Annie Knits

The New Interweave or Point, Counterpoint

About half the posts I've read on Ravelry have panned the new Interweave magazine.  The other half sing its praises.  Half call for Eunny Jang's head on a knitted platter, the other half like the magazine's new look and themed layouts. 

I was inclined to post in several groups who were panning the magazine, especially the LimenViolet group (where where after Eunny came and asked people to be specific about their concerns, the tone got a lot nicer)  but I decided to wait and actually peruse the magazine rather than going off half cocked.   Because, generally, I like reading my Interweave knits.  And I almost always find something in it I'd add to my queue.

Here's what I think after digesting the issue for several days and comparing it to some of the old issues I have edited by Pam Allen.

I kind of really like it.   I enjoyed Franklin Habit's article about School House Press.  There wasn't a lot in the article that I wasn't at least vaguely aware of, but it is nicely written and makes me want to go to knitting camp.

While the wrap on the left isn't super innovative, I like the colors and the pattern and the idea of doing color work that doesn't have to fit someone.  And the piece on the right is a great layering piece.  I love the square neck.  I have a biggish head and a lot of hair and a square neck balances that for me.  Also, it's good on us biggish girls. 

These patterns are written for two yarns I've been wanting to try -- Blue Sky dyed cotton and Mission Falls cotton.  I'm not much of a summer yarn knitter, but these two may get my nod.  And as to the color complaints?  I'd love the Delft top (the one on the left) in a pink/green/orange combo, wouldn't you? It would like visually vibrate, man (grin).   And Mission Falls comes in great greens and is pretty reasonable. 

This top is done in Berroco Seduce, another yarn we've gotten in that I'd like to try.  A little spendy, but fun.   What I like about this top is its simplicity -- kind of like summer reading.  And if you don't like it in these pictures on a twig of a model?  Go check out the Interweave galleries.  They show the top on real people (and give their measurements... yikes.)

Love slip stitch patterns, good layering piece again.    It's done in silk, but you could sub Ella Rae Silkience with a little fudging and get a gorgeous piece for a fraction of the price.

I have several summer tops in this silhouette and it's very flattering for my shall we say fluffy body type.  And here, I think I've found an error in the magazine.  The pattern calls for Tilli Thomas Fil de la Mer which is like 16 st. to the inch.   But in looking around on the net, I've found a Tilli Thomas yarn called Voile de la Mer which matches the yarn description in the pattern :  70% silk, 30% sea cell.  We'll go with that.  So fingering weight summer yarn with great drape?  I'll have to think about that and get back to you.  Because at $18 bucks a pop for 12 skeins to make my size?  Ain't gonna happen.  (Maybe Nashua June, or Rowan Glace?)

And I LOVE THIS.  It's Rowan Cash Cotton, and you'd have the pattern memorized in like two repeats.  I think it's a great layering piece.  Not really for summer in St. Louis, I guess, but definitely all of the other seasons.

So, overall?  Thumbs up.  The patterns are classy and interesting and mostly something you'd actually knit. 

Unlike this...

What a difference 6 months makes!  (scroll down)

This is my favorite plant right now -- Variegated Solomon's Seal.  (Don't you love my mulch croc?)  The first view is from above, the second from the front so you can see it's row of bell-shaped flowers under the leaves.  It will lie flatter later in the season, but now it's reaching for the sun.  Cheerful, don't you think?  And variegated.  I like my plants like I like my yarns.

Speaking of yarn.  Just finished plying this.  It's the Totally Tubular in this entry.  Another scroll-down.  It's the one on the right.  This yarn is worsted weight (mostly) so I got about 290 yards out of that tube.  I didn't spin it according to the directions though -- they wanted me to split up each colored bit and spin two roughly similar singles and then ply.  I didn't have a place to put the two pieces to keep them in order so I didn't do that.  But now I have an empty tube, so I'll try their method for the second tube.   

This yarn is  smooshy and wooly.  It will have to wait until the fall.

Score!

I volunteered to work at the used book fair for Dear Daughter's school today.  I donated like a thousand books to this fair and I swore to myself and hubby that I wouldn't come home with any books.  At all. 

What I didn't know at the time of the swearing was that there might be vintage knitting pamphlets and books.  Such conditions, I believe, render said swearing null and void.  I spent $13.00.

See the Barbara Walker book?  And the Mary Thompson's Knitting book?  It's from 1939.  The Knitting for Young America is a self published book with easy first projects dated 1948.  The author was the managing director of The Handknitting Institute (about which I can find nothing on the Web.)  All are from the library of the O'Fallon Motherhouse for the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood.  Many have the name Sr. Catherine Beckerle written in lovely script on their inside covers.  Sr. Catherine also collected booklets. 

These baby booklets are absolutely chock full of  beautiful, timeless patterns.  The blue one in the bottom right corner is dated 1942, the rest are newer.  There are at least 16 different patterns for soakers in these books, and 4 different patterns  for buntings (I love the idea of a handknitted baby bunting.)    The 1942 book has a pattern for two bathing suits -- knitted in all wool yarn though...  Embiggen the picture and see?  It calls for Fleishers Cassimere, a 100% wool fingering weight yarn.  Nice. 

And this little one has no knitting on, but she seriously doesn't need it, does she?

And this hat?  A must knit.  Really.  I just think it's the cutest thing. 

File this one under "Blog contests, write a caption for this picture."  Too easy?  Really, though, this child is way too old to be cute and nakey on a blankey. 

This set, in one of the older booklets, early '50s I think, is absolutely simple and gorgeous.  I can't wait to make it. 

But Sister Catherine didn't just knit for babies.

There are great patterns for grownups here too.  Love these -- they're from the orange book at the upper left.  I mean seriously, I'd knit any of them tomorrow.  I don't even see where there would need to be too much modernizing in the shaping.   See the cable running up the raglan sleeve?  Love it!

And Sr. Catherine knit the first one for someone...

Husband says I can knit this for him only if I include the pipe and some Brylcreem.  Do they still make that stuff?

Edited to add:  No, I don't think an all wool bathing suit is "nice".  That was sarcasm.  Yes I do really love the yellow cap.  That was not sarcasm.  Darned internets, interfering with my nonverbals...  And did you notice that the two knitting books in the bottom right hand corner of the first picture are the exact books noted in the latest Interweave as books Elizabeth Zimmerman says any intrepid knitter should own.  Well, then.  I'm all set...

Earthquake! or Dogs Have Awesome Powers Part 2

In case you live under a rock (an iffy place to be around here yesterday morning...) we had quite a shaker yesterday.  It wasn't the big one, but it was certainly disconcerting.  Since everyone else got out of the blocks on this story sooner than I did, I can do some commentary as well as tell my story.

I let the dogs out as usual Thursday night, about 10 or so, and went to bed.  Monte could not settle in.  He had me up at 12, 1, 2 and 3.  He was barking at the windows and doors, whining, and generally making a fat nuisance out of himself.  I was ready to strangle him by 3 a.m. I tell you.  I let him out each time, thinking he may have eaten something bad for him while he was outside earlier in the evening, but to no avail.  He'd sniff around and come right back and jump at the back door.  What was Sophie, the big dog, doing during all this hullabaloo?  She went out the first time, but no more.  She even quit getting out of her chair.  She was not agitated at all -- so I knew there were no bad guys involved.  After the 3 a.m. shuffle, I huffed and puffed at Monte and put in my ear plugs. 

Next thing I know, someone is shaking my bed, waking me up.  Which I did actually do.  Wake up that is.  I can't hear anything though, 'cause I've got in earplugs.  I pull them out, and  daughter is at my bedroom door asking me if I've been in her room shaking her bed.  Huh?  I told her no, I had not been shaking her bed... had she been shaking mine?  It dawned on me then that we were having an earthquake.  But it seemed to be over.  Daughter told me she was going back to sleep, but if we had another earthquake to wake her up... I went back to sleep too (instead of getting up, checking the house, getting my kids the hell out of that death trap!  Um, right... great Mom I am.)

Of course, by 6 a.m. our little quake was all over the news.  The city inspectors were going around checking the safety of roads and bridges.  They, of course, found that my shortcut to Son's school is now unsafe, chunks of concrete having fallen from the underside of the bridge, but that is really the only lasting effect for me.   Oh, and the fact that now, every time Monte whines or cringes (which is like hourly) I've got EARTHQUAKE! in the back of my mind.   It's one of the burdens of owning an Earthquake dog I guess. 

Here's Monte practicing earthquake preparedness -- he's gotten under the heaviest piece of furniture in the room.  Good dog.  Now, go find all of the centipedes in the house.

There is knitting in the house. 

It's Filey from Alice Starmore's Fishermen's Sweaters.  It's out of the Rowan Denim I bought when we were in England.  The pattern repeat is very simple -- memorized after the first few rows -- so it's certainly carry around knitting at this point.  The sticky Starmore Gauge Question?  I'm achieving  her gauge by dropping only two needles sizes down, so it's all good.  I'm doing ribbing on US2s and the body on US3s.  I assume this will be my summer knitting. 

You'll remember that I really don't love knitting with cotton.  And, you'll think, well hoo boy this is cotton.  Twine-ish almost.  And in response, I'll tell you that I carry around a little swatch of this stuff that's been machine washed and dried and boyohboy is it yummy.  All the motivation I need to knit through the pain.

The baby cable jacket is in the seaming process, and will be ready to be gifted soon.  But in another babyish development, I ran into Daughter's beloved basketball coach's newish wife and, well not to be indelicate, but she is as big as a house!  Due in a month.  And sure it's a girl.  So, I'll have to knit some of these, don't you think?

I've seen a lot of bootie patterns in my time, but these are among the cutest.   I've read through them (straight forward directions and lots of pictures)  and I have the yarn.  So.  I'll get right on this.

And for friends and family?  The renovations are all but complete.  Yay, me!

The hallway is the first picture, and yes, that wall is orange.  The rest of that space is beige.  The dining area in the second picture has walls the same color as the fireplace area in the third -- just a bad picture.  The family room adjacent to these rooms is a leaf green that doesn't photograph well today...  Area rugs, drapes, and furniture to come in a few weeks.  Again, yay me.   

And a Good Spring(ish) Morning to You, Too!

This morning, it is a beautiful, clear 44 degrees.  Cold, yes, but the birds are singing and and the jonquils have begun to bloom and it'll warm up enough to open windows today I think. 

We had a lovely Easter.  Kids in Easter togs hunting eggs in a snow squall...  Oh, it was like 35 degrees so nothing stuck, but it snowed to beat the band several times during the day.

We all attended the Easter Vigil at our church this year.  I go every year as I sing, but this year both kiddos served the mass and husband read one of the many readings.  It was an absolutely gorgeous service.  Seven readings, progressing through the Bible, proclaimed in complete darkness.   Dear Son was afraid he'd fall asleep during this part (he'd been told horror stories by his loving sister) but he was chosen by Father John to be the one to bring him the book between each reading -- Father says something after each piece -- so there was little chance of snoozing.  Son did count the other server (not his sister!) picking his nose 4 times.  Lovely.  Glad it was dark. 

The only criticism I have of the service really is a new addition.  We baptized the new members of the church as we always do at this service.   This year, someone got a kind of pool, you know, black plastic like in yard Koi ponds?  And surrounded it with cement bricks and flowers and filled it with water and  had the new members actually get in and Father poured water over them.  All well and good.  But then they had to go change clothes.  Like for 20 minutes.  Which I totally get -- I mean we've been blessing these folks and building this up so much that of course they wanted to look nice for the rest of the evening.  Which takes awhile, what with hair and maybe makeup and all... So we had an intermission.  Lost all momentum for me.  I believe this is kind of a movement in the Catholic Church, though -- the immersion during baptism.  I've been in several newer churches that have large pools with steps built into them for exactly this purpose.  And I guess it's pretty biblical, if you really think about it.    I think I'm just old school.  And it was 11:30 p.m.

There has been some knitting on the baby cardigan.  We have a front and we have a pocket.  So cute.

See how the cable splits for the pocket?  Love these details.

Construction wise, we've got more color on the walls and a new front door.  I can see light at the end of the tunnel.

Monte matches the new color scheme.  I guess he can stay.

Flooding wise, thanks for all of your inquiries.  We are far, far away from any trouble.  There's a "Heights" in the name of my neighborhood for a reason -- we are up hill from nearly everything in St. Louis.  The folks who are suffering though?  They are suffering greatly.  Personally?  I wish cities wouldn't allow building in flood plains.  And this spring water has topped most of the 100 year flood plains anyway -- so.   Tough going all over. 

Finally, I do have a rant brewing.  It has to do with the Senator Obama race speech thing from last week.  It's along the lines of a previous rant wherein I wonder why it is that some of us can't be in the same room with folks with which we disagree.  This time, there's consternation over the Senator's continuing association with his  preacher.  Who said some pretty ugly things.  Well.  That's on him.  Gosh, if I had to be held to everything anyone's every said in my earshot... well, I guess I couldn't be President either.  Sheesh, people!  You know?  We can love people and disagree with them.   We can respect people and not take to heart every word they utter.  We can have opinions that don't necessarily jive with every opinion of everyone else in the room.  We can HEAR words and then take positions concerning them drawn from our own experiences, our own faith, and our own consciences!  Dangit!  If we don't do this, I'd put forth that therein lies the wrong doing!  If we surround ourselves with yes men and only those with whom we absolutely and totally agree?  WE END UP IN A WAR STARTED BECAUSE OF FALSEHOOD AND INNUENDO! 

Ahem.  Whew.  Well.  Rant over, I guess.

Progress

Knitting, spinning, and otherwise.

Knitting first. 

The astute among you will remember the Baby Surprise Jacket I was knitting.  For the baby born in January.  Um, right.  Well, I couldn't have given him anything but the flu in February.  And I didn't do much work on it anyway... Early this week, like when I couldn't sleep at night over the construction of our new mantel (pics to follow), I decided something.  With which many of you will likely disagree.  I think the BSJ is kind of knitterly.  As in knitters like it and like the idea of it and like the genius of it.  Knitters like how it shows off yarn.  We like the little decrease lines.  We like folding it and sewing it together.  Non-knitters?  Not so much.  They see a garter stitch jacket without much shaping.   Period.    Plus -- my stitch count is off somehow and I can't figure it out!   So, I'll work on that  and wait for a knitter to have a wee one.

Plan B.  Begun at 3:30 a.m. Tuesday morning. 

It's the King Cole cabled baby jacket I made for my nephew a year and a half ago.  The yarn is Dream in Color Classy Worsted in the Strange Forest colorway.  Weird color for a baby?  I guess -- but this jacket is a size 2 (which is apparently the next size up from a 2T... whatever).  Perfect color for a little boy digging in the rocks at the playground, I think.  And it's superwash.  Cha ching!   Hopefully he'll be able to get a few season's wear out of it too.  Roll it up when you're one and perfect when you're two.  I'm crossing my fingers.

Spinning?

   

I plied singles spun from roving from Hello Yarn's Roving of the Month club (January, I think) with singles from roving from Sakeena via The Loopy Ewe.  About 4 oz. each I think.   I got heavy worsted yarn that shades through light and dark greens, yellow green,  salmon, and pink.   As you can see, when the yellow green and the salmon get plied together, the yarn reads orange.  Kinda crazy, kinda fun.  I love it.  Of course, the scarf is the ubiquitous Irish Hiking Scarf -- Hello Yarn again.    And it is soft and heavy and warm.  Yum.

Otherwise?

The construction continues.  We are in the home stretch... begun January 14th, supposed to end by the 30th of March.  I'll be surprised if they make that deadline, but we can all hope, can't we?  What kept me up?  The mantle that you see bears only passing resemblance to the carpenter's first try at it...  which I thought looked more like a prop.  Here, you look:

 

Hmm.  Well, here in the pictures there isn't a ton of difference.  In person?  The legs on the first one (on the right) were spindly and it didn't sit far enough off of the wall.  So I had them re build it.  Which was a hard thing for me -- I'm not big on confrontation. 

But I'm much happier now.

My favorite things about this project so far?

The slate in the fireplace and at the front door, the new wood floors, and the fact that we closed up an opening leading to our room (much quieter back there now).
 

I Just Have No Inclination to Blog...

When my camera is on the fritz!  I can't get a good picture of my knitting or my spinning to save my life.  And it's not like I don't have things to say (read gripe/comment/preach about) 'cause I do!  It's just that I usually get motivated to get on here by pictures.

So.  Here are some cruddy, kid-camera pics. 

Motivated by Carole and Margene and their NaSpiMoMo (yay, it's extended for another month!), I spun my little heart out this month.  And knitted it all up! 

Here are the 8 oz of Crown Mountain Farms Yak and Merino mix.  Spun up I think into a heavy worsted weight (I used 9s for the scarf).  The pattern is my own (more on that later) and this yarn is the softest thing ever.  I mean, one of my trademark sayings at the shop when someone complains about wool being a tad scratchy is, "Well, we aren't going to knit underpants out of it are we?  'Cause if we are, then, yeah, it's scratchy..."  Baby, you could knit underpants out of this stuff.  And hoooboy is it warm.  Just in time for it to be 72 degrees here.  Yeah, right.  We are going to get some thumping storms tonight I'm thinkin'.

And here is my short row scarf.  She met Rachel (the roving was dyed by Rachel at Dyeabolical) on her maiden voyage too!  On Saturday night.  When it was still COLD!  Ahem.  I used up every last bit of the yarn I spun from the 4oz of roving and I think that the scarf is the perfect pattern to show the color changes in this yarn.  I used 5s so I guess the yarn was maybe DK weight?  I don't know and I didn't measure the wraps before I used it all up.  I'm a baaaad spinner.

Ok.  The true color of this roving and the yarn I spun from it is somewhere in between the colors in  these pictures (darn kid's camera).  The greens are like what's shown in the picture on the left, but the picture on the right shows the browns better.  Oh well.   It's called Triple Play Roving and the colorway is called Mint Chocolate.  And it is.  Really.  It's wool (they include what I think are the names of the sheep...don't you just love that?) and rayon and tussah silk and silk noil.  I got yarn a lot like Rowan Summer Tweed.   

I got the roving and these two Totally Tubular Spinning kits when I clicked to The Bellwether from Ravelry the other night.  It all came within about 2 days and the service and representation of the products was great.  Go and shop there.  The kits come with stranded patterns too, and instructions on spinning up the tube of stuff to get that approximate yarn.  Too much fun, don't you think? 

And today is Mardi Gras.  Later today I'll get the 40 Days for Others blog up and running and you can sign up and post there to your heart's content. 

I think I'll be knitting up some handspun for charity!

Did You Ever Just Want To...

• Kick your children right out into the cold?  Because they know that, every school day of their lives, they get up at 6:30 a.m. and we all leave for school at 7:15 a.m.  This time frame does not waver.  It does not change.  It is the same every day.  So why do then, dear readers, do children act perplexed and personally affronted when you start to bellow around 7:20 a.m.?  Why do they whine, "I thought you were waiting for me!"  or  "I didn't know we were ready to leave!" or "Could you just wait a minute, Mom?  I'm busy!"  or "Did someone pack me a lunch?"  Yes, right out to the street, I say.  Right out to the curb.  Growl.
• Spin.  'Cause it's all I ever want to do.  Witness.  (Ignore the time stamps on these pictures -- we inserted a new battery and voila!  Wrong times on everything and no way to fix it.  No way that we want to take the time to learn that is...)This is Adrian's soy silk and wool blend.  You saw it in a bag last time I posted.  I've got about 270 yards of this soft and yummy stuff.  I'm thinking a neck warmer.    Here are singles of my Christmas yak and merino blend and of Rachel's Dance Mistress BFL.  I'm having a blast exploring how different fibers and blends spin up.  Now.  Would someone please post all of this to the NaSpMoMo group on Ravelry.  'Cause I'm definitely spinning my fingers off this month, and loving it.  But I really have not been making time to post new stuff to Ravelry.  The Flicker learning curve is kicking my hiney.
• Knit like the wind!  We are having a knitalong at the shop for the Kauni Cardigan.  Sandy has ordered tons of the Effektgarn (and sold out of tons too) and round about 20 of us are knitting versions of this stranded cardigan.  We're meeting Friday nights to work out the kinks.  See mine hanging in the shop?   It's alongside of Fiona's Icarus.  Gorgeous.  (Rachel took this picture and posted it.  Rachel is a way better blogger than I am.)  Here is my Kauni Cardigan Version 2.0:  Modifications?  Well, colorways for starters.  I'm using colors EV and EM instead of the rainbow.  Um, who needs two of those?  That's not to say that you do not need one.  Also, I've taken 4 stitch tall peeries from the Traditional Fair Isle  Knitting book by Sheila McGregor and I'm dropping them in instead of using the square pattern throughout.  I'm thinking kind of controlled random here -- she's got two entire pages of these little guys and I'll just pick and choose according to my mood.  Maybe, gasp, the sleeves won't even match.  Who knows.  What I kept were the 6 rows of straight knitting between each pattern.  Whew.  I was worried that the colors would read Christmas but they don't so far.  Even if they do... I like Christmas.  Also, I did two inches of 2x2 corrugated ribbing, rather than 1.5 inches of 1x1.  Me likey.
• Knit some more!    I made quite a bit of progress on this twirley scarf out of my handspun while getting 3RD PLACE!! at a trivia night on Saturday.  This is our team's personal best, and we could've won if Bridgett's little one hadn't had a fever.  We tanked on the Pope round and she would have known them all.  Darn kid fevers!  (M is fine now -- I'm not that cold hearted.  She danced down the aisle for kid's liturgy on Sunday... cutest thing ever.  Really.)  I bet Lucia would have been good too.  Darn her living in Connecticut  Massachusetts!
• Move into a hotel where you have a chance at clean and peace and quiet?     This is the current state of my living/dining room.  Yesterday, Mark and the guys (as I am fond of calling them) used a saw and a jack hammer to dig out that channel you see running across the room.  Hmm.  "Dig" is a pleasant sounding word which implies gardening and bucolic, satisfying scraping sounds.  "Dig" is the wrong word for what happened inside my house yesterday.  "Pummel" is wrong too.  "Blast" is a little too quick for yesterday's 3 hour marathon metallic banging, stone-smashing, saw-blade screeching, foundation shaking event.  It was at the very least unpleasant.  The dogs are full of dust as this is an area that is hard to block off as it has the bedrooms and the bathrooms in it.  End date?  March 31st.  But it will be lovely.  Patience.
• Believe in the supernatural.  'Cause here is the picture I took not two seconds before the one above:  Haven't you seen all those Discovery Channel and Sci Fi Channel shows where they prove places are haunted using pictures with orbs just like these?!

Way to Go, Girls!

Sheesh.  I went and read this and now my bloglines are up to like 867 New Items.  This happens to me every year -- I'm not sure what it will take for me to learn the lesson.  Do not follow every link these girls lay before me!

Yesterday's knitting was limited to nearly completing a pair of fetching mitts out of my hand spun.  Dance Mistress tencel blend to be more specific. 

And I learned a lesson.  The gauge of the item one knits from the beginning of the skein of hand spun yarn can vary widely from the gauge of the item one knits from the middle of the skein of hand spun yarn.  Case in point.  You be the judge.

You might say, "But you must have knit a different number of rounds between cabling!"

To which I'd say, "Nope."

And the stitch gauge isn't even that different.  It's row gauge.  Spun tighter, maybe?  Plied tighter?  Does that influence row gauge and not stitch gauge?  It's a mystery to me. 

Oh, I'll wear them regardless, because they are wicked soft and warm warm warm.  My hands have been cold for days on end now.  I've taken to wearing husband's sweatshirts so I can pull the sleeves down over my freezing fists.  Now I have Mardi Gras colored mitts to wear.  Almost.  I'll finish that thumb and weave in ends after this post.  And I still have some wonky hand spun to make into something.  Like 50 yards or so including what's yet to be plied up.  What else should I make?  By tomorrow?  I'm thinking Caliometry.  Or a third mitt that just might match one of the two I have...

Speaking of tomorrow.  It's January 6th... Epiphany ... you know, the beginning of Carnival Season.  Which culminates in Fat Tuesday.  Which is followed by Ash Wednesday.  Which means another season of Lent.  Which means 40 Days For Others.  I think I'll start a blog for it this year.  Anyone have any charity knitting they want to accomplish?  I already have two sweaters, a scarf, and two hats to throw in the ring.

This year I'll knit for the St. Vincent de Paul Church homeless outreach.  They like real wool for their contributions.  Dennis tells me that wool is warmer, and his recipients don't tend to wash, or even keep their stuff year to year.  "They don't have cabinets to keep it in, you know, " he said.   

Um, he's right.  So.  Wool it will be.  Hats mostly is what he needs.  But he'll take any knits.  They have lots of men, but can distribute items to families as well.  They also take bedrolls -- quilted and knit.  So we can piece knit or sewn squares for bedrolls too.  I'm contemplating asking for squares... give me some time to figure that out, k?  Anyone else want to knit for charity this winter?

Ahem. Where Were We?

Oh.  Right.  Rabelry... which I shall now un-renounce.  Due primarily to a lovely forum for spinners which has redeemed the place for me entirely. 

I went on and asked about my Louet S90, which came to me as you will remember used and without documention.  And for a song, come to find out.  No complaining here.  One gal even sent me a PDF of the original documentation for the thing.  I can now fold her up, (in theory, 'cause she gets too much use to be folded up, but if I were to want to take her somewheres, I could now with ease) oil her and manipulate the tension better... you know.  All the tricks.  And I can do this.

That there is some plyed up yarn.  Yee haw!  Oh.  Ahem.  Sorry.  I know it's early in the morning -- well, actually, it shouldn't be that early.  Except we mess with the time and it takes the dogs and I and the kids like a week to get back on schedule and someone has to get sick in the process and we all are crabby for a week. 

The swift measures 4 feet per revolution -- that's about a  150 yards there and more on the bobbin.  And I have this cake of 180 yards.

Yep.  It even knits up kinda nice.  I'm thinking of using it for the yoke of a sweater (it's very soft) with the body of the sweater being this (5th color down on the right -- a deep, bright orange).  I'm getting like 5 1/2 stitches to the inch on US5s.  And while this first plying attempt isn't particularly perfect looking in the cake, it is perfectly lovely and smooth knit up.  And I guess that's what matters, right?

Did I ever show you the roving?  It's a mohair/wool blend from Buckwheat Bridge Angoras and it's carded (or combed?) into layers:  green, chocolate, barn red, and bright orange.  The green and the orange are duller and stickier (must be the wool) and the brown and red are shiney and can really be pulled out as you spin.  I've been trying to get stretches of just green and just orange separated by sections that mix in the brown and red barber-pole style.   It's kind of working.  And it keeps me endlessly amused, and isn't that the whole point of the thing, anyway?

Yes -- it's An Unoriginal Hat.  She's right -- took one evening.  This one's out of some "The New Periwinkle" colored yarn, and how I came about having this yarn only Rabbitch knows for sure...  I've got to blog about that tomorrow.  Daughter walked by the screen as I was looking at the pattern, newly posted, and she said, "Oh, that's cute.  Can it be in blue?"  Well, you all know what happens when progeny actually wants hand-knitted items.  A stash-diving we went and everything else was dropped.  She's worn it and gotten compliments already...

There is another one on the needles -- Malabrigo chunky.  Oh yeah.  And next to that we have "Mistress of Dance" sock yarn.  The story goes that Rachel was dying this yarn in a colorway inspired by me and one of my trek sock bags, when she noticed that it was a perfect Mardi Gras color combination and then she remembered that Deborah had lamented that dyers always added one extra color and mucked up the gold purple green Mardi Gras colorways in yarn.  So Rachel stopped.  And my yarn was Deborah's.  At least I got a skein before they were all snapped up... ***grin***

Are you wondering about the polar bear book and the Moon Sand in the background of many of these pictures?  Dear Son's been down with a fluish snotty thing for 3 days -- we've pulled out all the toys and activities.  Because Cheetos and Mythbusters can only get you so far when you're stuck in the house for 3 days. 

So, It's Unanimous Then?

Rabelry is great -- for the yarn and pattern and knitting tools.  The forums?  Not so much.  At least not right now.  Thanks, peeps.  Love you!

And enough of the crabby stuff.  What follows is a list of a few of the things that currently make me happy.  In no particular order.

Karamichelle, fellow Knitorious Knit Night Knitster, made me this bag.  I heart it.  Actually, I shamelessly begged her to make me one out of this fabric and she graciously and for her own safety obliged.  I'm nagging her to make me an Ann Butler bag.  (hey... I'll buy the fabric and pattern!) Wish me luck.

It's about 10" by 10.5" -- perfect for carrying around the Monkey Socks in progress.

My Louet S90.  This is the wheel I bought slightly used after I finished my spinning class.  I didn't get any documentation on the thing and I think it folds up and I totally do not care.  I love it and I'm spinning the finest singles on it I've ever been able to spin (in my long and illustrous 4 week spinning career **grin**).

They are kind of out of focus here, but yum.  Recognize the Rhinebeck Roving?  Oh yeah.  And this wheel came with a swift attached -- see it folded down on the back?  I will be able to measure the yardage of my spinning with this -- as opposed to an umbrella swift which constantly changes circumference. 

One bobbin mostly full, one to fill, one to ply, and one for Dear Daughter...

 

How about a wheel naming contest?  There'll be sock yarn in it for the name I like best... Leave your suggestion in the comments.

And here is the Rebuilding Greensburg Afghan I volunteered to piece.  Sandy and Rachel at the shop helped me crochet the squares together, and now I just have to run a crochet border around the outside to even it up.  It is ... interesting.  Actually it is very soft and it is the mish mash one would expect from an afghan pieced together from squares knitted by knitters from all the world, apparently.  There is a lot of love in these afghans.  I'll send it back to Laura tomorrow.

And I did find the coolest Halloween decorations ever.  No, Mindy, sorry.  I'm not sharing!

Aren't they silly?  We had our annual Halloween party this weekend.  Here is a picture of the cast of characters.

We have, from left to right:  Bast (Cat Goddess from Egypt?), a Strawberry (see the straws?), a fairy princess, Mother Nature, a witch, a ballerina-princess-butterfly-pirate, a sleepy person, a hoodlum, and two hoodlums with masks.

And right in the middle of the party, I had to leave to pick up Dear Daughter's date for her school's Fall Ball.  Second verse, same as the first.  Only with a pink sweater as the weather has cooled down some.

Yes, this time I was in on the whole thing.  On the way to the restaurant (South City Diner for you St. Louisans)  from his house, Date Boy regaled us with the stories of the deaths of each of the dictators of the Axis powers during World War II.   Daughter told him it was all so interesting.  I maintained a straight face and kept quiet.  They ate at the Diner, I picked them up and took them to the dance, they danced, and I took them home.  He leaned over, patted her on the shoulder, and told her it was nice to see her again and went inside.  And that was that.  I'm getting killed with cuteness over here.  Just killed.   Now, she's grounded because of a lack of truthfullness about having turned in back assignments in word-processing class, but it was sure fun while it lasted.

And finally, lucky for me!  Dear son Trick-or-Treated twice this weekend (if you hate it when people verb nouns, then ... well ... sorry).  Today he is a school.

His bag full of candy is home with me.  I will watch it very carefully...