Christmas Gifts

All gifts were a success. I knit double-knit hats and ear warmers, socks and a hat/scarf. I also sewed flannel pj pants. Basically I didn't buy anything ready made.

The hat pattern that I was missing was in Alasdair Post-Quinn;'s Extreme Double-Knitting Book. I needed a third color, and raided my 6-ply sock yarn stash.

That led to designing another hat and 3 ear warmers.

I even finished the sewing by Christmas Eve, with the last minute hemming of pj pants for a granddaughter I had not been sure was coming in town for the holiday.

I started a baby sweater for my gift drawer drawer. Pattern and yarn have been waiting for months.

In a Christmas related search session (didn't find what I wanted), I found a skein of yarn that never made it to the yarn corral. It called to me: "Use me now, use me now!" Here are some steps to craziness;

1. Find renegade yarn
2. Look on Ravelry for a pattern using that weight and yardage
3. Find one pattern, a hat, and it's an Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern which I own.
4. Her instructions are very vague, so I used some Ravelry information.
5. One hat is finished, and I've only used about 1/2 of the yarn.
6. This is for charity, so I'm knitting another hat.
7. The baby sweater is not likely to be finished this year. 

Knitting Fumes

It started before Christmas. I "needed" a needle to knit the cowl/neck warmers. I went to Knit Picks and ordered one of their pretty green wood needles in a 16" length. I also am always on the lookout for solid color non-shrink sock yarn.  I bought enough for 5 pairs. That should last me for a while!

Then my LYS got in a new line of guess what, non-shrink solid color sock yarn. 5 1/2 pairs worth joined the sock yarn stash. The library knitting group had a yarn swap/party.  Some partial balls joined the stash. I'll use them for color work socks. That's what the extra ball from the yarn store became. I agreed to design a mystery sock for a Ravelry group. I needed yarns with a good contrast. Back to the yarn store for 2 more balls.

On New Years Eve, I got am e-mail about a sock yarn sale at WEBS. 10 pairs worth, trying to concentrate on lighter colors. 

Then to top it off, my guild had its annual yarn swap/sale. Yarn for 12 more pairs followed me home. 

This is where the recent purchases live. The top shelf is the 50 gm bits that will show up in color work socks later. Some of it is leftover from other socks.

Meanwhile I keep knitting on my Fledermaus socks. 

I'm now nearing the toe. The patterning is going slowly, complicated by the fact that I'm knitting other things too. I finished the cowl/neck warmer for my grandson's birthday.

I've started a commission sweater. It's a simple pattern that I can take with me. The socks can only go to a limited number of situations, due to their complexity. The same for the grey sweater that I work on every morning. 

Weather continues to frustrate my dog walking, so I have more knitting time. We have started walking in a cemetery. The roads are clear, the traffic light, and it's not near enough to our house that she thinks she's allowed in the road. Walking the neighborhood twice a day will commence when the sidewalks are ice free.

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.

A Fresh Start

The holidays are over! I'm so glad I could make most of the gifts. As I was coming home from the fabric shop Christmas week, I got stuck in a traffic jam caused by people going into the mall!! I felt sorry for all the shoppers

As I said, I made almost all the gifts this year. The one exception was a cookbook that I picked up last fall. I own a copy of the same book, so I sticky noted all the recipes that I made.

Knitted gifts were cowls for most of the guys, a pair of fingerless mitts, and three pairs of socks. The trip to the fabric store was supposed to yield enough flannel for five more pairs of pj pants. I ran short of fabric on the last pair, and was fabric shopping Christmas Eve. I sewed that pair Christmas morning. I live alone and the family get together was on Saturday.

I also knit pair of scrap yarn advent calendar socks. Every day was a different color, with guidance on the choice provided by the designer. One day was your favorite sports team. There were charts for cartoon characters. I don't remember the rest. Each day you knit the number of rounds for that date. It got difficult as we got closer to Christmas. I actually finished on Christmas Day.

Now I'm knitting on my reknitting Masters sweater. I lost weight and it was too big. I'm nearing the

end of the back. Earlier last year I unraveled the sweater and washed the yarn. There is hope that I can wear it this winter. Silly phone camera saved the photo sideways.

I'm also knitting an elephant for my granddaughter.  I converted the pattern from flat knitting to knitting in the round. I almost had a head and trunk that couldn't be stuffed, but I realized in time and there will be a seam on the trunk.

I hope to blog more often. That really is my only New Years resolution.

Soup Time

It's soup time of year. A week or so ago, I made tuna chowder and bean soup with ham. Yesterday it was hamburger soup. Hamburger, tomatoes, red beans cabbage (a bag of cole slaw mix), beef broth, celery and garlic. Single serving portions of all soups are in the freezer.

 

Here's cowl #2, a holiday gift for one of the men in my family.


Once upon a time, I knit a sweater for the TKGA Masters Program. It was big and cozy, and I wore it a lot. I'm much smaller now, so last winter, I turned the sweater into yarn, washed it, and planed to reknit it. This is the start.

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.

Seasonal thoughts

Is this an air guitar, or a ghost one? Seen in the window of a local guitar shop, while walking the dog.

Actually, it's plastic. I really like the photo.

It's winter here in NE Ohio. I had dinner with my son on Christmas Eve and the went to Midnight Mass. Cold, but no snow, except a little left over, mostly on the grass.

Christmas morning was quiet. The family planned to get together Wednesday evening. Santa snuck in while I was out and filled my stocking. It seems my daughters think I should have something to open Christmas morning. I got candy. cookie mix and other little things. My dog got a huge rawhide bone that she hasn't started chewing yet.

A blizzard was predicted, resulting in a parking ban where my son lives. He was the host for the family Christmas. WEe held it Friday night. I made quilts from fleece and flannel that were a big hit. The smaller boy has dinosaurs on his quilt (a big interest).
I got more food stuff, flavored coffee, box mixes for baking, more candy, and the loan of an iPad. I want to buy one, but DD wants to make sure I'll use it before spending the money. She has one that she's not using much at the moment, since her phone does a lot of what she wants. I was looking for a bigger screen that a phone has. I expect to download things for use, but not store them on the iPad

Knitting has happened. I tore out my sweater. It was too small. I've started again, but concentrated on finishing a pair of socks needed by year end for a Ravelry group. The pattern is written, but I need better light for a good photo. What I'm using is acceptable, but I want a better photo as part of the pattern.

I also can show the mystery sock now that all the clues are out. I called it Winter Berries. I was thinking of mistletoe, but there were too many projects with that name. Right now, it's a free pattern, but eventually I'll reformat it and sell it.

I'm enjoying my time off from work, catching up on household things and cooking a little. I have a tendency to cook instead of clean, but I'm fighting it. There's only one of me and I can fill the freezer faster than I can empty it. I have a rule that I can't cook  a main dish if I don't have enough plastic boxes to pack up the left overs. I could buy more boxes, but have decided not to. These work well for taking lunch to work. I often full them with salad. They hold about 3 cups.

Today I made Oxtail Stew in my Crock Pot. It cooked all day until the meat fell off the bones. I used a recipe from Joy of Cooking and it is supposed to be served over noodles. Tonight I microwaved a couple of small potatoes and put stew over them.The white in the photo is reflection from the overhead lights

Time to let the dog out one last time, pack up the stew, and head to bed.

It worked, I'm thrilled

I've been working on the pattern for about 6 weeks now. It is my first Mystery Sock design. It was a challenge to make a sock pattern with four distinct parts. I was worried about how to upload it and make it go live. That part was easy.

Part 1 of the pattern went live last night about 11:00. I didn't want to stay up until midnight.So far this morning, 115 knitters have downloaded the pattern. I need to get working on part 2 of the second sock. I'm checking the pattern as I go.

I also need to keep working on the SKA Mystery sock that I;m knitting for Vitor.

Yesterday the timer button on my stove broke. Luckily, I have a backup. Ping works quite well and is happy to be used instead of hiding in a corner.

More Solar Power

I finally have photos of the solar powered lights that were added to my yard this year. The green lights are butterflies. Still don't have a good picture of those. In the front yard, the lights close to the house are insects, which change color. We have had lights before, but they wore out. all these are new. I makes me smile to look at them. Isn't that what you want from your yard?

I think I am surprising myself by how much time I'm spending working on the yard this year now that the whole thing is my responsibility. The lawn was DH's job, which he delegated to a landscaper the last few years. The short story is that we had a relatively new mower, and I won't cut down flowers.

I'm trying vegetables again this year. The tomatoes are doing well, although not red yet.

Last year, the rabbits ate all the leaves from my pepper plants. This year they are in containers on my porch. the first to ripen is a purple variety. It's about 2" long now. I'll pick it when it starts to turn red. I don't know what size it will be, so that seems the best way. The other peppers are coming along. the next biggest one is green.

 Business has picked up at work. The orders are bigger this week. One of the most interesting jobs involved making a sari blouse. The sari comes with fabric on one end for the blouse. In this case It was a coordinate, sewn to the end of the sari. Different from fashion blouses, these are very fitted and short. They are made with about 1" of fabric in the side seams to be let out if needed as the wearer grows/ages. These garments are kept for years, so the flexibility is needed. The sari itself is wrapped to fit every time it is put on.Other than that, it's been hem week at work. I probably do more hems than anything else.

Knitting has been a large pair of birthday socks. My Olympic knitting challenge will start when these are finished. These match a pair knit for my daughter earlier this year.

What a week

It started with a birthday party for the 5 yr old paleontologist. Not surprising, most of his gifts were dinosaur related, as was his cake, both of them. His day stared with a playground party with his friends. DD said it was the easiest party ever. Note that the cake is made of cupcakes, so easy to serve. DD#1 was there, having ridden her motorcycle in from Jacksonville, Florida. She's staying with them for the week.

My gift to him was a Stegosaurus hat, similar to one I had made for his brother at the same age.

Sunday night my nephew from Hawaii arrived in Ohio. Luckily for me, he was staying with my sister. His plane actually arrived at 1:00 AM Monday morning. The 5 hour time difference was in his favor. My sister and her DH went straight to bed. We had dinner with them Monday night. It made for a long day for me, since it's a 2 hour drive each way. I left work at 12:00 and had a nice afternoon with them. My bookworm granddaughter went down with me. She'll be a high school senior this next year, so it wasn't like herding cats, which I'm out of practice at. Nephew C is at the center. He hasn't been to Ohio for 25 years, since my mother died.

The photo was taken on Tuesday. My sister gave me a trunk load of plants for my yard on Monday. She noticed that my yard was sparsely planted and she had lots fo things that needed thinning. I spent Tuesday in the yard, in the heat, mowing, edging, weeding and planting. I also had bought more solar powered lights, which are now installed. Note to self - get a picture when they are lit. I also bought some dragonflies for the front yard. Half of them aren't dragonflies, but still pretty. It took me four days to notice the difference. They change color; red, blue, green. I am so tempted to buy some more, but I'm resisting so far!

Wednesday, I ate left overs from Tuesday. DD#5 flew into Ohio, but had a business meeting at Kent. She booked a hotel room and invited me to join her. The hotel room gave her peace and quiet to make notes and digest the meeting. She was treated to dinner, so I came down after work. We hung around for the evening , swimming in the pool, sitting in the hot tub, etc. I was knitting a sock for her DH who has a birthday in early August. The hotel is in Cuyahoga Falls, right on the falls. I had to get home quickly in the morning to let the dog out. DD had rented a car, so she came shortly after. She stayed with me Thursday night.

Thursday we were back at my sister's house for a baby shower. Her youngest daughter is due in September and it was a good time for another family gathering. It's a large family with all my kids and their families. At least one advantage of not being able to get everyone at one. Dear Nephew got to meet them gradually. Monday's dinner included DD#4 and her 3 kids. the kids stayed home Thursday. Those attending were Me, my son and his daughter (same as Monday's gathering), DD#1, DD#4, and DD#5. The shower was held in the garage, due to a 70% chance of rain. Of course, in thei drought stricken area, it didn't rain until we were driving home. Yes, I missed getting a picture of the mom-to-be.

Friday we gathered at DSon's house, just my family, so out of town daughters had a chance to spent time with siblings.

Saturday was a high school graduation party at DSon's. Sister came with nephew and her older daughter B. B had just arrived from New Yiork city. More getting to know each other better. She's becoming a teacher, and spent much time talkingtalking education theory with DD#5, a social psychology professor at Florida State. Phone numbers and e-mails were updated as well ad snail mail addresses. This is the year of more communication. One of the benefits of having my DH die. We realized that we needed to connect more with each other.

Knitting update

Christmas gifts can now be shown. There was a pair of leg warmers. I had told DD that they were "a nose warmer for an elephant". She had to ask!!


There were dishcloths/facecloths.

And more dishcloths/facecloths.









And a new hat for running in cold weather, made at the last minute.




I also have finished those crazy socks, but they won't be gifted until some time in January.

Empty

Empty is what I was feeling on Christmas Eve. I had plenty to do. I went to a %:00 church service where grand children played Christmas carols as part of the service. I went to my son's house for a gathering of his wife's family. I came home and walked the dog. She was very enthusiastic and made me smile. I ended the day/started the new day by going to Midnight Mass at our church, something I haven't done for years. At 2:00 I fell into bed. I missed having a certain special someone to share it with. Together we wouldn't have done so much, but we had each other. I relish the new freedom, but it's lonely sometimes.

Christmas morning I opened the stocking Santa left me. I hadn't hung stockings because my living room was full of boxes of books that belonged in my bedroom. This was the view earlier in the week while the ceiling was being textured and painted.

Saturday night while I was out, the family moving crew came and dug out the living room and moved many boxes upstairs to the room the contents belonged in. My bedroom is finished for now, and all furniture is in place. The blinds are back on the windows. The TV is back on the wall. The bed is against the wall where it belongs. I've started emptying boxes and putting books away. Many books will be donated to our library book sale.There is much work still to be done, but the remodeling part is finished.

Later in the day I went to daughter Jen's house for Christmas dinner and associated festivities with her husband's relatives. Today all my available children gather at son John's house for our family Christmas. Holding  the family get together on a separate day lets everyone see each other. It's also pajama day at that house, so there will be some of those in evidence.

It was a fairly subdued gathering. with fewer gifts than some years. Part of that was due to fewer available people. I got a number of odd food things like carrot and spinach chips, and chocolate covered pretzels. All this can be saved and eaten over time. Even the dog got a gift of a toy, which was made with the help of the grandkids, It is a tennis ball with poly fleece handles for tugging and chewing on. She seems to like it.