Knitting the silk

Last night I did baseball knitting from a distance. Usually I'm doing it at the actual games, but this game was in Colorado. DS#1 plays for Potomac State College, a Junior College (JUCO) in West Virginia, and their team made it to the JUCO World Series! (Check out this article where he pitched a no-hitter a couple of weeks ago.) His team played for the first time last night, and won 12-6. We were able to listen to the radio over the computer (how odd that sounds), and so this is what I knitted last night. (Check out the previous day's entry to see where I had left off.)


I've been worrying about the yarn running out, and it turns out to be a very real worry. The balls didn't seem really big to make a whole top, especially this Chevron Rib Tank. If you notice from the picture, I've used up the first ball, and the back is only up to the armpits. (I did save the larger ball for the front, though.)

I started thinking about the yardage. When I started, I thought the yardage was 998 yds, plenty to do this pattern. Then I looked at the pattern again--oh, that was the price. Well, 680 yds is still enough since it calls for 600.

But it seems to knit up so quickly. Hmmm.... Well, that's because it's a bulky weight, not worsted like the pattern calls for. So a bulky weight shouldn't need as much yardage since it's thicker. Hmmm...Let's look at the label again.

Arrgghhh! Why did I never notice this before? It's 680 yds PER POUND, and I only have half a pound. That's 340 yds!!!! What'll I do?

A sane person would stop right there, maybe rip out the yarn and find a new project. Not me. I just picked it right back up and continued to knit. Maybe a solution will present itself soon.

I'm even considering stopping the back, putting it on spare needles, and starting on the front--just to see how far I can get. Is that persistance? Or just craziness? (That second ball IS bigger, afterall.)

While we're on the subject of this yarn, what's with all the chaff? I have to stop every now and then just to pick out a piece. I understand how bits of hay/straw/vegetable matter gets caught into a sheep's fleece, but what about the silk? Is the silk worm rolling around the hay before spinning its cocoon?

And finally, here is a picture of me wearing my blue cotton tank (that I crocheted an edge around the neckline/armholes and like much better.)

I asked DH to take this picture, which he very readily complied. After about 10 pics, I commented that it didn't really matter what my face looked like since I was going to crop it off anyway--I just wanted the sweater to look good.

"Oh, you want a picture of the sweater?" he asked. Turns out he thought I just wanted a picture of me, and while I never want pictures of me, in fact I am usually yelling "Don't get me in that picture", he figured he'd seize the opportunity. So he took a few more and I posted one with me AND the sweater, and a promise not to delete the others...

Green?

Finally getting around to working with my silk noil yarn that I got at MDSW. It took a long time to get up the courage to dye it, but finally I took the plunge. Bought a couple new shades of blue Wilton's, did a test piece, set my silk to soak in vinegar water, and loaded up the crockpot with blue dye.

So far, so good, right? Nice and methodical and planned out....

Looked down at my shirt, which was green, dumped out the dye without a second thought, and proceeded to dye the yarn a yellow-green (chartreuse, to be exact.)

Anyone who knows me can attest to how unusual this was. Not the changing-my-mind part, that's pretty usual, it was the wasting-the-whole-pot-of-dye part that's so strange. I didn't even go get some other yarn to dye THAT blue, so as not to waste it (although, since I just thought about it, that would've been a good idea....)

Dyeing and drying silk noil yarn gives off a very distinct odor (with the added aroma of white vinegar) which I don't want to experience again any time soon. Add to that the fact that I dunked my MDSW basket in water to shape it while drying which gave off ANOTHER awful odor, and I almost wished I had a cold.

This yarn took forever to dry, but finally I was ready to wind it into balls. Here's my lampshade all ready to go.

The lampshade worked as a swift, and did a great job. I spun it around while DD#2 operated the ball winder.

Here's what I have done. Well, I've gotten this far about 3 times now, but I think this time's a keeper.

I swatched on bamboo 8's, but couldn't stand the squeakiness, so switched to metal 9's. Much better, but the gauge is off. Now I'm making the smallest size, and the measurements seem to be good for the largest size, so I hope that's good. At least I measured BEFORE I finished, so that's an improvement.

More socks

Blogging two days in a row--just to show that I got these socks done! Continued with the dpns which was nice and relaxing.


Here's another item I worked on over the weekend. I had lots of "waiting room" time, so took this tank and the denim socks with me, and both are finished! It was nice to be able to switch back and forth between projects.

This cotton tank was knit from the repurposed yarn, and I was glad to see that after it was washed and blocked, it's the right size. I skipped the crochet edging, but might put it on after all.

Here's my leftover yarn that will be used for the edging, but there will still be some left over. Hmmm...gotta be something I can do with it!

Practical Jokers

Stupid computer. I've written this post twice now, but can't get it saved. Arggh!
So, I'll try again tomorrow, but in the meantime, fill in the words:
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Here now, are the words to go with the pics, and hopefully they are more interesting than blah, blah, blah.

I had lots of time for sitting around and knitting this weekend, so here's what I worked on. These are cute little
basketweave baby socks knit from Paton's Classic denim marl. The basketweave would show up better using a solid color, but they still worked up nicely, due to a very nice pattern.

I did these using dpns, even though the pattern is for 2 circs.

I decided for my next pair I would try using 2 circs, and also knitting both socks at the same time. Here's as far as I got.

Now, what I want to know is, Is this just one big practical joke that everyone's in on except me? How can this be easier than 2 circs? How???

Now given, I didn't read the directions for this method before diving in, but still, what's with all these curvy pointy things flying around, anyway? Even if I got the tangled yarn mess straightened out, I still would have 2 circs that would never go away.

Not giving up (or rather, giving up quickly but not totally) I decided to try one sock on 2 circs, and here again is how far I got.

Again--why? Why is this easier than dpns? I got the tangled mess straightened out, but those curvy pointy things are still flying around. I mean, I hate when I'm changing needle sizes, say for going from ribbing to stockinette, and have 2 sets of circs for one row. I try to knit the row as fast as possible to get it over with. Why would I want to continue the torture for the whole sock?

So, I transferred the sock to dpns. See how much neater it looks? Just a cute triangle plus an extra one.

This was the way I knit the denim ones, and is the way I will continue with the purple ones. (We won't discuss how many times I dropped one on Friday, or how many people looked up as it clattered to the floor. If I ignore them, then it didn't really happen.)

If it works for me, it works!

Taking the risk

I've been a blogging slacker lately. I mean to post, really I do. But something prevents me from taking the actual picture then actually posting it. (I know, it's called laziness.)

I've been doing a bit of knitting, but first a picture of my lilacs. This was taken one week ago (or maybe two), and represents my favorite yard flower.


I'm actually attempting a sweater for ME! It's a summer tank, so no sleeves, but still it's an accomplishment. This is being knit out of yarn that was a different sweater in the mid-80's. It's a cotton blue/green mix with some white slubs that I think was made by Phildar. I remember buying it in a shop that has long ago ceased to exist. It fit, and I wore it for years, but the short waist, big boxy top was best left in the 80's.

Last summer, I ripped the sweater apart, ready to make Brisa from Knitty.com.

I eliminated some of the lace ladders to allow for more coverage, then proceeded to knit it up. Finished it, tried it on, and yep! too small. Put it away for a whole year, then pulled it out last week. Measured the gauge (only a year too late) and instead of 18 st. per 4" I was getting 21! It took me a WHOLE YEAR to realize that I had never checked gauge. (Where's the picture, you ask? Laziness is the answer.)

Last Thursday I ripped it out, did a gauge swatch, and started again. This time I left out ALL the lace ladders, and am just doing the ribbing. (No need to draw extra attention to my waist, anyway. :)

Here's where I was a couple of days ago.


I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but I have another boo-boo going on. My yarn is nice and kinky and should really be wound into hanks, washed, and hung to dry. Can I make myself do it? No. Am I going to regret it? Most likely. The extra kinkiness might certainly throw off my sizing when I wash it, but I just seem to need to take the risk.

A great day!

This may have been the best Mother's Day ever. Lori and I went to the MD Sheep and Wool Festival, spending 2 nights in a hotel and leaving our 9 (combined) children with our darling husbands. We only had to take care of ourselves, stood in line without any impatient family members, didn't have to spending an hour (or two) packing or looking for lost items. Came home and the families were happy to see us, and even cleaned up a bit! Not only that, but DD#1 baked me a cheesecake! What a day!

Feeling pretty good about my purchases. Didn't do much impulse shopping, but at the same time I got most of what I went there for. Here's a pic of my total stash.


Yarn from the Little Barn. Incredible deals. We waited in the longest line for this purchase--1 hour! It was worth it, though. Got 20 skeins of the white to try an Aran sweater.


Lori informed me that I have 2 of her sock yarns. I wondered why I bought 4 skeins of the same yarn.... (thinking....really big feet?)


Merino wool roving. Going to try my drop spindle again.


Gorgeous merino wool from Morehouse Merino.

Started a soaker in the hotel room!

This basket was my impulse buy. Saw the vendor early in the morning while there was still plenty of baskets, but wasn't sure if I needed one, so decided to wait to see if I had money left over. For the next several hours I would see people walking past with these until finally I succumbed. Went back to the building but couldn't find the vendor since he was constantly sold out. Finally, new supplies were brought in and we were like vultures diving over the baskets.

There's also some natural merino and a set of Crystal Place bamboo circs. Also got a hank of silk noil that I'll show once I dye it.

And again I say....it was a great day!!!

4 days and counting

MD Sheep and Wool Festival is 4 days away!

There's going to be a drop box for Children In Common items, so I've been trying to finish up a few.

Here's some pics (minus the caregiver shawl, of which I promised I wouldn't post any more pictures.)

The puppy puppet's pattern (say that ten times fast) came from here. There's actually more than one size that I didn't notice until I was done with the larger (obviously, I don't read thru the entire pattern before beginning. :)

The stuffed fish pattern came from here. The version on the left is knit in baby yarn and followed the directions while the one on the right is in worsted weight and had more shaping added. They've been sitting around my house for a couple of months--finally I got around to stuffing them.

I've also discovered this Orphans for Orphans sweater pattern that is a bunch of fun to knit.

This one used Cascade 220, and can easily be adapted for small balls of yarn.


This used Naturespun sport weight that was doubled, and yes, I ran out of yarn! The middle panel is knit first, and was fun to try a banana tree motif from my "Knitting on the Edge" book by Nicky Epstein. It was harder than I thought to find a motif to fit. The first one I tried had yo's, which left really pretty HOLES in the sweater. NOT a good idea for warmth!

Here's a close up. (Please don't find any mistakes!)


I also dyed several shades of orange yarn today.


Wait! What do you see? Yes! That's a pair of rubber gloves!!! Only took me 2 years and 99 cents to get them!

O, Great Teddy Bear King

O, Great Teddy Bear King. The Princess Zahn, and I, the Princess Zanzibar, bring you greetings. We have come on a perilous journey accompanied by our steadfast donkeys (one who is hidden) to bring to you these long and pointy sticks. O, Your Crocheted Majesty, we beseech you to tell us the meaning of these truly wonderful creations.

At this point, my imagination ran dry... This picture was taken while roaming my house, avoiding anything constructive to do. This photo was not set up (beyond moving the junk that I couldn't crop), but all the key pieces were just as my DD left them. I wonder what SHE was thinking when she set them up???

Finished my magic stripes socks today. They almost match, except for the toe. They are a combination of two patterns, plus a bit of changing by myself. Next time, I'll write it down first. (Or even during. I had nothing written of what I did when. I guess I like to wing it.)


Also finished two soakers. Did a twisted rib on the blue/green one to give it more stretch.

I love the colors of the red/pink/green/brown one. If one I could wear those colors, I could make a great sweater!

Fourteen days and counting

There are very few days left until the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. Fourteen, to be exact. This is how I've been preparing:

Talked my friend Lori into going with me. She's the only friend that can handle looking at yarn and sheep products for the whole day. Plus she has a great color sense and will help me pick out interesting colorways. She hasn't even backed out when I told her the horror stories about the long bathroom lines (she's pregnant, so that says it all...)

I've printed out loads of papers that detail which vendor is in which barn. Soon I will be hilighting each section. Hope that my marker doesn't run out.

Printed out maps. That may sound like a normal thing to do, but I'm the type of person who is printing out maps with her coat on, on the way out the door. This proves how prepared I am.

Contemplating what form of liquid caffeine to carry along to avoid the dreaded caffeine headache. Should it be a Coke? Or a Starbucks Frappachino in a bottle? Or several of each?

Bought a bag today for my yarn purchases. When it's full, I'll make a trip to the car, empty it, and carry on. I'm kidding myself, I know. I most likely will keep jamming the yarn into the bag until the zipper breaks and I'll have to drink another Coke to make room. (But wait--those bathroom horror stories!! Maybe I'll just have to take a couple of Excedrins.)

Now. we have approximately 20 million bags in our house. At least. But none quite so pretty as this.

Sigh.... It's gonna be fun!


I've been working on my CIC sweater some more. My kids seem to think it's a bit of a mess. I agree, but it's a controlled mess. I've committed to detaching some yarn balls, but haven't hidden the ends. It's coming along, though.

My socks got some more work done at the car shop, but I figure you all can do without another picture of them. The yarn is starting to run out, so I'd better start knitting faster!

For those of you interested in my solitaire gameplaying, I put a progress tracker on the right. The average winning is 5% of the time, and I'm at 6.1%. I was at 7.4%, but then tried to play more to make it go up, and you can see what happened.

I also randomly typed in numbers for my color codes for the WIP (Work In Progress) and FO (Finished Object), just because.

Bleached out

As many times as I've dyed yarn, I managed to bleach this one out in the sun. In my defense, I always set this on a towel in the corner of the dining room and build a cocoon around it with more towels on a drying rack. That pesky sun, however, managed to sneak its way in and bleach out the pink. And just the pink, not the brown.


Finished another soaker from this lovely variegated yarn I bought from 100purewool on ebay. Super soft, wonderful stuff.


I had major dental work yesterday, and while waiting in the chair, I worked on my sock. Wondering as I did so....I'm nervous enough that I'm almost shaking--will that throw off my gauge? Didn't stop me from knitting, though.

Another trip to the car shop tomorrow, which will speed this along.

Started a sweater for CIC. Note the lack of commitment here--I have yet to cut a single strand of yarn. I prefer to knit with a big old glob of knots until I decide it won't need to be frogged. Using this pattern, and so far it's fun! I knit the blue portions on my knitting machine to speed it up.

Yippee!

While waiting for my car to get fixed today, I worked on my magic stripes socks. The lady behind the counter asked if I was "sewing" my socks, like the ones I had on. Well, I decided not to correct her on the "sewing" part 'cause she actually noticed the socks on my feet! That's the first time someone has noticed that other than when I say "Hey! look at my socks! I made them!"

I also read more of my book "At Knit's End..." by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee aka the Yarn Harlot. I totally expected to read that book from cover to cover without pausing for air. But, due to the book's arrival during the frantic birthday party cleaning, I couldn't read more than a few pages that day. Or the next (while recovering. :) And that's the way I've been reading it. Just savoring it page by page.

Now occasionally I read snippets to my family. After all, they need to know that this is how knitters think--I'm not alone in my craziness.

DD#2 asked me the other day what was so funny, so I told her "well, you wouldn't really get it. It's a knitting joke." Just then DH walked thru the room and exclaimed, "I like the way you explain how we won't get it, but then go ahead and read it to us anyway."

This is true. I will read it, laughing so hard they can barely understand me, and all I get is a blank stare in return. I suppose I deserve it.

In other knitting news, I've been balling yarn today. I don't have a swift, just my new winder, so tomorrow I'm sure to have some sore muscles.


My CIC comfort shawl is dry. and I promise this is the last picture. I just wanted to show that I have a 6' wingspan, and the shawl seems long enough to wrap around and tuck in. I used an 8 oz. skein of Fisherman's wool dyed purple (which split in the dye bath making it nicely variegated.) and another 5 oz. of Fisherman's dyed blue.


My short metal needles arrived in the mail, bought from some kind soul on the knitlist. I've got 5 sizes, including another set of 8's so I no longer have to steal DD#2's.

Yippee!

Surreal

I was all excited. Wound my yarn into balls. Reformulated my soaker pattern for two needles and printed a test copy. Packed my needles (and sunscreen, and food, and drinks.) DS#1 was finally pitching in a game close enough for us to go for the day. I figured I had time to knit in the car, while the first game was finishing, between innings, and on the way home.

See what I got done?

Just the ribbing. Well, just the ribbing, twice, but I ripped it out the first time.

It was just too exciting being there and watching the game--couldn't concentrate enough on the knitting, so finally put it away.

It wasn't just the excitement, though that kept me from knitting. It was also
I'm hungry.
I'm thirsty.
I need sunscreen.
I need the bathroom.
She just threw up.
I'm bored.

By the time DS#1's game started, I was done! with everything!

Here he is.

I tell him, when I see a picture like this:
How does your arm bend that way? Mine doesn't. It's just not possible!

He insists it's normal (and when I look at other pictures of other pitchers, their arms bend the same way.) Still, when it's your kid, it's hard to believe.

That's not the only thing that I have a hard time believing. It's that my baby, who was toddling around the house just a year ago or so, is close to realizing his lifelong dream of pitching for a major league team. He's had scouts from at least 7 teams taking a serious look at him. And I personally talked to 4 yesterday.

Only time will tell what will happen, but it's looking more and more likely.

I don't know how to describe it--it's totally surreal.

It was a good day.

I had good intentions of blogging last night, but instead I decided to veg out in front of the TV. Here's what I've been doing the last couple of days.

Finished a soaker out of brown "spun in the grease" handspun.

Lovely yarn, but the lanolin puts a drag on the needles that hurts my wrist, so I have to take it slowly.

CIC Shawl completion! The last time you saw this I had 47 sts short of being finished with no yarn left. I opted for over-dyeing some leftover purple with the blue and hoped for a match. (This is what I did with the blue originally, but since I measure by globs, I wasn't so sure.) Since the yarn is variegated anyway, it turned out fine so I spliced the end and bound off the rest.

Washed it in Eucalan to get out the vinegar-used-in-dyeing smell and blocked it last night.

Over-dyed my not quite so brown Fisherman's yarn to a better yarn.

Used up the rest of the brown dye. It still wasn't dark enough, so over-dyed that with green. I think I got it right this time!

I had ordered a couple of items at my LYS, and they came in.

I got a ball winder, and it's the blue one! Yeah! Thought it was going to be the red one, but the blue one is more sturdy and doesn't snag the yarn as much.

I'm so excited. Usually I have the skein wrapped around my knee as I knit. It works well (being as I don't have any toddlers or cats), but looks a bit awkward when I go places. Now I can make my center pull balls.

Also got some locking rings with their own little pouch, so no more safety pins! And this is a new soaker in progress.


As I was running around the house last night, my DH commented that didn't I want to move the junk from around the picture subject to make the picture better. I blissfully replied that I just crop each picture to remove the junk--much easier to crop than to actually MOVE the junk.

Because, after all, who wants to see a picture like this?

Notes, empty snack bowl(not mine), socks (not mine), bookbag (not mine), socks with a blob of spaghetti sauce (mine. Hey, but I DID cook supper! And I didn't include a picture of my hand where the sauce jumped out of the pan and burned my hand. It might have been at the same time as the blob on my foot. I was too busy running for the cold water to notice where else it landed.)

This yarn came in the mail today.

Beautiful, beautiful handpainted merino yarn from Uraguay. (That's probably not spelled right. I should go look at the stamps--there were stamps ALL OVER that package.) (Sorry, too lazy...)

The faster I finish my current projects, the sooner I can use this yarn!

pajamas

My neighbor, or "She who climbs ladders in pajamas" as I like to call her, was good yesterday. She was at the bus stop in jeans and tennies. She's not going to get locked out again and not be prepared. So....I took a camera to the bus stop today to report on her progress, and look what I discovered!

Yep, that's PAJAMAS!!! She was good for ONE whopping day! I promised to cut out her face, or you would also see her HUGE cup of coffee. That's how she's preparing--by making sure her coffee is WITH her, rather than locked inside the house. This way, if she gets locked out again, she can survive.

I've given her lots of grief about trying to manage the ladder all by herself, rather than calling me for help. (coffee inside--must get in...) She's getting rather sick of it, and is forcing me to admit here and in writing, that I would do the exact same thing.

Well, I can type it, but that doesn't mean that you need to believe it. I'm way too organized and level-headed to ever have that happen to me. I ask for help at ALL the appropriate times. (Okay, those who know me--Shut up already--all that laughing can't be good for you!)
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Not much knitting to report, but I hope to do some tonight to relax from my stressful day of madly cleaning the house. There's a birthday party going on here. Dani's turning 10 tomorrow! (Did take out a few moments to play Gaps--I even won once!)

I paused from my vacuuming to look at my wonderful new books. Brand-new, hot-off-the-presses book from the Yarn Harlot called "At Knit's End. Meditations for Women who Knit too Much".


I'm showing it here amidst the party supplies. How far is that? After waiting and waiting, it comes when I don't have time to read it? I also got "the Best of Knitter's Arans and Celtics". I might be dreaming, but I'd like to make one of these soon.


Here's the party going in full force. There's more girls than this. (maybe a gazillion. Or, maybe it's 7 and just sounds like a gazillion.) They're all watching a movie now so...off to knit!

Gaps

I'm stuck on this Solitaire game called "Gaps". I don't get any better at it, but in hopes that someday I will win (chances are 1-in-20, but I'm not even that good) I keep playing. Now some games have a learning curve, and then you gradually become better. Not this one. It just stays the same.

It's not even like it's a hard game to play. Just moving the cards around according to ascending order and suit (suite? you know--hearts, diamonds, spades, clubs). I even had "HE of the 80 Boggle words" play it. "please play this for awhile and figure out the strategy and tell me" I ask him. Even he says, "there is no strategy".

I am an unbeliever, so I must play it over and over and over again. Nope, not any better this time. Or this time. Or this time....

I play it when I let the dog out. I play it when I let the dog in. I play it when I'm waiting for my super slow modem to send. I play it when I'm waiting for the laundry to finish. I play it when I'm avoiding my housework. I write about it when I'm REALLY avoiding the housework. And that's what I'm doing right now....

Got another birthday party coming up. Tomorrow, in fact. I SHOULD be madly cleaning, (or sleeping-- getting ready to madly clean tomorrow), but I'm just in here playing the never-winning Gaps.

I've racked my brain for a picture, but nothing picture-worthy has happened today. I have a start on a brown handspun soaker which feels wonderful to knit, but not that exciting to look at as of yet.

I have my brand-new soaker pattern that's been selling well. This has just been an exciting adventure for me--creating something new and knitting at the same time.

I'd better calm down by playing some Gaps.

What we do on a rainy day....

It was a rainy, ucky day and the kids were bored. I knew that because I heard "I'm Bored" about every 5 minutes. Then they would repeat it (as if I could forget). Now I'm perfectly happy just sitting and knitting all day long, but the kids aren't so easily occupied.

They built a tent. Well, they actually built it last night to sleep in, but they weren't done with it so left it up all day.

This is not just any tent. This tent uses up almost the whole room, almost every chair, and almost every blanket in the house. It has two mattresses for the roof, and a couple of blankets for the bed. (I would've switched them!) They promise to put it away tomorrow.

I'm not holding my breath.

They also roasted marshmallows over a candle. (Notice our smartness of using a fork and not a toothpick as was suggested.) This progressed on to two kids and big marshmallows, but no mishaps.


This is me. While I'm happy knitting all day long, I never made it to real clothes. This is how I looked after walking the dog. Notice the sensible coat (raining, raining, raining) and sensible shoes. In between is my lounge pants. Yep, never got dressed. And, of course, lounge pants is just a fancy way of saying my flannel pj's.

This occurred just one day after my friend's exciting adventure (you know who you are!). She, too, was in her pj's at the bus stop. Arriving home, she found herself locked out of the house. Had her cell phone with her, but did she call me? No..... She got a heavy ladder, climbed up (way up) onto her deck, just on the off-chance that her door was open. Which it was. But if it wasn't, then what? There was no going back down. That's why Flylady says to get dressed first thing in the morning--you never know what will happen!

Even with this fresh in my mind, I never got dressed. Jeans just restrict my ability to eat all day long. And that's another thing we did--made a yummy dessert. Too bad the kids had to go to bed as soon as it was done. (More for me!)

I did some knitting today, too. Here's a soaker that used up the pink yarn from the other day. Well, used up some, anyway. There are 4 shades of pink used here, and 5 shades that I dyed the other day, but I still needed to dye 2 more to get this to match.

A couple shades were too pinky-pink, so I needed a more red-pink to match. Took the yarn to DD#2's basketball game last night, and knit for several inches. The team won the playoffs, "Go Wildcats!", and I finished the soaker today.