Monday, November 28, 2005

Shilo prentending to sleep, when I'm sure he was really knitting lace. Who knew? Maybe he hangs out with Grommit.


See that black yarn underneath his butt?

Well.....

Another Finished Item.

So, in the category of "MY, I'm large" or "We live in Houston, what was I thinking", a lovely heavily cabled top down aran. I mostly finished this bad boy months ago, but husband was unhappy with the neck. At the time, I felt it would never be cool again in Houston. So I folded him gently, and set him in my yarn closet to be dealt with later. Well, when I was cleaning, he was still there. Since I was finishing stuff, out he came. I re-did the neck, and husband is very happy with it.

I really liked the technique for this, and will probably use it again for an aran. I also really liked the Jo Sharp Silk Road yarn. This was the Ultra, and Rogue was tweed. I liked the feel of the Ultra better than the tweed, but I prefer working in DK gauges.

In the mean time, I've continued some blog cleaning. I removed buttons on blogs that seem to be no longer active. I've tidied up my blog roll, and included the little blogroll script. Many of these blog people I never met, rarely interacted with but I still miss them. Who knew?

Two new projects are on the needles. More news next week.
Well, back from Thanksgiving.
Did a lot of cooking and eating. Some knitting.

Look who is ready to go to school.


Something else was finished, but he's resting on the drying rack. And yes, I've started some projects from the list. Guesses anyone?

Monday, November 21, 2005

What's next?
What are the goals?
Goal - Have fun using up stash yarn. I had a very bad eBay habit a while back, and now have a closet full of mostly light worsted/worsted wool. Just loved collecting that vintage shetland/virgin stuff made by Bernat and Bear.

SO, some choices:

A window pane slip stitch type sweater sort of like this...
http://www.morehousefarm.com/KnittingKits/Sweaters_for_Children/Cardigan/
I have some wool/silk dk from pre-2000 WEBs sale purchase that I think would do well. I can do grey's or browns with cream. Could also do greens or blues or rust/orange with creme or black. Perhaps for a BIL who has not received a sweater from me, or another one for my husband.

Rose Trellis Shawl in the merino/cashmere I like so well. I have a whole spool of black cashmere/merino. Same stuff that Starz and Ingeborg, and the Madli shawl were made of.
http://www.sheeweknits.com/shetland_spindrift.htm
Look down the page - it's there

The knitty Wavy scarf
http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter04/PATTwavy.html
The knitty "branching out" scarf
http://knitty.com/ISSUEspring05/PATTbranchingout.html
I a have mohair stash that is also somewhat out of control. Think Wavy would work in mohair? may have to try that.

Poetry in stitches sweater cover sweater, already swatched


A design using this sort of miter/modular slip stitch approach:
http://www.kinverknits.com/
look for the Marmalade/Blueberry jam kit. I think this jacket body was made in two pieces, and joined at the back. How about doing the same thing, using the Zimmerman "Surprise" Jacket method? Or something else self designed using those Hanne Falkenberg designs as inspiration. Those garter stitch jackets on the bias fascinate me.

Some felted bags? Feels like a cop out, but a fun one.

Not many people read this but, perhaps those of you who do visit can drop a comment or a vote. Expect that next Monday, Rogue will be finished, and one or two new projects will be revealed.

Next short term project - build shopping list for tomorrow's Thanksgiving dinner.
Well, I spent some time updating my Gallery, and generally cleaning up my template. Nice? Does anyone care? I suppose I do.

Now, here is what has been keeping me from knitting so much.

I've had her for a few years, and haven't really played her much. She was a replacement for a Taylor that was stolen. She looks funny because she's carbon fiber instead of wood; the manufacturer is "Rainsong". It's really stable, and stays in tune forever, not that I mind tuning all that much. She also has a big sound, and is very resonant and alive. My husband buys me things, and asked me what I was looking for. I told him that I wanted to take it troop camping with the Girl Scouts, so we decided on this because getting wet won't damage it much.

So, why get back to her now? Well, daughter wanted to join her school guitar group, and that got me interested again, which has gotten my husband interested, and now we have three guitars in the living room keeping Ms Rainsong company.

I'm having fun with it; my hands are getting stronger, and my finger calluses are growing back. Right now, I'm trying to perfect a few songs, and finding that that is very very difficult for me. I've found a teacher, but don't plan to start lessons until January.

But knitting continues

Rogue's body and hood is done. She is lounging on Rainsong's case. I pulled the sleeve caps back because my row gauge was so short that the cap had not possibility of fitting into the armhole. Also, ahem, they were a little short, and different lengths. All that will be dealt with.

While I am dealing with that, I am distracting myself with next projects. I think I have narrowed it down to about seven or eight choices. More later.

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Disinstated!?
The lack of blogging for three months seems to have put me in the dog house with both Yahoo Mail and the knit blog ring. I admire them for their effeciancy. FWIW, I'm back into Yahoo mail with my previous id. Apparently the knitblog managers won't be updateing until after the holidays. I respect that too.

In the mean time, I discover other slovenly habits. I havent' updated my gallery page for over a year. Shame on me.

And a sad note. My very good friend, the one I knit this sweater for, died in an automobile accident over the weekend. I was cleaning the guest room in anticipation of his arrival for Thanksgiving when we receive the phone call. He had been struggling with health issues; quite a long list of them for some time. We will miss him.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Alarming Knitting news
Giant Dead Pink Bunny.
http://www.gelitin.net/mambo/content/view/31/71/

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Pardon me, it's been three months since my last blog.

Reflecting, I have been feeling less than normal; sort of depressed, not interested in much. Not only not blogging, but not reading blogs either.

However, when I think about August September and October, I recall I have re-certified for SCUBA, certified for Girl Scout Adult Backpacking, supported a major Girl Scout Service Unit event. I picked up my guitar again, and I'm almost finished with the Mel Bay Modern guitar Method Grade 1 book. I went to a Cisco class, and am studying for certification, and still trying to generate revenue for my employer. Oh yeah we had a few hurricanes.

And, I made this.

It's the Wool Peddlers shawl from Folk Shawls.

Rogue has been causing me problems. When I got to the arm hole, I had to admit there was something really funky with my row gauge. I don't normally check that, but this pattern is written almost row by row. Funking around with the body was not that hard, but I hesitated when trying to figure out how to make the lovely neck cables work out. Eventually, I decided to throw in a few extra repeats here and there, and it seems to be working out. The sleeve caps will have to be redone.

Besides the gauge issue, I'm really having trouble with the cable pattern. I do a few and take a look, and suddenly, there are overs where there should be unders. This is normally not a problem for me, but this silly one is taking more than her share of re-work.

Finally, Mr. Shiloh has sat on it a few times, and it gets covered with dog hair. I wipe it off with tape, but Yuck. I will have to be more careful.

So, maybe I'm dropping out, but maybe I'll start posting about once a week again. Don't know.