Practising

As I said last week, a new roving was selected to start spinning. I didn't want to go with my luxury fibers yet, the alpaca I got for Christmas, or the lovely fibers I got a few weeks back from Margene. I want to get some more experience before I leap in on those. So I went with 8 ounces of Ashland Bay roving; this is either merino or Columbia. I can't find the tag when I want it. It is extremely soft and drafts very easily. Needless to say, this is certainly outside of my color comfort zone. Lilac shades just are not me. There are also blues and pinky reds in this as well. But the softness of the wool is making up for any doubts about the color.

I am trying my best to 1) spin smoothly, and 2) spin finely. I'm trying to get something that will be no heavier than fingering weight, with the goal in mind of knitting a shawl with this, once it turns into a two-ply. It's going to take a good while to spin up all eight ounces.

I've joined up on a number of spinning groups on Ravelry. I've found that the learning possibilities are tremendous. It's like belonging to a massive spinning guild, with all kinds of experience to draw on. I've already had my spinning improve just from using tips I found there. Another great reason to be on Ravelry!



I try to do a few rows every day on the Express Lane sock, the second sock. It's coming along slowly but very steadily.

Then in the evening I work on the Maplewing shawl. I think I'm on Row 25 of the first section. On row 40 there is a decrease of about a hundred stitches, which should help the project to speed up. I really like the way the pattern is shaping up.

Lovely, lovely yarn!

12 Rows and a Milestone

I've been working away on the Maplewing Shawl. I'm currently on Row 12; those 600 stitch rows take a while! Now, thought, I've got enough of the pattern in to start seeing how the stitches and yarn overs work together. I'm getting even more anxious to see the pattern as it develops. And the yarn is fantastic! This is a beautiful blend of color that I really get into. Note the second lifeline. As much as I'm enjoying knitting this, I really don't want to have to rip back multiple rows of 600 stitches! And while I'm not going to use a lifeline on every row, I am going to use one every ten rows or so. Maybe less. It's all a matter of what I'm willing to redo, if it becomes necessary.

A milestone has been reached! I have finally finished spinning the singles of Sugar Bunny Boulevard roving in "Romance" that I started so long ago. Actually, almost two years ago to the day. I didn't realize it had been that long; shame on me. But possibly tomorrow I will start plying it. I have two bobbins of singles and I intend to do a two ply yarn with it. Then we will see what will become of it. Socks? Scarf? Cowl? Maybe mitts? Whatever it is, it will be the first project knit with my own handspun.

Milestone it may be, but Little Cat is still thoroughly bored.

600 Stitches

The Great Patio Redo is moving along. This is what it looks like now. Tomorrow the roof is scheduled to go on. I think we are going to be very happy with this.

I've finished the first Express Lane sock. Well, to be exact, I've left the cuff stitches on two spare DPN's until I finish the second sock, so that I can make sure the two socks match length wise. So I started the second sock, struggling again with the toe-up cast on, only to find that I had forgotten to cast on with the smaller needles I used for the foot. There's a lot of toe-up cast on practise going on around here, in case you haven't noticed. The second sock should go faster (if I remember to follow my own notes) than the first, since I've worked out the details now.

Then again, it may be a while before I spend a lot of time on the sock. I've succumbed to the lure of Knitspot's Maplewing shawl. I just kept gravitating back to it time and again and finally went over the edge. I ordered the Merino Laceweight from The Woolen Rabbit, in the same New England Red that the original shawl was knit with. I was so eager to start, I wound it up on Sunday and cast on immediately.

I had everything perfectly planned out. I cast on with a US 8 circular, so I could have the cast on nice and loose before shifting to the US 5 circular. I had plenty of stitch markers for the cast on, placing one every fifty stitches to keep track of the 600 (!) stitches I would be needing. Once cast on, I had plenty more stitch markers to mark each pattern repeat. I was taking my time and congratulating myself on how well the attention to detail was making this a piece of cake.

Except that I couldn't finish the first pattern row. I'd started row 1 after casting on 500 stitches instead of 600. Nothing like a little humility.

So far I've finished four pattern rows. I've already run a lifeline. There's no way I want to cast on 600 stitches again.

This is the most complex pattern I will have ever knitted. There is patternwork on every row. I'm feeling pretty confident, though (watch out!), since the Knitspot group on Ravelry should help me if I get stuck anywhere. Too bad they can't count stitches for me, though!

And if I need a break from lace, this came in the mail today. There simply isn't time to knit all the patterns I want to jump right in on.

Lovely Fibers

Qiviut is a lovely fiber. Too bad it's so...pricey. I could easily knit everything, forever, with this fiber. I finished the qivuit cowl on the flight home from New England last week. Too late to wear for the big snowstorm, but it will work out well for the windy Arizona days next winter.

The cowl is a generous size, using the entire ball of qivuit/merino/silk from Windy Valley Musk Ox. This is all that was left when I finished sewing in the ends.

The cowl scrunches up nicely around the neck, although a bit loosely for my taste. I probably should have dropped down a needle size, and if I make any more of these I certainly will.

On the other hand, it's a perfect size to pull up over my head, and I will probably wear it like this more often than just around the neck. This pattern came with the yarn purchase; the designer now has it and other patterns listed on Ravelry. You can also find my pattern notes here.

When I got back from the trip, a special box was waiting for me. A few weeks ago Margene held a contest and I was lucky enough to get picked as a winning comment. I have been reading Margene's blog for a long time and find that she is a great source of inspiration to me, especially to get at my spinning! The box was crammed with goodies. St. Pat's Day candies, which we've saved for today, and a pretty bookmark.

There was also beautifully scented soap from Blessed Juno, but I didn't take a picture of it at the time and now it's in use every day! There was also this colorful sock yarn from Brooklyn Handspun; Margene really knows the colors I love! This yarn is very soft; I'm thinking of knitting it up in a simple sock pattern to show off the amazing colors.

Finally, there were two packs of fiber for spinning, yak and baby camel!! As I told Margene, the family is just getting used to me knitting with musk ox, and now there is more exotic fiber in the house. Well, they'll just have to deal with it; I think it's fantastic that a body can get to play with such non-traditional fibers. Thank you, Margene, for being so inspirational and generous!

Oh, I love the blue!

It was a good week. I didn't get as much knitting in as I had hoped to, and that's usually the way these things go. I spent a few extra hours napping -- hey, if you can't have the luxury of a nap while on vacation, what's the point? And there were a lot of activities not really condusive to knitting. (Sorry, I don't knit in the jacuzzi, although I'm sure it's been done.)

I worked on the qiviut for most of the plane ride and associated airport waiting. It's not too far from Tucson to Houston, but I did get several repeats of the pattern done. This knitting worked well for the cramped quarters of an airplane seat.

The next day we were shuttled out to Galveston to board our ship. It was still dismaying to see so much destruction still evident in Galveston. Broken boats still littered the side of the roads and damage to homes and buildings was very obvious. But on the whole it didn't look too bad. Nothing like it must have looked right after the hurricane.

Once we got on the ship, the qiviut cowl was abandoned. The blue of all the Caribbean water was overwhelming, and for a little while I worked on the Glacier scarf. The yarn was melding itself into all the shades of blue surrounding the ship.

But the scarf didn't hold my attention for long. I spent most of my knitting time with Icarus and the Malabrigo lace. The yarn feels warm and yummy and I couldn't stay away from it. I knit on this all the flight back home. The blue lace reflected itself in the waters as well. I'm so glad I started this project and took it with me. It was nothing but sheer pleasure to work on.

Trip pictures and adventures aplenty, so stay tuned if you enjoy that sort of posting.

I've Been Soooo Good!

I've been to the LYS twice this month and haven't bought any new yarn! However, I have to admit that nothing I saw really grabbed me by the neck, if you know what I mean. I ran there to get some needles and other notions for the current projects. There were no new books in stock either, so on the whole I got out easy.



We are getting ready for our winter vacation. Neither of us is able to take any time off at Christmas or New Year's. Well, I could take some time off, but it's an unwritten rule in our little group that none of us takes off at the holidays. If it's your regular day off, then you have the holiday off. If it's your regular work day, and Christmas falls on it, sorry. Your turn will come again in a couple years. It was the fairest solution we could all come up with. And yes, my work days were Christmas and New Year's this time. And it's a very busy several weeks for Joe; the rest of the staff gets the time off but he can't. He actually is pretty indispensible at times, at least as far as church duties go. So come January he has to take the time off that he couldn't over the holidays. And he gets to pick where we go and what we do. Someplace very warm...



The suitcases are out in the spare room and we are tossing in clothes and all those other odd items that one takes on vacation (backpacks, water shoes, toothpaste). Of course the knitting was among the first things selected. Sometimes I think the project choices are harder to make than the clothes choices. Projects need to be relatively simple, but some detail is necessary. They must be small enough to transport easily. Not all scarves, not all lace. Excuse me. I think I'm taking all lace.

The lacy qiviut neck cowl has been waiting for such a moment as this. It will be the first project of choice on the airplane. Small and not too complicated, it should help the time pass.

The second choice is this scarf, Tiennie's Old Shale scarf pattern. The yarn is Pink Carrot sock yarn in blues and grays. (In fact, this very skein of mine is used for Ravelry's feature photo.) I'm calling this my Glacier Scarf. Can you see why?



This is a close up of Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau. The scarf makes me think of the beautiful colors in the ice - without the dirt and grit, of course. And I was worried that I wouldn't be able to identify Alaska with any of my other Alaska-purchased yarns after I finished the Monkey socks! Silly me.

The Glacier Scarf has been my at-work knitting, and given how busy we have been it's not surprising that so little has been done on it. I hope to get a good part of this done during our trip. At home I've been knitting on another toddler sweater. This is Sam's Delight from Kid's Knitted Sweaters and More. It is knit from the top down (duh) and will be knit in the round once the yoke is finished. The yarn is Cascade 220 Superwash, and it's a much truer red than the camera shows. It's a very easy knit and good for evenings watching NCIS. And House.

Then, in case I get tired of knitting neckwear, I've started up again on Icarus. This time I'm using my Malabrigo laceweight. I love the softness of this yarn! I've gotten the shawl started so that I don't have to fiddle with the cast on while on the trip.

I'm anxious to spend more time with this, but I'm still trying to get the Christmas decorations put away before we leave on Friday. Okay, I'd like to at least get the stuff all gathered up and out to the garage before we go. But I'm very proud of myself -- I'm not stressing over it and I'm making a point to not get so tied up in housework that I'm neglecting to walk each day and fix some healthy meals. So I'm doing pretty well on the New Year's resolutions, except that I still haven't started spinning again yet. At this point it won't happen until after we return, but I am still determined to get going on that again. I have such lovely fiber in the house and I really want to knit something out of yarn I've spun myself.



Before I forget, I have to publicly thank Kathy for the yarn she sent me in return for a knit hat I sent her for her charity drive. Pink lace weight, no doubt to become little girl lace scarves someday. Thank you, Kathy! And thank you to all my regular readers for starting out another year with me!

Talk to you when we get back.

It's a Vision

A vision of something absolutely gorgeous. This is 4 ounces of laceweight bamboo, beautifully hand dyed by Teresa Ruch of Teresa Ruch Designs in Portland, OR. This lovely skein was gifted to me by the extraordinarily generous Roxie, as a major giveaway she held for her 600th post. Thank you, thank you, Roxie!

And I have a vision of a beautiful lace scarf in my future!

Cat Enhancement

Last Monday (has it really been ten days since I've posted?) we went to town to do a bunch of shopping (think Costco, Trader Joe's, etc) and to see Annie's new apartment. Annie has a very nice apartment now, and a new roommate. You've met Big Cat and Little Cat; now meet Baby Cat. This is Kyra, the latest in family cat enhancement. (Come on, you know everyone needs a little cat enhancement now and then.)

Of course there was also stash enhancement of the usual type. The last shopping stop of the day was at Purls, where I got lost in the Cascade 220 display. I think every single color was there. I wanted to pick out yarn for stranded mittens and hats ala Elizabeth Zimmerman and Meg Swanson, for the trip to Alaska in the fall.

Dark red and green with ecru as the contrasting color.

Dark gray with light gray for the mister.

And about 1400 yards of Malabrigo laceweight. I'm thinking possibly a retry on the Icarus Shawl and maybe a scarf from Victorian Lace Today. But there are so many options out there. Decisions, decisions. I'm going to let it marinate a bit and see what comes to mind.

I Keep Getting Lost

Lately I seem to be having trouble keeping my resolves together. I told myself that I was going to start posting more regularly, and here it's a week since I've done anything besides reading my bloglines. At least I've kept that up! But the energy to put a post together just seems to have been eluding me, no doubt due to the current stress issues.

I've been lax, as well, doing as much in the garden as I should. For a while there we were still getting some afternoon showers, but not for the last couple days. Can you see the rain falling in the picture? And the rainbow? Now I've had to be diligent about watering. But we expect to get some rain later in the week from the hurricanes in Mexico, which should help keep my garden blooming.

I've promised myself to be diligent about knitting and spinning as well. But I haven't touched the wheel or the spindle in over a week now, and I haven't actually done much this summer in the spinning department. The last couple days I've been neglecting the cherry leaf shawl in favor of some simple garter stitch with the Moderne Baby Blanket. And several more rows have gotten done on the Brick House socks while sitting in various medical offices. It may not be much knitting, but it certainly is necessary knitting!

With all the medical issues that have cropped up this summer, I've found myself really thinking about health issues. Things like taking care of myself with proper nutrition, exercise, and sleep. And I can certainly use improvement in all those areas! But I've also been thinking about other aspects of health as well, such as spiritual health and other life issues such as giving myself permission to be more creative, to spend more time enjoying nature, to quit worrying about things that I can't change, and to let go of needless expectations. (Little Cat could possibly give me some pointers on some of these things!)

Anyways, I've been thinking about doing some sweater knitting. I haven't made myself a sweater in many years. So, being the good Raveler that I am, I checked out the pullover patterns to see what catches my eye. And to see how patterns look on real people! It seems that every time I go on Ravelry, I get lost for a good while just looking at what people are knitting with different yarns and patterns. So what jumped out at me? This. Fingering yarn and tiny needles. Am I nuts???

Pears and Cherries

The pears are ripe and ready to be picked. There are probably about a hundred, I think, not counting those that the birds and bees already have claimed and those that are too high for any one to reach. It must be time for a pear pie.

The cherry leaf shawl grows bigger every day. I think it's going to work out just fine with this yarn. The lace mojo is back in full force!

Brick House, Cherry Leaf, and Where Did the Week Go?

The weekend away was totally wonderful. Wonderful food, wonderful wine, wonderful accomodations, wonderful weather -- no high temps and no high humidity! A very much living-in-the-moment weekend, just what a 32nd anniversary weekend ought to be.






Then reality hit. We got dropped off at LAX on Monday morning to the mother-of-all standing room only out the door on the sidewalk waits. We waited to check in. We waited to drop off our luggage. We waited to be searched. And in the middle of it all, a phone call from home about another medical emergency. As if we could do anything about it then. Finally get home, drop everything, rush to the hospital. Where we spent most of the week. I finally finished unpacking yesterday, a week after we got back. It was Nana who had the health crisis and she is now in a 24 hour care facility to finish convalescing. I think my nerves are recovering. But now I need another vacation!

Not much knitting got done at first, although I did end up taking knitting finally while sitting at bedsides. The new Brick House Monkey Socks are coming along; I'm ready to start the heel flap on the first sock. This is being made from KnitPicks' new sock yarn, Felici, in the Clay colorway. The yarn is nice and soft and I like the staggered stripes in this one.

At one point I was so desperate for something to keep my hands busy that I picked up the very neglected second sock of the Welsh Country stockings and got back to working on some straight stockinette stitch. This sock was definitely suffering from second sock syndrome, but I think that after this last week I'm getting back into the groove for it.

However, I've been desperate to be knitting something with some concentration involved in it. The socks are nice, but the patterns are easy; my other current knitting, the two blankets, are just garter stitch. (The Icarus has been abandoned; new yarn will be acquired at some future point.) I needed something that I would have to concentrate on in order to get my brain and nerves to relax. Garter stitch may be relaxing, but it still leaves the mind too much room to think. And worry. So I cast about for something to cast on and finally decided on the beautiful light fingering weight yarn that Roxie sent me a good while back. I perused my books to find something that I could make with a thousand yards and the Shoulder Shrug in Cherry Leaf Pattern from Victorian Lace Today leapt out at me. I used Ravelry to see what other knitters had done with this pattern and the choice was clear. I cast on and started knitting this afternoon. But not until the laundry and the bills were caught up.

I'll be visiting Bloglines soon and trying to post more regularly now. I'm so behind on my Ravelry notebook and groups! Hopefully as things ease up around here I'll get back to more normal activities. I miss visiting with you all each day! Sorry there is no time to add links for everything in this post, but it's time to start dinner and then the nightly visit at the care center. And then hopefully more lace knitting. And a glass of wine. And maybe cheesecake. Or chocolate. A girl's gotta have her stressbusters.