Randoming

The most ramdon thing about my blog these days is how often I post. Or not. I am still here. Some time writing wants to happen, and sometimes other things want to (or need to) happen more.

Reese, the puppy of unknown parentage, is nearly 6 months old. She is as big as Rowyn, and weighs a few pounds more. With great relief, I've noticed her growth rate has slowed down. Maybe she'll merely be large, and not a moose.

Rowyn and I went up to Oregon, to participate in the 2016 ASCA National show, the big, annual show for Australian Shepherds. We entered tracking at the TDX level (didn't pass) and several agility events (we earned one qualifying score out of 11 runs). We had a great time staying with our friends at Morgan River Ranch.

Rosie

Rowyn and his mom, Cricket

Rosie, Cricket and Ro. The girls competed in stock dog stuff.

After that, Ro and I drove to Idaho for the almost annual sibling get together. We stay in a little town called Victor, just over the pass from Jackson Hole. My brother lives out there. We fish and raft and sight see and visit.

Out on the Snake River

Sight seeing in Yellowstone

Caught one! A cutthroat trout.

We've been back for a few weeks. I've knit a few things and spun some stuff and made some things.
Gifts for Evan's girlfriend, Sam. She's attending law school at Michigan State, and I've decided she'll need many, many knitted things. I found some pretty-close-to-Spartan-green yarn in my stash, and turned it into fingerless mitts and a headband.

The mitts are Lambing Mitts and the headband is based on Calorimetry, just few turns, as I didn't have very much green yarn left. The green yarn is something discontinued, and I've no idea what the white was.

I've been making felted dryer balls. I was going to make some for myself, and then the dog rescue group we adopted Reese from, Aussie Rescue of San Diego and Friends, put a call out for crafty things to sell as a fund raiser at a craft market. Well, if I was going to make some any way... And its a great way to use up odd yarns and bits.

I needle felted the paw prints on, I thought maybe more people would like them that way. I decided I preferred winding yarn balls and felting them to wet felting the balls. And even better yet, most of the waste wool I'd saved from combing, carding and spinning worked out great when spun into fat, low twist singles and then wound into balls and felted. By the way, one full bobbin equals two dryer balls.

From this

To this

To this!

Out of Hibernation

Bears go into hibernation for the winter, and wool sweaters come out of hibernation in the fall. Not that there is much call for wool here in the sunny southland. But, I have travel plans, and am soon headed for the Pacific Northwest, where at least the night time temperatures might call for wool sweaters. Just enough push for me to dig out a long dormant project, the Lattice Be Warm sweater. According to my notes, the last time I worked on this was 2013.

The last picture I took then;

Picture from yesterday;

The Promised Pic

Getting Back to It

After much simple knitting, I have these;

Two scarves, heavy on the green. Just in time for St. Patrick's Day. They sure do look cheery.

I've put another simple project on my needles, this one a cowl. I've had cowl on the brain for a while now, and knew which stash yarn I'd use, I just hadn't decided on the pattern had no idea which pattern to use. Random chance came into play; I was looking for something else, and found this pattern that I'd fave'd some years ago. Helleborus.

It is more simple knitting, of a different sort. For some reason, I have no pictures of the yarn, something I hand-dyed at the same time as the green and yellow yarns in the picture above. I'll get a picture soon.

The Need for Simple Knitting

Knitting makes me a better person, at least when it comes to being patient. Or even just being. I value this greatly, especially now. For the past several months, my grandmother had been bedridden, and mostly disconnected from the world. Partly from dementia, and partly from something else I guess. For months, my grandfather could only get a few words a day from her, before she drifted back into that in-between space. Sometimes, during her alert periods, we could see she recognized us, but sometimes not. I don't know how she felt about her circumstances, she never complained. But my Grandpa, this was really tough for him. It was hard, he always thought he would precede my grandmother in death. Of all the things he had lived through, this thing affected him more than any.

My grandparents were a huge part of my growing up. My brother, sister and I spent most school holidays and a good chunk of summer at my grandparents house. In a shifting world, their home was our stability, the place we were always welcomed and loved. Most of my childhood my mother was a single parent, so my grandparents were my example of how married people behave. Indeed, adults in general. Cross words were seldom heard, nor raised voices. Other than the exasperation that comes along with 3 (or more, if the cousins were over) rambunctious grandchildren around. The older I get, the more I appreciate them, and the role they've played in my life. I knew I always had a lifeline if I needed it.

During this time, with my grandmother slowly fading away, all the major details were taken care of. They didn't need me to clean or cook, my uncles had all the financial details covered. But the thing I can do best is sit and listen to Grandpa talk. About his grief, his worries, and listen to his stories. Grandpa is a gifted story teller. And so the need for simple knitting.  No fussy counting, or complicated stitch patterns. Just steadily linking stitches, and listening to Grandpa. More often than not, after a few sentences his anguish would lift and he would brighten up. But knitting filled the  silences in between, filling the space like the sound of gentle rain falling on the roof. Something comfortable and undemanding that seems to free the mind and ease the spirit.

My simple knitting project; Easy . The yarn is Socks that Rock Lightweight, dyed by me during a Knot Hysteria workshop.

My grandmother finally slipped away last Monday night. She was 93 years old. January 24 was my grandparents 74 wedding anniversary. Grandpa is 95. Grandma didn't knit, but taught me sewing and embroidery and a little baking. I was mostly interested in licking the spoons.

Silly Chenille

What do you do with a beautiful yarn that is peculiar? I found this yarn on sale some years ago, when I'd been a knitter for only a short while. When I was still so easily swayed by a lovely, single skein of yarn that had no project in mind. I love the colors, and oh-la-la it is 100% silk.
But, it is chenille. Like a sheep that's just been introduced to a halter, it balks and bucks at the idea of an even tension. And, it doesn't really feel soft, or plush. Rather, while lovely to look at, in the hand it feels softly obstinate. Like it doesn't want to be told what to do.

Still, I love how the light shifts and plays over the colors, silvery in some places and deep jewel toned in others. What shall I do with this beautiful, difficult yarn? Maybe it would be happier as a woven project?

Some Finished Things for Twenty Fifteen

Wow! Two finished projects already! Never mind that they were started last year, finished objects are good any time of year.

First off the needles is the  Circlet in Blue Cardigan, begun last May.

This sweater was mostly finished months ago, but the sleeves were down-past-the-end-of-my-fingers long, and it was sitting around waiting for me to do something. I finally did. About 4 inches from the hem I snipped a loop and removed part of the sleeve.

Sleeve-ectomy

Then I ripped back about another 3/4" of knitting, so I could make a new stockinet stitch rolled hem. The unknitting was a bit tedious and fiddly, and even more fiddly was figuring out which stitches were for picking up and knitting. Once that part was done, the knitting was easy.

After both sleeves were shortened it was time to add the buttons. I love the buttons. And I think I did a very good job of placing them. What I didn't do was realize that the chosen buttons end up very heavy on the sweater, especially as there are eleven of them. So it's back to the shop to find different, lighter weight buttons.

 The next FO is a pair of house socks, made from some of my handspun yarn. A pretty basic toe-up, short row heel pattern. This yarn is more like a sport weight, so just right for house socks, but a bit heavy for inside of shoes in So. Cal.

I finished off with a 3x1 ribbing, but now I wished I'd just stuck with stockinet and a rolled hem.

Don't You Just Love...

A project that knits up quickly? Especially when there is a due date? (I don't like the pressure of due dates on my knitting. I don't want more pressure.) Knit in somewhere around 15sts/4", this baby is flying along. Photo below from Monday. Now the project lacks only tail and teeth and blocking.

 Such a nice change from socks. Socks knitting up on US #0 needles.

Life's little victories? The Shark Hat calls for a bit of red yarn, and a bit of white yarn. I knew there must be some hiding in the stash, left over from the last Shark Hat. Currently, my stash is sort of organized, into the side with (mostly) animal fibers and the side with (mostly) plant fibers. (yarns only, unspun stuff is a different category) Further broken into groups like; project groupings, yarn weight, random hand-spun, color, and odd bits + leftover bits. I freely admit I don't understand my brain's organization style, but if I try and fight it, well, then I really can't find anything.

So I went right to the leftover bits box and didn't find my red or white yarn. Okay, maybe the other side of my brain put those yarns in a different box. I went through the next most likely boxes, although they were only likely by process of elimination. "Let's see, they shouldn't be in the hand-spun boxes, or the sock wt (not much of that left, maybe I should spin some more?) or the lace wt. (Hmm, lace-weight, I hardly ever knit lace-weight. Why do I have it?). I ended up going through those boxes anyway, because I still couldn't find the yarn I was looking for. Well, maybe a friend needed those bits , and I gave them away? I didn't remember doing that, but it could happen. I was running out of places to look. Over in the corner was a box with some warp ends and small weaving samples, things that haven't been sorted yet. Meaning, I not sure how I want to 'organize' them. Anyway, that is where I found the missing yarn ball bits. Yippee! No doubt, the yarns were tossed in the box when the box was still in the family room, then moved to the closet in a tidy-up moment. Really, the entire search probably took less time than it took to write about it. It was just as gratifying as finding all three sets of interchangeable needles the week before.

The Promised Pictures

Gosh, still only okay pictures of this sweater, but better than the last one.

pardon my loose ends..

Things I love about this knit; button bands and edgings are knit right in, and the stitch pattern next to the button bands keeps everything looking tidy. The only finishing is grafting the underarms, weaving in any ends and adding the buttons. I used a cable cast on for the sleeves and bottom edge and think that worked out very nicely. With fancier buttons, this little cardi could go Hollywood.

(btw, this little sweater grew considerably in length when I wet blocked it. That surprised me)

Crafting Cuteness

Last September, my cousin's daughter Saige (does that make her my first cousin once removed?) celebrated her first birthday. As I gift, I offered to knit a sweater. According to my cousin, Saige wanted a black or dark grey cardigan with cables. The specifics were left up to me. Cool.

I picked the yarn first, a dark grey DK weight superwash from Plymouth Yarns. Grey because I think cables get lost in black, plus it will be more flattering to Saige, and DK because, well, it means fewer stitches than working in fingering. Superwash because, well, its a sweater for a little girl.

Once I had the yarn, it was time to select the pattern.

Oh Bother! Or oh Blogger! I had a post all finished and waiting, and for some reason it wouldn't save or publish and now I have to refinish this post. Pooh.

Pattern picking. Ravelry. Search by size and yarn weight and wanting a cardigan with cables for a little girl. Ran this search a few different times, on different days to see what stuck with me. There were a few that came close. I almost settled. Then I must have changed one attribute and a previously unseen pattern appeared. Silverfox. I had an AH-HA moment. This is the pattern I'm looking for. Those really cute little baby models, nope, they didn't sway me one bit.

I'm almost done with the sweater. Below is a rather poor cell phone photo. The yarn and the sweater look much better in person.

 Love the pattern, I think its very well written. The sleeves are knit first and set aside, and then the body worked from the bottom up and then joined to the sleeves and on up to the yoke. Looks like very little finishing for this one. Weave in some ends, block and add the buttons. Soooo close.

Hopefully, blogger doesn't eat this post.

Getting Caught Up - part 1

When last I blogged about knitting, it was all about the Circlet Cardigan and how it was a bit big, and the sleeves much too long. I went out and collected opinions. First, I went to see my good friend Nancy at Common Threads. Not only is she a wonderful knitter and knitwear designer, she knows about fixing knitted things. She thinks the fit is fine, and assured me that I can  shorten the sleeves from the cuff end and everything will be fine. Later, I showed my friend Dusty, who doesn't know much of anything about knitting, and she declared the project beautiful and worthy of reworking. Michelle, I thought about showing you, but it was too blasted hot on Sunday to put the sweater on. So, I will tackle sleeve shortening, and document my progress here, so if I ever need to remember what (or what not) to do, I can find my notes. I expect to start around mid-month.

With the cardigan on hold, and the mountain meadow mayhem socks complete, I picked out another sock project, this time for my DH. He is very conservative in style, so I picked out a nice brown yarn, Crystal Palace Yarns Panda Silk Solid. Its a blend of bamboo, merino and a tiny bit of silk. This was my traveling project. Two at a time, magic loop, toe up.

Bill's Brown Socks

Time Away Can be a Good Thing

 I admit it. After seeing my Circlet in Blue cardigan blocked out, I was discouraged. So I rolled it up and stuffed it back into the knitting bag and considered my options. And secretly hoped that the knitting fairies would come by and make everything all better. And that the sweater would reflect on what had happened and voluntarily change it's ways.

After a period of time I pulled the sweater out and considered my options. Well, whether I was keeping it or gifting it, the buttons needed to go on. By the way, nothing has changed and it is still too big. But, as I smoothed out the fronts, and lined up the button bands, I noticed that really, I could've done a better job at knitting the buttonhole band. It looked sloppy. I thought I'd just firm up the bind-off, and then decided the entire band would be better re-knit, at a tighter gauge. And you know what, it did look better. Not only did it look tidier, but the front edge along the yoke looked better too, so I re-knit the other side to match. Much better. I never really thought much about how gauge on the button band can affect the overall look of a sweater.

It still doesn't make the sweater fit better, the sleeves are still ridiculously long, but I haven't given up hope. Tomorrow, I'll block the sweater again and see what else I can learn.

Blocking

Ack! Seems big enough for a line-backer! One with rather long arms. I shouldn't say things like that, if it turns out too big, and I gift it to someone, they might take offense. Well, on to adding the buttons.

All Yoked Up?

Before I started stitching the yoke to the sweater body, I pinned them together to see how closely (or not) the length along the to-be-seamed edges looked. The yoke was a small bit shorter, and now I think it could've been interesting to see by how much. However much it was, I didn't think it would be a problem to ease along the extra length of the body section. And it wasn't. I do wish I'd done a better job at keeping the tension on the mattress stitching even.  I'm half-way to going back and trying, one more time.

As it sits in this picture, the yoke is a bit ripply. And the cabled section of the yoke is longer than the purl section, closer to the neck, and the neck edge seems a tad small. I've steamed the yoke section just a bit, to see if maybe things will be just fine, once I get the bands knit on. Right now the project is taking a time out, whilst I decide how I feel about everything. Oh, and the sleeves are rather long. If I stretch them wider while blocking, I wonder if that will take some of the length out? And I've purchased buttons, but don't have a picture yet.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

The ordered seconds quietly slip by.
Slyly glancing over at the blog page.
Is there anything new?
Did something happen?
Is there any news?

Well, yes there is news. After my last post I decided to run away and join the circus. Wait, I already am part of the circus, but our cotton candy machine is broken. Instead I took a spur of the moment trip up north to visit my friend Dusty and enjoy some life on the ranch. Shae and Rowyn went too, and had a mini-family reunion.  You can enjoy pictures here.

I enjoyed visiting with Roar the bull;

and morning after glorious morning.

I found Bigfoot. (sort of)

And enjoyed a breakfast here.

The day I made it home was my birthday, and I found this waiting for me!

The days were so full, very little knitting happened. It seams (!) like it took forever to finish mattress stitching the yoke to the body of the Circlet in Blue. I finally finished the night before last. I had a hard time deciding whether to allow more ease in the stitching or to pull it snug, and now the stitching isn't as even as I'd like. But I can live with it. Now it's on to grafting the underarm seams, then neck edging and finally button bands. I still need to find some buttons! Sounds like the perfect time (is there ever a bad time) to stop by my LYS and check out their new digs. They just moved!

Chirp Chirp Chirp

That's the sound of crickets, filling up the space where blog posts would be. It's been a busy few weeks, and a few more busy weeks coming up. Youngest Son Evan was here for a visit, he worked on learning to drive a stick-shift (a work in progress) and we did a little camping. I'm working away at the Circlet in Blue, the yoke is finished and about 3/4 of the way seamed onto the body. I need to get busy and find buttons!

Crazy Cabled Yoke

The cabled yoke calls for 16 (or 17, I don't recall exactly) pattern repeats for my size.  Three pattern repeats looks like this;

Today I have almost 7 pattern repeats finished. Color coding the chart really helps me keep track of things, I think its a big time saver. I'm hoping to average  1 1/2 repeats per day. Once the yoke is done, it gets mattress stitched to the body and sleeves, and then a neckband and button bands are added.

Color Codes

I'm working on the yoke of the Circlet Cardigan now. The chart is crazy. More than what I'm used to following.  Rows and stitches that are skipped for some sizes, place holder spaces and 15 different symbols to keep track of. Most of them are symbols that weren't used in the staghorn cable pattern. I got a few mixed up and had to start over. To help me keep things straight, I took colored pencils and color coded the symbols.

The Row(d) Goes on

Or, The Real Reason I Seldom Knit A Sweater in DK Yarn. Or just seldom knit a sweater. I'm a knitting light-weight. I'm not exactly bored with this knit, I think. Or maybe I am. But, now that I have the pattern repeat well in hand, I can work on this knit whilst watching World Cup games. Or a TV show. Or anything, at least until the knitting gets more interesting.

The picture shows about 61 rows of pattern, just over 10 inches. Unlike some cable patterns, this one looks fairly decent on the wrong side, check out the bit that's folded over. (on the right side of pic)  Well, enough complaining, I have rows to knit. (Circlet in blue)

Armwarmers?

The sleeves for the Circlet Cardigan are done. See? Now the body is on the needles.