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.

On to Jacksonville

Joyce took me to two yarn stores. The first one was called Wooly Bully, and mainly carried natural fiber yarns. I found some mink yarn there which will be a scarf. I also got some stitch markers and dp tubes there.

We also went to her favorite yarn store near the Florida State University campus. I bought some bulky yarn and a pattern. I've already knit the vest.

One of the other things we did was make more stitch markers and copper jewelry. She had taken a jewelry making class and wanted to show me what she had learned. The solid earrings are the cut out piece from the beaded ones. We made the necklace the next day.

After three days with Joyce, Julie came and drove me to her house in Jackson ville. I don't have many pictures (camnesia?), and many of those are on my iPhone. I did see the ocean, although it was cold and cloudy. I only visited one yarn store in the Jacksonville area. I got a pound of Great Adirondack wool in sport weight. It will make some sort of a sweater, a small one.

We were able to spend a little time in St. Augustine, not nearly enough time. I guess I'll have to come back again. We'll do the tourist bus thing next time.

I have phone pictures of the new calf that was born ro "Jim the cow guy's" bossy, but they want to upload sideways from my phone. Julie lives on  a secluded street near the Jacksonville airport. Jim and his wife Nancy have a couple of cows, chickens, turkeys, and sometimes a pig. Julie gets fresh eggs from Nancy and meat from Jim.

No more knitting was finished on the trip. I'll talk knitting on the next post.

On the Road in Tallahassee

It was time to visit my daughters in a warmer climate. I flew into Jacksonville Florida, still knitting on my blue sweater. Dd #5 Joyce met me, stopping to see Dd #1 Julie before heading to Tallahassee.

Joyce had been job hunting, and got the official job offer she was expecting, so the evening was spent on the laptop computer. She will be moving to Washington State University and needed to talk to her new department chair, negotiate responsibilities, money and other things. This took place intermittently during my visit. Emails were sent. Phone calls were made. I knit and read books on my iPad.

Her husband cooked dinner the second night, using a recipe from a WW cookbook called "Cook it Quick". I looked through the cookbook, thinking to add a few recipes to my iPad. I finally decided that there were so many recipes I liked that I should buy the book.

We spent one day at McClay Gardens. This is a Florida park known for magnolia trees and camellias.

I cooked soup for all that night from a recipe i had brought from home. It's a challenge to cook in someone else's kitchen. I'm glad she was home to help me find things, even if her nose was glued to the computer screen, and her attention was on the future job.


Spanish Moss on a Magnolia tree
















Camillias

On the Road

I'm in Florida right now. I have two daughters here and I flew down yesterday. My blue sweater is almost finished. After spending three days on sleeve #1, sleeve #2 will be done in less than 24 hours. I'm almost at the cuff and I haven't finished my first cup of coffee for the day. I'll be wearing it this afternoon if it isn't too warm.

Update
The sweater was finished before lunch. We stopped for lunch at a Lebanese restaurant and a few doors down was a yarn store called "Wooly Bully". I bought a skein of mink yarn that will make a lace scarf. I took a photo of the shop sample with its tag, but I may very well make something else.

Third Time's the Charm

I have talked about this sweater before. It began life as a Sally Melville vest from her Purl book. I liked the vest, loved the yarn.

Last year, the vest became too large for my smaller body. I envisioned a cardigan about hip length, with 3/4 sleeves. One Sunday at church, I saw the perfect sweater. I complimented the lady on her sweater and asked if she had knit it. She had, but didn't remember the name of the pattern. It had something to do with a baby sweater. As I had guessed, it was an off take on an Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern from her Knitter's Almanac, called the February Lady Sweater.

I downloaded the pattern from Ravelry and checked my yarn quantity. I could do this! Since the sleeves are knit after the body is finished, they could be a little shorter or a little longer, depending on how much yarn I had at that time. I measured the length of a jacket with a similar style, and started in. I knit the whole body and most of one sleeve before I tried it on. There were problems!

The sweater was a little small. I think my yarn is thinner than recommended. It also was quite a bit longer than I wanted. What to do? I slept on the problem and mulled it over in my mind. I also marked the desired length while I had it on. That took care of the distinct possibility that the sweater would stretch.

Final decision resulted in two large balls of yarn. I started over, using stitch counts two sizes larger. I also bought myself an iPad, which made it easy to take a clean pattern and highlight the numbers I wanted. I also transferred any relevant notes. Now I have the body of a sweater that fits! On to the sleeves! There is light at the end of the tunnel.

By the way, I made the buttons for the original vest. The pattern calls for only 3 buttons.

Sock Woes and other things

The Zinnias socks are finished, photographed, and have been mailed to Illinois. the pattern is written and up in my Ravelry store. Just need to do Pattrnfish.

The main color is Regia Jacquard and the flowers are Schaeffer Anne yarns. The iPad shown in the last blog post has been returned to my daughter. She loaned it to me, because she wanted to be sure that I would use it before I spent the money.

I got some money int he mail that paid for more than half the cost, so I went out and bought my own. I had heard about used iPads, but none were available. Mine is verison 2 with no phone card. It doesn't make sense to pay for another data plan that I wouldn't use much. The wifi connection is fine.

So far I have put knitting patterns, books and recipes on my Pad. I'm leaving for Florida in a week, so portable books will be handy.

Sock woes

Periodically, some socks that I have knit come home for repair. DSIL sent these with his wife on her last trip to Cleveland,

I had used a small patch on a previous pair and they then wore out at the edges of the patch. Size 14 socks which are otherwise in good shape get new toes, and the first pair did. I'm trying a big patch this time. I still can replace the toes.

Another sorry pair of socks has been in my house for a few years. I misplaced one sock, didn't find it until the house renovation last year. It's time to get these fixed.

When I made them, I ran out of yarn before the toes. I guess the stitch pattern was yarn hungry. The light colored spots are worn very thin. DD wore through the ball of the foot and the toe. I cut off the damage, picked up stitches and knit new toes. They look much the same as the old ones, but this time they are Patons Kroy, I think the rest of the sock is Regia Jacquard. They both wear forever.

I've been working on this sweater. I got the body finished and most of one sleeve before trying it on. I went back and forth,but finally decided that it really was too small. My yarn is a thinner version of worsted. It's Berroco Cotton Twist.

I now am nearing the end of the lace on the body. I'm also using all 5 buttons left from the original garment. I'm hoping to wear the sweater to Florida. It's going with me finished or not!

Socks and mitts

A new pair of socks is growing.The SKA group on Ravelry has a flora and fauna challenge this month. I designed these to fit the challenge. I'm calling them Zinnias. The self striping yarn does not appear to be in my yarn inventory. Either I missed entering it, or I'm blind. The red yarn is from a recent pair of socks

I put the pattern on the iPad I borrowed from my daughter. I'm thinking of getting one, especially if I can get a good used one. She loaned me this one to be sure I'll use it before I spend the money. I'm still on the uphill part of the learning curve, but I'm having fun.

I also expect to use it in cooking recipes from the internet. I put another recipe in Pepperplate today. It's the soup I had for dinner.Poblano Chicken Chowder. I've been tracking my food in MyFitnessPal and had to enter it there. I needed all the ingredients for the entry and took it out of my cooking notebook, When I saw the website at the top of the page, it went into the iPad. My oldest daughter trolls the internet for interesting recipes and shares them with me.

Today was fix the mitt day. Over last winter, a mouse or squirrel chewed the inside of my barbecue mitt. I used it over the summer, but was not happy with the damage. I bought fabric and insulation to make a replacement. When I turned it inside out to get a good pattern, I decided to sew in a new lining, enclosing the damage, and still make the new mitt as a gift.

Forget to take a photo of the damage, but here's the new lining.

I quilted it and then trimmed it. What a pain to turn right side out!!! The top edge has bias tape on it. Yes, I used a power machine and a heavy needle. Here's the finished mitt.The lining on both mittsis gingham. The gift mit is denim on the outside and red gingham inside. If I show it here, it won't be a surprise.