Sometimes I Hate Technology!

The hard drive died on my pc! It is in the hospital getting a brain transplant. We hope to retrieve data and reload. Not everything was backed up, but the most important stuff should be. The fix-it guys talked about backing up and retrieving things I hadn't thought about. Wish me luck! I hope to be back in business in a few days, although I'll be reloading lots of programs so I can retrieve the data.

Update - I'm back in business! Still have lots of programs to update. My email has problems. My scanner and printer aren't talking to the computer. My son will be here tomorrow to try to fix.

What have I knit? I finished the socks. They're called Mad Hatter, and are a pattern I sold to a sock club. When the pattern came out, I was given the whole month's package. It took me a while to knit them up.

Another kit that went on vacation with me was a baby sweater. I was given the kit as a door prize when I taught for the Roof Garden{?}Knitting guild in New York near the 9/11 plane crash site. The pattern is a Kristin Nicholas design done in cotton yarn. I don't have a bay in mind, but I'm glad to have the kit done, and babies get born all the time. I'll be ready the next time someone holds a shower with little notice.

The last project that went to Florida and came home unknit is a scarf from Knitty.com called Caireen.. I happened to have the correct Alpaca yarn, won as a door prize again, this time from Knitter's Fantasy held in Youngstown Ohio.The yarn is local, but I don't remember who it came from. It's handspun and sure is soft!

I have more knitting to show you, but I'll save it for another day.

I am so glad to have my computer back. I took it back to the store where I bought it. They were able to save all my data, but not the programs. Luckily what I use most is Microsoft Office. I got the computer back with a limited usage version of it (19 times). I have the disks for the 2007 version and on the second try was able to successfully enter the product key. Why do they write them so small? The "B" looked like an "8". I've downloaded iTunes and Blogger.

How did I survive a week without my baby? I get mail on my iPhone and iPad. I could read blogs and Ravelry. I was lucky it only took a week. Actually, I "stalked" the store. I called when I thought the work would be done, only to find out that it hadn't been started. The phone call bumped me up in line. A second call three days later was more encouraging. I'm having to relearn how to type. Autospell on the phone has spoiled me. You don't have to put in apostrophes, or even spell correctly. It will autocorrect. If you're not careful, it may say something you didn't mean, but generally it's a help, especially on the smaller phone screen.

Today is the first day of summer

It's summer, and all the baby knitting is finished for now. I will need to knit another girl sweater for the future, but not yet. This one is Elizabeth Zimmermann's Tomten Jacket. I used a cotton cone yarn as the base yarn and a number of odd balls to carry along. There is fuzz, there is glitz! All the yarn I used is gone from my stash. It really feels good to use the odd balls!

Some Sewing
I recently made a wedding dress for a client from beaded lace. A simple dress that came out nicely, copied from another dress she brought me. It has a very low back. I did not make the train,it came with the original dress but I had to find a good way to attach it.

She had a wedding dress made when she first got engaged. She didn't really like the dress. She didn't pick the fabric herself, and I'm not sure about the fit. The original dress was beaded all over, and the train was attached with hooks and thread eyes. The thread eyes had broken without the dress being worn. A bad choice, as there is too much danger of catching the beads with the hooks. I removed the hooks and attached two large tabs. "Whopper poppers" were sewn to the tabs and the inside back of the dress. Simple, effective, and strong.

I'm Back!

In addition to life getting in the way, my computer had a nervous breakdown. It was only 1 1/2 years old, but it appears that the mother board went crazy. We'd been having trouble getting online after rebooting. Then the keyboard started recording gibberish, I lost my sound, the computer started shutting down on its own. Two days later and much work by my live-in computer expert and things are much better.

Landscaping
The front yard looks good and will look better when plants mature.
The bushes on the upper level are blooming. Intersector Socks in progress recline by the Wintercreeper bush. This bush will top out at 2 feet high. These socks are now finished, in spite of pattern problems.

The orange socks are from a Vintage pattern, copyright 1944. SKA has a vintage sock challenge this month. I'm ready for something easy after the "bark" socks. Cabled clocks translated from an old pattern still makes for easy knitting. The flowers are Stella D"Oro day lilies.

Baby knitting
Girls are popular this year! Two neighbors had girls recently. I had two girl sweaters put aside, but I need one more, and I need to finish it in time to give before July 1, when the mother leaves town. The pattern is Elizabeth Zimmermann's Tomten Jacket, using cone yarn and a selection of odd balls. I'm using pattern instructions from both Knitting Without Tears and Knitting Workshop. Knitting Workshop has great instructions and a diagram for grafting garter stitch. Find the join. Time to knit sleeves.

Current secret project is some socks for South West Trading Company in their new solid TOFUtsies. The flowers are part of my "Little Henry" Sweetspire bush.

Illusion Knitting
I tried illusion design again, following instructions by Woolly Thoughts. The idea was to start simple, and maybe it could be a class sample. It worked! Something like this could also be a scarf.

Sewing business has been crazy. Prom dress alterations are finished, but bridesmaid dresses and wedding dresses are still rolling in and out.

I made a dress for a customer's daughter, who designed the dress. Here's the sketch. The proportions changed from sketch to dress, but the eighth grade designer is happy. The photo sure shows the tilt of the dress form. Many years ago, it had a collision with the floor, and has walked with a limp ever since.

Stitch and Pitch
The annual Knitters Day at the ball park was in late May this year. The Cleveland Indians lost, but it was a beautiful warm spring night and we all had a great time. The silly guy in the photo is our mascot Slider. I guess most mascots are silly, but we love them.

I've been busy and I finished some things

On the sewing front, I was asked to make a wrap skirt from an elastic waist skirt. Also it needed to be a little shorter. The purple skirt was the example. I removed the waistband from the brown skirt and took out the elastic. I cut the skirt and lining down one side and finished the edges. The lining was sewn to the edge to keep it in place. The remaining skirt was stitched to its lining a couple of inches from the top and the excess cut off. This fabric made the new waistband. As an after thought, I should have gathered it slightly to better fit the customer's hips. Ties were made from the original waistband and a buttonhole was made at a 45 degree angle for ease in wrapping.

I finally finished my black shawl. I still need to write the pattern. The yarn is Aussi sock, 2 1/2 skeins. Needles are US #6/4.0 mm. I delivered it to the yarn company at the trade show Sunday, only a couple of days late. It's a trapezoid shape worked form the long edge to the short. The edging is worked sideways picking up from the edge in a defined manner. Fancy photos will be taken later this week and inserted in the pattern.

I've been working on a pair of socks since early May, or not working, because of the shawl and sewing deadlines. This is how far I am now. They are for a May 19 birthday. He'll get them when they're finished. Yarn is Zitron Trekking Pro Natura in a denim color. Needles are Knit Picks Harmony US# 1.5/2.5 mm. The pattern is vintage, adapted to the target foot. I didn't knit 10 1/2" legs.

I went to TNNA on Sunday, met lots of people, saw lots of things, got some ideas for new projects. I only came home with one book this year. I'll write about that soon.

Yes, it's been a while

It's been a long time. I didn't realize how long. I've almost finished another pair of socks. I'm actually past the heel on the second sock, but no pictures. I'll have to fix that soon.

I've been working on a couple of stealth projects. One is a shawl from Aussi
Sock.

The other is a baby sweater. I've knit this twice before, but I'm working on getting the bugs out of the pattern. This sweater will either go in my future gifts pile, or be sent off with the pattern when I sell it.

I'm also making a Jojoland Swiirl Scarf. Again, this has progressed farther than the photo. I have one strip done out of three. The grandkids sweaters have been swatched and the working pattern is on paper. Knitting has not started yet, after the baby sweater.

Winter is back here in NE Ohio, but there was enough warm weather to melt the snow. Dog walking has started again. We're both happy with that. I don't mind snow, but ice and depth of snow don't work.

Valentine's Day was quiet. I work on Saturdays. We went to a Cleveland Orchestra concert in the evening. t was a great program: Samuel Barber's Overture to The School for Scandal, Brahms Violin Concerto, and Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4. The violin concerto was palyed by a young man I hadn't heard of before, Nikolaj Znaider from Denmark. He was awesome. I was also impressed by his suit. It was colarless and lined in bright red. The red reflected on his sleeve cuffs and could be seen at the hem and pocket flaps. Usually lining ends a little farther from the hem edge.

Today I spent time cooking, as I often do on my day off. I made a big pot of bean soup from an old Woman's Day cookbook. That will be eaten later in the week and some of it frozen. Dinner was a beef and corn shepherd pie that is a family favorite. It's nice to eat casseroles, but they take long enough to cook, that they're not a good choice on a work night. Reheating works well, and the flavors have blended with time.

Finishing problems

Today it warmed up a little, about 30 degrees. It'll go back to normal tomorrow.

I'm facing a bit of a project crisis. I finished a pair of socks and almost finished a baby sweater. What should I knit next??? I have a pair of socks in the pipeline, the baby sweater will be replaced by a stealth project, but I'll finish up my Noro cardigan on Thursday. What goes in that slot? I'm thinking that I'll do sweaters for my smaller grand kids. If I do them now, I'll be ready for Christmas. I was originally thinking birthdays, but we're celebrating 2 of them this week. The 3rd birthday is in July. Knit for Christmas sounds good, and a larger needle project is a good thing. I have yarn, I have ideas, I have patterns, it's hard to make choices.The shawl project pattern is written. Photos were taken. Where do you take shawl photos with 12-14" of snow on the ground and piled up everywhere that has been dug out. Ann Hanson of Knitspot showed a shawl on a dress form. I have a number of those. I hung up some black fabric for a backdrop and good pictures were taken. Today we went to Cleveland's city greenhouse for live photos. I should have brought a stylist to make sure that the shawl wasn't folded funny. I couldn't see behind myself. DH took the photos.

I finished some birthday socks. The pattern is from KnitNet, Onion Domes. The yarn is Bernat Hot Socks. It was cheap, but I wouldn't buy it again.

I'm knitting a baby sweater for a great grand child. I have the pattern first draft written finally. I first knit this pattern almost 2 years ago. I need to work on the schematic and add sizes to the pattern. I'd like to sell the pattern, so the picture from last post will have to do. I still have 1/2 sleeve to knit. I might finish tonight. I'm going to knit it one more time in case I need a garment to go with the pattern. It's good to have baby things on the shelf when needed.

Yes, we have snow

We've had over a foot of new snow this week. It's pretty, but I'd rather have it in smaller doses. My car doesn't have skis. I think this planter in my front yard has reached its limit too!

I've been thinking more about the emotional ups and downs of designing. It's sort of like a puzzle. When the pieces go together nicely, you're happy. When they don't you're frustrated. More frustration leads to depression and the feeling that you're never going to get it together.

I've been working on my Noro cardigan. I knit one square a day. I'll finish on Feb 5th. This is the second sleeve and I have one more button to make. I'm using the contrast color yarn for those.

A baby sweater is in the works. The body is finished and ready to cast off. My own pattern.

Socks are nearly finished. The contrast color doesn't always show up well. The pattern is Onion Domes from KnitNet.

Next week will have finished projects and a chance to start again. Next up, more socks and a shawl design. I also have to write the pattern for the baby sweater. This is the second time I've knit the design. Time to get it out into the world.