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.

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.

So Many Blog Posts....

....have been written in my head. so few (none) have made it into the computer.

What have I knit since i last posted? A pair of socks for my Granddaughter Luci. I bought the red yarn at my knitting guild swap sale. It is Schaeffer Anna, which I had never tried before. It is not my favorite yarn. The patter was another mystery sock, being released in four parts, a week apart. It was the September mystery, and Luci's birthday is October 30, so I had plenty of time.

 My guild is hosting A knitter's Fantasy next April, and chose Wingspan as a guild project. Mine is knit from Crystal Palace Mini Mochi that  I originally bought for socks. I don't like knitting this at a small gauge, so it became a scarf.

Another guild project is children's scarves and other warm things for charity. I have knit 2 scarves so far. One I may have shown, using squares of garter stitch. This started with bulky yarn and continued with 2 strands of worsted or what ever, using small odd balls of yarn. Black was used consistently throughout.

The second scarf was made of long strips of ribbing, sewn together with bobbles. The pattern is in Pam Allen's  Scarf Style book. Again, I used small odd balls of yarn. I haven't made much of a dent yet, but I'm trying.

 The scarf I'm knitting now uses tapestry yarn. Lots of 1 yard pieces spit spliced together. Most of this is left over from embroidery projects I have done. a little of it was inherited from my mother. It's time it was used up or thrown out, or some of each.

Once upon a time, as recently as last year, I had a vest  from Sally Melville's Purl Book. As I lost weight, the vest became too large. I loved the yarn, but the yarn/pattern combination was not a good enough mix to be worth repeating in a smaller size. One Sunday I went to church and saw a cute sweater that I thought would work. It was the February Lady Sweater. I have finished the body and started the sleeves. They will end somewhere around my elbow. I'm not sure exactly where.

I started the sleeves by measuring the two pieces of knitting remaining from the vest. They are about the same in square inches. I'm using the smaller one first. and think that I can knit 9" of sleeve before the garter stitch band at the end. The buttons are crocheted and were used on the vest. The yarn is Berocco Cotton Twist., bought specifically for the vest.

I knit some face cloths for daughter Jen's birthday at her request. I have a few more that I would like to knit for gifts for more people.

Much of my time has been used designing a mystery sock for the Solid socks group on Ravelry. Part I goes live on December 1st. I am working on the second sock, test knitting/tweaking the pattern as I go. The yarn on this project is Cascade Heritage Sock Yarn.

I also have been knitting family Christmas Stockings. The first one is finished. This is #29 in the line of family stockings. Two recipients are no longer with the family and I may reuse their designs at some point. I have a basic Christmas Stocking pattern and each stocking is different. I have a number of them shown on the Ravelry pattern page. Like members of the family each one is different, but bears a family resemblance.

I've been quite busy at work, which is good. I need customers in order to stay in business.

What to eat?

This is my first summer alone. I've been trying to figure out what I want to eat in the hot weather we had been having. It's cooler now, but easy recipes are always good.. If anyone has any good suggestions, let me know.

So far I've discovered quesadiillas, pasta salad where I make the dressing, pizza whith my choice of ingredients and salmon salad wraps.I found a quesadilla recipe in a weight watchers cookbook, filled with chicken and salsa, topped with cheddar cheese. It was accompanied by a corn and tomato salad, yum! I had not cared for pasta salad , but talked to daughter #5 and found a WW recipe with a yogurt based dressing. I ate part of it with tuna added. Daughter #1 suggested that pizza can be made with any topping. I had some ready made crusts and topped them with spaghetti sauce, chicken and mozzarella cheese. Pizza shop pizza is too salty for me. I also had a quesadilla filled with spinach and goat cheese, topped with parmesan for breakfast the other day.

I sewed myself a knit dress the other day and I think I like it. It's comfortable, but maxi length. the pattern showed it to be shorter. I got lots of compliments, so i guess it looks good.

Most of my knitting has been on the charity scarf I'll be donating a guild meeting tonight. Here's an in progress photo. I actually have no socks on the needles at present. I must be sick!

Green Socks finished and gifted

I seem to have gotten myself into a period of deadline knitting this month. Lack of planning ahead, I guess. The green socks are finished and have been given. They were completed with 24 hrs to spare. The pattern is written and up on Ravelry. With an easy stitch pattern it went quickly. An unpatterned foot helps with speed also.

I named them Turtle toes, not terrible original, but the yarn color was Turtle multi. There is some interesting pooling going on in the one sock, but it will be inside a shoe, so the two feet don't have to match.

I've started the next challenge, another pair of man's socks to be given on July 16. Again, a simple pattern, but the black yarn complicates things a little. I had the yarn and black is one of the choices for the Ravelry Solid Socks group. This month' there are 3 choices, black, white, or gray. Next time I buy sock yarn, I need to remember that gift socks will be machine washed and dried. Better to avoid accidents in the manufacture.

The bunny has more parts, but no photo yet. I want to knit all the pieces before stuffing, so that I can weigh them and subtract that weight from my spreadsheet. I need the rabbit by the 11th for our guild meeting. All other knitting projects are on hold, except for these two.

On the remodeling front, DD continues to tear apart out house in the name of progress. An electrician should be coming in the next week to rewire the rest of our house. that's two floors and the basement. One outlet per room is really not enough these days, although when the house was built in 1921, I'm sure that it was plenty. Various workarounds have been used throughout the years, but this time a professional has been called and will bring us up to current code. This requires pulling the baseboards, so he can channel the new wires behind them. We have a stack of numbered baseboards, and the pile will get bigger as more rooms are involved.

Today she pulled up the last of the carpet on the second floor. We have hardwood floors underneath, although they need refinishing. That is not on our to do list for now. We moved furniture, disassembled the bed, made a mess, and got it cleaned up. Carpet was tossed off our upstairs back porch before being hauled to the curb for garbage pickup tomorrow morning. I continue to be surprised at the things we have saved over the years. Not that we saved them, but the fact that there is so much that we don't remember having. It gets easier and easier to purge.

OK that's finished, now what?

Friday June 24, 2011

Depression?

I finished the Plymouth Zino scarf yesterday and it is blocked and probably dry. It doesn’t take long. I washed it and put in the blocking wires this morning. I’m feeling that sinking feeling that I get almost every time I finish a project.

I’ve been playing with shawl ideas and swatching, but I’m not ready to start one yet. Left over sock yarn in a similar colorway was used for the swatch. I think I need fewer holes. The color seems to fight with the lace.

I have some birthday socks to knit. This is the pair that I knit the swatches for, and decided to change patterns. The new pattern is going well, but I’m not feeling the joy. I expect it will get better as I get farther into the project.. Right now, it keeps my fingers busy, and will result in a gift for my son whose birthday is July 5.

I also need to make an animal for our guild toy competition/give away. I have a rabbit pattern picked out. I need that by July 11. Then I can start the shawl, maybe. I need a gift for son-in-law’s 50^th birthday. I’m thinking socks again. Then there are the socks for big-foot., who has a birthday in early August.. He is soooo appreciative, as what I knit are the only socks that really fit.

Saturday June 26

I'm liking the Zino shawlette. A large shawl would have a sort of granny square effect. I'll keep that thought.

The swatch was knit with Plymouth Sockotta, left over from socks. The new yarn is also by Plymouth, and I expect the same sort of random colors. The next swatch will have fewer holes. I think the needle size is good for this yarn.

The rabbit is started. It's a Fiona McTague pattern from Knitted Toys. I've started with a smaller needle than recommended, but the pattern is written in stitches and rows, not inches, so I'll continue. I'm using WoolEase sprinkles.

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.

Same old stuff with socks

Saturday was the day for A Knitter's Fantasy in Youngstown, OH. This is a one day conference with classes, lunch fashion show, and MARKET. I taught two classes; Mosaic Knitting and Pattern writing. Both classes ended early when I ran out of info to teach them, but they were happy. The morning class went to the market and the afternoon class went home.

I got paid in Market money and bought Nancy Marchant's Brioche book and a skein of Cherry Tree Hill Sock yarn.

I finished the socks I was knitting. I called them Dreaming of Violets, but the pattern really is Grun ist die Hoffnung by Stephanie van der Linden. The yarn is Aussi Sock. The sock starts with the lace motif on the foot. The toe is knit, then the sole of the foot, then the heel. The leg is stockinette and the lace ribbing is a pattern from a Japanese knitting book.

The home remodeling is moving along. The crew has finished with patching the hall, and the walls are painted. Woodwork painting starts tomorrow.

The daffodils mean that yard work season is starting. Leaves to rake, Weed to dig up, new flowers to plant. Warm weather to enjoy.

My latest sock is knit from yarn bought at the Guild Yarn Hop last year. It's Crystal Palace Panda Silk, a combination of bamboo, superwash wool, and silk. The pattern is a Chrissy Gardiner pattern from Interweave Knits that I've wanted to do for a couple of years. The yarn is luscious.

Guess what, more socks

The white socks were finished on Sept. 30. They will be entered in our knitting guild competition tomorrow.

Last weekend I attended an all day workshop taught by Melissa Leapman. The morning was devoted to edges, from fairly basic hems to fringes knit in one piece with the garment. In the afternoon, we learned about circular cables.

The remodeling continues. A plumber is coming tomorrow to fix a leak in the bathroom and replace the drum trap with an "S" trap. The floor boards need replacing in that area, so the tub will be moved to do the job. We'll need new supply pipes and drain fixed so that the tub will be usable with the luan and tile under it (added thickness). The trap was going to stay, but it will be under the new floor. All it takes is more money.

October sock knitting

Mystery Sock by Kirsten Kapur in Jojoland Melody may not be finished this month. The last clue comes out on Oct. 29. WE have 2 clues, and I have lengthened the leg by one repeat to a more comfortable length. These will likely be a gift.

Green socks for Ravelry Solid Socks and SKA under appreciated pattern, These are from a vintage pattern, knit in Knit Picks Essentials yarn. They will go to a grandson with a December birthday.

The last pair of Ram Club Socks for DH. I may actually have enough yarn. I using the numbers for the smallest size, and they fit his large feet. I'm using the medium length. Oddly enough, my gauge matches the pattern before blocking. These were supposed to be for the SKA group, but the pattern wasn't available to the public by July 1.

We saw quilting daughter for dinner last night at her favorite local restaurant chain. She flew in from Florida to spend some time with her DH, who is in NE Ohio with his truck full of motorcycles. He's off to Delaware in a few days and she'll be going home. We probably won't see her again this trip.

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.