Happy Thanksgiving

It is a quiet one here. Though I had some wonderful other options (thank you friends!) I’ve chosen to stay home and continue to recover.  I did manage to get the house rearranged for the tree, get the tree up and set up, and all the ornaments brought up. This I had to do in shifts, but since I started at 4:30 AM, it was all accomplished.

I’ve been knitting on my Lady Eleanor stole most often lately, a wonderful non thinking project that keeps me occupied when I am feeling good and I can put down fast if I am not feeling so well.  It is really starting to come along, don’t you think?

More Bug Stories

So, Bug and I have been sick. Sick sick sick.  I won’t give you the entire story, but Bug has been running a recurring fever since last Tuesday. Last night, when she again had a fever, she told me her ear hurt. I gave her some tylenol and sent her to bed. Called mom to make sure it was time to make the doctors appointment, and she agreed that it was. Bug woke up at 3 AM screaming over her ear, so I was pretty sure I knew what was going on at that point too.

Meanwhile you must remember that we are BOTH sick sick sick. So I am just struggling on with her care, though she is fortunately a really good kid and I can get my rest in. This morning since again we were looking at another rough day of sick, I decided I could at least start the day off right and make her some pancakes for breakfast.  We began to pull together the dry ingredients, and set the table. Then I remembered that we didn’t have any eggs left over.  So no pancakes.  She of course informed me that her daddy didn’t use eggs with his pancakes, so I had to explain the difference between making something from scratch and using a mix.  She was disappointed but she handled it well.

Later on we headed to the doctor.  We are sitting in the room waiting for the doctor to arrive, when she starts to spontaneously sing the blues.

“We couldn’t have pancakes…

We ran out of eggs!”

I thought this was absolutely fantastic!

 

Doctor comes in and asks Bug why she is there.

Bug: Because my ear hurts. And it feels like I am in an airplane.”

Doctor: Well, that is a very mature answer. Mom, is she the oldest child?”

Me: “Only child”

Doctor…”Aha!

Doctor proceeds to listen to her lungs

Doctor “And, she is very very good patient.”

Doctor looks in both ears.

Doctor: Bug, which ear is hurting you?

Bug: “The right one.”

Doctor: “Well Mom, Her left ear is perfectly clear, and her right ear is very red.”

Me: “So you are saying I need to believe her when she tells me her ear hurts?”

Doctor: “With a kid this mature? Why ever would you not???”

Let’s hope this puts us all on the mend now. Its been a rough week. In fact, I’ve about hit my wall and am getting the chills and need to head to bed.

So many colors

I had this BFL hanging around, with an amazing amount of color in it.  I have never seen a roving with so many different colors, so I decided to 3 ply in order to best combine so many.

190 yards 3 ply BFL Sportweight

 

Presenting….

The Laddu Pullover, pattern coming soon. (Ummeyusuf designs, of course.)

I used lion brand cotton-ease. I picked out the colors with Bug and my sister in law.  Of course Bug will not allow anything but the girliest colors, so we were a bit limited in what we could pick.

I love the raglan sleeves on this, they turned out so beautiful. This is probably the sportiest sweater I have ever made. Would work well as a little boy’s sweater too.  This is the first time I’ve worked with cotton ease, and I found it surprisingly easy on the hands.

Another great little design from ummeyusuf!

Distraction

I know I keep talking about the test knit sweater, and yet I don’t show it off.  I’ve now decided that it is so close to being done I’ll just distract you with other projects until I complete it.

I started working on this lace scarf before I left on vacation in October. It hung around in a state of half hearted beginning until I took it with me on my second trip back east.  I then finished the border and began to work on the body of the scarf.

The yarn is from habu textiles, and I picked it up at stitches midwest.  I love the shade of blue and the scarf will make a fantastic warm weather knit.  The pattern is from Victorian Lace Today.

 

My OCD, let me show you it.

So when I had no ability to figure out my test knit, I began to knit mini socks as holiday ornaments.  I had decided I’d do a few for Bug’s teachers, and then I decided to do some for coworkers, and well then….it just started to get out of hand.

I hope you don’t think I am done.

The best of intentions

I began the weekend with the intention of finishing a test knit I am working on for ummeyusuf. I figured with all my free of the computer time, I could surely bring the project to completion.

The one thing I didn’t count on?  Needing the computer.  You see, sometimes I can be a bit daft on the instructions. This is not the fault of the pattern designer, it is purely a failure to read and follow the directions issue.  But when I have no one to turn to in order to get that failure worked out in my own head….I am out of luck.  Friday night I found myself sitting in front of the TV watching Gran Torino and stumped over the neckline of the sweater. Furthermore, lacking the internet and a computer, I was not able to email ummeyusuf for her advice. Which would have been “read the directions” anyhow.

Which means I spent Saturday cleaning and spinning and working on other projects.

Sunday I got together with my friend Sarah. She kindly brought her computer so I could ask my question.  Ummeyusuf, despite the time difference, answered my question quickly.  Know what her answer was?  “Read the directions.”  Well, not in so many words…she tried to word it different ways, but the point was still the same.

So Sunday evening I went home and read the directions.  Then I completed the front and back of the sweater. I’d best start on the sleeves tonight!

As for the spinning, I have that to show you tonight. 2 ply merino dyed by bunkybobo and spun for her. I am jealous, I want to keep some of this stunning yarn!

Bugisms

Yesterday as Bug and I were in the car driving to our friend Sarah’s house, we saw a truck with a dead deer in the back of it.  Not one to shy away from such things, I immediately pointed it out to Bug.

Me:  “Look Bug!  The guy in that car shot a deer!”

Bug:  “Oh!  I see it!  What’s he gonna do with it?”

Me: “Well, perhaps he is going to take it home and turn it into food.”

Bug: “Yeah!  He’s gonna make it into CHICKEN!”

Me: “Buahahahahaha!  The word for that is venison. Mommy used to eat venison when she was little.  It was good!”

Bug: ” I wish I could go hunting and shoot a deer.  Or a BEAR!  Yeah, I want to shoot a bear.  Or an owl.”

Proving….even though she grew up in a city, the hills of PA are still strong in this one…..

Another one bites the dust

The very old desktop computer which would reboot itself repeatedly in the evening or would freeze causing me to reboot it finally breathed its last breath last night. A sad day for all.  This leaves me with no internet over the weekend, so if you are trying to get ahold of me, I guess I’ll have to answer the phone.  LOL

No blogging for me until Monday.

The color of autumn

I had no idea when I took this picture that the color on my socks mimicked the color of the autumn leaves.

This is blue moon fiber arts socks that rock mediumweight. The pattern is BFF socks from Cookie A. The difference in color patterning comes from decreasing the back cables over the instep. But those of us who use socks that rock have come to expect the interesting pooling effects!  For cabled socks, these are crazy stretchy.

 

I had my cousin John knit a row on the foot of the sock. He must be a good knitter, since I can’t even see where he put his row. I like the fact that I have pairs of socks which have stitches from people important to me.

A long time coming.

I finished this handspun before I left on my last trip but just didn’t get it posted.  Furthermore, I cannot seem to get a decent picture of it.  My camera wants to flash for such a shade of hot pink.  But, here it is even so! 2 ply merino from bunkybobo, spun for her in a trade.   Stay tuned for more socks tomorrow…

All I knit is socks.

Well, lately that is.

Mom needed more socks, so I gave her a pair of mine and then bought a bit of yarn to make another pair. In true form, the day I gave them to her she found a hole in the toe of an old pair. No, I won’t be repairing it.

Instead, she gets this new pair of crazy zauberball socks. Bug picked out the colors for her, and I used my Vintage Socks book for the pattern.  They turned out pretty cozy and I was tempted to keep them for myself, a temptation that doesn’t last overly long these days.

Magical Thinking

Isn’t it an odd thing?  I’ve suspended blog posts due to the last post being posted before my grandfather’s passing. Somehow in my odd brain, I decided that I could not post, because once I did it would actually be true. No matter that I’d been traveling, spent time with family, attended the funeral, etc. Still I felt that if the blog was suspended then I’d wake up and it wouldn’t be true.

But we are back home now, I’ve a lot of projects to post, knitting to be done, and a routine to fall back in to.  I wouldn’t have traded the time with my family for anything, it was a joy to reconnect with them all despite the circumstances. Furthermore, I got to listen to more stories about my grandfather than I’d ever been exposed to before.  And for someone like me who loves to hear stories and memories, this was such a pleasure.

One of the most touching moments for me was when my grandmother informed me that grandpa would be wearing the first pair of socks I gave him. I’d thought about it before I got there, I’d hoped it would be the case, but I wouldn’t have dreamed of asking for it. Having my grandmother on the same wavelength was very comforting to me.  He loved these socks. Mom had informed me that he was having trouble with finding socks that fit, so I sent him these socks because I knew they’d stretch in every direction. Fit shouldn’t be a big issue in that case. He immediately loved them and would not take them off. Not even long enough for grandma to get them washed.  So I knit a second pair, but these remained the favorite.  Knitting socks for grandpa was a way that I could show my love for him even far away. A way for me to improve his life even if I couldn’t visit.  A way for me to be in touch with him even though we didn’t speak over the phone. To know that they will stay with him pleases me to no end.

So, when you wonder why I knit so many socks, or why I give away so many socks, remember that for me handknit socks are more than just pair of socks. To me they are a way of showing my love for my family from afar.

And finally, just so you get to see some knitting content, I have completed the last Christmas stocking of the year. This one is for Bug.  I was running out of white yarn so I chose a green toe and heel, and like the effect even better than all the white heels I’ve been knitting into these stockings.  She is thrilled to pieces over it and didn’t even want me to pack it away in order to take it back home.

My Grandpa…

Loves mashed potatoes and chocolate cake.

When I was a kid, he used to make me eat as many mashed potatoes as I could, and then a few more.  I think he’d get downright concerned if I didn’t eat a large pile of them every time I visited.  He was right though, there was a family resemblance, and I loved them as much as he did.

He grew his own potatoes, and this is what we often had when we went to visit.  When I was about 10 or 11, he got this wise idea that I should help him harvest his crop of potatoes.  This would require that he teach me to drive the tractor, which he did.  Then he hooked the plow to the back of the tractor and told me to drive slowly through the field.  It was one big disaster let me tell you!  I could not work the clutch smoothly, and would get scared every time the tractor took off.  I couldn’t help but look behind me, and would see him being yanked forward by the plow, desperately hanging on and trying to plow the ground at the same time.  I was too disturbed by the sight of those potatoes being cut in two, their white insides exposed to the mud, to concentrate on looking ahead and driving.  It is no wonder that he never asked me to help again! But I thought it was a wonderful and fun experience.

My grandpa didn’t just grow potatoes, he was quite a residential farmer. He had fruit trees, and he grew grapes, rhubarb, squash, cantelope, watermelon, horseradish, tomatoes, and I can’t remember what all else.  In the early spring when we’d visit, I remember the kitchen counters all lined up with small seedlings ready to be planted. In the summer I’ll never forget how neat and tidy his garden looked to me. He used black plastic to keep the weeds down, and my favorite thing was to run across the black plastic on a hot day after the rain.  There was just something about that crunchy dirt under my feet that felt so strange and alien to me.  Not to mention the hot water puddles!

Grandpa and Grandma used to take us camping when we were kids. This was a great deal of fun for us and Grandma would let us stay up so late that we’d exhaust ourselves completely during the week. We’d go back to their house for an afternoon to enjoy the AC and rest.  Even though we didn’t want to rest all that much, there was something special about that lazy, nap filled cool afternoon.

Grandpa had a subaru for a many years and I thought it was the coolest car ever. It had a digital speedometer before many cars did and I could actually tell how fast we were going. I was amazed and every time we were in the car I’d spend that time watching the speedometer and telling him when he was going over the speed limit.  If my daughter did this to me I think I would end up yelling. I cannot imagine the amount of patience he must have had for me to not say a word!

My Bug is named after my grandpa. My grandpa loves mashed potatoes and chocolate cake. And I love my grandpa.

Sock addictions

I must be struggling with another phase of sock addictions. Because  I just finished another sock. I started these for my Mom as her Christmas socks. Bug picked out the color when last we were out there. The yarn is crazy zauberball.  I suggest winding this yarn onto a ball winder before using it, even though it looks deceivingly like it should work fine in its balled form.  When you pull on the skein, entire sections of color fall off the ball at once, which then tangle as you are knitting with it. This causes me time and frustration!

The resulting sock though, is quite lovely.  And it has a nice high nylon count for sturdiness.

What a day.

So, I woke up this morning to a laptop that had died a horrible death.  Did I lose a lot?  I am choosing not to think about it.  I knew the thing was old and going to go soon, but I didn’t expect it to go yet.

So, instead of having a relaxing day of small duties and a birthday party for Bug to attend, I spent my day looking at laptop choices and speaking to sales guys.  And seriously….some of the sales guys at best buy?  Well, the one we got I couldn’t even look at due to the greasy hair, dandruff in hair AND beard, and not looking wasn’t much better due to the smell of his breath.

Anyhow, I spent the day looking for a new laptop. But I didn’t purchase.  Because what I WANT and what I can afford are two entirely different things.  So instead I got home, pulled out my geriatric desktop which really doesn’t work, and tried to get it started.  Mind you we’d already been out and about for 7 hours of our day, but since I couldn’t find the power cord, this necessitated one more trip to radio shack before they closed.  I wasn’t even sure if I could get it up and running.  But…I did.  Just barely, as it often freezes upon booting it up, and lasts only about 5 minutes before it crashes, but I have a semi working computer and that will do for now.

Getting out this old desktop has shown me just how on its last legs the old lappy was though, as this old desktop now runs a thousand times faster than the laptop did.  And the laptop felt speedy when I got it!

All that computer shopping not only about blew my mind, but it severely cut into the time I spent knitting this weekend.  Or rather spinning, as that is what really missed out.  I finished the math nerd socks late Saturday evening so at least I wasn’t stressing over those as well today.

The pattern on these is fantastic. I love how gentle it is, and how it really broke up the variegation.  It isn’t a slip stitch pattern, but it rather looks like it has done the same thing to the finished product.

I suspect these will fit really well too, since I currently have them on and though large on my feet, I don’t really want to take them off.

Weekend goals

I have two goals this weekend.  Three if you could cleaning up my bedroom.  But I won’t be blogging about that one.

The first is to finish the pair of math nerd socks I’ve been working on. And since I am past the heel on the second pair, I think it can be done.

The second goal is to finish spinning this:

Gorgeous merino roving dyed by bunkybobo.  It will be returning to her in the shape of a 2 ply fingering weight handspun.

Boooooorrrriiiinnng

This is all I’ve got.  And it is a poor picture because it has been raining and dark for days.   This is my stocking, which took a little longer than the first 3 due to being quite bored of the pattern at this point.  I’ve Bug’s left to do, in green.  I’ve cast on but I am giving myself a free week before I start on it.

Back

I am back and I have precious little to show for it except a relaxing vacation. I’ve frogged the spartan sweater, I frogged the sock I was working on, and I haven’t gotten to a point where I can post new pictures.  So, a quick update will have to do.

And just so I don’t bore you completely, I give you a conversation I had with Bug on the plane during our return trip. (She was feeling a bit motion sick).

Bug:  “Mom, Mom, I think I caught a bee.”

Me: “What?  What are you talking about?”

Bug: “I think I caught a bee.  Or a fly or something.”

Me: “I am not sure I understand…”

Bug: “I feel a little sick….”

An October Sock

I’ve been knitting the stockings for October as you all well know. but I also have a real honest to goodness regular sock in progress as well.  This is a vintage sock in ringwood pattern from Nancy Bush’s vintage socks.  The pattern itself is fun, but I am not really sure how I feel about all the leg shaping in these vintage socks. I’ll let you know after I complete this pair.  The yarn is yarn nerd math nerd and it is about time I used it as I purchased it almost 2 years ago now.

Spartan

Since I am on vacation, I decided to work on one sweater specifically and leave the rest at home.  I chose the spartan sweater for J.  It is working up almost too fast! I’ve divided for the armholes and am working on the back now.  The yarn may not be the best for the project, but I do hope it looks good in the end.

A family weekend

Last weekend was a grand family gathering in Ocean City MD.  It was one of the best I think! We had a hotel on the boardwalk, with a balcony that looked out over the ocean.  We also had an event room for the entire family to gather near the pool.  It was so convenient and wonderful.  Bug had plenty of cousins to play with and was so entertained that she slept for hours and hours on the way back to Nana’s Sunday afternoon. I don’t blame her, I could hardly keep my eyes open either!

I finished a stocking for my brother:

A couple of pictures:

This was sunrise from my hotel balcony.

One of the highlights for me was seeing a pod of dolphins off the coast heading south.  This was a first for me and I was surprised at how fast they were moving!

It was also vintage car weekend in OCMD, so we had a parade of vintage cars running for 2 hours which we could watch from the balcony. This happened 2 mornings in a row.

I’ve never eaten crabs before, and so feeling adventurous joined a portion of the family and grabbed a mallet and learned.

(yes, that is a mystic waters shawl in action)

Not sure I’ll do crabs again, that is a lot of work for not so much food. I was much fonder of the claws than the actual crustacean itself. There was too much goo and I was afraid to ask what it actually was. Do you see the people sitting at the table behind us?  That is also our family, we sort of took over the balcony.

I did start on my spartan sweater.  I’ll show you tomorrow!

And another

I’d have to say that these are somewhat addicting. Seriously.  I never thought I’d admit that, but they knit up so fast and look so pretty. What a satisfying knit! Next is blue and white.

Homespun

I think there is a difference between handspun and homespun.   Handspun elicits pictures of something done well and with purpose, evenly spun, or not but always depending on how the spinner wanted to create yarn. Whereas homespun brings to mind something basic to me.  And I often strive to create handspun rather than homespun.

Unfortunately, sometimes despite ones best efforts, yarn becomes what it wants rather than what the spinner wants it to be.  And such was the case with this turquoise.  I had some beautiful batts with wool, silk, angora, and alpaca.  But it just wouldn’t spin into anything but thick and thin worsted. So not my best spinning efforts, but it still turned out awfully pretty!  I ended up with 318 yards.

“Tis the season

Or rather, in preparation thereof.

I’ve completed the first of 5 stockings which I will work on in the next two months.  This one is red and white, I will be doing the second one in green and white.

If I am really lucky, I’ll finish the green and white one on Wednesday before I head out on vacation. But I am not positive this can truly be achieved.

Fox Faces

My yellow mystery socks turned out to be called fox face socks, which is a surprising tongue twister let me tell you!

I ended up pulling out the toe of the first sock as I’d messed it up badly. After thinking it over for a week, I realized I just couldn’t live with it. I switched to a round toe which suits me better anyhow.

These are a fantastic pair of socks, they were great fun to knit and I suspect I’ll be doing so again.

With Purple Socks

My dear friend Sav sent me a very tiny sock blocker keychain and tiny sock pattern quite some time ago.  I just had no cause to knit little tiny socks, so I didn’t use it.  But this year I got the idea to knit some itty bitty socks as holiday ornaments for Bug’s teachers.  So I set to work following the instructions to make itty bitty socks.  What ended up happening was quite unexpected.  I ended up with a sock about half the size of the itty bitty sock blocker.

As cute as it is, I think I am going to go up a few needle sizes next time.

Stay tuned for 2 finished objects next week! (If I am truly lucky, maybe one tonight and one next week.)

Handspun February Lady sweater

This is my handspun february lady sweater.  I worked cap sleeves rather than the full sleeves.  I spun the wool from Lorna’s Laces wool top, 10.5 oz.  I ended up with about a yard of 2 ply left over, and had to block it out quite a bit to get length.  I am quite pleased with the end result though, and the wooden round vintage buttons work well with the overall look.

What is it? What is it for?

I sent some of my stash yarn off to Bunkybobo’s for overdyeing, as I was so done with that color.  We went for red (Big surprise, as both of us are really drawn to red tones).  What I love about this is that the red dye paired with yellow yarn left a salmony undertone rather than the pink that would have happened with  a white yarn.

What is it for?  An Amelia cardigan.  This I will be starting toward the end of October.  I’ve been itching to knit this for about a year now, so it is about time!

Sock Repair (again)

Back in March I knit these little mystery socks for Bug. They had an adorable icord edging that really complimented the pattern. They fit Bug great last year.  This year the foot still fits fine, but the i cord edging makes them too hard to pull over her heel.

So rather than scrapping them, I decided I could fix them.  I pulled off the i cord edging, added the live stitches to some needles, and knit a very small 2×2 rib cuff.  And now we have socks that will last through the winter.

Now if only I could fix her hot pink socks.  Not sure that is possible as they are pretty well felted at this point.