Satisfying Weekend

Laziness may appear attractive,
but work gives satisfaction.--Anne Frank

I feel very satisfied after this weekend. I was able to finish the stocking and the crocheted tops to the dishtowels.

We got our tree and mom’s tree up, the ducks pen cleaned, the greenhouse fixed, the roof finished and all the decorations up.

I am not happy with the stocking but it is done and it is only for a cat so….I do not like the intarsia and will go back to the fair isle after Christmas.

Tonight we go to the mall where the little man is singing with his choir, tomorrow night is Boy Scouts and then we are going to all synchronize our watches and decorate the tree together.

I am the navigator.

Time flies. It is up to you to be the navigator. ~ Robert Orbin

I have not been a good navigator recently. Instead of finishing the two projects that I had planned, I actually added two more! All of these projects are fairly easy and would go fast if the time allowed, but time has been stretched to the limit with the season. The kids have parties for Boy/Girl Scouts and each of their classes has parties next week. Wednesday night was my son’s concert and this coming Monday he will sing in the mall with his choir. Yesterday the Ladies Aux. at the firehouse baked cookies all day to send to soldier’s in Iraq and today we have to package them all.

But back to fiber content. I had to make a pair of mittens and a pair of fingerless gloves. I added a stocking and crocheted tops to dish towels. My oldest daughter wants the last two but the stocking isn’t for her, it is for her cat. The cat’s name is Cleocatra and it is my “grandkitten” or so she keeps telling me.
So I was going to do the stocking using the stranded method I am learning…and so I found a picture of a kitten here http://www.cross-stitch-patterns.us/cross-stitch-patterns-product-282.html, enlarged it and printed it out. I put a graph paper in front of it and got it as close to it as I could. I go threw the yarn I have and I don’t have the colors I need and I do NOT want to go to the store so I decide to make it from homespun. Now I will use my homespun on shawls and for hats and mittens but usually nothing with details because my homespun is not the most consistent or blob free. But I have lots of natural color spun and decide I will dye some red and green. Then I decide the fur on the hat and kitten have to have some angora in it. So I just happen to have white and gray and I spin up some singles of them and ply it with the yarn I am going to use. Then being me I just start knitting obliviously…. and then I realize I would have to carry three colors at one time while working the chart. Being fairly new to knitting I go and research and realize this is not “fair isle” but “intarsia”. So I read on how to do it and find it can’t be done in the round which is how I am knitting the stocking. So I forge on and knitted it flat during the chart and then went back to knitting in the round and will sew the seam when I am done. I am working on the gusset now. I liked knitting the hat in the two colors but I can’t say that I liked the intarsia. I like the possibilities of it but the bobbins were a pain.

So now I am going to navigate back to knitting and hopefully will post pictures when I am done which if I navigate carefully should be tonight!

A full weekend

Friday was shopping for food and presents and a side trip to the feed store.

Saturday I went to the LYS to get circulars to do the Andean Headband. They had a #5 circ but no #3. Then I went and cleaned house for a friend who is in the hospital but expecting company for Chanukah. Afterwards we went to the tree farm to pick out two tree's. We pulled in and saw this sign

who could shop for a tree from the comfort of a vehicle anyhow. You have to get cold and have snowball fights and size the tree up. And who would have thought you could find THE perfect tree …twice!! But we did. Thankfully it wasn’t so cold and it was a great day for tree picking. Then we took the younger daughter shopping so she could buy her gifts and we ate dinner out.

Sunday the younger daughter had two girl friends over. I took the laundry to mom's and was able to get it all done and in between loads get some knitting in. Then the girl’s mom came over and they all stayed for dinner.

So what did I knit…my own version of the Andean. I wrote down the directions for the Andean but not the chart. I didn’t think I would actually have the time to get that far along but I did. Well I knew the chart was fairly close to the chart from the Triple Patterned Watch Cap so I used that chart as I had it with me. I didn’t have the #3’s that it called for so I just stayed with the #5 and I am so glad I did because it just fits me. I don’t like the K2 P2 done in the #5. I am going to make another but use the twined herringbone edge and the duff chart from the Watch Cap.

I need to do a pair of mittens and a pair of fingerless mitts for Christmas so I need to put the stranded knitting on hold until they are done.
And instead of doing my work I am sitting here watching a flock of starlings devour the suet cake. The little downy woodpecker doesn't like them! They started coming on Friday I guess the cold weather brought them in. Hopefully the weather will be warming up a little this week.

The Hat is Done

It is Friday and it is only 10 degrees right now. The kids have a two hour delay because of a snow squall that went thru last night. It is COLD and windy and COLD! To bad I didn’t make the hat to fit me as I could use it right now.

I did finish the hat last night and I will do another. So what else did I learn from doing this….

1. I don’t like that the body pattern is hidden behind the cuff so I will either not turn it or I will just knit plain behind the cuff on the next one.

2. I got the throwing knitting down pretty good and was able to get pretty fast knitting that way. I hold the yarn coming up in between my index and middle finger and going over the last three and back down between my hand and the project. When I need to use the color in the right hand I let go of the needle and just move my hand forward and back to pick up the needle. It is odd but it works for me.

3. I did two repeats of the body chart and then turned the cuff up. In the pictures there should be some of the body pattern showing and in mine there wasn’t so I did rows 1 & 2 again. AFTER I got done with it and didn’t like the way it came out I tried figuring it out…I was actually knitting to gauge even though I don’t swatch and the pattern said knit the body chart for 3 ½ inches. If 6 ¾ rows =1 inch than 23.625 rows would be 3 ½ inches and I did 22 rows and it messed with the pattern. This could also be because I didn’t do the one row of MC that they said to do between the body and crown chart so…

4. Read and re-read the pattern while knitting. :^D I have a slight tendency to just march forward.

All in all it was fun and kept me going because I wanted to see the pattern. I learned how to knit with two hands and how to work in the floats. I think I am going to make a bunch of the Andean-Style Headbands from Interweave. The pattern is basically the same as the cuff on the Triple Patterned Watch Cap. It only calls for 53 yards of one color and 25 yards of another so I can get rid of a lot of leftovers from other projects.

Knit Ferrari

You need to go check out this link.... http://gadgets.qj.net/Can-t-Afford-a-Ferrari-Then-knit-one-/pg/49/aid/56201 She knit a ferrari! I just caught the end of it on the news so I had to google it and find out the whole thing!

Also, the experts have finally agreed we had a tornado hit our town which is why we had no electricity from Friday to Sunday evening. Do you think the trees down in different directions all over the place was a clue?

The hat is moving right along and should be done in about 10-15 minutes of knitting. I post pictures tomorrow.

Challenges

We are built to conquer environment, solve problems, achieve goals, and we find no real satisfaction or happiness in life without obstacles to conquer and goals to achieve. ~ Maxwell Maltz

Earlier this year I wanted to start The Triple-Patterned Watch Cap. I saw the one’s Grace made and they were beautiful. So I started but somewhere in the cuff chart I switched the two colors, got annoyed and gave up.
So yesterday while browsing the internet I found Stranded - The Color Work Challenge at http://www.strandedcolorwork.blogspot.com/ . So I joined hoping this would motivate me and it did.
After the kids went to bed I found some black and green Paton’s Merino and started to knit. I did the Twined Herringbone edge and a couple of rows of the cuff. Then this morning after the kids went to school I sat down and started to do more and realized I had made a mistake on the row below what I was working on…I tried just ripping out just that but it didn’t work and had to rip almost two rows back. Now I am on row 9 of the cuff and found that like the Wee Aran Knit that I want to finish just this part or maybe just one more row, or one more row! The charts are still confusing me because the black squares are my green and the white squares are my black so I photocopied the page and used markers in the colors I am using to show me what I am suppose to be doing.


Started

Not Bad

I thought I was doing pretty good with the floats in the back…
Not Bad

Until I saw this….


Bad floats

It seems I don’t pay attention to floats at the start of the rows! And that is not all I have learned already! While talking to Cyndy I realized I start patterns without reading. If I read them I wouldn’t start most of them. Then when I get to a problem area I have to continue because I have so much time invested! Oh I guess most important I am learning to knit the English/throw/American way. My own version of it but I am getting it done.
So anyhow I started knitting the small version of this hat and boy it is small so I guess I will give it to my daughters friend who has a two year old.


The Full Cold Moon

Last night was the Full Cold Moon and it felt like it. It went down to 19 and today they don’t expect it to go above freezing so it is a perfect time to snuggle down and knit!!!

We've Got the Power

Yes we finally got power. Due to a storm on Friday, we were without power from 5:30 Friday evening until about 4:00 this evening. It is so good to have power back. We were lucky and had a small generator to power the freezers and some lights. The kerosene heater kept us warm and we have a gas stove without electronic ignition for cooking.

The man got toned out with the fire department as soon as the storm started to hit. There were automatic fire alarms going off because of the power blinking on and off and they had to check and make sure they weren’t real fires. They had to close roads due to power lines or tree’s being down and contact the power company/dept of transportation. He didn’t get home until about 10. The kids went to their dads and I sat with one oil lamp and spun in total silence. It was actually heaven!

Approximately an hour after the storm hit the skies were completely cleared and the moon was out. The next morning was beautiful.

The fire department is also an emergency shelter so they have a generator. The craft fair that they had planned for Saturday went off without a hitch. The local VFW usually holds a prize bingo in the evening on the first Saturday in December but they didn’t have a generator. The prizes and equipment were moved to the firehall as soon as the craft fair was over and they held it there. The VFW did pretty good because with no electricity people just came to get warm and to have something to do.

So what did I learn from my weekend without electricity….That our community who bickers like family most times can actually pull together like family…..that the generator was an awesome buy as it saved three freezers of food so has already paid for itself…that I should buy a bigger generator when money allows so it will power the well and hot water heater too….that I don’t mind not having cable or lights but I need running/hot water…and lastly I learned that I spun the most consistent yarn I have ever spun when I spun Friday night in near darkness….I am going to have to put blinders on to spin from now on!

Post Thanksgiving/Pre Christmas Blahs

Isn't it funny that at Christmas something in you gets so lonely for - I don't know what exactly, but it's something that you don't mind so much not having at other times. ~Kate L. Bosher

How well she put it! I get antsy this time of year, pressured, scatter brained, annoyed easily, depressed, nostalgic, melancholy, etc. etc. etc. Nothing can hold my interest for long. I want to work on something but when I start I don’t finish it. I can curl up on the sofa all day and watch movies and then freak because I didn’t get a thing done. I just knit a mitten and was getting ready for the decrease at the top. I asked the man what he thought of it and he liked it but I decided I didn’t and frogged the whole thing. The man just shook his head and didn’t say a word. I think he is use to my yearly angst by now and just suffers through it! Another quality I love in him.

Then you listen to the TV and if they aren’t trying to sell you something every two minutes they are reporting how people are kicking each other’s butts for a bargain, or how they are taking your identity off line…how Christmas-y is that!?

There are only 27 days until Christmas (clock here http://www.emailsanta.com/clock.html ) and I have bought three presents and I made two. The man hasn’t worked since May while building the house, which we won’t be in for Christmas like I had hoped, so money is tight. The kids aren’t worried about it but I guess I am.

In hopes of getting in the holiday mood I listen to…http://www.trans-siberian.com/multimedia/video.shtml . I love them, classical yet rocking. I would have loved to have taken everyone to their concert but it wasn’t in the cards this year. Maybe next year.

I normally snap out of this before Christmas so hopefully this won’t last long before I am my normal chirpy self in love with the holiday. . . I am in desperate need of a hoorah type of day.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is the holiday of peace,
the celebration of work and the simple life...
a true folk-festival that speaks the poetry of the turn of the seasons,
the beauty of seedtime and harvest, t
he ripe product of the year -
and the deep, deep connection of all these things with God.
~Ray Stannard Baker (David Grayson)

I take a lot of things in my life for granted. I don’t say things I want to say thinking that people know how I feel or that there will be time for that later. We are not a “mushy” family. But this year so many of my friend’s lost family members or had a family member that suffered an illness. Our own family is dealing with an illness that a short time ago we never would have believed possible. So this Thanksgiving I am going to tell those in my life how thankful I am for them.

So HAPPY THANKSGIVING and THANK YOU.

The Weekend Cometh

“There aren't enough days in the weekend.”
Rod Schmidt

Lately there just have not been enough days period. It seems like I am always running somewhere, which might explain why I like doing the more portable projects like socks,

and thrummed mittens and I have got to clean my lens because both of these pics have a blur towards the bottom left. The thrummed mittens are from a pattern on line but I didn't thrum from the wrist up like they said to do because everything I read said how hot they are and I mainly wanted his fingers warm. If I make them again I will do it the right way. The first one I made the thrums as I went but the second one I made them all in advance which sped things along.

Had it not rained the whole week we would have had the shingles on the house but this has now been planned for today and tomorrow and some where in here we have to go get a washing machine. I need (yes it surpasses want) a washer.

At the feeders we have been getting more visitors...we immediately got the chickadees and titmouse but the juncos started about two weeks ago and then the sparrows, a wren, the flicker, and the downy woodpecker with the cardinal thrown in for color. He doesn't come often and I have never seen the female. Some pose and others are of the eat and fly variety. And as I sit here I see a movement in the woods...two squirrels chasing each other and a deer is walking by. And as quick as that I realize I should quit my b*tching because as hectic as days can be I have the time to stop and watch natures antic's for a while. It brings it home just how lucky I am. I could be sitting in an office, working in a factory or living in a city. But no I do have the fortune of living in the country and not having to work so I am there to help family and friends when they need it. And now with my priorites righted I am off to chart my day. Have a good weekend.

The Sycamore

The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see Nature all ridicule and deformity, and some scarce see Nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, Nature is Imagination itself.- William Blake, 1799, The Letters

I got up early on Saturday to help a friend. On my way to her house I was greeted by the sun rising over the river that seperates our homes.

Standing next to her family home is a Sycamore tree. I love these trees. Some people call them ghost trees because they tend to shed their bark down to a smooth white base. This tree is so old that only it's upper branches now shed their bark. The base of this tree is huge. I have pictures of her house from the 1920's and this tree was there then and was already bigger than the house. She is thinking of having the tree cut down as she is afraid it may fall on the house.

I can understand her fear but the tree is in perfect shape. I keep thinking that it has looked down on the four or five generations of her family that have lived in that house. It would be odd to look across the river and not see that tree there anymore.

Well with helping her and then having to take my laundry to my mother's to do (my washer got tired of keeping up with my kids) I have not had much time to do fiber. I did finish the second sock. I started a pair of thrummed mittens and I am up to the decrease at the top on the first one. I am still working on the afghan and I got to spin up some more of the cormo that I had dyed. I guess I didn't do so bad after all.

Veterans Day

Today is Veterans Day or at least the observed day and my kids are going to school. I like that they go to school as they are learning about the day and honoring the veterans in a ceremony other than just sitting at home playing a video game.

Our school is honoring a local man that was killed in battle. His graduating class is dedicating a flagpole in his honor this morning and then there is a ceremony for all veterans this evening. Our school district covers almost 350 square miles but I was still surprised at how many graduates have served. They asked my daughter to come but she will not go. She feels she didn't do anything or do enough. I personally think what they do is amazing. I think of where our country would be right now had it not been for them. So Thank You Veterans.

Indian Summer

"From his pipe the smoke ascending
Filled the sky with haze and vapor,
Filled the air with dreamy softness,
Gave a twinkle to the water,
Touched the rugged hills with smoothness,
Brought the tender Indian Summer
To the melancholy north-land,
In the dreary Moon of Snow-shoes."
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Tomorrow officially starts Indian Summer. From what the weatherman says it is only going to last a couple of days but I will take that.


The Fog
Yesterday it was rainy and foggy so I rode with my daughter to have her car serviced. While she drove I knit. I was able to get to the toe decrease on a sock done. I finished that last night and I started the second sock this morning. I will have to put that aside now because with the rain from yesterday and the temperatures they are calling for I should be able to finish getting the gardens put to bed. This is the last chance I will get to prepare everything for winter.

"that wondrous second wind, the Indian summer, attains its amplitude and heavenly perfection, -- the temperatures, the sunny haze; the mellow, rich, delicate, almost flavoured air:
Enough to live -- enough to merely be."~ Walt Whitman

Election Day

So today is Election Day. In a little bit I will pick my mother up and we will go to vote.
On the up side all the ads will finally stop and peace and quiet will reign again. I would rather hear a soap/toy ad then people ripping each other apart. Guess I am not the only one...here are so Election Day quotes that I enjoyed.....


Every two years the American politics industry fills the airwaves with the most virulent, scurrilous, wall-to-wall character assassination of nearly every political practitioner in the country - and then declares itself puzzled that America has lost trust in its politicians. ~Charles Krauthammer

There are always too many Democratic congressmen, too many Republican congressmen, and never enough U.S. congressmen. ~Author Unknown

Hell, I never vote for anybody, I always vote against. ~W.C. Fields

And for those of you who think your vote doesn't count and don't bother to vote....

“Bad politicians are sent to Washington by good people who don’t vote”
William E Simon

You don't have the right to complain if you don't vote.

Hunter's moon and little projects

The moving Moon went up the sky.
And nowhere did abide;
Softly she was going up,
And a star or two beside-
By Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)


Tonight is the full moon. This month it is the Hunter's Moon. According to the Farmers Almanac this is because with the leaves falling and the deer fattened, it is time to hunt. Since the fields have been reaped, hunters can easily see fox and the animals which have come out to glean. Last night we were out and about and I took some pictures of the moon. I like it when we have a full moon and there is snow on the ground. It won't be long before I get to see that. Yesterday the kids had another soccer game as part of their tournament. They lost and I know I am not a good soccer mom because I was not upset by this. The sitting in 34 degree weather with the wind blowing made me quite happy that they lost and that we didn't have to stay for a second game.

As it wasn't much warmer today I stayed inside and finished another apple dishcloth and two apple magnets for my apple friends Christmas basket. Then going with the Christmas theme, I knit a five pointed star. I need to work in the ends and block it still. I was looking for star stuff as my daughter is a star fanatic. I used the pattern found here... http://tiajudy.com/SnowStar.htm. The pattern was a 6 pointed star but it said it could probably be done as a five so I tried it. It called for size ten cotton but I used the white Christmas yarn with the silver in it and # 5 needles. I was thinking it could be made into an afghan. Something to think about for later.

I also tried spinning some silk sari waste this weekend. I bought this last year at Rhinebeck and just re-found it! I also found some dyed corriedale roving that I bought at the same time. I am so not organized but if you look at it this way it's a pay once and get excited about it twice deal. Anyhow back to the sari silk, I read how to do it on a couple of sites and sat down to try it. My yarn turned out more thready. I like the fact that once you start spinning it is a mindless spin where you can let slubs go for the texture. It probably wouldn't be so thready if I hadn't had been so mindless but hey it was fun. Just more learn as you go thing.

So this whole weekend was full of little projects, now I have to find something productive to do. I don't know what I want to start and I am still working on the afghan. I guess it is back to looking at patterns I have saved.

November

You have to love Maxine! I got her in an email! But moving on to blogger business....
Tuesday I didn’t work on anything fibery like I had wanted. The weather was so nice that I had to be outside. I worked in the garden and greenhouse for a while and then quit to make an early dinner before trick or treating.
Yesterday morning I got sick of hearing the news with the whole Kerry thing, followed by the none stop political ads so I went and set fire to the pile of weeds/plants I pulled the day before. I started pulling the rest of the garden but I hadn’t put on my gloves and I ended up with blisters.








To soothe my aching hands I got out the rest of the first finn fleece and washed that and set it out to dry. Then I pulled out the second fleece and sorted that. I have a small pile set aside to tie in bundles and wash it that way and see the difference. I love these Finn. I think it is actually softer than the cormo roving that I had my cousin pick up for me at the MD S&W.
I did get some weaving done ….

I know it is an awful picture (where is the color?) but I have appts today. I finished this about 10 PM last night. I need to full it, but right now it measures approximately 12 inches by 5 ½ feet. I am in love. I knew this was going to happen which is why I didn’t work on it…I don’t have time for more hobbies even if it is fiber related. I have lists of things I want to do in knitting alone and have so much fiber that needs carding or spinning. If only I could teach the kids to do the warping!!!!

Tonight is Halloween

Shadows of a thousand years rise again unseen,

Voices whisper in the trees, "Tonight is Halloween!"

~Dexter Kozen

The kids were all excited about tonight. The little man is sick though and will not go, so he is upset. I know his darling sister will be glad to share her bounty but it is just not the same. It is not that we go far...we do less than 20 houses because of all the driving and in/out stuff... but it is something they look forward to each year. I like the costume part of it. They have gone as Pebbles and Bambam, bride and groom, towtruck driver w/ truck, shower and a bar of soap, Dorothy, a sack of potatoes and a table with head in frame to look like a picture. Tonight #2 daughter will go as Grandma got run over by a reindeer (her favorite song).

I have been having my own howling good time.....
Yesterday I spun up a bobbin of my own finn

wound it on the ball winder and plied it. I love it! I guess I have to wash up more of it. I spun it into a worsted weight yarn and it is sooo soft.

Then when I finished with that I started weaving on the loom. I am not packing the weft in tight because I want the warp to be seen. I have only done about a 3 foot piece on this before but I loved it. I have tons to learn which is why I haven't done much on it. Time is too tight to learn another addiction. But this goes so fast after you get it warped. I have an idea for a Christmas gift but I need to go buy cotton and finish what I have started. Hopefully it will be done tonight.

I have also started crocheting an afghan for my daughter to give as a present. I told her to buy the yarn and I would make it. I so seriously have got to shut my mouth. She came home with a bag full of yarn. Yes there is enough for an afghan but it is LionBrand Homespun. They make beautiful colors and it is soft, but I hate working with it. She is sending it to a friend she made years ago during basic training that has been sent to Iraq. They go thru a lot worse so I should just quit my b*tching.

Now I am off to get weaving so I can finish today. Happy Halloween!!!