Winter is Coming!

We have had a very warm November so far, but I fear my kale will meet its doom this week as the temps head downward into the teens by this weekend.  I am finishing up the last of my 'fresh from the garden and ripened in the basement' tomatoes today in a hearty black bean chili that is simmering on the stove for supper.  Fresh produce is soon to be a thing of the past, so it will be time to hit the larder or freezer for the stored soups and sauces.  I've been able - both because I've been home, unlike last year, and because it's been warm and without snow cover, unlike last year - to keep up with the leaves and sticks in the yard, so there should be a lot less work to do come spring.  Today, the leaves from the willow finally decided that perhaps it is time to succumb to the wind and leave the tree. 

On Saturday, I got a book.  It's all Cheryl and LaJuana's fault ... but I did put it on my wishlist, and my dear mum got it for me.  It's a craft that isn't knitting, so I am torn.  I'm a knitter, and could happily knit the rest of my life and not make everything that is beautiful and gorgeous and knit.  But there was this Facebook video, see, and they didn't know what the technique was (being in Turkish made the point a bit fuzzy for those of us who do not speak Turkish), and it was this utterly GORGEOUS needle lace ... Mediterranean Knotted Lace, to be precise ...

From the cover of Mediterranean Knotted Lace

and I fell in love with it.  Now I am juggling learning needle lace with knitting.  I am competent at one of them, and it's not the needle lace. There's quite a contrast between knitting a shawl with worsted yarn held double, and making knots with size 50 crochet cotton.

Fat yarn, skinny thread

My First Attempts at Needle Lace

Until next week!

On a beautifully bleak November day

On this bleak November day, before some torrential rain hits, I have a beautiful home day to sit and knit.  The commission is moving along nicely (after the necessary gauge swatches) and I have no pictures.  I sent off a design submission this morning, and am generally having a grand time with knitting.

Fringe

With writing up material for a knitting class, not quite so much.  It is SO much easier to show someone a technique in person than it is to explain it in writing, especially given the wide variety of knitting methods.  Latvian fringe is something that I've been doing off an on for around a decade, and there are still fiddly little things that I learn about it when I put my mind to designing a swatch in which to learn the technique.  I've gotten two of three swatches for the course knit, and directions written for them.  Next up is to knit them from the directions and fix the directions so that they work!  After that shall come the difficult part -- communicating the 'how this technique is done' in writing.  I hope to snag a child to take some pictures for me over Thanksgiving break.  It is very difficult to take pictures of one's self while knitting.  Although perhaps, with that knitting belt....

Filia and I had a nice time together on Saturday.  She got her test taken, found out she passed it with LOTS of room to spare, and we found the Fiber Festival with no problem.  On the way, we found a little place in a small town that had specialty coffee, tea, soup, sandwiches, smoothies, baked goodies ... and promptly decided that would be a lovely place to have lunch.  Mmmmm!  We managed to make it out of the festival without buying anything, more due to willpower and not having any specific projects in mind than due to the lack of things to buy.  There were some gorgeous yarns there.  And fibers.  And tools.  And books. 

Yesterday saw me driving Mom's taxi and getting not exactly 'lost', but not exactly following the path Google Maps planned out for me in Minneapolis.  Filia had a good interview, then we headed back home for a class (her) and teaching a class (me).  After class, I headed to my mom's house to pick up my pooch, who I learned had a Very Full Day.  It went something like this:

• 7:30 AM Begin hunting rabbits
• 11:00 AM Come inside for a drink of water, short nap, and lunch
• 12:00 Go outside to continue hunting rabbits
• 4:40 PM Come inside for a drink of water before going home.

Pooped Pooch

He'll have another chance to explore there on Friday.  Mom says her dog had a hard time getting off the couch this morning. They keep each other in good shape! 

Knitting plans for this week are to finish the commission - perhaps by Saturday, but that may be pushing it.  I'm chewing over what sort of goals I ought to set myself, and starting to think about Christmas music for the harp and piano.  And having children home for Thanksgiving, and Christmas break, and homemade caramels, and hot spiced tea, and .... many good things ahead. 

Until next week,

For want of a nail ...

Right about now, I should be working on a new commission, but it's really hard to do that when the yarn didn't arrive.  The local post office is still working the bugs out of teleporting packages.  So, tomorrow around 1:30, I shall float off to the post office, collect a box of yarn, return home with all deliberate speed, and cast on.  Probably for a gauge swatch, alas. 

That means that today, I can tidy up loose ends in preparation for immersing myself in delightful knitting.  Some of that tidying involves writing a blog post, which was not written yesterday because I was clearing the knitting decks off so as to be ready to KNIT today.

It's been a rather eventful week, in a small sort of way, in our peaceful little town.  First off, I still have Live Plants growing in a Minnesota November.  Taking advantage of the opportunity, I picked some parsley and popped in front of the pellet stove to dry.  There's more room in my dried parsley container, so why not?  I still have fresh kale, too, but am not so nutty as to dry that. 

Earlier this week, tree trucks arrived and I began to wonder about the future existence of the tall pine tree across the street. 

Indeed, my thoughts were only too accurate.  The tree is now gone, as is the walnut further to the right of the photo. 

 On Saturday, the yarn for Filius' Jayne Hat, Attempt at the correct colors #2, arrived.  I picked them up on Tuesday after Bible Study (and a cup of delicious Coconut Curry soup with my mom, who did not have Coconut Curry soup).  Wednesday morning at 8:30 I hunted up needles and a pattern ...

 and at 10:30, I finished knitting the hat.  I collected the pom pom maker from the Closet of the Crunchy Mouse Skeleton at my mom's that afternoon, made the pom pom in the evening, and snagged a photo of the hat before sending it off to Filius via my Helpful Model and Filia.  Cunning, isn't it?  I think it looks like a candy corn.

The rest of yesterday - when I was home, that is - was devoted to my Latvian Mitten #2, in an attempt to finish off the knitting of it before today's Glorious Yarn arrived. 

Having finished the Latvian Mitten, and having no Glorious Yarn, I cast about for something Productive to do (other than weave in the ends of said Latvian mittens) and decided to tidy up my Ravelry projects page.  I went hunting for photos of my photoless projects, and got several taken care of.  One of them was my 2014 Clogs.   They are well on their way to being an excellent example of why we don't have much in the way of archaeological evidence about what the Common Man had that was knit 400-500 years ago.  Something about being well-used and used up. 

2014 Clogs

Random Scarf, Acrylic, with Bookcase

Unblocked Latvian Mittens, Graph 113, Upitis

The Other Side

Cheater Thumbs, with Elegant Mistakes

 

And finally, another picture out my front window.  You may notice there is a TREE there!  It's a curious thing.  The project updates mentioned that they were going to begin replanting trees this week.  Since there have been no trees in the boulevard strip on our property in (my) living memory, which stretches back 20 years, this was of no concern to me.  But yesterday morning (while working on the Jayne Hat), I noticed they were digging holes.  And yesterday afternoon, there was a tree laying next to the hole, and to the one further to the left.  And yesterday evening, in the pitch black, a crew came around and planted the trees.  Something else for Vir to mow around.  

Thanks to the stakes that were put in place yesterday, but which are no longer there, I know that the tree in front of the house is a Red Oak, and the one to the east is a Maple.  Other trees in town are Pin Oaks and Lindens.  

I also did a good bit of stealth knitting this week.  One commission - started, blocked, dried, seamed, reseamed due to perfectionistic tendencies, and mailed off - and one nice bit of travelling knitting that should show up somewhere around Christmas.  

This upcoming week has an exam (for a job) and a job interview (for a different job) for Filia.  Mom's taxi drives again!  I'm looking forward to spending time with her, having quiet knitting time in the car, and detouring on the way home Saturday in order to get a knitting belt at the Fiber Festival in Hopkins, MN.  Next week, I just may have a report on it -- or I may put off playing with it until I get the commissioned knitting done.  Stay tuned!