County Fair time!

Fair time is here, and last week I went through my basket of finished items and came up withThis isn't all of the items in the basket, but it's the 'neat' ones, or ones (like the socks) that I really needed to include to add some balance to my entry form. There are 12 or so categories for knitted items at the fair, and one of them is "Gloves/Mittens/Scarf". That pretty much covers what I knit, excepting hats, for which there is no category. So that little pair of baby socks needs to be in there for balance. Don't you think? (Notice that I'm not trying to bring balance to my knitting. I'm bringing balance to my entry form. Maybe?)

Finished objects dropped off my needles like flies this past week, and some of them were so unexpected that I didn't enter them in the fair. I could add them, I suppose ... but I don't think I will. They would add nice balance. Have you ever seen anything less like a mitten than the below-pictured stashbusting compilation of yarn?

Such a pretty thing. The menfolk in the house use it as a football. Each point has about 3 grams of sock yarn in it, and the free pattern is here

I also finished up the Southwestern Latvians. They are cozy, and if I didn't already have a pair of mittens I loved, these would take up residence in the drawer of winter wear. But I do, so they won't. The pattern is from a graph in Latvian Dreams.
After finishing these, a tea cozy, plain vanilla hat, and felted slippers dropped off my needles in short order. (Really short. One pair of slippers = 4 hours of knitting.)

Coming up next month in the Puritan Reading Challenge: Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices. I'm ready for it.

Mending and doodling

This has been a week of small things. And some not so small. For one, I no longer have a digital camera. Filia has been afflicted with Shutterbugitis, and I have bequeathed the camera to her. Most of the photo credits must now go her direction.

One thing a fledgling photographer has to deal with is cantankerous wildlife. Our dog has a homing beacon for anything laid on the floor. So, after the cardigan above was mended (I think a small child with scissors may have experimented a bit. Small child is now wielding the camera. The cardi has been in the mending pile for quite a while), we plopped it down for a good photo. Voila ... dog! If anyone recognizes this pattern, do let me know. It's from 1994 or so (at least, the knitting was) and I have no idea where the pattern came from.

I needed some basic knitting for the ride to church on Sunday. Voila, mittens. Stashbusting mittens, nonetheless! I still have two more balls of this, which will probably become a hat, or perhaps another two pairs of mittens.

The Shetland Shopper bag. Market bags have intrigued me for a while, so I put one on my list of things to knit. It stashbusted 74g of Cotlin.
And here is the fingering weight stash that needs busting. Actually, the non-sock, non-coned, wool yarn that needs stashbusting. This is what I studied and contemplated, along with Latvian Dreams, before diving into the Southwestern Latvians

The Bug Mittens. The Bugged Bug Mittens. Bleagh.

Fair time is rolling around, and today was preregistration day. I am definitely holding up my end of knitting in the county, and the display case will not be scantily populated. Some years, especially when the children were little, my entries were the only ones in the knitting category. The State Fair is another matter entirely, and I learned that they will only accept ONE PAIR of stranded mittens. Or any mittens with a color pattern. That will be a serious thing to consider between now and entry time.

I am delighted so many of my four readers are thinking about joining mom and myself for the Knit from Your Shelf 2009. (Perhaps followed by Knit from Someone Else's Shelf 2010, but that's planning TOO far ahead.) The rules are entirely flexible, but must consist of knitting things you haven't knit before, from bound printed matter in your house you haven't worked from before. For myself, I am excluding magazines. You can include them if you like. You do not need to set a goal of knitting something from EVERY book in your bookstash. The goal can be anywhere from one book to all of them. I think I have 7 or so books that need attention on my shelves. Off the top of my head, they are:

• Knitter's Stash
• Armenian Knitting
• Meg Swansen Knits (or something like that)
• Ann Feitelson's Fair Isle book
• Fair Isle Sweaters Simplified

That brings me to an abrupt halt. The technique taught in the last book is a pet peeve of mine. Thus, let me footnote right here that, although one is to knit from the book, one must not knit ACCORDING to the book. I will use my own Fair Isle technique which I much prefer.

And you know, I think that's it for books I haven't used. Nope ...

• Sally Melville's Color book

Now, THAT's it (after a cursory inspection of the shelf.) It looks like three sweaters, a vest, a hat, and I'm-not-sure-what will be coming off my needles next year.

Reference books need not be used, except as a reference. If you've got a stitch dictionary you've never used before, do something (a washcloth?) with a stitch from it. If you've got Knitter's Handbook and have never used some of the information in it, do so. Expand your horizons!!!

But not for another 5+ months.

Long before then, the fairs will be over. Time to go finish off a pair of mittens that will be getting entered in 7 days or so.

Plotting and Planning

I am, by nature, a plotter and a planner.

This does not mean I never fly by the seat of my pants. That happens quite often ... I will go smile at my stash, select some pretty colors, snag the ubiquitous set of 2.75 mm needles, look over a few graphs, study the corner of a doorframe, and cast on. One reason I knit quickly is self-defense. Without writing anything down, how will I make a second just like it? (Speaking of which, I really should cast on for Bug #2 tonight before I forget anything important.)

I plan globally, I suppose, and then wing the rest of it. So, although I know what we're doing this year in school (Henle Latin 2, NEM 2, Traditional Logic 2, Physical Science, Diogenes: Maxim and, um, something like a Humanities), that's about as detailed as it gets, and by mid-November will probably be as detailed as it is. Early September will have the most organization.

But the point of this post is, while I sit and knit (by the seat of my pants), I am plotting. And planning. And have you noticed, the Year of the Monthly Mitten is more than half over! I am keeping up with my goal of a pair of mittens per month. I am also being a good destasher and destashing each month. I may be overachieving a bit. Consider my project between needles right now ... the Bugs are destashing the yarn leftover from the Tour de Fleece mittens which were themselves a destashing of my fiber stash. So, not only am I destashing the destashings, but on a second pair of mittens in the same month. Don't think about it too hard, though.

My gaze looks forward to January. What will I do then? A year of shawls? Or sweaters? No, too big. I can knit a sweater a month, or a shawl a month, but the kind of sweater and shawl I delight in require DEDICATED knitting for a month, and I have no desire to spend an entire year making a scant 12 projects and doing so in a highly focused fashion. I like the freedom to make small things. Like a market bag. But another year of mittens seems unwarranted (any bets I'll be mitten knittin' anyways?) and socks aren't calling my name.

What about hats, you ask. Hats are a pretty canvas, and small. True, they are. And a year of tams would work nicely with destashing, but it does not inspire me. Nor does a year of baby stuff.

And then, I had an idea. A poll! Write down a lot of ideas, share them, and let my four readers vote. Being the dutiful daughter I am, I ran this idea past my mom. She liked it, listened to my options, and then told me which one I was going to do. (Well, not really, but by the time I finished discussing the options with her, it was the only one that sounded appropriate) And, because I can never sit on surprises, and love knitting company, I am going to toss the idea out here so you can think about it, let it stew, and perhaps join us.

2009: Knit from Your Shelf

The rules are flexible and fuzzy at this point, but here's the general idea.

1. Look at your shelf (pile, bag, stack, tower, bookcase) of knitting books.
2. Ask yourself if you have knit at least one thing from each book.
3. If the answer to #2 is 'yes', invent your own rules.
4. If the answer to #2 is 'no', consider these rules:

• Start with the leftmost book which you have not used. Pick a project from it. Make it.
• Move on to the next book on the shelf which you have not used. Pick a project. Make it.
  
• etc.

There's no 'monthly' thing about it. That will allow me (and you) to pick Gorgeous Humungous Adorable Projects that will take most of your knitting time for 2 months, and not feel guilty. If there was a time limit, I'd be making the dishcloths from Knitter's Stash instead of one of the sweaters in there which is the reason I got the book. And I still may make the dishcloths, but only because I didn't want to buy the yarn for the sweater.

You need not include books you get during the year. Set your own goal. I think I have 7 books on my shelf in an 'unknit' condition, and I'd like to make something from each of them. My mom has a few decades worth of Workbaskets on her shelf, and I think she'll have a different goal.

Time to go cast on Bug #2. And think about what I should do for vacation knitting and hospital knitting. I've less than a month to plan the first!

You'd Think I Was a Shoemaker

Isn't it the shoemakers children that are supposed to go shoeless? I make slippers, true, but this is getting ridiculous.

Especially for 20 mile hikes.

The pair of shoes with attached soles, cushioning, and no drainage at the toes lives in the closet. Can anyone tell me why? Actually, I think I know the answer. It's three letters long, and is something like B-O-Y.

Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries

Something for you to feast your eyes on, Rachel! Either the birds are ignoring the tree this year, or we are staying one step ahead of them by the grace of God.

Here is our garden's "semi-bush" acorn squash. I had no idea that anything semi-bush would grow to four feet and threaten to take over the pear tree we planted last year. The watermelon are underneath the squash, and it seems to have designs on the tomato cages around it as well. I just hope we get some squash off it!

Tomatoes. Green. Unfried.

Tour de Fleece Latvian Mitten, ready for top decreases. It's 6.5" in circumference before blocking, so I'm guessing it will be just right for a young girl. Although with the colors, a discerning boy of the right age would work as well. I know one thing--it's going to be TOASTY WARM.

Knitting After 9 PM

But first, a note about plying. (And even before that, about wool balls. They can be used as pincushions, cute decorations, children's toys, pet toys ... or stuck in odd places and left there forever.) Plying, however. My lovely gray yarn almost plied itself. I knew I wanted a high speed whorl so I didn't have to sit and treadle forever, and so I set up my wheel accordingly. I treadled, let the twist accumulate, and then whooshed the yarn onto the bobbin. But it didn't whoosh. The whorl and bobbin were too close in size to whoosh properly.
So, I experimented. I discovered if I just let the bobbin pull the yarn in, the plies were nicely twisted. And that left me with nothing to do but treadle and hold the yarn loosely in my left hand, so.
With my right hand, I wielded a camera, and then the book of the month for the Puritan Reading Challenge. I've never read while spinning before, but in this case, there wasn't much else to do. One hand was occupied, so I couldn't really knit, could I? Besides, I needed the yarn I was pling for the next round of the mitten.

I also had time to think, and I discovered (by consulting with various sources) that spinning wheels aren't supposed to go 'clunk' when one treadles. Stuffing a tissue between the crank and the footman helps temporarily, but I will keep an eye out for a longer-term, more elegant solution.

But now, the mitten. May I present Latvian Mitten from Graph 97, at 9:05 PM?
And then, the same mitten at 10:01 PM. Following Rachel's Rules of Knitting, I did have to frog the mitten a bit in there -- something about the pattern being different from what I had imagined it to be (ahem.) It still went along quite nicely, and I think it will be me-sized.
I'm not sure if I'm a Tour de Fleece dropout - my spinning wheel is ready to be put away for another season - or if I was a sprinter that finished early. 100 grams of fingering weight, spun and plied in 3 days.

Pictures!

Double-Bordered Scarf.











Next, one Wool Ball stuck on one of the maidens, and the current state of my spinning wheel. (The gray is what I'm working on; the white is left over from days gone by.)


Then, there's my two Stashbusting Scarves. Cotton Color Scheepjes,anyone? Or Bernat Renaissance?














Lastly, we have the current state of the Latvian mitten (artfully posed with a mug of tea and an experimental stash-busing doily in their natural habitat) and an even more artsy photo of "Dog in Window through Foreground of Harp Strings and Shawl during Summer."

Tour de Fleece ... the second day

Wool Balls are made by something like this process. I put mine in a mesh bag and tried hand-felting. It yields a ball with Great Crevasses ... rather like the last time I tried it, with 200 or so ends from the Fair Isle Mittens

I'm whizzing along on the Tour de Fleece. No pictures yet ... but today's progress includes finishing the spinning and plying of 48 grams Chocolate Brown, casting on and knitting the first 11 rounds of a mitten, finishing off Portable Project #1 (cotton scarf of donated Scheepjes slubby stuff), then starting and finishing off portable project #2 (scarf of Bernat Renaissance, 'Opal' - 40% mohair, 29% acrylic, 12 % Metallic Polyester, 14% W(ool?)) The yarn is so old that Ravelry doesn't know about it. And I have a label!

In addition, I have half of my gray fiber spun, and am ready to start bobbin #2. Can't do any more mitten knitten until I get the next color ready to go. And oh, does it spin like a dream! I love this stuff. No bugs, no casings, no little noils. Lovely, lovely, lovely.

No photos, of course. I've been too busy spinning it.

Tour de Fleece ... begun!

I learned about the Tour de Fleece the same way much of the knitting world did ... from Stepahine Pearl-McPhee. Being in a destashing year (have I any other kinds?) I thought a fiber destash was a good idea. Little did I know HOW destashed my fiber would get from this.

The first thing, obviously, was to contemplate my fibers. And, being the knitterly kind, in a mitteny year, the most reasonable thing in the world was to contemplate my fiber with an eye to making a mitten. Or rather, two mittens. So, I trotted me off to my craft room to consider fiber.

A moth larva carcass got in my way. Or something close enough to one that it makes no difference.

I now have four batches of fiber (one of which I have NO idea where it came from) sitting on my front porch, far far far away from my yarn stash. I only saw one live critter, which was unwinged, and just a smattering of carcasses. But still ... why spin pre-chewed fiber? Especially if the bottom of the boxes and bags looks like someone spilled some yeast in there. That really narrowed down my considerings for the mitten, and I am happy to report my Tour de Fleece goal.

• One pair of Latvian mittens, a combination of two patterns, in chocolate brown (as opposed to chocolate green, of course!), cream, and something in the middle I can't quite describe. Blue-gray? Fawn gray?
  

Progress to date: 50 grams of the first and latter fibers weighed out and sitting next to my spinning wheel, all happily set up downstairs. 40 grams of chocolate was spun today. The cream was lurking in my spun stash.

But now, what to do with the carcass'd fiber? I think I may play with felting it into balls. I've always like those wool balls, but never felt like buying one. Now, I have oodles of fiber (some of it already in ball shapes) that has an excellent reason not to be spun. Not wanting to let a good idea pass, I turned a beige ball of roving with a carcass or two in it into a wool ball today. I think the washer will do a better job ... hand felting leaves deep crevasses in the surface. But I have to more balls, then two batches of batts, and then all sorts of little cream colored locks to play with.

It is fiber destashing ... just not spinning.

When I was not spinning today, I was correcting teh to the, marveling at the ways the colon (punctuation, not body part) has been used and misused throughout the ages, reading Sayers' Strong Poison, doing other normal tasks (including the Killing of the Cucumber Beetles), and pitting another 7 lbs of cherries. That makes 14 lbs from our tree this year that have gone to US and not the birds. Not bad, considering that there are still cherries to ripen, and we don't have a ladder tall enough to pick from the top third to half of the tree. Today's lot turned into a double batch of pie filling and the leftovers are making a second batch of ice cream as I type. (crank twice, type three sentences, repeat)

The scarf is all nicely blocked. Photos will be forthcoming, one of these days. And one of these days, I *really* need to block some mittens and wash some socks. I have a small laundry tub full of such things to do. Originally, I was waiting for warmer weather. It's not March any more, so this may be the week. This has got to be the month, since several of the things will be visiting two fairs in August.

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.

Spinning delights

Not much knitting has been happening this week. Filia has begun Calorimetry, and it looks like the second half of the roving she chose will need to be spun like unto the first, so there will be enough yarn to finish. I have been spinning away on the lovely purple roving , and have two skeins drying even now. Better yet, I've got the pattern picked out to knit with it!I wanted something wearable (ie, not a little triangle), something that I'd have enough yarn for (ie, not Mediterranean Lace. I think I have 700-750 yds), and something that will look nice in a heavy laceweight. A large stack of books and a bit of clicking in Ravelry yielded the idea of the Double Edged Scarf (or something like that) from Victorian Lace Today. So, into the queue it goes. The only other thing in my queue is Sanquhar, which is my June Project.

Except today I find that I have a deadline for another project of July 11th. I don't like cutting deadlines close, so Sanquhar may get bumped a bit. It's odd.... I can ignore something forever, but give me a deadline, even a month+ away, and I will get it done ASAP.

Things have been getting knit around here, though. There's a purple/violet twisted hat on my desk that has eluded the camera thus far. It's a nice hat -- a bit short in the brim, but perfect for a flapper hat, so my mom says. I think I'll make another like it, but a bit longer. Easy enough to do. And some half-mitts jumped off the needles last weekend and ran off before I got them photographed. They were boring (one color, next to no texture, and black) -- nothing to see, really. And I'm making progress on a pair of Burgundy Risata socks. At 14" tall, they will take longer than the average pair, but I'm over halfway up the leg of the first one.

Summer seems to be flirting with us. There are the lovely dog days, and then there's the cool damp cloudy gunk that reminds me more of a Maryland winter. Canis likes the dog days, and I like his new tie-out spot, which has saved 3 garden beds from his destructive attention.

One day of school left. Then ... productivity shall strike? I have high hopes and ambitions for this summer. Catching up on all editing (if only some people would stop writing books and desiring to change the old ones), decluttering the house, bit by bit, delightful knitting, keeping up with the garden. But then I look at my June calendar, and see the only thing without writing on it is Tuesday evening. Careful planning may permit ambitions to be realized despite reality; then again, reality may trump all planning. That's why I like winter. A good blizzard trumps all flitting around, and so long as there is electricity for comfort (read - warmth and thawing food), one can get an amazing amount of things done while being housebound.

And absolutely no one expects you to weed a garden and can tomatoes during a blizzard.

Quiet blog, busy fingers

Aren't these pretty mittens? I didn't knit them. A Real, Live, Latvian Knitter made them. In Latvia! They came to Shepherd's Harvest for my viewing pleasure, and are being displayed by the convenient lap of Filia. Have *you* ever tried to take photos of three pair of mittens while standing in line for popcorn? It's tricky.

Here is my loot from the festival. The two balls in the back are a lovely wool/mohair blend in a reddish purple. Violet, I suppose one could call it. One ball is currently attached to my spinning wheel and getting spun into what I hope will be laceweight. It's skinny. I have four ounces, and will make a scarf or shawl out of it. I don't imagine I will get it all spun this week, however. The ball in front was a lovely eclectically colored chain of Corriedale roving which Filia selected, to be turned by me into yarn for her knitting pleasure.. Since I was out of practice with spinning, and never knew much to begin with, I considered it, split it in half (should have split it into fourths), and the first half is spun, plied, and dried.

This curious photo is an example of my knitting stash. I used 8 or 9 partial balls of sock yarn to make these socks for my husband. Starting with the sock at the bottom, from left to right, you see Filiasocks, Momsocks, Momsocks, Husband's Argyle, Momsocks (move up one sock) Momsock, Momsock, Husband's Argyle, Mesock. My husband had the curious idea of using up all my stash before buying new yarn. He volunteered to actually wear a pair of Destashing Socks, so those popped onto the needle. They are now off, and we shall see if they get worn.

Swatches!

Sawtooth Half-Mitts, using some old handspun and odds and ends of HD Shetland from a weaving class I took before I even had a spinning wheel. I think. Or did I take the spinning class first?

Alpaca Mittens, using Brown Sheep Sport from Denise and some old alpaca I spun up on a drop spindle during mid shifts . Light, fluffy, and pretty neat. I wasn't sure how the yarn would turn out, and was quite dubious while winding it into a ball. Either I spun it worse than I thought, or else something had been nibbling on it. Two skeins turned into 11 balls due to breaks and bad plying.

Improved spinning. One half of the multi-colored roving from Shepherd's Harvest, spun and Navajo plied. Now, to see what Filia will do with it, and if the second half needs to be spun in like fashion, or if I can try something different with it.

Finally (and one day earlier than I was expecting it) my KnitPicks yarn! Here you see, in pre-project form, half-mitts, socks, two hats, and legwarmers

This bag contains a future Tea Cozy, Slippers, Sanquhar Gloves, and Mittens.

And that, my dear readers, is my life in photos. Photos do not record the garden (planted), the fence (to keep the bunnies from snacking on our asparagus. Don't they know you're not supposed to eat any the first year?) , my editing desk (which floweth over), or any number of other things.

Mittens, mittens, everywhere!

Mittens have just been jumping off my needles lately. No doubt it has something to do with finishing off the Sampler Stole, and having knittng time to work on them.

I'm itching to start another pair of mittens, but since this weekend is Shepherd's Harvest, and I'm hoping to find yarn for the Sanquhar Gloves there, it's not the best time to start something that will take a reasonable chunk of knitting time. So, I'm dinking away with swatches for classes and other stuff. My husband also thinks it would be a great idea to use up my stash before I buy any more yarn, and while I agree it's great to use up stash, I am not going to drive myself crazy trying to come up with useful ways to use up every last yard of leftovers. He thought I could use my leftovers to make him a hat. Or hats. I can't quite see him in a fingering-weight hat composed of 10 colors of self-striping sock yarn. But I can see him wearing house socks made of the same. So ... socks are heading on to the needles, for traveling knitting.

First finished after the Latvestonibu Mittens (the burgundy and white pair) were Kalev's Mittens. I used up some weaving yarn for these -- I think it was Harrisville Shetland -- and my standard 2.75 mm sock needles. The one-wick decrease used at the top is different from what I normally do, and I rather like it. It also explains why some of the mittens in Latvian Mittens don't look like they have the standard flat decrease. They don't! A one-wick decrease is like a central double decrease, but different.
After that, I snagged some more stash yarn, cast on, and knit. A pair of mittens jumped off the needles, and then a pair of half-mitts followed quickly.




















And, after all that, I still had knitting time left. I cast on with Hempathy to make a sample Shetland Lace Swatch for a class I hope to teach. It came out nicely, but I decided to pick a narrower edging and so what you see here is no longer in existence. The swatch with new edging is on the blocking board even now. I used a US 6.5 needle for the swatch (better get that written down before I forget it).

Beyond knitting ... life, as always, proceeds apace. Never more than 24 hours worth in any given day. The weather is almost conducive to gardening, and Filius and I may get some plants in the garden this evening. We have one (of 24) asparagus up, and no hostas, wintergreen, lupine, or vinca. The day lilies are popping up just where I transplanted them, and also in places that I transplanted them from. The apricots are blooming, and the cherry will soon follow suit. Neighbors are wondering if our honey locust - always the last tree in the neighborhood to wake up - has died after the butchering it received in a wind storm two years ago. We're not wondering. It'll come back. If it can survive getting mowed over twice in its first year, it'll take more than losing half its height and half its main branches to kill it.

The Puritan Reading Challenge this month is some of John Bunyan's writing. The book is good, but it does not delight me as much as Burroughs' book last month did.

School is starting to warp up. We've 13 days left to finish off this school year, and then summer vacation begins. Summer vacation, the time when we can set aside all school subjects and really dive into things!