We Have Heat

It's been a struggle. First the gas valve needed replacing, then a couple of sensors. The boiler would run until it brought the house up to temperature, but wouldn't restart as it cooled down. The chimney man was able to clear the chimney from the inside. Now all we need is a new damper motor. What we have works, but not correctly. At least the boiler doesn't need tending anymore.

It was almost a much trouble as the old coal boiler we used to have. The house was built with both a coal boiler and a gas boiler. Gas pressure wasn't reliable in cold weather in the early 1920's. The system worked for about 80 years. The new one is more efficient and has more moving parts to fail.

I'm home from work today because of the ice left from the freezing rain. some melting has occurred, but that means there is water on the ice, making it more slippery. Schools are closed and I'm enjoying staying home.

Monday, yarn arrived for my blue scarf. I now have both tails the same length. I love Ravelry! A knitter in Michigan sent me yarn left over from a project of hers.

Another problem knitting project is my latest pair of socks. I'm knitting them with left over yarn and as I neared the top of the first sock, I realized that I didn't have enough white yarn. I've added lilac to the mix, but had to frog the first sock almost to the toe. The scoks are now being knit in tandem. No more ripping. The pattern is only on the op of the foot, with the soul in stockinette. I should have enough yarn now, and if not, I'll be looking for another color.

There is another jacket in my closet. I've not worn it yet, since I finished it yesterday and am not working today. The border fabric is closer in color to the body fabric than the photo shows. I've made the jacket twice before, so this may be the last time for this pattern. I have it in wool, "linen", and knit of dishcloth cotton. Next sewing project is a summer blouse.

I'll also make a couple of pairs of winter slacks after I refine my pattern. I had a pattern almost perfect and now it is hiding. I'm using another pattern and my most perfect pair of slacks and this time it will be put on file folders taped together for a more durable pattern. This will be hung up, so no more hiding!

More problems

The blue Socks are finished. I ran out of yarn, but was able to get more. The socks looked like this when the yarn ran out.

The pattern is Niagara by Janel Laidman. The yarn is Claudia Hand Painted Yarn in Periwinkle. I added one repeat to the width of the sock and two repeats to the length.

The mittens are finished. Worsted weight yarn knits up faster than fingering, even in a fair isle pattern. I designed these, using elements from a number of sources. The main yarn is Aussi Wool that I bought last spring, knowing that the original mittens were dying. The fuzzy section is a combination of Bernat Boa and pink sock yarn.

I've started another pair of leftovers socks. The pattern is called Cranberry Biscotti. I'm doing them toe up, to ensure that I don't run out of yarn. The pattern is going quickly, since it is largely stockinette.

Sewing is happening, and it's for me. I'm making another unlined jacket, this time from light weight wool. I used lining to put a Hong Kong finish on all exposed seams. I'm using two different wools from stash. The collar and all other edges are a little heavier than the body. I have all the pieces together, but forgot to bring the camera to work. There is some finishing to do still.

I was wrong about the three closets to empty, there are four. Three are now mostly empty. The wall paper steaming is going to be delayed. The weathermen predict icy rain for that day, which makes for slippery footing for moving machinery. Also we are having boiler/furnace trouble. It appears that something has gotten down the chimney and is blocking air flow to the burners., creating havoc with electronic controls. Repair people have come twice and we still have problems. Tomorrow, they plan to check what is in the chimney.

Bits and Pieces

The bathroom is completely finished, except for a radiator that needs paint. Sounds like a summer time job to me. We'll have to research heat resistant paint for it.

My velveteen jacket is finished. I also made a pair of pj pants for a two year old's birthday gift. Next up is another jacket for me.

The blue socks are progressing slowly. I used just over one skein of yarn for the first one, which means that I can't finish the second without more yarn. LYS says all of that line of yarn is in New York City this weekend. It will be back on Tuesday. I hope they don't sell all of my color.

This blue is not a fish, it's a scarf. The yarn is Mini-Mochi, which has very long color changes. The pattern calls for one ball, but I ran short. Do you see a tendency? I shortened the center section and should be in good shape. It's a technique called two-color brioche, and takes a lot more concentration that most of my projects. Now that I seem to have the pattern in my head, I may do another one.

A project that went well, was a vest for EB's birthday. I had plenty of yarn. The buttons came from my mother's stash. The pattern is from a book called Circular Knitting Redefined that I have a pattern published in. I have a birthday sweater for MB that I knit about 12 years ago for publication. It resurfaced just in time to fit him.

The black hole of knitting swallowed another dp needle this week. I saw where it fell, but it isn't there. It did spit up a sock needle 4 days later. Don't know when that one went in, but I'm glad to see it. I also have a knitting black hole at work. It ate a stitch marker recently, but that may have gone in the trash.

It's tax time for my business. Semi-annul sales tax is done and paid. Payroll taxes are in good shape, but I'm missing two forms. They have been ordered.

I'll finish the scarf tomorrow. I'm so close, but have about 3" to go. Then I can work on my new mittens. I finally trashed my purple mittens that match my hat and scarf. I got tired of mending them. I've had the replacement yarn since last spring. There was more mitten knit, but I ripped it out. It was a little small so I upped the needle size. I'm using fair isle, and making the mittens so that they can be worn on either hand to spread the wear.

Sunday I spent all day at a guild workshop on sweater fitting with Anne Hanson. My accountant's wife rode out with me. Made a long ride shorter. I learned a bit and got a lot of work done on a sweater that has been hibernating over the holidays.

We won't talk about the new classes I have to submit to Knitter's Fantasy, or the pattern waiting to be written.

Knit, knit, finish

One of the side effects of working on many projects is that they may all get finished at about the same time.

• Sunday - cotton jacket
• Tuesday - Mystery Socks
• Thursday - Swiss Cheese Scarf
• Saturday - Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf
• Monday - fingerless mitts
• Thursday - mitt covers

That's it for now. Work has been slow, and I'm the boss, so I've had more knitting time at work.

The Mystery socks were stash busters., using little balls of left overs. The swiss cheese scarf is cone yarn from a mill. I like it so much that I have started a sweater from the rest of the yarn. It is top down. all available yarn will be used and there are so many colors ot tweedy bits in it, that I can choose another color for finishing if needed.

Last Saturday was a guild yarn shop hop. We went to Columbus, OH, about 3 hrs south of us. We did have to meet up at 6:15 AM. I didn't drive, so was able to knit.I chose a simple scarf that had been sitting for over 6 months. It is the Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf, knit from 2 balls of Noro Matsuri that I received as a holiday gift. On the trip, needles, sock yarn, a pattern, and a sock yarn needle gauge were purchased. Much fun was had.

One of my daughters had taken up running for exercise. She asked for fingerless mitts with thumbs. The yarn I chose is partly purple, her color, but it is also cotton stretch. (Patons Stretch socks). I decided to make mitt covers using Wool-Ease. If she runs when it is colder outside, she can use something else. All pieces were adapted from Ann Budd's Handy Book of Patterns

Today is family day picnic gathering. DD #1 is in town from Florida. I gave her a book on historic American quilts, since that is her main hobby. She loved it.

Present sock on the needles is Lucy Neatby's Fiesta Feet, knit from Patons Kroy 4 ply sock yarn. Plan A was to use muslin as the solid, but it was knit into something else and is not available. Norfolk blue was substituted. Kroy is heavier/denser that many sock yarns, so I stuck with the same brand. Boy is this a lot of work! I made the leg longer, because I like winter socks to meet my long underwear. Nothing worse than a gap for the cold air to find. I've waited years to knit these. When I finally got to it, I couldn't find the pattern and had to buy a new copy. That wasn't so bad, as the first one was a copy a friend gave me. From her complaints, I thought she was sending me her original. When I used the muslin yarn, it was still available for repurchase. Oh Well. First sock is finished. Keep knitting!

Quick cast on - a fruit hat for grandson to be born in Sept. Stash yarn says he gets an apple. I bought a fruit phat pattern on the shop hop, thinking I only had the flower hat pattern. WRONG! I can't find a flower hat pattern, but already had the fruit hat. DD #1 was happy to take one of them off my hands. I should finish the hat tonight, started about 4:00 this afternoon. It was easy knitting at the party, round and round and round.

It's finally finished

I've been working on this jacket, off and on, for over a year. That's a long time for one of my projects! I accepted a challenge involving unfinished projects, figuring that it could be finished by September. Eek, the deadline is August 5. Knit faster, knit faster. Make mistakes, re-knit. Find that sleeves are too long. take out and shorten. Sleeve cuffs want to unroll. Remover and attach differently. Knit some more. Finish bottom band. Go to sew it to jacket bottom. Undo bind off and lengthen bottom band. Knit front bands, re-knitting the mitered corners several times.

Finally, success. It may look better buttoned. It may hang differently after washing/drying. But it's done.

One of the yarns has been in stash for maybe 20 years. It's good to finally find a good use for it.

Weekends have been busy. Last week there was a graduation party for a granddaughter.Today I saw her again and she finally has a full-time job.

This week our knitting guild picnic was held. That's always a good time. One of the members has a house with a large amount of land and a swimming pool. It was a little chilly for swimming, but the knitting, talking and eating went well.

My small garden is doing fairly well. I haven't had one for years, and started small; 2 tomato plants, 2 pepper plants, and some basil. The pepper plants had their leaves eaten, so I moved them to a window box on our porch. Survival was iffy, so I bought more pepper plants. All have had flowers. I'm waiting for peppers. One green tomato so far. Basil has been pulled and is drying. Next year I'll do more variety. There are only 2 of us and the cook still has a job, so I didn't want to overwhelm myself.

Moving along

Mystery Sock
I seem to have missed posting about the SKA Mystery sock challenge for this month. It is a Chrissy Gardiner pattern, which at the moment is called Progressive Sock Party. The name may change now that all the clues are out.

This is how clue #1 looked with all the yarn. Most of it is left overs from other sock projects. Clue #4 came out this morning. Since this month the clues come out on my day off work, I can get right on them. One sock finished!

Cotton Jacket
Another knitting blog started a dog days of summer challenge to finish unfinished projects. This jacket was started over a year ago. That may not be long for some knitters, but it is one of the few works in progress for me. I'm doing lace now. We have a collar and one sleeve cuff. I may need to shorten the sleeves, but I'm going to wash and dry it first. It still needs the other sleeve cuff, bottom band and front bands. It won't be done by the August 5 deadline, but I can wear it when the weather changes.

Baseball All-Star
A certain grandson is a 7 yr old all-star in his 7 & 8 yr old baseball league. Grandpa and I watched his game. They play 5 innings with the coach pitching and the kids doing all the fielding. MB got a hit!

Birthday
His younger brother is 3 and had a birthday party last Sunday. PJ pants have been a big hit as gifts, so I made him a pair with trucks on them. He put them right on. I guess I'll have to keep sewing pj pants. I have a Butterick pattern in all sizes.

Guild scarf project
The goal is to have the scarf finished by the August meeting, August 9. The pattern is called Swiss Cheese Scarf. I decided how long I want it, trying to allow for stretching, and marked the middle. Now all I have to do is count the side bumps. When I get close, I'll try it on. Current figuring has it 65% complete.

Fiesta Feet
Lucy Neatby wrote this complex pattern a few years ago, and I put it on my wish list and in my cache on Ravelry. One of the options for Ravelry's SKA group this month was stranded color work. The time had come. The thinking was to work on these4 socks while waiting for mystery clues. Reality said that I had a few other things to work on, but I've made some progress. The deadline for prizes for both pairs of socks is August 31. My chances of winning are slim, but I should finish both in time.

Happy Holiday

I've been working too hard. I have one employee, and she has been ill, so I have to do everything myself. Good news/bad news I had a lot of work come in for delivery in early July. Today is the 4th and I'm NOT working.

Thursday was yard day. I had pulled out some Tiger Lilies and wanted to fill in the space. We now have another iris and some cone flowers. Our son wants Tiger Lilies when more get pulled out. We just have too many! Variety is the spice of life and I'm slowly getting some in our yard.

This jacket was started last summer. It's 3 color seed stitch from dishcloth cotton. It will have lace borders. The pattern is adapted from a Vogue sewing pattern. The variegated yarn was bought about 20 years ago. Finally most of it is gone. The rest will become part of a baby sweater.

The orange socks are nearing completion. Translating the pattern from 1944 has proved interesting. It's a fairly simple pattern with cabled "clocks" down each side of the leg. The cable pattern was written out; Rnd 1, rnd 2, rnd 3, rnd 4 like rnd 2, rnd 5 like rnd 1... for 12 rounds. I charted it so that I could see how many rounds between cable crossings. There are no ssk decreases, but the gusset does have skp decreases, so the same thing essentially. The heel flap is short for all sizes. Did I say that the pattern was for men? I downsized it, shortening the ribbing from 5" to 1 1/2". I needed to do more cables that written to make them the length I like. The toes are a typical wedge toe, but all decreases are k2tog. The yarn is from Lana Grossa.

When I went to TNNA in Columbus, OH, I made contact with Cascade Yarn Co. They want me to design a shawl and sent me some yarn. They have a new sport yarn coming out and was the shawl from sport weight.

First I have to finish some socks for Plymouth. They also want a shawl. More stealth knitting for money.

Our knitting guild has a Knit Along of a scarf. The chosen pattern is a free one called the Swiss Cheese Scarf. Mine looks like this, but now it is twice as long. The pattern consists of garter stitch and buttonholes, lots of buttonholes. I'm using cone yarn. which has a gray base and the second ply has lots of other colors.

Tools of the Trade

I was thinking this morning about how many tools we have. Usually, they are small so we don't think much about them. Men have more power tools, expensive tools in large boxes, but we might have more tools. I realized that I use many different needles in my knitting projects. Here's what is in action right now.

Old needles
This cotton jacket is being knit on old aluminum tip circulars. (The close up photo is a little out of focus.) I now have one front piece finished and 4 1/2" of the second front. I forget how fast things knit up with large yarn and needles. This is a long term project, being worked from a sewing pattern. I'd like to wear it this Spring. We'll see.

Glass needles
Being 10" needles, I use them for small projects, usually knitting at home with them. They are Pyrex and have been dropped a couple of times, but they are warm to the hands and I don't want to tempt fate and break them. The project is a scarf from 2 balls of Noro Murano, obtained at a gift exchange.

Wooden Needles
I'm using part of a Knit Picks set of sock needles. They call these Harmony needles. They are made of different colors of wood bonded together and come in sets of 6. The sock needle set has 6 sizes of 6 needles, including all mm sizes from 2.0mm to 3.25 mm. The yarn is a sport weight sock yarn. the project is the last Christmas gift for 2009, gloves for youngest daughter with large hands. You may also see stitch markers marking thumb stitches. They are part of a set I made to mark repeats on a shawl.

Square needles
The sock project also has 7" aluminum dp needles for the cuff. The square needles are only 5". My favorite length is 6", but Kollage doesn't make square needles in that length. My Motley Jester sock legs are knit in strips and beaded at the joins. This is the second pair of leftovers socks I've knit recently and I like them. They might have become monster socks, warm but ugly. I might not wear them with Birks, since I ran out of grey on the toe, but there are lots of time when I don't wear sandals.

Crochet hooks
No pictures here, but the beads are being applied with one of two hooks. The larger hole beads fit a #10 hook, which picks up the yarn nicely. The smaller hole beads are applied with a #12 hook, which tends to split the yarn. No hurry on these socks, but I signed them up for the SKA January challenge on Ravelry, which means I should finish them by Feb. 28. That doesn't appear to be a problem.

I will do more tools posts in the future and probably do some with sewing tools. I must remember to take the camera to work for that.

The sun is shining, so I can take photos

Brown socks finished
Only one more Christmas gift to go. It's still January, the month we were supposed to see the couple. These Florida residents decided that there's less snow and cold in Ohio in the summer, so the gifts will be mailed when finished. When I talked to her, we had 12" of snow and temps in the teens. It sure takes a lot of yarn to cover a size 14 wide foot, but he loves the socks.

Sometimes he loves them to death, or at least to the repair shop. The grey sock is repaired. The new pair is reinforced, now that I know where he needs it.

The Motley Jesters have a heel and the foot is progressing. I may run out of the variegated yarn, but the idea was to use up yarn. There are 4 colors on the leg. I knit the second cuff so that I could see how much yarn was left. I can't use that yarn for the heel, but it may show up in the toes. Yes, the second cuff is inside out.

I've been working on a jacket. The yarn is dishcloth cotton in a 3 color seed stitch. It's based on a Vogue sewing pattern which I charted out on graph paper. Some of the yarn is about 20 years old and didn't work for sweater plan A. I'll be happy if I finish this in 2010. I keep having more important things to knit, so it goes slowly. It doesn't help that Ive made major mistakes on the jacket front. No I didn't see the mistakes right away. The picture shows the jacket after frogging for the first mistake. I knit by feel and didn't feel the color mishap of working 2 rows the same color, nor did I feel the section that became rib instead of seed stitch. I was up to the neckline today when I discovered the rib section, about 3" down. There will be a wide border and collar to finish the jacket. The stitch and yarn will be decided when the sleeves are done, probably the ecru cotton in lace, because I can get more of that color.

We've had a death in the family, so there may be knitting time available. Our son's mother-in-law passed Monday night. We knew her over 20 years.

More Socks
I'll be knitting more 2 color socks for Plymouth Yarn, so I decided that I needed a simple one color project. I got the yarn as a holiday gift at our guild party in November. We don't meet in December. I have 2 balls of Noro Matsuri, so I'm making a multidirectional diagonal scarf. The glass needles are great to work with. I got them at a TKGA convention.

I love sunny days! I'm waiting for a little bit more warmth to melt the ice left from all the snow earlier in the month. I don't walk the dog when there's ice on the sidewalks. I don't think that little beings with preschool brains should be in the street, so I don't use that option. We do have a yard and she knows what to do besides chasing squirrels and rabbits. I don't mind the cold. I have lots of woolies that I like to wear, but I'm getting too old to risk icy walks.