When Life Attacks

Friday, DH was driving to work and hit some tread that had fallen off a semi tire and was lying in the middle of the road. It was either hit it, or one of the cars around him. I think he made the correct choice. The car sustained some damage, though, so we had to file a claim with our insurance. And getting everything set up and scheduled was how that day was spent.

Saturday was shaping up to be a better day. I went to visit my sister, and my truck's transmission decided to stop working properly. We ended up cutting our outing short, and I was able to make it back home. Barely. It appeared to give up the ghost when I pulled in my driveway.

Sunday, Jay spent the day with Miss L's family, and while DH and I were able to spend some time together, I was mostly running errands. I had to do it while I still had a vehicle available. Nice way to spend Easter, no?

Monday I spent the day getting the cars to the garage, picking up a rental, and trying to activate DH's new iPhone. (Turns out the Droid phone he'd gotten was a dud -- after 5 phone calls to customer service we decided to send it back and get a new phone.) Unfortunately, our service provider was having issues that prevented activation initially, but it took them 2 hours and 3 customer service representatives to communicate that to me. At least it's finally working.

Now, the truck isn't acting up, so the mechanics can't find and fix the problem. Typical.

At least my garden is doing well.  Strawberries are ripening,

cabbage is forming a lovely head,

and the rhubarb is thriving.

The trees are all doing well too.

I finished a secret project, started another, and am able to work on the others that are in progress. There's the Triangle Summer Shawl that I'm knitting out of handspun linen/silk,

the Bouclé afghan that I'm knitting out of Joann Sensations,

the socks I'm designing and knitting out of Knitting Fever Indulgence,

and the cashmere top I'm spinning.

And, of course, I get to see an abundance of this adorableness.

I guess things are looking up.

What A Week

rhino virus (common cold) illustration

So, I'm still trying to recover from the micro-beastie that decided to make its home in my body.

Downside: It's been a week already, I'm not yet completely better, and I am so beyond ready to be healthy again.

Upside: Crafty goodness.

Yes, it's true. I got past the not being able to concentrate thing, and have been busy working on several projects.

First up we have the Triangular Summer Shawl. I started this last October, but after the initial cast-on and first few rows, it got set aside in favor of other projects. I don't know why. Its knit with linen/silk blend handspun, which I like. Its a pattern I've done before and like. There is no reason not to have been working on it. But I wasn't.  Having gotten a couple of things off the needles, I decided to work only on my wips, so this got picked back up. I have about 40 more rows on the shawl (each shorter than the one before, so it goes quickly), a lace edging, sewing on the lace edging, washing, blocking, and weaving in the ends.

Come to think of it, it sounds like I still have quite a lot of work to do. And here I was getting all excited about how close to finishing I was getting.

Next up is the sock I'm designing as I go. I picked up a ball of Indulgence from my lys, and loved the feel of the yarn and the color so much, I decided to cast on a sock immediately. I wasn't sure how the color repeat would go, but it turns out to be self-striping, so I knew that I could get away with some patterning without it being too busy or getting lost. I've got lace panels framing a center section of cables and ribbing. I like the way they are coming out, but am not thrilled with the short-row heel that I'd used. I think I'll do some looking around to find a heel that works better for these socks. Any suggestions? I also don't have a name for these yet, so any suggestions would be welcome.

Note to self: Make sure to write down what you've been doing, so that the second sock will actually match the first.

Finally there is the cashmere I've been spinning. I was able to pick up some incredibly soft and lovely cashmere top, and was trying to spin it for a wedding ring shawl (examples of which are Shetland and Orenburg shawls).

Truth is, it is nowhere near fine enough for that, but it is a good lace weight. The above skein is about 2 oz. (50 g), is two-ply, and is approximately 440 yards (400 meters). It is clear to me that I still have a long way to go before I'm able to ply as well as I'd like to, and before I'll be able to spin for a wedding shawl, but I have decided, overall, to be pleased with this yarn.

I still have another 2 oz. to spin and ply, and then will go in search of the perfect project. If anyone has a pattern they would like to recommend, I am open to all suggestions.

Spinning

With the weather heating up, I haven't been doing as much knitting lately.  Instead, I've been spinning.

I've been working on getting the linen/tussah silk blend I'd purchased a while ago, spun up into laceweight for a Triangular Summer Shawl for me.  

It's done!

I finished the plying on Saturday,

and wound it off the bobbin and onto my niddy noddy, ready to set the spin.

Since I also had several hanks of different yarns waiting to have their spin set I added them in too.

The end result:

Linen/Tussah Silk blend, two-ply laceweight, 32 wpi, 764.5 yds.

Ashland Bay Colonial wool (in maroon), Navajo plied (3-ply) DK weight, 13 wpi, 328.16 yds.

Camel down, 4-ply cable plied DK weight, 13 wpi, 58.6 yds.

In Like A Lion

March has roared in, spring has sprung, and life is very full.

After a very wet winter - the wettest I've experienced in the 15 yrs. I've lived in Arizona - the sun has been shining again, calling me outside to play.  Or just be.  Or golf, which I've been doing at least once per week (as usual), along with extra practicing at the driving range with Jordan.  I've also been enjoying some early morning and evening walks with Gypsy.  The birdsong is wonderful, and the desert is in bloom; very beautiful.  Of course, today it's raining again, but no matter.

I have several craft projects going right now, not all of them fiber related.  There's a wooden tray I'm decorating, a pillow (sewing and knitting) waiting to be stuffed, two purses in need of lining, and a needle case to be sewn.  I'm also still spinning the linen/silk blend, designing both a colorwork pullover and an aran toddler cardigan, and working on another secret project.  I haven't yet found the motivation to do more on the embroidery project I've had going for a couple of years now, but am thinking that perhaps I should make it a goal to finish it by December 31.  I also haven't yet gotten to the sweaters I'd been given, but think a goal of finishing two of them by the end of April might get things moving.

I have signed up for my first ever fiber swap.  Coggie of the High Fiber Diet Podcast has organized a "Swap the Seasons" swap on the High Fiber Diet Podcast Ravelry board.  I'm very excited!  It's a secret partner swap, and I'm really looking forward to spoiling my swap partner. :D  After all, surprising someone else with a fabulous fiber mystery package is as exciting as receiving one.

Jordan and I began the Arizona Hunter Safety Education classes last night.  He's been wanting to do this for YEARS, but we kept missing the registration deadlines.  We finally got it, though, and are learning quite a bit already.  And maybe when it's over we'll actually put it to use and do some hunting.

I'm also very much enjoying the audiobooks I've been downloading from Librivox.  It really is an excellent way to combine my love of fiber and of books, but I must admit that I miss the act of holding and reading the books.  I guess I'll just have to make some time for that occasionally, too.

Fiber!

Last June I spun up a lovely linen/silk blend that I had purchased at Tempe Yarn and Fiber with the intent of turning the yarn into the Triangle Summer Shawl from Knitted Lace of Estonia by Nancy Bush, but feared that I wouldn't have enough for the project.   Well, I was right.  I only had 380 yds. of yarn, and the pattern called for more than 1000.  This meant I had to go shopping.  It's a hard life, I know. ;)

On Saturday I stopped by Tempe Yarn and Fiber to get some more of the fiber.  They had two 2 oz. packs of it, so I snapped them both up.  This should be enough to make the shawl. 

Of course I had to look at the other pretty fibers while I was there, and that necessitated the purchase of this: 

It's 2 oz. of soy silk fiber.  It's soft and silky like bamboo and I've never worked with it before so I'm looking forward to seeing what it becomes.

And because I believe it's important to support as many yarn stores as possible, I also went to The Fiber Factory, where I picked this up:

12 oz. of fabulous tussah silk.  (Sigh)  I LOVE silk!

Swallowtail Shawl

One of the last knitting projects I completed in 2009 was the Swallowtail Lace Shawl by Evelyn Clarke.

The pattern has both written directions and charts, is very clear and easy to follow with no errors, and is free.  It has the "rest row" after each patterned row making any errors very easy to spot and making it knitting that I was able to do while doing other things, like watching T.V. and listening to books.  And it has nupps which I enjoy doing.

 I used the bombyx silk in the abalone colorway that I knit up last summer.

I love the way this turned out;  blocking made such a huge difference!  I also made a point of working in the ends as I went, so once it was blocked it was done.

And a big thanks to Gypsy, who was kind enough to model this for me. 

Actual Knitting Content (With Pictures!)

I've finally got the pictures of some of my recent finished objects uploaded, so, of course, I had to share them.

Janelle, one of my Knit Wits friends, had a baby boy a couple of months ago. His name is Connor, and he is a cutie! To celebrate his arrival, I made him this sweater:


It's the Cables and Textures Baby Sweater from the Beautiful Baby pattern book. I modified it slightly by not doing the garter ridge stripes on the sleeves or the sides of the sweater, and made it with Patons Beehive Baby fingering weight in blue - a much finer yarn than the pattern calls for. I am pleased with the way it came out, the pattern was well written with no errors, and when paired with a onesie and some corduroy pants will be adorable.

After completing a couple of larger projects and the sweater above, I was wanting a very quick knit for some instant gratification. I also had a ball of Borroco Zen in Gochu (8223) that I had been given when I was working on the Oddball Charity Blanket, and I didn't know what to make with it. In the end, I decided on a pattern I've long wanted to make: Calorimetry.

Although it probably wasn't the best yarn choice for the pattern, being a cotton/nylon ribbon yarn, it definitely served it's purpose of instant gratification knitting. I cast it on late one evening, and completed it the next afternoon. The button is from my button stash.

The other big finished project for me was the Galveston Shawl. I finished the knitting on this a while ago, but needed to get it blocked and the ends woven in for me to count it as completed. As I had decided to make the large size, this posed a bit of a problem because I normally block larger items on a queen-sized bed in the guest room, but the pattern listed the finished measurements of this size as 75" square. It looked like a bedspread laid out over the guest bed, but lacking another option at the time, I blocked it as best I could. Though the edging doesn't look as good as I would like, it worked out pretty well.
It's knit from the center out, with the sides being divided by the "X" you see in the picture above. There are 4 distinct lace patterns, and 2 others that are similar to the patterns they are nearest to.

Even spread out on my king sized bed, it still is a close fit. I do plan to take advantage of the fact that it does all fit on there early one morning so that I can get all of the definition that blocking provides, yet still have a place to sleep at night. The yarn is merino/silk handspun in the Pewter colorway, and the finished project is warm and very nice to wrap up in.

Random

Making the handknits look good.

100% Bombyx silk in the "Abalone" colorway that I've spun very finely.

A refreshing drink of water at the dog park. Drinking out of bowls is SO last year.

10 of My Favorite Things (In No Particular Order)

1. Family
2. Friends
3. Gypsy
4. Knitting - especially with Knit Picks needles
5. Spinning on my wheel
6. Golfing - even if I now fully appreciate Mark Twain's golf quote
7. Book, books, and more books
8. Technology - which would also make my list of ten things that I don't like
9. Weekends
10. Autumn and winter


What are some of your favorite things?

Boring

A new month has arrived, and I have nothing to say really.

Last Saturday, the Knitwits met at my LYS, which, though small, was very accommodating and has some Really Lovely Yarns. I picked up 2 balls of Noro Silk Garden in colorway 84, and 3 hanks of King Tut cotton in 329. I don't currently have plans for either beyond a swatch of the Noro, but they were too beautiful not to buy.

I've finished knitting up a new pair of felted clogs for J. He went through his last pair so quickly that I've had to let him know that this pair has to last for a while or he must learn to knit. I've also started, and am half finished, knitting another pair for myself. Mine are starting to get a bit ragged and worn through on the bottom, so it's time. I figure that I'll just felt them at the same time when I've finished knitting mine. Pictures of before and after next time.

I had been spinning up the most beautiful bombyx silk, but my dog got ahold of the roving, and, though I saved it, I just haven't had the desire to finish it. I'm sure I will though, as I've plans to turn it into a swallowtail shawl, and am eagerly anticipating the knitting.

Galveston Shawl

I'm back to work on the Galveston Shawl. I'm doing the edging, and it's turning out quite well. The yarn is a blend of merino/silk in the pewter colorway that I spun on my wheel.

I had some issues with the pattern, so check for errata before knitting it up. I also would repeat what the designer stated - this is not for the novice knitter. I do like this pattern, and would recommend it to experienced lace knitters, or an intermediate lace knitter (who has knitted on an edging before) looking for a challenge.