Annie Knits

Oh My Gosh...

I have been ignoring you, blog friends!  Sheesh, September kicks my butt! 

• The kids have gotten back in the swing of school and things are going well.  Thank God! 
• The dog allergies are in full swing with lots of scratching, snorfling, sneezing and barfing up grass.  Lovely.  And it's a grass allergy, connected to fall, so she takes Benedryl and it helps only a little.  Poor thing.  We're just waiting for a frost. 
• And I signed up for a crazy choir thing ('cause I didn't have enough else to do!) where we are learning beeeuuutiful music, arranged in choral parts by an Irish gal/composer/singer.  Oh.  And did I mention that the words are all in Gaelic?!  Yea.  We're pulling an Abba.  Someone told us that at least we were learning Gaelic and we could go to Ireland... um, right, if all I need to talk about are sailing ships and a bright child in a manger, I'm in like Flynn! (Which , it turns out, is possibly some weird nod to Errol Flynn's manhood.  Ick.)  But seriously, click on the link and listen to the music.  If anything has to get stuck in my head, I'm ok with this.  She was in town last week-end and we worked with her for two solid days learning, and now we're rehearsing once a week for performances the week before Christmas.  (Really, if you're in town and want a really calming break from holiday hub-bub, come and give a listen.)  This on top of regular choir practice -- where at least we learn holiday songs in English.    Ahem.
• Work.  'Nuff said.  It's September and it's cooling off.  Apparently someone yelled TIME TO KNIT SOMETHING!! when I wasn't listening, 'cause we're off to the races.

And I have actually been knitting things.  Several things.  Multi-tasking if you will.  Ahem, again.

Kauni is coming along...  Isn't she pretty?!  Those of you who said I'd be lazy and let the colors fall where they may called it right.  The color combos are staying the same though, so each sleeve at least matches some other spot in the sweater.

I'm pretty pleased with my knitting, actually.  The gauge is spot on, and with a nod to Wendy and her tip to spread out stitches mercilessly when doing stranded knitting, the knitting is lying pretty flat even without any blocking.  No bunching up here!  And check out how much yarn I have left... I'll be able to do a baby Kauni, I think.  Don't you?  Better too much, than too little.

Here is some shop knitting.  We've gotten  in lots of lovely colors of  Harrisville Designs New England Shetland, and since I'm obviously on a stranded knitting kick, I'm nominated to knit up some colorwork.  It is, of course, the mitten on the cover -- EZ's Knitting Around, Norwegian Mittens.  Here's what I've learned so far:

1. I don't do colorwork on dpns.  Really.  Don't ask me to do it again.  Except for those garter blocks on the Kauni sweater.  For some reason those are ok. 
2. When she says start in pattern, EZ means right now, not a row later.  Ahem for the 3rd time.
3. Two color knitting that is not just blocks requires concentration and sticky notes. 

The after thought thumb.  It's all I can do not to rip out those stitches and start that thing right now, it's so cute.  What's stopping me?  It's two color knitting on dpns.  Curses.

Holiday knitting has begun.  The Hemlock Ring Blanket, from Jared and Susan (whom I am apparently knit-stalking as she's done a Kauni as well and I lifted my edge treatments from her...)  In Suri Merino on 9's.  OMG.  Love this pattern.  Is anyone else intrigued with the idea of knitting on 9's a pattern written to be knit up on maybe 000's?   There are so many lovely doily patterns in the public domain out there... endless possibilities.  And a nod to our knitting past, which I kind of enjoy.  I think we should do a class or knit-along of this pattern at the shop. What say you?

Thanks, Mindy!

I was unclear before -- this is the banner Mindy made for me...  She went all over the web and captured pictures of the blingy letters I wear on my flip flops.   Cool and just right for Fall and Halloween... go figure...

Thanks, Mindy!

Dogs Have Awesome Powers...

Is what Dear Son said when I told him this story this morning.  Um.  Right.

It's been awhile since I've talked about Monte, hasn't it?  He's 10 months old now, about 50 or so pounds, perfect on his electronic collar but not so perfect when it comes to chewing furniture... 

At 12:30 this morning, Monte began to bark.  Sophie trotted out to check the front window for goings on, and I followed her.  Monte scrambled through the kitchen to the back door (as only dogs can do, claws trying to grab linoleum) barked some more and whined.  Sophie and I followed.  I couldn't see any problems and Sophie seemed supremely unconcerned, so we began to make our way back to bed.

When we all got to the doorway to the living room, it's pitch dark remember, Monte froze.  He backed away, whined, and then stretched himself to sniff the air as far as he could without actually stepping foot into the living room itself.  Hmm.

Sophie had passed us and was standing in the hall,  looking over her shoulder at me as if to say, "I'm going back to bed, are you coming?" 

So all must be well, right?  I mean, there couldn't be a bad guy in the living room, hiding behind the couch if Sophie was willing to go back to sleep.  But Monte's body language said different.

Realize now that this dog is really just a chicken in a dog suit.  He's very tentative and easily spooked.  In fact he rarely does something, be it chase a squirrel, meet a new dog, chew a new toy even, unless Sophie does it first.   

So, I flipped on the lights.  Sophie sighed (no really, she sounded completely exasperated), circled the room as if I'd asked her to do just that, and climbed up into her day-sleeping chair.  She circled in the chair once, let out another long-suffering groan and plopped down, her head on her paws, watching Monte and me.  I'm now absolutely reassured that there is no bad guy in here hiding and waiting to pounce.  Monte, however, is not. 

He's willing to set foot in the room now, but he's still stretching his nose toward the big chair in the corner -- clearly something there has him upset.  Other than my knitting of course.  Which is piled on the arm of said chair, where I left it earlier in the evening.  Did I mention that it was o'dark thirty?!  I try to reassure him, and to coax him over to the chair, but he won't come.  He sniffing madly at the Kauni Cardigan and her yarn from like 3 feet away.  What the heck, dog?

I move the knitting, and under one ball of yarn, on the arm of the chair is a 3 inch long centipede.  Yeeeuuuucccckkk!  I hate those things.  The legs keep right on kicking even after you've squished them.  And my bug guy was just here this afternoon!  (Fall is spider season in MO.)  Probably why this guy was off the floor, looking for a hiding place.  I squished him. 

Monte sniffed and sniffed at the spot, at the paper towel, at the yarn, reassuring himself I guess that the monster was really gone.  And I wondered... how the heck did that dog know that a house centipede was under my knitting on the arm of my chair in a pitch black room?!  Can dogs hear centipedes?  Can dogs smell them?  Do centipede legs make little skittering  noises when they walk across the room... on carpet? 

Did the centipede somehow awaken Little Dog, and then hide causing the barking to begin with?  And how, pray tell, does a centipede, no matter how big, wake up a sleeping dog? 

Maybe Monte wasn't sleeping.  Maybe he was guarding my knitting.   Ok.  The chair leg incident is forgiven...  'Cause if I had picked up that cardigan this morning and this had crawled out onto my hand, I'd be dead of a heart-attack right now.  Seriously.

Good doggie.

Steeky, Deeky!

The steeking is done.  Early last week actually.  And it's not nearly as freaky as everyone says.  It was really kind of fun, you know, in a forbidden kind of way. 

I did run zig-zag stitching up the steeks and then I cut between the stitching.  But this yarn?  Going nowhere.

Before Rachel calls me on being all brave and cool about this, I'll admit to taking it into the shop to cut.  With witnesses.  And because I'll be damned if I can find my sharp scissors in this house... it's like some kid ate them or something.  Sheesh.  Good came of this because it gave Sandy a chance to try it on and she and Rachel spent some of the rest of that morning figuring out how to order the yarn for the store ... ***grin***  It is smashing on.  Even it it's raggedy state.

Now, I'm off to the sleeve races.  Where there is, I think, a misprint in the pattern -- an "st" as in stitches, when she means "cm" as in centimeters.  I'm knitting on as that is the only thing that makes sense.  No indictment here -- her English is way better than my Danish...

And I'd like to have this ready to wear by the 3rd weekend in October.  'Cause I'm a square! Yay!

Any guesses as to what's just jumped to the head of the queue?

Bethel Mo World Sheep and Fiber Arts Festival

Bridgett and I decided to take our girls for the day to Bethel, MO.  It's about a 3 hour drive north and west from here -- an hour west of Hannibal of Mark Twain fame.  In Bethel, an 1800's German settlement, there is apparently a Sheep and Fiber fair each year during Labor Day weekend.  Who knew?!

There were plenty of sheep in attendance.

Here, M, Bridgett's nearly 3 year old daughter, chats one up.  Next to this guy, there were several empty  pens.  "Where's this sheep?  And where's this sheep," she asked.

I looked around, and saw that organizers were queuing the lambs up for a lamb show and I told M so.  She turned, looked up at me , and while swooshing her bottom hula like, she asked, "Do they dance in the show?" 

The good old boy farmers alongside the empty pens got a guffaw out of that.  So did I.

Right after the lamb show was the Mutton Busting. 

In case you can't tell what this picture is all about, let me clarify.  On the back of that sheep is a 7ish year old boy, hanging on for dear life.  Hanging on to that sheep.  What you can't see is that he's wearing a bicycle helmet and a water skiing vest (rib protection?) .  Within seconds, the sheep swerves and throws him off.  Yeesh.  Look to the upper right.  See the next little tyke in line, all helmeted up?

While M and I watched the sheep riding/ Mutton Busting, Bridgett, her other daughter S and my Dear Daughter spent time with these lovely folks... learning to spin with a drop spindle.

So much fun -- Daughter got a kit with roving, a CD spindle, and a lesson from the very patient Allena.  Much drop spindling ensued. 

While we watched the herding demonstration?  (Saturday sky for Sandy -- it was a lovely, bright, 80 degree  day.)

Daughter used her drop spindle.

While we walked?  Drop spindling.  While we ate Lamburgers, BBQ lamb sandwiches, and lamb kabobs?  Drop spindling.  While we shopped the fiber tents?  You guessed it. 

M and the sheep again.  We saw them shear sheep, herd sheep, show sheep, ride sheep, wash sheep,   and butcher sheep (um yuck).   We saw them skirt wool, card wool, spin wool, weave wool, and felt wool.  We shopped the stalls for hanks of wool, spindles, roving, and books.  There were also lots of knitted and woven wool socks, hats, sweaters, wraps, mittens, gloves... Well.  You get the idea.  It was a Sheep and Fiber festival after all.

By the time we got home, daughter spinning all the way, she had this much single ply yarn.

She wrapped the yarn from her full spindle around an afghan crochet hook we had kicking around the back of the van.  Plying is next.

The nice lady who sold me my spindle showed me how...

Neither of us has the whole hang of spinning yet.  But that's not for lack of trying...  The roving is from Dudleyspinner.  Colorway Barrelhaven.   

Daughter's roving is a wool blend.  An alpaca wool blend to be exact.  Guess what that gal tried to sell me in addition to roving...  Yep.  An investment alpaca.   For the complete Alpaca Adventure.    Ahem.