Nothing to see here ...

Queen Susan crept along to round 80.  After I finish this round (tonight), I will be halfway through the charts for the center of the border ... 6 pages done, 6 pages to go!

The end of the school year is speeding up.  Filia finished one of her classes on Monday, which surprised me greatly since finals aren't until the week of May 7th.  Has college gotten easier in the last century?  Filius has his End of the School Year Plan, and is doing his best to wipe out one subject per day.  For his history class, he took the tests for the last 1/5th of the course without reading the accompanying workbooks, and passed with flying colors.  He knows his WWII history and geography, thank you very much. I've assigned him a research paper to work on over the summer.  Actually, I was going to assign him one -but he came across an assignment in one workbook and asked if he could do a Really Good Job on it - and since I was going to ask him to do that very thing anyways (without having seen the workbook assignment), this works out nicely.  (Hmm, Carolyn -- use parenthetical expressions and dashes much?)

The website coursera.org came up on my favorite homeschooling list, and my inner "Must Learn Everything" immediately popped out and said that Filius absolutely must take some classes there.  Recognizing the discrepancy between ME wanting to learn everything and HIM having to take classes, I asked if he would be interested.  No.  Drat.  After consulting my inner student and deciding that, despite having more than enough to do (while not working on Queen Susan), I wanted to take the class myself anyways, and indeed WOULD take the class, the question became "Does he have to take it too?'  I decided the answer was yes.  We are now happily enrolled in Computer Science 101.  Free!  Once Filius realized it was not like Scholars Online, and he didn't have to talk to people in the class, he was a happy clam. Until he realized that only the first week of lectures were up.  He is anxious for next Monday to come now.

The knitting evaluations are thick on the ground around here.  Literally.  There are two boxes at my feet, and two more to come before next week.  I ran out of white paper :( but will get more tomorrow so I can start sending the boxes back to their owners.  Asparagus is thick on the ground too, as are dill plants.  If anyone wants dill, come take a shovelful!

Today's plan is to make sympathetic noises about having to write a summary of The Importance of Being Earnest (no, not a fifty word summary.  Three hundred word minimum, please), work on a knitting evaluation until the house empties, then study chapter 2 of Revelation for my Precept class, and then KNIT.  Supper will fit in there somewhere (probably an asparagus/mushroom omelette), and probably an audiobook or two. 

Blogger has rearranged their interface.  Silly changes.

Yet another not-much-progress update

Queen Susan is now on round 73. That means I only managed about 10,000 stitches this week, or somewhere between 6-8 hours of knitting. Poky, poky, poky.

But, I did manage to move forwards. The stack of 'work before play' is much smaller, and I hope to see some real and actual progress this week. Of course, this is also the week to be cultured, and being cultured takes away from knitting time. (We will be cultured at a figure skating show and The Tempest.)

Snippets of my week:

• A new water heater!
• A new hole in the bathroom wall (best way to get the basement door unlocked)
• Green Tea Kombucha is yummy.
  
• Asparagus is leaping out of the ground. Anyone local want a half-pound or two?
• One very short knitting eval and one very long one were completed
• Taxes are done, paid, and FINISHED.
  
• I downloaded 9 free books for my Kindle ... homeschooling catalogs with fun literature selections can be dangerous.
  

And with that, I think I should go knit. And watch a statistics lecture.

The Creeping Susan

This week finds me looking at Round 67. My pace may have picked up since last week - but not by much. It's been a busy week at Lake Moobegone.

• Asparagus can get nipped by frost, just like Bleeding Heart. Mushy Asparagus, straight from the garden ... anyone?
  
• One knitting article was sent off, complete with patterns, photos, and more mittens to photo, comfortably ahead of a deadline
• Test knitting is chugging along nicely. I've figured out how I can best manage 3 strands of yarn, but still wonder why people felt a need to improve on Fair Isle's two.
  
• The enrollment of my Precept study on Revelation, Part I, exploded. We're now at 8!
• Easter was a whirl of kitchen prep, two services with and Easter breakfast sandwiched in between, and a wonderful afternoon at my mom's.
• Our hot water heater decided that 180+ was a much better temperature than 120.
• I learned how to reset a water heater so we can avoid cold showers and baths before the repairman comes. One reset a day is keeping us supplied with lukewarm to WAY TOO HOT water. (When the water heater is misbehaving, look for steam clouds before even thinking of sticking a finger in to check the temperature)
• I made ginger Kombucha. Mmmm.
  
• I've reviewed 3 knitting submissions this past week, with one new arrival on the docket for this afternoon and tomorrow
• I read Tamora Pierce's Mastiff in one sitting, but managed not to read the two earlier books in the series in the same sitting. I still like Keladry better.
  

The week held other things, but that's the bulk of them. Filia is back in school now after Easter break, Filius continues to work independently, and I am looking forward to a quiet evening so I can sit back and retrench. Not that I really need re-trenching, but after the past week, I want to take a deep breath and make sure I'm not missing something.

If anyone has some spare Spring, my asparagus wouldn't mind borrowing it.

Queen Susan - Creeping Along

Queen Susan had an interesting week. First, she got worked on in a small window of opportunity between 'mittens finished' and 'awaiting pattern clarification' on another project. This resulted in about 3 rounds getting done. Ooooh, 3 whole rounds!

Then the dog curled up next to her and used her for a pillow. 30 stitches were safely picked back up onto the needles.

Then a cup of tea got spilled in her immediate vicinity, and she caught some splash. Fortunately, it was late in the day and at least 4 pots of tea had been brewed from the tablespoon of leaves, so the tea was very light in color. I used a towel to absorb the possible 1/2t that landed on her, and will see if that was a bad idea when I wash and block her.

Queen Susan saw a tire repair shop, a dentist's office, and choir practice this week. She's becoming quite well-travelled.

In other news

• My 3rd and 4th batches of Kombucha are still brewing. Tomorrow is tasting day
• I ordered a 2.5 gallon crock for MORE Kombucha brewing. The natives are restless on their short rations and look forward to a less limited supply.
• The entire first batch of sauerkraut disappeared (into tummies) and a second batch will be ready tomorrow.
• We picked a dozen spears of asparagus yesterday and will pick at least that much today.
• No one rear-ended us this week.
  
• Tomorrow should be shoe-shopping for Filia.
• I really have no excuse not to start some sourdough starter. I have rye berries, I have water, I have a 2 qt ceramic pot...
  

Queen Susan Update

There will be no Queen Susan photo this week. The flowers are so much more photogenic, for one, and for another, not much has happened on her. I am now on Round 59 of the border - about 8 rounds done in one week. Pitiful, unless you consider that represents about 9 hours of knitting AND I've knit 4 Basic Mittens and have just the top decreases and thumb left on my proto-Advanced Mitten (due next month) . I also received two full bags of yarn for a sweater I'll be test-knitting (due in May) , and also some Master Knitter work to evaluate (due today, and more due Monday).

Queen Susan will probably be taking a nice vacation in my knitting stand. She'll get done, never fear. I figure two solid weeks of knitting will take care of the aforementioned projects, and then I can dive back into Round 59. Trust me, it's marked in highlighter tape. I won't forget where I am. Or where it is.

Other updates:

• By the end of the day, my 3rd and 4th batches of Kombucha will be happily fermenting. It's yummy stuff!
  
• There are 15 spears of asparagus growing in my garden. And it's March.
  
• My husband mowed the yard yesterday.
• My daughter and I (me driving) were rear-ended yesterday, too.
• Homemade sauerkraut (with carrots, so it's not real sauerkraut, which is slimy and icky and totally awful ... or at least, it was that way the last time I tried it four decades ago) is for lunch
• Filia has a new carbon fiber AFO. Once the other arrives, let the shoe-shopping begin!
  

For an understanding of the latter, you can go to this orthotics site and look at the Plastic Solid Ankle AFO, then the leftmost Prefabricated Carbon Fiber AFO. Consider which would be easier to get into a shoe. And which would work with anything other than sneakers. Then imagine you're a teen girl who has been wearing sneakers for the past 15 years.

Back to the knitting submission...

Spring is Springing

A good picture

Our Manchurian Bush Apricots (which, when we bought them, were supposed to mature to a height of 4-6 ft) are among the earliest bloomers in the spring. After the Grecian Windflowers, before the daffodils, and a week or so before the plums, we can count on at least a few minutes of gorgeous white flowers.

If it's a typical Minnesota spring, a few minutes later the gentle 40-mph breeze will denude the bushes of their petals while attempting to make a mock blizzard. There are a LOT of petals on our two bushes. While the breeze was absent, I decided to get a picture while the petals were still on the trees.

More Queen Susan

I am definitely out of my Queen Susan groove, so was surprised to see I've managed a whole 14 rows this week. Little odds and ends do add up, I suppose! And I'm beginning to think of this as travelling knitting. Scary, that.

The First Day of Spring!

On the last day of March in the Snowy Year of Our Lord, 2011, I took a photo of mountain of snow generated by our neigbor's driveway clearing. We wondered if it would melt by Easter, or by June, or perhaps even ever.

This year is an entirely different kettle of fish. It appears I have a parsley plant, perhaps two, in the garden which survived over the winter. My oregano is showing new growth, as is the sage. The thyme isn't doing anything yet, nor is the rosemary -- but they are slower growers. I planted Swiss Chard in the garden and have some hopes of seeing wee little sprouts in a week or so. And on Sunday - which happened to be March 18th, 2012, I took some photographs.For our first exhibit, we have the absence of a mountain of snow.

Then we have the lovely willow tree, quite eager to begin leafing out.

And then we have tulips and, to the best of my knowledge, Grecian Windflowers. The latter have been volunteers in our yard over the past 16 years and have always been the first flowers of spring. (Or the last flowers of winter, if you go by their appearance this year) The sedum is up, the mint is plotting its assault upon the yard, and I've got some clippings from the plum tree in the window with the hopes that they will bloom later this week.

Whatever does the summer hold for us?

More Queen Susan ... with WORDS!

I fear that progress is about to come to a screeching halt. Who in their right mind volunteers to write an article and three mitten patterns, plus design and knit up two pairs of mittens, while working on a shawl of this gorgeousness? Yes, me.

And then who accepts a test-knitting job at the same time? Yes, me.

So, progress will likely slow down pretty seriously for a while. It was slowing down anyways ... switching from the center (where a good day was 20 rows), to the border (where a good day was 4 rounds) was a serious mental shift. I made it, however, and am enjoying the border very much -- switching from the 15-st repeat at the beginning to the 60-st repeat which will continue to the end actually made things seem to go faster. I could just sit and knit on this thing all day. But other work will be calling, once some yarn arrives.

I have surprised myself by deciding to purl all the even rounds, rather than fiddle around with techniques for garter-in-the-round-while-avoiding-purls. My purls rounds are wee bit looser than my knits, and the purl verision of a sk2p is not exactly thrilling, but I'm not finding the rounds frustrating. I just do them. And listen to my audiobooks.

Juggling 7 page of charts is a lot easier than I thought it would be. It's also comforting to realize that, out of the 24 pages of charts for the border, I finished the first 7 on Sunday and am on to the next 7!

More Queen Susan

Queen Susan, Week 4

What? Quilts????

Warning: This Blog Post Does Not Contain Any Knitting Content.


The second Saturday of each month finds me at church with a few other ladies, running a sewing machine or rotary cutter. We make quilts to donate to a women's shelter in town. Quilts go together a LOT faster than some other things I could mention (but won't, since I've already warned you that such things won't be mentioned in this blog post). I think quilts look gorgeous in person, and even more gorgeous in photographs. During Filia's spring break, I hope to get the almost-completed one tied.







Our next quilt is based on a Charm Quilt pattern, but we're doing it in a simple scrap method. Each woman (or girl) picks out some fabrics from the stash, cuts enough squares to make one 16-patch, and then the sewing machine fairy sews them together. (Well, there's some chopping into triangles, arranging, and ironing in there as well) Lookie what got sewn together yesterday!

Queen Susan, Week 3

Queen Susan

A Happy Project for Destashing

Although my main knitting project these days weeks months is the Queen Susan, I will be keeping another project in the wings for those times which don't lend themselves to dainty lace. Times like watching Mythbusters with my son, or riding in the car (with someone else driving, of COURSE), or when the light isn't the best.

Since I finished up my sock projects, and don't have the yarn for the mitten projects, I pulled out the Watch Cap pattern I found last month and decided to destash. The hat is in ribbing (which is not a bad thing, but stockinette goes faster), and used up a whopping NINE BALLS of yarn. There aren't your standard 50g balls - they're my standard 'stash balls'. Remember, my stash is almost entirely leftovers. The hat used up leftovers from some slippers, from more slippers, from my daughter's Level 1 hat, from a future Level 1 project, and from an unidentified place or two as well. Nine balls!

I was given some Wollmeise recently, and that will no doubt become a traveling project in the next month or so. Socks, of course, as tall as the yarn will allow for. In the meantime - I think I'll scrounge around for another watch cap and see how many more partials I can finish off.

The shawl is coming along beautifully. Haven't hit the doldrums yet - and I'm 5% of the way done! If I keep on at 5% per 10 days, that means I'll finish in ... only 200 days!

A quick knit? I think not. But I am definitely going to enjoy every minute of it. Except the minutes I spend tinking or repairing mistakes. Or wrestling with sticky needles and fingers. I've got wax paper in my project bag to recondition the needles, and probably should stick some talcum powder in as well to 'recondition' my fingers as needed.

Queen Susan (and other knitting)

Queen Susan Swatches

Queen Susan Wednesday #2

Start time: 1:25

End time: 2:00

Bread Bowls, Soot, and Obligatory Knitting Content

For Christmas, I received a Bread Bowl.

To season it, I followed the directions which came with it. Coat thickly with olive oil or other food grade oil, let stand 3-4 hours, wash, dry, and enjoy your seasoned bowl. (That's a loose paraphrase, by the way.) Except the next day, the wood looked a bit dry. So I coated it again, and again, and again ... and two cups of olive oil later, it still looks a bit dry to me.

Then I had to figure out how to use it. I looked online, and saw that at least one person made her bread in it from start to almost-finish. She mixes up the dough for 3 loaves in there, kneads it, lets it rise ... and bakes it elsewhere. I gave it a shot, mixing up one loaf's worth of dough and making a mess all over the counter. The bowl isn't that deep. And kneading in it was tough - I banged my wrists on the narrow sides and got bruises on my legs from the bowl spinning on the table when I tried to rotate the dough. Hmmm. I must be missing something. It's a gorgeous bowl and I want to use it ... any ideas how one can safely use it? I've got the bit about putting the dough in, letting it rise, and then shaping it and doing a final rise elsewhere. I can't do a final rise in the bowl since the dough sticks (despite generous flouring of the bowl, or additional oiling of the bowl).

On another topic ... here are my gorgeous pink gloves AFTER being scrubbed with soap and water. Soot is a pernicious, dirty thing. My fingers are still soot-streaked, a day after cleaning our stove WITH the gloves on. This does not bode well for Queen Susan. I'll have to schedule my cleaning for days that I don't have much knitting time. (I did discover that a baking soda scrub, followed by dish soap, can work wonders for getting soot out/off of things. It's not perfect, but it's better than anything else I've tried)


Speaking of knitting time, I've been hard-pressed to come up with 'traveling knitting' projects to work on lately. I fell back on hats. Two watch caps, Jali, and now a Fish Hat, to be precise.


Today's a home day. I need to brave the elements and walk over to the post office to mail some packages, but apart from that - hot soup, a cuppa tea, and some sewing are on the agenda before I sit back to knit.