The Library Challenge

Thanks to Ravelry I have joined The Library Challenge.The idea is to use that pile of books and patterns that you have collected over the years, using at least one pattern per month. I'm doing well this month.

Erin's Elephant is from Knitted Wild Animals. She'll be getting that on Thursday January 15.
I have a gift for my daughter in law, where I used my Best of Lopi book. No photos yet, she reads the blog.
The Socks I'm knitting came from a free pattern that was in my Ravelry library.

I'm reknitting a sweater that I designed in 1999. That one's from my personal library. I have a lot done on the first sleeve.The photo story is on Ravelry.

My charity knitting continues. Socks for Wool-Aid, a pair nears completion. Mittens for our knitting guild. Other knitting this month: a neck warmer for a grandson with a Feb.1 birthday, a mystery sock design for a Ravelry group to be released in July/August.

I have a basket of yarn to be used this year, some new, some very old. I'll add to it as I knit up projects.

I'm getting more knitting done these days. The weather is not safe for me to walk the dog, so that time is being put to knitting.

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.

It won't be a surprise....

to those who know me, but I've met another crazy goal this year. One of my Ravelry challenges was to make a list of 12 things I'd do 12 of this year. I've now finished 12 birthday gifts, some of them sewn, but many of them hand knit socks. Today I'm mailing off 2 quilts and a pair of socks. The quilts are made of flannel on top of fleece.

Now that the socks are finished I can tackle my Olympics/Ravelry challenge. I entered the WIP Wrestling event. I qualify for Cable Steeplechase and Synchronized Stashbusting. I started the sweater in early May, finished a sleeve, and put it aside for other projects. The pattern was written a couple of years ago for TKGA, but I didn't get to keep the sweater. The yarn is cone yarn from ages ago. I'm hoping to get the back finished by the end of closing ceremonies. It looks good. I'm past the armhole now. I'll just keep knitting this project through Sunday night and then move on.

Today was spent running errands, paying bills, weeding and mowing the lawn. Ran out of time for swimming. Now the Olympics are on tv, and I'm back to knitting.

It's been a long, long time

For the past month, I've spent much of my free time in the yard. I've learned to operate the lawn mower and the weed whacker. The watering system has been conquered. Weeds have been pulled. Flowers, tomatoes, peppers, and herbs have been planted.I'm getting close to the maintenance phase of the job. I do enjoy it, but so many things this year have had a learning curve attached.

Knitting has occurred, but not as much. I haven't worked much on the yellow sweater, but this is what the yarn looks like. I finished a sleeve, and the back is started.


















I finished a pair of socks for myself. Crystal Palace Mini Mochi is not an indestructible yarn, so not suitable for gifts.


I've knit many dishcloths. This last batch was a wedding present for a kitting friend.



For mother's day we did the traditional family breakfast at Bob Evans, trying a new location near me this time. I received this picture of a group of silly little people and two measuring cups with markings I can read. The white rings can be read from the top.

I'm one of many people who keep using what we have, even when it should be replaced. apparently I said something about not being able to read markings on one of my measuring cups.

I've been in training for Ravelympics. The Stash Knit Down group has a training challenge. Right ow I'm doing endurance training, knit the same project for ten days. I started a pair of socks with a simple pattern last Friday night (June 1). I needed something to knit while my friend drove tot he wedding.  These socks also qualify for the Sock Knitters Anonymous challenge since I am using an under appreciated pattern. This one is from a 1994 Socka book. I can triple dip with the solid socks group since the yarn is semi-solid and green for this month.

In addition, it is a Crystal Palace yarn (Panda Silk) so will count toward the 12 month challenge in that group.

I skipped the sock challenge last month to finish my jacket and get the dishcloths done for the wedding. It's not like I need socks. What I need is to knit a few other things on my list!

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 destruction and rebuilding

While I was appreciating the carpet removal, the remodeling gods were planning new challenges.

The carpet was hardly picked up off the curb, when DD started removing pine paneling next to the basement stairs. She was so quick at wood removal that the contractor decided to take out the steps that day. End of the day, we had no access to the basement, where the computers are, as well as part of my rabbit pattern. DD wrote a blog post with photos. I was at work!

The next day was devoted to building a new set of stairs. I worked all morning, deadlines to meet on Friday. She has a blog post about this day too! "How to replace stairs in three easy steps." She now has a few new skills and has decided that her basement stairs don't need replacing right now. The new stairs are much more sturdy than the originals, which lasted 90 years.

This week's knitting challenge is the guild toy competition. Did I say that I'm knitting a rabbit?
I got to the point where I needed the pattern for the inner ears and the pattern was still out of reach. I had scheduled overalls knitting for Saturday and assembly for Sunday. The straps for the overalls were not finished until Sunday afternoon, but assembly went quickly. All I needed was a quick trip to work for the two buttons on the straps.

I won first prize in the guild competition in the completely knitted toy category. We also had categories for bought toy, knitted clothes and a new category for other charity knitting. Usually I end up with an honorable mention. This is the first time I have won.

Next deadline is Saturday of this week, when I need a pair of socks for someone turning 50. I hope DSIL likes black socks. That's the color for Solid socks this month. I've designed these, but kept the pattern simple, black is hard to work in pattern. At this point, one sock is finished and work progresses on the leg of the second.

DGS William is also celebrating his birthday this weekend, but there is no way I'll be able to get his gift done. Discussion with his Mom resulted in a two family get together after the sweater is done. I have a pattern for a cardigan with trucks on it. I've put together the yarn kit, and read and reread the pattern. I might start the ribbing tonight. We watch tv in the bedroom before bed, and the light is not as good up there for patterned sock knitting in black yarn.

Rain, rain go away

Graduation (PhD style)
It rained on my son's graduation party! He had reserved a pavilion in a local park, so it wasn't a total washout, but at about 50 degrees and misting, it was RAW and uncomfortable. Hamburgers and Hot dogs were served, along with chips and cupcakes.

Winter coats were the fashion of the day. The setting was beautiful, but we didn't stay long. It was just too cold.

We have grown a large crop of mushrooms, due to the continual rain. They are starting to die off with a day or so of dry weather. Here's a close up.

We had breakfast with son's family this morning, and DH was asked if he had thawed out yet. It was the last breakfast of the season at the Marine Corps Gunny Hall (his father-in-law is a long time member).

Socks
The blue socks are finished. Beads show up better in real life. The didn't qualify for Ravelry's Solid Socks group although the color reads as semi-solid. It also reads as blue and green. The do count for the Crystal Palace Knit With the Palace challenge. They also count as a sock/yarn combo that has been in the pipeline for a couple of years. I'm glad to get them finished. They also are part of the Spring Stash Dash. That finished 2 of 6 original projects for that challenge.

The next pair of socks is a SKA mystery project by Janel Laidman, in an earth color for Solid Socks. I actually have clue #3 done on one sock and am waiting for clue #4. This is a fun pattern, partly because Janel included lots of interactive links. the pattern was originally titled 5-22-24-13-7-12-19-15-9. If you followed the key on the pattern (literally a key picture) you were led to a clue that said A=5. The title translates to Artichoke. There have been a number of artichoke links as well as links for her cast on and the wrapping technique.

Work
It's been rhinestone week and my fingers are glue covered. This year I'm adding rhinestones to prom dresses. Glue on stones gets on to my fingers, even though I actually apply the glue with a toothpick. I'll try to get a photo or two when I go to work tomorrow.

Problem?
We got a photo from our neighbors as well as a request. Could we feed their dogs? It seems they've been raptured! The rest of us are still here and have to do laundry and mow lawns as usual, at least until the Mayan end of the world next year.
How God is Managing the Rapture.

Scarves
I'm up to 12 scarves and I still have bulky yarn odd balls. I'll keep going. The September guild meeting is the collection deadline. I don't do a lot of charity knitting but this one appealed to me and the timing was right. I used up about 650 yards of yarn and finished 9 balls. I'm also donating 10 balls to another guild project, freeing up much space in my yarn drawers.

Missing sock and other stash reduction

Sock Mystery
The missing sock mystery is still not solved. I bought more yarn and knit a 3rd sock.There is enough leftover to knit another pair. I keep waiting for the missing sock to turn up. The pattern is Knotty or Knice by Chrissy Gardiner. The yarn is Crystal Palace Panda Silk.

Blue socks
Once upon a time, I knit a pair of wonderful socks that shrunk when I washed them for blocking. Crystal Palace replaced the yarn and I've finally knitting the replacements. The pattern is Moonchild by Adrienne Fong. The new yarn is Crystal Palace Panda Superwash. I've used 8/0 clear AB beads.

These socks actually don't qualify for any prizes. I had hoped that they'd work for Solid Socks, but was denied. The Crystal Palace blog has a contest using their yarn. It was time to stop petting it and start knitting with their yarn.

Both pairs of socks are part of my Spring Stash Dash challenge. I'm also working on the gray sweater.

Mother's Day was celebrated with all available family. Thirteen of us invaded BobEvans at 8:00 in the morning. The rest of the day was quiet.

Guild project
Monday night our guild had a speaker as part of our charity knitting. She represented women2women-knitting4peace. Among other projects distributed in third world countries, she talked about skinny scarves given as rewards to kids who do things like show up for medical exams. I was looking in my stash for bulky yarn for another project. I found many single balls not suitable for beginning knitters. With big needles and bulky yarn, I can knit a scarf in a couple of hours. so far I have 6 of them. I'm aiming for 10 scarves. I may do more if I have the yarn.

Tomorrow, our son receives his PhD. This is the third PhD in our overeducated family. We're not going to the ceremony, but will gather at a local park for burgers etc. I din't ask him, but I'm presuming that he is marching and making his teenagers watch.

Holiday sewing

The Passover garments all were picked up on time. No last minute Easter things yet. It's only Thursday and I'm off today, cleaning my house for Sunday dinner with the family. I was making a dress for Easter, but the customer had to leave town early (a funeral), and bought something. We've had a fitting and it will be done when she gets back in two weeks.

I did make myself a t-shirt and am working on a Mother of the Bride outfit.

The Stashdown group on Ravelry has a Stashdash challenge. Show the stash you plan to knit up by July 1. Most of what is in my photo was already in the pipeline.
The gray sweater should be finished by then, The green socks in upper right are moving along. Two of the other projects are socks also. The pile of brown yarn will be a sweater. I've already swatched for it. The yarn in the lower right will be a small shawl. Chart is written.

So what did I work on??? Replacement mitts for DD Jan, who shrunk a pair earlier this year. These are a similar color, knit from Plymouth Encore, and will not shrink. The pattern is Maine Morning Mitts by Clara Parkes. Model is named Bronte, and was more cooperative than I expected. I only used half of the yarn, so I'm knitting myself a pair.

Time to get back to laundry and decluttering. There is so much stuff from remodeling to move. We put coats back in the front closet and put 1/3 of them in the donate pile. I think all of them were bought by my MIL, and we never did love them. Don't need them now. I'm sure we still kept too much! I'm trying to purge as I replace, but it goes against my true nature. I just feel weighed down by possessions. Also life styles change, and what we aren't using gets shoved to the back of the closet. Those things are now visible and will leave the house.

The week that was

Early in the week we had freezing rain. UGH!! The next morning the sun shone brightly and all the trees looked like spun glass. Amazing!

I received a prize from a Ravelry group of a project bag. My DH calls these cows! The bag was made by Blue Tulips, who has an etsy shop.

Inside the bag is a shawlette from CPY Panda Silk DK yarn (another prize from a different group). I followed one of their patterns and ran out of yarn. The shawl is now finished and being blocked, so more photos of that later.

I finished the Tulip socks for DD the remodeler. It was a gray day. She is plugging along on her bathroom, taking showers elsewhere, like the "Y". Destruction has finished and she is beginning to build back. Luckily she has family and friends to help and advise.

Another baby hat was finished. This one of sock yarn. It will fit a larger baby.

I'm designing a shawl from this sock yarn. It should be a one skein project.

Advent Week #1

Well, I'm back at work, for better or worse. some days are really interesting, and some days I mostly baby sit the shop. I get more knitting done when babysitting. The wedding/cotillion dress is finished. I just had the hem to do. I did some pieces for a KISS tribute band that is redoing their costumes. I did a lot of boring hems. Saturday was a babysitting day. There were only 2 sales, resulting in me needing to sew on about 20 buttons.

The black socks are finished. I still need to do the pattern. The red mystery socks are almost finished. No new pictures at this point. Next up in the knitting queue are mittens for two of the smaller grandkids, and another mystery sock. Stephanie van der Linden had an Advent calender up on Ravelry. In addition to a u-tube video for each day, she started a mystery sock pattern on the first weekend of Advent. I had the perfect red yarn, which qualified under two categories in the Solid Socks group. It doesn't want to be those socks! It is hiding! I have been looking for about 2 weeks, and I cant find it. I got it out of storage, but didn't wind it into a ball. The socks will be knit from another red yarn.

Remodeling is moving slowly. Walls have been mudded and sanded again. The bathroom may be ready for priming. Today our son and one of his daughters came to plumb the new basement sink. Pipes for the washer were shortened. Pipes for the new faucet were shortened. It only took one trip to Home Depot for the new faucet with feed from the top. We have heat return pipes lower on the wall, seen just below the edge of the sink. Yes, the wall is still ugly. I've requested fixing and paint, but I'm not the one doing the work.

Once Upon a Time...

DH decided to remodel/insulate the third floor of our house. Actually he paid for it to be done. All plaster was removed, the walls and ceilings were insulated, new windows installed, plasterboard put up and DH was going to finish the job. View 1 shows step #1 of the reconstruction. There are no windows in the far wall yet.

Step #2 shows plaster board and a new window, looking from the doorway with the blue door.

Fast forward 2 1/2 years, with all the items previously stored on this floor, still in our living room and dining room. One daughter lost her job. She has 2 young adult sons. They were hired to help finish the job. Air force Grandson is now in Germany, but Mom and other grandson have been working. The walls, ceiling, and woodwork have been painted in both rooms. Lauan sub floor has been laid in both rooms, and one room is tiled, including the dormer and closet. There may be a light at the end of the tunnel.

A plumber came this week to put a new faucet on the bath tub and add shut offs to the pipes. I'll show photos when more happens in that room.

On the sock knitting front there also was progress. I finished the socks for DH, using contrast yarn for the toes. It takes a lot of yarn to cover his feet. The pattern is called Train to Brighton by Janine Le Cras. I tried to enter them in the Ravelry Solid socks group, but the yarn striped, so they don't qualify. The yarn is Hazel Knits Artisan Sock, a lovely yarn.

The black socks are also finished. They will be a birthday present later this fall. Cookie A designed these for her mother in law and they are called Glynis in her Sock Innovations book. Much as I like black socks, they are a pain to knit without good lighting. The Ravelry SKA group challenge was to knit with black or white or both, no gray.

The white socks are almost finished. Maybe later tonight. They are the Mystery Sock for this month, designed by Adreinne Fong.