For Denise

Denise has been having a problem lately. She has been unable to see my very un-mitteny project, primarily because she is not in Minnesota and I am. In the interests of averting death-from-pining, here are two unblocked, in-progress photos. The color is pretty good, especially in the second one.
It's the Double Bordered Scarf from Victorian Lace Today, worked on size 8 needles from my grandmother's stash, using yarn spun up by ME! My second scarf from handspun, and I like it much better than the first.It's a good thing Denise said she'd tagged me, because I hadn't noticed. I am so unaware of Internet protocols. Here goes ....

What was I doing 10 years ago?
That would be 1998. I had an almost 3 year old and a 21 month old. We were going to doctor's appointments, certainly, and making rhubarb jam, and lots of reading books aloud. It was 9 years ago, I think, that I read the entire The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe in one sitting. Maybe 1998 was the year I read straight through the Child's Bible.

What are the five things on my list to do today?
They're done! But the list said:

• Piano
• Bible Study
• Chreia proofing
• Knitting submission
• Send knitting submission
• Call Sue S.
• Call Pfizer
• KC CW
• Glycerin order
• Find Bible Study money
• Kill cucumber beetles
  

Notice, if you will, that the list says nothing about ME knitting. And I haven't. Yet. Give me a few minutes and that will change.

Snacks I enjoy:

• Rolos
• Malted Milk Balls
• Anything with milk chocolate and caramel

Things I would do if I were a billionaire.

• Not tell my husband
  
• Put aside enough to pay taxes
• Give a large chunk to a church or two near and dear to me
• Find a village to sponsor through Compassion
• Build an accessible home, perhaps closer in to town, or at least seriously think about it
• Head to a yarn store with a good shopping list and not look at prices

What one thing would I like to learn this summer? That's a hard one. I make a habit of learning what interests me quickly, without putting it off, since I never know what I may want to do the rest of my life. That's what saw me knitting, spinning, weaving, tatting, bobbin lacing, quilting, cross-stitching, needlepointing, hardangering, and a bit of basketweaving back between 1990 and 1995. (Notice - no crochet. That's been crossed off the list) I've finally learned harp. I would love to play cello, but it's not a reasonable aspiration for this season of life. I suppose learning if my ds is gluten-intolerant doesn't quite answer the intent of the question. But that's the best I can do!

Summer's Coming!

And one of the best things to do when the weather is dry and hot is to wash socks. Here's my mom's sock line, swaying in the breeze. Things are nice and green up here, but I hope we get some rain soon or else I'll be lugging water to the garden. I am thankful it's not UNDER water.

Projects have been jumping off the needles lately. Somewhat, at least. The Helix Mittens are finished, with just a few odd jags of inattention or perhaps another knitting busying herself with the mittens while waiting for a doctor's office to open its doors. I like them, but much prefer stranding.

















Yes, stranding. I turned my small sampler Latvian mitten into a larger Latvian mitten, and have also FINISHED the Sanquhar gloves. They're not blocked yet ... I am entertaining the notion of picking a warm day, popping the gloves on, soaking my hands in warm water for 5 minutes, then going for a nice long walk to block them to shape. We'll see. But the gloves are done, and all 40 ends are happily woven in. And I remembered - halfway through the second '8' that this was the year 2008, not 2088. That would have been cause for duplicate stitch. Botching the pattern on the last tier of the second-to-last finger on the second mitten was cause for frogging. Rippit. I'm glad I discovered it before thinking I was finished with them. And now? If you see a mistake, please let me know. I want these critters to be 'poi-fect'. I even frogged a few times when I discovered I'd switched which color was in which hand.

My only project on the needles now is a red and black twisted hat. They start small, involve lots of twisting, but are nice and snuggly warm. I'm about an inch from binding off on the hat, so the photo is not exactly 'real time', but it does show the beginning. Or close to the beginning.

I keep telling myself that one of these times I am going to wind the colors onto a bobbin, then sit and knit while slowly treadling the twist away. The knitting won't exactly be portable, and it will be a very large mess if I calculate wrong, but it sounds like fun if it works out.

In other news ... we washing the siding on the front porch today, raked tree trimmings, enjoyed rhubarb punch with rhubarb salad, and are pooped.

Time to go wash dishes, and then knit!

Project Showcase

First, we have Calorimetry, knit and modeled by Filia. A nifty way to keep the head warm in winter (which it'snot) while not scrunching long hair. The yarn is from a corriedale roving bought at Shepherd's Harvest and spun by me. Half the roving was about 5 yards shy of being enough to knit the whole thing. Moral of the story: Next time, drop d0wn a needle size.

Next we have the Twisted Hat, in which I come up with a lovely design and really struggle with the concept of triangles. Can I blame it on the similar colors? Probably not. The brim is a bit short, but the hat is otherwise perfect. The yarn is Jo Sharp DK from my stash.

Filius has been busy lately. Yesterday was a 'Grandma Day' for him, since Filia and spent four hours in two hospitals over a hundred miles away. He built with MY legos (and an addition or two) that came to me from the 'bottom of the barrel' at USMC Toys for Tots drives. (speaking of those drives, I also have two Raggedy Ann sleeping bags garnered from a drive. For some reason, he wants a different sleeping bag for his sleepover tonight. Must have something to do with being in double digits)

When not building, Filius is perfecting the art of reading in comfort. Here, you see his set-up a scant minute after being vacated for a refrigerator check. While Filius is perfecting his art, Canis has perfected his ... that of moving into comfortable spots within seconds of their being vacated.
I have two projects on the needles now, at least figuratively. First comes the traveling project. I will cheerfully give the mittens to whoever can correctly identify the colorways used. None of them are handspun. Want a hint? Fingering weight, 100% wool. If you win and the mittens don't fit, you can pick a mitten from my stash after the State Fair or order a custom pair.



And what is REALLY on my needles (since, as you will note, there are no needles in the previous mitten) is a Sanquhar glove. Smile, sigh, swoon. I think I could easily start a new habit of knitting all my mittens in laceweight. I love hot it feels. I love how they're knitting up. I'm thinking of making a small tweak in the pattern - knitting the fingers on smaller needles - since the thumb and pinkie, and all fingers in between, are worked on 33 stitches. In fact, I will pull out the 000 needles and give it a shot. If the worst happens, I'll know it before finishing the index finger and I can frog (not tink... these are easily froggable. BTDT) back to the beginning of the index finger and regroup.

Sanquhars don't work well for knitting at ball games, though. Endocrinology labs, yes, but stop lights and ballfields, no.