Musings on a Very Cold Day

The weather here is still Arctic! We're not equipped to handle this much cold weather or continued snow. The driveways that get plowed have huge mountains at the street. It's supposed to warm up a little tomorrow.

I've been knitting. No surprise there! I finally made the mittens I need. The yarn was bought over a year ago when the previous mittens started growing holes.

My gray sweater has, not only a back, but two sleeves and two front pieces. I'm working on the front ribbing/collar now, 3" wide. Here's the latest photo from a week or so ago.

Can't take a photo now when it is scrunched up on the needle.

I finished a really warm hat today. I had a request from one family for warm hats as Christmas gifts and have been looking at patterns. This will be a gift for someone, but not the grandchildren of the request. I have something else in mind for them.

One of my neighbors got tired of the cold/snow/windchill that is keeping children home from school. There's a chili cook off at her house tonight. My oldest daughter sent me a recipe for Jalapeño Cheddar cornbread. I cooked it this morning. I happened to have all the ingredients. Should be fun.

A look at what I'm reading

I'm reading a fascinating book on the background and causes of the Civil War.  It's America Aflame by David Goldfield. He discusses how we got into the war, and how it transformed us into a modern nation. America was fighting slavery in the 1850s. That was the time of the Missouri Compromise and Uncle Tom's Cabin. It was a time of religious evangelical rebirth and the popularization and growth of Science.

The part I'm reading now covers the ending of the war. The North has established a manufacturing base, augmented by a railroad network for distribution. Men of simple origins are rising to be Captians of Commerce.

Charity knitting continues. I finished a pair of mittens for our guild. I used a strand of acrylic yarn with sock yarn carried along side. That finished off four balls of sock yarn. It may seem silly, but I hate to throw out small bits of yarn. The mittens are man size. The next pair will be large child size. They have been started and will be my work knitting. The wool socks that were at work will now go to the gym with me.

At last night's guild meeting, the program was a scarf and shawl show-off. Members wore their creations. We got ideas for styling tips by seeing what our friends do. A list will be sent out with info on all the pattern.

It's still cold here, it's winter after all, but a few warm days melted a lot of the ice on roadways and foot paths. That makes life easier. I'm wearing a scarf today, styled like my friend Nelly. Take a narrow scarf, tie an overhand knot on one corner, slip the other corner through the knot.

Life Goes On

Lent
I successfully challenged myself to a meatless Lent, excluding Sundays (40 days of Lent do not count Sundays). I found a lot of interesting recipes using beans, quinoa, eggs, and cheese. I still have a lot of freezer meals containing meat, made before Lent. I'm eating less meat than I did, and it's getting to be salad season.

Knitting
I found this yarn at Tuesday Morning and immediately turned it into a sweater. It was knit top down, because I didn't know how far the yarn would go. It's all used up now!

The stocking is another in a series that I knit last year. The customer didn't want this one until after Christmas. The child was born in September.

I've been knitting mittens for a guild Christmas tree. The tree will be decorated with hats and mittens, and will be on display in downtown Cleveland this December. I started with 33 yds. of the funky yarn. This is the second pair of mittens, and I still have yarn left.

I've been knitting socks, but cant show them right now.

Follow up

Yesterday, Blogger didn't want to upload pictures from my phone. I'm using more and more for knitting pictures.

Here is the skirt 

Here is how it fits. I love it! It's a combination of wool and acrylic, picked for color. The stitch is alternating seed stitch (k1, p1 then knit a round, p1, k1 then knit a round)

This is a hat and mitten set that I knit for the guild tree. So far I've made 2 hats and 5 pairs of mittens. I may need to take a break and knit mittens and hats for myself. My pink and purple mittens that match my coat keep getting holes. I have matching yarn and keep repairing them. Replacements are scheduled. I also need a hat and mittens for my green Borg coat if I'm going to wear it in the cold weather it is suitable for. Have yarn, must knit. In addition, I have a navy dress coat. The hat scarf and mittens are gone. I have a blue scarf that is suitable, but need hat and mittens. Have yarn, must knit. I need to do these for next winter.

In the mean time, I keep working on my green socks.

I'm having trouble with the heel. Operator error! At first I didn't have the heel centered. It's a heel construction I haven't done before, so I need to pay closer attention. I should have a heel by tonight.

The sweater will be finished by month end. I'm almost at the armhole of the second sleeve. Then on to the front bands, collar and zipper. This will go well with the skirt. The cuffs, front bands, and collar are reversible cables.

Catch Up Again

I keep knitting and fighting the snow. Yesterday was one of those "wintery mix" days. It started with rain. The temperature fell. So did about 3" of snow. SPRING IN 6 DAYS!!

This year, my city has used less salt than other years, which makes the streets more challenging to drive on. They are plowed frequently, and my driveway is plowed up to 3 times a day, but really!

Olympic Knitting
I finished all my projects/events plus one extra.

The Lady Macbeth Sweater is on track to be finished by the end of the month. The body and 1 3/4 sleeve are finished. I hope to wear it to Knitter's Fantasy April 5.

The Sock Hockey event was finished. It was entered for Team sock Knitters Anonymous, and won a prize.I got a sock pattern and a skein of sock yarn.

The Aerial Unwind event was completed and I have started preparing the yarn for washing and rewinding into cakes.

The skirt is finished and I love it. That was a WIPs Dancing event. I started it in November.

I also knit a charity hat.

I've since finished two more pairs of mittens, another hat, and a pair of socks for charity.

I've given myself a Lenten meatless challenge. I'm trying new recipes and eating more fish. I made a tomato rice casserole, and have a spoon bread recipe I want to try. It's made with polenta, creamed corn and broccoli. I also have a few things in my freezer without meat. The rest can wait until after Easter.

Well That was Interesting!

I did run out of yarn for the socks, and finished with some black. After all the angst about size and yardage, I remembered that I had used the brown yarn to decorate another pair of socks. with I had put a note with the yarn. anyway they are done and will be given some time in December 2014, either birthday or Christmas.

It keeps on snowing here. I'm ready for spring!

My knitting guild has decided to decorate a Christmas tree for charity next year. They need about 200 hats and mittens, which will be donated after serving as ornaments. I knit a pair of mittens. It seems I can't count. The first mitten was knit on 40 sts. The second on 52. Since this was for charity and I had plenty of yarn, I knit another pair like this. I also finished a smaller pair.

While I was on a mitten kick, I knit two pairs for great grandkids.

I also sneaked in a pair of fingerless mitts for ME before starting my Olympic challenges.

This is a pattern that I designed a year or so ago. I used the same yarn for me, since I had given away the originals. They'll be ready when the weather decides to cooperate.

I'm working on four Olympic challenges. Early in the day I have my Lady Macbeth sweater. I may not finish this, but and hour or so a day makes progress. It would qualify for the Ravelry event WIP Dancing, but I won't enter it unless it is finished.

Secondly, I have a pair of socks: event Sock Hockey. It's a Cookie A pattern which will also qualify for SKA and Solid Socks, I'm working with Knit Companion, which is great for a pattern with a 38 row repeat. It's the socks shown on the cover of her Sock Innovation book. I've done 48 of 63 rows on the first leg.

Thirdly is my Aerial Unwind event. I'm reclaiming the yarn from my TKGA Masters sweater. Lovely yarn. A great sweater! Too big for the body I have now. I found the pattern and will reknit and publish the pattern after rewriting in a smaller size etc.

Fourth challenge is another WIP dancing event. I started a skirt from leftover yarn. This is a Gwen Bortner idea, which I am probably going to have finished by the end of the games. I'm using up lots of odd balls of worsted weight yarn.

I've recorded the games and plan to do a lot of sitting and knitting in the next two weeks.

A very nice birthday

Wednesday was my birthday, the first that I have celebrated alone in my life. By alone, I mean no mother or husband to orchestrate a celebration. DH always remembered, but never did a big celebration, so quiet was to be expected. Actually, this one was more festive than many. I worked all day, then was taken out for dinner. Some of my children decided that I needed to experience Ethiopian cooking. DH was a meat and potatoes guy, but I'm more adventurous. We had a great meal, a meat and veggie sampler, eaten with what someone called rubber bread, tasty rubber bread. I got some phone calls and even had a gift to open. One of my Florida daughters sent me a gorilla tripod for my camera.

I have finished the socks for DGS and will deliver them tomorrow. It is family cookie day and his parents will be there, even if he has to work. The family gets together and does lots of cookies and them divides up the results. The sock pattern is from an old Stahl Socka book. It's fairly simple, but the dark yarn and user brain cramps made for some mistakes and ripping. All is well now!

I have started two more pairs of socks. The blue ones are for me. They fulfill a requirement for the Socktopia group on Ravelry and are my own design. I'll write up the pattern soon. I've called them Techtonic because they look like an earthquake has hit them.

The other pair is for Sock Knitters Anonymous on Ravelry and will be a gift. They fulfill both the entrelac technique category and the left over yarn category. I'm using six different yarns left over from other socks.

I have decided to knit dishcloths for Christmas presents  and have finished two of them. No pictures yet.

We have had snow, but today, we actually have a little left on the ground at the end of the day. You almost can see it on the grass. The wool socks, hat, and mittens come in handy. I made new mittens last year and really love them. They replaced a worn out pair and coordinate with my hat and scarf.

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.

Odd pictures

I don't know where my photography is going. First I take a picture of a frowning face. The bath mat is a little cock-eyed.

Then I try to show you a yarny bathing suit. This will be another Rodekool scarf. The left hand yarn is Jojoland Melody and the right hand yarn is Aussi Sock. I figured that I should knit the second scarf while I still remembered the pattern and how to fix errors. It did take me four tries to get it cast on and started. Plan A was to use two ends of the same yarn. There was no contrast and it was hard to follow the pattern. Mistake fixing was next to impossible. This is not high contrast, but different enough for ease in working.

One purple/pink mitten is finished. The second was uncooperative this morning. Mitten #1 was started on #4/3.50 mm needles. Mitten #2 was started on #5/3.75 mm needles. I had switche4d to the larger needles for the hand of mitten #1. The fuzzy stripe was supposed to have pink sock yarn carried along with the eyelash, not pink worsted. I'll admit, I was in the car helping DH with errands this morning when these glitches happened.

I have the yarn for the blue sock. They look like this now. The goal of finishing by month end will be met. The LYS is selling out its stock of Pony Pearl needles. I picked up some dp needles in the scarf size that are 8" long. That should work better than the needles I had before. I get tired of the extra length of a circular needle for a small project, and 7" dps were just a little short.

Exercise for the day was a trip to Sam's Club. I haven't been for about 6 months and spent like a drunken sailor. An hour or so of pushing a cart that got increasingly heavy, loading everything in the car, unloading everything at home, finding homes for everything, much of it in the basement, made for one tired knitter. I need to go more often, so I'll buy less at a time. Next trip will be when we run low on pancake syrup. I didn't buy that today.

Next exercise session will be the emptying of three closets. Wall paper removal is scheduled for Wednesday. Domestic archeology will undoubtedly find much that can leave the house in the donation bag or the garbage. Out of sight, out of mind.

Knit, Knit, Rip, Rip

The fish/scarf thing is Rodekool from Knitty.com. It is finished, but still a little short. More yarn is coming from Michigan. I love Ravelry! I get to make my scarf longer and someone else gets rid of a leftover.

I declared it done and wore it. Getting more yarn will mean that I have to take out the bind off in order to add on. The center section is fine the way it is.

The new mittens are growing. I frogged the hand because it was too tight. I went up one needle size and it's much better. I expect them to stretch with use. It's surprising how quickly bigger yarn works up. I did most of the hand at the library knitting group last night. It took 1 1/2 hours. The design is my own. I did a chart for the hand, based on some Slovak color patterns I saw.

The blue socks are growing. I will get more yarn tomorrow. The yarn went to New York City, but we got a call that a skein is now waiting for me.

I'm knitting a second Rodekool scarf from my original yarn. Instead of using two ends of the same ball, I found another ball of sock yarn to contrast and like it better. I only ripped that project three times.

I started another jacket at work today. It's a Marcy Tilton Vogue pattern that I have sewn before. I also knit a version last summer. The first version was linen. This version is wool.

The father/daughter remodeling team is working on halls now. Wallpaper was discovered in a couple of hall sections, so a steamer will be rented and bedroom closets and halls will be paper free.

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.

Did you miss me?

One reason is these socks.
They have 16 colors of yarn in them. The pattern is called Drip Candles and is one of those, where if you start working, you can't seem to stop. What will it look like after the next color. My sock yarn leftovers pile is smaller now. The socks are packed up to go to Illinois for someone's birthday.

All the mittens were well received. My son remembers Stop and Go mittens from his childhood.

I've been slowly working on this velveteen jacket. It's time to sew for me and my family, so I'm trying to use 1/2 hr. each day for this. Here's the jacket at day 6.

It's a simple jacket that I've made before, but I did a couple of things different because of the velveteen. I lined the sleeves, so it will go on easily.

I did a Hong Kong finish on the hems. I used bias tape from my stash, sewing it to the outside of the hem, pressing it flat, turning it under, and stitching the line between bias and velveteen. They look like this when hand stitched to the jacket. The pattern calls for top stitching, which worked well on the first one I made, but I didn't like it here.

Day 7 saw the yoke put together and the bound buttonhole made. The jacket is now finished. the yoke is lined with lining fabric and there is a black button. I'll get a photo today, I forgot the camera yesterday.

Next project is a pair of flannel p.j. pants for a 2 yr old.

My knitting needles are not idle, but again, few photos. I'm working on socks (no surprise there). They're a gift for my hairdresser. I forgot her at Christmas. I hope she can wear wool.

There also is the vest for 6 yr old granddaughter. I've no pictures of that at all.

It's almost Christmas

Luckily, I won't celebrate with family until a week later. Out of town presents are mailed, except for the one that the post office couldn't find to pick up. I've rescheduled and will call the post office early in the morning to complain.

The second pair of mittens is finished. No more Christmas knitting. I do have some sewing to do. Saturday was an 18th birthday party and I asked my DIL for gift ideas. She wants jammy pants. I had forgotten about that idea. Sunday saw me at the fabric store buying flannel for most of the rest of the giftees. Some young men are getting $$. This is the pile that I still need to sew up. One pair is finished and I should get a couple more done tomorrow. They take about 1 hour each.

I finished the Advent socks. they are knit from Knit Picks yarn. I'll see how they wear. They sure are soft and the yarn is not expensive. Even at noon, we don't have much sun these days. The detail shows if you embiggen the picture. The foot has decreases on the top and increases on the sole. the heel is very interesting too. I may make these socks again.

I finally started the December sock challenge. I chose the left overs option, designing my own socks. Unlike my previous left overs socks, these are very subtle. I should be able to finish the leg with the colors shown. I planned for the foot to be plain. These are for a January birthday, so I have plenty of time.