As the Bunny Spins

Submission

2012-01-28T13:19:00.001-05:00

Cathy gave me a copy of Jane Austen Knits. I am a bit too large to wear most of the designs but would if I were smaller. I designed a dress with leg 'o mutton sleeves to wear to my sister's first wedding lo those many many many years ago. The way some of the garments in this issue are constructed is very intriguing to me. I think I have leafed through the mag at least 5 times, always noticing my ad under New York stores. All of a sudden a Call for Entries near the front popped out at me. Now this magazine came out in November so I thought, well let me go look, but probably it's too late.

Amazingly, the deadline is for Tuesday, January 31, 2012. I actually had a design in mind that I have always thought had an early victorian (1837+) feel so could also be late regency period (1795-1837). Sure enough when looking on the internet at clothing for that time I saw items that were similar in scope to my design.

Now this was on Thursday afternoon, January 26. The package had to ship by today to make the deadline. Less than 2 days to get it all together - hmmmnnnn. I was also on a self imposed deadline with my latest Knit Picks' sample. It's a shawl that, of course, takes longer and longer to get through a row the larger the shawl gets so it is taking way longer than the shawlette version I made a few months ago and way longer than I estimated. The plan was to be mailing that shawl out to them today. Well that was the plan, but I neglected to factor in the blocking and finding someone to model so I could take some pics.

There was my dilemma. Postpone completing the shawl to get a submission in to Jane Austen Knits or bag it? I had to admit my own deadline on the shawl was not reasonable. Once I faced that little fact, postponing its completion by 2-3 days didn't seem like too much.

However I did need to make a nice sized swatch for the Jane Austen submission and make time to do that as well. PLUS - Putting together a submission package takes me at least a day, usually more like 2 but that comes from adding up bits and pieces done over a week or so. I needed to gather and print good photos of the finished garment, put together a cover letter, an updated short designer info section, put the pattern into the format needed for whomever wants it (and that changes for each publisher), and write a compelling reason why my design fits into whatever category is being asked for. Then it all needs to be collated into a neat readable good looking portfolio.

Parts went easily and well. However then I found myself not getting much done. I realized this was because I felt rushed. So I absconded to town to have lunch and knit with Cathy for an hour or so. I knew the break would do me good but really had to talk myself out of being guilty. After lunch at least a half hour was spent picking out the portfolio cover. The last few entries seemed stuffed so I wanted something with a bit of space, yet compact and professional looking. I think I have found the answer. Its a hard cover report cover with a nice clippy thing inside for holding pages. I put all my pages into sleeves and clipped them into the cover. Oh and the cover is frosted so putting a pic of the completed project on the first page looks intriguing peeking through.

By 7 last night I had the swatch completed (only needed to frog it once) and then blocked for overnight drying. I loved how it looked this morning. YES!

Writing the cover letter is always hard for me so it's left 'til last when nothing else can be done but that letter. This morning it went faster than I feared so all the parts were ready to go, spell checked and all. PayPal multi order shipping has a section for new orders so I used that to make out the shipping label and wha la. All ready for pick up with the other packages going out today.

They are supposed to let me know by mid-late February. This would set a record for Interweave but I am optimistic and ready to believe it might be by March or April. I'll let you know.

Nautilus Beret Completed

2012-01-22T12:25:00.003-05:00

This hat does come out nice. Jim loves it.

The shell sequence is so pleasing to look at which is what got me into this 7 stitch turn turn turn thing in the first place.

Done. Finished. Not to be repeated.

Geographically Challenged

2012-01-18T13:41:00.001-05:00

I was born in Brooklyn and lived there, in several neighborhoods, until I went upstate to college. The last 2 neighborhoods were both near Mill Basin at the SE end of Flatbush Avenue (see A below) and I could see water from almost any nearby street and most of the time when were were on the Belt Parkway which goes along the edge of Brooklyn. My cousins lived in Cedarhurst (near Lawrence) on Long Island.

The other day Jim made a statement about Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island. He said they were on the same landmass. I adamantly said absolutely not because whenever we went to visit my cousins we went over at least one bridge meaning the Island was separate from Brooklyn. I remember folks in boats floating and motoring by as we drove over them.

We then got out a map and I got egg cream on my face.

At Knit Knite last week, I related this story to the group. Ruth, who grew up on the Island, responded like me in exactly the same words.
Carole got out her iPhone and looked up a Brooklyn map. Sure enough the same result appeared.

Brooklyn, Queens and LI are on the same landmass!!!! Yes, we did go over bridges as I can see there must be lots of them along the shoreline where streams come into the land from the bay and ocean. Sheesh. How did I grow up in such ignorance and only now find this out?

Chambered Nautilus Saga

2012-01-10T18:22:00.002-05:00

Jim keeps me in EZ (Elizabeth Zimmerman) books. She is my knitting heroine. I used to be a slave to patterns but after reading a few of her articles and books I converted to believing in myself and my knitting abilities. I would not be designing patterns today without her influence on my fibery life.
EZ essentially says that any pattern is changeable, none are set in heavy felt and therefore a knitter need not feel like the pattern has the last say. This she calls 'unventing'.

I am now one of those knitters who finds a new pattern, exclaims over it, says wow all I have to do is follow this for a simple knit and then proceeds to change the stitch pattern, or the gauge or to short sleeves from long or none or from flat knitting to round or even to steeked. It's fun and liberating. Really, if you have never tried to do that give it a knit on something small and see what happens. It's not life threatening, so take a chance.

Back to the story--- For Christmas, Jim gifted me with Knit One Knit All, the latest EZ pattern book from SchoolHouse Press

from SchoolHouse Press

"One of Elizabeth Zimmermann's dreams was to publish a book of her garter stitch designs. Though she proffered the idea to her primary publisher, and though the idea floated around their office for years, ultimately the project was not undertaken. In one of the publisher's letters that seemed promising, Elizabeth had written an exclamation of joy in the margins, and it seems fitting to us to fulfill her wish for a garter stitch book.

As we looked through Elizabeth's designs, we found a wealth of material, much of it little known or unknown to knitters. Further, we were intrigued and excited by the unique construction of some of these "new" designs (equal to her classic baby surprise jacket). You will find sweaters, coats, jackets, and vests for adults and kids, baby garments, plus a wonderful array of small projects including sideways gloves and socks, several brimmed hats, an ingenius pattern for knitted clogs and more."

I love the book, although I really dislike the look of garter stitch in general. The designs are creative and EZ' sense of spacial positioning is astounding to me. I immediately went through the pages several times exclaiming over this or that idea. The hat on the cover looked so inviting and Jim said he'd wear it. He even handed me a skein of a cabled 4 ply yarn (2 plies of natural icelandic hoggett with alpaca and 2 of natural blue face leicester with silk) which was not thick enough for this project (!!! he does spin thin, very very thin, approaching frog hair), but I went through my stash and found just the right color of Rowan Tweed to knit together with his handspun. My stash runneth over.

As soon as possible I started on this hat, diligently following directions. Oh did I say EZ does not require that? Well, with her patterns, one does need to pay close attention, at least through the first pass as teh construction is often unusual. Plus her patterns are what we call 'pithy', meaning they assume that the knitter gets it or can figure out what is suggested. Sometimes this leads to some very interesting odd looking items. Such as this:

turning into this:

The hat has 8 parts and mostly 7 stitch rows. Starts simply enough too. But when I read to pick up half an icord stitch, yet the icords have been 3 stitches, I stopped. hmmmnnn maybe that was only suggestive? Did I read it wrong. No, so plowed ahead thinking it would get easier to understand once I had done this part but it only got weirder to me. AHA! hopped online to Ravelry where there is an extensive EZ following and many forums dedicated to her works. Sure enough I found the thread on this book AND the first erratta listings. Wouldn't you know that this hat is the most confusing to knitters of all the patterns so far?

There's a note in the pattern saying: Slip the first stitch of every row k'wise.

Now with icord one does not slip the first stitch on the next row, but knits it pulling the yarn tightly into the stitch. However since this was a prominent note I did as told. WRONG. I was supposed to use my brain and k the first st of the next row after the icord slips. See its pithy............ and not slavish.

I then printed out the new instructions which do say which rows to sl1 and which to k1. Then frogged the whole thing, all 44 little rows and started again.

Start up is 44 rows, section a is 4 rows x 72 times, section b is 6 rows x 42 times, section c is 2 rows x 260 times (which I wrongly assumed was an error or might never have started this beret), section d is 6 rows x 26 times, section e is 12 rows only once thank God, section f is 6 rows x 26 times and then 2 of those rows another 15 times. That's a lot of little 7 st rows. Way more than I have real patience for but its for Jim so I am plugging away at it. I am now in section c. I have not multiplied and added up the total number of little rows. I am not that insane, yet.

The two rows in c have been knit 200 times while listening to an audible romance for relief from boredom. Its hard to gauge whether this will really fit Jim or not and if not...(no we won't go there).

Another Surprise

2012-01-04T13:01:00.003-05:00

What with all the getting ready and doing the holidays I just got around to actually looking through the newest Knit Picks catalog. Unbeknownst to me, the powers that be at Knit Picks included one of my patterns, Wings On My Toes, from my IDP section on their website in the latest catalog, p31. Actually Ruth showed it to me last week, but it took me another week to sit down and really look through the thing.

So exciting!!!!!!!

I love these socks and wear them int he cooler months whenever they are clean. They are made from stroll sport weight machine washable yarn, cushy, soft and warm. It could also be that I designed them with a dragonfly motif and that what was in my head came to fruition so well. Whatever it is I am thrilled!!

Dragonflies on your toes.

Optional dragonflies on your heels.

As well as the cuff.

Fun knit too.

New Year's Surprise

2012-01-01T12:39:00.000-05:00

I was describing at Knit Knite last Wedndesday how one year, in my youth, I realized that nothing changed at midnight 12/31 and so do not wait up for this artificial shift anymore. As a child, I often stayed with my cousins on Long Island that day. Aunt Flora sent us out with kitchen utensils and pots banging the New Year in which I found a lot of fun. I loved staying with them as they had a dog, Midnight, I could feed and love while there.

The local grands used to stay with us over New Year's eve but since they have grown to teen hood can now amuse themselves at home leaving Jim and I to be old fogies and go to bed at our usual times. Jim about 10 and me about 11.

Ruth sent me a jacquie lawson card with fireworks at midnight. Oh how I wished that might be but reluctantly admitted it was only virtual, maybe on July 4th, but not New Year's. sigh.

I got really involved in the new beret I am working on and forgot the time. About 11:30 I went out to put the bunnies to bed and surprised a young raccoon. Well I surprised me too. I yelled at it to go away. I growled at it to go away. It hesitantly climbed the post to the beam holding the deck roof, turned around and looked down at me. I must admit he/she was very cute. I let Basel out to be with me expecting him to bark but he was more curious than guard dog. hmmnnn The buns were quite complacent, hanging out at the edge of their palace, even though I had expected them to be in hiding. None of the animals were acting like this was anything to worry about. ODD

What to do. I was carrying a glass of water to refill the buns dish so threw that up at the raccoon. It shook off the water and tried to hide more in the rafter. I yelled at it but did not get the results I was looking for. Then I went to get Jim and ask him what to do, fearing he might shoot it as a solution. It was full night so the coonie was not sick, just young and very tentative. No growling or scare tactics on his part.

Last fall, Cole, our wonderful pet and house sitter, shot an enormous raccoon that had torn Gumdrop's nose by reaching into the palace. I feared this might happen again even though this one is still smaller than the buns in size.

However Jim had already gone to bed and I didn't want to wake him since this wasn't an emergency, yet.

Meanwhile I gave the buns their night time string beans, refilled their oat/crunchy container, added night time hay and locked the palace as I always to to make them safe from marauders. I do believe a raccoon qualifies as a marauder. Coming to think that the raccoon would leave if Baz and I made ourselves scarce, we moved indoors, shut the dining room lights but not the porch one, and watched through the door to see what would happen. Eventually the raccoon did descend, walk around the railing for a while and slowly leave the porch. whew

But even better were the unexpected fireworks sparkling up from somewhere on the far hill above the Danby Forest.

Wishing you all a happy and prosperous 2012.

Sunset Over Cayuga

2011-12-19T15:18:00.002-05:00

Last Wednesday, as we came out of our oogling frenzy at MacKenzie-Childs, up the east side of Cayuga Lake, this is what we saw. Ayne took the pictures.

Sometimes the beauty of this area just blows me away.

Resplendent

2011-12-16T18:22:00.004-05:00

Wednesday was my birthday. We used to try to go out for dinner but it often sleets this time of year. So much so that we have stopped trying. Mid December is not the best time to have a birthday what with Christmas and Chanukah in the same month. Jim's birthday is the day after Christmas.

Oh poor us.

Ayne and I are planning a knitting retreat for the spring at her home in Lansing. We had to do some of the hard stuff this week, so we scheduled it for my birthday. We want the group to go out to lunch someplace not too expensive but scenic, nonetheless. Since she lives several miles up the east side of the lake it is easier to go to Aurora than south to Ithaca. We decided to test out the Aurora Inn's luncheon menu. Well, someone had to.

I drove up to her 1860 Victorian and she drove us both north to Aurora. Alas luncheon service in the dining room is halted from the end of October until May 1, so we went across the street to the Fargo Grill. The food was excellent as was the service but the atmosphere is not conducive to a large group nor to knitting. sigh... We may just have to check someplace else out another day.

Then we went next door to a clothing shop that is interesting to look through although pricey. But hey, still fun and they did have a sale rack.

Next we went a bit further up the lake to MacKenzie Childs to check out its suitability for browsing. This place is really something else. I think we were lost in there oogling and oohing and ahhhing for over an hour. The shop consists of several incredibly lush rooms. A bit of this decor is really plenty in any room, but MacKenzie-Child's decorators have brought excess to an artform.

Wouldn't you love to be invited to a dinner at this table?

Tuesday night, I set out a dark burgundy turtleneck to wear on Wednesday but changed my mind to a different one at the last minute. Once I opened the presents from my sister, I knew why I was moved to wear the softer sea green colored shirt.

Doesn't this just go perfectly?

My sister sent a Brooklyn themed birthday this year as the bracelet is covered in old prints of Brooklyn. Look! That's the Brooklyn Bridge and NY skyline in the top photo and a side view of the bridge in the ad.

We grew up in Brooklyn and even though our father's warehouse/factory was situated under the Williamsburg Bridge, we like the Brooklyn Bridge very much as he worked on it in his youth.

And these bird earrings are covered in maps of Brooklyn.

Very fun to wear.

Also on my person on Wednesday was this needle gauge from Jim.

Last Christmas a silver one was a present from my sister. I wore it often. The nautilus design combined with the practicality really grabbed me. However one day in February I came home to find the silver chain on my neck but no gauge hanging off it. Major boo hoo. I looked everywhere I had been, including under the seats in my car, all to no avail. Big boo hoo. I missed it greatly. Jim replaced it just this week for my birthday with a nice leather cording so I can wear it two ways.

I am so blessed.

Meanwhile my DIL, Liz, had asked me for a list of what I wanted for my birthday. That was hard. Finally after the second request I sent her a list of about 4-5 things I wanted: earrings (when don't I want earrings?), books and some Dreamz knitting needles.

Just yesterday a package from National Geographic arrived.

They are Fulani Tribal earrings, made by Fulani craftspeople in Mali.

I wished for them but hardly expected that wish to come true.

Liz and Matt are very generous to me.

This was the best birthday in memory.

Be Still My Heart

2011-12-01T11:57:00.001-05:00

Richard and Leslie met at my house about 10:30 to pile into my Pilot and head on south. We stopped for coffee and snacks at Dunkin Donuts in Owego then boogied east to Binghamton and south to Scranton. We made excellent time, getting there about 12:35. Leslie brought their gps (Although it took me most of the trip to get used to the gps voice and mutterings as Jim is our human gps on most trips.) which was very helpful once we got off route 81, getting us easily to the HS situated in a working class neighborhood.

Of course by the time we arrived the school parking lot was full but a nice smiling cop let us make a U turn and told us to park across the street, which had just a few spaces left. We called Jen to find out where she was and get our tickets. Richard got on the line as it was already extremely long while Leslie and I walked up the hill to find Jen's silver car. Fortunately she has Rhode Island plates so was easy to spot amongst all the PA ones. And fortunately, myveryownsister lives in RI so I know what they look like.

Folks in Scranton got their tickets by standing in line Monday evening, while we got ours through incredible John, our upstate NY OFA coordinator, or we wouldn't have been able to get in.

Then we joined Richard.

Folks were so happy and upbeat even though it was misting, cold and windy.

This is the Syracuse Squad who started their trek about 9:15 am.

Once the line started moving I was very impressed at the speed at which our closeness to shelter progressed. I thought I'd be able to knit while in line but the weather not at all conducive to outdoor knitting. Ravelry folks who know told me the security folks would check everything so I took a fairly small bag. The guy looked into every zippered compartment, opened my purse and looked carefully into it. As predicted he ignored the loose dpns and Denise shafts stashed among several pens and pencils so I got to knit on a hat once inside. Score!

Folks who were on the line at 10:30 were not early enough to get inside the yellow lines where Obama actually touches people but we were close enough being in the side bleachers where he entered and left. If you have seen any of the pics of the cheering cheerleaders, we were below them, about half way up.

Obama stopped at the Festa home before coming to the high school. There are plenty of pics of that plus some video footage here. Scroll waaaay down. Donna Festa introduced him

but I could hardly hear her last words for the shouts of joy from the audience and my heart beating and my saying, "He's real! He's real!". This is one of the few I took that were not too blurry from my excitement. Both Leslie and I are such groupies. We were grinning and grinning and grinning. When we looked around so were most folks, well.... except for the Secret Service guys.

This pic and the one below were taken by a Syracuse volunteer who was way closer with a better camera.

Obama's speech was inspiring and just what we all were hoping he would sound like. ( I took a video of the whole thing but the c-span one is much much better.) Strong, upbeat, interactive, to the point, jeering a bit at the Republicans and telling us he was giving them one more chance with the tax cut bill that was going to the senate on Friday. It sounded like if they didn't pass it he had an egg up his sleeve that might break on their faces. He said to "Call your senators to support the tax cut extension for average Americans...."

"By the end of December all of our troops are going to be out of Iraq."

"America is a place where you can make it if you try.... Veterans should not have to fight for a job after coming home after fighting for America.... When you get knocked down, you get up. ... We've taken some punches in the last few years, we are tougher than the times. We don't give up. We get back up... We are fighting to make sure you can live a good solid middle class life where hard work is valued and.... rewarded.... not based on outsourcing and financial schemes but on education, manufacturing and small businesses.... Just like you don't quit. I don't quit. We can't wait. So we started taking steps on our own. We can't wait for Congress... Since I have taken office we have cut taxes 17 times......"

O Bam a, O Bam a, chanting from the students.

He took about 10 minutes to leave, shaking hands, talking with folks, signing tickets.

Those are the teachers of Scranton HS in the background. Most of the students were in the balcony behind us.

And he looked up, just before he boogied out, right at the place where Leslie and I were standing.

After waiting for the OK to leave we headed over to downtown Scranton. Wow. Some of those buildings are incredibly beautiful.

We met up with folks from the Scranton area, the Syracuse Squad and other OFA volunteers to get to know each other a bit and share info and ideas.

Such an up day. So much to remember and think about that I will be flying for days to come.

OMG

2011-11-28T20:40:00.001-05:00

Coming up:

Tuesday: The President will host Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands for a meeting in the Oval Office.

Wednesday: The President will travel to Scranton, Pennsylvania where he will deliver remarks urging Congress to act to extend and expand the payroll tax cut that has given tax breaks to millions of families across the country this year. In the evening, the President will travel to New York City where he will attend campaign events.

Thursday: The First Family will attend the National Christmas Tree Lighting on the Ellipse.

Friday: The President will host the White House Tribal Nations Conference at the Department of the Interior and deliver remarks.

And guess where I will be? Yup. I have been given one of the few Ithaca tickets to this Scranton event. Be still my heart. 4 of us from Ithaca and 10 from Syracuse have been rewarded for our volunteer efforts with access to this closed event.

We will carpool down there, attend the speech and then have a NY/PA OFA meeting before returning home. I am bringing my digital camera and my iPod and my knitting and my First Lady of Fabulous tote bag.

If I can get a pic of my socks-in-progress with Obama that would be a lifetime dream come true. However I know there is scant hope of getting that close but they are coming along just in case. Maybe I can dangle them in the forefront of a picture?

Thrilled

2011-11-20T12:27:00.001-05:00

On October 13 I mentioned a pattern of mine was accepted by Knitter's Magazine. I had very little time in which to modify the pattern to their specs, knit it up in their nummy yak blend yarn, rewrite the pattern and get it back to them. I was so excited although the mad rush turned out to be not fun. However short deadlines can be met if one does not need much sleep or a social life is my humble opinion. The time limit was met with a day or two to spare. Whew!

and then I heard nothing, nada, zilch, zero.

From that evidence (lack of evidence?) and earlier submissions I deduced that this group is not big on communication so just let it go. I figured if they wanted something changed or hated what I did I would hear something (or not). Nor does this magazine seem to have a fixed publication schedule so thinking I might know something by a certain date was not an option either.

However in yesterday's mail, this arrived.

Now I guess I can say the item has beads (lots of beads), is an accessory and will appear in the Winter K105 issue.

I am more than thrilled!!

Magpie?

2011-11-13T12:01:00.001-05:00

We have two of the most adorable kittens. They are now about 5 months old. We adopted them from the shelter when they were about 9 weeks and half feral.
They are two of the most intelligent cats we have ever had the pleasure of living with. Our friend, Cathy, adopted the third sister and someone we don't know adopted the only boy. However these kitties are special for lots of reasons. All their names begin with L. We have LouAnne (on the right) and Lillie (on the left). Cathy has Lizzie and the brother was named Louie. We have little recent info on the boy but all 3 girls like to carry stuff around in their mouths: large and small stuffed toys, small parts, bits of paper, dead mice. They like moving things from place to place and playing with them here and there. They rarely lose anything and are already fine mouse hunters (which was my original reason for adopting them).

They also seem to have telepathy with each other as whenever one has something special the other just shows up and assumes sharing is just fine. They run and jump and climb all over the house, each other and us. After a couple of months of wariness they now walk by Basel, carefully, and sometimes touch his paw or tail. As of yet they do not answer to their names as they have each other rather than depending on humans for stimulation so have not been encouraged to go outside. We think in the spring they will just automatically use the doggy doors as most of our previous cats have learned to do.

Jim has been well trained as their personal Jungle Jim. They love climbing all over him, then sleeping in his arms or on his shoulder.

Neither kittie likes to be picked up off the floor yet both enjoy being petted on the windowsill where they eat or if they climb into my lap. LouAnne often joins me on the bed while I am getting dressed. Yesterday I set out my pants and then a shirt down on the spread, then an earring to see if it matched well enough. I saw Lou Anne come up the stairs and heard her jump onto the bed. I turned to get a pair of socks out of a drawer and saw her leap off the bed and scamper down the stairs. I heard her playing in the kitchen and the front hall. That is normal as both kitties store things in the hall to bat around. But odd as she usually wants lots of pets and winds her way around me while I dress. Then I picked up my shirt, put it on and remembered I had an earring sitting on it. Sigh. I looked and felt and looked some more. I knew I did not hear it hit the floor but looked under the bed and dresser anyways. Finally I gave up and wore a different pair.

Then I thought about LouAnne's odd behavior and wondered. hmmmnnnn So I looked all over the kitchen floor and in the front hall and told Jim my suspicion. He said as far as he could see they had not yet formed any interests in sparkly things but he would keep an eye out.

This morning he told me he found my earring at the bottom of the stairs.

So do we have a kitten or a magpie in disguise?

Ack! Ayyyyi

2011-11-01T21:03:00.001-04:00

My first reaction after seeing this photo of the president's motorcade in Denver was "Ack! Snow already! Glad I don't live there."

But merely a day and over 2000 miles east I drove home to:

Those were happy Hostas earlier in the day.

And the next morning we were greeted with:

snow on oak leaves

and bent over lilacs still in leaf.

All this is incredibly pretty but the weight of very wet 'warm' snow on leaves still attached to trees tends to knock said trees over and down electric lines. Jim went out early Saturday morning to make sure we had enough gas for our generator as another 5 inches were predicted. Sure enough areas of the Northeast are still without power although the predicted 5 fortunately turned into only 1, for us.

That was several days ago, yet we still have a few patches of snow on the ground and the temps have turned decidedly toward winter. So much for the wooly bear's prediction of a moderately long fall.

The good parts are that the bunnies are very happy and I am in a frenzy of knitting and spinning (when the kittens are sleeping).

Inspired by my visit to the Atlantic Ocean coast a pattern called Newport Shawl has been written and knit. It's a modified Faroese style and features shell stitch patterns. This newest creation is in consideration for submission to a magazine so therefore must remain off the internet until decided. Although one can find it in my shop with some specially dyed, ocean colored, tightly spun, 3 ply, blue face, light fingering yarn. Come on over for First Saturday this weekend and see it in person.

However a new colorway was also inspired and is hereby announced.

Sea Glass

Rewards

2011-10-23T18:43:00.001-04:00

I love rewards, built-in, specified and any size. Check marks, while small are rewards too as they add up to earning something bigger eventually.

Once our mother was safely enscounced in her new residence on Thursday evening, Ellen and I headed due south, across RI to Newport and my first reward......

I LOVE this bridge. I have for many years. I like its lines and the meaning it has for me. When I see it and go over it I am approaching my sister's home and a lovely vacation for a few days.

Staying with my sister in Newport is so relaxing, peaceful and pleasant. She is incredible at making small spaces seem large, airy and beautiful.

In the morning I was greeted by lovely sunshine and Maks, the miracle cat. Maks was hit by a car a couple of years ago, was in ICU for several days, lost the use of one eye, broke his pelvis and still came back so that you really cannot tell he was injured. Maks now walks with a leash instead of going about the neighborhood on his own but his life is good and he is loved.

Each time I visit he seems to adopt me. He sleeps on my bed, purrs and asks me to pet him. My sister gets jealous as he is rather aloof otherwise but, I have hopes that he will transfer some of his attention to her this time.

On Friday, after making sure our mother was doing well we rewarded me with a trip to a Yarn Shop. The one I picked out was half a mile from Tamarisk so an easy trip. We went back and forth on its block and the ones next to it, then asked someone for the shop, to no avail. Then we called Manmade by Jonne and was told he had not been there for 5 years (sheesh, the old one is the address google is giving out!). Jonne did not seem amenable to giving us directions so we decided to try out the shop in Newport. It is on Thames Street all the way down. The time was after 5 but lots of tourists were walking about so we knew it would still be open. This one was exactly where it was supposed to be with easy parking. We both went inside as I wanted my sister to choose the color for her new socks. I immediately found the fingering but it was only acrylic Sirdar so I asked the owner. She said she had sock yarn right over here on this display. I looked and found what I already had, wool and more wool. Not acceptable to me or my sister. Major Darn. The shop has lots of room but basic yarns and a great selection of novelty yarns, both new and old.

Alas, the plan for a pair of socks for my sister, made on this trip, had to be scratched. I could have been bummed but....

back in the car my sister offered a drive along the Newport shoreline as a substitution. It is also a reward. Having grown up spending many summer days on an Atlantic beach in Brooklyn, the ocean brings back great memories and feelings of awe at its rawness, majesty and power.

That evening we watched a Hugh Laurie Video of the taping of his album Let Them Talk. It was a perfect ending to our day, listening to wonderful heartfelt blues. AAMOF I immediately downloaded the album to my iPod and listened to it on the drive from Newport back here to Southbury.

On Saturday we spent more time at Tamarisk but left before dinner knowing our mother was in excellent hands, safe, secure and occupied with new friends. We had reservations at our favorite restaurant, The Lobster Pot in Bristol, the final reward to us for a job well done - Steamers, lobster bisque, lobster salad, dark bread, wine, crackers and cheese and more ocean views.

Filing Cabinet for Seniors

2011-10-22T14:46:00.001-04:00

My mother now lives in Rhode Island at the Phyllis Saperstein Tamarisk Residence. Tuesday we sent the movers on their way. Wednesday my sister met them at noon and spent the next 12 hours unpacking.

On Thursday I drove her 3 hours north east from Southbury, CT to Warwick, RI. We were met at the entrance where my mother was invited in. My sister then appeared and took her upstairs to her new space. Lev who also met us at the door, helped me unload my SUV, load a luggage cart and took the haul upstairs with me being greeted by the concierge and being shown upstairs as well.

Entering my mother's new apartment is a feast of light.

All of the furniture is from her condo in CT but my sister put it together in a such a way that it looks spacious, bright and welcoming.

Her bedroom is calming with pinks and blue and whites.

Everyone who has visited remarks on how inviting it all looks

especially with her crystal collection glittering on a windowsill overlooking a rose garden.

The physical structure is relatively easy to describe. The exterior is typical New England clapboard, extremely well maintained, as are all the rooms we visited. On the ground floor we saw at least 2 rooms for music and community events, plus a wonderful library and sitting room. They also have a van for almost daily shopping trips and other outside events.

The dining hall has wooden tables that are cloth covered for dinner. Across from the dining room is a Tavern where you can purchase wine by the glass and next to it is the Bistro which always has free hot coffee, hot water, snacks and a fridge full of little milks of all kinds. Oh and the majority of the residents are using walkers so aisles are wider than usual and there are 3 elevators to keep walking to a minimum.

We had 2 lunches and a dinner at Tamarisk. At each meal someone came to take our order, recited the choices, re-recited the choices and then offered alternatives. Portions can be made smaller or larger while diet sodas, fresh brewed iced tea and coffees are graciously brought out. My mother had an egg salad sandwich that was delicious, delicately spiced, not a lot of mayo yet full of flavor.

Side salads are always available too. At the first lunch my sister asked for a fried egg on toast, as she had read that breakfast food was always available, and received hers nice and hot with lovely toast (actually that is what she ate for both lunches) while I had ravioli and my mother had hers without sauce and we all had grilled fresh baby asparagus. Oh did I tell you this place is kosher? Yup. At dinner my mother and I had chicken with dumplings while my sister had an egg salad sandwich. All was brought to us with smiles and thoughtfulness. People stopped by our table to greet and meet our mother and invite her to different happenings and let her know how they liked their residence.

One of the main things that makes this place so different from others is the atmosphere of caring and love. All the people we met are not only polite but really care about the elderly without being condescending. On my mother's first morning, she opened her door to get her paper, was greeted by a CNA and asked if she wanted help getting dressed. The night before a CNA assisted her with a shower and getting ready for bed. Staff is everywhere, always agreeable and gracious.

As we left Thursday evening we heard a wonderful jazz pianist playing in one of the community rooms with almost a full house audience. Activities abound as do mah jongg games, canasta and bridge. There are small areas on each floor with upholstered or leather furniture. On the 3rd floor is the Brain room with a closet full of games and several computers. On the 2nd is a TV room and sunrooms. A massage therapist is available 3 days a week as is a hair stylist and manicurist. A podiatrist visits every Friday and a nurse is always available.

Lev the Program Director, who has been involved since Tamarisk's inception 12 years ago, stopped by yesterday to take our mother's picture and just to chat. After he found out that she has done lots of community service he invited her to a happening tomorrow afternoon involving URI freshmen and assisting the local poor.

This place is like a hotel but one that is personally invested in their clients. I could move in tomorrow and be very satisfied. Our mother has only called twice in 48 hours instead of 15 as is her norm as she is being not only well cared for but already getting involved in her new life and making new friends. We left her yesterday walking over to a mah jongg game in the sunroom.

Start of another phase

2011-10-18T16:58:00.000-04:00

My mother is moving to assisted living. We grew up in Brooklyn, then my mother moved to Heritage Retirement Village in CT 20 years ago. Now she is going to RI which is closer to my sister. We started the process about a month ago. My sister interviewed residences in Rhode Island and we chose Tamarisk over any of them. Then the checklists started. Moving is traumatic at anytime but going smaller is hard. Whittling clothes and belongings can be difficult but Bonnie, who has been helping my mother for years, is amazing with her. So patient, full of humor and really loves her. They spent the last 3 weeks going through everything.

When I arrived yesterday they were almost done with the pantry. I got to help with clearing off surfaces into boxes, deciding which artwork was coming and communicating with my sister on the check list, marking boxes with contents and making some last minute furniture and coat decisions.
My sister and I are both very much into lists and crossing things off. She is jealous of the √ mark I can make on my mac but she cannot on her PC so I made her a really big red one in Photoshop.

The movers were supposed to come at 11. Nice guys who even took the plants. Actually they were unavoidably delayed almost an hour so Bonnie took mother out for lunch and bought her a couple of pairs of sneakers on a credit that needed to be used up. It was way easier to proceed with only me here directing and I think less stressful to my mother. The place is really empty now. The carpeting which looked great before now needs to be shampooed.

I wanted to make a pair of socks for my sister for taking the lion's share of the work. I also did not want to make yet another pair of Jeans or Paynes grey socks (she has lots of them) so allowed myself to purchase some denim, taupe and grey JaWoll sock yarn right before I left. I was excited that the skein contained reinforcement yarn. I immediately started the toes and got rather enthused that I might just be able to make a pair of plain socks to present to her before I left to come home.

However as I got more into the toes I realized that these socks were not going to pass my sister's princess test for softness. I finally noticed that the yarn was superwash WOOL and nylon, not superwash anything specific. Arghhh wool pool yarn = yarn from meat sheep, old rams, cheese sheep, old ewes, etc. Many many people who find wool itchy have never worn pure merino, only wool pool yarn. If you think I am a micron snob, she makes me look like Miss Scratchy.

Oh and Yarndex quotes Lang on this yarn ""Jawoll" is so soft & fine that it can also be used to create beautiful sweaters, gloves, hats, shawls, really any fingering-weight project. " so I kept on knitting hoping it would soften up.

I love the way the colors are coming out but the feel of the socks as they are being knit is not passing MY softness tests so I can't imagine how it will pass hers.

I googled Warwick, RI yarn shops and found one very close to Tamarisk. Yippee! I will go there Thursday afternoon.

The onliest problem is the socks will then be 4 days behind schedule.

Repeat after me..."I will not pull a Yarn Harlot Rhinebeck stunt....I will not pull a Yarn Harlot Rhinebeck stunt....I will not pull a Yarn Harlot Rhinebeck stunt...."

Uh oh. I found the yarn shop's website, who look really interesting BTW, BUT they have the audacity to be closed on Thursdays. Soooo do I order from WEBS right now? And will I need to pay a small fortune to get yarn to my sister's house by Thursday? or take my chances on having time to go to another shop?

Right on Time

2011-10-13T18:38:00.000-04:00

What with all the rain and flooding then incredible dryness I thought the leaves would just shrivel and die. However for the last 2 days we have been having the most colorful snow of leaves I haven't seen in years. I go outside and the leaves are gently coming down and coating everything with a fine layer of gold and orange. So perfect. So uplifting. So classic. And right on schedule too.

And you are asking why I have not been reporting on my knitting.

OK I have been very quiet but only because I am not allowed to show it to you--------------- yet.

Yes, secret knitting.

Almost.

I had a piece for Knit Picks to get done (actually 2 of the same but in different weight yarns) and then, the greatest thing happened.

I got an email from Knitter's Magazine with an acceptance of one of my patterns!

When I came back down I realized I had a very short time in which to do the redesign, receive the scrumptious yarn, find beads and then knit the sample and get it in on time.

The Knit Picks samples went in late last week with the pattern. They should be up in about 3 weeks. I will let you know.

I got the beads I wanted at AC Moore but they only had 2 tubes. I knew I needed at least 3 but counted on them getting more in soon. Ha! Then I counted 950 beads needed and there are about 280 per tube. So right before I panicked I ordered more online. I ran out of beads a little over halfway through the piece over the weekend. The beads were being delivered by UPS. But Monday was a holiday and I had to have it in the mail by Wed.

Surprisingly about 4pm on Monday that brown truck arrived.

UPS is my latest hero.

I immediately sat down to complete the piece. It was so close to the deadline. I was so nervous as I didn't want my very first national magazine design to be late and rejected. Knitting went on past midnight on Monday and not much else got done on Tuesday except take breaks when my hands hurt. The mystery knit was completed at 11pm. whew!

Then it was blocked.

Wednesday morning it was dry so I tucked in the ends and added the 4 x 4 gauge area outlined in waste yarn.

Then I packed it all up and sent it off. After that I sent in the pattern and chart and anything else they wanted by email.

I am so looking forward to seeing this in print and being able to share it with you all.

United States of Britain

2011-10-10T20:28:00.000-04:00

I found this on Facebook from Diana Christova and just had to share.

To the citizens of the United States of America from Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II:

In light of your immediate failure to financially manage yourselves and also in recent years your tendency to elect incompetent Presidents of the USA and therefore not able to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately. (You should look up 'revocation' in the Oxford English Dictionary.)

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except Kansas , which she does not fancy).

Your new Prime Minister, David Cameron, will appoint a Governor for America without the need for further elections.

Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated sometime next year to determine whether any of you noticed.

To aid in the transition to a British Crown dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

1. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'colour,' 'favour,' 'labour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters, and the suffix '-ize' will be replaced by the suffix '-ise.'Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up 'vocabulary').

Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as ''like' and 'you know' is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as U.S. English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take into account the reinstated letter 'u'' and the elimination of '-ize.' '

3. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.

4. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not quite ready to be independent. Guns should only be used for shooting grouse. If you can't sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, then you're not ready to shoot grouse.

5. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. Although a permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

6. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left side with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.

7. The former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline) of roughly $10/US gallon. Get used to it.)

8.You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.

9. The cold, tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. New Zealand beer is also acceptable, as New Zealand is pound for pound the greatest sporting nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of the British Commonwealth - see what it did for them. American brands will be referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.

10. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie Macdowell attempt English dialogue in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.

11. You will cease playing American football. There are only two kinds of proper football; one you call soccer, and rugby (dominated by the New Zealanders). Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies).

12. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America . Since only 2.1% of you are aware there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the Australians (World dominators) first to take the sting out of their deliveries.

13. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.

14. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776).

15. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 p.m. with proper cups, with saucers, and never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; plus strawberries (with cream) when in season.

God Save the Queen!

To those who think they just don't have enough making more than $300,000 a year.

2011-09-21T13:03:00.000-04:00

Hemlock punch List

2011-09-14T13:23:00.002-04:00

updated as of 9/15

The list was long. The list was heavy.
BUT much of the list is now checked off.
It may not look like it in actual checks but all the items are not created equal.

Dye approximately 60 pounds of fibers. √
Put dried dyed fibers into twists with labels. √
Dye untold numbers of skeins of yarn. √
Jim reskeins about 2/3 of those skeins. √
Purchase and set up sales books. √
Iron velcro to tablecloths. √
Purchase plastic cloths for bottom of fiber bins. √
Make more drive bands. √
Verify motel reservations. √
Get bunny, kittie and Basel supplies for the weekend. √
Send out a Hemlock announcement. √
Put new yarn pics on palette page.
Finish making Pixie Batts. √
Breathe. √
Check printed pattern quantities. sort of until I ran out of ink.
Breathe. √ sometimes
Make more garment sample cards.
Print more business cards for me √ and Jim. √
Install updated accounting software. √
Create new banner graphics in Photoshop and take to Kinkos. √
Pick up new vinyl banner. √ love it.

Try to keep sanity. working on it

Complete new sock sample. √

Pack up shop. √
Get Uhaul. √ wow is a 6 x 12 large. We are not even filling half of it. We usually use a 5 x8 but they didn't have any so upgraded us.
Load Uhaul and SUV. almost done
Pack my stuff.
Notes for Cole on animal care.

See ya across from the Llamas in Barn A at Hemlock.

BSHG at the NYS Fair

2011-08-31T10:33:00.001-04:00

For the second year my guild, Black Sheep Handspinners Guild has been invited to demonstrate spinning at the Wool Barn at the New York State Fair. Last year the temps were in the 90's so we were oh so grateful they were only in the mid 80's yesterday.

Jim, Cathy and I were on the first shift, 10-2, so got there as the parking lots were just filling up. You can see the remains of the mud from Sunday's deluge. We bring a cart or two as the hike from the car to the booth is considerable and the wheels only seem to get heavier as they are carried by hand.

Along the way is this Sea Lion booth. I am glad to see the folks working with these animals openly love them and that the posters tell about the lives of sea creatures and explain what pollution is doing to their natural habitat.

The demo area is rather small but compact and shows many many aspects of using fibers.

This chain driven antique was one of 3 working looms. Another is a large LeClerc floor loom and the third was a simpler rigid heddle Kromski table model.

Cathy using the hand carder to make a batt.

Second shift consisted of l->r: Ellie spinning on a Schacht Matchless, Sharon with a Baynes, Audrey and Sue Q both using Louet's. Other guilds were also representing. The wide range of wheels to choose from is a fantastic show in itself.

In the background are different wools donated by fleece breeders for the demonstrators to use if they so choose.

On our lunch break we stopped to watch this one-man-band who engaged the children in sounds and singing. Notice the links on the heels of his shoes that bong on the inside of the drum. He bounces and the cymbols clang. What a way to earn a living!

Cotswold Cross Lamb

On our way in and out we pass the barns that house the horses and their people.

This horse was brought out to get a wee bit of grass to munch.

It's a fun day with the opportunity to meet lots of new people who are curious about spinning and/or want to learn more about it or just connect with other spinners. As usual the women want to know how it is done and what we are spinning while the guys want to know about the mechanics of the wheels. I love the expressions when I tell a guy that I am spinning wool and tencel and he asks what is tencel and I get to say wood. Of course we go on to explain it further but the incredulous looks are great.

Presents

2011-08-09T20:21:00.000-04:00

My sister gave me this beautiful soap a few years ago.

I love it and therefore put it away so it wouldn't get spoiled. Two weeks ago it dawned on me that I was getting very little to no enjoyment from some hand made soap that I couldn't see or touch. Now anyone who uses the bathroom comes out raving about that soap and I get to use it every day. Thank you Ellen. Your gifts are always so well thought out.

A few months ago I committed to making at least one present a month in order to avoid DeNile in November. I managed to keep to that promise through June, as presents for 3 folks were completed.

Then in July I got distracted by the Knitting for Obama Operation Shower Kit for Joining Forces which is hosting baby showers for military wives all around the country.

I managed to complete a baby blanket (top right), a pink/purple kick bag and a hat (middle right). The rest were done by 3 other wonderful knitters and shipped to MO on the 20th of July. Technically I guess those are presents, just not on my Holiday list of to-do's.

So to make up for that a bit I have completed my sister's holiday gift out of hand dyed grey silk and polwarth

and am about halfway (or more) done with her birthday present. Her day is the 16th so I know I am working against a deadline. I remember last December when she was opening her gifts and kept asking where the socks were. Well this time a pair will be in the box, myveryownsister. The hope is the box will be on time. I am not promising that yet but it will be close.

FIRST First Saturday

2011-08-06T19:35:00.000-04:00

I was very nervous, what if I threw a party and no one came? Then it started raining. Yup, real rain, steady, soft with temps in the 70's. So I worried if we had too many people for the shop they couldn't sit out on the deck or on the wet chairs out front either. You know, worrying is so unproductive you'd think I would know that by now.

Well several someones did come and we had a blast. I haven't gotten so much easy spinning done in one afternoon in a long time. Only a few folks knew each other, but we had wool in common and that does bond us easily. I had a Stephanie Pearl-McPhee book downloaded and ready for the speakers but we spoke to each other so well folks did not want to get quiet to listen.

Rochester, Endicott, Newfield and Trumansburg were well represented. We ate sugar free key lime pie, cherries and veggie chips along with iced tea, water and soda. Folks tried out some hand dyed CVM rovings, shared stories, helped each other with questions and the time flew by.

Ruth kept amazing herself with how thin she was spinning a Pixie Batt. Jan spun some angora/merino on her spindle while Char combed and spun mohair locks she just acquired. Gayle learned how to oil her wheel and Ellen, a fantastic lace knitter was fascinated by all the spinning, sheep and animal talk. I spun some silk singles, plied some silk with polwarth plus spun up about 2 oz of Panda singles. All in all a fantastic relaxing destressing day. I'm looking forward to the next First Saturday in September.

Week 2 of Tour de Fleece

2011-07-19T11:23:00.001-04:00

After 2 weeks of spinning everyday I can see my wpi consistency increasing. That's my goal for this race - to be able to make at least 150 yards of even yarn. Well not commercially even but enough to satisfy me.

Right now I am spinning some boring undyed merino at 24-28 wpi and doing a good job. I will see later today when I ply it with this if I have come close to goal.

This being a Novelty Batt. When I make Pixie Batts I need to clean out the brushing cloth every few batts to make room in there and to change colors. The gleanings are saved until they weigh about 2 ounces and then put through the carder again resulting in a multi color, multi fiber, very sparkly batt. Since the fibers change and there are some neps and lots of angelina the diameter of the single varies but I am allowing myself leeway with this one since it should look novelty-ish. I will probably make a Basketweave beret with the yarn.

My attempt at spinning fingering weight was only partially successful. The resulting yarn (baby alpaca, merino and unspecified wool) is mostly fingering but it varies way too much for entering into the Troy Fair Show as I had hoped.

I was also hoping to make something out of it for my sister but, alas, the unspecified wool makes it a bit itchy. DARN!

There are also now 2 skeins of Blymey (376 and 352 yards) in heavy fingering weight yarn. Still not sure what I am going to do with it. My thoughts go from a sweater to part of a sweater to learning to weave to forgetting it all for a while. And then my knitting ADD takes over and I am ready to start something totally new from more recently spun yarn, like the beret.

Tour de Fleece 2011

2011-07-07T11:36:00.000-04:00

It's July and that means it's Tour de Fleece time again - self challenge time with spindles, wheels and fiber. Plus daily random prizes on the general thread. There are also general teams for rookies and spindlers and such. I love this spinning spinning spinning with all its interchanges with other fiber enthusiasts.
For the past 3 years I have sponsored a Team Spinning Bunny. For the past 2 years we have had a special exclusive Tour colorway. Last year it was Bistro and this year it is Blymey. In order to get the current color the spinner must join our group and then be sent the 'secret' page link. Blymey comes in Woody, Polwarth and bfl/silk plus a matching but lime-less pixie batt option. There are also weekly random prizes in our team.

We are now 6 days into the 'Race" which parallels the Tour de France in that we start and end on the same days, have suggested break days when they do and challenge ourselves a bit more on any day they climb steep hills.

So far my spinning has been thus.

Repeat from * to * until all fiber is turned into yarn.

July 4th afternoon

2011-07-05T19:06:00.000-04:00

Back when Jim and I got married in November of 2008, we were given a gift certificate to the Sherwood Inn in Skaneateles (skinny atlas). We had a great weekend stay there and came away with credit still on the GC. We thought we'd use it for our first anniversary but alas something came up, probably weather, and the GC just sat on the fridge all these months (years).

During the summer we like to take day trips around the state. Jim has a gps in his head and loves to just turn off a main road and meander around the countryside always coming out where we need to be. Summer is so lush, our state so pretty, almost anywhere is beautiful. So for July 4th we decided to drive up to Skaneateles Lake, have a nice lunch on the 'porch' and then meander on home. We saw lots of wildflowers, fields of corn and wheat and folks out enjoying themselves.

While we enjoyed our meal, folks were strolling by across the street by the lake, walking dogs, pushing carriages, flying balloons, paddling and in general relaxing on a nice sunny July 4th day.

It all reminded me of a Seurat painting "The Picnic", minus the cars of course.

The food was excellent and the service way above average leaving us feeling sated and happy. I hardly ever drink but felt this was a special occasion so ordered a Blue Moon draft. I may never drink it bottled again. It was delicious. Not as fizzy as normal bottled beer, not filtered either. The orange slice on the glass was a perfect accompaniment. I actually almost finished a whole glass.

Jim decided he wanted to head home by going west on route 20 and then cut down route 89 on the west side of Cayuga Lake. I joked that we were almost at 89 as we were going to cross 90. He said, hmmmnnnn and turned left on 90. We followed it for a while and it surprisingly led us down to Lock #1 at the top of Cayuga Lake.

Coincidentally, while we were meandering, my sister sent me a NYT story link about a photographer who recently paddled part of the Erie Canal. She was way east of us and our lock is in much better repair but the story is interesting.

They are dredging this lock and doing some repairs. It looks freshly painted too.

view looking north to canal

Years ago I paddled this end of the lake with some friends. It's rather shallow so does not resemble the southern end where Ithaca is at all.

view looking south to lake

We drove through some lakeside towns down past Aurora where Wells College resides and south to Ithaca.

Such a lovely lovely day which was only made better by some spinning in the evening.

More details on this Tour de Fleece project tomorrow.

Quick Update

2011-06-10T09:58:00.000-04:00

We are packed and doing last minute stuff (like personal packing, watering the plants, cutting Baz' toenails, washing my hair, etc) and then off to the CNY Fiber Festival to set up our booth in Tent D.

This morning was our regular sunrise practice in the C4. We averaged 4.2 mph (4 last week) and got up to 6.6 (5.3 last week) at some point. We also turned the boat in about 2/3 the width of the inlet. All this is such good progress without any forcing or pain. Definite fun.

I also noticed last night that items that used to seem fairly heavy while packing up the shop into the Uhaul now seem just fine.

While getting ready for the show I finished the Baby Kick bag (WITH car seat strap hole) and matching hat I pledged for the Joining Forces baby shower that Knitters for Obama committed to.

Also here is one of the logos we are using for Team Spinning Bunny in the Tour de Fleece. There are 3 to choose from. Join our team and play. Special colorway and mystery scarf KAL.

OK - back to getting ready to leave. Hope to see some of you there this weekend.

C-4

2011-06-03T15:21:00.001-04:00

Years ago Jim and I used to do a bit of canoe racing here and there. I enjoyed it but Jim really got into the racing spirit by competing in the Adirondack Classic 90 miler 13 times, winning in his class thrice. Eventually his body got the best of him and he had to give it up. That was so hard.

Last year our friend DJ (of sled dog fame) asked Jim to coach her and Sabrina in order to compete in the Classic in the Recreational C-2 Women's Class. Sabrina had barely been in a canoe while DJ was quite experienced. Jim went out with them, he in his solo canoe, them in a nice Bell, twice a week for 4 - 5 months and then along as part of their pit crew for the 3 day staged race in September. They did well for a rookie team, placing in the middle of the pack in a year that many boats did not finish.

I have never seen this race. Huh? Jim did it for how many years and you never went? Sigh, yes. The race was always the first week of teaching. Go up on Thursday and race, Friday - Sunday? During the first week back? Not a very good idea or way to get the year started. So I never did. Then after I retired into the Spinning Bunny business Jim was no longer racing plus our biggest show of the year, Fingerlakes Fiber Festival in Hemlock, NY happens the 3rd weekend of September so getting ready for that took precedence.

Then DJ decided she wanted a bigger boat. And more paddlers. And to race with Jim. Two years ago Jim had shoulder surgery and then last winter spinal surgery. His shoulder now works great and he is out of back pain. And she wanted to experience the high of passing lots of boats in the race. All that boils down to a 23 foot, 64 pound, 39" wide, 4 person canoe. DJ wrangled an excellent deal on one this past winter and brought it home early April.

So Jim, DJ, Anne (DJ's partner who cried last year when she could not be in the pit crew because she had a vending that weekend, but no longer) and Sabrina were the desired paddlers. Then Sabrina needed to have shoulder surgery reducing the team to only 3. I was recruited to be the designated pinch hit paddler.

At first I played but was not really dedicated. However I grew to like the practice and even committed to getting a lot of the dyeing for Hemlock done in August rather than Sept. I would be the person who filled in if one of them got sick or hurt and also be in the pit crew. And I'd get to see the race finally. After a month or so of practice I am feeling more serious about this C-4 Team.

It is very hard to get 4 folks with busy lives to mesh twice a week, especially since one works late 3 nights. The solution is to go out early, and I mean early, like meet at 5:30 A. M. in the Treman Marina boat launch parking lot. The first time we did this it started to rain as soon as we left the dock and did not stop until we returned and got out of the boat.

The lake is at 6" below flood level. L->R: Jim, Anne, DJ

On top of that my rain gear failed. Sheesh. I was a wet puppy but grateful for the warmish temps and that Jim took me out for a nice breakfast afterwards.

My body rythmns hate getting up at 4 so I have limited my early morning participation to once a week. Otherwise my day is really skewed. Like right now I think it should be late afternoon and it is just noon. This means I have missed a few practices due to that and the fact that sometimes I am out of town.

DJ also put together a special exercise class at our favorite Fitness center for anyone she knew who paddled and wanted to get into shape. 12 of us meet once a week for an hour with a coach. Its a fast hour but a great workout too with half a dozen stations that we rotate around. We are even thinking of extending this class past the planned 6 weeks.

This morning the air was a crisp 44 degrees but with only a mild breeze and the sun coming up bright and shiny. Being on the water early in the day in good weather is a treat. We saw a merganser with babies, lots of Canadian geese but only one with babies as we think the high water might have drowned a bunch of nests, lots of yellow flags just coming into bloom, a deer that was curious enough to keep watching us from onshore, small dark bird chasing a crow and a Great Blue Heron after we got back to the dock. We also passed several single rowing shells and took turns peeling off layers as our workout warmed us up.

We averaged 4 miles per hour with a high speed of 5.3. That's counting stopping to rest for a few minutes at the 2 mile mark and starting out. Excellent speed. DJ has a neat gps type thingy that can measure our speed and distance in a fancy waterproof clear bag. Of course we were only out for an hour but still, it was invigorating and faster than we had ever done together plus the furthest we had paddled as well. We also managed to turn the boat in the width of the inlet channel. That sucker really wants to go in a straight line. We are going up to the Adirondacks in a couple of weeks to practice portaging on Lakes 5 to 6 on Saturday and S-curvy Raquette River on Sunday.

Alternative Weaving Project

2011-05-29T11:14:00.000-04:00

Adirondack Interlude

2011-05-27T11:38:00.000-04:00

Baz, Jim and I managed to get up into the north country for 2 days last weekend. The weather report for up there was about the same as here, rain and maybe rain but a few degrees cooler. We decided we could stay dry or wet as well up there and at the same time get a bit of change for 48 hours.

We got most of the stuff unloaded and into the cottage before this deluge hit.

These pics were taken in full color.

It didn't rain all the time, just felt like it was going to. We managed to attend the Mountain Man Canoe and Kayak Festival and take a nice walk in the woods.

The rain has produced the most wonderful shades of green and since it hasn't been hot much yet, the wildflowers are still blooming.

foam flower

blooming spring viburnum

violets and trout lily

tiny white violets

star flower

red trillium

Oh and some knitting, of course.

toe up socks with a cableless cable in Bistro Woody.

Michelle Obama and Jill Biden are putting together baby showers for military wives all over the country, Joining Forces. Each woman receives a very nice layette for her expected little bundle Pajamas, Baby Gown, Blanket-swaddle or sleep sack, Blanket-lovie, Blanket-Large for stroller or floor, Onsies, Baby Outfits, Socks-2pr., Hats-2, Shoes-Pre Walker.

I belong to Knitters for Obama online in Ravelry, where we do service knitting along with political support. We have committed to making 100 pairs of baby socks plus 100 swaddle/sacks and as many blankets as we can. If you are interested in helping you needn't be a member, just send the item to me and I will mail it along with mine.

The kick sack started above is meant to use up leftover sock (washable) yarn on size 4 needles. Easy knit so I did most of what you see on the drive up and back (only 8 more inches to go). We need to have our items in to our Missouri rep by the end of August. I hope we meet the challenge.

And- since I am counting this as my May knitting present project, it should be done soon.

Frogged

2011-05-15T16:29:00.000-04:00

Alas the Bistro Shawlette v8 has been ripped ripped ripped.

At some point realization set in that the design was too complex for my mood. I did not want a pattern that tied me to a table following at least 2 charts, maybe 3. It was pretty but not what I had envisioned.

So with that dawning light and a glass of wine ....

Process

2011-05-12T11:45:00.000-04:00

I love designing patterns. There are so many parts. It's like putting a puzzle together only I get to make the pieces. Challenging, fun, creative.

I thought of a shawlette knit from the yarn I made from Bistro bfl/silk plied with alpaca/corriedale (see previous post). I could just see it in my mind but when I went to chart it in my design book it morphed a bit. Then my normally succinct design sense flew out the window and I waffled on which patterns to use. Sheesh. Hours were spent pouring through Barbara Walker's stitch books along with several others. Finally I took myself down to Panera's to spend a couple of hours with no distractions and came up with a plan. These crossed out, erased, rewritten notes, after about 2 hours with Knit Visualizer, became Version 1 below.

v1 At least it got blocked so it counts as a swatch.

Well it didn't take me long to realize I needed to use a smaller needle (US7) and modify a couple of things. This became the modus operandi for this piece.

Version 4 is below.

By yesterday I had frogged v1, 2 (was just typos and recharting so not knit), 3, 4, 5 (was similar to 2) and 6. Fortunately each time I could see the problem before I had done more than 25 rows so only a few hours were ripped back.

Just how many iterations could there be before I got this pattern right?

V7 was to be IT. I was sure.

Past Row 25 and onto fresh yarn from all the kinky stuff I had been reusing.

Row 36 brought me to a good stopping point as I was anxious to see a completely knit pattern set and excited to have moved on. The coloring is working out really well, with nice bands of striping. I went to bed rather tired so left the shawlette to critically look at today.

The light of morning shone on the fact that we were back to Square 1 and my good friend Knit Visualizer.

Bartering

2011-05-09T18:51:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite things to do at a Fiber Fair is to trade products with another vendor who likes my stuff as well as I like theirs.

Karin, who runs Sprit Wind Farm, uses some of my colorways to enhance her naturally colored batts. It gives the batts bits of color here and there, kinda like mat finished sparkles. She was another vendor at Artistry in Thread.

Usually time has to be found early in the day to go and pick out stuff as I rarely leave my booth during fair times but at this one alas, there was plenty of time to choose. Karin had time also. Once we were settled on our choices, I wrote up an invoice and she did too. Then we swapped and whomever had a balance needed to pay up. This one came out in my favor. :^)

I chose some silver alpaca blended with fine corriedale for myself

plus some deep grey baby alpaca blended with merino to spin up for my sister. This stuff is incredibly soft with some lanolin left in. My hands are going to be like a baby's after spinning it.

The last week was spent spinning 4.5oz of the silver blend, with an eye toward fingering yarn. I then plied it with some blue face/silk dyed to Bistro and spun almost as fine.

The resulting ball weighs in at heavy fingering or light sport weight yarn. Close. Cool.

A faroese shawlette is planned for this yarn as as soon as I can decide on which stitch patterns to use. Then a swatch can be made. Although I am so chomping at the bit it's gonna be hard to take that necessary time. Usually I'm not a wishy washy decider but, as you can see, a whole lot of stickies have been used on possibilities.

Dissaproving Rabbits

2011-05-05T11:22:00.000-04:00

"The time has come", the Walrus said..........."To speak of many things............"
And the time sure came to groom Keeper and Gummy. Since angoras love winter, the colder the better, they work up a nice furry undercoat through those months.

<--SmokeyBlue

Then comes a slow time of late winter/early spring when they start to adjust and then release a lot of that furriness. However this spring the weather has been rather unpredictable. We had a couple of 75 degree days where I even put a fan on the buns. Char and I were having trouble connecting for her to come groom the girls but we were both worried about how much matting Keeper would make with her coat blowing out.

Last Wednesday, Char called and said she could come over late morning, so I made time and we sat on the deck with the buns. Well.... that is after we caught Keeper. Those girls will come for snacks but they have never liked sitting on laps and are so fast. So really fast, that catching them for grooming is a comedy.

However catch Keeper we did.

This is one very Disapproving Rabbit. (I should probably submit this photo to the Disapproving Rabbit website.)

She mats so easily as her fur is super fine. Not only did she have mats she also had dreadlocks on her head. All winter, every few days, I would sneak a scissors out with me, feed her a green bean, pet her and then, as I was bringing the scissors forward, disappear she would go. Rabbits are a lot brighter than the press gives them credit for.

Char had to shear and comb and shear and comb and shear and shear this poor girl. She really was extremely patient for about an hour. Then she decided she had had enough. Keeper began digging and then without warning, bite down on Char's jeans. We added a towel to Char's lap and my job became not only the fur holder but also the one to replace the towel in time to keep the bite to the towel.

Notice that bit of blue?

Eventually Keeper was as groomed as we could get for the nonce.

We gave her a green bean and let her go. She hid for all of 5 minutes and then was back watching the game on Gummy.

Gumdrop does not have as much or as fine a coat so rarely mats. She was done in 10 minutes.

Feisty little girl too.

In another couple of weeks, Keeper will look more presentable but be infinitely cooler.

Meanwhile I have lots more angora to blend into Pixie Batts.

Quoth the Raven

2011-05-02T19:23:00.000-04:00

Jim and I spent a lot of hours during the past few weeks readying ourselves and our products for Artistry in Thread - A Fiber Arts Celebration at the Rochester Museum and Science Center. We sent out emails announcing it and the debut of Jim's new wheel (write to Susan for more info).

When we register for shows, part of what we are paying is expected to go to advertising. This year the fee was upped quite a bit and we were told the increase was earmarked for advertising. When we do out of town shows our costs skyrocket - motel for 2 nights, eating out for 2-3 days, gas there and back, U-Haul rental, booth rental, undyed fiber costs, wood costs, etc. We do not complain because the results are usually more than adequate and we thank you all for coming.

Friday afternoon we set up at the museum.

On one of our trips to the SUV I saw a big black bird in the grass which turned out to be a raven. Ravens don't often live in cities.

For some reason the people in charge thought we would all be done setting up by 4. Never mind that some of us come a distance and some have day jobs so don't arrive before 2. Still at 4:15 we were being told we shoulda been outta there already. This was our 4th time at this show but the first with these crazy hours and the second with it being run by folks who don't know much about putting shows together. We then left a few things to be done in the morning.

As we were driving down East Ave toward our motel we saw the billboard sign outside the museum entrance announcing:

Artistry in Thread

April 30, May 1

11- 4

Wrong - as Sat was supposed to be 10 - 4.

Another tell tale item - the museum website only posted the show on their home page last Monday.

The owner of our motel had not heard anything nor seen anything about this show.

Our guild was not officially notified except for me and neither were any of the guilds in Syracuse or Elmira or Canandaigua.

Looking out the window of our motel room I watched a lone raven walking around and pecking in the grass for quite a while.

Saturday morning we stopped at Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast. Their credit card machine was not working so we used some of our vending cash for breakfast. I decided to go pee before we headed out of there but the handle on the Women's Room door was missing.

We were all set up by 9 and, despite the signs, ready for a good day.

By noon we had seen but a few souls. Jim filled a spindle.

In the afternoon on Saturday, Kristin came by with miracle baby Julia. Julia was born last November at 1.5 pounds but was due in February. This beautiful feisty miss now weighs in at 9 pounds.

I got to feed her most of a bottle and hold her while she slept. Kristin remarked that at any other fair she just says hi 'cause I am so busy I can't stop for very long to socialize. BTW this is one knitted for baby. She has enough blankies and sweaters to last until age 2 (mostly in purples and pinks).

I want to show you how much knitting I accomplished on Sat and Sunday. That's most of a sock foot, done in Bistro. It takes hours to knit that many stitches, the majority of which was done at the show. I always take knitting but usually get to work maybe 2 rounds, if that. Oh and the cables are mock cables, done without a cable needle over 4 stitches. Very fun to do if you have very pointy needles, which I do.

What little traffic there was during the show did purchase and try out Jim's new wheel but there were maybe 100 people in 2 days? Sorry no.

Our little Roc Day Show in cold snowy January does 2.5 times that.

So the positives are that I have very little dyeing to do to get ready for the next show in June, I got to play and visit with Julia and Kristin, we got to vend across from Anne of Watershed Designs (the project sack folk), and we had a great breakfast at a local diner with Anne, her brother and SIL.

While one of the negatives is that we did not even meet costs.

We probably should have heeded the raven but didn't understand the warning until too late.

Believe

2011-04-26T11:00:00.000-04:00

A Black Hole

2011-04-23T19:26:00.000-04:00

Jim and I have a deal. He spins the yarn he wants and I then knit him something out of it. Lately he has been spinning very nice sock yarn. 3 ply heavy fingering or sportweight yarn as he likes warm warm dense socks. That means the socks are knit on US1's with about 70 stitches.

The current yarn consists of 2 plies of natural cormo with a ply of blueface/silk that he asked me to dye a certain color of green. I thought it would look like pea soup but the green is full of life and pretty.

Mixed with the cormo, however, the result looks dull and something like khaki. Certainly not MY colors. But Jim really really likes it and the socks will be on his feet so........

My problem with this yarn is it does not change color very much. I like to see colors move into other colors. That keeps me amused (OK I am easily amused) while knitting 7 trillion stitches in a plain sock.

Oh and this pair of socks are meant to be this month's present item. Yes, Jim is seeing them being knit but he knows he will not actually get them until Christmas or his birthday. And his birthday is one day after Christmas so that doesn't help him get them on his feet any sooner.

Both socks have the heels completed. I made myself a deal that I could not start a more fun color of socks until one, only one, sock of this color was completed.

So I have been knitting on this sock for what seems like 6 years and am not getting very far. I do know that not knitting on a sock won't get me anywhere but I am knitting. A lot.

The other day there were 3.25 inches of cuff. Then last night I measured it at 4. This afternoon it is not even 5. Sheesh.

Every project has its black hole. At least for me every project has a place where I can knit and knit and knit and not seem to get much further. From long experience I do know that if I persist this hole will magically go away and all of a sudden many inches will have been completed. I don't know if the knit fairy comes in the night and does some wand waving or what, but it does happen regularly.

So I am leaving out cookies tonight, just in case.

Pretty in Pink

2011-04-21T08:52:00.000-04:00

Most of the knitting I have been doing lately is design work which cannot be shared until accepted by whichever pattern place I have submitted it to. Alas that keeps me rather quiet on here.
However I did knit a Citron recently. This is an extremely popular pattern by Hilary Smith Callis, published in Knitty in the Winter of 2009, as 6654 knitters have added this project to their lists on Ravelry and 6241 have it in their queues.

Two of the women in my Knit Knite are making or have made this shawlette. It's simple to follow, easy to take along and a very social knit. I decided to make mine from hand spun sitting in my basket. Every once in a while I think the stash in there is too much so make myself use some. This time it was a pink and white and purply turquoisey alpaca, merino & silk. Of course I just cannot follow a pattern. I do start off that way but I think I am incapable of doing that for the whole thing. I tweak here and change a bit there. However it still feels like following to me so is very relaxing.

For this one I added a different yarn for the ruched (like ruffles but held in at both ends) areas. I just happened to have some purple angora sitting in the basket that went nicely with the main color.

The other thing I added was a row of *k2tog, yo* before and after the purple ruched sections. I did this because I felt the fabric was too solid and with the added warmth of angora could use some air holes.

What else have I been doing? Well, Fiber Fair Season is coming upon us. We will be at the Rochester Museum and Science Center, April 30 and May 1 with the Artistry in Thread Fair.

I've been dyeing and dyeing and prepping.

Jim has been turning and designing.

He has been making more spindles

AND

His veryown spinning wheel will be debuted at this event.

Yup, after 2 years of thinking and redoing and thinking and making and turning,

a cherry and walnut beauty will be ready for demonstrations and ordering.

Hope to see you very soon.

What's going on with the gas prices?

2011-04-10T12:40:00.000-04:00

So in with this month's propane bill and statement was a three fold brochure explaining a few things. Maybe you already know this but I sure didn't.

Dear Customer,
Like you, we are very concerned about rising fuel prices. When prices go up, some customers think we make more money. In fact, it just increased our costs and makes it harder for our customers to pay their bills.

The fundamentals of supply and demand normally drive prices. But there are other forces at work keeping prices higher than they should be. It's important that you know what's happening and what we can do about it together. Because nothing would make us happier than to see prices drop.

In the last 3 months of 2010 crude oil prices increased by more than 18%. You have seen that increase reflected in prices for gasoline, heating oil, propane, diesel fuel and other energy costs. But why are crude prices rising when:

A - Supply is strong -- Crude oil inventories are above their 5-year averages. Strong supply typically means lower oil prices.

B - Demand is weak -- Demand is only up 1% from last year's weak economic numbers and the economy is still struggling. Weak demand typically means lower oil prices.

C - The US Dollar, while still weak, has strengthened against other currencies during the same time period. A stronger dollar typically means lower oil prices.

It doesn't add up.
All the fundamentals say that prices should be lower. But in this equation, "one plus one" does not equal two.

The reason? For starters, the excessive speculation by huge banks and hedge funds, who can make giant profits by driving up the price of oil and increasing price swings. They do this by exploiting loopholes in the way that crude oil trades are regulated.

It is estimated that as much as 20 times more crude oil is traded every day than is actually consumed worldwide.

What We Need To Do
Last year new legislation was passed that would make it harder for excessive speculation to occur. BUT the regulations enforcing the new law are still being fought over.

Wall Street is doing everything it can to water them down.

You can keep pressure on the government by:
1- Writing your senators and congresspeople and urging them to keep the energy speculation loophole closed. Visit usa.gov/Contact.shtml to find your reps.

2- Contacting the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and urging them to do the same. Visit cftc.gov or you can call them at 202-418-5000.

Over the long run, energy prices will also be helped by increasing domestic production, improving conservation and strengthening the US Dollar. But together, we can work on the problem of speculation right now.

If we don't stand up and be counted soon, this may happen:

Big Daddy Gets Away with a Fortune

2011-04-08T13:08:00.000-04:00

"If these corporations paid their taxes, we could Un-Cut the federal budget by over $20 billion. Check it out for yourself and SHARE! "

The Kitchener Stitch - A Guest Posting by Jim Johnson

2011-04-01T18:52:00.001-04:00

Lady Eloise Cochrane was a member of Queen Victoria’s Spinning, Knitting, Tat and Chat Circle. She was a young woman of no special beauty, but she had one charm that made her especially desirable to young English gentlemen; a very large dowry. Eventually Sir Harold Kitchener, the second son of Baron Ronald Kitchener, won her hand and the associated prize. As he was a second son he thought he needed to do something to increase his position in the world, so he took a portion of the dowry and bought a commission as Cornell in a regiment stationed in India. Perhaps, he thought, he could not only add to his stature but to his finances in India. Unfortunately for the pair of them this did mean at least a temporary sojourn to that distant place.

After arriving in Bombay, Sir Harold discovered to his and Lady Eloise’s distress why he was able to purchase this commission. His regiment was stationed in NORTHERN Punjab and was active in the fighting there. Alas, this meant separation for the newlyweds, since the North of Punjab was no place for a gentlewoman from England. So Lady Eloise took up residency in the English quarter of Bombay and prepared to wait for her husband's return.

Lady Eloise took it upon herself to personally knit scarves, gloves and socks for Sir Harold’s journey to the wild and wooly frontier of British India.

Unfortunately she had no idea how to close the toes of his socks or the fingers of his gloves, so she simply left them open (fingerless gloves, toeless socks). As it turned out the fingerless gloves were a lifesaver the first time Sir Harold’s regiment was in a close battle and he had to fire and reload his own pistol. The cold feet that winter were not such a blessing.

Not to insult his lady wife by acquiring other socks Sir Harold ordered his orderly to sew closed the front of his socks. This was slightly uncomfortable, but much warmer. His toes now staying above frostbite level, Sir Harold began to wonder why the socks his dear wife knit for him were so inferior to the ones worn by the mere commoners in his regiment. Good English wool knit by a proper English Lady should not be inferior in any way to stockings made by the common women for the riff raff he commanded.

With this thought firmly in mind he told Corporal O’Hara, his orderly, to discover the difference in the style of knitting and to refurbish all of the stockings Lady Eloise had made for him. Corporal O’Hara privately raged at this request as he thought it was below his status to do any knitting. So the good corporal took aside one of the married Irish troopers and ordered him to have his wife fix the stockings and show him how this was done. O’Hara planned to write the process down and get credit with Sir Harold.

Three days later he proudly presented the now completed stockings and the procedure description to Sir Harold. This was greeted with no particular expression of thanks from the great man, but Sir Harold did remember to keep a copy of the description for closing the toes of his socks.

As far as corporal O’Hara and the private soldier were concerned this is where the entire thing ended. But, two weeks later Lady Eloise received her latest missive from her absent husband. In it was a clear description, written in his own, hand of the procedure for closing the toes of stockings.

Lady Eloise carefully followed this description for Sir Harold’s next pair of stockings. When he received them Sir Harold proudly showed his major and captains the fine footwear his dear wife had knit for him. This prompted them to send letters to their wives asking them to do the same. Lady Eloise proudly showed the other wives the method of closing the toes and other objects that her dear husband had “invented”.

Two and one half years later Sir Harold received devastating news, both his father and elder brother had been killed in a horrid accident when the horses pulling their carriage bolted upon hearing a steam whistle and ran onto the tracks of an approaching train. As sad as this was it also meant that Sir Harold was now Baron Kitchener. The Baron found a buyer for his commission so Baron and Lady Kitchener quickly returned to England. Once again in London, Lady Kitchener rejoined the Spinning, Knitting, Tat and Chat Circle. She showed all her peers the clever way that Baron Kitchener had derived for finishing knitted items. From then it was but a short time until Baron Kitchener’s name became immortalized in the Kitchener stitch.

from Susan-- I think this should be retitled - How Another Dead White Male Took Credit For A Woman's Idea.

Second Bill of Rights

2011-03-27T20:23:00.000-04:00

It is our duty now to begin to lay the plans and determine the strategy for the winning of a lasting peace and the establishment of an American standard of living higher than ever before known. We cannot be content, no matter how high that general standard of living may be, if some fraction of our people—whether it be one-third or one-fifth or one-tenth—is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure.

This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under the protection of certain inalienable political rights—among them the right of free speech, free press, free worship, trial by jury, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. They were our rights to life and liberty.

As our nation has grown in size and stature, however—as our industrial economy expanded—these political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness.

We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. “Necessitous men are not free men.”2 People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed.

Among these are:

· The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

· The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

· The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return, which will give him and his family a decent living;

· The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

· The right of every family to a decent home;

· The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

· The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

· The right to a good education.

All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.

America’s own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for all our citizens.

For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Iknitarod 2011

2011-03-22T19:09:00.000-04:00

I am an unabashed Iditarod Junky. Love the whole shebang. Have been following this race across Alaska for over 20 years and haven't gotten tired of it yet.

Last year a couple of fellow junkies started Iknitarod on Ravelry. I joined, I made ravatars and I knit while forum talking to folks all over the place but especially in Alaska. One of our members even lives in Unalakleet, about 700 miles into the race and the first checkpoint on the coast.

This year we had more members who live in Alaska so heard even more stories in real time.

I love the spirit that the race embodies. I see mushers taking responsibility for mistakes and errors and triumphs. I don't see blaming or slacking.

It's heartening for me to hear the stories and see the racers and dogs trying to do their best.

If a dog is lagging or a vet deems the dog not up to going on then the dog is 'dropped'. This means the dog is taken care of as if she was royalty by volunteers at the checkpoints. Then they are placed onto Iditarod Airforce planes and flown back to Anchorage to await their musher or handlers. In Anchorage they are cared for by trained specialists at either the Millennium Hotel or the prison.

This year there were many mushers who scratched, some not even 125 miles into the race. In almost all cases the scratch was in the best interest of their dogs.

My favorite musher, Newton Marshall scratched because his dogs were losing weight and would not eat.

The rookie from New Zealand scratched because he felt his dogs were not up to par.

One musher was mentored along the race by both the head veterinarian and 2 leading mushers, Dee Dee Jonrowe (she wears pink for Cancer awareness)

and Lance Mackey. His dogs were losing weight and if they had continued to do so his team would have been pulled from the race, but since he is young but such a conscientious musher they figured out a way to help him while still leaving his integrity intact. The story is here.

Meanwhile we knit and knit and knit.

I completed a Mushing hat (see last post) and a pair of socks from a newly designed pattern - Wings on My Toes. Actually I had more on my list but once I saw the pace of this year's race, adjusted my sights accordingly.

John Baker, a native AK from Kotzebue, beat the 6 year standing record by over 3 hours, winning over $50,000 and a Ford Ram truck.

(John speaking at the Banquet in Nome with his daughter keeping close.)

Ellen Halverson, who came in last winning the Red Lantern Award, could have won the race with her time 10 years ago.

Me, I get to use this Ravatar with pride.

Present #2!

2011-03-13T12:26:00.000-04:00

So far so good. Actually fantastic! Present #2 was completed last week , leaving me the rest of the month to make new designs, repair sock holes and start on Jim's next pair of socks.

A friend of ours runs sled dogs, keeps 4 of her own and spends a good part of the winter with other mushers in the wilds of Minnesota. I met DJ many moons ago when she came into my classroom with her sled, gear and a dog for my students to visit with, ask her questions and in general become a bit acquainted with the reality of the virtual race they were following - the Iditarod.

What's even stranger is that Jim knew her through canoeing as he repaired her boat a couple of times and made her paddles. It was so funny the day she came to get her canoe. I was here and did a double take to see her out of my context.

DJ and her partner, Anne (who trains seeing-eye dogs in her spare time) are good friends. Usually I don't have time to make presents for other than family but his year I have lots of time...... so thought a nice winter hat would be appropriate. I found and purchased a set of charts of sled dogs and musher designed by Alexandra Wiedemayer of Sweden. Rav link here. Monies from chart sales are going to help sponsor a sled dog team she follows.
from Alexandra "These Charts have been written in honor to the swedish wilderness and impression of my love to my dogs."

I used a simple watch cap pattern, double strands of AK Sunset and undyed Angora merino yarn to showcase the musher, sled and 2 dogs running around the hat.

Chicken Tea Cozy - Done on Time

2011-03-09T12:46:00.000-05:00

I have been remiss. What with snow storms, the Iditarod (of which Jim and I are fanatical voyeurs) and knitting like a fiend, this blog has been neglected. Well and plus the not so fun fact that our internet reception has been in the toilet for over 2 weeks. They are working on the towers now and I can already see the reception and speeds increasing. The fun, delightful, enjoyable tea cosy was really completed by February 25 so the first Holiday present was done within my new limits.

If you are seeing this for the first time, please go here for the back story.

Check out these cute details.
The head even has wattles done with nice short rows. The eyes are beads.

And the tail is just tooo tooo cute. I added the braided feathers on my own.

The cosy is positioned on one of my teapots and it works just fine.

Liz doesn't read this blog, as far as I know, so I am not hurting the surprise. Although the only hard part of this new habit is not being able to give it to her right away. Darn that postponing of gratification stuff.

Long Tail Cast On - Edited 2/23

2011-02-21T17:27:00.006-05:00

Long tail is my preferred cast-on so I use it unless a pattern specifically states otherwise. The knitted edge it gives to garments is neat and once you get the hang of this technique it is a relatively fast cast on.

1- You will need to make a long tail. How? By taking the thread at the beginning of the cake and making a dangling tail. How long? Well, that is debatable. One method is to wrap the yarn around the needle to be used 10 or 20 times. Measure that length and then divide the needed number of stitches by 10 or 20. So if you wanted 100 sts, then I would wrap 20 times and pull out 5 times the length of the 20 wraps.
That center (on one side the end is dangling down and on the other the yarn is being pulled from the cake) will become the first stitch. You will be using the tail section and the yarn from the cake at the same time.

2- From that center wrap the yarn around your fingers like this - clockwise around the thumb. The tail is hanging from your thumb and the cake thread from your fingers. Some folks make a slip knot first (see #4) but I just merrily go ahead without one. It's your choice.

copyright S Sarabasha 2/2011

Keep the yarn tensioned as shown in #4 illustration below.

3- Now place your needle just so: Up through the thumb loop and then under the cake thread toward the thumb

copyright S Sarabasha 2/2011

and then down and through the thumb loop

as shown in the illustration below with a dotted line and arrow, making a stitch by sliding the loop off your thumb.

copyright S Sarabasha 2/2011

4- Gently cinch this stitch up on the needle, but not tightly (center is now on the needle). Place the yarn as below and make another stitch.

copyright S Sarabasha 2/2011

In other words,

a) Start with a slip knot or one stitch made from #1-3 above

b) Then replace the yarn onto your fingers as shown, keeping the threads tensioned with the middle, ring and pinky fingers

c) Send the needle under the front thread widening the space,

d) Now move your needle over to the next finger, going under that thread and making a stitch

e) Pull that stitch toward you, going back under the first thread and up, removing the yarn from the thumb

f) Cinch up the sts with your fingers as shown and repeat from b)

A picture is truly worth a thousand words, well maybe several hundred anyway.

You'll get the hang of it soon.

Avoiding deNile

2011-02-18T12:31:00.000-05:00

For the last few weeks, Deidre has been knitting various smallish projects at Knit Knite. Finally I asked her about them. She said she is making at least one Holiday Present a month to try to avoid that last minute river some of us seem to fall into without a life preserver.

Once I really thought about it, the idea truly appealed. Imagine not having that feeling in November and December? Maybe you can but I can't. Habits can be changed. IF one is really motivated. I could be so motivated. Plus this one project a month thing might just rid my studio of vast amounts of UFO's. Well... several anyway.

I was going to start on something for my sister when I noticed a paper bag that was slowly becoming a brick in the UFO foundation pile. Opening it I found 3 skeins of Organic Blue Sky Alpaca Cotton. Such softness, so pretty. I remembered having seen the Knit Chicken Pattern on Ravelry and adventuring to a LYS out on the tip of RI to find it and the yarn. Sadly they did not even know of Blue Sky Alpacas. Perhaps being almost in the ocean is limiting somehow??

Is this not adorable? And where did they find that 1950's refrigerator?

However, back in Ithaca I was able to purchase both the yarn and the pattern at Knitting Etc. and the thrill of deciding just which colors would be best for DILLiz. Liz likes chicken/rooster decorations in her kitchen area. She has a few although with her husband's spotted cows and decorations from 3 kids you really couldn't tell there was any rhyme or reason to them. It's mostly friendly and warm.

Then I saw the Fair Isle Option and knew I wanted to do that one.

However I needed to wait until a LYS contest was completed so Michelle Mooney could post the chart. Of course, with fiber ADD I soon went on to another project, leaving this one for the late Nov present crunch. But starting something of this compexity during deNile cruising is not a good idea so I made her something else. This became a recurring theme - until yesterday.

YESTERDAY I started a new HABIT. The feelings are amazing. I start to tell myself, "OK now this morning you will do 5 rounds, and then after lunch another 5 rounds and then after dinner 5 more." Then I stop myself. Why? Because this is not a fast trip but a leisurely one. I can enjoy the pattern. Read the pattern carefully, several times.

( Liz likes to drink tea. 2 Xmas's ago Matt got her a metal teapot and a heating stand and matching cups. This past Xmas I sent her those neat 2 walled glass cups and some blossoming tea. So tea presents are a winning idea for Liz. Plus she loves my hand made stuff.)

Discussing the size of a teapot with Jim, we decided the medium would be a better fit, necessitating many added chart columns. And instead of knitting a bottom I made a nice picot edging which changed the potential from a stuffed chicken into a Tea Cosy. There is no time for such rearranging during deNile.

And now 7 rounds in the chart are completed. Many days left in February too.

Such fun!

This really opens up all kinds of ideas for presents.

Smokeyblue is the best model

2011-02-17T10:58:00.001-05:00

Anyone who has the BareBones Sock Pattern or any of my toe up patterns designed in the last year knows about nibbling up those gussets stitches.

There is a pic of SmokeyBlue accompanying this section. Most probably cannot really see that he is nibbling up some grass and dandelion stalks as the pic is way smaller than this one. But, it is a cute accompaniment.

Deciding that cute was not enough of a reason to include the pic....

copyright S Sarabasha 2/2011

Illumination

2011-02-16T12:49:00.001-05:00

Once upon a time, long long ago, I earned my living doing Natural Science Illustration. I was pretty good at it too but at the time just did not know how to wear all the hats necessary to success very well. I did a book, Prune (horrible title), which was translated into Danish plus some calendar illustrations and a bunch of work for a local press until they moved to CA. Way back then, sending illustrations by the internet was chancy and too unusual so that work finally dwindled. I did get other assignments and accounts but, again, I'd much rather draw than beat the bushes for work.

When times were economically unsure I did Home Teaching for the Ithaca School District. That was very different from Home Schooling. I would meet with a kid that was sick or suspended and tutor him/her through assignments from his/her teachers. Actually I liked doing that and the steady money so well, I took the needed credits and student teaching placement. Drawing for myself and some accounts continued but it dwindled over the years.

Dyeing yarn, working on my website and dyeing fiber, with occasional drawing, is what the creative urges have channeled in to.

Until this week.

For the past couple of weeks knitting designs have been pouring out of me. I have written a cowl and a hat pattern. Have rewritten 2 cuff down patterns to toe up and am in process of some really neat toe up socks that will look splendiferous in sandals this spring. Plus a vest and another shruggy are in the works.

This illustration is to help with the double cast on for toe up socks. It uses long tail but the yarn is doubled. Can you follow the direction your needle will go?

I am also toying with the idea of self publishing a book of my patterns, using fingering yarn in many manifestations. The working title is taken from my last knitting club. Finger Knittin' Good.
We shall see.

Best of Both Worlds

2011-02-07T17:59:00.000-05:00

Lately I have been into knitting more than spinning. Usually knitting is a process and spinning seems to be for a project but Finishupitis mixed with Startitis (see the Yarn Harlot for definitions) have confuddled my circuits.
A lot of projects have been completed (see previous posting) and several new designs are started. Until I know where the designs are going I can't really show them to you which puts a crimp in the sharing of the excitement while making them. But I just might cheat a wee little bit.

The two diseases got me combining spinning with the already done feature of ready made yarn.

I love Blue Lagoon and even though I thunk it up last summer lately, right now, it is a color that perks me up amid all the white and grey and dark brown and ice.

So I spun up a thin single of blue Lagoon Polwarth and paired it with some Woody Blue Lagoon. Now I'm knitting it into a pair of socks for moi using the Bare Bones pattern.

I also had a single of some mostly purpley Blueberry Patch that I paired with Blue Lagoon Woody to make the newest hat prototype. I just knit with 2 strands held together making a heavy worsted weight yarn on size 8 needles.

It works for me, at least for now.

OFF the needles.

2011-01-30T11:26:00.000-05:00

I think it may be a residual result of getting so many things actually done and given to relatives, friends and charity but I have been finishing items and hesitating to start new ones even though I have purchased a pattern or two, some Madelinetosh yarn, and have several pattern designs running around in my head.

So what is OFF the needles and done?

1- The tam I promised in exchange for some discontinued Filatura di Crossa kid mohair / acrylic (yes- acrylic - don't faint. We'll keep this just between us.) yarn.

2- The tam I promised myself once the de Nile items were done and the exchange hat was completed and shipped off to Ontario.

3- The vest I made to use up 4 skeins of the angora/merino yarn. (BTW all but 3 skeins in natural remain.)

Taken with my iPod. Gosh I love that little gizmo.

4 - The sweater I started way back last year. I actually meant it to be a short sleeved cardi but once it was all knit decided to leave it as a sweater.

I was going to put buttons down the steeked column and let it look cardi-ish but when the sweater was blocked decided to actually turn it into a v-neck short sleeved sweater.

This meant changing the steek line. I tried on the sweater to see where to end the V and decided the best place was above the horizontal band near the bust line.
Steeking is scary under regular circumstances but I took a chance, marked a v line with pins and then used my trusty sewing machine to make a nice unseeable hold off the unraveling line of stitches. Then I breathed a lot, went away, came back, went away, picked up the scissors and had a chat with myself.

"So what's the worst that can happen?
Well I could ruin this sweater.
Yes, and......????
Well it took forever to knit.
Are you in love with it?
No, I thought I would be but am not.
OK then, so it won't be too traumatic if you ruin this will it?
Sigh,"

Then I held my breath and snipped and looked around. Amazingly nothing catastrophic had occurred. The room looked the same, the ceiling was in place, the snow was still outside and the cat was still sleeping on the bed with Basel on the floor on his pillow. Let out breath.

Next I picked up stitches all around using a 24" circ. So far so good.
Then the collar edging was knit to match the other edgings and bound off. When I went to block this part I saw the edging was a bit loose so tacked the bottom into a more pronounced V.

Disaster averted and it actually fits.

AND

5 - Knit Picks has posted my latest design for them. Circle of Hearts Beret.

So now I am allowed to begin a new design. My Very Own Cowl for mvosister who says she wears the Pretty Thing almost every day in this cold cold winter.

There's a fantastic vest in the works too.

Bunny Bulky

2011-01-19T14:53:00.000-05:00

I love yarn with angora in it. Actually I love almost anything with angora. I always think others will love it too but it is becoming my experience that way more folks like other combos than angora or way more folks are just not will to pay the extra to get angora or maybe way more folks don't want to be as warm as angora yarn will be (5-6 times warmer than wool).

Chinese workers get bupkas in pay. They work long hours under horrible conditions, live in dorms where they need to buy their own toilet paper and are told to be grateful. One of the many reasons our economy is in the toilet is because so many of our manufacturers find it cheaper to build factories in China and employ Chinese workers than pay Americans what we are worth.

I try to avoid purchasing goods made in China. To this end I commissioned another bunny lover to make me some bulky yarn. It is hand 3 plied and naturally dyed. It is also all American. Bunny, alpaca and merino all from the USA. Dyed and plied in the USA. Candy Cane Well when stuff is hand done in the USA we do need to cough up more than what we have grown accustomed to paying for hand done stuff out of China. $50-$150 for a hand made 'imported' quilt is ridiculous yet you see them in many catalogs.

I paid for 150 yard skeins of this so soft bulky weight yarn in 3 colorways and 1 natural color. So far, in 4 months ONE skein has sold - that includes 2 vendings and on the internet. I have been drooling over these skeins since they came in but kept telling myself they would sell and be loved by someone else. Finally, last week I succombed and took all 4 skeins of Huckleberry Ice for myself.

Then I went on Ravelry and used their incredible pattern search engine -- Vest, knitting, photos, no more than 600 yards and bulky. This sorted into 31 patterns for me to choose from. Such fun. I finally went with Gwendolyn by Carolin Schwarberg from Burda Verena.

As someone who usually uses needles that are US 8 or less, knitting with 10.5 and 11's is such a treat. This vest knit up in record time. Well record time compared to the year it is taking me to finish a short sleeved sweater on US4's.

Gosh - in this pic it looks like a little kid's dress.

I got halfway to the armpits in ONE DAY.

3 skeins took me to the end of the back but the 4th skein needed to be added on to sew up the shoulders.

All that is left is the neck and sleeve edgings and I can start knowing there is plenty of yarn left to get it all done. Sometimes a quick project that is not a hat is such a kick. Oh and the fact that I have shed a whole size is a definite plus.

Yes we did!

2011-01-16T11:39:00.000-05:00

It's been a rough week what with the shootings in Tucson and the ensuing debates. Gabrielle Giffords is miraculously free of her breathing tube and actually improving by leaps and bounds. I believe that is from all the love sent to her from so many people who find this kind of violence abhorrent. She is a fine fine human being.

However the darkness in this country in books, in songs, in movies and Tea Party/Republican rhetoric is difficult to avoid. I belong to Knitters for Obama on Ravelry. We have been having quite the forum on violence in speeches as stepping stones to people who just need a nudge or two to act violently. Just because your candidate did not get elected, is no reason to invoke the 2nd Amendment. However when I was teaching I saw this trend in too many students and adults alike who did not take responsibility for their actions or consequences resulting from their actions. Our democracy is at risk.

Somehow I will become involved in something to remedy this trend. Charity knitting doesn't do it although it does foster good feelings. Don't quite know what yet, but it will appear.

Meanwhile watch this video to regain some of that hope and good feeling we had during the last presidential campaign and for a bit afterwards too.

All's well that ends well.

2011-01-04T16:46:00.000-05:00

So my fellow cruisers, you are probably wondering where I have gone, what I have done and whom with?

With Jim recuperating and me doing his chores I find I have less time and energy for other things and some stuff gets to take a back seat. Blogging became one of those.

Recapping on the DeNile cruise stops.

#1- hot pads for my mother √

#2- a specific something, maybe 2, for my sister but she reads this so I am not going to say. √√

A hot pad similar to the ones for my mother but in a plain dull sage coloring. That is just my opinion. Mvos likes tans, taupe, dull sage, grey and blacks. OR as a member of my guild says - murk.

Then hand spun cashmere knit into the Yarn Harlot's Pretty Thing cowl.

I was kinda hoping to have a pic of her in one but she is extremely camera shy, that or she just made nice noises and will pack this away with other nice but not wanted stuff.

#3- Texting mitts for granddaughter Alicia - √

These and the new Kathy Reichs book, Virals were a big hit. Her Great grandma wanted to know what she would do with gloves with no fingers, weren't they useless. "Oh no, Gram they are for texting."

#4- A felted bag granddaughter Amelia - √

Amelia sings in a chorus and loves horses. It was rather difficult to find good horse music that could be easily felted. I settled on "A Horse with No Name".

#5- Socks for Jim - √

Started the day of his surgery 12/14 and completed on his birthday, 12/26 5 hours before midnight.

#6- Finish my shruggy shawl to wear Christmas eve - √ with conditions

I extended the deadline as something had to give with that tight cruise schedule. I wore a store bought sweater to Christmas eve services instead of the shruggy and allowed myself a new deadline of 12/31. Done on time with a few hours to spare. Now I get to wear it for Roc Day.

#7- A hat or a scarf for my DIL Liz

And my son says it looks very good on her. Temps are in the 40's and 50's in their neck of CA so I am imagining her getting good use out of this one.

And I so fell in love with this yarn and this hat that I did a Ravelry search. The yarn is, of course, discontinued so no amount of dogpiling turned up more than an orange shade at WEBs. However on Ravelry I did find another Susan (but in Ontario) who had several in her stash. She generously sent me a skein. In return I am knitting her the same hat but in a lighter shade of the same yarn. She is blond so should look very good in it.

#8- A thank you scarf for Teri - √

Jim spun the black merino. I spun the multi colored merino. Then I held both together to get a worsted weight yarn.

#9- There is/are probably another one or two hiding some where in the yarn room - √

A donation for our Roc Day raffle.

All in all a very successful trip down that creek called DeNile but---- I got very tired of working under such pressure with so many deadlines one after the other. Ruth says I say the same thing every year. sigh.

How did your trip conclude?

Glory to the Knitters

2010-12-24T12:55:00.000-05:00

We know knitters are a bit different from the average muggle. For one thing muggles think we are the most patient people they have ever met, not knowing that without our knitting keeping our fingers busy and creating something useful from 'wasted' time, we might actually bite someone's head off.

We continue to amaze the folks at Doctors without Borders, although when a volunteer calls and I say I have already given through Knitters Without Borders, being muggles they don't know what I am talking about. Knitters have contributed $1,062,217 out of a goal of 1 million $. This amount is still increasing as the emails get counted. You actually do give to Doctors Without Borders but then you email the Yarn Harlot and it is counted in the Knitters' totals separately.

Some of us give and some knit and some do both for causes local and around the world. I believe we do this from our hearts, expecting nothing in return except that we feel better knowing that our efforts have helped someone somewhere.

Recently here in Ithaca I wrote about the grad students learning to knit and then each giving one item to our community effort to help the young adults at Trinity Place Shelter in NYC. We also attended community knit-ins to work on other items. The woman who coordinated the effort has let us know that we sent 15 scarves, 30 hats, hand warmers, leg warmers and a lap blanket plus a box of new socks and underwear.

The shelter's executive director wrote, "FYI, Your queer knitters not only saved Christmas but also our beloved youth's cold fingers, noses and toes!!!! :) THE BOXES HAVE BEGUN TO ARRIVE!!! Hats, gloves and scarves were given out immediately, tonight! To much fanfare and immense delight of the youth!"

This morning I saw this amazing video and just had to share it with you all.

If you are so moved please make donations payable to:

Livability John Grooms Norwich

and send them to:

The Knitted Christmas Tree

John Grooms Court

215 Sprowston Road

Norwich NR3 4HX

United Kingdom

Thank you

What an extreme pleasure it is to share this craft with so many talented heartfelt folks.

Happy Holidays.

Our regularly scheduled blog will return in a day or two with Holiday Knitting results.

Medical Miracles

2010-12-14T20:30:00.009-05:00

I am not generally a fan of western medicine. I think pharmaceuticals are used way too often when prevention or something else like more exercise, better eating or losing weight might be a better option. However when it comes to surgical procedures I am a real supporter.

Jim's back has been hurting him for 10 years or more. He has had progressive neuropathy of his feet resulting in his dancing when standing still (just to maintain some balance), no feeling on his soles and rarely being able to bend his toes. In the past year the pain associated with all off this has grown and grown to where he could not bend over without severe lingering pain. He did see a neurologist many years ago but that guy basically told him to 'suck it up'. Being a guy, that is just what he did. sigh

After many months of ~~nagging~~ gentle persuasion and the fact that he really really wants to paddle the Adirondack Classic again (he's raced it 13 times and won 3 times in his class) he agreed to see a physician a couple of months ago. An MRI was taken and an appointment with a neurosurgeon was made. Dr. Gregorie showed us the MRI on a computer. It was fascinating (well most stuff technological is fascinating to me). He could switch from one vertebra to another up and down Jim's spine. The triangular area inside the spine was mostly clear except for between the 3rd and 4th lower vertebrae. In that section it wasn't grey or dark grey, it was black. Actually it was rather scary to think that Jim's nerve endings were trying to live and breathe inside essentially no space. The soonest the doc could schedule surgery was 3 weeks away.

Once this appointment was made Jim stopped 'sucking it up'. I got to see just how much he had been compensating for his poor back being so arthritis ridden.

A couple weeks back I was getting worried about getting to the hospital by 6:30 am in the snow. The hospital is in Sayre, PA, about 50 minutes drive south through the back of beyond from our house. I searched on the internet and found only 2 motels in the area. Both were rather high priced for just sleeping time for two nights - the night before and the night after. However Cathy C's niece has connections so we got reservations at an extremely reasonable rate. Turns out this was a great plan as we were expecting 4-8 inches by Monday night. Cole, our pet/house sitter came over earlier than planned to get a snow blower lesson and we took off early too so we could drive in the blowing snow in mostly daylight.

This morning was the day. The promised snow had not arrived in Sayre but it was 12 degrees and very windy. We got up about 5 and to the hospital by 6:25. Jim was taken in quickly and I was told he was in the operating room by 8:45. I brought some hand dyed (by me) and hand spun by Jim mahogany bfl/silk cable plied into a 6 ply yarn to make him some toe up socks.

It's like a prayer shawl. I knit and send love at the same time. I plugged in my earbuds to listen to the latest Chet & Bernie story and knit knit knit. Did I mention how nice and helpful and friendly just about everyone was? Well, it was a positive peaceful experience sitting there waiting and praying and knitting.

Somewhere around 10:30 Dr Gregorie came out to report that all was very well and that he thought Jim would be walking by this evening. He said Jim would sleep for another hour and then be taken up to his room. About 12:00 one of the volunteers suggested I put all my stuff behind her desk and go have some lunch as the Inn was rather full at the moment and it would be another hour before Jim's room would be ready.

That I did. We can leave out the quality of the food in the hospital cafeteria. I will rant on this subject another day. Suffice to say the amount of salt and healthiness of the food offered is way behind surgical techniques.

Finally Jim was taken up to the 7th floor where he was encouraged to walk from his bed in the hall to his bed in his room. Being still a bit woozy he made it just fine with a bit of help and remarked that for the first time in memory he did not have shooting pains down his legs or lightening bolts in his back when he sat up and lied down.

And for the big show

Two more checks

2010-12-12T21:03:00.000-05:00

On our trip down d'Nile we are about to enter the inundated land. I must say we have been inundated with snow and rain here too. Well, they probably don't have any snow near the Pyramids but this winter season who can tell.

I only see cattle, no sheeps but there are definitely still camels about.

MVOS's package is wrapped and ready for pick up tomorrow!!

√√

Sneak peeks of the final products.

Well the one below is also wrapped and ready but the pic is from shortly before I did the bind off.

Anyone wishing to see the entire pretty thing and is a ravelry member, go here.

I am hoping that after Xmas I can post a pick of mvos and this item together.

So there are now checks next to #1, #2, #3, most of one for #4 and one for #7.

The toe of one of Jim's socks is started and another 2 inches on the shruggy are completed.

OK!!

I now get to watch a netflix episode of Bones as reward.

Tools

2010-12-08T20:20:00.001-05:00

We all use some kind of tool everyday in so many ways. Sometimes a low end one will do the job or an almost right one can do in a pinch but at other times we really really need the right tool.

BTW - Does anyone know what these guys in the print are doing?

For example: a dollar or $5 or $10 bill can be substituted for a ruler or tape measure. American bills are ~6 inches long (6 1/8 to be exact) by 2.5 inches wide. So half a bill is 3" and half of that again is 1.5. Put them all together and you have a rather versatile measuring tool.

This method has come in handy several times since Jim cottoned me to the measurements.

In knitting having more than one needle choice is an excellent plan. Mostly I do have that from getting ~~cheap~~ inexpensive ones while on a trip and just having to start some new found yarn or project immediately despite the 16 UFO's I brought along. I have 5 needle holding containers (6 if you count the shop). One with the clear Knit Picks interchangeable circular set, one with my original Denise circular interchangeables, one with third or fifth level circular needles, one containing only dpns and one with first level circs being mainly Harmonies with some ebony and such thrown in. So there I was working on mvos' pretty thing and did not have any choice but to use either dpns or a US 4 Bryspun which I think doesn't flow the stitches well until US5 or 6 or some dpns. I looked and looked but somehow missed getting US4 16" circs. Amazing I know.

I have lots of dpns in birch and surina and bamboo woods. As I have said, not having fun on a present is the pits so I put it down and was about to order US 4 16" fixed circs when Jim told me they were already on their way.

Each year Jim gets me some needles from Knit Picks for either my birthday or Xmas. This year it was fortunately for my birthday which is only a few days away. When he heard me grousing about the cashmere floating away from me on the surinas he asked if I wanted my present a bit early and handed me the Knit Pics box that had just come in. What a guy!!! US 2, 3 & 4 16" circs, 2 of each. Thank you big time Jim!!

I am now half way through her present, cruising right along using the best tools possible. I probably could do a commercial for Knit Picks needles but think they already know how wonderful their product is.

Warm Sunshine

2010-12-07T18:43:00.000-05:00

After a relatively mild November, December is making sure we know it is Winter now. Its been snowing for days. I am feeling light deprived, still taking my daily dose of Vitamin D (as many northeasterners have a Vit D deficiency!!) but suppose I will adjust soon.

A √ on #9 - one of the mystery items found in the yarn room.

This is the Deathly Hallows hat I showed you yesterday - well my version anyway - a quick satisfying knit. The decreases are a bit funky but in mohair who can really tell? I also added a many faceted black button on top that reflects all the deep rainbow colors. I think I am either in LOVE with this hat or with the yarn. I know not which and really don't care but do love how it looks on. Good thing it is now earmarked for my DIL.

Of course I don't know what her winter coat looks like as I have not visited her in the winter months and have a feeling my son and grands don't remember it either as they have avoided answering that question. They live way on the other coast in sunny CA so maybe she wears it a couple of weeks in January? I wouldn't remember what it looked like either if I only saw it that infrequently. However I know she gets cold easily and also values hand made items. With the deep rainbow it should go with almost anything.

PS - The Knit Picks needles came in today!!!!

Inside

2010-12-06T20:58:00.000-05:00

While we are inside exploring a tomb we don't notice that is is dark and snowy outside.

I was working diligently on mvos' pretty thing but getting very frustrated with the dpns as the stitches kept falling off the ends and with that particular stitch pattern I was having problems keeping ladders out of the piece.

I thought, 'I should be enjoying' this so stopped at line 10. However I did have fun in Photoshop disguising it. Now I am patiently awaiting size US4 16" Harmonies to arrive. Only 1 ladder to worry about and no more stitches falling off. Then the fun will certainly happen.

Meanwhile I ~~used this as an excuse~~ was compelled to start the Deathly Hallows Hermione hat from the movie. I saw the hat, the scarf and the mitts but the hat really grabbed me. Do any of you glom in on the knitted items when watching movies?

Ravelry is so fantastic. I just searched for 'Hermione Hat' and up it came. One very nice knitter, Grace Falls, figured it all out after seeing a preview a few months back. The pattern is free and easy. I am knitting it from some Stash Filature di Crosa Multicolor mohair. Hard to see the pattern but a very lightweight neat hat. BTW the scarf and hat are listed on there too.

The tote for Amelia was dry today. I took out all the books and tried it on. UH OH. The bottom did not lie next to my body but at right angles to it. OH NO. What to do?

First I thought the pattern was all wrong but upon looking more closely I see where I made an assumption instead of following the directions. My bad!!!! Now I will have to cut off its head. I think if I cut off the top part, above the mohair, and then sew it back on a quarter turn it will be OK. I can take advantage of the opportunity to sew a pocket in too.

So no √s today but some progress - forward, backward and stand still.

Overnight

2010-12-05T13:12:00.000-05:00

Nothing like camping out overnight to sleep under the stars. Have mostly done this in the Adirondacks, Alongquin Park in Canada and the Boundary Waters in MN. However on this virtual cruise we can rest under palms and see the night sky over the pyramids even with snow actually coming down.

Oh-- and collect camel fluff in the mornings.

Last night I completed knitting the Music Bag for Amelia or, as Jim says, a sock for an elephant.

(That's Joanne modeling.)

Cascade220 Quatro turquoise/brown/teal, Cascade220 Heather brown and Cascade220 solid cream. I added some stash turquoise Italian mohair to the sections above and below the potential music notes area. This was such an easy knit with a cool method for the strap. Two Measures of Joy by Elizabeth Mamo. Great social knitting or for when you are too tired to do much thinking.

This morning our washer played aggressively with the 'elephant sock' resulting in this book stuffed tote.

Another, but secret project, was started this morning for mvos (myveryownsister). Too bad I can't show it to you until after Xmas. The yarn was spun in late July and kept in a baggie awaiting the Cruise.

Maybe I can do something to it in Photoshop-hmmmnn.

Cruising by the Sphinx

2010-12-04T14:18:00.000-05:00

Coming right along on the steady current of d'nile.

Stopping to view some pyramids and sculptural remains of the Sphinx but goin' right on by to Item #3-

Texting mitts for granddaughter Alicia.

Made from hand dyed alpaca/merino/silk plied with itself in blueberry patch and angora/merino in blueberry plied with some starry night silk turning half a check into a full √.

And ~~lack of sleep~~ the elasticity of time is producing this

oversized tote that shall be felted down to a useable gift so now its got half a √.

Goin' down d'nile

2010-12-02T18:54:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the comments and encouragements. You are really ~~enabling~~ helping me. I have decided that I firmly believe in the elasticity of time and that lack of sleep will give me an edge (maybe a blunt edge, but still).

In the mid 1850s W H Bartlett visited Egypt and travelled down the Nile by boat. He recorded his impressions in a book called 'The Nile Boat or Glimpses of the Land of Egypt'. The plates in the book were engraved from his own drawings except for the material from Abu Simbel which he did not reach due to illness. The plates here are reproduced from a fifth edition of the book published in 1862.

And today we have #1

It's Egypt time again.

2010-11-30T21:06:00.000-05:00

So why do I wait until November to start Holiday presents is my main question??? I do it every year and every year I get nuts. Yarn does not spoil or mold as our stashes have shown us for many years so why do I think a knitted present will be old if I make it 6 months in advance? Got any clues for me?

Here's my list:

1- hot pads for my mother √
2- a specific something, maybe 2, for my sister but she reads this so I am not going to say.
3- texting mitts for one grand daughter - half a √
4- a felted bag for the other granddaughter - started
5- socks for Jim
6- finish my shruggy shawl to wear Christmas eve - half a √
7- a hat or a scarf for my DIL
8- a thank you scarf for Teri
9- there is/are probably another one or two hiding some where in the yarn room

I am not about to set a schedule as the Yarn Harlot does. It would make me frantic. Although it actually might bring home reality and save the cost of the cruise down the Nile.

sigh
Back to outer space.

Oh Baby!

2010-11-27T13:31:00.000-05:00

At this point in my life I am thankfully well beyond having babies of my own. Our children seem to be beyond that point as well, as the youngest grand is 8. Darn! As I do love making baby things and shopping for those cute tiny items. However I hope the older grands, 16 and 18 wait a bit longer to procreate and not make some just so I can knit.

However knitting/spinning folk in my purview are currently creating little ones and that is just so fine. Even though I love making baby sweaters I really don't know how small to make them but just do my best and figure that at some point the dear little one will grow into them.

Aziza popped out fraternal twins in late June. They are her third set, 2 girls, 2 boys and this time, a boy and a girl. Aziza is also a twin as is her mom.

Sharon and I spun 4 oz Panda fiber for each project and then made these neat Presto Chango sweaters for Abram Clarence in Clematis Vine plied with Fern and, on the right, Zaylee Elaine in Butterfly Bush.

Meanwhile T was baking a boy for herself and DH Jeremy. Little Theodore Joseph, to be known as Theo, was born on November 2 weighing in at 9lbs 10oz of "total love muffin" to quote his mom.

Newborn Theo and his Dad Jeremy.

The Garter Yoke Sweater and Berry Baby Hat was almost ready by that time. Of course, it has yet to reach the tyke but hopefully next week our calendars will mesh. It's knit from our new sportweight superwash merino yarn.

Next up was Kristin. She was was not due until January, but the docs decided the baby was in danger so were closely monitoring both Kristin and the babe. Instead of a prayer shawl I decided to knit a prayer sweater (another garter yoke). The Berry Baby Hat (my fav baby hat that has just a wee bit of fair isle at the tip and a top knot as well) was completed at 6:30 Wed evening, 11/24, and Julia Beverly was born at 9:01 by C-section.

Whew! I know a lot of people were sending love and prayers their way and am so glad to have played a small part in her safe passage to us here on earth.

She's only ONE pound 9 ounces in this picture. Modern neo natal medicine is producing miracles but I am still sending love and prayers.

Hopefully by the time she is released from the hospital in January she will fit into this newborn sized outfit.

Paying it Forward

2010-11-20T13:37:00.000-05:00

photo by Bill Price, III

Ruth A, Kris C, Ruth C and I are teaching knitting and crocheting to a group of Cornell grad students at Cornell's Big Red Barn on Monday nights. Kris, who is a manager of this grad and professional gathering place, thought the idea up as our previous charity knitting group was dissolving.

The four of us volunteer our expertise and services while the students gets these classes for free but, in exchange, make one item for charity for every item they make for themselves.

Our local Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Task Force, along with other local services, is targeting Trinity Place as our current receiver of knitted goods. There have been 4 public knitting sessions at Out for Health with local yarn shops and dyers donating yarn and goodies for the cause.

I am used to teaching middle schoolers so the level of continued interest and understanding while teaching knitting is uplifting to me. These folks have come a long way in just a few short weeks. Of course we have some attrition, but the students who have continued are fabulous.

We began with basic knitting, learning to knit a garter stitch swatch the first night, all with circular needles. By the end of the evening several of the women had also learned how to do a purl stitch plus a long tail cast on. We have given no homework but since these folks have an incredible self drive they continue as time permits during the week.

For the second session several were ready to start a hat in the round, while a few frogged their swatches and became much better at keeping a consistent tension and number of stitches on the needle.

As the women ask questions we talk about knitting history and knitting language and knitting culture. The hour and a half flies by, and goes even faster when Ruth and I are treated to a glass of beer.

I made a Beginner's Hat sheet for them to follow. Essentially, finding gauge from their swatch, measuring their heads and figuring out how many stitches to cast on. Most came out with 4.5 st/in which is spot on for the yarns we were using (all worsted weights). The majority started a hat that evening. Basically a tube that is kitchenered at the top. Then the ends are folded down and held with a button.

Cute and simple. By Session 3 we saw incredible progress. One student had finished her tube and was waiting for kitchener instructions, but was so in love with knitting she went ahead and started a second hat with a ribbed bottom. Another student made up her own stitch, which was really a version of basket weave 5 x5, only hers decreased to 4 x 4, 3 x 3, etc as she decreased stitches on her needle, and then was stopped by too few stitches to move around the circ. So that evening Ruth and I taught a few of them how to use dpns.

They are so incredibly into this! I get so excited and high at these sessions just from the combined enthusiasm and joy we are all creating together. Really, the beer is just an added bonus.

These are some of the crochet students.

Next week we were supposed to have a week off for Thanksgiving but our knitting students asked for a Field Trip instead. We will be meeting at a local yarn shop, then going to Joanne Fabrics to look at buttons, then over to AC Moore for yarn shop contrast and then back to the original mall to have dinner or soft drinks and knit together for a while.

Announcing Estrella

2010-11-15T15:56:00.000-05:00

I am pleased and proud to announce that my faroese shawl, Estrella, is now up on the Knit Picks IDP site. This is the 5th pattern accepted by Knit Picks. They are incredibly easy and supportive people to work with.

I designed this shawl to start from the mostest amount of stitches and then decrease to the least. My reasoning is: I get bored or tired of a project after a while and if the amount of stitches is increasing then I have less chance of actually finishing the piece. I am assuming some of you think this way too.

The instructions are line by line in a table format for ease of following.

Check it out!

The other 4 are:

Butterflies and Kisses Leg Warmers - fast and delightful for any teenage girl on your gift list.

Sea Shell Socks as seen in the October Knit Picks catalog, p39. A beautiful toe up sock that uses actual foot measurements to make sure this one fits the foot it is meant for.

Berry Pie Socks - a cuff down 2 color creation that is seriously easier than it looks. Clear detailed instructions and pictures are included.

And the Linear Shawl - knit side to side. This one is a good take along project.

Here we go again.

2010-11-11T13:10:00.000-05:00

I am in the midst of packing up the shop, so we can pack up the Uhaul so we can drive it to Fairport, NY (near Rochester) so we can unpack the Uhaul and set up our booth at the Lake Country Fiber Festival this weekend.

In the midst of this packing and printing of patterns and such I took a break to look at the Yarn Harlot's latest blog.

November 10, 2010

Waiting Well

I am sitting in the Vancouver airport, waiting for my next flight, and knitting silk hankies into pretty mittens.

I'm enjoying doing so in front of ordinary people, many who are perplexed and interested, watching me pull a single cocoon layer off the hankies, peering while I draft and knit, then looking away quickly when I look up. The woman in the seat next to me all the way here was out of her mind with curiosity, but couldn't bring herself to ask.

I didn't tell her. They really need to take the first step before I go all missionary on them.
What are you doing?

What a great idea! I will have silk hankies, mostly undyed, available at the show for anyone wanting to try their hand at this neat project.

Not south enough

2010-11-01T12:45:00.000-04:00

I wanted to show you the inspiration for the Tamarack & Spruce Colorway. It took most of the weekend and many almost shots to get any clear enough to keep. The rain, snow, wet snow, sleet and greyness in the Adirondacks didn't help much but on Sunday there were patches of sun periodically lending not only some great light but hope for a clearing day ahead.

The above pic is on the other side of the 'Lake' from the cottage. It really is no bigger than a good sized pond but the person who creatively named the lakes in the Fulton Chain - 1st Lake, 2nd Lake, 3rd Lake, etc chose not to name this one 3rd Pond (there's a First and Second Pond before the beginning of this chain) for some unknown reason.

This pic below shows a goodly range of the colors the Tamarack can turn as it sheds its needles.

The colors are about gone in the Adirondacks. Peak was weeks ago and grey stormy November is settling in. However I always find beauty in the area. I especially love the Moose River and all its winding sections. A number of years ago, when I was dyeing silk, embroidering on silk and in general making Art Quilts, I put this piece together. It really embodies early November in the Central Adirondack Region to me.

We left the Adirondacks late morning with the temps at 30ish and and happily watched them climb to about 45 as we drove southwest, arriving home late yesterday afternoon, experiencing sleet, corn snow, rain, sleet, rain, snow etc along the way. However we saw enough patches of sky to be hopeful for today (plus the forecast said it would be partly sunny). I awoke this morning to this view out my bedroom window.

Alas, 4.5 hours southwest is not enough.

Quiet Time

2010-10-30T17:16:00.000-04:00

Jim and I planned a nice quiet weekend away together (with Baz of course). We come up here to canoe, hike, sit, read and just be peaceful. The town the cottage is in has no overall internet or cell service. At first this is difficult to get used to but once accepted it is delightful. The cottage has electric, water, heat, great views and, of course, was completely refitted by Jim so is beautiful as well.

It usually takes me a day or so to unwind and get unhooked from technology but this time I must have been in dire need of being off the tech grid. We planned a nice hike and a dinner or two out but other than that had nothing special on the agenda. The weather did not cooperate as it has rained most of the weekend and today is 36 degrees. So a thought came to me on Friday and I started knitting it. I knit a prototype and wrote a draft for a lacy beret in about 24 hours. I am so impressed with what I can do with so much uninterrupted time.

Usually, when up here, I hike from the cottage to town each morning to sit on the benches in front of the closed library borrowing it's wifi (along with several others) but the weather and temps really put a damper on that idea. So I decided to wait until today at 3 when the Screamen Eagle opened to sit in their bar (um Draft House), have a nice ale, check my messages and write this blog. I am also about to order a pizza to take back to Jim and Baz.

Hanky Panky

2010-10-27T12:48:00.000-04:00

Spanky likes to hunt birds. He has several blinds near the house that work well for him - one under a bench on the deck and one under the table on the deck, both near a feeder. Fortunately he does not actually get more than a tail feather or two most of the time. He also likes to chase squirrels from those blinds. In my experience he has not yet gotten even one squirrel tail hair.

We also have a feeder outside the dining room window that is on the second floor from the rear of the house and on the first from the front.

He is ever the optimist.