.

It's cold outside. Really cold. Bitter cold. It was bad enough that everything was cancelled today for "Stormaggeddon" but this epic drop in temperature after the mildest November in decades is just pouring salt on the wound. Really!

I'm still knitting away on sweater 11 and 12.

Sweater/wrap 13 is in time out while I decide whether it is worth all the effort of knitting a complicated cable pattern in dark green tweedy yarn where it hardly shows.

I'm all in love with some new projects that are clamoring for my attention. I've spent hours researching Fair Isle mittens and hat patterns on Ravelry.

My car needed emergency servicing this week.

Have I mentioned that the dealership is across the street from my LYS?

When the serviceman asked if I was okay waiting for a couple hours for my car to be repaired, do you think he suspected my intention to yarn shop from the gleeful twinkle in my eye and sudden flushing of my cheeks?

I shopped for a couple hours.

Yeah, I bought yarn for hats and mittens for myself and Dancing Diva. And a couple books. And buttons for Sweater #11. And a couple more buttons just because they were pretty.

Hence, the sudden urge to spend hours researching Fair Isle mittens and hats.

Our garage door broke last night. It was scary.

The big axel that has the massive spring on it and the pulleys with the wires that lift the door just snapped.

For an hour, we couldn't get it open or closed. It just hung, drunkenly crooked, defying all efforts to make it move up or down.

We finally got it closed but our cars were trapped in the garage, with no way to get out.

Hubby stayed home from work today to call a repairman to fix it.

And because his car was trapped by the stupid broken door.

It's now fixed, thank goodness.

Well, that's about all for now. Everyone is gone from home tonight and I'm going to spend the next hour and a half of solitude doing what I do best - knitting. And watching whatever I want on T.V.

Let's hear it for total remote domination! Woot!

What's a woman to do?

2009-11-20T18:17:00.002-06:00

I've been running crazy lately.

You ask, "So, what's new with that?" in that oh, so sarcastic tone.

Well, there has to be a good reason why I've reacted in such an uncalled for manner to the discovery that I've actually finished 10 sweaters in the past 9 months.

You think, "I would nave never been so blind to my own knitting output. I would have KNOWN I was knitting 10 sweaters this year."

Because, you know, it would be entirely reasonable to be kind of enthused about finishing the last two sweaters, one which is 80% done and the other is nearly 30% done, before December 31. An even dozen, one per month, that's kind of impressive, you know.

You mutter, "Here it comes. I know what's coming now."

The stress of Hockeyman's tryout for the High School Varsity/Junior Varsity really shouldn't have affected me, seeing as we've been going through this process every year for the past 10 years . . . well, not for high school but for team placements for our local youth hockey association.

You grind your teeth, "Quit stalling, lady. Just spit it out!"

The fact that Dancing Diva tried out for Speech Team at High School also shouldn't have been such a big deal, although I was on the speech team in high school and college myself and was only the teensy-weensyest bit thrilled with the thought of DD following in my elocutionary footsteps.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah . . . AAAANNNNDDDD?"

Well . . . Actually it WAS my birthday this week . . .

"WELL?"

So, I started a new project.

"Uh-huh! Like we didn't see that one coming."

It's the Every Way Wrap from Interweave Knits Fall 2009. The good news is that I'm using stash yarn for it. After all, shopping for new yarn would have been really silly. What excuse do I have to go out and spend money on new yarn when I have so much stash built up already.

Really, how stressed out do you think I am?

"Whoa, DIDN'T see THAT one coming!"

Drive by posting

2009-11-05T15:47:00.003-06:00

It's been a couple of very busy days here at Sweater Knitting Central. I've spent most of the past 2 days in the car and have several trips in store tonight. So just a quick update on the newest stash acquisitions.

I've decided to give stranded colorwork another shot. I did the tam for Peeps back in January as part of the Hat Trick KAL for Ravelry's Puck This group. It was not a pleasant experience, due to a number of critical mistakes on my part, which were previously enumerated here.

This time, I plan on following the directions perfectly. No arrogance about working it out my own way to avoid buying the right needles or avoiding dpns. I will read every tip and hint and be diligent to implement everything that is written and suggested. I'll expect all of you to hold me accountable for this. Really. Please do!

On a side note, if you haven't heard about the Upper Midwest Alpaca Fall/Holiday Fiber Fair at the Hopkins High School on Saturday, November 7 from 9 - 5 pm, you can check out the info here. I plan to get there at 9 and to browse to my hearts content. After all, I deserve a little break from chauffeuring. It's been a very busy week.

Number 12 - really?

2009-11-03T09:12:00.004-06:00

I am totally lovin' this whole design-as-you-go (DAYG) sweater making thing. I was exceedingly pleased with Bubbles Chickenpox Sweater, which was loosely modeled after the Design 26 I rewrote as a top-down pattern. Now I'm incorporating about 4 different pattern ideas into a new DAYG project.

It is Peeps turn to get a hand knit sweater from Mom. After a little consultation time with a generally indecisive Peeps, I came away with an order for a "hoodie." Now, after the great Halloween Horror of a Black Ballet Wrap for Dancing Diva, I was not about to start another bland, stockinette project, even in lovely green leftover yarn from this project. So I was on the hunt for something new, something exciting, something WONDERFUL.

A search at Ravelry turned up this lovely pattern (Ravelry link). Although it was a raglan, it was worked from the bottom up. I did some mulling and some calculations and some general imaginary knitting (my way of figuring out potential problems with my ideas) and discovered that by working from the bottom up, you could incorporate the cables without interruption as you knit. However, I decided to be stubborn about my new obsession with top-down knitting and came up with my own game plan.

I've decided to work top down, without the cable bands. I plan on knitting the cable band separately and adding it later. I've also added a faux cable on each raglan "seam", ala Mason-Dixon's Daily Sweater (Ravelry link). I also used a provisional cast on method, like that used in the Orange Blobbette sweater, so that I can pick up and knit the hood up from the neckline later.

Oh, and just to complicate things further, I picked up a new book yesterday at my favorite LYS (along with enough yarn for at least 2 more sweaters and several magazines - a total breakdown of my self-control occurred, which is fodder for a totally different blog post. Stay tuned.) which utilizes beautiful picot hems. So I'm hoping to figure out how to properly work a perfect picot hem from this book to finish Arwen for Peeps' hem.

To my utter amazement, I discovered this week that the Orange Blobbette and Arwen for Peeps are the #11 and #12 sweaters I've made in 2009. I had no idea that my latest obessession had resulted in 10 completed sweaters, with two more that could probably be finished before the end of the year. Honestly, who'd a thunk it? I was so wrapped up in the frenzy that I totally didn't have a clue how many sweaters I'd made until I looked at my Ravelry page of projects and physically counted them.

Oh, and with the new yarn I bought yesterday, I have stash for at least 4 more sweaters marinating. Really, when will the madness end?

Ding, Dong, the Beast is Done!

2009-11-01T16:57:00.002-06:00

Yes, there is rampant rejoicing and delirious dancing in the streets tonight. The Black Beast has been conquered!

No more black stockinette. No more black i-cord. No more black anything!

It is done, has been tried on and approved by Dancing Diva, and it's washed and blocking as we speak.

Granted, such a momentous occasion deserves a much better photograph but it is dusk here in Minnesota, not to mention a bit cloudy and grey. All the fiddling with settings and adjusting brightness could not make my amateur photographic skills any less apparent.

But I don't care! It is done and I'm ready to move on to some bright, colorful knitting. Stay tuned for for bright green and pumpkin orange cable-ishousness in the very near future.

Woot! (Now back to the regularly scheduled rejoicing and jigging!)

Wild Weekend

2009-10-26T16:22:00.004-05:00

No, hockey-loving friends, I'm not talking about the Minnesota Wild. I have absolutely no comment about them at this point. Not because I'm displeased with them but because the crazy schedule around here has kept me from enjoying most of the hockey games on television. As for the Gophers . . . I did manage to see several of their games. The less said, the better. Oy!

No, I'm referring to the insane schedule that continues to keep me running around evenings and weekends and interferes with all fiber pursuits.

This weekend, a swim meet in the far northern suburbs of Minnesota, at which Bubba (or perhaps we should re-christen her "Bubbles") did very well, bettering her times in every race but her backstroke. Whilst she is fast on the straight away, her turns are not good. So we'll be focusing hard on backstroke turns to get her times back where they belong. I also worked as a stroke and turn judge at the meet both days, which was a lot of fun. Unbeknownst to all you blogging friends, I have finished the certification process and am now a actual judge for swimming. Woot! It's sure a lot more fun to be on the pool deck than sitting in the stands at these meets. And since the pool environment is extremely warm, getting splashed occasionally is an added bonus. Really cools you down when a 8 year old's belly flop gets you soaked from head to toe. Refreshing!

On top of the swim meet, Hockeyman was in a band contest conducted by Club 3 Degrees, a local Christian organization that fosters young talent through these judged contests. The photo is one of the band's official advertising and promotional materials. The first round was this past Saturday and Difference of Forever was one of 6 bands that competed at Destiny Christian Center. They received a grade of "B" for their performance. Considering Hockeyman is the oldest member of the band (at 16), and they were by far the youngest group there, I'd say they did a fabulous job.

Now they need to incorporate the constructive comments into their performance and prepare for round 2 of the competition, which is sometime in January. Anyway, the concert was interesting but the music was cranked. Way. Too. Loud! I brought and wore earplugs for the majority of the time that I was there, so at least I left with my hearing intact.

In knitting news, I did manage to finish the body of Dancing Diva's Ballet Wrap and am working on the sleeves. It is still not photo worthy because it is still just black stockinette. Albeit, it can no longer be called a blob but my photo skills are still too lame to attempt a decent photo of the progress. Hence, the photo of the band instead of fiber photos.

In the few moments of break on the weekend, I managed to get about 4 rows done on the Orange Blobbette. So, she's still a Blobbette, not a Blob. Maybe next weekend . . .

One can only hope to find more knitting time because - GASP - Christmas is a mere 2 months away.

GAAAACK!

Harley & the Orange Blobbette

2009-10-18T15:07:00.003-05:00

Well, a little winding, a little swatching, a little casting on and we have a new Blobbette. Meet the beginning of my cardigan version of Amused.

The Blobbette is not the handsome cat in the background. That's Harley and he qualifies as more like a BLOB than a Blobbette, being a somewhat rotund kitty who doesn't like the "D" word any more than I do. The Orange mess in front of him is the actual Blobbette.

I had to coin that word because I'm not far enough along to call this sweater a blob. However, I am intrigued by this completely seamless, top-down construction technique. The pattern itself is a little confusing but if you follow it word-for-word, it generally works out. I ended up heading over to Ravelry and the Jordana Paige Group (Ravelry Link) for a little clarification. Needless to say, I am so glad I'm a member of Ravelry. It has been an invaluable resource.

The yarn is some discounted AslanTrends Del Cerro from Coldwater Collaborative. They have bargain bins in the back room and it is always my first stop when visiting. It's not often you can find a sweater's worth of the same yarn, so snagging it when you see it is key to stash building. The color is a cross between pumpkin orange and copper and I suspect the cable band will really stand out in this 100% merino wool.

As for motivation to keep working on Dancing Diva's Ballet Wrap, I've decided that it will be my travel/weekday project and Amused will be my evening/weekend project. So I'm plugging away merrily on Amused for the rest of today, before DDBW makes it's reappearance tomorrow morning.

It goes without saying that I've earned a little recreational knitting. Hubby returned from a trip to India last night. It was his first extended business trip in years and the kids were all a little . . . shall we say "grumpy" . . . this week. Single parenting, even for one week, is grueling. My hat is off to ful-time single parents. I don't know how they do it!

Well, I'm back to growing Blobbette into a self-respecting Blob. Ta-ta for now.

I Just Can't Take It Anymore

2009-10-16T20:41:00.002-05:00

Whilst I've made a valiant effort to be a monogamous knitter until the Great Black Ballet Blob is finished, I just can't do it. There is no way to blog about a crumpled black mess that wouldn't show up in a photograph unless Jared Flood magically appeared and offered to take the picture for me. It's just stockinette, with a little garter stitch border, so there are no new techniques or tricks to learn. Even the use of Zombie training films has not kept the flame alive. Black is just not doing it for me.

So, I've been searching for the perfect next project. I've been dreaming of the perfect belted cardigan with some cabling. Being a plus-size person, all over cables would be a bit . . . should we say bulky . . . for my buxom torso. However, I could visualize the cables as the borders for the front and perhaps around the cuffs and collar. And since I have a several caches of sweater worthy yarn in my stash that have been floating in my imagination for weeks, all it took was finding the right pattern.

And today, I finally ran across a pattern I think I can use as a jumping off point for a cardigan. Amused was written as a v-neck but since it is a top down pattern, I see no reason why the cable can't be continued all the way down both sides of the front and this top becoming a cardigan. I can even envision a matching belt made from the reversible cable pattern. Of course, I need to wind the yarn into cakes and start swatching before I can cast on. But at least I have a plan.

In the meantime, I think I'll have to come up with some sort of ~~bribery scheme~~ reward system to keep trying to finish Dancing Diva's Ballet Wrap.

Hmmmm, any thoughts?

Progress of a non-fiber sort

2009-10-14T10:37:00.003-05:00

Work has been happening around here, in spite of the lack of blog postings of late. Alas, they're mostly home improvement projects, instead of fiber arts. The stucco guys finished up yesterday on the final coat of stucco. I am pleased with the look, even without the shutters that will be installed later this week. Some electrical hook ups and shutters installed and the outside projects will be completed. Just in time, too, since we have had two (count them, TWO) snowfalls so far this past week. It's not cold enough for snow to stick around more than a day or so, so the still green lawn is somewhat deceiving. Trust me, winter is just around the corner.

I am still knitting but it is boring black blobbish stockinette on Dancing Diva's new ballet wrap. No photos because, well, it's just a bigger black blob. I have about 6 inches left on the body then I'll be heading out for Sleeve Island, to spend even more time stranded on boring black blobby knitting.

I have found one distraction to wile away the endless rows of black stockinette. After reading a few posts from a favorite blogging friend, I've learned about my complete unpreparedness for the upcoming zombie apocalypse. So I logged onto fancast.com and have watching some training films. I've now seen Night of the Living Dead & The Last Man on Earth. I'm not sure the second movie qualifies as a zombie preparedness training film, because the antagonists are more like vampires than zombies but I'm sure that some of the same survival techniques work in both sets of emergency circumstances. The problem is, there seems to be a complete lack of governmental leadership about zombie apocalypse preparedness. There doesn't seem to be a color code system in place to indicate the level of danger these monsters pose and forget about finding a comprehensive list of training films on any of the government websites. If I were the conspiracy theorist kind of person, I'd think there was some kind of coordinated anti-information attack going on here.

So, if any of you are well-versed in the whole zombie preparedness field, shoot me a list of suitable training films for perusal. After all, I've got an awful lot of black stockinette to slog through and I might as well multi-task.

Chicken Pox, Flu, Colds and other rotten viruses

2009-10-04T18:09:00.003-05:00

With all due respect to the powers-that-be, we've just about reached the end of our patience around here with the whole virus thing.

Granted, we all survived. Bubba recuperated from her chicken pox with no additional complications, the rest of the kids were tested and are as immune as the vaccine can make a person, and Hubby is on anti-viral medicines and shows no sign of succumbing to the Varicella virus (yet).

Alas, though, poor Mom ended up coming down with a nasty flu. Not the deadly H1N1 kind but just bad enough to cause her to sleep for 14 hours a day, waking long enough to dose with high-potency flu remedies, then moan and groan until she fell back to sleep. Not the best case scenario early on, when Mom was the only one we were sure couldn't transmit chicken pox to Hubby, quarantined in his man cave and who needed regular deliveries of food, beverages and clean clothing so he could emerge periodically to dash through the house to his car to go to work.

With a couple of kids complaining of cold symptoms (no fevers, just sore throats and stuffy noses), no housework was accomplished during this past week. Needless to say, things are in chaos around here.

One little, bitty glimmer of silver lining to this massive storm cloud of icky sickness is the completion of another sweater. I think this is number 9 this year.

Meet the Chickenpox Sweater. When Bubba was at her most miserable, I cast on this cheerful little number with only a rough idea of what I wanted to do.

This is my own top-down design, just fiddled and fidged as I went, so there is no pattern, nor is there likely to be one. Since Bubba is outside playing today (catching up on fresh air and friendships after being quarantined for 10 days), she hasn't seen it or tried it on since I finished it. I'm debating between using a tie at the neckline, or buying a fabulous button and making a frog closure for the neckline. So, there are still a little finishing work to do but nothing I can do until I get input from Bubba.

Well, I usually close with something pithy or clever at the end but I'm feeling a little tired and shaky still. Guess I'll just have to go back to bed again. After all, I still have Dancing Diva's Black ~~Hole~~ Ballet Sweater to finish. Gah!

Chicken Pox First Aid For Moms

2009-09-24T14:26:00.003-05:00

After a rather grueling few days of nursing an itchy but very sweet chicken pox patient, waiting on a worried spouse who has moved into an "apartment" in the basement to avoid further contagion and dealing with disgruntled siblings who are just a bit jealous of all the special treatment Bubba is receiving, it was time for Mom to take a time out and get some first aid for herself.

Hence, a quick trip to the local nail salon for a pedicure and a set of acrylic nails (both firsts for me). You'll have to forgive the funky color of my skin. I truly do not have lavender feet. Because the scratch coat is going on the exterior of our house today, all the windows and door are covered with plastic, so the light coming in is somewhat filtered. Either that, or Hockeyman messed with the settings on the camera again and I'll have to exert some maternal pressure to get him to fix it. Anyway, the nail polish is lavender but my feet aren't.

As for the teaser for the Chicken Pox Project, when I snapped the photo of the yarn in my fading fall garden, I didn't have a design in mind. A conversation with Bubba and a few sketches later and we have a sweater design. I am making the pattern up as I go, working from the top down. I cast on a collar about as long as I thought she'd need, knit a few inches of ribbing, then divided it into sections for fronts, sleeves and a back. Some raglan increases and slip stitch front gives the sweater the beginning of the special shaping I'm developing as this sweater grows. How it will end up . . . well, that depends on my ability to make this one up as I go. I've done enough top down sweaters now that I think I can do this on the fly, ala Elizabeth Zimmerman.

Or pride may goeth before a fall. If I fail and need to do some frogging, I'm sure another pedicure will go a long distance toward soothing my bruised ego. Stay tuned for a potential "Frogging First Aid For Moms" edition.

Chicken Pox Emergency

2009-09-23T09:20:00.003-05:00

Just when we were slipping into the regular school routine, life throws us a curve ball . . . Bubba (aka 10 year old DD#2) was diagnosed with chicken pox yesterday. Needless to say, I was flabbergasted.

You see, I had my kids immunized against chicken pox. Hubby never had it as a child (he had the test 11 years ago and he had no immunity) and since he is a world traveler for his job, we knew that he was at risk. So the whole family has been dutifully injected with weakened strains of the Varicella Virus. However, I missed the fact that this is a 2 shot immunization and Bubba hadn't had her second shot.

Compound that mistake with the fact that Hubby is also on immunosuppressive drug therapy for
Crohn's disease . . . and scheduled to go to India in a few weeks, right around the time he would fall ill if he contracts chicken pox . . . and cannot have the varicella vaccine anymore because of the Crohn's issues . . . and we cannot find his immunication records from 11 years ago to verify that he had both shots . . . well, you can see our panicky state of mind around here.

So what is a fiber artist to do?

Start a new project for the poor, scabby 10 year old who is quarantined to one room in the house for the next week or so. Besides sterilize the entire house, that is.

(The fact that I am casting on a new project before finishing Dancing Diva's new sweater has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that I'm deadly bored knitting plain black stockinette. I'm just being a good mommy and catering to the needs of my poor, itchy, twitchy, widdle Bubbakins. Really!)

Another Blog Blob Sighting

2009-09-21T08:36:00.004-05:00

In the spirit of the proliferation of blob sightings on a popular blog, I present my own shapeless blob of knitting for your viewing pleasure:

While I'll admit that you can see the rudimentary shapes of sleeves to come, the very blackness of the yarn, combined with the somewhat too short needle, should qualify this project as a blob. At least for the time being.

The endless rows of black stockinette are taking their toll on this intrepid knitter. I can't help but fantasize about soft pink yarn, tweedy purple yarn, or even the bargain pumpkin orange yarn that are all marinating in my stash at the moment. But Dancing Diva is living up to her reputation of holding Mom's nose to the grindstone and making me a monogamous knitter. At least for as long as I am working on a project for her ROYAL HIGHNESS.

(sigh)

Well, at least I can enjoy the temporary distraction of ongoing home improvements that are continuing at a rapid pace here at Chez Construction Central.

See my pretty new front door? Isn't it lovely?

(Edited to add: We're getting a new stucco front for our house, too. They have been pounding away all day, putting up the mesh screen stuff. I'm slowly being driven mad by the noise!)

Another one bites the dust . . .

2009-09-15T08:43:00.003-05:00

Yes, folks, we have another sweater FO! I'm just on a sweater knittin' rampage around here. (Though nothing like Guinifer - her sweater production is AMAZING.)

I finished the neckband and sleeves two days ago. After a long and fruitless search through my button stash, I determined I had to make yet another trip to Coldwater Collaborative for the "right" buttons to finish this lovely sweater. (Darn, right?)

As usual, Carrie came through for me with the right buttons in stock. And, because I'm on a bit of a yarn diet around here (this is the only context in which the "D" word is used in this house because I'm always hungry for new yarn and calling it a "diet" isn't going to make it any worse than it already is), I put the blinders on and managed to walk out with the buttons and only the buttons. I swear, that has to be a record for me because I am constantly going in for "just one thing" and walking out with a sweater's worth of yarn.

And, you guessed it, I've cast on for yet another sweater. This time, it's for Dancing Diva. She wanted a black ballet wrap sweater for dance. I found this wonderful top-down pattern (#263) at Coldwater Collaborative. I'm well on my way down the yoke and already dreaming about the next sweater in the queue.

After all, knitting plain black stockinette leaves lots of time for dreaming . . . another Daily sweater in pink? Or maybe a tweedy sweater coat in purple? Hmmm . . .

Unfinished Business

2009-09-10T14:42:00.003-05:00

First of all, apologies to all who have asked questions in the past few weeks. The fact that we've been more frantically busy than usual, coupled with ongoing modem issues that keeps the internet out of reach for half of every day, made it super hard to get online to update the blog.

However, I'm back on a more regular schedule and, although the modem is still giving us fits, ready to catch up.

Guinifer asked when Hockeyman starts hockey this year. Hard to answer because he's a year-around player. He played in a spring league, had hockey camps all summer long and is now on a fall league. The official high school season will start late October. We are assuming he'll be on the JV team again, because there are 10 veteran defensemen trying out for the Varsity squad and he is in the bottom half of that group, in size and skill level. However, he should see plenty of playing time on JV because he'll be one of the top players at that level. It all depends on try-outs, though. So stay tuned in for updates in October.

Livnletlrn asked about Hockeyman's new camera . . . He purchased a Canon 50D, with extra lenses and a tripod. Based on the price ($1500 +), I'd say it must be a pretty good camera. However, I'm a complete novice when it comes to photography, so who am I to say. He's very happy with it and I can't wait to see what he does with it this year.

Rani asked how I do everything I do around here . . . Well, I fail miserably at some things. I'm a lousy cook and rely on pre-packaged and frozen entrees for most meals. I'm a horrible housekeeper and my kids have to pick up a lot of the slack on chores and cleaning. But now that Dancing Diva is an official Freshman at the local high school and Hockeyman takes classes 2 days a week through a tutoring facility, my homeschooling duties have lightened up considerably. I'm actually enjoying working with the two "little girls" (as they're lovingly referred to in our clan) on their school work. I'm even finding more time to whip up a few meals from scratch. Not too many, though, since I don't want to poison my family or make them think that I've been abducted by aliens and replaced with an evil clone.

Finally, here is the photographic evidence of actual knitting progress . . . This is a sweater in Plymouth Yarn's Kudo (55% cotton, 40% rayon & 5% silk) from the Noro Designer Mini Knits book by Jenny Watson. I'm working on Design 26 (you have to scroll down the page to see the actual design). Coldwater had this sweater on display a month ago, with the alternate yarn suggestion. Since I had a $50 gift certificate burning a hole in my wallet, I decided to treat myself to this lovely yarn and sweater pattern. However, I rewrote the pattern to a top-down version and am thrilled with the sweater so far. I'm nearly done with the body and will only have ribbing to add to the sleeves and the collar and I'll have another finished sweater.

I've been on a sweater knitting frenzy this year. Some of my friends are wondering if we're going to have a particularly hard winter this year. You know, like when the beavers make thicker lodges and wooly caterpillar have heavy coats. Who knows . . . maybe I am reacting to "climate change" in some weird way.

Oh, and by the way, I fixed the cable crosses on Cable Down Sweater. I'm just too compulsive that way.

Ahhh, pics at last . . .

2009-09-08T10:16:00.005-05:00

My hubby was able to get the camera working again, so I can finally post pictures of all the work we've been doing around here, which has been the convenient excuse for lack of blogging time.

First of all, here is my kitchen remodel, in progress. So far, we've gotten new granite countertops, a new decorative light fixture (which replaced a very industrial looking florescent fixture) and new stools for the counter.

We still need to refinish the cabinets but I'm waiting to do that until we have ripped out an old desk on the opposite wall and replaced it with a full wall of cabinets. If there is a slight difference in the wood tones, we can refinish everything at once and get it all to blend. That is, if everything goes according to plan . . .

Here are also the long awaited pics of Cable Down Raglan. I haven't washed and blocked it yet because I'm pondering the necessity of fixing the mixed up cable crossings on the front. All of them should cross right over left but I somehow got it all screwed up. I know how to fix cables without unraveling everything but how much do I care about the error? Either way, I need to decide before I wash and block because the 100% wool will probably felt a bit when I wash it, making it harder to pull out the couple stitches that need fixing.

In the meantime, I've moved on to yet another sweater and am more than half done with it. More on that later . . .

So, what's your opinion? Leave well enough alone or fix the cables?

Busy, busy, busy

2009-08-26T12:05:00.003-05:00

Just a quick update . . . We've been really busy getting some home improvement projects done around here. I have beautiful new granite counter tops now but no ability to photograph them because hubby dropped the digital camera and broke the lens.

I have frantically been finishing up the twin cardigans and wove in the last tail in the past hour . . . no photos because of above mentioned tragic circumstances.

I've resurrected Cable Down Sweater but can't show the progress because, well, you know.

However, Hockeyman placed an order for a very expensive, digital camera of his own this week. Here's hoping it arrives soon so that he can provide me with some artistic shots of all the lovely progress that's been going on around here.

Otherwise, you'll just have to take my word for it that I really am doing worthwhile things with my time off of blogging.

Surgery success

2009-08-14T07:42:00.002-05:00

After a whirlwind finish for Little Shop of Horrors, including strike and a post-strike pool party (where I never intended to swim but ended up being tossed in the pool anyway), we spent the rest of the week recuperating and resting up for Dancing Diva's big surgical adventure.

It was a long day at the hospital's same day surgery center but, in the end, everything went well. The doctor told us that there was no ligament damage but that the bone fragment he removed was one of the largest he's ever seen. No wonder poor DD was in so much pain. A little shaving off of a thickened area to facilitate the passage of the ligament through a channel was the extent of the soft tissue repair.

Alas, even though the surgery was pretty straightforward, DD has 4 weeks ahead of crutches, 4 weeks of the boot, then 4 weeks of physical therapy before she can return to dancing.

Maybe this time I can get her to take up knitting . . .

Not convinced yet . . .

2009-08-08T09:50:00.000-05:00

MIA & here's why

2009-08-06T08:16:00.000-05:00

Gah!

2009-07-29T09:07:00.003-05:00

The madness continues around here. We're at the theater nightly now, finishing up the props and sets for Little Shop of Horrors. We're running around town during the daytime, finding elusive items like period appropriate phones, cheap cigars and fake guts. We're finishing up annual dental exams, doctors appointments, hockey tournaments and dance camps.

Alas, Dancing Diva now needs surgery to correct her ankle issues. She is scheduled for surgery in 2 weeks. So, of course, we have pre-op stuff to take care of as well.

In those little snippets of time in waiting rooms, riding to tournaments and waiting for various and sundry kids, I have managed to finish one of two baby gifts for Bubba's swim coach, who just happened to become the proud father of twins last week.

I'm frantically trying to squeeze a few more minutes into each day to finish the second cardigan so that we can present them to the coach at the Summer Season Final Banquet.

In the meantime, poor Cable Down Raglan is languishing in the corner. I'm really hoping it doesn't start whining and writing letters of complaint before I can get back to it. While I'm still very much in love with it, babies will always come first.

Especially adorable twin boys.

Belated Anniversary

2009-07-15T19:17:00.003-05:00

Sheesh, I know I've been in the Insane-Summer-Schedule-Frenzy but I can't believe I missed my blogiversary this year. I've now been officially blogging for 3 years and 5 days.

Not that it's a huge milestone but it might have been fun to throw a little whoop-di-doo of some sort.

But the ISSF has been relentless and I'm a little kerfaffled right now. Perhaps I'll come up with a little give-away next month - a kind of 3 years and 1 month-iversary deal.

For now, I'm still running rampant in the hamster wheel of life. I promised an update on Dancing Diva, so here goes. Her official diagnosis is posterior ankle impingement syndrome. In layman's terms, she is one of the lucky 7% of the population that has an extra little bone in her ankle. In the normal scheme of things, this little bone doesn't cause any issues - except in dancers, gymnasts and swimmers. Those sports tend to use an exaggerated toe-point position that causes a ligament that passes through the back of the ankle to get caught on and snap around this extra bone. That's where DD's little saga started.

The good news is that she is improving, albeit somewhat slowly. Her latest treatment involves a topical patch containing cortical steroids on the affected ankle. This is supposed to reduce inflammation and irritation. It seems to be working but we're moving forward cautiously. If it flares up again, surgery will be the next logical step. Fortunately, the surgery will just remove the extra bone, clean up any scar tissue and not require any special reconstruction. Recovery should be fairly rapid and will hopefully eliminate the source of the problem. She is working hard to follow her Physical Therapist's exercise regime and follow all the proper steps in her recovery. Ideally, we'd like to avoid surgery but are also content if the specialists determine surgery will be her best hope of continuing to dance.

Because she has decided to continue dancing. She has cut back significantly the number of classes she will be taking this year. So for now, she retains her title of Dancing Diva.

In other non-knitting news, DD and I are Co-Prop Mistresses for the upcoming Chaska Valley Family Theater production of Little Shop of Horrors. We've been working hard to come up with all the little doo-dads and thing-a-ma-jigs that this dark musical comedy requires. It's been a great deal of fun to do this with DD and I'm looking forward to seeing the show. The actors chosen are fabulous and it's going to be hilarious. If you're in the Twin Cities area, consider coming to see the show. Fair warning, though, it is rated PG-13. It's not really for the little ones (though Bubba and Peeps are both begging and wheedling to come see it.)

Well, I kept one promise but have broken the other. I didn't manage to get any photos taken today of the Cable Down Sweater but I am making progress on it. And a couple other little knitting projects.

I swear I am making progress! No kidding, I really am. You just wait - I'll show you - when I get a picture, that is.

Excuses

2009-07-14T05:42:00.002-05:00

Well, life has been as hectic as it usually is in the fall. I truly thought blogging in the summer would be much easier to do. Alas, it was all a fragile dream that has crashed into a million pieces.

In knitting news, I continue to plug away at the Cable Down Raglan. I have about 6 inches left on the first sleeve. I did get a chance to try it on and it's going to be one of those roomy sweaters you wear over something else at the ski lodge while you hold your breath as your 8 year old bombs a black diamond hill. In other words, the perfect Minnesota Winter Sweater.

I also found myself at Coldwater Collaborative twice during the Crazy Days sale. I was as out of control as usual and picked up enough pink Rowan Calmer to make a long sleeve version of the Daily Sweater from Mason Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines. I also found myself meeting a friend there without my ubiquitous knitting bag in tow and ended up getting another pair of 40" size 1 Addi Turbos and 2 skeins of sock yarn. Since I'd forgotten my bag, I just had to have a project to work on while my friend and I chatted over coffee and scones, following our shopping trip.

I have some non-knitting type news as well. For the past month or so, I've been working on getting certification as a stroke and turn judge for swimming. Since I've been a Hockey Mom for 10 years and done all the Hockey Mom duties over the past few years; and I've been a Dance Mom for as many years, doing all the Dance Mom duties required, I decided being a Swim Mom required the some extra effort as well. Gotta be fair to all the kiddo's, doncha know. Anyway, I spent the entire weekend at a swim meet, shadowing officials and learning the ropes of officiating at swimming events. I need one more shadow session at the A level to gain my certification, which will probably have to wait until fall, since the long course season is nearly over. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to shadow at finals or state events, which is all that are left of this season. But now I'll be able to add Stroke & Turn Judge to my Mommy resume.

There is tons more going on but I've got to take Dancing Diva to her physical therapy session right now. Which is going very well, which leads to even more news on the family front. But you'll just have to stay tuned for an update later.

And pictures. I promise I'll get some pictures up here - soon.

Home Again - Alleluia

2009-07-02T15:26:00.003-05:00

Well, Summer Vacation '09 was not an unmitigated success. It wasn't the vacation from h*ll but it wasn't at all what I planned on or expected.

First of all, it rained for 3 days straight. It seemed as though the minute we left the great state of Minnesota, the heavens poured down. The closer we got to our destination, the harder it rained. The only blessing was that the rain slowed to a light misting when we arrived at the campground - just long enough for us to erect the tent and toss sleeping bags and suitcases into it. Alas, the skies began to fall as soon as we were in the tent and continued bombarding us all night.

I am incredibly thankful that my hubby and son had spent extra time waterproofing the tent last summer. We were nice and dry all night inside the tent, if a little cold. You see, the temperatures dropped in the night - right to the bottom extreme of the temperature rating on all our sleeping bags. In the morning, I found two little girls huddled in the bottom of their sleeping bags. It took several minutes of digging to find them down in the depths of their flannel cocoons. And Hockeyman, being the rough and not-so-ready type, decided he was too tough to bring his sleeping bag and only brought a lightweight blanket along. The only bright side to that brilliant decision is he was up at dawn, starting a fire in the ongoing drizzle and fog of the morning. It took him quite some time to get a decent blaze but at least he was motivated to keep trying, while the rest of us snuggled down in our sleeping bags, praying for some sun and heat. Hockeyman thoroughly regretted his choice to ignore his very wise mom's repeated instructions to bring his sleeping bag. (Teenagers think they know it all - teeheehee - this time Mom was the smart one.)

Because we were only able to set up the sleeping tent, I was unable to cook breakfast in the morning. The screened cooking tent stayed in it's bag because the ground was far too wet and muddy to risk trying to set it up. So, off to town for breakfast. After breakfast, we scouted around the local area for indoor activities.

After a day of eating out, bowling, playing board games in the campground game room, we retreated to our tent for yet another wet and even colder night. This led to another issue that made the trip a little less pleasant than it could have been.

Since Hockeyman didn't listen to his brilliant female parent, we had to improvise the sleeping arrangements a bit. So, Mom & Dad's sleeping bags were zipped together into one big sleeping bag and we invited Peeps to join us. That would allow Hockeyman to have Peeps sleeping bag and hopefully sleep a little more comfortably.

Now, you'd think that inviting the youngest member of the clan to join Mom & Dad in a double sleeping bag wouldn't be that much of an inconvenience. However, Peeps, who is just 48" tall and only weighs 40 or so pounds, is the biggest sleeper on the planet. She grew up with a few insecurity issues as a toddler and would often sneak into Mom & Dad's bed for comfort in the middle of the night. That was when we discovered her remarkable super power. She had this astounding ability to splay out all her limbs, turn sideways and take up 3/4's of a queen-size bed. No matter how many times you would shift her into an appropriate sleeping position, she'd rearrange herself into the most space-consuming positions imaginable and push one or both of us off the bed.

As a result of this amazing display of super-human sleeping size, my hubby has banned Peeps from sleeping between us and now I act as a buffer between Peeps and Hubby. So I spent my remaining nights sleeping in the middle of the double sleeping bag (which kept unzipping everytime someone turned over and exposing my body to the cold, night air), being kicked and slapped by the biggest little sleeper in the world (who also is know to giggle hysterically in her sleep - cute but definitely a sleep-banishing sound) and slipping between the two air mattresses under the sleeping bags (putting a portion of my bum in contact with the cold ground for a good portion of every night).

Alas, it stayed cold, cloudy and damp the rest of our vacation. We did get enough dry times to squeeze in horseback riding, go kart driving, a train trip to an historic logging camp and museum, a petting zoo, miniature golf and some fishing. However, I only cooked 2 meals the whole week, leaving an entire cooler of food in the car to be brought back home and unpacked.

We had a great time laughing and playing board games together, as well as enjoying a fabulous read-aloud book every night. So, while the rain kept this trip from being what we expected, it did bring a lot of togetherness and family memories. (And a few bruises on Mom, courtesy of the worlds biggest little sleeper and a horse named Tex).

And that's what family vacations are really all about . . . right? (Ah, memories - not bruises)

Vacation, at last

2009-06-28T05:06:00.003-05:00

Well, after a spur of the moment decision on Monday and frantic preparations for the rest of the week, the whole family is off on vacation. We'll be camping in Northern Wisconsin for five days.

I'd hoped to show everyone a picture of the Cable Down Sweater with the main body done and the sleeves underway . . . Alas, I just ran out of time. However, I do only have about 6 rounds left. CDS is staying home, only because it is getting too large to squeeze into an already grossly over-stuffed van. But the obsession continues and I'm sure I'll be finishing it up as quickly as possible when I get back.

What is camping without knitting, though. I am bringing along a scarf project for Dancing Diva. Oh, and yes, we registered for dance in the fall, although her ankle issues are far from resolved yet. She just can't live without some dance in her life. She'll be in far fewer classes in the fall (only 4) but she'll be dancing. So she can return to her former moniker without fear of confusion or consternation. Anyway . . . the scarf is a simple lace pattern in a bright Toefutsie sock yarn.

I'm also bringing a pair of socks I started months ago. I kind of burned out on socks for awhile but I'm hoping this little pair of Peppermint Pink Socks will bring back the sock knitting mojo.

Both projects are still in their beginning stages, so the projects fit compactly in my little backpack and won't take up too much room.

Well, off to finish packing the cooler and waking the clan to head off to the wilds of Wisconsin. Have a great week, ya'll.

Finally . . .

2009-06-23T07:17:00.001-05:00

After struggling with uploading photos for a week, I finally checked in with hubby. Alas, he updated some security features and it was preventing the uploads.

All better, now!

Anyway, I'm a little further along than the photo reveals and still having a great time. In fact, I'm enjoying the cables so much, I picked up some new yarn to revisit the Dickinson Pullover.

More later . . .

Slow but sure

2009-06-20T07:22:00.002-05:00

It's been somewhat of a grueling week for me. Since my boss took her first true vacation in over a year, I've been working lots of LONG hours at the ice cream shop. Fortunately, she hired an additional worker that can do what I do, so I haven't had to cover the entire week by myself. But it's been long enough for my poor feet and right hand. After a winter off of scooping ice cream, I've had to rebuild the muscles in my scooping arm in a hurry. And standing on my feet for 9 or more hours at a time . . . Uggh!

However, in the little dribs and drabs of spare time, I've been plugging away at the Cable Down Raglan. While I can't say I LOVE knitting this sweater as much as the long lost and loudly lamented Dickinson Pullover, it has been a fun knit. I'm finally on the waist cables and looking forward to working on the sleeves.

I'd love to show you a picture of my progress. I had every intention of showing you a picture of my progress. Alas, the server is giving Blogger conniption fits and interrupting the connection incessantly at the moment. So you'll just have to look at the magazine picture in the previous posts and just superimpose the beautiful green yarn in place of the aqua and use your imagination.

In the meantime, I need to get ready for the last day of Boss Lady's vacation.

Feet, don't fail me now!

There and Back Again

2009-06-15T10:19:00.004-05:00

The girls and I took a weekend off to go to visit family in Iowa. (Hubby stayed home to supervise Hockeyman, who had to work all weekend. No wild teen parties in HM's future.) It was the one year anniversary of The Flood in Cedar Rapids and my Mom and Sister were having open houses to thank all the workers and volunteers that helped them rebuild their homes.

It was wonderful to see their "new" homes in all there fresh and shining glory.

However, while Mom's away, the cats will play. This little snapshot was sent to my phone while I was in Iowa.

I fought the yarn and the yarn won.

Free at last!

2009-06-06T12:55:00.002-05:00

The Garage Sale of Doom is now officially over. We ended a few hours early today because it has been very wet & cold since we opened this morning. While rain may be bad for garage sales (only a few customers today), it is definitely a good thing for the dry, thirsty lawn and garden.

The good news is we did sell a lot of large items that were cluttering up our garage and home. We have a few things left to donate to some worthy cause but it feels good to have cleared out so many things.

The other good news is that we made a healthy profit over the course of the weekend. We will have a nice vacation later this summer - IF certain orthopedically-challenged members of the family make significant recoveries from recent injuries.

The best news is that the Cable Down Sweater is now out of time-out and progressing along nicely. I think the timing of starting this particular sweater was fortuitous because I had finished a couple of top-down sweaters before this one. If I hadn't gotten experience in the top-down genre, I might have missed the problems with the pattern and been very unhappy with the final product.

All in all, it's been a good day.

Now I just need to thaw out in a good, hot bath to be perfectly content. Brrrrr!

Garage Sale of Doom

2009-06-04T16:51:00.002-05:00

Well, day one of the Garage Sale of Doom is now over.

For those of you who don't know this about me, I HATE GARAGE SALES.

I know, it's nearly blasphemy in this neck of the woods. Garage Sale-ing is THE national past time in this area.

However, I HATE them.

I've spent the past month blocking out the fact that the entire family has conspired against me to put this sale together. For months, they've been culling the excess possessions from their closets and cubbie holes and talking about how much money they were going to make. They avidly sacrificed any and all little treasures with the great ambition of getting enough money to take a really fun vacations this summer (or get a trampoline, which is Peeps dearest ambition in life at the moment). Piles of used goods filled the porch as teenagers argued over how much to mark things for and who had the better handwriting.

I turned a blind eye, pretended to be deaf and stubbornly refused to discuss anything remotely resembling a garage sale.

With uncanny accuracy, I predicted the final outcome of all this excitement and planning. I knew that all this enthusiasm was just a temporary condition. When the real sale started, kids would evaporate in every direction, hubby would head to work and I'd be stuck doing the one thing in the world that I hate the most - manning a garage sale.

I have to admit, Bubba toughed out the whole day with me. Peeps lost her ambition after lunch, The Girl Formerly Known as Dancing Diva pooped out at 11:30 (her ankle hurts - boo hoo) and Hockeyman decided shopping at garage sales was far more fun than selling stuff and abandoned me for several hours while he cruised the area looking for a drum set.

Ergo, I am sunburned, exhausted, have a headache and know why I have such a supernatural hatred of garage sales.

Cuz' Mom gets stuck with all the work.

Blech!

One of those patterns . . .

2009-06-02T08:40:00.005-05:00

I am having some real issues with Cable Down Raglan. First, when I started it the first time, the raglan increases called for in the pattern were not symmetrical. With all the increase options available, I found it unacceptable that the raglan seams looked so lopsided.

So I frogged it and started over, using my own increases at the raglans, which make me much happier.

However, as I progressed, I had some niggling doubts about the way the neckline was looking. Specifically the transition from the rolled reverse stockinette collar to the cable pattern. Following the original magazine's directions, there is no definition between the rolled color and the reverse stockinette background of the cables.

When you look at the picture in the magazine, there is a definite demarcation between the collar and the body of the sweater.

So I decided to check the Errata section of the Interweave Knits website. Lo and behold, the raglan increases were incorrect in the original pattern and that is why mine were not symmetrical. Had I had the foresight to check for corrections before I even began the sweater, I wouldn't have needed to frog it the first time.

However, there was no correction for the collar transition.

Utterly frustrated, I decided to read the rest of the pattern.

I found that they added two rounds of knitting stitches between the body pattern and the lower trim edging. This instruction is not included on the neckline instructions but obviously were used in the sample they photographed.

Had I followed two of the cardinal rules of knitting (read the entire pattern and check for Errata before beginning), I would have saved myself a lot of time and frustration.

Uggh!

While I have decided to leave the neckline alone for now, and finish the rest of the body, I will cut the neckline off and re-knit it back on the way I think it should be - eventually.

However, since my knitting mojo has decided to take a (hopefully) short vacation, I plan to spend some time working on this project for now.

Cable Down Raglan project is going to sit in the corner and think about its failure to play nice and be pleasant.

Bad Sweater!

When it rains . . .

2009-05-31T10:29:00.005-05:00

It pours. And pours. And pours.

Good news first, cuz I am in desperate need of some positive vibes around here.

The Wicked Green Eyelet Vest is done, done, done. Third FO in 30 days. Woot! The sweaters/vests are just flying off the needles.

This vest used just over 2 skeins of the Premier Yarns Serenity Sports yarn, I think. The back took just over 1 skein and I made both fronts at the same time, so was using 2 more skeins at the same time. Both are a little more than half gone. The great news is that I have 3 more full skeins, plus the partial skeins to make another project. There is a ton of yardage in one of these balls of yarn. I'm already on the hunt for another summer tank top to make with the rest of the yarn.

The top picture is not color accurate. However, the close up picture is far closer to the real color of the yarn. I absolutely love this color and have received numerous compliments when I wear it. So I can't wait to go out in this cute little number. Double Woot!

The Bad News - Hubby injured his calf last night and is now hobbling around on BabyBird/DancingDiva's crutches. We fear he either ruptured a tendon or severely strained his calf muscle. He felt a pop and thought he'd been kicked in the calf when it happened. So, we'll be back at the orthopedic doctor's office this week getting his injury evaluated.

In the meantime, Hubby and BB/DD will be holding regular arm wrestling sessions over whose turn it is to use the crutches.

Oy!

Mixed Blessings

2009-05-29T18:05:00.003-05:00

Well, it's been one of those days where you're not quite sure how much to rejoice.

Baby Bird (aka Dancing Diva) had two appointments today - one with the orthopedist for the knee injury; and one with her podiatrist for her on-going ankle issues.

Good news - the knee structure is fine. No tears or damage to the ligaments or meniscus. There are obvious bone bruises on both her femur and fibula, where they knocked together when the knee hyper-extended. Guess it is one of those times when her ultra flexible Gumby-esque joints saved her from a far more devastating injury. She's only needs to do a few exercises at home to maintain her flexibility and strength and wean herself off the crutches as the pain allows. Woot!

Bad news - the ankle injury is far more troubling. While there are no obvious tears or structural damage, there is significant swelling within the joint. The podiatrist has recommended that she stay on the crutches for a couple of weeks, until her knee pain has subsided enough to allow her to wear "The Boot". Then she'll be in The Boot for a few weeks. If there is improvement, she'll start physical therapy in a month or so. If there is not a significant change, surgery is the next option.

Good news - only 10% of these types of ankle issues end up requiring surgery.

Bad news - this 14 year old girl, who is used to action, is already chomping at the bit to be back out there in the world, running around and doing the crazy things teen-age girls do, like going to carnivals, semi-formal dances and graduation parties. Keeping this popular girl down for 4 more weeks is going to be a CHALLENGE.

Hence, I bought her the entire Twilight Series of books by Stephanie Meyer and two season of the Gilmore Girls on DVD. When she runs through those, I'm going to make her finish the Harry Potter series. Anything to keep her off her feet for a few weeks.

Who knows, maybe she'll be desperate enough to pick up knitting or crochet again. Or . . . Mom will be desperate enough to MAKE her pick them up again. Mwahahahaha!

The Not So Stellar Holiday Weekend

2009-05-26T07:57:00.003-05:00

It has NOT been a good weekend.

First, The-Girl-Formerly-Known-As-Dancing-Diva left town for a dance trip with her performance groups to Branson, Missouri. It's not easy being a mom when her Baby Bird starts venturing so far from the nest.

Second, I started a new sweater with the Dreaming in Color Classy yarn that jumped in my basket during my last trip to Coldwater Collaborative. I made at least 8 inches of progress on this project when I decided that I didn't like the increases the pattern called for and since I know it would bug me forever, I frogged it and started over with modifications that would please me far more. Then, I proceeded to leave the project and the pattern at work so I couldn't work on it anymore this weekend. Doh!

Third, I had my first 9 hour day at the ice cream shop this weekend. I am out of shape from a winter off of scooping ice cream and standing on my feet for 9 hours straight. I am SORE!

Fourth, while on her trip, Baby Bird fell and damaged the ACL in her right knee. Now she not only has an ankle issue that needs to be addressed, but she'll be having another MRI this week and a treatment program put together for her knee. The poor girl had to suffer through 2 full days of her trip on crutches, with a knee brace and only over-the-counter pain meds and ice to see her through. While definitely not pleasant for her, Mom found the fact that her little one was suffering so far from home nearly unbearable. Baby Bird may never leave Momma Bird's sight again!

On the plus side, the weather was gorgeous and I did get to spend extra time planting my summer garden, refreshing the mulch in my flower beds and knitting on the Wicked Eyelet Vest while traveling to a family gathering in Southern Minnesota yesterday. Baby Bird made it home safely last night and after a few hours of coddling and commiserating, we're all set to get her put back together as soon as possible.

Oh, and Baby Bird made the startling announcement that she was reconsidering her decision to drop dance completely (pre-knee-injury, of course). Now we need to get the Doctor's opinion before we go so far as to re-christen her Dancing Diva for blogging purposes.

Can you spell r-o-l-l-e-r-c-o-a-s-t-e-r?

(In answer to a question regarding Wicked Eyelet Vest - I never use a cable needle if I can avoid it. I am a liberated cable knitter.)

Ta-da!

2009-05-22T17:52:00.003-05:00

Finally finished.

Modifications - couldn't make the crocheted neckline pattern lay down smoothly so decided to add the seed stitch ribbing to the neckline. I really prefer it, since it keeps it simple and cohesive.

Love, love, love this pattern.

Well, off to a romantic dinner with the hubby. Since all three girls are off on various sleep overs and Hockeyman has his BFF staying at our house tonight, we're free to go out and enjoy a night on the town. Of course, I'm wearing Pioneer to paint the town red!

Woo hoo!

Almost a FO

2009-05-21T14:06:00.003-05:00

Well, in spite of some dedicated effort the past two days, I'm still falling short of having a finished garment to show today. Although I'm loving the Wicked Eyelet Vest (it's a super fun knit), I decided to set it aside and try and finish the seafoam green Pioneer. I finished knitting the main body and used the now favorite tubular bind off to finish the bottom edge. I've picked up one of the sleeves and started knitting. I'm 48 sleeve rounds from finishing both sleeves, then I just need to add the crochet trim around the neckline and I'm done.

However, the weather has put out a siren call to putz in the garden today. After two days of record high temperatures and a few rumbles of thunder in the wee sma' hours of the morning, today's weather is delightfully cool and moist. Just perfect for setting out tomato and pepper plants, as well as filling some decorative pots with colorful annuals.

So Pioneer is once again on the back burner, while I heed nature's insistent beckoning into the great outdoors.

Maybe tomorrow Pioneer will be finished . . .

(Photograph courtesy of Hockeyman)

Or maybe not.

End of an Era

2009-05-19T07:40:00.003-05:00

Well, we survived the dance ~~marathon~~ recital weekend. Barely.

First, Dancing Diva has been battling an ankle issue for a few months. We've been to see a podiatrist recently and she has posterior ankle impingement syndrome with evidence of an old avulsion fracture on the back of her heel. We had DD in for an MRI on Friday and are awaiting the results before determining a course of treatment.

Second, DD has had an allergy to latex that has been escalating lately, and she had a serious reaction at the finale of the jazz show on Saturday night, when there was a balloon drop. She was checked out by an EMT who happened to be in the audience and she is okay but it really zapped her energy level for the final shows on Sunday. She was a trooper and battled through the pain from her ankle and the fatigue on Sunday and finished the recital weekend.

However, because she will be attending the local high school in the fall, the significance of the ankle issues and the escalation of her allergies to a component in many dance outfits and tights, Dancing Diva has decided to stop dancing completely.

Naturally, I am very sad because it has been a pleasure to watch her grow in grace and beauty as a dancer but am fully in support of her decision. She knows what she wants to study in college (architecture, with an emphasis on historical restorations and hotel design) and she is very interested in doing more theater and learning to play drums. So she will no longer be Dancing Diva in the blog. I haven't come up with a new moniker for her yet but will wait and see what develops as she pursues some new interests.

In the meantime, to battle the post-recital-let-down-and-sad-she's-not-dancing depression that has been plaguing me this week, I am actively working on my latest ~~obsession~~ ~~love affair~~ favorite project.

Unfortunately, the color in the photo is not accurate. Hockeyman has been messing with the settings on the camera again and I'm clueless on how to remedy it.

To admit I love this pattern would be an understatement! However, I have modified it slightly, carrying the right twist cable past the lower ribbing, the full way up the bottom half of the vest. I felt the added elasticity of the extra cable would really pull the bodice in on the thinnest part of my torso and be more flattering in the long run.

This photo really doesn't do the pattern justice either, because the cables and lace patterns really pop in this Debra Norville Collection Premier Yarn Serenity Sport Weight. Hopefully, after I ~~torture~~ ask Hockeyman to restore the settings on the camera, I'll be able to take a far better photo.

If not, he'll have to start doing the photography for this blog - pro bono, of course. I refuse to pay a camera saboteur.

Can't blog right now . . .

2009-05-14T13:32:00.003-05:00

Been super busy this week with end of year stuff. But I've been spinning up a storm in my spare minutes.

I've finished spinning up 8 ounces of Louet Northern Lights in the Ocean Wave color way. I'm having so much fun.

In non-fiber news, we have a new licensed driver in the house as of 12:00 noon today. Guess I'll have to start lifting weights in case we start arm wrestling for control of the keys around here.

Where to begin . . .

2009-05-12T15:43:00.006-05:00

I know I've been MIA for awhile. What can I say? First there was the Shepherd's Harvest Prep week, when I could do nothing but make lists, plan and pack because my excitement level made concentrating on anything else impossible.

Then there was THE WEEKEND. Yes, those are red letters because it was a red letter weekend.

Then there was the Post Shepherd's Harvest let down.

To say I had a wonderful weekend would be an understatement. It was fabulous. To start with, although the weather was a little chilly, the predicted rain never showed up. It was a true blessing because I had to carry around my spinning wheel and accessories and the last thing I wanted was to shlepp everything through mud puddles, like I had to last year.

Because I've been to the festival in very cold weather, I was prepared with warm enough layers, hats and gloves and such. I even remembered a cushion for the chair, so my rump stayed warm this year. Good planning and preparation are the first step in preparing for a red letter weekend.

In addition to the better than expected weather, the classes were wonderful. Patsy Zawistoski taught the Luxury Fiber class on Saturday. Of all the teachers I've ever had, her teaching style was the most perfect for my learning style. When she explained things, lights went on, bells rung and all the pieces fell into place. I learned not only how to handle the more tricky luxury fibers like mohair, llama, alpaca, angora, etc., but learned how to properly card and comb fibers for specific effects. I ended up purchasing a DVD from her on how to spin specialty yarns. I am so impressed with it, I hope to buy all of her DVD's and booklets to make a complete library. All I can say is if I ever get the chance, I'll take more classes from her in a heartbeat!

On Sunday, Carol Wagner taught us how to make novelty yarns. In spite of some technical difficulties with her wheel, she managed to do a great job teaching us how to make slubby singles, knot yarn, marled yarn, and beaded yarn. I walked away with some new techniques in my basket of tricks. So much fun.

I managed to buy plenty of new toys and fiber, too. First, I picked up a mini niddy-noddy and a new flicker first thing Saturday morning from Mielke's Fiber Arts. I visit their booth every year because they have such useful tools and supplies. I can count on them having exactly what I need every year. I knew I would need a much smaller niddy-noddy for the classes and Andrea came through for me.

Saturday afternoon, I picked up some silk hankies, two bags of merino/silk blend slivers and two balls of navy blue wool top from The Fiber Studio. I had a lovely chat withPam Angier about joining them for their open spinning sessions. I'm so excited about finding a spinning group to join that I'm hoping their classes will fit with my schedule. It's not a great photo of the fibers but it's kind of a gloomy day here in Minnesota.

Sunday, I found some mini double row combs so I can keep experimenting with preparing fibers for the novelty yarns. I'm sorry I can't remember who the vendor was because they used generic sales slips and didn't include a card in the bag. I suspect it was Earthsong Fibers but wouldn't bet one of my children on it. There were so many fabulous vendors and I circled all four buildings so many times, things began to mush together in my brain.

My last purchases of the weekend were two baskets and some sock yarn from Tall Tale Yarn Shop. The small basket hangs nicely from the spinning wheel, to hold tools and accessories. The larger basket is the perfect size to carry my larger accessories to and from classes and such.

To make the weekend even more perfect, I had a very nice stay at Holiday Inn Express in Stillwater. I reserved a king room with a whirlpool tub for the night and it was the perfect choice. After sitting in a cold fairground building for six hours, taking a warm bath was heavenly.

When I got home on Sunday evening, there were cards and flowers waiting for me. Talk about the perfect ending to a red-letter weekend.

Now, there are only 360 days until Shepherd's Harvest 2010!

Teenagers - sheesh!

2009-04-30T15:31:00.002-05:00

I've been dying to post this week. Not only do I have a finished object to show off but some significant progress on a new sweater and some other projects that have jumped to the front of my summer to-do list.

Alas, Hockeyman has sabotaged my efforts. He has fallen in love with photography and commandeered our one and only digital camera. Somehow, he managed to alter the settings in such a way that makes all my pictures turn out over-exposed and blurry.

He keeps promising to figure out how to reset the camera to its original default settings but our crazy schedule has kept him from accomplishing this feat of photographic prestidigitation.

Alas, you will just have to use your imagination.

First, the FO is a table runner and/or scarf made from the leftover yarn from my version of the Daily Sweater. There was just enough yarn to eek out a basket weave patterned table runner, much like the one pictured in the latest issue of Vogue Knitting. It is 4 feet long, so it could be worn as a scarf, too.

Second, remember this project? Well, it is now a pile of rag balls and the beginnings of a knit log cabin rug, from Mason Dixon Knitting. After struggling to make the rug lay flat and attempting to block it out, I gave up the battle and unraveled the whole thing. I think I'm going to like the more modern graphics of the log cabin rug anyway. (At least, that's what I kept telling myself as I laboriously ripped out all those rows of toothbrush knotting - oy!)

Third, I've been plugging away on a new top-down sweater from Knitty.com. I have some inexpensive acrylic yarn in a lovely sea foam green shade that is working up nicely for this summer t-shirt. I have already progressed past the place where the sleeves are put on holders and am working on the main torso now. I can't wait to finish this sweater!

I am thoroughly sold on the top-down concept and plan on making several more top-down projects in the near future.

I've also been shopping at a local quilt shop and picked up supplies to make a rug hooking project this summer.

Well, guess I should go light a fire under the teen saboteur to get the camera back into some semblence of normal so I can take some pictures.

Gah!

Pride . . .

2009-04-22T15:23:00.003-05:00

And prejudice. This is, without any doubt, my favorite sweater of all time!

At least so far . . .

This is my short sleeved version of the Daily Sweater from Mason-Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines. I used Ella rae Silkience (about 8.5 skeins) and size 2 needles for the body.

Modifications: I felt the neckline was way too floppy after knitting it according to the pattern, so I cut it off and picked up the live stitches and re-knit the collar with fewer stitches. I split the sleeve ribbing, to mirror the side slits at the lower hem.

I have also fallen in love with the tubular cast on and bind off. It was the technique I learned on the Pink Cardigan and it is, without a doubt, the slickest trick in my knitting arsenal.

What I can't believe is that it took me 30+ years of knitting to discover this gorgeous binding off technique.

Just goes to shows, you can teach an old ~~dog~~ knitter new tricks.

(In related news, my deepest condolences go out to Kay Gardiner of Mason Dixon Knitting for the loss of her beloved husband, Peter. My prayers are with Kay and her family.)

A new obsession

2009-04-14T13:11:00.003-05:00

I seem to be in the grip of yet another ~~compulsion~~ love affair. My latest project is The Daily Sweater from Mason Dixon's new book, Knitting Outside the Lines. It's been on my mental to-do list since I purchased the book but I finally bumped it up to the top of the list when the Pink Cardigan was finished.

I cast on in the car on the way to Easter dinner on Sunday and have had an incredibly difficult time putting it down, as you can see from the significant progress I've already made.

The yarn is Ella Rae Silkience (purchased from Webs on sale) and it has the most delightful hand of any yarn I've worked with recently. I love it so much I went back online yesterday and ordered more of it in another color.

Since I only have 10 skeins of this color, I'll have to modify the pattern somewhat by making it a short sleeved top. I'm hoping to have enough yarn to eke out a 3/4 length sleeve but will make do with what I have. After all, summer is coming and a new t-shirt would be just fine, too.

If you look closely, you'll see the sheep stitch marker I recently purchased from Glastonbury Glassworks. She is so cute, I just had to use her on this project. Isn't she sweet!

Well, I've been away from my knitting long enough. One more row, then I'll fold the laundry. Or maybe two more rows. Or ten . . .

Happy Easter

2009-04-12T18:21:00.002-05:00

Nothing like wearing a new sweater on Easter morning.

Hope all my friends have had a most blessed Easter!

A Cautionary Tale

2009-04-05T08:18:00.003-05:00

It was a dark and stormy night, as I sat in my car outside a local church. At approximately 6:45, my children left the car to go to a fashion show/concert. Not being in the mood for loud music or a raucous roomful of teenagers, I opted to leave and run some errands.

At 7:00, I entered a grocery store to purchase laundry detergent. Mission accomplished.

At 7:10, a stop was made at the Walgreens to pick up some necessary medical items for DH.

At 7:15, I entered a local restaurant and enjoyed a Oriental Stir Fry Salad and piece of pie.

At 7:45, having paid my bill and exited the restaurant, I made the strategic decision to go back to the church and wait in the parking lot until the concert was over.

After circling the parking lot a few times, looking for a spot that had either a street light above it or some other source of outside lighting, I parked near the front of the church where a powerful floodlight illuminated the entire front of the building. There was enough reflected light for me to sit and knit without having to keep the car running or use the inside lights of the car.

There I sat, knitting away happily in the absolute silence and solitude of the car. I reveled in the peace I so seldom get to enjoy, being a full-time, homeschooling mother of four.

Until . . . .

A car pulls up beside my car and a large flashlight is turned onto my visage. After a moment, the car speeds away and I'm left wondering what on earth that was all about.

Five minutes later, the car returns and the window is rolled down. Cautiously, I start my car and roll my own window down.

A red-faced police officer, suddenly abashed by my middle-aged appearance and knitting-in-progress clutched in my startled hands, stammers, "I'm sorry to disturb you but I thought you might be a hooligan."

That's me, a knittin' hooligan.

You can't just buy one . . .

2009-04-02T14:01:00.005-05:00

Once again, I find I have little to blog about when I'm working hard on a larger project. The pink cardigan is consuming my time and attention. You could say I've been a little obsessed with it. The yarn is wonderfully soft and has beautiful drape. It is a dream to knit, even when it's just plain stockinette or simple ribbing. It is one of those yarns that keeps you saying, "Just one more row, then I'll go to sleep."

However, I found that the 10 skeins of yarn are not going to be adequate to finish the sweater. I have 2 skeins left and I still haven't finished the main body of the sweater. I have at least 6 more inches of modified 3x1 ribbing before I'm ready to bind off and start on the sleeves.

So, of course, I had to order more yarn from Webs before they ran out of this discontinued color. Well, you just can't buy one thing at Webs, so I picked up some gorgeous red cotton/silk blend yarn for a tank top as well. It shipped today, so I can't wait to show you all the new yarn, not to mention, keep going on this beautiful cardigan. My only fear is that I'll run out of yarn before the new shipment arrives. Gasp!

I did get a wonderful little treat in the mail this afternoon. Live and Let Learn has a wonderfully talented glass artist for a husband. So when I was hunting for the perfect button for the pink cardi, she was the first person I thought of asking.

As usual, she came through for me with flying colors. You can see how lovely the button at the right looks with the pink yarn. Unfortunately, the photograph doesn't begin to do justice to the depth of color in this beautiful custom glass button.

Of course, you can't buy just one at Glastonbury Glassworks, either. So I just had to pick up these sheep to socks stitch markers as well. They are so adorable, I may have to get a special necklace like this one so I can wear them like jewelry.

Well, back to my compulsive knitting binge . . . Just one more row, then I'll clean the kitchen.

DOH!

2009-03-21T15:44:00.002-05:00

Have you ever had one of those days?

As a fiber artist, I really should know better. Ninety-nine percent of the time, I check labels on any new sweaters, to make sure I launder them appropriately.

This was Hockeyman's favorite sweater, purchased at a local discount clothing store. Not even stopping to think about it (discount store sweaters are always polyester, right?) I tossed this beloved FS into the washing machine, then the dryer.

GAH!

Fortunately, Hockeyman laughed long and hilariously at my fiber gaffe and thought it great fun to squeeze into the micro-mini version of his FS. Then he cheerfully handed it to Peeps, the smallest member of the clan, whom it fits like a dream. She loves her new felted sweater and now I need to knit or buy a new sweater for HM.

In knitting news, I hit a bit of a snafu in my swatching. I've dutifully knit 4 inches of stockinette, 4 inches of 1x1 ribbing and 4 inches of modifed 3x1 ribbing. The 100% cotton is knitting up beautifully and the stockinette stitch swatch is dead on for gauge. However, the 1x1 rib gauge is supposed to be 20 st./in. and I get 24 st./in. And the modifided 3x1 ribbing is supposed to measure 24 st./in. and I have 26. So, here is my question - since this is cotton yarn, which has no rebound or stitch memory and will probably grow some with wear, am I safe in sticking with the same needle size throughout the project. Or should I change to larger needles that will get the gauge when I reach the ribbing sections and pray that the growth that is inevitable is vertical and not horizontal?

I've been burned before with knitting cotton to the ideal finished size, only to have it stretch and grow with time. However, I LOVE this sweater so much, I don't want to take any chances with it being too loose and floppy.

What would you do?

And we have a winner . . .

2009-03-18T11:30:00.003-05:00

After some concentrated effort and a long search (hey, 24 hours is a long time for me), I have found the perfect pattern.

I went through at least a dozen magazines, spent hours online browsing through Ravelry, Knitty.com and a multitude of other online knitting pattern sources. After hours and hours of disappointing results, it turns out that the perfect pattern was just waiting in the latest issue of Interweave Knits.

This is a top-down knit project with an interesting slip-stitch i-cord detail for the front facing and a very flattering shape. I am also planning on looking for one fabulous button to add to the neckline, just because I like top closures on cardigans. The simple pattern should look wonderful with the slightly slubby yarn texture and it will be the perfect weight for spring and summer sweater weather.

In stupid kitty news, Harley has decided that since we have put him on diet kitty food, that cotton dishcloth yarn makes a great between meals snack. I fell asleep early this morning, in the midst of knitting on a washcloth. (Don't ask why I was up at 3:00 am. Let's just say I was a bit indisposed.) When I woke up a few hours later, the skein of yarn was detached from the knitting-in-progress and a large section of it was all soggy and nasty. Evidently, before he made it all the way up to the bamboo circular needles, his tummy decided that this was too much fiber and caused him to . . . well, regurgitate it back up. I'm fairly certain he "regurgitated" all of the fiber but to be on the safe side, we have dosed him with preventative meds, to make sure any remaining amount should pass without incident.

Now I'm in the process of removing all sources of temptation from Harley's living spaces. All yarn is being put away in sealed containers, on high shelves and ledges (he's too fat to jump very high) and in areas where he has no access.

Obviously the "D" word has an adverse affect on Harley's appetite, too.

Let the Dancing Begin!

2009-03-17T11:48:00.003-05:00

The Christmas Gift of 2008 is now complete. A teenage Dancing Diva feels completely loved and embraced by her mother and all is well with the world.

The whoop I let out when I finished did manage to terrify the cats and cause Hockeyman to holler out, "WHAT?" I guess my celebration should have been more dancing and less whooping.

As a reward for toughing it out and finishing the blanket, I am going to cast on a new project for myself. I'm still on the hunt for the perfect summer T pattern. I am really intrigued by the whole top-down concept, so I'm looking specifically for something in that style. I recently ordered some 100% cotton yarn in a lovely ballet pink that I'm just dying to cast on.

I'm open to suggestions. In the meantime, back to the search . . .

I'm goin' to Shepherd's Harvest

2009-03-15T00:06:00.003-05:00

Whoop!

Registered right after midnight on the 15th, just because I'm anxious to get into my first choices. And just a wee bit too excited to fall asleep, anticipating another great weekend of fibery stuff.

On Saturday, I'll be in the Luxury American Fiber's spinning class all day. It will be a great chance to hone my spinning skills on some more exotic fibers and prepare me to handle more difficult fibers on my own.

On Sunday afternoon, I'll be in the Novelty Yarn's spinning class. More fun spinning experience. Yay!

Oh, and I'm staying in a hotel in Stillwater Saturday night. One with a jacuzzi. It's going to be SWEEET! One whole weekend to myself, doing what I love.

I'm really hoping to hook up with some Ravelry mates and some old friends at Shepherd's Harvest, so let me know if you'll be there.

In other news, I am nearly done with Dancing Diva's Christmas Present. I am hoping I can finish it tomorrow. Since it was a big weekend for hockey, I managed to knit quite a bit while watching some High School playoff hockey (WTG! Eden Prairie Eagles! I saw both the playoff games and E.P. rocked!), Minnesota Wild hockey (gah, they lose in overtime - again.) and the Gophers beat St. Cloud to go to the WCHA Final Five (Woot!).

In related news, Hockeyman has been signed up for a spring league, so he'll be starting hockey again on Thursday. In the meantime, he got a job at a local grocery store and will be starting his training on Monday. It'll be a big week for the HM. For those who have asked, at this point, he fully intends to return to the High School hockey team in the fall, since the young men managed to mend their ways for the remainder of the season. He just loves the sport too much to let some jerks keep him from playing hockey. We'll just have to see how next year goes.

Well, the adreneline rush is fading and so am I. Nighty, night all you fiber artists and friends!

Eventful week = little knitting

2009-03-11T14:43:00.002-05:00

It has been nearly a week since my last ~~confession~~ post. So many things have been happening around here. Unfortunately, none of it has been fiber arts related - at ALL!

Friday was not only the start of spring break in our district but also our homeschool academy classes. Not out of the ordinary except for the fact that I unloaded 2 kids to play dates and inherited 3 more teenage girls for an afternoon at the mall. I haven't gone and just "hung out" in a mall in my life but this seems to be the favored social activity of teenage girls. Hence, I spent hours following them around from shop to shop, watching them try on clothes, sunglasses and accessories and trying to keep from embarrassing them with my presence.

Saturday was spent power cleaning the house. Things have gotten a little behind, given our crazy schedule and having a full Saturday with no outside activities (thanks to spring break) meant we would get down to the nitty gritty and really get things sparkling. Of course, that sparkling state is already destroyed but, hey, we LIVE here.

Sunday was church and nap day. Literally! Since I'd been sick the previous week and worked so hard on Saturday, I ended up taking a 3 hour nap on Sunday afternoon. It was SWEEEEET and I refuse to feel any guilt at all. ;-P

Monday we spent at the local ski area, at the final Homeschool Ski Day of the season. Hockeyman is not allowed to snowboard during the regular hockey season, so he's been anxiously awaiting the chance to go out this year. Dancing Diva has skied numerous times but wanted to learn to snowboard this time. Bubba and Peeps have never been skiing, so this was their first ski trip. Since I don't ski or snowboard, I spent my day wandering back and forth between the different runs, checking on 4 kids who were spread out all over the place. My thighs and calves got quite the workout, tramping back and forth in the snow, so who says you have to ski to get a workout.

I've been researching a weightloss program the past few weeks and decided to give it a shot, so Tuesday was spent picking up some groceries and supplies for the new regime. Since we were expecting a "weather event" of some significance on Tuesday afternoon, it was a good thing to do my shopping early. The afternoon was spent watching weather reports and watching the ice build up on outdoor structures and praying that hubby would make it home from work at some point before midnight. He did but the roads were nasty. Thank Heavens for spring break and the lack of outside activities yesterday. I was more than happy to stay home. Of course, I didn't knit because I was finishing up the weightloss program preparations.

That brings us to today. I started my program (I refuse to say the "D" word because it only makes me crave chocolate, chips and chimichangas - this is a lifestyle change - OKAY!). It has been an okay day - not stellar - but okay. This program requires extra cooking and food prep, so lots of time was spent making food and cleaning up the extra mess. I have a bit of a headache, due to the fact that I've cut coffee out of my life. I spent the last week weaning myself off caffeine but I'm definitely doing much better today than I expected. A couple more days of this and I should be past the withdrawl entirely.

This program does have one advantage. It does utilize frequent "rewards" for goals set and reached. I'll have a goodie coming to me in 2 weeks if I can stick it out for that long. Any suggestions for non-food related rewards?

Can you spell L-Y-S t-r-i-p?

Will the madness never end???

2009-03-05T14:10:00.002-06:00

If it's not entirely clear from the title, I assure you that I am still knitting endless rows of garter stitch. While this may not make for an earth-shattering revelation, it is, alas, what it is.

I'm also getting over another of those annoying virus thingies that have plagued me this winter. While I try to inject a little humor into my blog, I lack the great comedic genius of those who wring every ounce of laughter from a bout of the flu and subsequent infections and narcotic cough syrup episodes.

I've just managed to spend the past weekend, and bulk of the week, miserable and crabby . . . while knitting endless rows of garter stitch . . . when not collapsed in a Nyquil-induced haze of drowsiness.

However, as the fever dreams are subsiding and the cold symptoms seem to be retreating (I can almost smell things again), I am actually hopeful that the end of the garter stitch is in sight.

Who knows, maybe I'll even have a FO to show by the end of the weekend.

Then again, hubby now has symptoms of coming down with the virus thingie. There's nothing like nursing a sick husband to put knitting on hold.

Quintessential Conundrum

2009-02-27T09:01:00.003-06:00

What to blog about when you are deep in the middle of a large project . . .

While I enthused about the possibility of letting go of guilt and just going with the knitting muse, casting on new projects with abandon, the reality is I live with a teenage daughter. Whilst I was more than ready to release the constraints the bound me and move on to newer, brighter, more thrilling projects, a little voice ~~whined~~ reminded me that I hadn't finished the Christmas Gift.

Alas, though my spirit longs to soar free and surrender to the Chronic Startitis, guilt has reared it's head and I am chained to never ending rows of garter stitch.

Granted, I am a fan of garter stitch. It is the ultimate T.V. watching stitch. I've managed to even knit during Wild and Gopher hockey games because I don't have to look at my hands as much while knitting garter stitch. However, there comes a time in every afghan/blanket project when I would swear that there has been a breach in the time/space continuum and the knitting is actually going backwards. While I know I have passed the halfway point, the end actually seems to be retreating faster than I progress toward it, like that ubiquitous door at the end of the ever lengthening hallway in horror movies and bad dreams.

Alas, I am trapped in this round of never ending garter stitch. All because a teen age girl seems to think a mother's love can only be expressed by actually finishing a Christmas Gift before the next Christmas rolls around.

Sheesh!

In the Spirit of Vicki Square

2009-02-19T13:35:00.003-06:00

In the Spring 2009 Interweave Knits, there is an article by Vicki Square entitled, "Start As Many New Projects As You Can."

I think you can see where I'm going with this post.

Here, I've been kicking myself around the house, up the stairs and through the stash for the inability to finish some of the UFO's hanging around the manse. Although I had thumbed through the latest IK on arrival, I hadn't gotten around to reading it, cover to cover, as is my wont. Imagine the "doh" moment when I read this quote yesterday.

"Whatever you do, refuse to make yourself a hostage to the undone. Release yourself from the tyranny of a timetable whenever you can. Enjoy the creative flow of having many knitting projects going simultaneously, just as you enjoy a car ride without worrying about each individual moving part."

Fate managed to underscore my newfound freedom by allowing this little package to arrive today. It contains the yarn for a Vintage Gopher Hockey Sweater I'm making as part of a KAL on Ravelry. I also picked up some heavily discounted cotton yarn for a new summer sweater for myself.

Vive la nouveauté!

Surrender

2009-02-17T08:34:00.007-06:00

There are times when you need to wave the white flag. What is the point of battling on when the battle is already lost. You can't fight nature. It is what it is. I surrender.

I simply have to go where inspiration leads, whether I leave a long trail of UFO's in my wake or not. Sometimes, inspiration hits and you are just forced to go with it until the bitter end. Hence, the latest FO is a completely new project.

DD#2, (aka Bubba) has been in need of a bag for her swim fins. I've been looking at swim meets but not be satisfied with the selection of bags available for purchase. Everyone has the same thing, which makes it harder to identify your stuff at the end of the day. So, after mulling the situation over for the entire swimming season, I had a brain blast.

Years ago, I was on one of those hunts for unique crafting materials at the local hardware store. Don't ask me why. I suspect I'd seen a craft show on HGTV that used unusual materials and was tempted to follow suit. As a result, I'd purchased lots of rubber gaskets, metal washers, chain and twine and tucked all of these various items into my stash, hoping I'd find something inspiring about owning them.

Fast forward several years - I am seeking the perfect yarn to make a string bag for swim equipment. It had to be waterproof, fade-resistant and stand out from the bags everyone else uses for their swim fins and goggles. Inspiration strikes and I remember my crazy hardware store shopping spree.

As a result (and with the help of Ravelry), I found a pattern for a crochet string bag. Super simple and fast, with the only modification being I replaced a side to side strap with drawstrings. I made it to fit Bubba's swim fins, with room to grow, since she'll move into bigger fins later on.

The Rainbow Twine is 100% nylon and should be impervious to the clorine and water at the pool. And since our homeschool group has weekly beach days in the summer, it should be a great tote for the beach as well.

As for standing out . . . well, I've never seen another one like it. Have you?

Shepherd's Harvest is coming . . .

2009-02-15T06:31:00.002-06:00

I checked in at the Shepherd's Harvest website this morning and class listings should be available sometime today. Woot!

Registrations won't start until March 15 but at least I can start my . . . wishing and hoping and
thinking and praying, planning and dreaming . . .

Time for a change?

2009-02-14T12:50:00.004-06:00

Thought I'd try a new look for the blog. We'll see how long I keep this style, though. I've got a touch of spring fever and I'm restless for change.

I started crocheting a beach bag with the plarn made this past week. I thought that the openness of the double crochet net pattern would allow sand to filter out and it would be less likely to mildew than cloth bags. Plarn is tough stuff to crochet with, since it likes to stick and drag as you use it. I have used almost all the red/white plarn up and am about half way done with the bag. Fortunately, with my largish family, I get a new batch of these bags every week. Another week or two of grocery shopping, and I should be able to finish this bag up.

In spite of the nagging guilt regarding the UFO/WIP pile, I have to admit that the arrival of the newest Interweave Knits magazine has cause a major flare-up of the chronic startitis I am battling. This project jumped out as a fun dance item for Dancing Diva, although she preferred this one for my ever-increasing "wannado" list. I fell in love with this one for myself. And the Net Duffel Bag - so cool!

Oh, and lets not forget the vintage hockey sweater KAL for Puck This on Ravelry. Hockeyman has picked this sweater for me to reproduce for him. This sweater was worn by the Minnesota Golden Gophers between 1936 and 1948. I've ordered the yarn, but it hasn't arrived yet. So in the meantime, I'm trying to work a little each day on different UFO's. That way, once the yarn arrives, I won't feel quite so badly about starting yet another project.

Then again, the double whammy of spring fever and chronic startitis may prove to be more than I can withstand.