Monday, March 31, 2003
And now Blogger doesn't feel like showing pictures. That's fabulous. I guess irritations come in threes these days :-) Maybe they'll start working soon and you can see all the fun prettiness (and sock holes :-( Goodnight!
Well, I survived my first day. Basically what I'm doing is drafting documents for bankruptcy cases. It's mostly data gathering and entry, nothing particularly difficult. I just have to learn the different ways that every county does things. Right now, I've only been handling cases in Columbus, so that's the only way I know how to do things, but I'm sure I'll be introduced to other ways soon enough. And apparently Columbus is the easiest of all, which means that the worst is yet to come. In some ways, I'm glad they're starting me out easy, but in others, I really, really wish they had started me out on the worst so it could get easier. It's already a little overwhelming, but I'd prefer to get the worst out of the way and then move on. But I guess they disagreed. Oh well. I'm still freaking about working 40 hours a week and today was pretty crunched for time, but I'll just have to work out a schedule for myself. And sometimes I'll go out to lunch instead of packing and that will save me some time every now and again.
But the new job didn't keep me from fibery stuff! As a matter of fact, I worked on my first pair of Sockotta socks on the bus to and from work today! I did up the swatches last night. I did a swatch on both size one and two needles, to see which I preferred and I ended up liking the ones.
On ones I got exactly 25 stitches = 3". So, for my 8" circumference foot, I cast on 60 stitches and I'm already done with the toe. But there's a problem:
 
For some reason, there are holes along the one side seam on the toe! The other side is perfectly fine and I didn't do anything different from what I usually do, but there are big gaping holes along the seam! This is distressing, to say the least. Fortunately they're on the side of the toe where the tail of yarn is, so I'm going to try to reinforce the seam when I sew in the end. If that doesn't work, I guess I'll start over again and do it when I'm not on the bus so that I can concentrate. But I don't think concentration is the problem because the other side is fine! Grrrr! And to top it all off, Mark is being as frustrating as the sock! What is the matter with men? Arg! Anyway, the sock isn't even all I've been up to. I really wanted to get started on my full sized ostrich plume scarf, but part of me also wanted all the yarn spun (and bob finished) before I started that particular knitting project. But I was starting to feel like it was the same old, same old at the end of my vacation, so I started plying. I finished Saturday night, skeined and washed it Sunday and then balled it on my ball winder today (I wonder if I'll get any weird hits from web searches for putting balled in my blog? :-) So, now I'm ready to start knitting the scarf and I've got about zero free time and zero energy. I don't know when I'll even finish bob, let alone start this big of a project. But the yarn is beautiful and I'm very happy with it! See? Here it is drying on the back on my rocking chair on top of the Wool Peddler's Shawl and next to the blocked swatch:
It is so pretty wrapped up in a ball. It looks like a faceted jewel with the different colors peaking through the top layer of yarn. I stuck a film canister in the center to keep in falling in on itself. I've now spun up about a quarter of the roving, including the two 50 yard swatches. The total roving was about 2 ounces, so I've spun about half an ounce and gotten the equivalent of 325 yards of three ply yarn (equivalent because there were 50 yard of two ply, 100 yards of singles, or 33 yards of three ply), which means I'm spinning at about 10,400 yards per pound. And it's three ply, so I'm pretty proud of myself. A friend of mine teases me about spinning frog hair, but I figure I might as well do it now while my eyes are still good enough for it and I have the patience. I can't wait to see this scarf when it's finished. It's really going to be gorgeous! And that's not bragging about my own work, it's more the colors, which I have no responsibility for, unfortunately. I only wish I were as good as Carol, aka the Silkworker.
Saturday, March 29, 2003
Never fear, you will get to hear about my fiber filled day of fun from Thursday, but first a little story for you.... My landlord is also a realtor and does a lot with estates. He's also a pack rat and has lots of stuff that he gets from estates once the sales are done. So, he found out about me being a fiber artist and asked me if I'd like him to keep an eye out for any fabric/yarn/tools, etc that he runs across. I told him sure, I'd really appreciate that. I figured I might end up with some junk, but I might also end up with some gems. So, the next day I find a small pile of stuff by my door. He's left me some old tapestry-like upholstery fabric. It's musty and falling apart, but I call him and thank him, because it is thoughtful of him. And then yesterday, there's some yardage of plain white fabric that's pretty smudgy on the outside, but nice on the inside. And then today, I help his wife mend a knit top and then go out. And when I get back there's a veritable mountain of stuff outside my door. So, I leave it there for a bit and then go out to sort through it. And I think... hey some of this looks familiar. And then I realize... he's left me some of my own garbage! The other day I got some old boxes of craft stuff from 10+ years ago from my parents' house and I sorted through it and pitched a bunch of stuff, including a bunch of old acrylic yarn with knit bit attached and all tangled and mangled together. He must have seen it in the trash and thought of me (ew). So, I start sorting through again. Not only was there stuff I knew was garbage because I threw it away, but there were mismatched socks, a couple of hats and this is the worst... a pair of long johns!!! Ewwwww! There was also more upholstery fabric, but it was decaying before my eyes, so I pitched it all, very quickly. So now I'm not sure what I should do. How can I politely tell him not to leave me garbage??? It's disgusting! Now I'm wondering wear he got the rest of the stuff he gave me. I thought he was just going to give me stuff from people's houses that none of the relatives wanted. I didn't know he actually considered giving me something he got out a garbage can acceptable. Isn't that just a little wierd? To me it definitely is. It's definitely outside the realm of human behavior. I think his heart is in the right place, but I definitely will now feel icky about touching ANYTHING he gives me! I feel like the owner of a cat that leaves dead mice as "presents."
Ok, so onto more pleasant things, such as my wonderful trip to Columbus!
While you realize this, you're going to think that I'm addicted to food, because much of this trip revovled around food.. and you're right. But at least it's legal, right? Anyway, so Mom picked me up early and we went out for brunch (or shopping fuel as I like to call it!) We went to my favorite breakfast place, First Watch. They have killer omelettes! So, properly fueled, we hit the road. Along the way from Cincinnati to Columbus there are two big outlet centers, so we stopped at one of them to go to the Liz Claiborne outlet store so that Mom could get some much needed new work clothes. We also went to the Elisabeth outlet for me, but they didn't have a single thing I liked. The toughest part of clothes shopping for me is that I'm kind of between sizes. At Liz, the biggest sizes were just a tad to small (I could wear them, I just don't think they were the most complimentary looks) but at Elisabeth, the smallest sizes were too big. So, I was screwed. Lately I've been finding a lot of good work clothes at Lane Bryant, so I've got enough to start this new job. I'm fine in the pants department, I found a great fitting style and I bought them in three different colors, so no worries there, but I need tops! But I stopped at Lane Bryant again tonight (I went on a major spree there two weeks ago!) and got some more great tops, so I ought to be set for this spring/summer. Okay, back to the road trip. So, after the outlets, we hit the road and completed out trip to Columbus. Our first stop was, of course, Wolfe Fiber Arts, where I spent entirely too much money! I got enough yarn for a sweater and five pairs of socks. I figure since I'm going to be bussing it to and from work everyday, I need to stock up on sock yarn, because that's what I'll be taking with me. I got two balls of Sockotta for myself, one lovely rainbow-y one and one black with rainbow colors intersperced. I can't decide which should go first, but I definitely want the Sockotta to be my first bus knitting project. And then I got enough Fortissima Cotton Colori to make three pairs of socks, a pair for me from the rainbow-y colorway and a pair for Mom from the denim and the rainbow. I was bummed, though because they were out of the Regia Stretch that I fell in love with last time I was there, so I guess I'll just have to mail order it from somewhere. Anyway, I also got this great wool yarn for a sweater. It's a ten ply yarn, five two ply strands. One strand is gray, one is gray and white plyed together, one is black and two are variegated colors. So it knits up as this great dark gray with flecks of color. I've decided I'm going to make it a simple v-neck with non-binding ribbing and the hem and cuffs. It's so soft a beautiful and I can't wait to wear this sweater! I've already made one swatch, but it's too small, so I'll be making another with larger needles, then deciding which I like best. It's called Australian Merinos and I am absolutely in love with it. Now I want to rush Bob off the needles so that I can start playing with this and designing my own sweater. I'm sure there are tons of plain v-neck patterns out there, but I want to try designing one on my own and seeing how I do with designing. It's so exciting! And for my wonderful find of the day, they had one ball of Lamb's Pride Worsted in Brite Blue that my mom pointed out to me, so I can finally finish my pair of fuzzy feet for myself! Yea! It's way too warm for them, but they'll be all ready for next fall and winter! Yippee! So, after a long fiber gorge at Wolfe's, we headed over to another of my favorite places... The Cheesecake Factory! We don't have one of these dens of inequity in Cincinnati, but I sure wish we did. I gain weight just looking at the darn place! So, happy and content with plenty of new yarn, I gorged myself on crab cakes, chicken pad thai, shrimp scampi and thai lettuce wraps (my mom and I each get what we want and then split everything, so I didn't consume two appetizes and entrees all by myself... really!) When we were done with all that, we were way to full for dessert right then, so we got cheesecake to go! I brought home four slices, two to be consumed immediately by Mark and I, and two to be frozen and savored at a later date. I got a slice of Brownie Sundae Cheesecake for each of us, then a Triple Chocolate Chip for Mark and an Oreo Mudslide for myself *drool* We already ate the brownie sundae slices, and just to give you an idea of what a slice of cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory means, I'll describe it to you.... It starts off with a brownie "crust" (aka a 3/4" thick brownie) on top of that is the cheesecake... a good 2.5-3". On top of that, a creamy topping and on top of THAT is some chocolate fondant. And this confection is then topped off with almonds, hot fudge, whip cream and a cherry. *drool* After dinner, we then went to Cheryl's cookies, because four slices of cheesecake is obviously not enough decadence. What we REALLY needed was some cookies and brownies to top off the day :-) I got myself half a tray of celebration brownies (that a dozen 1x2" bars) that I will freeze and eat over the next six months. I also got a couple of cookies for Mark. Mom got her favorites, and with that we were finally done with Columbus. We stopped a couple of other places in the Easton Towne Centre and one of the notable things I picked up were some herb packets that smelled rather pleasant and are supposed to ward off moths. So, I put some with my sweaters and then the rest with my spinning fibers. I know Mark had some moths at his old apartment, and I don't want them getting into my stuff if there were any stow aways, so now I feel pretty well protected. There are little bags of moth herbs scattered everywhere there's fiber. The only thing that disturbs me about these is that they smell pleasant, they're made of herbs, and the packaging strongly resembles tea bags. I can just envision all the poor, dumb souls out there drinking moth repellent. Ick! So, with full stomachs and smoking credit cards, we headed back to Cincinnati. On the way home, there was a rainbow, which was the perfect ending to the day. And it's kind of funny because the last time we made this trip, there was a rainbow on our way home. I think that's a sign from our guardian spirits that they approve of our girl get-away days. It was just a little bit of magic to round out our day. So, that was fabulous, and I love all my new toys, and now I'm working on biting my nails to the quick because I'm so friggin' nervous about my new job. I start in less than 36 hours and I'm tremblin' in my boots. I hate the first day of any job. It's just so akward! I'll survive, but I'm just really nervous. Tomorrow is all about getting ready for my new job. I'll try to write, but we'll see what happens. I have a feeling I'll be running around like a chicken with its head cut off! Pretty please send some calming thoughts my way if you can spare them. Goodnight!
Thursday, March 27, 2003
Today was girly fiber and food fieldtrip day. Mom and I hit the road this morning and shopped our way to Columbus and back! I'm so zonked I can't even write about it (and I have to get up early tomorrow to do a test run downtown to see how long it will take me to get to my job during rush hour... ick) But I will write about it ad naseum tomorrow or Saturday (believe me, there's so much to write about!) But I'll be a little devil and leave you with some lovely pictures to consider... Can you tell I broke in my new credit card the right way?
I had so much fun and spend so much money! What a great day! More after I get some sleep and the shock wears off :-) Love and kisses.
Tuesday, March 25, 2003
Well, I've been exceedingly lazy about posting while I've been on vacation, but I couldn't let my three month blog-a-versary pass without a word! So, it's been a fun three months and I'm hoping for many more of blog-a-licious goodness! So, thanks for reading :-) I do this mostly for myself, but feedback is always fun and I've enjoyed interacting with all of you who have seen fit to comment. So, enough mushy-smushiness :-) Onto the fibery goodness. Even though I've been taking a break from most things in life (including blogging) that hasn't kept me from my fiber pursuits. I've been knitting away on Bob and I've already gone through my first ball of yarn! I'm really happy with it so far and I'm very excited about my very first sweater. I can't wait to wear it! But from the speed at which things have proceeded so far, that may be a while. But here is a lovely picture in the meantime:
So far, I'm happy with everything in this project. I really like the Cotton Ease, and I'm already cooking up new sweaters to make from it when Bob is off the needles. Right now I'm envisioning a short sleeve crewneck in the light yellow with an argyle-type design of a single row of white diamonds with pink intersecting lines running across the chest. Maybe with white ribbing at the sleeves, neck and waist. We'll see. Right now I have Sweater Design in Plain English reserved at the local library, so as soon as it is available, maybe I can start designing my own sweater. And of course, Bob isn't all I've been up to! Yesterday I FINALLY got the cabinet I keep all of my quilting fabric in from my mom's house and brought it over here. So the veritable mountain of quilt fabric is finally off of my floor and resting comfortably again in it's home. With that done, I was able to move my loom into its final resting place (until I move one day) and the craft/computer room is finally near to completion. There are a few boxes of stuff that has to find a proper resting place and there are some boxes of books that need a shelf, but it bears a faint resemblence to what I want it to be. Here's a pic:
Before I got my loom, my rocker was going to be by the window with one of my spinning wheels, but buying the loom offset those plans. So, now the rocker is holding a box of office supplies that will be put in my desk when I bring it over, and after that it's fate will be decided. I'm thinking of either keeping it in my bedroom, or maybe leaving it where it is and just setting up the craft room spinning station in front of the "fiber closet" where I keep all of my spinning fibers. That will allow for convenient access while spinning (heehee). Anyway, so at least I feel like I've done one productive thing while vacationing (make that two... I also did my taxes *blah*) I've also been spinning my little heart out working on box office. Now that I've bought the beads and have some concept about how I'm going to do the whole thing, I'm very excited and can't wait to start. Since I'm doing the scarf the "long way" and cutting the yarn at the end of every row to leave fringe, I don't need to have it all as one big ball, so it's very tempting to ply what I have and start knitting while I spin the rest of the roving. But then I'd have two knitting projects and a spinning project, and that would be spreading myself a bit thin, especially with this new job coming up, with the greater number of hours and all. I'm really nervous about going from 28 to 40 hours a week. I already felt crunched for time at my old job, how will I feel working 12 more hours a week. And with me working Monday through Friday 8-5 and Mark working nights and weekends, we'll hardly see each other at all. I thought this week off would give us so much time together, and mostly it has, but it just makes me think of all the time we WON'T be having together very soon. I'm just never happy, am I? But I keep telling myself this is a sacrifice for a greater good. We may miss out on some time now, but this job will help us get a house and will help me to save up for my shop, which will mean I'll eventually be doing what I have such a great passion for, and will be able, to a small extent, to set my own hours and therefor have more time with Mark. But right now that doesn't make the thought of only having a few waking hours with him each week any easier. Oh, well, I should count my blessings, at least we're living together. I have plenty of friends who are separated from their significant other at the moment, either by school or the military or some other circumstance. They'd consider it a great blessing to have as much time together as Mark and I do. I guess it's all in perspective. I just have all these dreams, and all these hopes that these circumstances are fleeting and someday my dreams will come true, but I'm very scared that they won't. I try to enjoy my life as it happens, and to take things one day at a time, but I definitely get ahead of myself. For right now, all I should be doing is enjoying staying up past my work bedtime and getting to spin and knit and watch movies to my heart's content, but here I am prattling on about things that aren't even on the horizon. Sorry abou that! Okay, so this week has been all about Bob, Box Office and rearranging my space. Oh yeah, and having a horror movie "sleep over" with Mark last night. We rented three horror movies and ordered pizza and stayed up late watching the movies and stayed up even later being completely freaked out. And boy, did I have some weird dreams last night. I was SO glad that I had Mark to sleep next to last night. Whenever I freaked myself out laying there in the dark, all I had to do was roll over and snuggle up to him. Very comforting to have a big burly man to protect you from Michael Meyers :-) And I mean from Halloween, not Austin Powers. Though I find him kind of scary as well, but in an entirely different way. Anyway, so happy anniversary and I'm off for more spinning. Goodnight my lovelies!
Sunday, March 23, 2003
All I have to say about these is... OH HELL YEAH!
Ever since Not Martha mentioned these little puppies, I've been on a mad hunt to find them! I finally tracked them down today and ZOWIE are they good! And the ad they have for them (!@%#$ these are spicy) is very, very accurate! They were REALLY spicy! But I love spicy and these reminded me of ginger beer, which I love, so all in all, I'm very happy that I found some today and that I'm singing off my taste buds with them :-)
So, you ask, where the heck is any fiber content. Oh, it's coming my friend, it's coming :-)
I needed a little break from everything to mourn the passing of my old job. I'm glad I'm getting out of there, but it wasn't all bad, and in fact it was pretty good until after Christmas. And it was my first "real" job and it got me where I am today. I was there exactly six months on Monday, which to me is still a long time. When I think of all the things that have changed in my life in those past six months, it feels like decades. This job did a lot for me, and while it was definitely a love-hate relationship, I'll always be thankful that I had this job when I did. It was a good start. And now I'm excited about starting my new job and I'm trying to take full advantage of the time I have off between. So, I have indeed been fibering the past couple days, even though I haven't been writing about it. First off, I finally finished Mom's socks on Thursday. I'm happy that they're done, and I'm pretty happy with the results, but of course they'll never meet my exacting standards (I'm just a teensy bit of a perfectionist... and all you who actually know me can stop laughing your asses off right about... now!) Here they are right after I finished binding off:
And if you think you notice any differences between the socks, well you're wrong, I tell you, WRONG! One sock is NOT noticeably smaller than the other, there is NOT less white in the one and the colors DO NOT pool differently in the two socks, they just don't I tell you! They're the same size with the same proportion of colors and the same semi-pattern. Because I can make it so with the power of my mind, that's why! Heehee. But mom still likes them and says they fit fine. Here's a pic from last night of her wearing them.
So, now the test is to throw them in the washer and see what happens. Mom won't fuss with anything she has to handwash, so if it doesn't survive the washer that's no big deal because it means she wouldn't have worn them in the first place. In retrospect, I should have washed the swatch before I made the socks to see how the yarn reacted to the washing machine, but oh well :-) I was too eager to start the socks and now I just have to give it a whirl (literally :-) So, with the socks done, I was officially ready to start my sweater! My very first sweater! My lovely, lovely sweater that I can't wait to wear! Here's what I have so far:
I started late last night and I only have eight rows done, but it's a start and I'm very excited about making my first sweater! I really love the yarn, too. Its very soft and it's a great color. I even machine washed and dried the swatch and it's great, even softer washed! I'll update you as it actually starts to resemble a sweater! The other fibery thing I did today was some bead shopping. It doesn't sound very fiber-y at the surface, but it will when I tell you what the beads are for...
The box office scarf! I've decided to make some radical changes to my idea of how box office would look. Instead of knitting it width-wise, I've decided to knit it length-wise, cutting the yarn at the end of every row, then knotting the ends together to make a fringe, and I'm going to bead the fringe with the beads show. This will also give the long edges the ripply waves you can see at the end of the swatch from my last blog entry. This is going to be one fancy scarf, let me tell you! But this way, I know I'll get the length I want, which is more important to me than the width. I'd like the scarf to end up being about eight inches wide, but I'd rather have it be long enough and only six inches wide, than eight inches wide and three feet long! That would be horrible! Anyway, that's what I've been up to, and it will hopefully be more of the same this whole next week, just lots of fibery goodness! I'm off to bed because it's late and I'm tired! I'll keep you updated as i plug along on my pet projects :-) Hope you're having a great weekend!
Wednesday, March 19, 2003
So, I made my day off the Official Finishing Stuff So I Can Start My Sweater Day (OFSSICSMSD for short :-) And actually, I got a lot more done than I ever thought I would. And looky looky who my first victim was:
It got abandoned for a little while there, but I decided it was time to pick it up and finish it off. It would be awfully silly to start the sweater one day without ever finishing the swatch! Plus, I want to have it finished and ready to use, whatever it turns out to be. So now I pin blocked it and I'm pretty sure the next step will either be to steam it or spray it with some water and let it dry while it's still pinned. I just remember hearing that silk is very delicate when wet and I don't want to ruin this piece. So, I'm going to do a little more research tomorrow and just leave it blocked for the time being.
The next victim was my mom's second sock, which I didn't manage to finish, unfortunately, but I'm only five rows of 1x1 ribbing away from completing it, as well. So, all in all not a bad OFSSICSMSD! I'll finish the sock tomorrow and start my sweater as soon as my swatch has been washed and I can properly estimate the number of stitches to cast on. So, I'm off to bed to get my beauty sleep for my very last day of work at my job. I don't start the new one until the 31st, so I'll have some nice time off in between, which I'm desperately in need of! Yippee! Goodnight!
Tuesday, March 18, 2003
Okay, for some reason, the pics are not showing in my links. If anyone knows why that is please email me. I've browsed some html instruction sites and my addled brain can't figure it out. The files are uploaded to my ftp (I think), they're just not showing. Arg! Of course, these pages are probably pretty much irrelevant to anyone but me, because I'm sure you get enough about me and the individual projects just reading the blog. But I hate having something I can't figure out :-( So if you know how to make this dang machine work the way I want it to, please feel free to drop me a line and point me in the right direction. Or, you can just sit and laugh at my absolute html ignorance. Your choice! Heehee.
I have not gotten a lick of fibery stuff done today :-( Yet. Tomorrow is my day off, so I get to stay up late and I plan on spending some time spinning Box Office. It's really going super slow because I've been working so much on knitting. I'm enjoying Box Office and I can't wait to start the full sized scarf from it, but I'm already getting the urge to start trying something new. For the demo I did last week at Xavier, I had to dig through my fiber stash to pull out different types of fibers and preparations. I found some things that I'd semi-forgotten about and it brought back all kinds of ideas I'd had for the fibers when I bought them. So now I'm getting my usual urge to project-hop. I'd love to see how some of the other silks I've bought spin up, I'd love to make some socks out of the wool roving I dyed myself, all kinds of things. So I feel my attention drifting from Box Office. And as the queen of justification, I keep telling myself, well I'll just spin up a tiny sample, then go back to Box Office. Yeah right. I'll start on something else, then something else, and next thing I know I haven't worked on Box Office in six months, I need a bobbin, so I wind it off and it sits forlornly, never to be touched again. Well, that's a bit of an overstatement. But it still wouldn't bode well for the completion of Box Office if I started spinning a different fiber. So I'll try to resist temptation for now and keep on spinning. It is beautiful and I do love spinning it, I just am getting the 7 year itch (but in this case, it's the 7 week? itch :-) Anyway, I'll let you know if I start cheating on Box Office. And I worked on the Project Bob page a bit to show you the format I'm thinking of for my project documents, so let's see if it's better this time. If not, I'm walking away from it for a few days to keep me from "fixing" my computer with a sledge hammer! So without further ado: Project Bob.htm
Monday, March 17, 2003
Okay, an html whiz I am not. There are problems with the project bob page and I'll sort them out tomorrow, it's already past my bedtime :-(
Well, I'm back from my (very) mini-blogging hiatus. A little relaxation over the weekend was all I needed and I'm back and ready for action. And of course, as I've noted before, catching up on blogging when I skip a couple days can be a real bitch! I have so much to write about and so little time before I have to hit the sack! I guess I'll start with the recent, exciting news and work my way back over the next couple of days. So, since today was St. Patrick's Day (when did Catholic Saints' holy days become national holidays?? I'm not even Christian and I still wore green) I decided to celebrate in true knitterly fashion. I've been lusting after Bob from the Spring Knitty since it very first came out and I was waiting to start it until 1) Mom's socks were finished and 2) the yarn went on sale. But I am weak and VERY good at justifying, so I justified myself into buying this:
because it's green, it's St. Patrick's Day and I WANTED TO, DARN IT! Heehee. So, I'm now $25 poorer and one sweater in the making richer. And what did I do the very second (okay not the very second, but after I through some fries in the oven and made the salad for dinner) I got home from the store? I swatched!
I realize this is not the most thrilling picture in the world, but I'm proud of getting it done in an hour or less. So now it will get treated just like the sweater will and be thrown into the washer and dryer with similar colors. Then I'll measure and estimate how many I want to cast on. I now have a couple of possibilities to consider before embarking on this new adventure, my very first sweater.
1. Do I knit in the round or flat?
I swatched flat, so my gauge is only true for flat, but I'd have to buy some new needles to swatch in the round and I don't want to do that. I'd rather knit in the round to avoid side seams and purling, but I want my first sweater to turn out really well without too much ripping back, so I'd like to get the size right the first time around.
2. Do I knit the pattern as intended or take out the shaping?
First of all, I'm bigger than the biggest size she made this pattern, so I'm going to have to do some finagling anyway. My three favorite sweaters all go straight up and down on the sides, so I want to take out the shaping to make things easier on myself and to imitate sweaters that I know look good on me. My biggest fear is that I'll put all this time into a sweater that ends up looking bad on me. I'm well proportioned, except for my waist, which is larger than would be proportionately pleasing, so I think waist shaping would definitely be a bad idea for any sweater that I would wear.
I'm sure there are other concerns that will come along, but these are the two major ones that need to be decided before I start the sweater. Thinking my choices over will give me time to finish Mom's second sock before I start the sweater, which is a good thing because I want those suckers DONE! I'm about two inches into the 2x2 cuff, so not too far to go. I think I'll try to get a few rows in before bed tonight.
And I've made some decisions about blogging/journalling my crafts. What I'm going to do is start a document for each fiber purchase I make and each idea I have. I'll keep four different folders on my desktop: ideas, projects ready to start, in progress, and completed. So, I tried a mock-up of what I'm thinking of doing with Bob and have added what I have so far. There will be additions as I go along, such as more pictures, any problems I encounter, etc. This is a very rough idea, I would refine it, but it's getting late, so maybe it will look better tomorrow. Project Bob.htm But anyway, I'm going to be doing something like this for everything I do and every yarn, roving, etc I purchase and every idea I have. I'll keep a binder as an addition to this idea to hold all my swatches. But this is going to be the new system for now. I'm going to keep the "in progress" pages on the side bar of the blog so you can check them out, but this gives me the organization I desire. So, by the end of the week I'm hoping to have a page for each work in progress and have them up on the blog. So, let me know what you think. Any feedback would be great! Goodnight, my lovelies :-)
Saturday, March 15, 2003
Okay, sorry for the lack of posting this week. I've been so busy between preparing to demo spinning at my old college, getting my loom, getting this new job, FOOSN, and keeping the apartment semi-decent that I just haven't really had the time or energy, or been in the mood, to post. The few moments of free time I've had this week I've wanted to spend "doing" rather than "writing about it." Plus, since spring is in the air, I want to make some changes to my blog and those marbles are rolling around in my head. The whole reason I started blogging was mostly for myself (which is good because so far, I've been drawing a pretty small audience LOL) and I wanted it to be a kind of running journal about the projects I'm working on, ideas I'm having, etc that I can look back on when I want to know more about a process or want ideas for projects. I have so many ideas that I can't do them all at once, and I wanted a way to document these little gems so they don't get lost by the wayside. But this isn't really working for me. Flipping though my archives for the ideas I've had would be really time consuming, because I'd have to read every entry, unless I start making my new ideas a different color from the rest of the text (hey, that's not a bad idea. I just thought it up while I was writing this. Maybe I'll try that.) Anyway, I'm not getting everything I want from blogging the way I am now, so I'm trying to think of ways to accomplish all my goals. So, I might not be blogging as much as usual until things slow down a bit around here and until I decide exactly how I want to handle things. I'll keep you updated on anything exciting that happens, though! I'm off to do some spinning now, and I'll write more soon (hopefully).
Thursday, March 13, 2003
What a day! Lots of exciting stuff happened, but it was also a long day, so I'm going to keep this short. First of all, thanks for all the good interview thoughts last week because they worked and I not only got the job, but I got a promotion. They're offering me a higher position than the one I interviewed for! I'm really excited and nervous about all this! I already accepted the job and I start March 31st, and my last day at my current job is March 20th, so I have 11 days off between that I am going to take full advantage of!!!! I'm more excited about the time off than the new job :-) One of the things that I'm going to use my time off for is acquainting myself with my NEW LOOM! That's right, I went and saw the loom today and I bought it on the spot! I'm so excited. I'm probably picking it up tomorrow and I can't wait to start playing with it. I'll take a picture later. It's a 36" LeClerc. I'm so excited about this! I've missed weaving so much, and now I can get back into it (as if I needed another hobby!) I'm going to really have to do some major accessory buying though! Oh no, me spend money? Never! So, a good day all around. I'll fill in some details tomorrow, but for now it's late, it's been a long day and I'm tired! So nighty-night all!
Tuesday, March 11, 2003
Well, I didn't get ALOT done at FOOSN, but more than usual so it seems like a lot! On Sunday, I worked on Mom's sock first. But then I realized that the 1x1 ribbing was too big, so I had to tear it all out and start over. This was very, very frustrating to me because I hate 1x1 ribbing and to tear it out and have to do it again just hurts me! So, I gave up for the night and set it aside until Monday. After I gave up on the sock for the night, I pulled out my Ashford Joy DT (Sophie) and worked on spinning up some more Box Office. I actually got a good bit done, so I was happy with that. It wasn't as much as I had hoped to get done, but a respectable dent none the less. I worked on that until the wee hours, then headed home to collapse into bed next to Mark. And then I got up early and headed back for another day of fun! I started out with the sock because I just had to get the bugger done! Between all the talking and greeting of folks as they arrived, it was lunch time before I bound off the dang sock! But it was done!!!! And I'm so happy with it! The cuff looks a bit loose in the picture from yesterday because it was made for my very thin mom and big ol' me tried it on just to see the finished product and that tight little cuff and my sturdy thigh had a power struggle and the sock lost. I'm hoping it will spring back after a good washing. If it doesn't I'll run some elastic thread through the cuff to tighten it down. It still fit Mom pretty well when she tried it on, though, so it really shouldn't be a problem (I hope!). So, we'll see. Once the sock was done, everyone wanted me to start the next one so I could show Wendy's short row toe technique, but I needed a break from socks for a second. So, I cast on for Mom's fuzzy feet. All I needed was to work my way through the cuff with the Multi-Fizz, which for me is the toughest part. So, I got those six rows done, and I was finally ready for the second sock. I got the toe finished yesterday, and today I added about and inch and a half so far, though I hope to add more later tonight. So, once everyone had seen the toe technique, I was free to do whatever I wanted :-) So, I decided to be a good girl and I finished sewing in the ends of the Wool Peddler's Shawl that I finished a MONTH ago! So, I sewed in the ends and that was a far as I could get while I was at FOOSN. But when I got home, I decided to be an EXTRA good girl and wash and block the bugger. And I knew that washing and blocking stretched the piece, but WOW! It stretched about ten inches! So I probably could have skipped all those extra repeats! Also, washing it softened it considerably, so where I was happy with the shawl before, I'm thrilled with it now! Here are the obligatory pics! Here's the shawl laying out to dry. I just sort of "blocked" it by hand and the friction from the carpet held it in place. After I took this picture, I noticed the row of yo's down the center was crooked, so I fixed that and then just let it dry:
It was too big to get the entire shawl in the picture, so sorry for the cut off corners! And here's me wearing it (no, this isn't how I intend to wear it all the time! My arms would get mighty tired if I did that ;-)
This is more how I plan to wear it:
I had some pictures from the front, but I'm pretty frumpy tonight. I need a shower and I'm wearing my glasses, so the back view is all you get tonight at least. Maybe tomorrow when I'm looking a bit prettier, Mark can get a shot of me wearing it from the front. Of course, spring is finally starting to slowly sneak in, so I won't get much wear out of it for awhile. But winter will be back, never fear, and I'll have plenty of opportunity again sooner than I'd wish! Anyway, I'm off to work some more on the second sock because I can't wait for the socks to be finished! Good night all!
Monday, March 10, 2003
Okay, quick FOOSN update. There will be much more tomorrow, I promise! Here's one of the things I did over the past two days:
That's right I finished Mom's first sock! The dang thing! I switched to 1x1 ribbing, decided it wasn't tight enough, ripped back, started over after reducing the number of stitches, and finally have something I'm happy with. There are tiny holes where I finished the short row heel and restarted knitting in the round, and I'm not happy about those, but I learned how to fix those today, so they won't be in the next sock, which makes me happy. Besides that, I'm tickled pink with the sock. I love the yarn, I love the colors, and I can't wait until they're a pair and we can wash them and Mom can start wearing them. As a matter of fact, I was so excited about having finished one that I stopped by Mom's on the way home from FOOSN and had her try on the finished sock. So here's a picture of that:
It's nearly a perfect fit. It's a touch big, but I wanted that because I'm thinking since it's cotton it will shrink a bit after the first wash and ten will really be perfect. She loves it, so I'm a happy happy girl. I've already finished the toe of the second and am a few rows into the knitting in the round. I can't wait until these are done and Mom finally has an FO from me! Okay, tomorrow you get to hear about the rest of my FOOSN goings-on! Goodnight!
Another picture before the second day of FOOSN. This one's for Katherine. It's a close up of Tea Ceremony. It is luscious!
Sunday, March 09, 2003
Well, I'm just about to hit the road and head for FOOSN, so I thought I'd leave you with a pretty picture. I've been busting my butt on Mom's first sock and I'm finally to the 1x1 ribbing. I ought to finish it tonight if there's not too much "catching up" to do (but of course there will be! I can't believe I haven't seen these wonderful women for two months!) Anyway, I hope you all have as great a day as I'm sure to!
Saturday, March 08, 2003
How excited am I about meeting up with my fiber group tomorrow? VERY excited :-) I love this group SO MUCH and I've missed the meetings the last two months in a row :-( That has made me very sad. The one in January I missed because it was the weekend after Mark and I moved in together and I hated to leave him when we were just starting out this new phase. And the one in February I missed because of work (stupid work). And I have missed them so much. They are all such special people and have been such inspirations for me. Every time I go, I come back revved up, with new ideas and directions to go with my fiber arts. The event is called FOOSN, which stands for Finish Old Or Start New. I do a lot more SN'ing that FOO'ing, but there are no rules to FOOSN, just get together, gab, have fun, and eat. I never get much done, but since it's both Sunday and Monday instead of just Monday, I think I may get more done than usual. My goals for FOOSN are to: finish Mom's first sock, start Mom's second sock and show everyone how to do Wendy's toe up sock pattern, get some more of the Box Office silk spun, finish knitting what's left of the three ply Box Office sample skein into an amulet bag, and maybe start Mom's fuzzy feet and my knitting bag. That's a tall order, and I'll probably get very little of it done, but it's always good to dream. Speaking of dreaming, check out the dreamy silks that came in the mail for me from Carol, The Silk Worker
Bottom left is Shenanigans, a nice pastel blend that's mostly yellow, top left is Tea Ceremony, mostly a peachy-pink with lots of beautiful pastels blended in, bottom right is Huntress, a brooding combo of navy, teal, maroon, and purple, and finally top right is Wings Of Song, made mostly of roses and browns with some blue and green thrown in for fun. I love them all, and I know they'll make bee-you-tee-ful scarves, shawls, etc one day. The emphasis being on one day! The length of time it's taking me just to do Box Office indicates to me that the amount of silk I've purchased will keep me busy for quite some time. It's embarrassing how much I've purchased from Carol, really. All I have to say in my defense is that she is one of the most talented dyers I have run across in my search for beautiful colorways. And the fact that they're all unique and one-ofs makes them that much more addictive. I need to hit the lotto! I am just getting so mad with myself lately. Mark and I are doing way better than I thought we would financially now that we're out on our own. Depending on the week I only work 20-28 hours and I don't get paid that well. It's nice compared to what I made taking orders for pizza, but it's really not much in the big scheme of things. And we're comfortable. We can eat out a couple times a week, we can afford to rent movies, I can still afford fiber stuff, all the luxuries we're used to. We buy the groceries we want, not just what's on sale (though we do try to catch things we love when they're on sale and buy extra). But we're COMFORTABLE, which is way more than I expected. I thought this whole thing would be a struggle. Our rent is more than we had planned for, and it's still not a problem. We're doing really well, all things considered. But I've been so desirous lately. I want to buy everything I see. Spring is coming, so I want new clothes. There are still some things we need for the apartment, like the darn entertainment center. And I want fiber stuff. More fiber stuff than one human being will need in her entire life. I'm going to look at this loom this week, and though the loom is a great price, it means I'll need all kinds of other things, like different sized reeds, a warping board, bobbins, shuttles, a slaying hook. And much, much more. Mark is probably going to fill my Easter basket with that stuff, so then THAT's not enough. Now I'm going crazy looking through Robin and Russ's sample cards, picking out yarns that I want to buy to weave with. And then today the SpinSales list had an add about Shetland Fleeces, so I want to buy a fleece to process, and that revives my whole desire to process a fleece. And so today I go to Red Bud Wool Farm and am again in total lust over their fleeces, even though I thought I got over that before Christmas. And I'm in this buying frenzy even though I'm about to make a major purchase and money is getting a little tight this month because of some unexpected expenses, like the interview suit I bought Thursday. Yeah, it was a great deal, but there's $90 I hadn't counted on spending, and it puts my modest budget in a skid (not quite a tailspin, just a little wiggle :-) So, here I am with a great new apartment, feeling very comfortable, with tons of crafting supplies, including enough wool and silk to spin for the rest of my life, enough quilt material for 100 quilts, enough tatting thread to make a tea cozy for a sports arena, and enough yarn to last me the year. And am I satisfied? Of course not. I feel like I'm defective. I have so much, so much more than I need and I'm not satisfied. I really deserve a kick in the pants from the universe to make me grateful for what I have (but I really hope I don't get one!) Anyway, there's my mini-rant about my hatred for my inner consumer. Sorry you had to witness that :-) And now back to the regularly scheduled happy FOOSN feelings (of course, FOOSN will just make me want to try MORE new things, thus perpetuating this nasty cycle) Sigh, the joys of being an obsessed fiber artist! You probably won't hear from me for a couple of days because I'll be immersed in FOO'ing and SN'ing. Have a great weekend!
Friday, March 07, 2003
Thanks for the good wishes today! Apparently they worked :-) The interview went really well, and they said they'd get back to me early next week. Normally it would worry me that they didn't call me right back, but my interviewer was eight and a half months pregnant and was leaving for the day for her dr.'s appt., so she didn't have time to discuss it with the person who will be my supervisor if I work there, who sat in on my interview. So, I'm crossing my fingers. I promise for some fibery updates tomorrow, but for today I'm zonked!
Thursday, March 06, 2003
I finally got a call back about the paralegal job today. My interview's tomorrow! Eek! Well, that doesn't give me much time to freak out. Send happy thoughts my way at 2:45 EST please. I went out tonight and got this stylin' Pendleton blazer for the interview for... $50!!! I think I look pretty snazzy! Now, off to finish preparing. God, I'm so nervous!
Wish me luck, please :-)
Wednesday, March 05, 2003
PRESTO
CHANGE-O
That's right, I was a very good girl and dropped everything to work on Mark's fuzzy feet to get them ready to felt by tonight. And here they are. Yea! And, he surprised me and came home early tonight from work, so I got to see him before I went to bed. He even tried on the fuzzies and he loves them. It turns out I am now a felting goddess with great powers to judge when fuzzy feet will fit. With very rough measurements, I felted to the perfect size. What a lame super-power. I was hoping for the ability to poop money. I can only imagine what my super hero costume will look like. It will of course have to be felt, which I think is so un-super-hero-like. And now I've side-tracked into the land of sleepy silly Jenni. Sorry to take you on that little ride, folds. Okay, ANYHOO, there is more news. I was fibbing a bit when I said I dropped everything. I have gotten a couple more inches on the Ostrich Plumes bag done. It's past where I thought I would stop, but there's a small amount of yarn left and I hate to waste it, so I'm just going to knit until I run out. It's getting to the size where it may become a change purse or some such thing, because I think it will be a bit large for a amulet bag. I'll measure when I run out of yarn and then decide. Maybe a tie for Mark :-) I don't think it will be THAT long :-) I'm also slowly but surely working up the leg of Mom's sock. I love the yarn and I really want her to have something I made, but I'm getting really tired of ribbing. And doing the ribbing tonight after blazing through Mark's second fuzzy foot was really tough. Going from knitting, knitting, knitting, to knit two, purl two really threw me off stride. But I need to finish for her. I really want her to have something that I made that she can wear.
Oh yeah, may I just say how much I love Spring Knitty! Especially Bob. Instead of the All Seasons, though, I plan on using Cotton Ease. I went up to Hobby Lobby Today and the price is right and it's only ten minutes from my house, so it's the poor girl's choice! I'm thinking I'll go with pistachio because I want something really springy and I don't wear pink or yellow well. Actually, sometimes I do okay in yellow, so maybe the pale yellow.... hmmmmm, decisions decisions. I'm waiting to buy it until it goes on sale because I have other things to keep me busy for awhile and I might as well save money if I can. Hobby Lobby always has sales on yarn, so it will probably come up soon, especially since everyone is going to want to try out the new cotton yarns for spring and summer. So I'll keep my little eye open and my sale sensor on :-) Anyway, I'll try for an update picture of Ostrich Plumes tomorrow, I just didn't feel like pinning it out tonight. The longer it gets, the longer it takes me to pin it out for pictures.
Here's some non-knitting stuff for anyone who's interested. Today I really felt like baking, so I made some lemon poppy seed muffins from Cooking Light's web site. They were pretty good, but I'm going to make some improvements. They were too dry and not sweet enough, so I'm going to substitute some of the oil for applesauce for less fat and more sweetness and also try adding a bit extra applesauce on top of that to moisten them. They're REALLY good with some raspberry jam though. That sweetens them and moistens them, so it's a good temporary fix. Here are my beautiful creations :-)
I know they look like biscuits and not muffins, but that's because of the dryness. Also, tonight while I was over my mom's house I took some pictures of my birds, Elmo and SuzyQ. I'm allergic to all normal household pets with fur (but not sheep for some reason... lucky me, I can still use wool!) so it was fish, birds, or reptiles. We started out with fish, but they were boring and died fast, Mom couldn't take reptiles, and I love birds, so birds it was. These two little guys are budgies and I wouldn't trade them for the world. I would love to have an African Grey one day though. Elmo is the albino and SuzyQ is the crazy skinny one.
Suzy is stretching in the picture, so don't worry, there's nothing wrong with her wing. They are really special little guys. A lot of people think that parakeets and budgies are the dumbest birds around, but I've found mine to be quite smart. Elmo learned to sing the tunes we tried to teach my cockatiel (now gone :-( and SuzyQ can untie anything. I got Elmo first and my mom just rolled her eyes when she saw my choice. Out of an entire cage of brightly colored blue green and yellow budgies, I pick the only albino. He came straight to my hand, which was very unusual for a budgie. Usually they're much more skittish. But Elmo is a people-bird. Suzy, on the other hand does NOT like people. She will ONLY sit on my hand, and she occasionally lets me kiss and pet her, but it's RARE that she's feeling that friendly. She will also buzz my mom when she feels it's time for the food dishes to be refilled. The love the cores of bell peppers and cheerios, and when we give them wet pepper tops they roll around in them to take a bath. Watching these two bathe is the funniest thing I've ever seen in my entire life. I really love my birds and I miss them. But we didn't want to move them during the winter. I'm still not sure I'll move them at all, I'm worried how a new environment would affect them. And I still get to visit. Thery are cuties, though, so I thought I'd show off :-) Okay, off to bed, another LONG day at work ahead of me tomorrow.
Monday, March 03, 2003
Just another manic Monday! Seriously, today at work was SO crazy! It was a long, hard day. And of course, I didn't get enough sleep last night, so I felt like a zombie. Today was pretty much all physical labor and it was really miserable, and at one point I think I was in a "standing sleep" because I was thinking how miserable today was and suddenly I had the awful thought that this might be a dream and I still had work AHEAD of me, instead of half a day already over. This kind of jolted me and luckily it wasn't a dream and my day WAS more than halfway over. But it was still a rough day at work. And I was just such a grump. I got back to my office and there was a voicemail from Mark letting me know someone wanted him to fill in for them tonight, and was that okay with me. It was 2:50 when I got the message and work for him starts at three, so when I called, he told me it was too late anyway (with a kind of sigh). Well, I'd had the day from hell and I would have SO rather been sitting in my office so I could have received his call than down doing what I was doing, so I kind of snapped at him. I thought I'd hear about it when I got home, but instead when I got home he'd cleaned the bathroom for me because he didn't want me to come home to housework after such a rough day. Do I have the best guy or what? He really is the best sometimes (a lot of the time). So if you're reading this, thanks again honey! You're the best, and you're definitely getting fuzzy feet now! So, when I got home I had no chores to do (yea!) So, I read my daily reads and checked my email. My old fiber arts professor had emailed me back, telling me to call her home number about the looms. I did, but she wasn't home, so I left a message. She did get back to me tonight and she has a 36" LeClerc for a really reasonable price, so I'm thinking of getting it. This week is spring break for them, so she can't meet me until next week, but I'm thinking I'll take off of work early and go in and demonstrate spinning to her students and see the loom. She wants cash, so that may be tough, but I think it's too good to pass up. My mom said she's more than willing to loan me the money, because she'd like to learn a bit about weaving, too, so I can do it if I decide I want to. Well, of course I want to, but I can do it if I think I can handle all the other bills and paying her back! Anyway, before dinner I grabbed a shower and while I was combing out my hair I caught a glimpse of my shadow on the wall. The late afternoon sunlight was streaming through the sheer panels over my windows and had silhouetted me on the wall. I loved it and had to take a self portrait. So I grabbed the camera and I love the results. I'm putting the picture as a separate window because, well, I was naked when I took the picture. And I'm a woman, so I have breasts... and so does my shadow. So while this isn't "obsene" there may be a few very sensitive souls out there who don't want to see my exact shadow. So, if you think you will find this at all in any way offensive, just don't look at the picture. So, with that said, if you'd like to see what I consider to be an awesome self portrait, click here: shadow 4.JPG In knitting news, not much happened today. Between work and trying to wind down from work, I didn't have much time. I did do a few rows on the Ostrich Plumes, and I started Mark's second fuzzy foot, like a good girl. I got about two inches done on the cuff, so it's not a bad start. Maybe if I work REALLY hard on it, it will be done in time to felt on Wednesday (but it's doubtful). Hey everyone happy 3/3/03. I have to hit the bed now, because I have a lot of resting to do before I hit the salt mines again. Make it a great day!
Sunday, March 02, 2003
There's nothing like a lazy Sunday for working on knitting. I've more than doubled the length of my Ostrich Plumes swatch/amulet bag. I'm surprised how much pink is showing up in the knitting, because it didn't seem to be so strong in the roving. But maybe I just happened to ply a very pink part when I made the three ply yarn. Here's what it looks like so far:
Beside the excess of pink, which is not my favorite color, I'm very happy with the way it's turning out. I had meant to make it only three inches wide and seven and a half inches long, but it turned out wider, so now I'm making it longer so that the bag will look well proportioned. I'm up to about eight and half inches, and I think ten will do the trick, so I'll probably finish within the next couple of days. It depends on how much "other stuff" I have to do (you know, work, housework, insignificant things like that :-) My plan right now is to line the bag with white silk, but that may change as well. I was also thinking teal might be a pretty color to line the bag with. I have been very bad though, while I worked on this bag. I wanted to have Mark's second fuzzy foot done by today so that I could felt it while I was at my mom's, but I haven't even started it. Oops! I guess it will have to wait for another wash day, either this Wednesday or next Sunday. I'll see when I have the time to do it. Not tomorrow, because I'm going to be making king cake! Not the fancy pastry kind, just a regular cake that's decorated wildly with a baby in it, of course. Actually, if I'm feeling lazy I may just make rice crispie treats and put yellow, green and purple sprinkles on top. It's just to have a treat to bring into work to brighten up the day. Work is going better than it was before, which is good because I still haven't heard from the people who interviewed me two and a half weeks ago. And it's not that the interview went badly, or that they don't want me. It's that the company who is looking for employers is using a recruiter (who loved me) and they haven't responded to the recruiter yet, even though she sent in my resume over two weeks ago. The recruiter told me that this company is just really busy, but you'd think if they're that busy, that they'd want to get me in that much sooner! But who knows, right? Either way, I have a job and a paycheck and that's a blessing, even if I REALLY don't want to go tomorrow :-) I'm SO tired right now, and I know that 6:00 is very, very close! Closer than anyone would think, ready to pounce with the EH EH EH of my alarm. God, I hate the sound of my alarm. It is the most gleefully malicious sound I have ever heard in my life. It's almost a mocking laugh. EH EH EH, you have to drag your self out of bed. EH EH EH, you're not a millionaire by 23, so you have to go into a job where you're overworked, under paid and under appreciated. EH EH EH, your boyfriend gets to stay home warm in bed (but he works evenings, so he has the whole day to anticipate having to go to work, instead of just a half hour or so of consciousness before he hits the road). Okay, sorry, enough whining about my alarm. Sorry about that, I guess I'm tired and grumpy! Okay, thinking happy knitting thoughts. Much better. I think in my spare minutes tomorrow, I'll start Mark's second fuzzy feet so they can keep his feet warm these last few weeks of winter. Maybe they'll bring on spring. Maybe the universe will say "ha ha, you finally finished his warm winter slippers, so here's spring!" It would be rather nasty of the universe, but spring would be here, so that would cushion the blow! Well, it's time for me to start the journey to dream land where there will be tulips and daffodils! Ah, spring, I long for it!
Saturday, March 01, 2003
Unfortunately life has been getting in the way of my fiber pursuits. Thursday I had work, then had my mini knitting party with Mom, but I didn't get much done. I worked on her sock and I now have about an inch of the 2x2 ribbing. I'm not sure how much I'll get before I run out. Hopefully, she'll like the length of the sock (however long that ends up being!) But here's what I worked on today:
It's the three ply of box office in the pattern "Ostrich Plumes" from B.W.'s second treasury. I love the thickness of this yarn, and I really prefer working with it over the two ply. And, I love the pattern. It has a thirty two row repeat, but there's only a pattern row every four rows and there are only two different pattern rows, so I have the pattern memorized. Even though this is four inches, it's only a little over one pattern repeat. The knitting is going really fast as well. I had only meant to make this an amulet bag and pick the pattern for the scarf later, but I like Ostrich Plumes so much, I may use it for the whole scarf. This pinning job isn't the greatest and it will probably be even prettier after it's been blocked out, but I wanted to have it stretched enough to show the lace well. Anyway, this is going to be a killer project. I love the roving, love the yarn it makes, love the pattern, etc. It's just going to be very enjoyable, which is good because it will take me a long time. I still have scads of the silk to spin, so I'm still pretty much at the ground floor of this project. I'll be really interested to see how long this project actually takes. But for now, I love the results I'm getting, so I'm going to try to just enjoy the ride :-) Happy March, and hope you're having a great weekend!
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