The Fiasco (part 2)

I'd rather be knitting ... but my to-do list included a blog today, and so I will blog.  Then I can knit with a clear conscience.

Where we last left off, dear reader, I was in the middle of knitting a fourth mitten and realizing that the second mitten did not follow the prescribed color theme.  Or at least, it did not follow the prescribed color theme above the wrist.  Below the wrist, it was fine.  No, I managed to  mess it up ABOVE the wrist only.

From the first mitten, I learned 'Write down the color names/letters CAREFULLY.'
From the second mitten, I learned 'READ the color names/letters, not only when you start the mitten, but also when you are in the middle of the mitten.'

What could go wrong from there?

Not all that much, actually.  A healthy dose of paranoia kept me checking the color combinations every 3-4 rounds of all the remaining mittens. (That made a total of 6 mittens.  Two botched, and one correct.)  I knew I wanted a mix of thumbs -- some on the left, some on the right -- and by not paying much attention to things ended up with 3 left thumb and one of the right thumb.   On the correct mittens.  The botched mittens had right thumbs, through no fault of their own.

At that point, I weighed yarn, considered, and the decision was made to make pairs out of all the mittens.  With an eagle eye to matching colors, I successfully knit a purple mitten to match the purple  mitten, and a green mitten to match the green mitten.  By diligent observation, I managed to make the second mittens of each pair so that they would fit on a standard pair of human hands.  No 'two left mittens' for me!

And then, it was decided to have a yellow pair and a red pair.  Botched, but paired.  And for this, I pulled out a Very Special Bag of Tricks.  Because by the little gremlin that was throwing monkey wrenches in everywhere she could, I had two yellow mittens with two left thumbs (or rather, a left thumb and a left thumb opening), and two red mittens with two right thumbs.  AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!

 Fear not.  I am an intrepid knitter.  And I have friends who simplify some of my convoluted ideas.  (You know who you are.)  

Step 1:   Pick up stitches in the row below the waste yarn, and the SECOND row above the waste yarn.   Remove the waste yarn, and gingerly snip the yarn in the first row above the waste yarn in the middle, so there will be enough to weave in.  Hopefully.
 

 Step 2:  Work a simple single-color graft across the unneeded thumb opening.

 Step 3: Cleverly use Swiss Darning (aka Duplicate Stitch) to add four green stitches just where they belong, more or less.

 Step 4:  Pick up stitches for a thumb on the right side.

 Step 5: Remove the sacrificial row of yarn between the two rows.

 Step 6: Knit a thumb in four colors. 

Step 7: Take a picture of the finished fix, to delay weaving in all those ends.

Fixing the second mitten is another excellent way to put off tail weaves.  Let's see how this one goes!

Step 1:  Pick up stitches all around the top of the mitten, just beneath the first tip-shaping row. 

Step 2: Undo all the tail weaves at the tip and unravel the mitten top.  Only down through and including the first decrease round, not down to the thumb.  Why ever did I think that would be needed? 

Step 3:  Squoosh the mitten so that what was a right thumb is now a left thumb.  While leaving the beginning of the round where it was, work the decreases in what was the middle of the palm/middle of the back, so that the right mitten is very neatly converted to a left mitten. 

Step 4:  (Not shown.) Weave in ends, and ends, and ends.

Enjoy!

The Crayola Mitten Fiasco (part 1)

Once upon a time, there was a knitter.  Now, this knitter was fairly proficient in her craft.  She was so proficient that often she knit while doing other things.  Usually, this resulted in getting many things done simultaneously. 

Sometimes it resulted in a bit of a mess. 

One day, in the not-too-distant past, this knitter began to knit a mitten collection.  Each mitten in the collection used four colors.  The same four colors.  What was color A for one mitten was color B for the next mitten in the collection, color C for the third, and color D for the fourth.  And color B in the first mitten became color C in the next, and so forth. 

What could go wrong? 

Quite a lot, as it turned out.  See that lovely green fringe?  It's supposed to be purple.  But did I the knitter notice?  No.  Not until I the knitter was working the decreases at the tip.  Because I (oops) the knitter was busily pondering various themes found in Romans Chapter 9, as expounded upon by John Piper at Desiring God.

And so the knitter sighed deeply, worked the last dozen or so rows of the mitten, and set it aside.  Why bother weaving in ends, or work a thumb, if the whole color scheme of the mitten was faulty due to a copying error when colors B and C were jotted down?

With a renewed attention to detail, the next mitten was begun.  (One in each of the four color schemes was the goal). 

Five mittens later, she had the desired four correct mittens.  It wasn't until knitting the fourth mitten than she observed that the third mitten was flawed.  And it wasn't until the following day she figured out that no, the third mitten was fine ... it was the SECOND mitten that was wrong.  And it was only wrong above the braid, when the purple and greens got reversed.  Again. 

(To be continued)
 

Back! Or am I?

I never particularly intended to have a year-long hiatus on this blog.  Somewhere between the busyness of life and my intentions not to spend more time documenting what I am doing than actually doing it, the blog faded into the background.  The serious background, rather like the back of the cave the Gandalf, Bilbo, and the dwarves took refuge in while they were traversing the Misty Mountains, and which just faded into blackness that seemed to be impenetrable but which wasn't, sadly, and which really had repercussions for a good night's sleep.  At least for them.

I'm not particularly schooling two any more.  And 'one' may not be exactly what I knit.  I knit lots.  And I could write about that, and about what I am reading, and memorizing, and gardening (just not at the moment ... something about 'earth stood hard as iron'), and stuff ... but is this a useful vehicle for that? 

Weigh in, all you existent readers!

And a blessed last few days of Advent to you all. 

Shawl Progress

As some of you know, my homeschooling these days looks more like a taxi service. Drive Filius to college campus. Wait for Filius. Drive Filius home from college campus.
It's not without its perks. College campuses don't have dog hair on the floor, dishes to wash in public areas, or dirty socks lurking in corners of public areas. So I can settle down to reading, or knitting, or writing letters, or just about anything portable. Or even not-so-portable. After all, there's a library -- and I don't even need to check the books out to read them! (Although I confess, I did get a community user card. My library card has three bar codes on it and my signature has worn off. I love libraries.)
There's an additional benefit.

View to the front

This is the view from one of my waiting spots.  I love sitting here during storms.  You can see them roll in over the valley -- or else, you can see the valley slowly disappear in the storm.  Lightning is pretty spectacular from this vantage point, too.  Earlier this month there was a bald eagle at eye level between me and the lonely tree in the middle of the photo.

Williamson Shawl and view to the left

While I sit, I knit.  (Of course!)  The Williamson Shawl is growing at a reasonable pace.  It'll be close, whether or not it is finished by Christmas.  I got a tablet for my birthday to distract me from knitting.  I've got 3 repeats of the center pattern done so far.

Williamson Monday

Day 1

3 days later

Finishing A Sweater

It's fall.Fall is one of my favorite times of year (right up there with winter) and I am delighting in the weather, the pattern of life, the hot tea (Hot Cinnamon Spice from Harney and Sons is delightfully yummy!), and the knitting.  And the Spiced Chai Honey, too.  It's disappearing rapidly.

I have been knitting a LOT.  For pictures of Filus' sweater, the Fair Isle Bag, and the yarn for the Williamson Shawl, you'll have to look at Ravelry.  Except for the last one -- I can't figure out how to add a yarn photo to something that's not cast on yetm so you'll have to go to Fleegle's store.  If you aren't buying yarn, don't go there.

The Fair Isle Bag was a quick knit for a friend.  It's not worked in the round, which means that one gets to either mess with a LOT of slipped stitches, or purl with two colors.  After purling with two colors for Skråtrøje, I figured I would purl with two colors.  The pattern teaches how to purl with two yarns in the left hand.  I now purl with two yarns in my right hand.  For Skråtrøje, I held the yarns similar to how one holds them for twined knitting, but didn't twine -- just popped the one I needed over my index finger and purled.  But for this bag, halfway through the first stranded section, I started figuring out how I could tension the yarns so as to have BOTH yarns on my index finger.  And that was a scary thing.  I worked the last 3/4ths of the bag with both yarns on my right index finger.  Even for knitting.  Except for the parts when there were 3 yarns, and then I held one in my left hand.

The door opening to the world of 3-color knitting just got a little wider. I tremble to think what I will choose for my next Latvian mitten pattern.

But, this post was supposed to be about finishing a sweater.  The sweater's not done, mind you -- I don't have the chart for the sleeve cuff, so it's currently sitting nicely in my knitting tower while someone is searching for the chart or a good photo of the cuff.  But the body is done, and I have lots of interesting-to-me documentation of it. 

Some project needs blocking more than others. Uncurled, this is 8". 

Original picot edging for slit

The pattern calls for a particular number of stitches to be picked up around the slit, and then a 4-5 row picot/folded edging to be worked.  I wasn't thrilled with how it looked.  Part of the problem was the stitch count, and the other problem was the color.  I like dark edges.  A row of crochet around the neck edge wasn't going to help control the curl there, either ... I tried two of the three one-row edgings suggested, and didn't care for either of them.  So I ripped everything out and put in a facing.  It needs blocking yet, but I am much happier with it. 

Revised edging for slit and neckline

Next, I turned my attention to the bottom edge.  Some knitters can work this k4p4 edging and transition into stranding with no problems.  Other knitters can't.  Me, well, you can see which category I fall into by looking at the wee sample sweater's ribbing. 

An uncooperative bottom edge

Since I had a handy sample, I thought I'd see what things would look like if I made a braid. 

Trial of a braided edge

I liked it, so I amputated the bottom edge of the sweater ...

Preparing for amputation

And replaced the uncooperative ribbing with a braid.  It still rolls, but it's not been blocked and the rolling of a curled braid is a whole lot less noticeable than a flipped-up swatch of ribbing.

The finished lower edge

The Road to the Williamson Shawl

The road to the shawl has been entered upon.  I give you advance notice that this is the road TO the shawl ... it's not the road OF the shawl.  Here's what's been up since my last post:

• The yarn for the shawl arrived.  
• I knit a cabled, reversible cowl for my LYS and perhaps invented a new seaming technique.  
• Skrå-trøje has grown a lot.  There are only 32 rows or so left on the back, and then it's sleeves and finishing!  (Finishing includes plackets at neck and cuffs, plus regrouping on the entire bottom hem.  It's nothing simple like mattress stitch.)  I'm getting pretty decent at purling with 2 colors, too.  
• The yarn for Filius' Gotland Sohljul has been ordered.
• Tea has been ordered.  I usually order from Adagio, but this time I decided to order from Harney and Sons.  
• The downstairs has been rearranged (as of this morning) into a 'post-homeschooling', two computer set-up.  It's in flux, and will be in flux for quite some time.  I'm using a temporary desk found on Craigslist while I look for the Perfect Desk -- something more writing desky (but with a keyboard tray) than Huge Executive Hutch, but not so writing-desky that I can't run the house from it. 
• The weather has been atrocious.  Last weekend, it was so chilly on the paper route that Filius asked for a pair of gloves.  Monday afternoon, I gave him the finished gloves.  Yesterday, it was 87 degrees.  Bleagh.  We seem to be heading into normal fall weather now, though.  (The gloves were a modification of a WWII glove pattern.  A fun knit which came out beautifully, thanks to swapping the pattern-specified size 1 needles and fingering-weight yarn for size 2 needles and sport-weight yarn.  I just don't DO 7.5 stitches/" with Brown Sheep Fingering unless I'm going for gauzy.  And who wants gauzy gloves for a Minnesota winter?
• I made Spiced Chai Honey.  The recipe originated with Irene Wolansky and was published in the latest Mary Jane's Farm.  My mom was kind enough to flag it for me, and mmmmm, is it good!  Here's the recipe:

16 oz organic, raw, local honey

1 t cinnamon powder

¼ t clove powder

½ t cardamom powder

1 t ginger powder

Small pinch of ground black pepper

Mix everything together, and enjoy!  It's delicious on oatmeal, wheat berries, granola, yogurt, in tea, and probably many more places.  Good for sore throats, too, mixed with warm water and a squeeze of lemon juice.

I'm going to try to keep up with the weekly updates.  See you next week!

Posting and running ...

Picking up stitches that are going to become free

Ready to start reknitting!

A partial Skråtrøje, uncurled thanks to steaming. 

The Queen Susan, dangling in front of a fake fireplace

Ahhhhhhh.

 

This is going to be a 'post and run'.  I uploaded the photos a few days ago, but haven't made the time to write and publish the blog.  Before this runs into next week, I want to hit that 'publish' button.  There are, after all, pretty photos. 

Sunday, I mended the cashmere hap shawl.  I think this is the 3rd time something in the edging has needed reknitting?  And that's only if you don't count reknitting the entire border AND edging due to an insufficienty of stitches.  Cashmere is a lovely yarn to work with, but it doesn't agree with household chores.  I need to make myself a normal hap shawl, I suppose. 

My Skråtrøje was in time out for a while, since it had an incredible amount of curl.  The nice, flat sweater bottom you see curled up so much that the right side of the fabric wasn't even visible.  Having to uncurl the sweater from the needles just to find the stitches to knit got annoying, so I stuck it aside.  Then I ran out of reasonable knitting (Sorry, Molly's Fault!) and decided to take the plunge and steam it.  The drawback would be that I'd have some REALLY lively yarn if I frogged it after steaming.  However, it behaved itself, so I'm knitting onwards.  The next row has the underarm bindoff.

Today, I received the yarn for the Williamson Shawl.  Ahhhhh.  Pictures next week, if I'm good.  Pictures of the Gotland Solhjul hats, too.  And maybe even the cowl I'm working on for my LYS. 

Time to run!

Dusting off the blog

The Queen Susan, Minnesota State Fair 2013

It's been a long time since I wrote here, and much has changed.  I finished Fili'i first Christmas present, deemed it too short (despite making it longer than the pattern called for), and knit a second Christmas present, which he's not worn yet.  He likes the first one better, although it barely reaches his belt loops.  Filia has graduated from high school, worked her first job, and moved into the college dorms last month.  Filius has switched from being taught by me, and only me, to taking 15 credits at a local Christian college.

Wait ... does that mean I'm not homeschooling any more?  I think it might.

For two years, homeschooling has been a challenging mix of taking Filia to HER classes (at a local Christian college), while homeschooling Filius  Now, I still have taxi duty, but nothing to juggle.  The dawning gleam of delight in my eyes when I began to realize the implications of that fact would have caused my dear mum some concern, had she seen it.  But wait ... she did see it, and she knows me.  Three hours with no dishes, cooking, cleaning, e-mail, tidying, errands, yardwork, fitness endeavours ... it's a small slice of daily paradise.  Although, I suppose I could run errands in town, or walk/bike in town.  But why?!  Filius likes to run errands with me after his classes, and I can do fitness stuff at other times.  Like when I'm avoiding yardwork and tidying.

My library days have settled into a pattern. The first hour, I listen to an audiobook and knit on something boring - lately, the Swiss Cheese Scarf.  The second hour, I read.  I'm in a college library ... I can read anything!  Bonhoeffer's biography by Metaxas has finally been read in its entirety, and I finished The Once and Future King by TH White this week as well.  Next up is Murder on the Orient Express, because Filius requested I read that.  The third hour, I knit more.  Currently, I'm swatch-hatting (swatching hats?) for this year's Christmas sweater.  My circular gauge changes with diameter, so I need to make something at least hat-sized in order to get an accurate gauge ... and I end up with a hat!

My knitting has been somewhat humdrum of late.  I was all set to dive into a sweater and relish it, but the gauge and the yarn and the me didn't quite agree, so it went to Time Out while I cast about desperately for something that wasn't Molly's Fault.  After a long run of uninspired projects (ending with this Swiss Cheese scarf, I'm happy to say, and that may be done tomorrow), I resolved to listen to the siren call of The Williamson Stole.  And, after an e-mail exchange with Fleegle, and a poll on Facebook, I've decided to knit it in Soft Black, using redyed yarn leftover from The Queen Susan.  Ahhhhh.

Also on order are yarns for a replica of The Gotland Soljhul (you might need to be a Ravelry member to see that one.)  I'm not sure if replica is the right word.  I don't have the pattern, but am going to knit it from pictures, in a size to fit Filius.  And I'll make it three inches longer than the longest I think it needs to be, because it won't be as easy to lengthen as the ganseys were.  We've decided on dark blue and natural for the colors, but to complicate things I've ordered six skeins -- 3 dark blues and 3 naturals.

Thus much, the knitting.  (There is another article that I need to be writing about knitting, too ... due next month.  I *will* work on it tomorrow.)

And thus much, the first dusting off of the blog.  I'll definitely revive the tradition of weekly updates once I get going on The Williamson Stole, but that might not be until the sweater is done, and I don't even have the yarn samples to choose from to order the yarn for that yet.  It could be a while.  (Or maybe, I'll get the stole yarn and dive in, and knit the Christmas sweater second.  Couldn't possibly have them both going at the same time, could I?)

I have PROJECTS!

Since finishing Queen Susan, I've been drifting from small project to small project.  While the weather was warm, there was lots of biking and so the small projects took a few days to get done.  Now the weather is cold, and the small projects are taking me less time to do than to decide on.  Remember, I generally work from a stash of leftovers or hand-me-downs, so picking a project isn't as easy as walking into a store, pointing at something, and buying the necessary materials. 

It gets annoying, never knowing where one's next project is coming from.  On Saturday, I got to the whiney point.  (And settled on making Rikke out of some second-hand yarn which came from Wisconsin.  Hi, friend in Wisconsin!)  I also decided to make another pair of fine-gauge mittens.  And on Sunday, I dropped a note to another knitter to ask if a) she had any knitting that had my name on it, and b) had she seen any gorgeous motifs that would normally take up a whole afghan, which I could use for my mittens?  (Remember ... if it's 20" across in a worsted gauge, it's 5" across in my tiny gauge.  Or if it's 2" across in real life, it's less than a half-inch in my little world.  I could put a hornbook on one of my mittens. Maybe.)

Her reply to my e-mail started a deluge!  I am now happily settled with

1. A Christmas project for my son.  The last skein I needed to get started had been backordered since September.  It came in Monday.
2. Motifs for a mitten pattern (13.5 spi, not 20 ... but still fun!)
3. An article to write
4. A sweater to turn into multiple sizes and write a publishable pattern for (and knit a New and Improved version)
5. Ideas for my second pair of fine-gauge mittens.  

And, never one to let grass grow under my feet, I have written to some yarn companies to ask about samples for 4 and 5.

Ahhhh.  It's good to have knitting.

On the 'this could be a disaster' front, I'm skipping a swatch for #1.  Yes, it's Fair Isle and requires close gradation of yarn colors, and yes I did change yarn companies and every single color -- but there is simply NOT another gray that I can use to shade one spot more, and the other colors will work (I may even drop some, as they're so close I can't tell the 4 apart in the project).  I already know my gauge... we'll see if the project gets relegated to swatch status at some point.  I hope not!  

Now, if I can just get my Kindle to behave without too many problems.  Yesterday, the text-to-speech developed a personality quirk in which the use of the 'pause' button actually meant 'no more text-to-speech until you restart the Kindle.'  That got fixed by a hard reset, which also depopulates the entire thing.  It's doable.  Now the 'go to' application is not working, which means if I'm reading a book that is a compilation of 70 books which are each 300-400 pages long, and I'm in the 275th book, the only way to get to my location (which I wrote down - 324211) is to go One Page At A Time.  It's worth another phone call.  Because I have LOTS Of knitting that will require good books to listen to. 

And I want to know if Harry and Bertie ever found the Golden Sands of the Incas so Harry could get wealthy and marry the gorgeous Miss Prendergast, who had a crotchety guardian. 

Wordless Wednesday

Cycling through September ...

Most of the interesting things happening in my life lately involve a bicycle.  Or at least, those are the ones that pop into my mind first. 

I *did* bike 24 miles to mom's and back two weeks ago. And lived!  I've been biking 3-4x/week, usually 10-15 miles per outing.  Not wanting to be a wuss, I kept waiting for my seat to feel more comfortable, but it didn't, and at the encouragement of one of the ladies from Knit Night, I took myself and my bike to the bike shop.  (Have I mentioned the bike shop door is about 8 feet from the yarn shop door?  It's handy).  I came home from the shop with a reasonably priced new seat, chain lube, a lubed chain, and the knowledge of how to remove my front tire.  The things they've invented since 1970!  (That's my other bike of reference.  Quick release wheels did not exist on bikes in 1970. At least not on my dad's bike.)  I know it can take a while to get used to a new seat, but I'm an optimist so Filius and I set off on a 16 mile ride after we got home and had a great time.  It was the first time we'd traveled that 'block', and I certainly got a workout.  New seat = new trunk muscles in play. 

Today, our plan was to bike to the next town south of us for dessert after lunch.  Except my rear tire was totally flat.  We reinflated it, biked around the town block, and wondered if we could make the trip (12 miles) if we brought along an air pump.  Wisdom prevailed, and we decided against it.  Then inquisitiveness came to the fore, and we managed to remove the tire from the bike, the tread and tube from the rim, find the leak, patch it (yay, Roho patch kits!), reassemble everything and ... head off for dessert.  And order two hand-thrown cups. 

God has perfect timing.  Yesterday, I learned what I needed to know to be able to fix my bike today. 

Today is also applesauce canning day.  Eleven quarts are cooling, and another 4 are about to jump into the water bath.  I think I'll make some apple leather next.  And then pie filling.  And somewhere in there, pumpkin pie filling.  A neighbor dropped off some of the bounty of her squash bed, which survived the bugs.  My squash bed did not survive.

Knitwise, I've been slacking.  My big project is going to be a Christmas vest for Patrick, but the yarn's not in yet.  I cast on for a scarf, to use up some oooold Jaggerspun yarn from the Weaver's Place, but ran out.  Fortunately, the yarn still exists, so I ordered more.  But it's not here yet.  I did knit up Wingspan in leftover sock yarn, finished a test knit, finished the Bavarian Socks, and knit up some socks for Filius.  Nothing is on the needles now, though.  I may just work on Molly's Fault after I get the applesauce cleaned up in the kitchen. 

Homeschooling is quiet these days.  Filia has 16 credit via dual enrollment, so I assist in getting her to college and home from college, and that's about it.  Filius is plugging away at his subjects, including Statistics.  We switched from Coursera's Intro to Stats to Udacity's Stats 101, and are much pleased with the switch.  Better feedback, more introductory  (less deep end), and easier to grasp. Little by little, we'll progress through the year!

School's Up!

School has been in session for just over a week -- Grannis Academy follows the Bethany Lutheran College calendar, whenever feasible.  Things have fallen and are falling into place.  Filia is enjoying her 16 credit load, and Filius and I are settling into a routine of sorts.  Statistics (Coursera) and Pre-Calc and Physics, oh my! 

State Fair results came out on the 23rd, and I was delighted to see that both Abigail and I won blue ribbons in our categories.  Yippee!

Knitting.  I'm working on a test knit now, so no pictures. Three and a half of the four socks I was working on in my last post are finished, and the last half should be finished in a week or so, once I clear the test knit from my deck.  I'm also plotting and planning for a Christmas vest for Filius.  Plotting and planning is fun!

Cycling!  I decided to return my sloooow bike and see what I could fine.  As divine providence had it, my 'search and learn' mission resulted in finding a used bike for half the cost of the new one I had my eye on (and which was almost in my price range).  I am the happy owner of a Specialized Crossroads of unknown age.  Everything about it is lovely -- but I do miss the comfort seat on the other bike.  My biking distances have increased greatly, and Filius has to work to keep up with me sometimes.  (I would have to work to keep up with him on the hills, but I ignore him and just toodle on up at my own pace.)

Last Monday (the 27th) I dropped Abigail off for orientation at Bethany, then Filius and I rode to my mom's house, had ice cream and pie at the Dam Store, then rode back to the car ... 16 miles.  Then on Labor Day, we took two bike paths to trek through 4 parks (including Minneopa State Park) and ended up at my mom's house again. Tonight, to facilitate getting to youth group, we're biking up to my mom's yet again.  It's 12 miles from here -- and if I'm feeling ambitious, I'll bike home.  If I'm not feeling ambitious, I'll stay there until youth group is finished and the family vehicle can give me a ride home.  I've plotted out the mileage for some of the treks around town.  The 'block' NW of town is 13.4 miles, NE of town is 17.8; SE is 9.3 miles, and SW is 16.7 miles.  Now, that's using paved roads.  Most of the distances could be cut down a bit if we took dirt roads - but I don't like biking on dirt roads.  And the SW block isn't shortenable, unless we invent our own trail and ford the river. 

Yes, I'm having too much fun on my bike.  I've even learned a new term -- Cyclepath!

Knit, School, Bike?

We're back from family camp, and I'm fairly sure I am *not* ready to dive into school next week.  The march of time does not slow for anyone (except Joshua), so next week Filia will be back to classes at college and I'll be wearing my Mom's Taxi hat while endeavouring not to waste Filius' sophmore year of high school.  I have all sorts of plans.  Scary plans.  Fun scary plans.

The State Fair opens tomorrow.  That means the State Fair will post an online list of ribbons in the knitting category tomorrow.  I think I'll go bookmark that link right now. 

My current projects are socks.  One pair is a plain vanilla sock, something that I can work on in the semi-dark of an auditorium while listening to an excellent speaker.  The other is Nancy Bush's Chalet Socks, from Folk Socks.  Those are NOT things one can work on in the semi-dark.  I've got some test knitting in the works, and will be knitting Filius a vest for Christmas.  We got him a suit recently, and he thinks a vest and a fedora would be the perfect accompaniments.  We can work on the shirt and shoes later, I suppose. 

Since Filius is also working on a fitness merit badge, I've been getting out and about with him in his cardio training.  I bike, he jogs.  We only had one adult bicycle in the house, a nice old Schwinn, and I decided I would get another so that TWO people could go for bike rides at the same time.  I got myself a Schwinn Admiral, and love the nice new shininess of it.  What I'm not so sure about is the rest of the bike.  I need a bike expert!!!  My top speed is 10 mph, and that's in the top gear on the flat with no wind.  It's depressing, entering my distance/time into SparkPeople, since there's no cycling category for that rate.  True, I'm not bent double in an aerodynamic posture ... but really!  The old bike is MUCH easier to pedal, for all that it is at least 40 years old.  Wheel size is about the same, gearing is about the same (5 old, 7 new) ... what's up?  Even if I am that out of shape, that doesn't account for the fact that I could go 6 miles on the old bike in top gear and feel it less in the legs than I do after a few blocks on a middle gear in the new one. 

I'm torn between being seriously miffed and appreciating the extra workout.  Got any advice?

Photos

The shawl was blocked outside so the dogs didn't establish ownership of it and snag something.

Corner on Red Mad

Center on Grass

Sprig on Blue Mat

Shawl, folded. 

Plums

Bunnies

The plums have been abundant this year.  Some days, we got TWO tubs the size of the one in the photo.  Unfortunately, the majority of the fruit are higher than we can pick, so we get them once they've fallen.  And once they've fallen, they tend to be a bit squished.  And if they're squished, they need to be processed IMMEDIATELY or else be tossed.  We've been tossing a lot.  But I did put up 15+ sheets of fruit leather (about 16" square each), 11 quarts of plum halves, 8 jars of plum jam, 6 pints Asian Plum Sauce, 6 pints of Plum Butter, and quite a few have disappeared straight into our tummies or to neighbors.  And a plum crumble. 

I'm still hunting for a good vacation knitting project, alas. It needs to be something I can work on in a darkened auditorium and pay almost no attention to, and I have some fingering weight Brushed Suri that has been languishing in my stash.  But no project seems to blend those two things.  My "I can pay attention" project was going to be Aragorn.  I've had the pattern downloaded for several months, and the yarn was a gift from a friend.  I printed the pattern off -- all 13 pages of it -- and started reading and studying.  It's off-putting.  Who wants to knit a sock that requires assembling a mystery and working together with other people to solve clues?  ARGH!  So I stuck the pages on a shelf and grabbed Folk Socks, then cast on for the Chalet Socks.  But I'm still without a decent traveling project.  I've until tonight to find one.

It's a Bunnyderful Wednesday

Flopsy in the Hostas - 20 feet from the beagle on his tie-out chain

Flopsy in the Oregano - 2 feet from the beagle on his tie-out chain

Filia's latest finished object

I'm sensing a bunny theme here.  This is a test knit

Weavies!  (without bunnies)

One rather sizable SCOBY, also without bunnies.

Blog post?

My to-do list is reminding me that today is my day to update you on Queen Susan.  Except she's not done anything since last week except for sit on top of my printer and collect dog hair.  Before she gets blocked, I need to get some things blocked for the State Fair.  They were supposed to get done today, but since I have been studying a box of knitting for much of the past 12 hours or so, they weren't. 

I didn't do a lot of other things today, like lunch.  Unless a popsicle counts?  I am making up for it now by nibbling on Braised Beef and Tortelloni leftovers from the Olive Garden.  Mmmm.  Good food, even chilled, on this toasty day.

Speaking of which, I hope I  will remember to put my yogurt in the fridge this evening.  And I also hope it didn't get cooked, sitting in the window.  The first time I checked the temperature, it was 127.  Oops.  The honeycomb blind does such a nice job of insulating that area.  I appreciate it in the winter too, when the temp in there gets quite low -- I think I remember seeing it in the 20's, but could be mistaken. 

What good books are you all reading?  I've been on a Henty kick lately, and really enjoyed the book in which Admiral Lord Nelson plays a role.  It moved along much better than Peterborough's campaign in Spain. 

Wordless Wednesday

Queen Susan: The Final Leg

Most queens have two legs.  Susan, here, has four final legs ... and I am on the finallest of them.  Less than 50 points to go.  And nothing to do this evening but listen to books and knit. 

Hmm.  Knit, or write a blog post? 

Knit. 

Toodle-oo!

Happy 4th!

This past week has been a curious one, beginning with my Allergic Wednesday. Has anyone ever heard of allergies that hit in full force for one day, and one day only?

Imagine this scenario: Somewhere during the first cuppa tea of the morning, one realizes that what could have been an early morning sniffle has changed into a seriously runny nose, accompanied by sneezing fits and chills. A base camp is established at Knitting Central, stocked with fluids, tissue box, and wastebasket. Wandering away from base camp is certain to trigger a sneezing fit; staying put means the kleenex box has a chance of surviving until mid-afternoon without reinforcements.  (Ignoring the physical realm and putting mind over matter, without changing the day's plans, is likely to result in a triple-digit temperature and a wretched week. Been there, done that.  Benadryl, Allegra, and Claritin are totally useless.)  When bedtime arrives, a peaceful night of sleep is practically guaranteed ... no sniffles whatsoever disturb a peaceful repose.  When morning arrives, the wastebasket is returned to its usual location, the tissue box (the second one, that is ...the first one has achieved wastebasket status) is likewise returned to garrison, and she-who-had-sneezles recuperates with a few good books and possibly an attempt at knitting before an early bedtime.  Zombies don't knit.  The following day, life is back to normal. 

For a few years, I lived life without allergies.  It was lovely.  Drink a pot of tea a day, and the allergies stayed away.  Last year, they decided that tea wasn't sufficient to keep things under control.  It was nice while it lasted!  I read last week that there is a substance in green and black tea, quercetin, that is used for allergy treatment in alternative medicine.  And my favorite enzyme, bromelain (in pineapple) works to boost quercetin's effects.

I transferred photos from my camera to the computer, and discovered some photos from May lurking in the folder.  First, we have my Very Own Homegrown Scoby.  Isn't it cute? 

Then we have an attempt to photograph the Queen Susan, from yesterday afternoon. 

The focus wasn't so great, so I tried another one.  Except that one had a Spot in it. 

Again, Spot. 

And more Spot. 

And then I gave up. 

And now, a photo of my Hap Shawl.This shawl was finished a few years back, but the border didn't have enough stitches in it and so it lived in a corner of the craft room for a year or so until I decided I would frog the entire border, pick up more stitches, and reknit it.  I did this past Christmas (and most of January.  Borders have lots of stitches. especially when one picks up around 400 more stitches than the previous border contained.  What you see here is a pre-border-blocking photo.  The center had been blocked before, but the rest is (cough) fresh off the needles. 

What you do not see are the four holes caused by groups of severed threads.  I discovered them while pinning the critter out.  Alack and alas, they were annoying to mend, and I did a botchy job on some of them.  But they are fixed, the shawl is blocked, and it may see some use this fall!  I used it last Wednesday, when the temperature was at least 80 degrees inside, to try and warm up. 

Queen Susan update - yesterday saw the completion of 21 points, and I rounded the second corner.  A bit less than two sides left.  And it drapes soooo nicely over my lap when I work on it.  We're definitely on the home stretch now.  And I do NOT want to find severed threads in it when I block it.  Dropped stitches are preferable, but I'd rather not find those either. 

So far as reading goes ... Scaramouche has been finished, and I'm now listening to a Henty novel.  They're a very nice standby for light listening.  While recovering from the sneezles, I read a lot of Tamora Pierce.  And Finding Atticus. 

Blah

Alas, another glorious blog post is not going to be written.  Two days ago I came in from cherry picking with two sets of puncture marks right next to my right eye.  The whole area feels vaguely scratch/puffy/annoying still.  And a kleenex box and wastebasket are my best friends today.  Brilliant thinking will have to wait until the gunk in my head is slightly better at conducting thoughts. 

I do know, however, that I have turned the first corner of the shawl's edging.  Three more sides to go.  And Scaramouche is next up on my listening list. 

Now I shall go curl up and feel wretched.  Once I feel wretched AND idle, I will probably knit.  At the present, I think wretched will keep me sufficiently occupied, though.  And maybe a real book.  Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican, or Jerusalem? 

A wimpy update

I had plans of writing a glorious update, with photos and bells and whistles. 

But you know, it's almost 7 PM, I haven't had supper yet, the lunch dishes are collecting microbes, and I haven't touched my knitting yet.  So I'm going to shuffle a Beautiful Update to next week on my to-do list, and get the important things done. 

One important thing is knit the 12th repeat of the edging pattern.  And hopefully quite a few more!  I've got 11 done ... 229 to go.

Allergies

For many years, I had seasonal allergies.  To be honest, I'm not sure which season they were for, but they weren't connected to any one thing and thus they acquired the name 'seasonal'. During our first years of living in Minnesota, the seasonal spring allergies became so bad that I regularly lost my voice around Easter.  I was just about ready to head in to the doctor if they did it One More Year (because who likes to have no voice for the Easter Hymns several years running?) when Filia had a hospital stay in mid-March and voila - my allergies didn't happen that year.  They did next year, and I made the trek to the doctor, and took Singulair and Advair and kept my voice, but still supported the tissue paper companies. 

I don't like taking medicines on a long-term basis, though, and so never refilled the Rx.  Instead, I drank diluted apple cider vinegar with cayenne pepper and honey, or pushed oodles of fluids, or avoided being outside during the high-pollen hours, or just lived with it.  And somewhere along the line I began drinking lots of tea.  Then somewhere further down the line, I realized that I hadn't had any allergy symptoms all one spring.  Or the next one.  Or the next one.  Until I went on vacation and missed my daily pot of tea for one too many days. 

All of which is curious anecdotal evidence about the multifactorial pain in the nasal cavaties which are my allergies. 

But now - despite drinking tea, and fun beverages which Vir affirms taste like dog pee, my allergies are back.  They're not seasonal, but monthly.  And they come with chills.  Really?  Chills in June, when it's 80 degrees out?  Yes, chills.  (My allergies have come with chills since at least college.  I have no idea why.)  I've learned that if I do NOT bundle up and lay low, but carry on with life, my chills will turn into a fever.  So I bundle up and lay low, and the symptoms pass in a day or two.  So far.  Fortunately, laying low involves knitting and reading - and if needful, naps.  I can spend DAYS in those activities.  The first two will keep me delightfully and productively occupied if I am 'well', and the naps will fill in the blanks if exhaustion hits. 

Anyone ever hear of monthly allergies before? 

And why does Vir know what dog pee tastes like? 

Queen Susan Disclosure:  Slow progress, but still moving ahead.  I'm in round 150 of .... 164.  Getting closer! (closer to only 23% left that is, not finishing the thing.) 

Another pictureless update

This week sees The Queen Susan at 141 rounds completed.  I'm on the last set of charts for EVERYTHING (except the edging, which I haven't even printed out yet) and am happy with my progress.  The surgeon was happy with the progress Abigail's incision made, too, and she can now be up and about for reasonable chunks of time.  That means my self-imposed home-bound status is coming to an end. Alas, I will miss it. 

In our pitiful non-attempt at a garden, the asparagus is being attacked by invisible asparagus beetles.  The beetles leave eggs behind, but I've only seen one actual bug.  I continue to pick asparagus on an almost daily basis.  Our dog shows more enthusiasm for his portion than he does for his morning meal, and if we don't offer him the ends, he mopes.  Poor thing.  I planted 3 kinds of squash (red, hubbard, and patty pan) and at least one of everything is up.  Two years ago, the red pumpkin (Rouge d'Vin Etamps, I believe) was kind of a pasty flesh tone.  I wonder what color it will be this year.

In book-reading, I've finished Redgauntlet and added several more books to my queue.  One of my Kindle Collections is 'Unread Books'.  Redgauntlet, by Sir Walter Scott, looked like it was doomed to sit in the Unread pile forever, because the first half-hour of the book was BOOOOORING.  After reading some reviews of it, however, and how it was wonderful and exciting and possibly his best work, I decided that perhaps I should just slog away.  It got much better.  I haven't picked a next fiction book yet.

I am completely ignoring school-planning for next year.  It's much more fun to tinker with fermentables in the kitchen.  A friend is bringing over some tibicos grains today.  I had no clue there were so many different ways to use them!  Unfortunately, many of the ways are contradictory.  We shall see what happens.

Thought of the day:  The holiness of God, or holy, or sanctification, or any word in that family, is not mentioned in the Bible between the 7th day of creation (Genesis 2:3) and Moses (Exodus 3:5).  That's quite a gap!  It seems like the topic should have come up with Abraham.  Or Isaac.  Or Jacob.  If it did, it didn't make it into the Biblical record.