skip to main |
skip to sidebar
I am on the final chart in the body of the Shetland Tea Shawl. It requires a bit more attention than charts past. There is action on every round. That is to say, there are not plain knit rounds alternating with lace rounds. This makes for finding a stopping point a little more difficult. It is easy to keep going, because the natural resting points just are not there. However, my energy and concentration levels force me to take breaks.
Sometimes, I want to keep with the fiber pursuits, but am not up for much action. This is where planning and plotting can be good uses of my time. However, I am not interested in becoming stuck focusing on all the things I want to knit, and the resultant frustration at not doing it all right now. I want to keep the enjoyment going. The time to plan my participation in the personal sock club arrived.
After risking life and limb to retrieve the package of brown lunch sacks, I was committed to the psc. Seriously, that was a more trying endeavor than I had expected. Anyway, once the bags were in hand, it was time to fill them. I flipped through books and magazines. I perused patterns on Ravelry. I examined the sock yarn stash. There is less than I had thought, and this is good. I consulted the Sock Madness 3 supply list.
Before I knew it, the time had come to seal the sacks and wait for the first day of March. I have to remember to sign up for Sock Madness that day, too.
I finished the first two amigurumi creations from my new book. These were fun and easy to make. The ninja is going to a nephew for his birthday. Death still needs a sickle. When I pick up a toaster oven, I will use it to bake polymer clay accessories. I do not know why I never thought of that for the eyes, but it will be perfect.
Anyway, I also finished the amigurumi tiger I started last year. I forgot to take a picture of it before giving it away. I will endeavor to remedy the photo situation, soon. There are plans to get together with the family this weekend for a birthday party.
Speaking of birthdays, I know I need to crochet an amigurumi critter for my niece. She will feel hurt if her brother gets one for his birthday, and she does not. I just need to figure out which one I think she would like the best. I am thinking that perhaps the vampire queen, sheep, or maybe a turtle would be right for her. No, I am not in the habit of giving a present to siblings of the birthday child. This niece and nephew is a twin set.
Next up--dishes and laundry. Of course, the spinning wheel is singing to me, beckoning me to spend a bit of time, telling me to not set the timer.
My sister has a new puppy called Lucy. She seems like quite a sweetie.
I have a new book. I do not think you can call any of the critters in it sweet.
The weekend flew by for me. Valentine's Day was good. I suppose I like that day the same way I like Thanksgiving. Love and thankfulness are for every day of the year, but it is nice to spend a day giving extra attention to them. We are mostly silly about the day, liberally sprinkling our conversations with cutesy pet names.
Anyway, I was also not feeling well for a good bit of the weekend. My back did not like the way I moved, and has been taking it out on me since. It has kept me from the spinning that I want to do. I am glad that I seem to have recovered well enough to go for my ten minutes today, but I had better not push it. Beyond that, I alternated between feeling cruddy in a general way and extra sleepy. It seems to have passed, but it did cause me to lose large chunks of the weekend.
My constant companion has been the Shetland Tea Shawl. I just keep knitting away on it wherever I am. The growth of the piece might be what makes it a less portable project before lace complexity does. It is now well beyond the stage where a photograph shows much more than a giant lump of knitting. At a baby birthday party, people kept asking what I was knitting. My answer was that it will be either a shawl or a blanket, depending on the finished size. It is a wonderful piece, and I love it so far. However, I am beginning to think it might become a gift.
Speaking of things I have been thinking, I am warming up to the idea of the personal sock club. I have loved watching other people participate in it, but have not felt it was a good match for me. Besides my last pair of socks, I have not been knitting them lately. However, I enjoyed knitting my Marlene socks, and feel the desire to knit more socks. That is what got me thinking about the club. Then I remembered that Sock Madness 3 will soon be upon us. Still, part of the point of the psc is making it your own. Maybe I can think of something that will work for me.
A few minutes here and there can add up over time. You might think this is going to be about spinning ten minutes each day, and it could be. Yes, it could be, but only if I had been spinning. I have not been making time for that lately, but that is changing. Today, the minutes adding up refers to the knitting I was able to do today.
Bruce (feeling a bit better) received a phone call from a visiting, out-of-town friend. They made plans for lunch. With this particular friend, going to lunch usually means we will not return home until after dark. In preparation, I made a working copy of a pattern, and packed the knitting bag. It was already full, so out went some yarn and the wip that might have a date with the frog. In went a book, a pattern, and two current projects suitable for on-the-go knitting.
While Bruce drove to Popeye's, I worked on the Yoruba Bird hat. Before lunch was over, I had begun wishing I had brought the knitting bag inside with me. Afterward, Bruce's friend needed a new headlight, so we were off to the auto parts store. While they changed the bulb and talked cars, I knit more of the hat. I soon ran out of black yarn, and I had not brought along more, so it was time to switch. This was just as well, as it was less convenient to keep checking the book, knit, and chat. Still, if I had more of the black, the only thing left to knit for the hat would be the bird. Anyway, my Shetland Tea Shawl was much better suited for the occasion.
I had just begun it yesterday, and I was ready to start the first chart. A few rounds into that lace pattern, the guys decided that test-driving cars was a good idea. It felt as though the stitches were flying off the needles, so I did not mind. I just kept knitting. I knit through the test drive. While they talked with the salesperson, I knit some more. The television in the dealership was tuned to vh1 classic, which was airing nothing but AC/DC. The next thing I knew, it was time to leave. I had completed the chart and moved on to a section of plain knitting.
By the time we got back home, I was almost ready to double the stitches again and begin the next chart. I did some calculating, and I knit over 2700 stitches while we were out, just on the shawl. While this is not a huge number when you consider the amount of time we were gone, it is a nice bit for the moments grabbed here and there.
Am I an easy mark, or what? At first, I just had a nice laugh as I read the dares. Before long, my mind had wandered to the stash, and I was mentally running through possibilities. As soon as I 
chased away a headache, I was digging through yarn bins and casting on 118 stitches. Then I remembered to prevent another potential pain by checking errata. I may have a new hat before the end of the week.
This project came along at the right time. My other knitting has been giving me trouble, and I have not quite found the next thing I need to knit. The Yoruba Hat has been a great companion today. It has kept my interest, but been easy enough to set down when I needed to do other things.
My poor Brucie-Pie is ill. I hope this is not the flu. He has needed my help throughout the day. If he feels the same way in the morning, I will take him to the doctor. If he gets feeling much worse during the night, we will be on the road. I suppose I ought to get a bag together just in case.
No, it is not a treasure hunt hint. We are in the midst of a predicted string of 70+ degree-days. 
So, of course, this means I have a finished pair of alpaca blend socks. I do not really feel like the two are connected. While I do live in my head more than a bit, I have not begun believing that the weather changes solely to affect my life.
I finished knitting these socks on Saturday. Once I found my rhythm, they sailed along quickly. The chart was easy to memorize. I chose to knit only five repeats on the leg because that length seemed right to me. I also substituted a short row heel and worked the toes plain. The yarn is so soft, pretty, and a delight to knit. The only thing that bothered me is what I see as a difference in color between the two skeins. According to the labels, they were from the same dye lot, but they look different to me.
Last week was not the best week. However, it was not without its good moments. I baked bread. It turned out much better than the first two loaves. I felt confident enough to share some of this loaf with more of the family. Maybe I will be baking extra bread this week.
We had the opportunity to keep our niece a bit more than usual. She is an interesting little girl. We 
learn new things about each other every time we get together. She is pleading for a new amigurumi bunny, as something happened to the first one. We had a long talk about taking care of our belongings, and she assures me she will care better for a new bunny, and even has a place for it in her room. She has the most expressive little face. We look forward to the next time she comes over.
It had been a couple of months since my last time at Monday night knitting. I decided to go tonight, but was more than a little late. By the time I arrived, there were just a couple of knitting magazines left on a 
table. I sat and knit four or five rows of my lace, looked through the magazines, and left. It surprised me, as that crowd often gets started a little on the late side, and the last hour is usually the best.
I collected the mail from the mailbox when I got home, and my mood was brightened. I had received a package, and I knew what it contained. I recently purchased a used copy of Folk Hats, and it arrived today. It is a bizarre little volume, but some of the patterns in it caught my eye. I held off purchasing it, but when I saw the chance to pick it up at a bargain used price, I jumped at the opportunity.
My love for Groundhog Day is known far and wide, but understood by few. Even I have difficulty explaining my love for this day. I tried describing the holiday to my nephew with the hope that he would be excited about the day, but it would seem I have failed. I told him that if the Groundhog sees its shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter, but if the Groundhog does not see his shadow, spring will be here in six weeks. First, he scrunched up his face in puzzlement. Then he declared the whole thing to be stupid. He is now trash-talking the Groundhog and its day. Fear not, for I am far from giving up on him.
I have mixed feelings over the best way to spend this day. I just try my best to make it special. I have been known to use the Groundhog's shadow results as an excuse to leave the house or to stay home in accordance with my desires. It has been suggested that I follow the Groundhog's ruling when deciding whether to attend Monday night knitting. Of course, being in serious hibernation mode, it would have been a surprise if I had gotten out of bed during daylight hours.
During the time that I am awake, I have been knitting. I have begun the second sock. I am ready to begin the second glove. Yes, I have finished the first glove. I like it, and am excited at the prospect of having a new pair of gloves.
My decision to grab a can of soup turned out to be a good one, because I was not up for preparing anything more complicated. I had made my way out to three stores, and as it turned out, that was my limit. I just could not get back out of the house again, even though it would have been to knit with friends.
The yarn is ready for another go at Estonian lace. My difficulty with pulling it off the needles was a bit bizarre. I kept being careful with the lace so as not to lose a stitch even after I knew it needed a restart. I am past that, now, and I as soon as I finish this sock and begin the second, I will get going with it. Those rows will be so much quicker with two repeats fewer, and it should still result in a nice width on the finished piece.
I finally broke down and purchased a new calendar. I do not have high hopes that I will now know what day it is, but perhaps my chances have improved. However, now I am no longer looking at December 2008, and I see how close we are to our next holiday. Can you believe it is almost Groundhog Day?
I no longer rely on Bloglines as my feed reader, but I still keep an eye on it for other information. It is once again going through one of its "worse than usual" phases. Today, it has shown somewhere between 800 and 3200 unread posts in my feeds. Add to this the lag between the time a post goes live and when it shows up in the reader. Yes, they suck. It is a good thing there are better alternatives out there.
If that is not enough random for you, I am all over the place with the desire to knit a sweater. I have been seriously looking at this jacket (love the name), Shauna, Habanero, Vienne, Amused, and Valpuri (all Rav links). I love Shauna and Habanero, but do not currently have the right yarn in the stash. I think I will go with either Amused or Vienne.
Last night, I decided it was time to transform a bumpy bunch of wool into lace, and try out my new tool kit. I love my new blocking wires! They are totally worth the investment to me. I went about the 
process in a random manner, weaving the wires through the edges of the piece. Before long, it was time for the tape measure, a few t-pins, and made some final adjustments. I am excited for the next blocking adventure.
Another thing that I love about this experience is the finished piece of lace. When the knitting was over, I thought the shawl would be very small. Unfortunately, I ran out of yarn and had to leave off some rows at the end. The finished dimensions of 62"x28" makes for a nice little shawl. This is going to be a gift. I think it will be for Tanya, although there are a few other people I think would be thrilled to receive it. This lovely little piece takes the sting out of frogging my Estonian lace, and now I am excited to restart it.
I mean this in the best way possible. The other day I decided to invest in a set of blocking wires. 
They arrived today, and now they just wait for lace. I do have a piece ready to dunk and stretch, but I wanted to try it out on the wires.
I have always wondered about blocking wires. I have gotten along nicely without them all these years. Then again, I got along just fine without a swift or ball winder for quite some time, and I now consider them essential tools. I hope I have made a good decision to purchase them. I certainly knit enough lace to justify the dollars spent.
Speaking of lace, I have been enjoying an inspirational flip through A Gathering of Lace, and Victorian Lace Today. There are so many pieces I want to knit. I took it further with a spin through the Ravelry project galleries. I loved seeing the lace in the different yarns and colors, and reading of the different modifications people made. However, I was reminded to not become too dependent on another knitter's project details. If I did, I would not know whether I needed the 880 yards some people used to knit their pieces, or the 2,000 plus that others report using to knit the same pattern.
I like the way my handspun yarn is working with the Lilac Leaf Shawl. Still, I think I am going to need to frog and start over. If I keep knitting with this number of stitches, the piece will probably be too short. I have been weighing and measuring. When I first began to see that this was the case, I just 
kept knitting. I needed more information. After I was relatively sure that I would need to rip, I wanted to continue knitting. It felt right to knit lace, and seeing what was happening with my handspun was fun. I even considered knitting the center panel until the remaining yarn weighed the amount necessary to complete the edging, and then evaluating the situation. Instead, I set the piece aside to wait while I avoided thinking about it. Perhaps I miscalculated the yardage of this yarn.
Then there is my current sock. Marlene has now been stalled for days. When I last examined my wip pile, I did not even look at her. I like the way the sock looks so far, and was puzzled as to why I had stopped knitting it. Then a switch flipped and I could see what happened. It is heel-turning time for the sock, and I am stuck because I cannot decide if I want to follow the directions in the pattern or substitute a short-row heel.
Making decisions seems like a tremendous amount of work. The enormous task has been made near impossible with the addition of a horrible headache.
Wednesday night knitting with the Skanks can be hit-or-miss. Tonight I was the only one to attend, and I knew this would probably be the case when I left the house. Actually, I was not on my own. My husband came with me. He dropped me off and joined me later after he ate some lousy fast food.
In spite of the lack of Skanks, the place was quite full. When I arrived, there was only one empty table. It was uncomfortably close to the back of the already occupied couch. Since I figured it would only be Brucie and me, I settled in at the table with my coffee and knitting. It appeared that the young ladies on the couch were no more thrilled with me being perched next to their heads than I was.
Once I got out my current work and pattern, I had an audience. The high school girls on the couch were interested. They wanted to see what I was doing, questions about my mittens, how long it would take to do whatever I was doing, if I knit earflap hats, if I had knit my sweater, how long I had been knitting, and what other things I knit. Apparently, they had seen us on other Wednesday nights, as they had questions about the big machine (JJ's Ashford Knitter's Loom) and what it did. They really liked my sweater (Arwen), and did their best to compliment it without saying that it looked like something one could find in a store. I believe they settled on saying it looked like it could be expensive. They were very sweet. Then, as soon as the interaction began, it was over. They had homework to do. It would also appear that they have just begun to learn sign language, and that was entertaining to watch.
Shortly after I sat down to knit, there was a change in the people at the table behind me. This group was decidedly less sweet than the young ladies at the couch were, and it was a bit disheartening. One of the young men has, shall we say, a public speaking voice. I concentrated on my lace chart, but even it could not drown out their talking. I think the ipod was the only thing that could have prevented me from hearing their conversation. This is not the first time I have had the occasion to hear this group of young men. I do not necessarily recognize them all by sight, but their voices and discussion topics are familiar to me. If I could give them a bit of advice, it would be to not combine publicly their religious conversations with the other topics they discuss. It was also a bit disturbing to hear their interpretations and twisting of sacred texts. What distressed me the most was that it appears that the loudest of the group might be in a teaching or leadership position in a church. At one point, I found myself tempted to tell them so, but then I remembered that they were not really listening to each other, and I would be wasting my time. Additionally, their respect level for women appeared to be somewhere less than zero.
I probably would have stayed until closing time if I had been on my own, but my husband grew weary of it all and was ready to leave early. And that, my friends, is my excuse for not having more knitting to show you. However, I think I am getting ready to find my rhythm with the current lace piece, so maybe their will be something to see tomorrow.
I lack the words to adequately address this day. Instead, I turn to what I have done with my needles.
Today seemed to be the right time to begin something new. I decided to begin by honoring a commitment. A friend is in charge of organizing a community afghan, due to be raffled in February. A while back, she asked if I would knit a square for her, and I agreed. Last week, she finally posted the specifications for the squares needed for the afghan. This might be my last year contributing to this project, and I did not want to procrastinate. I searched the stash of yarn suitable for the project, fished out the appropriate needles, looked up a stitch pattern, and set to completing the task. The square is ready to be delivered to the organizer, and waits to join the work of others.
At the end of the day, it seemed right to take a chance on another new project. The Lilac Leaf Shawl from Knitted Lace of Estonia by Nancy Bush feels ready to knit. With my yarn choice, I am not taking a simple approach to the piece. My desire is to knit this from my handspun. Additionally, non-solid yarns and lace do not always work well together. It remains to be seen whether I have chosen well, but I intend to spend the rest of my evening discovering.
I cannot decide if this belongs to me or someone else. I have been doing a bit of gift knitting and become confused easily. What do you think? The finished product fascinates me. The beads feel just right, and I love the way they work with the yarn. Using the whole skein was a relief. Only 20" of yarn remained after completing the piece. Perhaps that means it is just the right size. Actually, I think it might be a bit large. It was a pleasant knit, even if it needed a break for a bit. The last night of knitting was probably the best, because having the fluffy mountain of mohair on my lap was wonderfully warming.
If you know whose this is, maybe you know something else. Ice Queen makes me think of the title of two songs. Can you name them?
I am home, and it is wonderful. Unexpected is the one word I would choose to describe the vacation. It was also a reminder that it is good that I am not in charge of everything. Since we returned, I have spent so much time in bed. Whatever I do, whether knitting, unpacking, or cleaning, it is like moving in molasses. Maybe I really did miss that much sleep. Anyway, I should be back up and running soon.
Speaking of getting back to the schedule, the mail arrived. It was wonderful to be able to put it on 
hold while we were gone. Even better was when it all fit in the mailbox when delivery resumed. Most of it was junk, but there was this little gem. I won a skein of STR lightweight in the Nodding Violet colorway. It was one of the wonderful prizes from the hat drive. Thanks, Jean!
I planned to keep with the daily blogging. However, on Saturday, a mix of too little time and unbloggable things met, and I let go of the idea. Actually, there were several blogworthy occurrences, but I decided to stay on the cautious side of things. I would hate to hurt feelings, and what is funny to one person may not be humorous to another. Anyway, I surprised myself by making it with the daily posting from November 1 until this past Friday.
Speaking of things that end, tonight is our last night at the house of vacation madness. It is also the first night for the Alaskan people at this location. It has been quite a time. Tomorrow, we begin the trek home. There will be a brief but big side trip during tomorrow's journey. If you are a praying person, please pray for all of us.
There has not been much time for knitting. I think today offered the most. I have been working on Marlene. I am pleased with the way the yarn is working with this pattern.
There have been many things to do and take care of with this trip. Since I want this to be a good vacation, I need to make sure that I take care of myself. For a moment, I was just overwhelmed by it all. Then I remembered Nora's Three Things.
Drink Enough Water
Spend Some Time Alone
Take a Walk
