Pictorial Catch Up

Well its been quite a while since my last post.  To catch you up on my knitting, here are a few pictures...

Had one mitt done for erm, hum a few years.  

These are nice but not what I was aiming for, below slippers
allow for a variety of different sized feet to wear them

Still have to knit I-cord (right slipper) and sew on button to left
Hopefully they will stay together

Yarn my brother bought for me to make a hat for him 

Really like how this turned out

Need to make more of these

Finally got the red hat to turn out

2nd of 4 Knit Purl Hunter KAL's 

Ends woven (finally) but still waiting to be blocked...

and last but not least

Not knitting but it holds knitting :)

These are for sale at The Cat and Crow, come visit!

Never Again!

Beginning of February Mom and I went on a day trip to pick up wreaths and poinsettias from family graves and the Pioneer Scarf went on the road trip.  I was certain, I would finish the current ball of yarn and couldn't find the fourth ball (just knew it was somewhere in the UFO bin but was unable to locate it).  I wanted a second project but had nothing that was started, small, and didn't require a lot of consultation with a pattern (translation thought).  Turns out that I didn't get as much done on the trip (isn't that they way it usually goes) and after Mom suggested I recount my joins, discovered that I was currently on the fourth and last ball of yarn.

Me scrambling around for a project to take with resulted in 30 minutes of trying to pull things together for a project that I ended up not liking (the yarn and pattern were incompatible).  I vowed never again would I be stuck without a project when I need to, to coin a phrase from Gigi of The Knitmore Girls,"Run screaming out of the house" .

Oops had to restart, things got a little twisted

That led to a major cast on spree that week which resulted in:


Penny Hat (Monday)











Haven't progressed any further than what you see on the left but its sitting patiently waiting for the time I need to running screaming out of the house





2nd Paw Tracks sock-minus the paw track (Tuesday)

 The Paw Track pattern is one that I first did while out on vacation to Badlands.  I liked the construction of this toe up pattern and started another pair using Regia but wanted to simplify and did a simple 2 x 2 rib for the cuff.  Had finished the first sock a while back and I thought casting on for toe up socks were  sooo complicated that never cast on the second sock.  Well, as I was determined to cast on projects and once you get over the cast on, socks are pretty easy, I thought what the heck.  Turns out I was wrong the cast on was easy and now I'm kicking myself for all the socks that could have been knit by now.  The second sock was finished yesterday, at a birthday party for one of the shop owners of The Cat and Crow who turned 60 today.



Knit Purl Hunter Repeat Performance sock KAL (Wednesday)

 Since I now know that casting on for toe up is a piece of cake and I have two Knit Purl Hunter knit-a-long projects that are socks, decided might as well cast on some more socks. Here is sock one and will cast on sock #2. Will work it to the same point so I can do two socks at same time (note to self, check and see if have a 40-inch circular). Doing this to avoid guessing how many rows did on the first sock; hmm wonder if that is why so many people have Second Sock Syndrome.  Know that some say its because boredom of doing the same thing again, but honestly isn't all knitting the same thing Knit or Purl?

Next up was a hat for my older brother who had bought this alpaca yarn when the local coffee house had a fiber sale.  Can you believe he went and I was out of town for something so totally missed it?!? I need to grab some double points and switch to them as things are getting a little tight on the needle.  The only regret I have about the hat is that I wish I would have done a few purl rows at the turn.  For Christmas, I really need to start one of his two projects.  Probably shortly after I started knitting he selected a vest and a cardigan that he would like to knit and then we went to The Sows Ear and selected the yarn.  Erica, this is the brother who can give an opinion on color combos and since he asks for me to knit things, I gladly do this for him.

Turn a Square Hat (Thursday)

Dang, should have done some purl rows!

Friday night I worked on the Paw Tracks socks while watching the Descendants at movie theater. This was a first for me but think it was only doable as it was simple knit in the round.

All in all a very productive week (my most productive thus far).  Clocked in 12.62 hours week of February 12th.  There may be something to casting on a lot of projects...

Current WIPs and FO

Couple of weeks ago, was at a standstill on the Top Down Swing Sweater until I could get an opinion from Rebecca about the fit of the sweater. As you can see, it was too big, would benefit from a short row in the back, and ruffles on the bottom (what's up with that?). Will take out to first increase, add a short row on the back, and knit straight down. Will see how that turns out.

Next on the consultation list was the Every Way Wrap. Diagnosis was that I should do two more repeats and it would then be ready for me to start the last repeat. I'm almost done with the first repeat and can't believe I'm heading into the homestretch on this wrap.

First (almost) finished object to report is the Triplicity shawlette which was the first project in the Knit-along project from Knit Purl Hunter. It just requires some ends to be woven in, blocking and then post picture of totally completed picture on Ravelry. Project isn't done till pictures are posted on Ravelry, right?

Next up in the FO report is the Pioneer Braid Scarf. This pattern just lend's itself beautifully to yarns that gradually shift in color.

First two weeks on the job

Well it has been two weeks and so far haven't hit the 10 hour week work, but today is not over and I'm sooo close (currently at 9.55 hours and last week I ended with 9.63 hours).  Here is a quick recap of the my work towards goals.

1) 9 podcasts listened/watched while knitting 11 more to go before audiobook purchase.
2) No projects completed, no money in savings toward loom.
3) No projects completed, no Ravelry shopping cart purchase.
4) No adult sweaters completed, no yarn purchased....

Wait, wait this will get boring really quick if I do this on a weekly basis, think this will be done on a monthly basis.

You may have noticed a few new items on the side bar.  If you didn't, please take a moment to look at the Yarn Meter which indicates how much yarn I've knitted this year, pretty nifty eh?  Next is a widget that is linked to my Ravelry project page showing the progress on current projects.  These are only the projects that I'm actively working on and at least one more shawl and a scarf missing (you should have seen the list before I changed a lot of projects to hibernating!).

The first two projects are the Top Down Swing Pullover and Every Way Wrap.  These two are active but on hold until I make it to Mount Horeb and I'm able to consult with Rebecca and/or Mo on these projects.  On both of these, I want their opinion on the fit as my bathroom mirror does not give me a very good view of both.  The pullover is almost done, just need to knit the collar and two sleeves.  While yes I know I could have continued on, it just didn't feel right to continue if I'm going to end up ripping out a portion of the body.  The wrap has been on my needles for almost two years and think I have almost completed the correct number of repeats but again wanted their opinion on the fit (hmm maybe I should invest in a full-length mirror?).

Next on the list is the Samovar Shawl which I haven't worked on since before Christmas and halfway feel that this should be moved to hibernation, but I'm so close to being done that having this project visible on the blog will help me get it done, I hope.

The fourth project, Triplicity, is the first project in Knit Purl Hunter's Progressive Needles knit along.  I joined the project through Sutter's Golden' Fleece up in St. Germain in October, purchased the yarn while on the crafting retreat, balled up the yarn but then never started this project (and the next two).  This week, with the pullover and wrap, on breaks, it seemed like an excellent time to get started on this project.  It is progressing quite nicely but it is definitely not something I can knit and do other things, like play cards, have a conversation, etc.

The last project on the list, Tuckernuck Cardigan, was started a year ago as part of a design your own sweater class.  Again this project should probably be in hibernation as I can't work on this and the wrap as they are both cabled items and my brain can't deal with two cable projects at the same time, but I want it in view to remind me to get going on things.

Not mentioned, and soon to be posted on Ravlery, are the Pioneer Braid Scarf and Bat Shawl.  The Pioneer Braid Scarf, is a project that I can work on while playing cards, which we did with friends today, or have just a few minutes to knit (making it an excellent project to have when out and about).  The Bat Shawl is part of another design your own class that I took from The Cat and Crow which is also on a slight break until I can work out of the chart for the next section after the bats (hmm thinking some pictures would be helpful for you, will work on that for next week).  The section after the bats is a lace pattern that has a different number of stitches most rows and I'm thinking my stitch count will be way wonky for current number of stitches on needle vs. first row of lace pattern.  Need to graph it on paper so I can visualize it better.

Wheel at the store, waiting for a new home.

My big news this week is that I purchased a spinning wheel.  Yes that is correct a spinning wheel.  On Tuesday, someone had posted in Ravelry on the On Wisconsin page that the second hand store in Edgerton had a wheel for $15 which had a broken flyer.

Yesterday, I called the store and it was still there.  Was still undecided if I should go, and knowing that I would kick myself later if a didn't, that I decided to call Mom to see if she would be interested in driving to Edgerton.  Dad answered the phone as she had gone to get the mail and then was going to take my brother who doesn't drive to Madison.  Explained to Dad why I was calling, they are always the voice of reason, yes yes the wheel was only $15 but once I have it, that would mean more expenses to get it fixed, then fiber to spin with, etc. and he said for $15 even if you can't get it fixed it would be an excellent decoration.  

I figured this was a sign that I should go down to Edgerton as this seemed so atypical for him.  Not too sure how well you can see it but the varnish is wearing off, the flyer is most definitely broken and the drive band is missing but these should be easy fixes.

I am unable to find any markings so have no idea what brand of wheel it is other than a traditional.  If you have any clues on what type or how to identify it, I would greatly appreciate it.  Renee suggested I get in touch with one of the Wednesday night knitters who just had a wheel restored and I plan on doing that soon, just hope it won't cost more than the price of a new wheel!

Oops someone broke the flyer!

Part-time Knitter

When money is tight (what a weird expression), often people do a combination of things, look for items that can be cut back on or you can do without; if you are making payments on a house or car, you may look into refinancing these things; or in some cases, you get a part-time job.

Money is tight currently for me. The reasons are various; no pay raise in past four years, paying more for benefits, and I would like to save money to buy a house.

Lets see, I don't drink or go out a lot, so nothing to cut there but I am going to cut some luxury items like Netflix and buying soda at work (you do the math $1.50/bottle, 2 bottles a day). Since the "Move" back in July, I've been trying to minimalize current possessions and what comes in the house, as space is limited, so not much to cut out there as well. I don't own a house and my car is paid for but I am working on lowering the APR on my credit card, so doing all I can there. All thats left is a part-time job.

I've done the part-time gig in the past and quite frankly they are not for me. For one thing, I would end up having two suppers, one before work and another at home as I was hungry again. Then to top things off, I was usally so wound up that I'd be up for another couple of hours. Which wouldn't be so bad except the employer doesn't seem to appreciate that their retail job is not my life. I have a day job and some sleep is required so no it's not ok to keep me at the store till 10 pm or later simply because I'm over a certain age and have no state appointed work curfew. Added to this, a part-time job would mean that I wouldn't be home a lot and that's not fair to Rosie (plus I really really don't want one).

Having said all this, I've taken a part-time job. It doesn't pay a lot and there are no health or retirement benefits. What the job does have is flexible hours, excellent co-workers, and I'm doing something I love. Are you ready for what my new job is? It's knitting! Ok, ok bare with me here. As evidenced by my stash, I have plenty of yarn to keep me busy for a long time, it's paid for and will result in lovely items for myself and possibly some gifts (yes Erica selfish knitting is definitely in my future but I still plan on making some things for the deserving few). Knitting can be done anywhere at anytime so it's a perfect job for a dog owner.

The idea for my part-time job started back in May when I purchased an app for my iPhone called HoursTracker. The reason for the purchase (think I started with the free version but bought the full version soon after) was to track how long it takes me to knit something. You know how it is, you've just completed a project and it never fails a non knitter will ask you "How long did it take you to knit that?". With this particular app you can assign an hourly pay rate and that got me thinking about how really knitting could be a job of sorts. Knitting Guild and Knitting Group are now staff meetings (a lot more enjoable than at my full-time job!), this blog is my time sheet and knitting events like Wisconsin Sheep and Wool, Stitches, etc are conferences (which I'm never sent to at my full-time job). So you see, knitting is an excellent part-time job.

Last week I posted my 2012 Rewards which will function as my "payscale". After writing about WS&W, it made me think that I should start saving money for events like that and here is my revised 2012 Rewards.

2012 Rewards (Updated)
1. Every 20 knitting podcasts or iTunes university I listen/watch while knitting, purchase 1 audiobook.
2. Every project completed, put $5 in savings towards a rigid heddle loom.
3. Every 20 projects completed, purchase 1 item from my Ravelry shopping cart.
4. Finish 4 adult sweaters, purchase yarn for a sweater in queue.
5. Every 10 blog posts, purchase 1 movie.
6. Work 10-19 hours in a week, put $10 in savings towards fiber events. Work 20+ hours, put $20 in savings.

As I've only put in 6.8 hours this week, and Sunday is the end of my "pay period", need to get back to work. Till next time!

Fiber Event Catch Up #3: Three Irish Girls Trunk Show

September 17th saw friend from Stoughton, have to find out if O.K. to mention her name on blog, and I went to Chicago to attend the Three Irish Girls Trunk Show at Windy Knitty.  We started off mid morning and had an enjoyable time driving down.

Hard to believe but this is all that came home!

Lunch was at a Thai restaurant not that far from Windy Knitty and then on to the trunk show.  If you have never seen/felt Three Irish Girls yarn, you simply must!  The colors are wonderful and it was hard to resist purchasing oodles of yarn but I only purchased a three skeins of yarn and a scarf minder (hee hee just thought of it Three Irish Girls, 3 skeins of yarn...).  I know I know the restraint but I'm trying to change my yarn buying habits.

From there, we went on to Ikea.  At Ikea we had a quick snack as my blood sugar was getting low and my friend needed to rest and then shopped around a bit.  I found curtains for the living room which were totally not something that I thought I would ever buy and large beverage glasses, as the ones I had been using are rather on the small size.  She found the mirrors that her daughter-in-law wanted and a few other items.

Once we had our purchases for Ikea loaded up in the car, we headed home.  There was a quick stop in Janesville for diner at my favorite Chinese restaurant and then continued on to Stoughton.  We did some switching around of things from her car to my car and I returned totes she had loaned while moving back in July (terrible how long it took me to unpack some things).  

All in all, a very fun day and one I wouldn't mind repeating (hint, hint).

What do you knit?

My UFO bin runneth over

Back in September I was at a local yarn shop browsing and the clerk and I were chatting, when she asked me "What do you knit?".  You have no idea how much that question gave me pause as it seems to me that I am great for starting projects, as evidenced by my UFO bin, but completing them is somewhat problematic.

With the New Year, people make resolutions, set goals, etc., which is one of the reasons this blog was started.  But just like my other projects, the main reason for starting this blog (reduce the amount of yarn under the bed/in my closets, now cupboards) never has seen fruition.  This year instead of setting big goals, I'm setting small goals and rewards which will hopefully result in a reduction in the amount of fiber hiding under the bed/in cupboards.

The work on my 2012 resolution/goals actually started in October 2011, when I took all of my yarn stash, UFOs, WIPs and made a pile of everything on the living room floor.

Stash October 2011

At first, I was sorting things out by fiber type/color but it became readily apparent that this was not going to work as it was the same system I had been using.  Instead, I started a much lengthier process of going through the yarn stash and sorting everything out by yarn weight.  Once everything was in bins according to yarn weight, I then went to Ravelry opened up my Favorites and Queue and started matching up yarn with projects.

The result was going from a Queue of 1.5 pages (roughly 45 projects) to a Queue of 7 pages (189 projects) long.  Don't know how many bins all that yarn was in but I'm down to two bins and one chest (that doubles as my coffee table) that are looking for projects.  The yarn in the chest I'm not anxious on having projects for immediately as it is the "good' stash yarn and I'm fine with waiting for the next viral knitting project that sweeps the knitting community like the Clapotis.  The bin yarn I will go through today and see what is in there and see what projects I can find for it, though I'm thinking some of it would be very interesting to weave with.

Earlier today I drafted out my goals and while they may seem strange, I think they will result in much knitting/reduction of the stash.  I will explain in my next blog post why they are all monetary

2012 Rewards

1. Every 20 knitting podcasts or iTunes university I listen/watch while knitting, purchase 1 audiobook.
2. Every project completed, put $5 in savings towards a rigid heddle loom.
3. Every 20 projects completed, purchase 1 item from my Ravelry shopping cart (contains patterns that are probably in the queue).
4. Finish 4 adult sweaters, purchase yarn for a sweater in queue.
5. Every 10 blog posts, purchase 1 movie.

There may be some tweaking of the rewards during the year, but this is a very good start.  I plan on doing a comparison photo in December 2012 to see our things have progressed.  Let me know what you think of my goals and if you have any suggestions, I would greatly appreciate them.  Hope I didn't send you into shock with my yarn stash pile (believe it or not, there is one bag of yarn missing!) and wishing you a healthy and happy New Year!

Rosie was exhausted after watching the sorting of the stash

Crafting Retreat 2011

Knit Along yarn

Beginning of October was the annual crafting retreat with Mom, Charlene and Rosie.  We wanted to have a longer retreat this year so started things on Wednesday.  Our first stop was at Herrschner's on the way up.  Didn't find much that tempted me but did find an adorable stamp for making cards.

insert picture of stamp

We arrived at our cabin around mid afternoon, while the cabin was nice, wasn't quite what we wanted as it wasn't right close to the water though you could see it (what a bunch of ingrates!).  After we got our gear in the cabin we went to St. Germaine to buy our groceries.  After dinner, we spent the evening working on our projects and watching a movie.

Charlene reading the paper

Thursday was really low key, for the most part.  During the day we watched movies, I went to Sutter's Goldn' Fleece for a little shopping.  Pictured is one of the yarns that I purchased.  It is for a knit along the store is participating in run by Knit Purl Hunter. January will be the start of the third knit along and I haven't even started the project for this yarn, guess I better get cracking on these projects!!

After lunch we went for a work down to the end of our lane to explore a bit.  Charlene had promised to bring back some leaves for one of her coworkers so we had fun looking for different leaves.

Mid afternoon we lost our electricity due to high winds.  Apparently out in the backwoods when the wind is really gusty power outages are common.  Thankfully we had a fireplace in our cabin though we never got a good blaze going that first night as the wood was damp from the drizzle that had been going on and off during the day (hmm note to self always bring in wood when you have a fireplace).  Very glad we had some heat from the fireplace and plenty of layers of clothes/blankets. Mom, Rosie and I slept in the living room tending to the fire during the night and Charlene was bundled under blankets.

Great source of heat if you have dry wood!

Friday morning we still didn't have power but this was fine as this was our planned exploring day.  Before heading out for breakfast, we brought in wood just in case the power didn't come back on while we were out.  The hope was maybe the wood could dry up a little (or at least wouldn't be in the damp pile outside).  Once this was accomplished, we started off with breakfast at a local diner that was super busy.  Which was easily understood as the food was very tasty!  We then went to Eagle River to pick up a distant cousin of my Dad's who had lived most of her live up in the Eagle River (believe she is in her late 80's).  As Mary does't walk that well, we drove enjoying the fall colors and her showing us different places she had lived/places she thought were interesting.

After our day visiting with Mary, we went back to the cabin.  Thankfully the power was back on so we had constant heat from the furnace instead of having to worry about our fire making efforts.  But wouldn't you know it, now when we didn't need the fire we were suddenly a bunch of pyromaniacs (or maybe it had something to do with the wood being inside instead of the damp cold outside?)

Mom working on her plastic canvas

Saturday morning was spent working on our projects out on the deck.  After lunch, we went into St. Germaine for a little shopping (not many shops) and some ice cream.  The evening was spent watching movies and working on our projects.  Before going to bed, Mom and I rearranged the furniture in the living room.  We had done a little rearranging when the electricity went out so we could share the lantern/be closer to the fireplace.  We had liked the coziness of this that we never changed it; hopefully we put things back in their correct spots.

Didn't take very long to clean up things and get the van loaded for the return trip home.  All in all a very lovely retreat once again.

Rosie checking the outdoors

Completed Christmas Gift!!

It's not much but it is part my brother and sister-in-law's Christmas gift.  What do you think??

Fiber Event Catch Up #2: Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival

Last year was my first time attending Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival and this year went in for the full effect.  Things started before the actual event as I signed up for two classes (Thrum Mittens and weaving on rigid heddle loom), signed up for the Ravelry Unwind party, and planned on camping at the event.  Since it had been a while since we (my Mom was my camping buddy) had camped, thought it would be a good idea to get out our camping gear and make sure we had everything/knew how to put things together.  While we didn't set up the tent, we did set up my cot (a monstrous thing from Cabela's) and made sure we had all the parts for Mom's air mattress (it's this really nice high one).

Friday we started off with breakfast at McDonald's, a traveling tradition for us and since we thought we had time actually dined in instead of doing drive through.  As we were leaving, we saw my Mom's sister so we sat and talked for a bit until my Uncle came back from dropping off their car for an oil change (or something).  We then continued on to Jefferson, picked up or campsite post and picked out our spot.  Having only camped in state parks, how Jefferson Fairgrounds did things seemed very loose.  They have a general area for people to camp with the only restriction is that the areas near electric plug-ins were for those who paid extra.  After a bit of debate on how to set up the tent, we got everything arranged in camp and had a quick lunch and then I was off to class. But wait I had forgotten to bring yarn for class, so I stopped at Mo's booth (owned by one of the owners of The Cat and Crow and her sheep/yarn business if called Four Crow's) and bought some handspun for class.  We won't discuss how I was cutting it super close on getting to class on time or maybe it was fashionably late?

Once at class, quickly realized that I missed the part about your yarn needing to be in two balls if you wanted to do two mittens at once so I purchased a kit from Liz (class was taught by Liz Sutter of Sutter's Goldn' Fleece fame).  Had a great time learning the technique and while I know they are going to be extremely warm mittens, I need to sit down and work on them and finish them soon!  After class I did do a bit of shopping as I wanted to get some yarn from Sun Valley Fibers that I have been lusting after.  Last year by the time I made it back around they had sold out of it and same story when they were a vendor at knitting guild.  Was able to pickup two skeins of the Oriole colorway.  Oriole is this wonderful black and orange yarn that is a great color combo for someone who counts Halloween as one of her favorite holidays and school colors were black and orange.  The plan is to make Stephen West's Daybreak with this yarn (picked up the contrasting color called Kent from Sun Valley as well).

Mom and I planned on eating all of our meals at either the vendors on the fairgrounds or going to restaurants so we didn't have to lug around ALL the camping gear, trust me we had more than enough as we do not pack lightly!  Supper was at a bar that served pizza.  While the pizza was good, the bar was a bit noisy as there were young kids running around amok and doing things like spilling their soda on the pool table.  Once back to the peace and quiet of our campsite we worked on our respective projects, Mom plastic canvas and me the mittens (never did touch my other projects the entire weekend).

Saturday morning we had breakfast at the activity center and then on to shopping.  Did I mention that we/I tend to overpack?  Well I brought along my backpack and after one vendor asked me to please take off my pack as I was bumping into things, Mom held onto my pack when I went in a booth until I found the green bag in the right hand corner of the picture.  It is the perfect project bag holding the yarn necessary for a smaller project like a scarf or mitten (though with my two different skeins of yarn for the thrummed mittens plus roving it did get a little tight in there).  Missing from the picture of my purchases is some Miss Bab's yarn that goes with the yarn in the center of the photo.  I'm going to make a tweed jacket with the two yarns.

Things are fuzzy (it has been over two months) but I do know that we were at the Miss Bab's booth, LOVE her colors, when Erica and Branden caught up with us.  They had come up from Chicago and set up camp next to us.  We had a bit to eat and then I went to Mo's booth to help her family while she was teaching a class.  Think Mom hung out by the food vendors waiting for our friend Walker.  He had planned on arriving earlier but his house guests were slow starters so that delayed his morning. Walker and Mom spent time together while I tended booth but when things slowed down at the booth, I was able to catch up with Walker & Mom (who had been watching the auction) and Erica & Branden (who did shopping), for sundaes.

I had registered Mom and I to attend the Ravelry Unwind party long before I knew that Erica and Branden would be camping by us and since our supper was paid, we put in an appearance.  I think we were one of the firsts to leave but as it was crowded and loud in there, I for one didn't feel too badly leaving.  We spent the remainder of the night having an enjoyable time talking with Erica and Branden and leaning about geocaching from Branden.  

  

Sunday was taken up with the weaving class and me taking down the tent after class.  Dad had come to pick up Mom so they could attend an annual picnic that his job hosts every year.  I know I know not very chatty but figured I've bored you enough with the details of the weekend so I will leave you with a pictures of my weaving.

Fiber Event Catch Up #1: Stitches Midwest

Since I last wrote, there have been several fiber events that I've gone to. The first being Stitches Midwest. The easiest way for me to give non-knitters an idea about the size and hype of Stitches is in sporting terms. I would equate Stitches to either a playoff game or the world series/super bowl (leaning towards the latter).

My friend Erica and her husband, Branden, moved to Maywood (Chicago suburb) in July and she invited me to their place as their new home was only 40 minutes away from where Stitches Midwest was being held.

I drove down Friday night and was at their place around 9 pm. After a tour of their house, we had tea and knitted for a bit before going to bed. Saturday morning we had breakfast of frittata which I'd never had before but really liked! We then went to a farmers market in Oak Park which was way smaller than Madison's, made a quick stop back at the house to drop off goodies from the market and Erica to make something for her lunch and we were on our way.

After one wrong turn, we knew we were heading in the right direction when we saw this.

Once inside there were rows and rows of vendors.  Erica's method for such events is to tour the entire show making notes and then going back to select booths to make purchases.  I really like this method because you never know what the next booth or row will be and there is less chance of buyer's remorse. We made it almost way through but I needed a break due to low blood sugar so around 1 pm (or it could have been later), we stopped and had lunch.  Continued on after lunch and I did pretty well budget-wise until I made my purchase at Miss Bab's (but I'll go into that a bit later).  Here are my purchases, not including the BIG red hat I had to purchased to protect my delicate skin (part of the curse being of Anglo-Saxen descent with red hair) and the shawl kit I purchased from Just Our Yarn.

The green yarn (Miss Bab's color way Spearmint Tea) in the upper lefthand corner is going to become the A-line cardigan from Cabin Fever (pictured).  Also from Miss Bab's was the green and black yarn (Franken Sock), the orange (French Marigold), and the purple/green/orange (Ghoul Friend).

After Stitches, we went back to Erica's, knit/spin/had supper (I highly recommend Trader Joe's pizza crust - its already made up just have to roll/push it into shape), maybe not in that order but after two months you can understand why the details may be a little fuzzy.

Sunday was breakfast of homemade gluten free muffins that Erica made (delicious!) and more spinning though if memory serves, Erica had fiber that she was carding.  I made progress with my drop spindle. Enough so that my spindle is no longer in danger of rolling out the of the basket, it now has a place to nest in my spinning basket. My departure was delayed as I had a try at Erica's spinning wheel.  'm definitely going to work on my drafting and at some point I would like to try out more wheels so I can get a wheel of my own.  But first I have to complete a few dozen projects to make room for a wheel!

Moving on

Mid July saw my parents moving to a 55+ apartment (which they are loving) and my elder brother and I are renting their house with plans on purchasing the house if everyone likes the new living arrangement.  The week that my parents moved out was the hottest week (hopefully of the summer) and it was not so much fun. 

Earlier this week, had the realization that I may need to down size my craft belongings since my stuff will be living downstairs in the main part of the house and there are no lovely closets to stash things.  Currently have my yarn stashed in two chests plus one flat tote underneath the futon all in the living room, two cupboards in the dining room and in plastic totes underneath my bed (mind you there is still enough room for Rosie to hide out underneath the bed).  Still need to move down all the beading, sewing, stamping and scrapbooking supplies. 

While showing my cousin, who is an art teacher, my "new" living space, I asked her if she could use certain items from my crafting supplies.  She was very receptive to taking anything so there will be some purging of supplies going on over the next month or so and then I'll have her over to "shop" for things. 

This move has me seriously examining the items that I purchase and bring into the house because no matter how many bookcases, cupboards, etc you install it is nothing like a closet and if you don't have that space you need to either get very creative in how you store things, reduce what you purchase, use what you have, give some things up or in my case a combination of all of these!

The one that got away

Almost two months since my last post but I have written posts just never published them.  Here is my July 4th post...

Last weekend thought I had made headway on the Audubon shrug for my Mom (for me if it is too big for her).  It was rather nice outside so I was knitting out on the deck Sunday morning and had finished the first section of the back, and was ready to start sleeve one.  All I did was put the needle down on the metal table (prior to casting on) to do something and it slide off the table, down to the deck and poof! Went directly through a crack between two boards!!

Didn't mind so much loosing the needle, what I minded was that I had neglected to note what size needle I used to obtain gauge and had no clue so guessed that it was the size 7 the pattern called for (why I would think that have no clue as I NEVER use the needle size that patterns call for, my gauge is way different).

Well guess what?  Tuesday night was feeling the fabric of the back and comparing it to the sleeve.  That's right,  it wasn't a size 7 that fell through the crack.  Ripped out the sleeve (was almost to the 2nd increase) and restarted it using an 8 and will see how that feels.

In the meantime, if you want a free Addi Turbo probable size 8 US, all you have to do is figure out how to retrieve it (without removing any boards from the deck)!!

Happy Father's Day!

Today we (Dad, Mom & oldest brother) celebrated Father's Day by cleaning out the refrigerator in the office, had lunch at Outback, did a little shopping at Shopko, and then helped my brother move some boxes from his place to our garage.

After that, Rosie's swimming pool was brought out for a little "swimming" (it's a small kiddie swimming pool but I'm thinking of upgrading to a larger one).  Mom and I soaked our feet and for some reason, Rosie didn't want to go into the pool but since she has no qualms about going into the duck/goose swimming pool at the Chicken Ranch (our friend's farm) or the river at the dog park, I don't think it was because of our stinky feet.

So while Rosie was lounging around on the deck, Mom and I worked on projects.  Mom worked on an organizational project and I worked on the second hat for Mauricio (which would be his first now, right?).  It isn't as intricate as the Herringbone Tweed (though I will take another stab at the Herringbone at a later date) so there is a pretty good chance this hat will be completed early this week.  Would have stayed outside longer but it felt like it was sprinkling so we packed things up and went inside.

Sometime while I was folding the fabric I washed yesterday and vacuuming, it rained which may have put a damper on the next item on my to-do list but the porch was relatively dry, though it was extremely humid outside.  So while the light was still good, I took pictures of the most recent stash acquisitions and hope to have everything posted on Ravelry and put away sometime later this week.

After supper, registered for two classes at Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival in September.  First class is Friday afternoon and the second is an all day class on Sunday. There were more classes that I would like to sign up but want to leave Saturday free so I can go shopping with friends and hang out with Mom who will be camping with me that weekend at the festival.

That's enough of this, now back to Lord of the Rings and knitting.

Happy Father's Day to All!

And the right hand is holding?

Last week I had made significant headway (snicker) on Mauricio's hat.  On Thursday, there were five of seven repeats completed and the biggest concern I had was if there would be enough yarn remaining.  There was a second skein of the green on hold at yarn shop in case this happened but as it turned out there was enough (for this particular hat).

Can you see where I changed hands with the green/brown?

This is the first two-stranded knitting that I have done and have learned why it is important to keep track which color is in which hand (and the importance of doing your gauge swatch in the color work AND making sure the gauge/final desired outcome coincide).  I am doing color work with the double knit mittens, that are currently off in UFO-land, but they don't count in my head since they seem to be a different type of critter.

When I started the hat, must have held the brown in my right hand and the green in my left. Two weeks ago while at The Cat and Crow, I switched to green in my right and brown in my left.  It is not so visible to the untrained eye (at least I hope so) from the front, but when Rebecca turned the hat inside out it became obvious that I had changed gears.  Had asked her to look at my stranding as I was worried I may be knitting too tightly, which I'm not.

If you look closely at the first picture, you can tell where I switched colors which has given me a very good knitting tip to pass on to you.  When doing a color piece, swatch a portion, making note which color is in which hand, and then switch. This way you can see if the appearance of the item will be altered any.  When I look at the hat, the brown yarn in right-hand appears more subdued and the right-hand held green pops more. 

Last Friday was my last Furlough day and I had hoped to complete the hat then. Unfortunately ran into some issues with loosing track of where I was on the charts so had a major visit to the Frog Pond not once but twice over the weekend.  Had most of the hat completed Wednesday night before leaving The Cat and Crow (didn't go Tuesday as had a belated pedicure and haircut - short hair requires constant cuts). Stayed up until the wee hours (okay was done by midnight but it felt like the wee hours since I was extremely tired and wanted to go to bed) and finished the knitting.  I left the yarns attached and ran a safety pin through the live stitches as I wanted to see how it fit Mauricio and THIS is how it fitted.

To quote Charlier Brown "Aarrgh!!" While I did have gauge with plain stockinette (like the pattern called for), this again shows why you should do your gauge swatch in the actual color work so you know how much it will suck up and you can compensate accordingly.  Will weave in the ends, and with any luck, blocking will make it big enough to fit either an adult with an extremely small head or a child.  Regardless of who receives the hat, I still need to make a hat to fit Mauricio's noggin (must remember to bring tape measure to work on Monday).  After I have his head dimension, will peruse the stash and see what I can turn up for Mauricio's Hat v2.0.

FO to report!

The FO (finished object) I have to report is the baby afghan I was working on.  At work, we refer to the folks who work in our immediate area as our office family (let's face it, the people you work with are like family, at least you see them more than your own family.  The shower was for a new office family member and on Saturday, was the shower for her and her partner.  The ladies received a lot of really nice things for the baby and more importantly, to me at least, I think they both liked my afghan.

While I hate working against a deadline (did I forget to mention that the afghan was finished with a day to spare, not bad eh?!?), I have two more projects with a deadline. The first is a hat for guy at work who is leaving at the end of June (such is academia). The next project is for my cousin who has commissioned me to make an afghan for his daughter who is moving away from home. The afghan will have an intarsia center, using a picture of their dog who is similar in appearance to Zeus pictured here. Surrounding the center will be a double crochet border.

Well need to get cracking on the hat so bye for now!

Dog Sitting & Knitting

House/Dog sitting for friends who are on vacation in Hawaii.  I only brought one project, the Lace Sampler Blanket from 60 Quick Baby Knits.  The reason for one project is that its for a baby shower at the end of the month.

Did some calculations on the number of rows in the project and I need to complete 74.25 per week, ending on Saturdays, because lets face it, you know I'll be probably be working on this up till the very start of the shower. Here is my progress so far.

Have 4 repeats done which puts me behind for Week 2 by 40.07 rows.  Should be able to make significant headway on this as I have today off and working on the blanket and listening to podcasts.  I'm currently 2 episodes behind on KnitCents, all caught up on Cast On and I'm now listening to the Knitmore Girls.  This one will take a while to get caught up on as I'm just starting to listen to it and currently on Episode 30 out of 149.

Going to go grab my shawl (think I'm coming down with a cold), a little more to drink, and settle back in for more knitting.  Here are some pictures of the dogs and kids (I don't have to take care of the outdoor critters but its fun to check them out).

Thumbless Mitten: Part 2 and Steel Hooks

Back on September 22, I posted about my thumbless mittens. Well today, I don't have a thumbless mitten but it soon will be! Was walking to my car after work and I always keep my thumb wrapped around the strap of my bag. Today I felt more bag and less mitten with my thumb.

The thumb is at the top of my to do list AFTER I liberate my size 6 lace needle from the cowl that has been patiently waiting to be bound off with beads. The size 6 is one of the needle sizes recommended for lace knitting class I'm taking tomorrow night (I know, I know how long have I known about the class??).  Last night went looking for a small steel crochet to get the beads onto the knitting but alas all of mine have gone on walkabout.

I'm trying to keep my money local by purchasing items from local businesses when possible and avoiding box stores. I called around to knitting shops I could make it to before they closed, but unfortunately they didn't have any small enough hooks.  Called Hobby Lobby and yes they had it but as I was hanging up with them, I recalled Wisconsin Craft Market. For those not familiar with Madison area, WCM is a locally owned craft store. Not only did I find the steel hook, also found the same yarn the mitten is made out of (yarn was included in class and don't remember if there was any left and if there was, where I stashed it), blocking mats and two pattern books PLUS if you check out their website they usually have a coupon.  Today's coupon was 25% everything excluding orange tagged items (which the yarn was), not bad, huh?

The first book was Perfectly Plus: featuring the knit-to-fit workbook for the full-figured woman and the other was Plus Size Fashions. While I know there is more to me, I really wish folks wouldn't single out one demographic based on their size. Do you see any books entitled Fashions for Anorexics and Waifs? How about a title of Fashions for Real Women? This would be more statistically accurate, at least in the U.S.

Day Seven: Your knitting and crochet time

Today is the last day of the daily blogging and having daily topics has been very helpful.  My hat is off to those who do this on a daily basis as I found it challenging to get things in every day.    If I were to do this on my own, chances are very strong that I would loose my one follower.

Knitting time is divided into three distinct times.  At home, at work and at a knit shop.  When I am knitting at home, it is usually for a couple of hours on the weekend and would like to do a couple of hours during the week but there is usually something else I'm trying to get done or going to.

To give you an idea of my environment, look at the pictures from last Saturday and Day 3.  There is the work basket at the foot of the daybed.  Next to that is my chair.  The chair was purchased at Good Will and it looks like the type of chair you would have found as a visitor chair in an office about 20 years ago.  Nothing glamorous and I really need to made a cushion for it but knowing me, if it was cushy like a chair you would expect to find in someones living room, I would probably fall asleep and no knitting would get done.

In front of the chair is a TV tray that has an Ott light and usually my iPad which contains patterns and current books I'm listening to while I knit.  There is a TV/DVD in the room and I occasionally watch movies but if I watch a movie, my attention falters as I get into the movie and not my knitting.  Listening to books or podcasts enables my mind to form the pictures of the surroundings and watch my knitting.

At work, I knit during lunch.  Monday through Thursday, how much knitting I get done during lunch depends on whether or not I eat at my desk or go to the cafeteria, whether or not I brought a lunch or have to get something from the cafeteria and if I eat lunch at my desk how many times people walk up and ask questions (even though they can clearly see you are at lunch).  I'm trying to get away from my desk more for lunch and if I do stay at my desk, have resolved not to answer the phone.

Friday is the big knitting day at work as I take an hour and I get together with other knitters I met at Guild (Hi Erica and Mary).  Due to the longer lunch on Friday, I'm able to get in a solid 30 minutes of knitting time which makes up for the other four days.

Last there is the knit shop knitting.  I'm trying to go to one shop on Tuesdays and the other on Wednesdays but sadly enough, it seems like there is always something going on that makes this difficult to do on a weekly basis.  When I'm at either one, there is a fair amount of knitting that I get done, and perhaps some stash enhancement, but this will need to be curtailed if I ever want to save money and not have a room that is so well insulated with wool, that I'm roasting in the winter.

Day Six: Something to aspire to

Sorry was so busy getting things done yesterday that I forgot to blog.  Made a deal with myself that if I made my card for the shoebox swap had with my Mom, Aunt and cousins, posted the printer I would like to sell on Craigslist and posted the remainder of the yarn that I took photos of earlier in the week on Ravelry, I could go to Lakeside Fibers.  

LF is the first yarn shop I started going to when I learned how to knit.  Over the years it has changed appearance and ownership, but it is still a cool yarn shop.  Yesterday they had a book signing for Sheryl Theis' new book Get Hooked on Tunisian Crochet.  Tunisian crochet, also known as afghan crochet, is a cross between crochet and knitting.  Previously I have made a rug and mat though the mat has a "few" ends to be woven in and is on my short to do list as a project to complete this year. 

A year or so ago in a fit of organizing and downsizing, I gave to charity all of my Tunisian hooks and books so now I'm going to start all over with the supplies.  Part of me is sad about this because of spending money on things I had in the past.  But a bigger part of me is happy because there are now some really yummy looking hooks and the books now have things like hats, bags, sweaters, shawls, and oh yeah afghans and mats, but definitely much different than 15 years ago when I made my two projects.  So this is definitely something that I will give a whirl this year.  

Something else I would like to learn in the next year would be darning.  I currently have four pairs of socks and two of them are awaiting darning and a third is close to needing a little TLC.  There are techniques a plenty that I would like to learn but darning would be darn useful to know :)