Hospitals Are Fun

Let me begin by saying that I know not all hospitals are fun, nor do all people have fun in hospitals. However, it seems to be a truth universally acknowledged that an unmarried female faced with the proposition of surgery must be a miserable specimen of humanity.
I'd like to present some visual imagery to you, proving that this is not the case. These photos are unaltered (except for six gleaming red eyes which have been recolored with the marvels of modern technology) and were fairly unstaged. No minors were harmed in the shooting of these images.

First, we have Filia and the Bobbsey Twins. This photo was the only 'staged' one, since three females knitting do not normally sit close enough together for an interesting photograph. This photo was taken the night before surgery. Do you see any fear, panic, or trepidation in that face?

Next, we have Filia, the Night Owl, up in the pre-op room at SIX THIRTY IN THE MORNING. (She's been up for 1.5 hours at this time.) Tessie the Bear is cheerfully snuggled up to her. The polar fleece blanket is a gift from the hospital auxiliary. The only thing wanting is a particular doctor to bring a particular pair of mittens in for our careful examination. (And tucked under my chair is a box full of mittens and knitting books. We come prepared! Spare clothes, of course, stayed in the car. Who needs those in the pre-op?)

Two hours after arriving in her room post-op, Filia is hard at work on the computer, posting updates on her surgery to her friends. She would have done it sooner, but Child Life had to find a computer for us to borrow. We love Child Life!

Child Life arranges other fun things, like dog shows for the hospital inmates. Three therapy dogs did a meet and greet, as well as various tricks. Filia and her roommate were still hooked up to all their equipment (which staged beeping wars) as the dog show was the day OF surgery (and after), but they both popped out of bed and into a hospital wheelchair to attend. Perhaps 'popped' is too strong of a word? Anyway, there they are. A little wan looking, perhaps, but that can go with the territory. You can't go around looking TOO cheerful right after surgery, or insurance may decide it should be outpatient.

And more therapy dogs! Otis the mastiff came by the first day (before the dog show.) Otis is huge, but small for a mastiff. Sparkie is small for a Basenji (which is an entirely different thing from being small for a mastiff) but that just meant he could snuggle on the hospital bed!

It's all way too much fun. Filia is wondering if her left leg would benefit from any fixing the doctors can do, and how soon she can go back.

You know a hospital is serious about patient care when the catering staff hunt down a wayward patient at the air hockey table in the clinic reception area to get her supper order. (She beat me. Twice. And she beat the Bobbsey Twins once, and lost once.)


All is well with us. School starts in earnest on Monday, and I should have some decent knitting posts next week. I spent some time in Ravelry today to get it up-to-date ... next week is the week of catching up the blog.

And we're back!

Have been back for a while, actually. Surgery went well, and Filia bounced back from it very quickly (chatted with the nurses on the way into AND out of the operating room.) She would have run out of yarn to knit, were it not for the kindness of TwistedinStitches who both gave her some on Monday, and brought more on Wednesday. Me? I packed enough. The trip saw a pair of socks completed, a twisted hat begun (and finished today), a Starfish Hat from America Knits begun (and not finished ... I need more yarn!), and some very unclassical books read.

After finishing the hat, I've cast on for a twisted mitten. It's not a mate to the one sitting in my knitting box, but rather version 2.0. Dh did comment that version 1.0 fits him perfectly, and he seemed to like the felted feeling. Maybe if he's good, I'll make a match for version 1.0 for him. But he doesn't like mittens... but they'd fit OVER just about anything, for a double layer. We'll see.

Because recovery went so quickly, we were out of the hospital before the swelling was down enough for a cast. Tomorrow we shall remedy that, and get rid of the plaster/cotton/ACE bandage dressing. And we'll visit Half-Price Books, and the Olive Garden, and maybe a yarn store or two....

And we're (almost) off!

Filia and I are taking a mother-daughter break this week. It's not the traditional mother-daughter stuff, done over the weekend and involving lots of shopping. (If it's not yarn, I'm generally not a shopper. And even if it is yarn, I'd rather shop for one project and start knitting than just 'shop'. Maybe that's why my stash is in the shape it is.) No, our mother-daughter break will take place at a hospital, and it will involve a literal break, to be followed by a cast. Hopefully (according to Filia) neon orange. Two or three days and much knitting later, we'll head home. Sound fun?

We think so.

The pre-op doesn't involve anything remotely like 12 cups of Go-Lytely (akin to the stuff one drinks before a colonoscopy), and there are no incisions to hurt while sitting up ... what's not to like? Nurses, yummy hospital food, visitors, more videos than one is normally allowed to watch, no chores. And lots of knitting time. Plus,it means the start of school gets delayed. What's not to like?

Filia hasn't decided what she's going to bring to knit. I'm working hard to figure out what I can safely leave home. I think my spinning wheel will stay home (just not that much room in the hospital!), which means I need to get some yarn plied for easier twined knitting. I finished the mitten I was working on, and it's become a 'sample' since it didn't shrink widthwise In The Least. 10" circumference before felting, 10" after felting. At least the mitten had the good grace to shrink lengthwise, all of 10%. I love how it feels. Twined knitting with fingering weight yarn and felting ... mmm, mmm, good.

I've got a pair of socks on the needles as well, and will be swatching for Filia's sweater if both they and the mittens get done. And there's yarn for the nifty starfish-shaped hat from America Knits, so I need to jot the pattern down. I can't see bringing a HUGE book along for the 13 lines or so the pattern is. Unless I need reading material? Maybe I should bring it. And maybe some spare yarn in case I want to cast on for a Latvian mitten.

Packing for the hospital isn't the challenge, though. No, it's packing for the overnight BEFORE the hospital We don't want to get up at 4 AM and drive for 2+ hours, so we're imposing upon someone who just happens to live closer to the hospital than we do. And she knits, and wants to pick my brain about knitting. And so, I've got to bring my mitten box. And my twined knitting books. And my fair goodies. And and and and. We're going to have fun. (If we have too much fun, I won't have to worry about waking up early. I'll still be awake!)

Besides the twined mitten that came off my needles, I have made another pair of felted slippers (argh. The opening is too big. Next try - felted clogs), and finished my legwarmers. Two hats have contributed to stash depletion, too.

And that's the knitting and non-schooling news from the non-hurricane-prone North.

A whole post without mittens

This has been a very un-mitteny month for me. Just one pair of mittens for the whole month? Let's just say the month went fast.

You could also say I've been knitting other things.

Celestine Btoroj (just pretend like it's Cyrillic, and it'll sound better) used up another 36 grams of leftover sock yarn. It's almost like a sock Memory Keeper ... these socks were for Vicki, these went to mom, these went to mom, these went to mom ... and these are 'pre-socks' from Lene!

Here are more socks. From left to right, they are in Risata, Essential, and Essential Kettle-dyed. This is probably why I've not been up to much mitten-wise. Socks just *are* easier to knit in social situations than Latvian mittens are. Something about colors, and yarns, and patterns, and thumbs. Plain socks really just need attention at the increase, heels, and cast off.
Tea Cozy! I'm working on a pair of slippers (that are going to be true destashing slippers ... there's WOTA Bulky, Alafoss Lopi, Reynolds Bulky Lopi, WOTA worsted, Cascade 220, and 100% mohair in my grab bag) to felt along with the cozy. I do hope that I don't felt them too small for use in this household. Although if the slippers end up scary, that might work out.
And the legwarmers. These have been on hold for a while, as I'm waiting for more yarn. Four skeins wasn't quite enough. I have one cable row, and then some ribbing to go and all will be done. There's something in me that objects to putting down a project almost done, and not picking it up for a week or two. It's like a cold draft in the winter. But I only have 3" of yarn left. It's not in my power to finish these without introducing a new color of yarn. And I *like* this color. I thought about making my slippers in this color as well, but decided to destash for the slippers.

School ... is still far off. We're postponing the start of school until Sept 22nd this year. It's ridiculously late, but when you have a 2-3 day hospital stay with surgery in the second week of September, it seems reasonable. We are tucking in a World History course into our post-family-camp/pre-official-school-start times, and the week before the official start will be a time of gearing up for school so we can hit the ground running.

At least, that's the theory.

Didn't they used to teach knitting in school? Now THAT is one subject I can see doing every day. Hmmmm.

Back from the Fair

The past few weeks have been so busy for our household, I wasn't sure if we'd make it to the state fair or not. I mailed some entries off (cheaper than driving up) and arranged to have the helpful clerks at the fair mail my things back after the fair (ditto previous reason.) There's so much to see and do at the fair, one can't really go up and do everything in a day ... so should one even try?




Mom decided that yes, we would go to the fair. And no, we wouldn't try and do everything. The goal for us is to make it from the gate where the buses drop you off to the Creative Activities building, and back to the gate, without killing her. Her knee doesn't always cooperate with walking, but she survived today quite well and is home recuperating for Thursday's shopping trip.

One of our first main stops (after the fish pond) was the Butterfly House. The butterflies loved Filia. She's only got 9 on her in this photo, but had 11 at one point. The butterflies are gorgeous, and do a nice job of tickling the fingers and wrists when they land. I was wearing blue, and only had two butterflies at any one time. Filius enjoyed watching them, but one on a finger was plenty for him.

After the Butterfly House, we meandered up to the Creative Activities building. The amount of gorgeous knitting in that building is amazing. Rachel and her camera had a better time of it than I did, so I'm going to use some of her photos (with permission.) There was a gorgeous Intarsia sweater (which you can see on her blog), and a gorgeous modular blanket made by Shelly and right in front of the blanket, there was even a person who looked like Shelly! (It's amazing what you can learn from reading about the fair in the MN Knitters group on Ravlery) I inquired if she were indeed that Famous Shelly, and she replied that she was. I introduced myself as the not-so-famous Carolyn


and we proceeded to have a lovely chat. The pdf of fair results really makes for a smaller knitting world. It's not just the garments, the glass cases, and you ... there are NAMES that go with the items (even if you generally have no idea what name goes with which piece of gorgeosity) and so you can put 'tags' on at leas three or four people who have entered the same category you have, and you realize that if you have four categories in common with someone else (who has to place in those categories for her to cross your long-distance 'pdf radar') you probably have some good common knitting ground.

And whoever met knitters that weren't delighted to chat with other knitters? (Yes, you in the back. Save your story for later.) Anyways, I had a nice chat with Shelly, and then the back of my mind remembered reading something about the Yarn Harlot asking people to bury a certain knitter in leftover sock yarn for a blanket ... and yes, that was Shelly. Wow. I shook hands with a Really Famous Person. I think I have enough sock yarn to knit the blanket on my own ... but it wouldn't have so many pretty colors. Maybe.

Dangling from mid-air, a display case away, was a familiar looking pair of gloves. In all, I found 8 of my 9 entries. The first one we saw, the Lady Eleanor Entrelac Stole, was being heartily admired by a friendly woman. I told her it belonged to my mom, and we had a nice chat with her. My twisted mittens were the next to be spotted, with a pretty pink 4th place ribbon on them. The twisted hat merited a 1st place ribbon. Next on our route was the white stole, and then? Then began the hunt. There were four more items to find, and one of them had a ribbon on it. Somewhere, somehow, it had to be displayed. Right?

Almost. I found my Latvian mittens in a case far remote from the front wall, and my Rovaniemi mittens not that far from them. But I just could Not Spot two scarves. And one of them had a ribbon on it. So, I went back to the front to see what I could see.

I saw .... a Mystery. I had entered a scarf of Rowan KidSilk Haze in the mediumweight scarf category, and placed 3rd. I had entered a scarf of purple handspun in the lightweight scarf category, and didn't place. But what did my eyes see? A very familiar purple handspun scarf, with a 3rd place ribbon on it!

My best guess is the judges decided my handspun was more medium than lightweight, and moved it from a fingering-weight into a sport-weight category. The full tale will have to wait until I get my box back. But wow ... I placed, in a Very Competitive Category, with my wimpy handspun!!!

But in real life: I need to get some pictures taken of what I've been up to. Celestine Btoroj is done, the cable legwarmers have nearly every inch of 4 skeins used up and are waiting for me to order a 5th so I can finish the last 3 inches, and I'm working on another pair of Christmas socks. Mom and I are starting to plan next year's knitting. It's a good time to do that when you're inspired by gorgeous fair entries. Her sweater is going to be an Icelandic Yoke type, but in a fingering/sport weight yarn. Light blueish, with ??? for the yoke. And me? I need to get some more mittens going before I decide to start in on the Knit From Your Shelf a few months early.

Knitting in America is now on the shelf. Yum!!!!

Vacation Tally

We're back from vacation, and the tally is 1.1 legwarmers and two complete pairs of socks. One sock is going to get some remedial work - it's been so long since I've made a sock, I did a standard bind-off and it's a bit tight for comfort. Wearable, definitely. But snug. Probably when I finish .9 legwarmers, I'll tackle the refinishing of the sock. Guaranteed not to involve hazardous fumes.

Wordless Wednesday

Latvian Dreams: the second pattern

This is what I was up to! (Cast on Friday afternoon, finished Saturday night. Complete with sleeping, laundry, meals, book releases, and other normal miscellany of life.)

I've decided that, rather than agonizing over which mittens to make from the book, I will work through them in sequence. There are over 50 graphs, so I will be busy for a while. And there are no colors, or photos, or bottom edge treatments given... so there is lots of room for the imagination.

I used to wonder what kind of insanity it took to do a three-color fringe. Why didn't anyone tell me what fun they were?

I love these moments

Any guesses what I'm up to?

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.