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Hi all. I've been keeping up with your posts, just not mine. Blogging is the first thing to go when things get busy, obviously.
We had a lovely holiday chez Annie this year. Here is a picture of all the cousins together at Granny and Grandpa's house on Christmas Eve. See how oldest cousin has shot up this year! Yeesh! (Scout -- I'm going to have to search for a smile to photoshop onto my boy too! Look at that goofy smile!)
Kidlets are old enough to go to Midnight Mass and then sleep until 8 or so. Dear son is still trying (at 9!) to believe in the Seasonal Gentleman, but he's hard pressed. I'm sure he was just afraid he wouldn't get any gifts if he stopped believing. You could see him fight with himself while we watched the NORAD Santa Tracker. Bless his heart. Both son and daughter were truly thankful for their presents and for the visiting family we hosted for dinner on Christmas night (Granny, Grandpa, Brother-in-law). In short, they behaved beautifully. Hubby and I did too, by the way. Warm, happy holiday all around.
Don't you love my new Willow Tree Nativity? Thanks, Husband!
And my new Carolers! Thanks Mother-in-Law!
And my two new Jim Shore Santas! Thanks Me!
During all the cooking and the baking and the wrapping and the cleaning and the decorating and the singing and the shopping, I've been thinking. About the Stash-along. Shhhh. I'm considering making a resolution. In writing. In a fairly public forum.
I'm not a resolution kind of gal. I have to quietly quit or start something. The minute it's public, I get all passive-aggressive and undermine it. I feel desperate and hemmed in when folks know about any kind of self-imposed discipline I'm implementing. Even when breaking with that discipline hurts no one but myself. Crazy, depression-era or starvation mentality I think. Even though I've never lived through any kind of deprivation at all. I must have really suffered in another life, cause the minute I tell myself I shouldn't have something -- anything -- it takes on epic proportions.
So, shhh. I'm going to knit from my stash until September 30th. With one Get-Out-Of Jail free card. And exceptions for baby gifts and socks.
Happy New Year.
The knitblog community has a viral nature -- things catch. Like Fetching. How many pairs of these fingerless mits are there out there right now all wrapped up and waiting for cold hands? They number in the thousands I'd guess. It's a relatively easy, elegantly-written, free (don't forget the free part) pattern. Why look, here are (nearly) two pair right now!
On the left is a pair done with Odyssey and Kid Silk Haze, on the right is the first of a pair (now finished and wrapped) made from some of the leftover Follies. So quick -- each glove is an evening's knit really -- and really pretty. The Ambrosia/Kid Silk Haze scarf alongside is finished and ready to gift as well. The number on the present? In the past, my kids have been way too involved in present sorting for my taste -- as were my brothers and I before them. This year, I've implemented one of my mother's tricks -- she used to number packages. So now, the kids are fixated on figuring out the code. Ho, ho, ho....
Anyway, viral nature of the knitblog community, right... And speaking of that viral nature, Socks That Rock should be in the dictionary next to "viral nature". I wonder what percentage of their business is bloggers or those who read blogger's raves about the stuff. Kudos well deserved I think. Here is the last of my Sock Club selections. The pattern is by Sivia Harding, one of my favorite designers. I guess I might knit it, but sans beads (which I guess is the reason the beads didn't come with the kit but are called for in the pattern... hmmm.)
I knit exactly one of the six patterns they sent me... and gave away two of the colorways, three maybe, I 'll have to look. In the literature that came with this last kit, that earns me the label "Sock Challenged". Grrreat. Love the yarn, but frankly didn't get smitten by the patterns. Which is fine. And why I'm sticking to simply ordering the colors I want this year.
The Rare Gem colorway on the left is a bonus and has an interesting story. In the enclosed flier, Tina says that she and the other STR dyers made about 600 dying mistakes this year. She tried over-dying the flubs and came up with these one-of-a-kind skeins. I think we all got one and they may all be different. I really like mine -- it's kind of Carbon Dating without so much purple.
A new friend Kate (I've known her family for ages, but met her via 40 Days for Others last year and we figured out the connection) is in town for the holidays and she took me to shopping at an Internet business, Loopy Ewe. Hi Sheri! It's located here in St. Louis, and open to locals from 10 'til 2 on Tuesdays. Tons of sock yarn in this basement -- needless to say I came home with some and I don't even feel guilty!
Actually, some of it's getting wrapped up for sock-knitting daughter's Christmas, but the rest is for me... see the sheepy sock blockers? The Candy on the right is from a local knit shop and is for a baby hat (gosh, my friends and relatives sure are fertile right now... hope it's not catching!)
And here is the connection. Wendy just received an order from this shop and blogged about it. Rabbitch blogged about Wendy's Challenge/Stash along thing. I've been seriously considering joining the stash along thing. There's been a little controversy over it apparently -- although I missed it somehow. There is apparently a LYS owner/blog commenter who wants Wendy to use her powers for good, not evil. Said commenter apparently created such a kerfluffle that Rabbitch is somehow not wearing pants or buying yarn, with various exceptions. And so, viral nature of the Internets being what it is, neither am I! The yarn part. Pants, I'll need to stick with those, thank you.
First, as promised, here follows a list of the yarn I included in the Stash box:
Sound good? It is one heavy box, let me just say that. I'm up to 19 Sisters for this box... which I think is enough, unless you wheedle and whine and then... well, it's Christmas and I'm generally weak. And, more of you in line for the box will give me time to knit up my stash to make room for it when it comes back to me later next spring.
Which brings me to this (Margene will laugh at me, and deservedly so, as I taunted her for this very idea last year.)
Don't get all ruffled -- I'm just in the consideration stage, but it's her rules that made me consider joining. If you haven't been reading Wendy Knits or live under a rock, here they are:
Knit From Your Stash 2007!
L-B mentioned to me that she was thinking about attempting to knit from her stash exclusively in 2007. I, of course, laughed at her initially, but started thinking that attempting to knit from my stash exclusively was not a bad idea. Both L-B and I have stashes of epic proportions. L-B had suggested a period of 9 months of knitting from the stash, so that we could go to Stitches East next October and buy yarn there.
So, in a phone call, we sketched out our guidelines.
Knit From Your Stash 2007: Guidelines for L-B and Wendy
1. The Knit-From-Your-Stash-a-Thon will start January 1, 2007 and run through September 30, 2007 -- a period of nine months.
2. We will not buy any yarn during that period, with the following exceptions:
2.a. Sock yarn does not count. What? You think we are made of stone?
2.b. If someone asks for a specific knitted gift that we really and truly do not have the yarn for, we may buy yarn to knit that gift.
2.c. If we are knitting something and run out of yarn, we may purchase enough to complete the project.
2.d. We each get one "Get Out of Jail Free" card -- we are each allowed to fall off the wagon one time.
3. We are allowed to receive gifts of yarn.
4. Spinning fiber of any sort is exempt.
Anyone else who would like to join us in this is welcome to do so! Feel free to link to this page or to post the guidelines on your own blog. You may also alter the guidelines to suit your own situation.
Exceptions and "Get Out of Jail Free Card"? Check. Gifts of yarn? Check. Spinning Fiber? Well, that's a slippery slope if I've ever seen one. The real reason behind the inclination to join this particular "along"? I reorganized my stash to send out the Sisterhood box and... well, really... nothing else will fit in my stash closet. All the Rhinebeck yarn? Still in the bags! Too busy with deadline knitting. Janet's through half of her sweater and I haven't done anything more than periodic fondling!
I wouldn't change a thing about Wendy's rules except to substitute Rhinebeck (yeah, I'm going again!) for Stitches East, and to reiterate that said rules do not include books, needles, or other findings. They also do not include the several items (ahem) I have on backorder at the shop, with Crown Mountain Farms or with Peace Fleece. I also consider the Sisterhood Box to be part of my stash, so receiving that won't count either -- you may do the same.
Finished Object
One teacher scarf down, one teacher something or other to go! Three days and counting.
And, finally:
Better? I think so...
Here are pics of what came back to me last week -- some of the singletons have more quantity, I just couldn't get it all in the picture:
The Knitpics Ambrosia on the left quickly became this teacher gift, 90% done now:
It's the Red Scarf Project Scarf that Wendy just knit -- I put the Ambrosia with some Rowan Kid Silk Haze and it is possibly the softest thing I have ever knit.
Can anyone identify the pile of unmarked blue yarn at the top right? My burn test says some wool content (it smelled like hair burning) but there was a hard ash -- a name would help greatly with fiber content and yardage. Thanks. Oh, and there were assorted needles and various books and patterns in the box too... cool.
More later today on the contents of the box I sent out yesterday.
Meanwhile, knitting for Christmas proceeds apace. Here are gifts 1 and 2 -- Ann Budd (kinda) hat and faux rib scarf (row 1: K2P2 across; row two, K every stitch) In Reynolds Odyssey Browns Mix for husband. Yeah, he's seen the hat ... he's even worn the hat ... but it's not cold right now and it matches the scarf so I'm wrapping that baby up!
Here is a knit themed gift I received from a friend.
A craft show find I think -- see how he's a cute ball of yarn?
And finally, a cautionary tale. I set up a lovely Holiday tableau behind my sink -- a beautiful green pottery bowl filled with ornaments, the topiary with candycanes, a picture of my nieces and nephews, the sponge turtle, the fish Stress Coat (yeah, whatever) -- when what to my wondering eyes should appear (a few mornings ago) but ... no, wait, not reindeer. A 50 lb. bust of General George S. Patton. How festive.
Husband and Holiday decorating do not mix. (Yikes. Check out that red sky in the morning -- you know what they say... Hope we're not in for some weather! I haven't had my generator installed yet!)
More later today on what went into the Sisterhood box I sent out yesterday. Keep signing up -- I have like six sisters so far... there's room for more! See you!
Edited to add: Sisterhood is full, all -- everyone who's received an email from me is in. If you haven't received a rules note from me it's just because I haven't gotten around to it yet, but I will. Send in those addresses! Off we go!
I started a sweater more than two years ago -- I was a sweater newbie, and very excited about knitting something I could wear. Something that had a shape and a design. Something, quite frankly, that wasn't a poncho or a scarf or a felted bag. Um, right.
So I got Ann Budd's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns from the shop (pre-working there even) and bought some yarn that made my heart sing (number 409, Bright Blues Mix, which might even be discontinued now). I did a swatch, read the pattern, circled all my numbers and got to knitting. Never mind that the notes suggest to do the ribbing either on 10% fewer stitches or a needle size smaller, I WANTED TO KNIT A SWEATER and I didn't have time for all that crap about percentages ...
A back, two fronts (cardigan you know), a sleeve and a half later... you guessed it ... I ran out of yarn. Well nearly. I had one ball left and still had half a sleeve, the neck band and the front facings to complete. Even in my newbieness, I knew that wouldn't fly.
Meanwhile, other knitting newness caught my wandering eye... oooo, cables -- knit a cabled scarf... ooooo, socks -- knit a lot of socks... Ooooo, lace -- knit a lot of lace... And my poor Odyssey sweater languished in the UFO box with a growing number of projects (Kiri, a Cascade Sierra sweater, an Arucana Nature Cotton sweatshirt...) I'd run across the sweater periodically, pine for it, then get over the pining and move on. I'd look for the yarn in yarn shops sometimes, to no avail.
But when things started turning cold this fall and I wanted a new warm sweater, I remembered that I was a scant two or three balls of yarn away from one. I ordered more yarn and it came within a week -- a small miracle I see now, as the distributor's website doesn't even list the color anymore.
I got the yarn home, finished the black-out hats, and got out the sweater. Um. Right. The ribbing on the body of the thing is all wrong. Only an inch and not stretchy or gathering in at all... hmmm. I really must have wanted to get to that stockinette. Yuck. And, funny enough, the ribbing on the sleeve that was finished is two and a half inches. Perfect. Hmmm again. I finished the sleeve, two and a half inch ribbing and all. Then I sat down to think.
I can't just rip the ribbing -- it's the cast-on edge. I've got to go in above it and remove it somehow. I know I've seen this somewhere, and you probably have too. I'll show you anyway.
Go in with a smaller needle ( hmmm, maybe the one that's a size smaller than the rest of the sweater so than when you knit on the ribbing, it draws in? Genius!) Pick up one bar of each stitch in the stockinette row above the row where the ribbing starts. Watch your rows -- make sure you're picking up all the stitches from the same row.
See? Easy Peasy. Now for the queasy. Cut the first stitch of the row below your picked up row. Yep, cut the yarn. Right here.
Then start pulling the yarn through the stitches on your needle. It doesn't unzip like an invisible cast on, you have to unknit the row by pulling the yarn through each stitch on the needle and each stitch on the part of the knitting to be removed. It doesn't seem to matter which bar of the stitches you pick up either, just so long as you are consistent and cut the row immediately beneath the row you've picked up.
I pulled my row out from the purl side -- easier to see where the yarn was going next.
See? What you are left with is a complete row of stitches ready to be knit.
I started my ribbing straight away.
Ahhh. Two and a half inches? Check. Pulling in slightly? Check. Now. Can anyone explain how this is absolutely seamless? I mean, why are the upside-down stitches exactly the same as the right-side-up ones? Really, If I didn't know I'd ripped it apart, I wouldn't be able to tell, even on close examination, that there was any directional difference. The edge is a different story -- a bound off edge rather than a cast on one. Look at the scrap I removed and then at the finished ribbing above. A difference I can live with.
Why go to all this trouble? So I'll wear it, that's why. You know how something done not exactly right, while others see it not at all, is a huge honking festering wound in your own eye-ball? That's why.
A phrase I lifted wholesale from Bridgett. 'Cause there is. First the pictures. Then the story.
That clump of ice right there in the middle of this picture is my favorite Dogwood tree bent in half and cracked at the base. A total loss. And our Hawthorne will likely have to be removed as well -- she suffered the loss of at least half of her canopy. Sniff. And I had all my trees trimmed and taken care of this fall in the wake of the first Great Storm of 2006.
Which is more than I can say for our esteemed, for-profit electric company. They seem to have learned very little about dealing with wholesale destruction and power outages.
I am about to get very bitter here. You all are here to keep me from spiraling into a murderous rage. You may try to talk me down or join me. I'm fine with either. And...this is in no way an indictment of the electric workers -- the linemen and women -- who came from all over the country AGAIN to help us out of this mess.
Dear Ameren UE Spokespersons and Execs,
Please cease and desist from calling our recent weather the storm of the century. You called the storm we had in July the Storm of the Century. See, a century is 100 years, not 4 1/2 months.
In addition, when you tell the national press that you have 500,000 'customers' without power, they translate that to 'people'. Over and over again. You should say you have 500,000 'meters' without power. Then, the media outlets can go to the census guys and realize that you're talking about nearly a million and a half 'souls' without power. People.
When you give the reason for scaling back your tree trimming efforts in the last 3 years, don't say that it's due primarily to aesthetics and customer dissatisfaction (what you said was that your customers don't like having trees trimmed around power lines -- it looks bad) and only in a small part to budgetary problems. You are the business owner here, the expert as it were. Trim the damn trees if they are going to fall on power lines in a storm! Be the grownup! Ahem.
And, if you are going to send a memo to your tree trimming department expressing a giant "Whew!" -- that the storm in July, while it knocked out power to 500,000 or so accounts, it did take care of many of the tree trimming problems you were going to have to face sooner or later and the good news is that it's the homeowners' and cities' responsibility to clean it all up since it was "an act of God" -- if you are going to send such a memo, make sure it doesn't fall into the hands of any newspaper guys.
Finally, when I log onto your website or call you, I should get some information concerning my status. Really, all I want is a good-faith effort at letting me know what's happening. The 'unknown status' thing really bugs me... 'cause I know the status, let me tell you. Freaking cold is the status. And dark.
Sincerely, Annie
So you've probably figured out that we've been without electricity for the last 5 1/2 days. And I have to say, after being without electricity for nearly that this summer, in near 100 degree temps, that I prefer to have my power outages in the summer, thankyouverymuch.
See, in the summer, you can take a cold shower. You can go to the pool. Your kids can play in the sprinkler. Hot can be deadly, I know, but at least it's light until nearly 9 p.m. And there are no school or practices to deal with. And you don't fall down on the ice.
Modern homes can deal with hot. Modern homes cannot deal with cold. I had no way to heat our bedrooms, which were down to 40 degrees the third day -- very cold to sleep in, I have to say. And the bursting pipe worry really got to me. A fireplace in the living room, while picturesque, did very little to heat the rest of the house. We were quite close to draining all of the pipes.
The food situation was my fault. See, I really got schnockered. I couldn't believe that Ameren would leave us without power when it was reaching down to 12 degrees at night. No way. So I left the fridge alone -- feeling sure that this would not be a repeat of the summer. So, by the time I opened the fridge (on day 5) it was warmer in there by far than it was in the rest of the kitchen. Lots of folks put stuff on their porches, but I didn't want the rats, raccoons, and possums any more interested in my house than they already are. So. Another refrigerator full of food into the dumpster.
We stayed in hotels the last two nights. Better than candle light for homework. The first night, son exhibited his propensity for sleepwalking -- got all the way to the elevator before I caught up with him. Yikes. And, I got them to school on time both hotel mornings. A feather in my cap.
Knitting? I did some. Here is the Winter Storm of 2006 Hat:
Ann Budd's pattern, but (you're right Ruth) the decreases called for by the pattern are wonky and crinkly and way too late. I did a spiral decrease to match the mittens. It's essentially flat on the head. And, get this... I did those decreases by candle light the second night of the blackout. Oh yeah! Pioneer women, hear me roar. The hat came off the needles and I tried it on -- fits me ok, but I really don't like hats. My hair keeps me plenty warm. Dear husband, though, asked to see it... put it on and didn't take it off until he went to work two days later. Slept in it and all. So I had to make him one -- this one matches MY mittens after all.
Reynolds Odyssey, Browns colorway. But it turns out we went to the hotel that night, so he didn't need it. Yet. More storms and cold weather are on the way, though. Of that I'm sure. So I'll finish it today.
Oh, and you know the saying,"Fool me once, shame on you... Fool me twice, shame on me." Well, shame on me... I'm getting a generator installed in the next two weeks. A lovely Christmas present. Really.
(sorry, no links... dear son is up and he's computer time deficient. I'll link this up later.)
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