Stringativity

Re-Fashionista

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 14:32:00 +0000

Fabric-wise it was love at first sight, a funky twill weave cotton with bias stripes of a tabby weave with a thread end fringe.

At second look it was a sad no waist band, loooong gored skirt about 5 sizes (if you can believe mfg sizing) too big. IMHO a fabulous fabric worked up in a poor design, surely I could do something about that right? So I bought it for a $1.98.

Such a simple fix. I removed one full gore from each side, sewed the right side seam up leaving a proper armhole length open and added a side zipper on the left side.The next step was to sew on the bias tape and tack the top of the armhole at the shoulder creating a boat neck.

Done. Easy. I love it.

A Bad Penny???

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 18:09:00 +0000

Yes, I'm back again, let's see if this time it sticks shall we?

A few things to jump start this second (?) third (?) resurrection of my blog...

Stuff that has been keeping me busy lately:

Felting, wet and needle

Stitching/sewing hand and machine:

And knitting and spinning:

Of course the typical "normal" knitting is happening as well, sweaters, socks, you know the drill. :)

The family is healthy, happy, and well, and growing by leaps and bounds. No, there aren't any "new" grandkids, but the youngest, who was just a wee little thing the last time I seriously blog is soon to be 3 years old! My oh my where does the time go?

I've been working the last few days on this absolutely FABULOUS pattern by Kieran Foley Camino Bubbles Unfortunately for me it's primarily in charted form, BUT that's MY personal problem please do not hesitate to give this pattern a go. Sooooo much bang for the buck! Easily memorized intuitive pattern with such a wonderful end product. Love it! Nearly finished with the one I'm working on right now done in Crazy Zauberball. of course, pix at this point aren't worth it, I'm not dropping my stitches their full length so frankly it looks a little yarn barfy as all lace patterns do at this point, plus it also looks as if there are LOTS of mistakes but I know there isn't, this pattern is just too easy to work for mistakes.

Camino Bubbles could not have come across my radar at a more opportune time. I've been playing a lot with dropped stitches lately. It fits so nicely into my mindset right now. I expect (actually have been drafting) a few riffs of this stitch pattern. Perhaps one of my riffs, or just another Camino Bubbles will be my travel knitting next week. :)

Expect pix from sunny So Cal soon!

Bast Fibers

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 20:56:00 +0000

Bast fiber

-noun
Any of several strong, woody fibers, as flax, hemp, ramie, or jute, obtained from phloem tissue and used in the manufacture of woven goods and cordage.*
________________________________________________________

I've been wanting to blog about this for a while now, since last summer actually. I spent the better part of last summer researching various bast fibers. I focused primarily on the fibers that could, in theory, be found growing wild in my own backyard and at some point in time, if deemed appropriate, could be planted the spring of 2011.

I was lucky, and found most of what I was after. I was unable to find any flax (bummer I know) but I did find plenty of stinging nettles, milkweed and another, typical to my area, wild fiber plant. ;o)

Yes, you read that right, I said milkweed in that sentence, and I am NOT talking about the fluff from the pods, but the actual bast fibers in the stalk. Frankly I had no idea the common milkweed plant could be a source of spinable bast fibers but all that research I did led me to the studies done by Prof. Yiqi Yang at the University of Nebraska, and lo and behold he was optimistic regarding the extraction and characteristics of fibers from the common milkweed.

Prof. Yang concluded:

Stems of milkweed plants have been used to obtain natural cellulose fibers with better strength and elongation that the milkweed floss fibers. Milkweed stem fibers have high cellulose content but low % crystallinity. The fibers have strength similar to cotton and elongation higher than that of linen fibers. The modulus and moisture regain of the milkweed stem fibers is between that of cotton and linen. Overall, the milkweed stem fibers have properties required for high value textile, composite, and other fi- brous applications. Utilizing the milkweed stems for high quality natural cellulose fibers will add value and make milkweed a more useful fiber plant.**

Sounds promising doesn't. :o)

I did a lot of trial and error experiments in regard to retting the various plants, mostly field retting and a little pond retting, and I tried a few other things I thought might work (I still have a few other tricks up my sleeve to try). Some methods were successful showing promise right away, some not so successful leaving me with some sticky and/or stinky masses of goo, and some methods have yet to be proven. It is some of the yet to be proven experiments that I'm showing today.

These bast fiber stalks have been standing in the Southwest corner of my patio since last summer/fall. Pictured are what one would typically find growing wild here in the Midwest, stinging nettle, common milkweed, and that other bast fiber whose name escapes me. Some of the bundles in the pic were field retted, some were split, bundled and then stood in the corner and some were just bundled and stood in the corner. I also learned from my research that in the Scandinavian countries they often just bundle and stand the stalked out in the elements for the winter. It sounded easy enough so I gave that a try too. The constant freeze thaw cycle with lots of snow/moisture does all the work of releasing the fibers, our winter here this year has been perfect, for that method.

I think I got a good amount of fiber release. The first pic is milkweed the second is nettle. There is still a lot of moisture in all the stalks so I can't do much with any of it, but I did bring in this tiny bit just to play a little.

Tonight I'm going to see what the next step needs to be. I have all the typical implements of fiber ~~destruction~~ extraction and others I think will work better for my experiments and fibers so it's play time. I can't wait any longer it's been a looooong 6 months of wondering if all my efforts last summer hold any promise or were just a fun way to past the time.

I will be gathering fiber plants again this year, and I also intend to plant a plot of flax and one of cotton. I know I'm really pushing the limits of a long enough growing season for cotton, but a friend said she had some good results one summer when she planted cotton along her garage. It can't hurt to try.

I've been considering growing (?) raising (?) some silk worms too. I have the mulberry, why not? I've tried silk worms once before without any success, but I do know what I did wrong. This time there are other factors to consider, namely Ben and Ida. I'm not so sure I'd be able to keep the animals away from a bunch of munching worms. The sound would drive them crazy.

*excerpt from Dictionary.com
**excerpt from Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications
University of Nebraska - Lincoln Year 2009
"Extraction and characterization of natural cellulose fibers from common milkweed stems"
Narendra Reddy Yiqi Yangy

Random is the flow today

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 17:03:00 +0000

I know I shouldn't do this. Posting on my blog without a single second of forethought is not a good idea, but if I'm ever going to get back into the groove of posting I just have to do it, be that boring and awfully stupid posts or not, so here goes.

Bare with me, my photography skills have gotten even worse, if that was possible, nonetheless I'll favor you with a couple pix cuz I really don't have anything to talk about. lol
A couple of people asked about the sizes of my wheels. I know seeing the individual pix doesn't give a good sense of perspective so here's a group pic so you can get some idea of the range of sizes. Unfortunately my spinning ability on these wheels has flown the coop. Antique wheels can be finicky, and tend to be stubborn in the cold dry doldrums of winter. Everyone is going to get a spa treatment this week. If I can't spin on them the least I can do is pamper with them.

Was I spinning before? Yes, I was. See?The bobbin on the left is from the wheel shown in the far left of the group photo. The bobbin on the right is the tiny wheel in the center. I think it's really interesting how much larger the flyer and bobbin are on the tiny wheel compared to other wheel.

I want another one of these Itty Bitty wheels. It really isn't an antique but I adore her just the same. I like her style. I like her portability. I like the way she spins, but it could be improved a tad. There are a couple right now on ebay exactly like her, but they are in the Netherlands and with an extra $60 for shipping they are going to be priced out of my budget soon. They have been selling lately for around $125- $175 which to me is kinda high for the quality of this wheel. Plus I can't get beyond the fact that I got mine for $20, I know that was prob'ly a major fluke, but still... Why do I want a wheel exactly or very similar to one I already have? I want to steampunk one and add some modifications but I don't want to screw it up so I need an extra in case I do something really stupid. (that is not outside the realm of possibilities ya know) I have been playing around in my workroom with all manner of spinning wheel like pieces and parts. Who knows, maybe I'll have one made from scratch done before I find another Itty Bitty to mess with.

WARNING RANDOMNESS AHEAD

And while I had my camera out...
Dang I wish I could take decent pictures, then I could show you how utterly awesome the platter Bart gave me is. It's waaaaay too beautiful not to be hung on the wall doncha think?

Hmmm anymore strange unconnected thoughts floating around in my head? Why yes there is!

Liam came this weekend to visit grandma and grandpa. The kid slays me. He's 16 mo running all around, loves to climb, and loves, loves, loves, to dance. Any kind of tone or sound he hears, he will stop whatever he's doing and dance. He dances to cell phone ringtones, he dances to the clock chiming the hour, and the alarm on the ovens. He will dance to anything. I was somewhat surprised though on Saturday when he stopped playing and started dancing to the sound of the trash compactor! LOL

Enough already, some randomness is too chaotic even for me.

Socks

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 21:00:00 +0000

If you're a sock knitter you know there are some pretty fabulous sock patterns out there. I mean really, some of these people design absolute works of beauty. If you can't just take my word for it pick up any of the books by Cookie A or Anna Zilboorg and you'll get a taste of what is out there. And although I greatly admire these socks and the artistry behind them I never knit them.

I'm a barefoot kind of gal and socks to me are merely an article of clothing for which there is a single purpose. It eventually gets too cold to continue running around barefoot so socks keep your feet warm. Then of course there is that thing about doing the same thing twice cuz I do have two feet, and repeat performances around here is NOT the norm.

BUT

Socks are excellent take along projects. The tiny little things slip easily into your purse. And unless you are creating one of the magnificent socks from the above mentioned designers (or countless others) you don't even need a pattern or chart. Socks are nice unobtrusive knitting that can go with you on a moments notice. Thus I always have a sock on my needle(s).

BUT

No pattern socks get boring after a while.

BUT

Every new pattern has me adapting it for my narrow, high arch, foot.

THUS

My ~~love/hate~~ need/apathetic relationship with socks has often had me at odds in my knitting world. Until a few months ago.

Once again I turned my attention to the sock knitting goddess known to us mere mortals by the name Cat Bordhi. Her latest book , over a year old now, is "Personal Footprints for Insouciant Sock Knitters: Book Two in the New Pathways for Sock Knitters Series" has shall we say started me on a new path. (Please don't ask me to say that title out loud. I'm a fairly well educated person but I am also phonetically challenged, and it makes me feel stupid.) Regardless of any petty personal affront I have regarding the title, the sock knitting technique in this book genius. I have found my rhythm and I'm churning out sock at lightening speed.

OK, perhaps not whole socks but I've got a lot of footprints made. :o) This is what I've done since Christmas.

On the lower left are 6 footprints. In the center are 10 socks in progress, and on the right are 2 pair. There are another 2 footprints in the knitting bag in the car and 2 complete pairs in the laundry.

This is what a footprint looks like.

The vertical marking thread tells me how many rounds I've knitted and where I've put my increases. The jog in the vertical marking thread is where my increases begin. The horizontal marking threads is where leg will go after I slip the stitches onto needles and snip and unravel the stitches between. The thread at the very top is a holding thread for the last of my heel stitches that will be closed up after the sock is complete.

I gotta tell ya, if it isn't obvious, making these footprints is addicting. I can zip through a footprint in an evening. Granted I'm using size 3 or 4 needles and while I'm not doubling the sock yarns I also using a carrying along thread or a cobweb weight yarn with it so my stitch count at its greatest is only 48 stitches.

Yes, I like my socks thicker than most people, it helps them fulfill a sock's purpose (its sole purpose snort) of warming my feet and as an added bonus makes my shoes fit my narrow feet better.

Those of you studying the pic might notice the blue gray sock center bottom looks a little bigger. It is, I figured out Joe's footprint too, I was beginning to feel guilty about all my new socks. Yeah, I know, pretty unselfish of me, go figure. lol You might also notice, although I know the pic is pretty crummy, but none of the socks completely match each other. Most of the footprint parts do, sort of, but not many of the leg portions do. I'm playing with new stitch patterns, and stripe counts. So from here on out, I'm pretty sure my socks are going to be mostly fraternal and not identical. Another added bonus to bulking up the sock yarn with a carry along yarn/thread I can usually get three socks out of the typical 400-ish yards of sock yarn. Three socks, fraternal triplets. That's a good thing when you have a family member who likes to eat hand knit socks.

It is just amazing

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 15:42:00 +0000

I remembered my password. Ok, total disclosure, I didn't remember it, my computer did. :/

It would be silly, foolish, and utterly impossible to explain all the whys and wherefores regarding the comatose state this blog has been in for so very long so I won't. Suffice to say life has gone on as it will and does. Have there been changes in my life? You bet. Will I begin to blog again on regular basis? Um, that remains to be seen (was it ever regular before). Do I think I'll be blogging? Yeah, prob'ly, maybe, I'm pretty sure, I think.

Shall we begin?

Dear Readers, if any of you are still out there, please be assured that the pursuit of all things fibery is alive and well here at the Hermitage. I spend my days much as before, under the spell of all things stringy, lofty, and linear. Knitting is still the priority around here but I have fallen head first and deeply into the world of spinning. Yeah sure I was spinning before, but lately my head has been turned and I've been lusting for and to be honest rescuing antique spinning wheels.

My first rescue was mid-September of 2010. A cute little Saxony wheel I found by chance on Craig's List. I mentioned the little cutie to Joe. His response was something in the order of, 'that's not too far away, let's go get it', so we did. (I know, I know, I have wonderful husband)

I don't know much about this little wheel other than it is typical of the southern Pennsylvania wheels made around the early 1900's. The family history on the wheel tells me it came from Kentucky in 1924.

Those of you with a keen eye will notice that one of the leathers was broken and I had to replace it. Other than that he/she spins like a dream. The picture above is one taken the day I got him/her. Since that day I have replaced the leathers and given him/her a few "spa treatments" (an oil rub down) Sorry I don't have a pic of just how beautiful he/she looks now. Ha! I guess I didn't think this blogging thing through today. :/

The next addition to the Hermitage was 2 weeks later. Yes, yes, I know, I had just bought a wheel, but oh this little cutie (also found on craig's list) was just too cute to let go by. Granted it was in Nashville and I'm not anywhere near Nashville, but I do have a BIL there. So yeah, he got the wheel for me and shipped her to me.

Meet Itty Bitty Betty

Such a teeny tiny cutie! Granted NOT an antique wheel but oh so cute and....extremely portable! There are a couple of us in the Antique Spinning Wheel group on Ravelry that have this exact wheel. The stories we've heard from the sellers make us think this is a wheel that was made in the 60' or 70's for the tourist trade in Germany. The fact that three of these wheels have shown up on the Nashville craig's list makes me think there was a tour to Germany in the 60's/70's and a several of the people on the tour brought one home as a decorator piece. lol

Betty spins well, not fabulous, but well and she fits my needs to a tee. My Friday Lunch knitting group recently expanded to include a Friday Breakfast spinning group and Betty goes without a fuss. Please gloss over the fact, cuz it sounds a little crazy, that on occasion, I can be found in a restaurant in town for upwards to 6 hours on any given Friday.....um....yeah....never mind.

The next new addition to my flock came 2 months later in November. yet another craig's list find up around Chicago where Bart just happened to be for the weekend for a new gallery opening which is carrying his glass----yep a mom brag. So he picked her up and bought her to me.

My Scandinavian Beauty

A pic of the day she came home. Yes, she is in terrible shape, and it is doubtful I'll ever really get to spin much on her but she has potential. Sorry again about no recent photos she looks so much better after her spa treatments, but she's a work in progress and will be for a long time. The only thing I say about this wheel is that she has had a long a loving life. Who ever had her before cared for her well and used her often (I am referring to the people who actually used her and knew her well and not the people who forgot about for the last 50 years). At one point her wheel support bearings were replaced, the material of choice used to repair her was a Finnish coin dated 1922. Another repair to her I'm sure was done lovingly but, perhaps without an eye toward aesthetic, was the replacement leg they gave her.

It's there behind Ben, but notice how delicate the old girl's original legs are compared to....

Um yeah, that would be an axe handle. LOL I love it. Spokes so delicate they are slimmer than a pencil, and a prosthetic limb fashioned from an axe handle. LOL

Had enough of my flock of wheels yet? Well perhaps just one more, I promise, just one more.

I got this one over Holidays.

It's Canadian Production Wheel, the maker was Eugene Benoit. He/she spins like a dream, and is, yet another craig's list find.

I know, it all sounds rather obsessive doesn't it. I now have 5 wheels in my flock (not counting the treadle sewing machine wheel I made), 4 of which are in perfect working order. Most are still in need of some more spa treatments, for their ultimate beauty to shine, thus the reason of no current photos (such poor blog planning tsk tsk) but what the hey, you just got another taste of the crazy that is rampant and the norm here at the Hermitage, what more could you ask for?

And now on to the burning questions.
Why so many wheels?
It's not like I planned on have a flock of wheels, they all just sorta fell into my lap. Granted they all came from craig's list and that sounds a bit like I was actually searching for them but in truth, I was really just kind of curious what was out there and available and wanted to learn about antique wheel (modern wheels leave me kinda cold). All of these wheels cost next to nothing so that wasn't anything to consider. The added bonus of actually having to revive, if not restore them was an appealing task also.

Will there be more wheels?
Maybe, maybe not. I've filled all the niches of my wheel desires for the moment. Sure there are other wheels of different types I'd consider adding to the flock, and if one or more of them fall into my lap then so be it, but I'm not actively looking for wheels. Well, um, at least not any more so than I was before. ;)

Will I ever sell these wheels?
Prob'ly not, but that's not to say I won't ever give them away. I'm not doing this for any reasons other than to learn more about antique wheels, and have fun doing it. I like rescuing these wheels and restoring their dignity. Be honest, haven't you ever gone to an estate sale or a garage sale and bought something you didn't really need just cuz you couldn't bear the thought of it going into the trash? It's the same kind of thing, the wheels just take up more space. :P

What does Joe say about all this?
Not a lot. He thinks they are beautiful, impressed with the restorations, and I'd be willing to bet he's pretty thrilled with the notion that all of these wheels put together don't even amount to a quarter of the $$ a new wheel would cost.

So there you have it, a recent peek at life at the Hermitage. Nothing surprising I'd guess, for those who know me, you gotta admit there's always been and always will be something obsessively going on around here, that's just how I roll and spinning wheels are just the latest flavor.

Talk to ya soon.
Maybe.

Just braggin' again

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 04:36:00 +0000

that's what moms do.

So very proud of my youngest daughter Gillian. She'll be graduating this May from Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) with a double major in Advertising and Graphic Design. Aside from her exceptional grades, she has had at least one, if not two, if not three jobs while carrying her full load of classes while attending SCAD.

One of her three concurrent jobs this past year has been the Art Director for the magazine District Quarterly. In September she received the Farce Award which is a SCAD traveling trophy she will pass on to this year's recipient. You can read the Fall issue here. This issue, which was also the inaugural issue, won 5th place honors in the Magazine Literary category, at the 88th annual Associated Collegiate Press/College Media Advisers National College Media Convention in Austin, Texas this pass December.

In January, Gillian was a finalist for a SCADDY having her copywriting entry chosen as one of the 100 out of 1500 entries to be on exhibit prior to and following the awards ceremony. A SCADDY, which honors excellence in advertising, is the only college sponsored event of it's type in the nation and is judged by industry professionals.

Gillian has also received a Bronze Student ADDY Award from the American Advertising Federation Savannah for the "Flow of Life" spread in the Fall issue of the District Quarterly.

snippet from the AAF website: "With over 60,000 entries annually, the ADDY Awards are the world's largest and arguably toughest advertising competition. The ADDY Awards represent the true spirit of creative excellence by recognizing all forms of advertising from media of all types, creative by all sizes and entrants of all levels from around in the world. The American Advertising Federation, a not-for-profit, conducts the ADDY Awards across 200 advertising clubs and 15 districts. It is the only creative awards program administered by the advertising industry for the industry."

No wonder she doesn't call as much as she use to. ;o)

Love you Silly.

Skewed again

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:55:00 +0000

Thought you'd like to see the finished pair.

Pretty sexy for a sock huh.

Very rarely does the foot of a sock fit me so nicely. Granted the leg portion is a tad bit looser than I would like but, that is pretty normal for my scrawny ankles. They still stay up and don't slouch so they get a thumbs up from me. Next time I'll incorporate the sizing modifications the Yarn Diva has been working on. Check it out. There is something there for everyone, higher instep, roomier legs, thinner legs/ankles, and roomier heel back. I'd say that just about covers it. :o)

The details of the pair I made aren't too thrilling. I followed the pattern, pretty much, (I did make the second sock with a broader toe 10 stitches per needle rather than 6) but then I did run into some trouble of my own making. When I first began the journey of this sock I started out using Bernat Sox then I got kinda bored with the color and decided to stripe the socks with a random beige I had sitting around. I think using both yarns and making the stripes was a good call.

Bernat Sox only on the right, Sox and random beige solid striped EOR on the left. I knitted along swiftly working the Sox yarn on the rows that had the stitch manipulations and the random beige on the plain even rows. Added bonus doing it this way, I never had to give a thought as to what row I was on and it certainly made counting rows much simpler for the these old tired eyes. It worked great, that is until I reached the short row pairs on the leg. Ooops. Short row pairs giggle/snort. The eagles eyes among you may have already noticed it in the photos above. See how the stripe pattern changes from a 1x1 color sequence to a 2x2 color sequence? See? On the top of the left sock. When I was working that portion of the sock I was too drugged up and dancing with the devil to care much about a little change in the stripes. I wanted to see this new sock on my foot! I trusted the new to me pattern and soldiered on switching to a 2x2 sequence to easily follow the pattern. Notice by the time I got to the same spot on the right sock I decided to tackle the "problem" of the inherent need for the 2x2 color sequence through the short row pairs. It's not something I'd recommend, doable obviously, but not recommended. It would have been easier if I had been using dpns but on 2 circs it was kinda fiddly. A striped pattern could easily be done, without a single glitch if I had used the 2x2 sequence throughout the entire sock. Live and learn, isn't that why we exist anyway?

Still have plenty of yarn left so I'm casting on for a 2x2 sequence tonight, incorporating the thinner legs/ankles mods the Yarn Diva has suggested. I'm pretty sure Skew is now going to be my always-on-the-needles sock pattern.

I'm Skewed

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 18:26:00 +0000

but in a good way.

I think.

I have fallen completely and totally in love with the sock pattern Skew
(Rav link here) It has everything going for it in my book. First off I couldn't get my brain twisted around as to how the sock pattern worked, which is a huge plus in my book. Secondly there is something, just a little thing or two, in every other row, with a plain row in between. A fabulous attribute for when you have to rip back, or get your head ready for the next trick on the following row. Thirdly, it looks amazing. And fourthly, it is a genius way to use all those beautiful to look at but not so fab when knitted handpainted or self-striping sock yarns, of which I have lots, but never ever use cuz I'm just not a crazy sock color kind of gal.

The down side of the pattern is that it only comes in one size (not mine, it's too big) and there are some notes available here for making it a larger size (another bummer for me) But seriously, when has that ever stopped me? So far I have started this sock 4 times. Don't be discouraged, I'm not, in fact I am still full speed ahead.

My first attempt seen above in the nine o'clock position was worked on zeroes 9 stitches to the inch. It failed cuz I left out the entire mid-toe section. duh. The second attempt shown above at high noon was also worked on zeros and I thought it was going just peachy. Even worked pass the heel and began the leg portion. Hmmmm the foot is a tad bit too tight, my gauge was too much smaller obviously, highlighting the only other downside this pattern has. That downside being I haven't found a good way (or at what point) to try on the sock in progress to check the fit. Up until I finished the heel I thought the fit was spot on. The sock at three o'clock is done using a slightly heavier yarn and worked on size three needles. I really wanted to start that sock on 2's but could only find one size two needle. I think it is going to be too big, remember, I haven't gleaned a proper way of checking fit while the sock is in progress, I haven't pulled it out just in case. I was getting 27 stitches to 4 inches instead of 31 stitches so it will prob'ly be too big. The latest attempt is at six o'clock. I'm thrilled so far, even though I haven't gotten very far. I think it is going to work.

Oh no, did I just tempt the knitting fairies? Naw, they messed with me enough this week. Case in point, the Ravelympics and the Knitting Olympics beginning just two days after they have smitten me with this sock pattern. Could they be any crueler? I committed myself to 4 events. Egads.

The Ravelympics:

The Flying Camel Event
438 grams to be spun

276 grams spun 621 yards 2-ply sport-ish wt. Graduated coloration.
162 grams left to spin

The Sock Hockey Event & The Nordic Colorwork Event
Faroese Footlets

As you can see I was just a little bit tensed and slightly stressed when I was teaching myself this two-color knitting. The first one (on the right) is so much smaller than the other. sigh. I'm sure it will block out. um. er. I'm sure it will.

The Short Track Shawls Event
Citron

I chose this one precisely for the mindless-ness of it considering the other events needed a little bit more conscious effort. I've gone a little too mindless, and my stitch count is way off, I messed up the beginning, and I don't think the pattern and yarn are a good match. sigh.

I have yet to even begin my Knitting Olympics entry Drops pattern 116-53.

I think I'm skrewed. Or maybe my thinking is just skewed? I can get all this done right?

Seriously?

LOL

Ethel

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 05:41:00 +0000

Well now, let's see if I remember how to do this.

I almost feel like I'm beginning to be me again. I gotta tell ya, it hasn't been easy. Worry and stress can really do a number on you and it ain't easy to get back into your "normal" life after it's been topsy turvy for so long. Annie it seems, is firmly on her way to healing. She still has the nurses coming to the house twice a day but only twice this week and next week only once a week. (Annie is now changing her dressing twice a day herself) She still sees the surgeon every two weeks. I'm thinking just another 4 weeks or so and she'll be almost completely healed. I still can't believe how long its been and so very very proud of how well Annie has handled it.

I haven't been out of the Hermitage for, um, a week? week and a half? two weeks? I don't remember. That's a good thing, I'm getting me back, you know, the me that never knows what the date is let alone what day of the week it is. That's a really really good feeling. OTOH it also means I haven't seen Liam for that long as well. :o( That's a bad thing. Annie's been really good about sending pix and flix to my phone almost daily. Unfortunately I don't know how to get those from my phone to my computer but Annie did email the latest flix yesterday. so here it is in all the cell phone video glory such as that is.

Even the poor quality can't mask his adorableness. Am I lyin'? And yes, he is always that happy. :o)

I have been knitting and spinning lately just haven't been taking pix of it so there's no real reason to talk about that now, we'll talk again when I get the pix taken and couple of more things off the needle. Oooo I should mention my plans for the Knitting Olympics and the Ravelympics. I've bit off a huge chunk this year too. I'm pushing myself to do two, yes two, colorwork items, the Faroese Footlets and Drops 116-53, cuz I've never attempted anything like these before, plus I've entered the Flying Camel event and have 438 grams (15.44 oz) of various blues to spin.

Some of the spinning will be done on this.

I call her Ethel.

Yeah I know, not the most portable spinning wheel, and I imagine some, if not all, of you are wondering why. I could say cuz I wanted to see if I could and that would be about 85% true. The other 15% was cuz I did something really really dumb. The last time I used my "real" wheel, (Levi my Babe) I left the drive band in the working position so yesterday when I got it out again the drive band was stretched beyond use. duh. damn. I have recently been spinning with a table top spinner I had made but was itching for some speed. Without a drive band I was kinda out of luck so I set my sights on converting this treadle sewing machine base into a spinning wheel. Tomorrow I'll get a new drive band for Levi (fingers crossed), and tweak Ethel a bit more, after all, I can't spin 438grams of fiber on a table top spinner in 17 days and knit two pairs of colorwork socks/slippers.

Huh, I kinda feel like myself again, setting impossible goals and doing really weird things. What day is today?

Happy Holidays

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 16:15:00 +0000

So where were we? Oh yes, it was the end of July, shortly after I had broke a couple ribs, Gillian and Nick were about to come home for a wedding, and Annie was still pregnant.

Um yeah, a few things have happened since then. Gillian's visit turned into a whirlwind of activity with having no less than four extra people sleeping here which continued to grow in number until the climatic night where there were 14 young adults slumbering under the sheets and blanket fort they had created in the livingroom.

It's the simple pleasures in life that mean the most and create lasting memories, whether it's building a fort in the livingroom, playing Simon Says, Twister, Wiffleball, or Hide and Go Seek after dark, regardless of your age.

Fast forward to the month of September and my ribs are finally mended, and Annie's pregnancy took yet another turn. She was put on modified bedrest, meaning no activity, just sitting. I sure could have used her help during her move out of my sister's house and into the home of her childhood where her brothers live. A little cleaning, sanding, plastering, painting, plumbing, etc help wouldn't have hurt either, not to mention grocery shopping, laundry, and nursery set up. :o) Most days in September and October found me doing one or more of the aforementioned chores each day at the kids house with the hopes that the remodel would be completed before the baby was born.

We almost made it.

Due to all the other complications Annie had with her pregnancy she was to be induced on Monday November 1. We were thrilled when it looked like she was going to be able to carry this baby full term. (Oct 30 was the beginning of her 39th week). Not sure why I thought the end was in sight at that point, apparently it was just wishful thinking.

Midday Thursday Oct 29 , while I was painting, Annie went into labor. As any of you know who have gone through labor yourself, in the beginning it wasn't bad, we (Annie) worked through it until they were coming at 4 minutes intervals and were getting a little intense. Off to the hospital we went, it was now early evening on Thursday. We stayed in the OB triage unit until late night (11:00 pm-ish) and they sent us home. Contractions 3 minutes apart. By 6AM Friday her contractions were 2.5 - 2 min apart and we were still at home. We stayed home until sometime Friday afternoon. (memories are kinda foggy I hadn't slept for more than 30 hours by then) By Saturday early early morning (pre-dawn? dawn?) I was ready to hit the wall, I can only imagine what Annie truly felt. That's when they gave the OK and she got an epidural. She was finally able to catch a catnap here and there, I was more concerned with other issues and couldn't sleep. The baby was showing signs of distress with each contraction and Annie's blood pressure was very unstable. The decision to take the baby by c-section was made at 8:30ish. At this point I'm sure there are plenty of you out there thinking they should have done that sooner, but they couldn't. Annie had been on blood thinning meds throughout the pregnancy because of that blood clot in her chest so any kind of surgery (including the epidural) until the meds were out of her system was too great a risk.

At 9:38 AM October 31, 2009 William "Liam" John was born.

7 lbs. 15 oz, 19.5"....I remember cuz I wrote it on my hand, see below. giggle/snort

How about another picture with some knitterly stuff?

All the babes in the nursery got pumpkin hats for their Halloween Birthdays. :o) I can hear your collective "awwww". Thanx to the stealth knitter who made these hats.

While Liam is a very easy baby, calm and peaceful, healthy eater, good sleeper, and just the most adorable baby ever, (no grandmotherly bias here) the last two months haven't been easy. I really really figured the tough stuff was over. Annie's pregnancy had been a long one, punctuated with lots of problems and difficulties. I had really thought she had had her share and it was going to be smooth sailing from here on out. I thought wrong. After being discharged Mom and babe were healthy and happy. I was staying with Annie to help out where I could and maybe just maybe get some of those last minute house remodel things done too. It didn't work out that way. After a few days Annie was admitted into the hospital due to complications with her c-section incision and a large hematoma beneath the abdominal wall. She was there a week. I was at her house with a nursing newborn who couldn't nurse, cuz of the IV meds his mom was on. I remember one particular night 'round about 3:00AM while I was changing a diaper and Bart came in to see what was going on. He grinned and said something like, 'Gee Mom this is the 5th time around for you' I replied that yes while it was the 5th time I was taking care of a brand new baby all by myself, the other 4 times I didn't have to make up bottles in the wee hours nor was I 50 years old, there IS a reason people my age don't have babies. I'm pretty sure its mostly cuz of that lack of sleep thing.

Liam and I while the kids were down stairs eating dinner, apparently I was tired.

It is now Christmas day. I have been at home sleeping in my own bed since Dec 16, having been staying with Annie and Liam since Oct. 29th. Even though Annie's hospital stay was only a week, she had come home with a drain in one side of her abdomen, and portion of her c-section incision re-opened. A nurse came to the house twice a day to change the dressing, the packing within the incision wound and drain the drain. The extent of baby care Annie was able to do was minimal at best, at times even nursing was too much. A week later the drain was removed. After a few more weeks with her incisional wound continuing to worsen, her care was transferred to a surgeon who immediately re-opened her entire c-section incision. The wound is still open, healing from the inside out. The nurses still come to the house every other day now due to a new type of packing they were able to get for her. It will take several more weeks at best to be healed to the point where Annie is on her feet again, doing anything much more than baby care, but at least she is healing now.

I've tried not to get too graphic in the explanations of what is happening to Annie right now. I hope I have not been guilty of TMI, but I just wanted to let you know what has been going on in and around the Hermitage, and in it's secondary locale, cuz truly the kid's house in town has been nothing more than another hermitage within the city. I've been seeing and doing nothing outside its four walls for a very long time other than taking Annie or Liam to their doc appointments and maybe getting out to grocery shop every now and then.

Hermitage II is also filled with the people I love most so it too is Home even if Joe wasn't there, and it wasn't my bed. Gillian came home earlier than planned for the holidays to help out with Annie and Liam so once again I found myself living in the old homestead with ALL my kids. It's nice to know that I wasn't the only one who had a tough time staying awake during her turn of baby care. :oP

At Home just like before, just me and my kids, before Joe, before they grew into adulthood, cooking meals for 5, doing one or two loads of laundry a day, playing games, and changing diapers. Home, where three simple stomps on the floor means drop everything and come running someone needs help upstairs, where Mom's car is never parked on the street, and where a good nights sleep means you only wake once or twice through the night.

Home IS where the heart is.

Happy Holidays

Legs and Cuffs

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:31:00 +0000

Nearly finished and there has been no lessening of my enthusiasm for this project. OK, so that isn't a saying a whole lot considering I only started this on Sunday night, but still..... It has been extremely inspiring and motivating too, my brain is mulling over the next group of socks to be done already.

At this point I'll continue working the legs/cuffs in a k2p2 rib until I run out of each yarn. I'm pretty sure I'll do the EZ sewn bind off.

Unfortunately I won't get much knitting time in today, Gillian and her man Nick are coming home tonight to attend a wedding in the family on Saturday. I've already warned her regarding the chaos in her room/my work room, but I still have to at least clear a path for them. :o)

Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:30:00 +0000

I am sooooo loving this. The foot of each sock will be done today and then onward to the heels, might even get those done today too. :o)

Here are a few thoughts/observations I have so far in case any of you guys wanna give this a go. (and I strongly recommend it)

I really like using two circs in this circumstance instead of using one and the magic loop method. Granted I don't have a needle long enough for a magic loop but having said that, even if I did, I'd still use the two needle method. IMHO two circs is less "fiddly" than magic loop and maintains the knitting rhythm. The needles I'm using are 28 inches and as always I'm using needles of different colors. Using differently colored needles eliminates any confusion there might be when turning and grabbing the needles to knit, plus you always know where the beginning of the rounds are, which are the sole stitches, and which are the instep stitches.

I haven't had any problems with the yarns getting all tangled. All 12 balls are in a small ziploc bag. It's a snug fit but it reduces the possibility of the balls getting all jumbled around each other. Every now and then I'll let the ziploc bag dangle to release any twisting of the yarns. It isn't a tangled twist merely a turning of all the yarns together like a neatly plied rope. I have found that it is easier and less likely to cause tangles if I pull out the working yarn slack for all 12 yarns at once rather than pulling it out one yarn at a time. I was planning to stuff each ball of yarn into it's own sock as soon as the foot/feet were large enough, I prob'ly won't bother, I'm not having any tangling issues. (might consider doing it at heel time though)

The next time I do this I think I'll separate the pairs and not have two socks of the same color next to each other. I've only used the wrong yarn once and realized my error after only 3 stitches. If I hadn't noticed that could have been a huge PITA.

Next time I'll prob'ly make all the toes one at a time "remotely". In other words, I'll make a toe then transfer it to the needle(s) I will ultimately be using (just cuz I think it would be quicker) Here I used a short row toe that starts off with a provisional cast on of half the stitches, when the toe is complete half the stitches are live and half are sitting there waiting to be freed of the scrape yarn holding them. This made it super easy to slide the second needle into the cast on stitches and begin knitting the rounds of the foot.

I've been thinking hard about what heel to use and how to do it. Certainly any heel would work but the back and forth turning of some heels could cause some major tangling of yarns especially if heels are made one a a time. Hmmmm, work all the heels at once or work them one at a time or work them one at a time remotely, aka on different needles? Not sure what I'll do it yet, although I am leaning toward working them all at once. When experimenting one should be consistent in their methods right? btw I think I'll use the Balbriggan heel although it is supposed to be a cuff down heel I like the way it looks toe up too.

I haven't given any thought to the leg/cuff yet. Prob'ly this time around a simple rib, the yarns are nothing fancy or super nice, just scrapes really, and I have plenty of yarn for more socks.

Finding Mojo

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:39:00 +0000

Just cuz my last attempt at finding mojo didn't work out so well it doesn't mean I stopped searching for it. Last night I cruised through a couple places in Ravelry and found something that piqued my interest. Yes, it is a little out of the ordinary, but really, lets be honest, when has that ever stopped me?

Let's examine the worthiness of this new project:
Is there potential for failure? You bet.
Is the frustration quotient high. Could be.
Is it a relatively short term project? Kinda.
Do I have all needed materials and tools? More or less.
Will there be an end product? Yup.
Is aforementioned end product something I desire. Yes.
Have I ever attempted anything like this before. No, not quite.
Can I start it right now before I lose my enthusiasm? Yep.

Added Bonuses:
Is this project portable? Yeah, maybe.
Is it silly? Of course.
Are there any added benefits to this method/technique? Yes.
If things don't go right and it does fail is the work salvageable? Yes.
Could pain or injury be involved? Doubtful.
(Something I should have asked Saturday)

Hmmmm, looks like I have a winner here.

I started my version of the project last night.

Six pairs of baby socks on two circs.
My deepest gratitude to Brian at Skacel for this mojo butt kicking project.

I Am An Idiot

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 16:12:00 +0000

Yes it is true. I can be an idiot, but generally speaking my stupidity usually does not cause me physical pain. Emotional turmoil and/or intellectual frustration perhaps, but never physical pain. That is to say, until today. :o/

I mentioned last time that I've been having mojo issues. Nothing seems interesting to me. I've had no desire to engage in any of my "normal" activities. This morning, I woke feeling fairly decent, relatively speaking and decided that maybe today would be a good day to kick my mojo in the butt. Today I would try doing something that, I enjoy, would get my sluggish body, mind, and soul, moving and also included the ever powerful, ultimate motivator for me, destroy something.

For the last few weeks Joe and I have been discussing the lilac bush nearest the patio. I use the term bush rather loosely here. Out of respect for her age and stature, I should prob'ly refer to her as the Lilac Tree for I am confident she is much older than I and apparently, as you will soon come to understand, more sturdy than I. Several years ago we "trimmed" her back to a manageable size reducing her footprint in the yard to maybe a fourth of what it had been and brought her down to maybe 2 or 3 feet in height. The time had come to cut her down to size once again, hence our near daily discussions of the Lilac Tree. She was no longer producing her once legendary showy display of fragrant blooms in abundance, a few small bundles of joy here and there was all she seemed capable of these last couple of years. Added to her inability to produce said bundles of joy she was getting waaaay too tall thus blocking most our view of the backyard. Yes, a trim was needed once again. I do know that trimming a lilac this time of year is a no no. There would most likely be no bundles of joy next spring if we trimmed her now. But considering how few her blooms have been we wouldn't really be missing much of anything, besides, her sister who occupies an enormous area in another part of yard would still be able to satisfy our needs for vases of lilacs next spring.

So having had this discussion with Joe several times plus my desire to do something different I asked Joe if I could start trimming the old girl today. He gave me the go ahead telling me to do what I wanted. He cautioned me not to tire myself too much and told me to quit any time I felt like it cuz we could finish it up together on Tuesday (his next day off). I decided that I really didn't want nor could have done a lot on my own today so I focused on just lopping off the really tall branches to better improve the view for now.

I began cutting the branches off level with the height of my chest. On Tuesday Joe and I together would determine which branches should be cut to the ground. Another factor which determined at what height I would begin trimming today was the diameter of the branches. Just about every branch taller than me was more than an inch in diameter, almost too large in girth for me to lope off even if I was using the 'Big Bertha' loppers. I worked slow and steady walking the branches out to the far edge of the yard to the burn pile frequently not wanting a pile I couldn't manage by myself to accrue. I stopped and rested frequently but did actually enjoy the task at hand. Many of the branches were a tad bit too big for me cut without using more leverage than I could muster with just my arms so frequently I wedged one of the handles against my body for resistance and used both hands to pull the other handle. Everything was working just fine that way until I came across a branch that as slightly bigger than the others. It was a stubborn old branch. One that had apparently escaped unscathed the downsizing trim of a few years back. It was old and gnarly. It bore the rough, craggy bark of age, not the relatively young smooth bark of all the other branches I had been cutting. I repositioned the cutting jaws and tried again. The blades barely creased the bark. I inspected the unyielding branch and decided cutting it a bit closer to the ground might be a good idea. Yes, the branch was thicker down there giving the old girl an advantage but I figured the advantage would be mine. I would gained a higher degree of stability by being able to kneel on the ground, thus the resistance of my body to the pull of my arms would be increased. (it sounded like a good idea at the time) I repositioned the cutting blades again, had a firm stable base, one knee down one knee up, the handle of the loppers nearest me firmly settled against my chest. I grasped the other handle with both hands as close to the end as possible and readied myself. I released a single, swift, firm burst of power.

Snap!

I heard it.

I actually heard it before I felt it.

Now I wonder just how long I will feel it.

I broke a rib.

I am an idiot.

Plus I have to look at this until Tuesday.

Half Spun

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 16:57:00 +0000

Like the title says, I have half of the solar dyed roving spun. Some of the variant coloration is still evident, not much, but some. :o/

My knitting mojo has left recently. Technically not just the knitting mojo but all mojo. I have my suspicions as to why that is but that is a story for another day. Besides at this point it's all just speculation anyway. Suffice to say, I do know, by virtue of a 18 hour ER visit awhile back and subsequent tests, I am as healthy as a horse. Yep, me, healthy as a horse. lol Me, the person who snacks on things like meat, beef, ham and bacon being my grazing fodder of choice. My heart and lungs are good, notwithstanding the more years than I care to admit I've been a smoking fiend. (I am trying to remedy that btw, down from 20ish cigs a day to less than 8 usually less than 5. Yea me.) And my cholesterol is perfect. Amazingly so. I had never had my cholesterol checked before, assuming all the while it was prob'ly on the high side. My eating habits for one reason, but the greater reason being most of my 6 brothers and sisters have high cholesterol.

My numbers are thus:
ttl cholesterol 144
Triglycerides 49
HDL 43
LDL 91

It's nice to know that I don't have to give up meat as I try to give up smoking. :o)

Keeping It Green

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:14:00 +0000

Such a beautiful day today, crystal clear skies, pleasant temperature, and a light wispy breeze. By 9:00AM I knew I'd be spending the entire day outside. I worked a few rows of a baby blanket and decided today was not a day for knitting. Today was a day for spinning.

As I sat there spinning away, nearly finished with the current batch of fibers I've been working on, it dawned on me I was soon going to be needing another batch of fibers. Given the near perfect weather of the day I decided to do another batch of solar dyeing. This time I dyed fiber rather than yarn. I dug around in the stash and came up with nearly 5 oz of roving.

Notice how I have wound the roving into a loose haphazard ball. I did this hoping for an uneven absorption of the dye, I also stuffed the ball into the dye bath dry, for the same reason.

Here, as you can see, the fiber is "brewing" in the sun. I used foil to help intensify the heat of the sunshine. The ambient high today was 81, the temperature within the dye bath got up to 180 degrees. :o) Oh and btw...180 degrees is hot.....I burned myself.........duh. I used a paired of Joe's leather work gloves to handle the very hot glass jar but as I was pouring the roving out of the jar and into the strainer I managed to pour the hot water across the glove. I didn't realize it until the leather became saturated and a small hole in the little finger filled up with the water. OUCH!

But I guess it was worth it doncha think?

To be honest I was hoping for a little more variation in the color, next time I'll wind the ball tighter and/or do a little tie-dye technique. I can't wait to spin this up. I wonder if spinning will enhance the variations or blend them too much. Actually spinning the fiber is the only way I'll know. I am really poor at guessing what a dyed roving will look like after spinning.

Another To-Be-Finished

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 19:20:00 +0000

One more item to be thrown upon the TBF* pile.

Made with one skein of supersocke 100. I had just a teeny tiny bit left. So little left in fact, I wasn't absolutely sure I was going to be able to match the shoulders. Oh well, the goddess of yardage and I go back a long time. You know that sickening feel in the pit of your stomach when you think you might run out of yarn at the very end? It is becoming a required ritual for me. The goddess of yardage and I are so entwined I don't think I could knit anything and bypass that stage.

I have a couple of other things on the needles as well as a few at the ready to begin. I'm still sorely lacking in babyboy appropriate yarns but I'm making due. One thing on the needles is a little surplus sweater (original pattern from 1957). I don't really care for surplus style sweaters but the construction caught my eye. The bodice is knit in one piece and then a round yoke is picked up. Of course I had to change it before I even started, but it's coming along nicely. I'm working it in garter stitch, I think the juxtaposition of the garter ridges at the bodice/yoke transition might prove to be interesting.

Also on the needles is a size 2 "snowsuit", (original pattern from same book as the surplus sweater). Of course I had to modify, and size it down to a 6 month-ish size. I'm using Caron Simply Soft. Sheesh, I didn't realize how snobbish my fingers had gotten. Everyone knows this workhorse, stand by, dependable, been around forever, yarn is nice for baby stuff. Super soft, washable, and cheap, what more could a person want? Um, yeah, I can only handle working with for so long then the plastic-ness begins to creep me out. Who knew I had such delicate finger tips!?! You'd never be able to guess such was the case if you ever saw my never manicured much abused hands.

I've also found what I think is to be the perfect "lace" blanket/wrap for Babyboy. I have a few "normal" blanket patterns planned but I really wanted a lighter than usual weight blanket too. Something drapy and light weight either means 8-12 stitches per inch with thread-like yarn, or lace. Sure thing, me, the one who has issues with project completion coupled with a short attention span knitting a blanket at 8 or more stitches to the inch. That's not going to happen. So lace it is. But a manly man lace nothing frilly or girly. Something geometric would be good. Plans now are for a blanket worked in garter (a manly stitch) with a couple of plain borders separated with a row of simple eyelets and a center panel of eyelet diamonds. I think it will work. I haven't started it yet, not even sure what yarn I'll use, but I am keeping my eyes and options open.

I've also been playing around searching for that perfect sloper for babyboy pants/shorts. Do other people do this? Find/create a pattern for a given garment that is simple-no-frills and then use it as the basis for all variations. It's like having a muslin sloper but instead of sewing the garment I'm knitting it.

*TBF to-be-finished. Knitting is complete seams and/or buttons needed.

Kicking

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 01:39:00 +0000

Just had to make note of this momentous event....

BabyBoy is kicking his mother. Granted he's been kicking for a while now, but it wasn't until today that Annie actually felt it.

btw, I think I forgot to mention the other day when I posted the latest sonogram pix, he weighs 6 oz. That is about the equivalent of 1.5 sticks of butter. :o)

Patio Party

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:46:00 +0000

The Hermitage was the site for Saturday's yarn dyeing patio party with several of my Friday Lunch and Knit buddies. The goddesses must have approved, the weather was great, if not a tad bit breezy, but it was sunny and pleasant. Not many, if any of my buddies, had ever dyed before so it was a busy day. Too busy in fact for me to even remember to take photos!! sigh.....

I did manage to get a couple of pix taken in the very beginning, unfortunately not everyone is pictured and no photos of finished yarns. (I know, I'm kicking myself, what a lousy blogger.) Hopefully I'll get some pix from those who were here and can post their photos another time.

I had the patio set-up so we had a place to wind balls and hanks, a table with the dyes (all food coloring, a gel paste I bought from Into the Oven) and a table in the yard for painting the yarn. The kitchen table was left for all the fabulous food everyone bought. Oh YUM!!! we were grazing ALL day, not to mention the impromptu wine tasting we had and the Chocolate Syrup Kahlua. :o)

Everyone did a fabulous job of dyeing their yarns. We had some truly drop dead gorgeous reds, several beautiful blue/purple variegated, some very pretty green with bits of pink, purple, and yellow, a happy happy rainbow that reminds me of the Grateful Dead dancing bear, and even had a marvelous polka dot! We also resurrected a family heirloom that was originally pink but had faded to the point of not being wearable. Now it has a marvelous blue/purple kettle dyed yarn look to it and is definitely wearable once again. Looking back on the days events I can't help but giggle when I think about all the knitting demons that were here that day and not one single stitch was created. Ya know, come to think of it, I'm not sure knitting was even discussed!

Here are a few pix I did managed to take early in the day, and a shot of the yarn I dyed using up all the left overs later that evening.

Oh yeah in case you're wondering, we painted/zapped, and also kettle dyed. My yarns reading from left to right 330m of Shepherd Baby Wool that was originally light green (the color now is a little more teal) 180yards Aerobic originally peach, and 2 skeins of STR medium wt (380 yards each) Um yeah remember it's a BOY! :o)

It's a BOY

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Wed, 27 May 2009 21:22:00 +0000

Today Annie had another appointment with her High Risk OB. It was a very quick visit with the doctor telling her everything was just fine, and a glorious hour of watching Baby Boy flip, twist, turn, punch, and kick his mother. :o) The super thorough sonogram detected and measured all major organs and limbs....including that third leg which told us, he is a he. giggle/snort

See? (the angle of the pic is upward through the pelvic girdle. The arrow indicates his boy bits on either side of that (above and below in the photo) are his hip bones or perhaps they are his knees??? :0P

Hopefully this will be the only X-rated pic that will ever be published of him. :o)

I know these pix are often difficult to decipher but here is a one of those cute baby toes. Toes of his foot are nearly centered in the photo. You can see the 5 little toes and the complete sole of his foot.

And now the collective "aawwww" baby boy in profile picture with his left forearm and finger visible as he reaches up to give mom a punch.

I know there has not been much knitting content of late. And if the truth be said, not a lot of content period. Sorry 'bout that guys. Still no knitting content for you except to say I began a couple lace projects and well, you know what lace looks like when it still on the needles. Yup yarn barf, it looks like yarn barf so I won't bother with photos.

One of the lace pieces is/was a lace caplet. I'm on the fence as to whether I'm actually going to finish it or frog it. I can't steer you to a pattern cuz there isn't one. It's just a piece where I took a little bit of a lace pattern from one pattern, stole a little from another, cobbled together another lace from yet another couple of patterns and then kinda freewheeled it with generic caplet pattern as a guideline for sizing. I'm not sure at this point if I don't like the play of the patterns of I just don't like the idea of a caplet. Another thing that is holding me back is the fact that I have very little experience with lace and absolutely zero when it comes to making up a lace pattern. Will the patterns play nice??? I think so, but I'm not overly optimistic about it and frankly a little intimidated.

Still having the lace bug within my soul I decided to cast on this Drops 94-14 pattern. It's going well. Worked bottom up, sleeves joined for a seamless lace yoke. About 10cm to go on the body and then onward to the sleeves.

BUT......
Now that I know he is a he?????? I just might have to get some babyboy knitting started. Just kidding, I won't start any babyboy knitting until Sunday, Saturday at the very earliest. And that's cuz I'm having a bunch of knitting buddies out to the house for a day of dyeing. Now that I know he is a he I'll be dyeing plenty of babyboy appropriately colored yarns and fibers, thus the delayed start of the actual knitting. ;o)

The Great Exodus

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Mon, 25 May 2009 14:54:00 +0000

Last Thursday the crew from Christman's Wildlife Service arrived to put an end to the long ongoing, heretofore, futile battle between Us, the inhabitants of the Hermitage, and Them, the bats who are the unwanted guests of aforementioned domicile. Unfortunately I was not at home when they came to do the work, and Joe, dear sweet Joe, didn't think to give me a call. (how he could not recognize the blogworthyness of the days events?!???) For this reason, alas, there are no photos of the crew nimbly crawling about the exterior of the house caulking, stuffing, and plugging every minuscule gap, crack, and void of the house....sigh

What I do have are pix of the "one-way doors" the crew installed. There are three of them. One toward the front of the house and two toward the back.

As you can see, they aren't the prettiest things, made primarily of 4 inch pvc pipe, expanding foam, and duct tape, but you really don't notice them much from the ground looking up. See?

If they were clad in flashy red glitter, 3 feet in diameter, with horns, bells and whistles I'd be OK with them if they got rid of the bats. Right?

A little refresher course on the procedure of "bat exclusion".....

The law says you can't kill the little buggers, (bummer, I know) so what you have to do is seal every conceivable point of entry a structure might have so they can't get in. Be aware that anything the size of 1/4 inch is big enough for a bat to get in. (this crew is very thorough they seal everything) Remember too that we aren't just interested in preventing more bats from roosting within the walls of the Hermitage but we do, in fact, have bats already residing here. So, what do you do about those bats? All...um...er...30, cough, spasm, gag, choke, spit, to 50 of them. Yes, you read that correctly, the Bat Guy said we had 30 to 50 bats in the house. Hold on a sec, I still get faint when I think about that.

Whoosh, better now, I just have to remember to breathe and find my happy place.

To get rid of bats already in residence you have to seal all possible points of entry and exit except their favorite ones and install "one-way doors" at those points. In other words, all points of escape for the inhabitants are barred except for a few which allow them to exit but no longer enter. The "doors" are simplistic and crude as you can see in the pictures. Just a tube of plastic with a 90 degree downward turn. The bats sort of , crawl/fall out the door when they leave but can't fly or crawl back up the door when they want to return "home".

A cautionary note here. The Bat Guy told me, in some cases, if the wrong exit point(s) are closed up, you could conceivably have the entire colony swarm(?) flock(?) into the main living area of the house searching for an exit. Whoa.....swooning again...hold on.

find a happy place find a happy place find a happy place

OK back to Thursday the day the guys came and installed the bat doors. I was feeling pretty good about the whole thing. Better yet, they came on a day when Joe didn't have to work at night and I wasn't going to have the face possibility, however remote it might be cuz my Bat Guy and his crew really do know how to do this stuff, of having a swarm of bats in my house. I was also thrilled that with Joe here I just might be courageous enough to actually sit outside and watch the exodus of the bats....maybe even document it! And maybe just maybe even sit outside (or perhaps sit in the car) and watch when the evicted-at-last bats return after their night of foraging and try as they may can't find a way to get back home. After all the Bat Guy said about 80% of the bats will leave the first night. When they return and realize they can't get back in a bunch of ticked off bats will keep circling the house searching for entry. OK perhaps the bats aren't really angry just a little confused, but I kinda like the thought of pissing them off rather than just confusing them. (vengeful much? who me?)

So after dinner Thursday I set up a table and chairs out in the yard so we could see one of the bat doors clearly. A pair of binoculars for each of us, note cards and pens to keep a tally of how many bats we each saw, and my camera ready, fresh batteries, empty memory and I even reviewed how to take a video. I was a little dismayed by the fact that we could only see one door at a time. While we were watching one door how could we know if they were leaving by another, but oh well, it was the best I could do and later would extrapolate how many left from the other doors.

As the sun began to set, and the sounds of day changed into the sounds of night Joe and I faithfully watched one of the bat doors. It grew dusky. No bats. The bugs began to bite. No bats. It grew dark. No bats. Joe by now had long ago lost interest in watching for bats, if he really had any interest in it at all, but Joe being Joe sat there with me still. I too had begun to grow weary of this now all too boring task (you can't knit and hold binoculars) The fact that I was getting eaten alive by mosquitoes wasn't helping my waning enthusiasm either. Yes, I know, the irony was not lost on me. At approximately 9:45 we called the bat vigil quits. Yes, I was disappointed. Yes, images of a swarm of bats flying out of the house as I opened the door to go in did cross my mind.

There was no swarm, but there also wasn't a mass exodus of bats which I was really hoping for. Maybe in the morning I would be rewarded with pictures of displaced bats hanging around the doorways they could no longer enter. (one of the crew told Joe there might be a few hanging in the eaves having failed to gain entry still hoping to get in the following night) There were no bats hanging around Friday morning. There were no bats hanging around Saturday morning. Sunday morning around 4:00-4:30 the dog and cat were restless. Joe got up and the animals followed him to the kitchen. I fluffed my pillow to lay back down and that was when I heard it too, the unmistakable chipping ping. There were some pissed offed bats circling the house searching for a way to get in. I snuggled down with a smile on face and fell asleep to the lullaby of echo distancing.

Balbriggan heel

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Sat, 23 May 2009 03:26:00 +0000

I adore this heel!!!!

I stumbled upon it in a vintage knitting book....another thing I love. :o)

Um yeah nice pix huh...sorry I can only contort myself to an extent. Did you notice the sock isn't even done yet?....yeah that's so I could try it on both ways. And my ribbing ends at an odd place, I should have continued it down the instep. Oh well this pair is just an experimental pair anyway the sock pictured above is worked cuff down, its mate will be toe up. :o)

Why do I like this heel so much? Plenty of reasons, primarily I like the fit. It is also a very intuitive heel, not a lot of stitch counting, and/or wrapping and lifting those wraps, and it looks good toe-up as well as cuff down. Sure a short row heel can be worked both ways as well, but this little heel has gussets whereas short row heels usually do not.

I've already got plans for a cute little vine or flower growing up out of that seam on the back of the heel. A perfect heel for clog socks!

There are some aspects of this heel I dislike, but I've figured a way to get around those. I'm not exactly sure if the more recent renditions of this heel in some of the current sock books out there address these points but the way my circa 1940's pattern explains it is a really fiddly heel. The 40's era pattern has 2 yarn ends to be worked in plus my nemesis the kitchener stitch....ick.

The adaptations I do eliminate the cutting and rejoining of the yarn (thus the ends) and the grafting.

Here's a few notes on how to do the balbriggan heel with some modifications. (ie minus the cutting and joining and the grafting)

If you'll notice this heel allows you to take whatever pattern you're working almost all the way down to the sole. Without having a whole lot of experiences with this heel yet, about all I can tell you is work the leg to the length you want so it just grazes the top of you instep and then begin the heel.

You will use half the total stitch count for the heel. An even number of stitches works best, and if that number is divisible by 4 you're golden. :o)

Here is a quickie row by row for a heel on 28 sts.

Heel flap: work 15 rows in stockinette beginning on a purl row (WS).

Begin heel shape/turn:

Row 1: k5, ssk, k5, ssk, k2tog, k5, k2tog, k5

Row 2 and all even rows: purl

Row 3: k5, ssk, k3, ssk, k2tog, k3, k2tog k5

Row 5: k5, ssk, k1, ssk, k2tog, k1, k2tog, k5

Row 7: k5, ssk, ssk, k2tog, k2tog, k5

Row 8: purl

This is where you would normally divide the remaining 14 stitches on two needles and kitchener stitch them together, but since I don't like doing that.....

Row 9: K7, place the remaining 7 stitches on a second needle and forget about the working yarn for a while all you'll be working with are loops.

Begin with the center two stitches, one from each needle and "weave" the stitches over each other "eating" one of them. How do you weave them together? Simple, take a stitch from one needle and lift it over a stitch from the other needle. You just eliminated one stitch by "weaving" them together. Now lift the this woven stitch over another stitch from the other needle. Continue eliminating stitches alternately until one stitch remain. There you go, a nice little seam done without kitchenering and you have your working yarn right where you need it.

To finish the heel:

This one heel stitch on your needle is now the new beginning of the subsequent rounds. Pick-up and knit 18 stitches, knit across the instep stitches, pick-up and knit 18 stitches. You are now at the beginning of the round again. Start decreasing one stitch at the heels stitch/ instep stitch junctures until you reach your original stitch count and your heel is complete. In this example 56 sts. (56 stitches makes a nice sock for me in sport wt.)

If you try this heel yourself let me know how it goes. I think you can see the decrease pattern that creates the heel cup, if you have trouble figuring it for a different stitch count feel free to drop me a line. I've crunched the numbers for all even numbered heel stitch counts from 20 sts to 44 stitches.

While My Pretty One Knits

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Wed, 20 May 2009 20:11:00 +0000

Have you read it?

I did, last night. What a fun read, and real page turner too. Perhaps some of that rapid page turning was spurred on by self interest too. ;o) I'm mentioned in the book. Rather this blog and something I did and wrote about a while ago is referenced within the confines of the book covers. giggle/snort

This yarn (I know, groan I couldn't resist) is a peek into the lives of 5 knitting buddies. And we all know how wonderful knitting buddies can be, so varied in life, style, and age, seemingly incompatible.

Knitting is the thread that binds us together but the fabric of friendship we create is rich in color and deep in texture, person by person, stitch, by stitch.

I am truly thankful for my knitting buddies.

Sock Bag

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Thu, 07 May 2009 02:29:00 +0000

As foretold, my new sock bag.

Of course it has to have shoulder length straps, preferably ones that can be knotted to make the straps shorter just in case I ever want to carry it like a handbag.

It also has to be small cuz it will never be the only bag I'm carrying, and prob'ly not the only knitting bag! It also has to have a no hassle access to the project so a quick stuff and the knitting is put away.

See? That's the jaywalker on the needles from the last post. A simple slip of the cord around the big button and the top opens to reveal the sock I'm working on.

Now turn the bag to the side and you can see the zipper.

Open the zipper and reveal the interior.

Plenty of room for extra yarn, there are 3 balls of yarn in there, enough for 3 pairs of baby socks, or perhaps the equivalent of one adult size pair of socks. Also inside is my set of short dpns with a few other needed tools for sock knitting, all my circular needles for sock knitting, plus a little pattern book. You can see the circular needles in their pocket that is the side of the bag just unzipped and folded back. See them sticking out of above the fold on the top?

This is the tiny pattern book and the dpn case.

The tiny pattern book has a suede cover with the same paisley fabric in the inside. It's the size of an 8x10 sheet of paper folded into 8 rectangles. The leaves (or groups of pages) can easily be added or removed at anytime. Short pithy directions are all you really need for most sock patterns so it's plenty big enough.

And here is my new dpn case. It too is covered with suede inside and out. It is kept securely closed with the elastic cord that crosses inside to help keep the dpns and other tools a little bit more orderly. I haven't decided how I'm going to finish the ends of the elastic yet. So for now they are just laying there loose within the case.

Just in case you might want a bag, dpn case and tiny book, I'll give some thoughts on making your own.

The bag itself began it's life as a six-pack cooler. I removed the original lining, and insulation foam on all sides of the bag except the original "top" of the bag (the side that has the zipper around three sides.) Leaving the original lining on that portion of bag makes the pocket for the circular needles.

The original "back" of the six-pack cooler is now the top of the bag. I simply made a rectangular "pouch" out of the paisley fabric, cut out the center of the original six-pack back and sewed the pouch in place allowing it to fall into the inside.

Because the six-pack fabric itself is a little stiff, plus the added exterior fabric, simply pleating/folding the sides of the bag to make the overall triangular shape of the bag is enough and there is no need to secure the pleat. The placement of the eyelets and the length of the cord does help the pleats/folds to behave though.

Remember all those AOL cds they use to send out? That is what the dpn case is made of. Most of the time they were just plastic cases about the size of a paperback novel, this one was more like a fiber board box and little smaller. Rubber cement affixes the suede to the box really well and a tiny drill bit is all you need to drill the holes for the elastic cord.

As for the pattern book, obviously I'm not going into the whole book making thing but I do want to share with you how the pages are made. I wish I could remember where I found this little gem, but it was eons ago and I honestly don't remember it was many years ago. I think you can find the same thing on the Instructables website but I know I didn't find it there first.

Isn't origami the boom? An eight page "book" out of a single sheet of paper. You can squeeze a couple more pages out of this by making a few more cuts after all the folding is complete, but you also lose some of the integrity. I like using graph paper to make these, no worries regarding the orientation of the lines plus when used as above in a tiny little pattern book, it eliminates the need for a tape measure (4 squares to the inch!).

I'm sure you can find several applications for this little "book". Of course the grandkids love having their own "books" and they are fab for organizing a long list of to do's and errands that need to be ran, ie groceries on one page, pharmacy on another, home improvement store on another, outside chores, inside chores, etc.