knitting alone

V is for Video

2009-11-07T23:03:00.011-05:00

My new video camera. I've never had one before, they've all been too big and I've made a lot of fun of people viewing life through a lens but when Cherry Pie showed me this one, I was sold.

It's not much bigger than my phone and I can carry it in my purse. And it was really easy to figure out.

The pictures aren't too bad either.

This is the little antique wheel back in Delaware. I've named her Delia. It was my great-great grandmother's name and I think it's perfect for a spinning wheel from Delware.

And if you want to see a really sweet song for a spinner it's here.

BOO!

2009-10-31T00:30:00.001-04:00

Happy Halloween!

U is for Ubiquitous

2009-10-29T00:12:00.000-04:00

Ubiquitous
Pronunciation: \yü-ˈbi-kwə-təs\
Function: adjective
Date: 1830

: existing or being everywhere at the same time : constantly encountered :widespread fashion

It's the February Lady sweater. There are 7,196 on Ravelry. I saw so many of them last year at Rhinebeck and a lot of them this year at Stitches East. Short sleeve, long sleeves, three quarter sleeves. Solid colors, multicolors. And they look good on everyone.

Stitches East

2009-10-27T19:50:00.008-04:00

My first Stitches. I went by myself on Friday morning and after checking in I just wandered around until my first class. I had Morphing Cables with Fiona Ellis and it was really fun. I learned so much about how cables move around.

On Saturday I had Lily Chin's all day class on Reversible Cables which was totally amazing. If you ever have a chance, take one of her classes!

I did spend a little time in the Marketplace. This is Stardust from Dream in Color Experimentals in Russet. I bought enough to make a sweater. It has little sparkles in it. (From Discontinued Yarns)

And this is from Lisa Souza whose yarn is more beautiful in person than it is online. It's a very generous 500 yards. I had a nice chat with Lisa who is hoping for a grandchild.

This is a beautiful merino/cashmere/nylon sock yarn from String Theory. I met the ladies from there at the hotel and their hand-dyed yarn is gorgeous.

And I dove into the big playpen of yarn from Woolstock Knit Shop and came up with a great sale on 8 skeins of Silky Wool.

I finally knit on the big sock and got a button to prove it.

It was a little odd going by myself but I was never really alone. I talked to lots of knitters in the classes, in the marketplace, at the hotel and on the buses. The hotel lobby was full of knitters all Saturday evening, such a nice thing. And some lovely ladies from The Knitter's Edge in Bethlehem, PA. invited me to dinner. (Thanks Amanda, Eileen and Joan!) Little Sister is in Bethlehem and I'll be checking out their store very soon. It was such a fun time and I'll be going back to Hartford again next year. Oh and Mr. Truck even admitted that he missed me.

Rhinebeck, It's all about the fiber

2009-10-22T00:01:00.000-04:00

Before going to Rhinebeck I made a list. I wanted fiber and a spindle. And a shawl pin. Never found the pin but I scored on the fiber. I was trying to pick wool that I hadn't spun yet. Which is pretty easy because I haven't spun much. This is Cormo from Briar Rose. Their yarn is to die for so I think this will be good.

The next two are Coopworth and Romney and N.C. Coopworth and Cotswold Lamb from Maple Row Stock Farm in Michigan.

This is a Finn-Dorset Cross from Fingerlakes Woolen Mill. I've spun Finn and it's really nice, soft like merino but a longer fiber.

And this a one pound bump of something that I really wanted at the time and now I can't find the receipt and I have no clue what it is but it's really soft. BFL maybe? I was really trying to be organized and rational. Anyone have any ideas?

Oh and a turkish delight spindle which I still can't work very well. Funny that the wheel is so much easier.

No time for more, I wanted to show you my sweater but I have to pack. I'm going to Stitches East on Friday and Saturday. I'm taking a class with Lily Chin and I'm shopping for yarn. If anyone's going to be there, look for me!

Rhinebeck

2009-10-18T22:22:00.019-04:00

I was all ready for rain and snow. They'd been forecasting it for a couple of days. I had my galoshes ready although Mr. Truck said he wouldn't walk next to me if I wore them. We had two umbrellas in the car because it was pouring at home, but it never rained at Rhinebeck.

We got there just in time for the Ravelry meet up. We saw Bob and Jess and lots of others. (We really think it was Ysolda under the knitted dog head, we heard Jess call her name.)

And we met up with the ladies I knit with on Saturday mornings. I wore my sweater but it was hidden by my coat. In fact, most people's sweaters were hidden by their coats. I saw lots of Ishbels, though and some really nice hats and two owls. I really want to knit one of those.

These people were knitting on the world's largest sock. The waiting line was too long so I skipped it but I wonder who's going to turn that heel.

We saw spindles and fiber

and all sorts of spinning wheels, even an electric one.

And of course we saw sheep

and goats

and alpacas.

We stopped by the sheep herding dogs before we left. They are Mr. Truck's favorite part although they really make our dogs look not too bright.

And it didn't rain until we got home.

Spinning a Baktus

2009-10-10T00:01:00.001-04:00

I bought this beautiful superwash merino rove called Mocha Java from Fiber Optic on etsy.

And I managed to spin it into this yarn. Which wasn't too bad, a bit thick and thin and more barber poled than I wanted. But it's yarn and I can knit with it. But there wasn't enough to make anything really big. So I searched and searched Ravelry and I found the perfect pattern.

Baktus. It uses any amount of yarn. You just increase until you've used half your yarn and then you decrease. Perfect for handspun of an undetermined amount.

There's a lacy version, too. You should go look at Mary's.

T is for Tree B Gone

2009-10-08T01:00:00.002-04:00

This is our tree, the American Sweetgum, Liquidambar styraciflua (I like the Latin name). It's the tallest tree on our block and it is at least sixty years old. You can see it above all the other trees. Our estimate is over 100 feet. We've taken care of it and had it pruned every year and it keeps growing.

But it's too close to our house. A couple of years ago we saw a show on maybe the Home and Garden channel about a house whose foundation was really damaged by their tree and ever since then we've been watching that tree.

Mr. Truck never liked it anyway. All year round, winter, spring, summer, fall, these seeds drop off the tree. He spends hours and hours picking them up. They hurt if you step on them and they don't even compost very well.

But this year the fence was bulging. And that never happened before. Digging around it, Mr. Truck found this root. From the tree. Heading towards our foundation. And no it's not a branch, we dug it out of the ground.

So we called The Tree Service and Mr. Truck declared August 26 Tree B Gone Day. It's really sad but the Tree Service told us the horror story of other people's foundations with $30,000.00 worth of damage.

So the nice men from The Tree Service came and brought all sorts of equipment and went so high in the tree that I couldn't even watch.

When the branches and especially the trunk hit the ground, the house shook.

And they chipped it all up and carted it all away.

Then they got out the really big equipment and ground down the trunk, 3 feet into the ground. Now I was under the impression that they would take all that with them, too. But when they left this was still here. We just looked at each other. Where were we going to put that much mulch? I spread it everywhere I could and it didn't even make a dent in the pile. What to do? So Mr. Truck made a sign that said "Free Mulch." He stuck it in the pile and we waited. It was there Thursday, it was there Friday, it was still there Saturday. On Saturday I spread more around the shrubs. Sunday morning we woke up and it was gone. We don't know who or how, we never heard anything and the dogs didn't even bark. So now the tree is really gone.

We're planning on planting a small tree this spring. I'm leaning towards a Kousa Dogwood.

Look What I Found!

2009-10-04T21:57:00.006-04:00

So we're in Delaware for the weekend and Mr. Truck gets the local paper. He always reads the paper and then he tells me the important stuff I should know about. And he says, "There's a spinning wheel for sale. It says antique and it's pretty cheap." I jump up, get my phone and call the number. Does it spin? Probably. Is it old? We've had it 30 years and we were told it was 100 years old then. Where are you? Really close. And we go look. It treadles and the wheel spins, the mother-of -all tightens and loosens. The footman is missing, replaced by a leather string and part of the distaff is missing but it's coming home with me.

On the way home we stop to buy some string and a bit of copper wire. After much googling and laughing and a little frustration we hook up the double drive, learn how to tie a reef knot and Mr. Truck makes an orifice hook thingy out of the copper wire, gives it a good oiling and it spins.

Mr. Truck says it's old because of the way it was made and the nails. We think it might have been refinished at some time. But there are no markings.

This chunk is missing but it doesn't seem to matter.

Here's the crazy leather piece instead of the footman. I think Mr. Truck has plans for some woodworking there.

And here's the crazy yarn I made. Look at the flyer hooks. Those alone make me think it's really old.

I've put up a post on Ravlery in the Antique Spinning Wheel Group but if anyone knows what it is, let me know. It's lived in Delaware for at least the last 30 years and when I get it all fixed up, it will be going back. We'll leave it at the condo so I can spin when I'm there. I really don't need two wheels here.

S is for

2009-09-30T22:20:00.007-04:00

Socks of course! These are Sunshine, my third from the Cookie A. book. Nice, easy to memorize pattern but they run BIG. Really big in the ankle. If you knit them you might want to leave out a repeat, or two. Just saying.

I used Classic Elite's Summer Sox and while it was pretty nice for a cotton blend, one of the two skeins had three knots, not good. Also this pattern used almost the entire skein for each sock, almost nothing left over. Which may or may not be a good thing.

S is also for Susan, that's me. With my Daddy. A very long time ago at Grandma's house which I just realized has almost the same floor plan as my house now. But not the wallpaper.

2009-09-27T22:00:00.006-04:00

This weekend was National Alpaca Open Farm Days and Reese and Evan and I, and Reese's mommy, went to Alma Park in Jackson, NJ. Which is really funny because it's just down the street from the High School I went to. And it's also really funny because I have no picture of Evan, he didn't stand still long enough.

Reese had seen an alpaca on Saturday and was very excited to see more of them with Grammy.
I was much more interested in the yarn and fiber.

I bought some Huacaya and silk and it is so soft.

The alpacas are so cute but even better there were chickens and kittens. Reese loved the chickens and Evan spent a lot of time petting the kitties and eating munchkins. There were also emus which Reese has been calling Elmo.

Rose and her brother were delightful and I had a lot of fun talking about spinning, dyeing, and knitting and petting all the fiber. I would have petted the alpacas but it was raining and a bit muddy and they were pretty wet.

This cutie is Maggie May and she almost got close enough to touch.

And on the way home there was a rainbow. Which I found is really hard to take a picture of while you're driving. By the time I stopped at a red light, it was already fading, but it looked like it was right over my house..

R is for

2009-09-21T23:00:00.000-04:00

I was going to do R is for ripping out. A whole sweater. Wrong fit, wrong pattern, just wrong.

I thought about recycling, something I really believe in.

But then I realized R is for Ravelry. Something that in the last two years has become such an important part of my life. And something that has enriched my life in so many ways. I've learned so much, laughed a lot, cried a bit and met some wonderful friends.

Rhinebeck 2008

Where did those chickens go?

2009-09-11T22:20:00.005-04:00

We spent Labor Day weekend with Reese. She's really talking now and what she talks about a lot is chickens. Obsessively. She and her mommy saw some Guinea hens wandering around town one day and now all Reese wants to do is find the chickens. "Where they go?" So I decided to knit her one.

She seemed to like it. And every time she saw me knitting she asked if it was a chicken.

But it was a little shrug and hat for a new baby I know.

Kool Aid, it's not just for drinking

2009-09-04T00:01:00.001-04:00

I bought this pound of undyed superwash merino to practice my spinning. (If you spin, you might want to check this place out.) I found out that I don't like to spin worsted weight so I ended up with this bit of yarn. It's about 100 yards or so and it's not bad but it's just not what I want to spin, I think I like it thinner. So I decided to have a little experiment.

I bought a bunch of this.

And put the yarn in the crockpot.

And I got this. I was aiming for a kettle dyed look. Not too bad. Kind of a salmon pink. All Mr. Truck had to say was, " Now you're cooking yarn?"

If you're looking for instructions, I found them here.

Q is for Quiet

2009-08-30T23:00:00.001-04:00

When I was little, since I was an only child for a very long time, I spent a lot of time by myself. I was always busy but I was quiet, my games didn't involve a lot of noise. I still enjoy the quiet sometimes. I never turn on the radio or TV or even listen to my ipod in the morning. I enjoy hearing the birds and bugs and the far off traffic, the occasional hum of the fridge and my neighbors leaving for work. A few weeks ago we were walking the dogs along the bay and we gradually made our way past all the other people on the beach. It was so quiet, just the crunch of our footsteps in the sand, the little laps of the waves, and the dogs sniffing. The little sandpipers up ahead of us made more noise than anything else.

Coincidences

2009-08-25T12:01:00.000-04:00

My sister-in-law, Mr. Truck's big sister (we'll call her Mimi), has been doing all the work with Mother-in-law, and sometimes she feels a bit overwhelmed. We can't do as much as we'd like, we're so far away, but we serve as cheerleaders and pseudo-psychologists and just good listeners. Now Mimi has been very fascinated by the whole spinning thing and has lots of questions so as little present I got this to spin for her. She's a crocheter and makes some really pretty things and potholders for me.

It's called Surelyto the Sea and is made by Brianna . These are the perfect colors for Mimi.

So I spun it up as pretty fine singles, at least the finest I had spun so far. And then I three plyed it to make maybe a light worsted weight. And last night Evan and Olivia helped me wind it into a cake. I wish I could have taken pictures but I only have two hands and they were occupied by keeping the yarn and Evan and Olivia from becoming one big knot.

Oh and the coincidence? Brianna is from Palm Coast, Florida and so is Mimi. In fact they live really close to each other. So the yarn is going back home.

Mystery Socks

2009-08-18T21:26:00.012-04:00

Have you ever done a mystery knit along? I found out that I really look at the pictures in the patterns a lot. Just to see if my project matches. In a mystery KAL, you just never know and it's a bit worrisome. These socks were for the Outlander group on Ravelry and they were really a lot of fun. We started with the toe at the end of June.

Next came the foot with a pattern and some little cables.

Next we turned the heel. And finally some posted pictures so I could see that mine were just like the others.

Then onto the cuff with some more cables. I really liked how the gusset stitches led right into the cables.

I was knitting on the beach last weekend with my many pages of pattern covered with all my scribbles.

Finally, some beads in the shape of a heart. Then the cuff and binding off. I did eliminate a garter stitch part because they were long enough as it was.

The yarn is Malabrigo sock yarn in Lettuce, so soft and nice. And the beads just matched perfectly. My first time knitting with beads, much easier than I had expected.

My only problem was that these tied up all my size one DPN's for a very long time so I had to go out and buy another set. Which meant a trip to the LYS where there is just too much temptation.

P is for Pirates

2009-08-14T00:01:00.004-04:00

Olivia, Evan, Mr. Truck and I were pirates for a few hours on a Pirate Cruise. Great fun if you don't mind getting soaked and having your mustache wash off.

Not for the faint of heart

2009-08-12T00:15:00.006-04:00

Eunice by Cookie A., not the easiest sock I've ever knit. Not impossible or I wouldn't be posting about them, but not easy. Definitely a challenge. Socks that require a lot of attention. And that break bamboo size 0 needles. And now that they're done I realize that they're not mine. I really thought they were. The yarn is really nice, although the colorway is called Koi in a Blender and that creeps me out a bit. The pattern is amazing, I especially like how the cable goes down into the heel. But they're a bit short and they don't really go with any of my clothes so they're telling me they aren't mine.

I think I know whose they are though. Someone who always wants to see my socks and loves every pair. I think she'll like them. But I have to wash them first because I had to try them on just to make sure. I really hope the next pair are mine.

O is for Orange

2009-08-08T22:38:00.001-04:00

O is for orange, that's really obvious but it's not a color that I would ever say I like. I just don't think about it much. But when I started looking around, I actually have a lot of orange things. Some of my Fiestaware is orange, there's a cutting board, the sweater I was wearing, some socks and a sweater I knit, my purse, and some summer tops. Who knew?

But this is my favorite orange of all.

Summer Sweater

2009-08-06T23:59:00.001-04:00

Not the best pictures, I have the same problem as Sara, it's the photographer. Mr. Truck just doesn't get what I want in a picture but he tries.

This is the Printed Silk Cardigan from IK. I made it in Plymouth Yarn Wildflower D.K. and although the yarn was really really splitty I like the end result.

I followed the pattern exactly except I knit it all in one piece to the armholes which meant I had to take out the selvage stitches except I left one in at each side and purled those to make a faux seam. And I made a hem so it wouldn't roll. Oh, and I lengthened the bodice so the empire waist would be where it should be on me. But other than, I swear it's just like the pattern, except I did shorten the sleeves a bit.

It's very comfortable and it's one that I've gotten quite a few compliments on.

N is for Niddy Noddy

2009-08-04T09:09:00.004-04:00

When I started this spinning thing I read lots of books and they all said you need a niddy noddy but I think, not me I can just wind the yarn on a chair back or a lampshade or something. Then I try winding the yarn on a chair back and I realize I really need a niddy noddy. So I show Mr. Truck a picture and say "I need this, can you make one?" And he says, "I'll put it on the list." So I go back to the chair. But Mr. Truck must have felt sorry for me because the next day I come home to this.

And it works much better than the chair.

It's an old broomstick and a dowel and it works just fine.

More Spinning

2009-07-27T21:57:00.007-04:00

I've been spinning away. And I think I've got it now. Back in the fall I bought this beautiful roving from Jessica and I never got the hang of the spindle. But I've been practicing on the wheel and I made real yarn. Not good yarn but I can knit with it.

So I plied it all up and got this.

And then I set the twist and it looked like this.

And now it looks like this. Not perfect but I think I'm going to make this hat for Reese with it.

The yarn I'm working on now is really better, even Mr. Truck noticed.

And in case you wondered, I'm knitting socks. I'm almost done with the first one. They're Eunice by Cookie A. and they're quite challenging, also a bit shorter than I'm used to. I've been working on size 0 needles and I've snapped one already doing one of the cables. I just need to buy metal needles, the bamboo ones are really like toothpicks.

Another Ishbel

2009-07-14T22:20:00.005-04:00

So I bought this yarn for Ishbel and I stalked all the projects on Ravelry and I figured 430 yards was plenty. So I decided to do the bigger size for the stockinette part and the smaller size for the lace section. I was really sure it would be enough. But in the very beginning there was a knot and I made it worse so I cut it out and did a Russian join. There was about a yard of yarn that I stuffed in my knitting bag. And I kept knitting. Towards the end that sinking feeling set in so I didn't do the very last row before the bind off and I was sure I could make it. But at the very end of the bind off there was no more yarn. I really could have cried, I had no life lines. And then I remembered that piece of yarn, and I tore the house apart looking for it. I finally found it and did another Russian join and just made it. So my advice is never throw out those bits until you're really done.

And that's all that's left.

PS Here's a link to a Russian join just in case

Spinning!

2009-07-12T21:56:00.004-04:00

I can do it! Not well or fast but I am now officially a spinner. On Saturday morning I went to The Spinnery for a private lesson with Betty. Who, I must add, has the patience of a saint. When I signed up for the class I told her I had a drop spindle and when I got there I told her I now had a wheel. Betty didn't even blink, just got me a wheel and went on as if nothing happened. I was glad that I'd spent the last two weeks practicing my footwork because I was spinning in minutes. Betty went over everything, answered all my questions and was a great cheerleader.

By the end of the class I had spun and plied a whopping 18.7 yards of something that can be called yarn.

When I got home I washed it and hung it to set and then wound it into a cake.

Then I knit it all up. It's not even and it's certainly not perfect but it will be some day.

And I think I'll frame this.

By the way, if you're ever nearby, Frenchtown, NJ is just the cutest little town. Saturday was Bastille Day and I wish I had had more time to wander around.