Still Around, Still Knitting

Yes, I'm still alive... and feeling wonderful! Dr. changed my thyroid level and some supplements and I'm feeling so full of energy that it's hard to sit still long enough to compose a blog entry. I've finished a few things, the pictures are still in my camera and will make it here eventually.

I've also been running an evening Summer Knitting Program at a local Library which has been a lot of fun. Mostly new or new-ish knitters so lots of problem solving on my part.

Personally, I've several lace projects going and a couple of socks.

My secret Knitty blue project was a dismal failure. I was making, for The Photographer, Retrofit which is a somewhat slim fitting sweater. I made it from measurements I took a year ago since I wanted it to be a Father's Day surprise. His shoulders didn't fit by two sizes and around chest measurement needed to be the next size up. (The smaller sizes really are fitted.) Simply a disaster - the whole way round! The yarn is now back in hanks; it really didn't want to be that sweater.

Next time I'll have pictures, promise.

Annie says, Hey.

Sorry, I'm Boring lately!

I'm too boring for Blogging. Lately, nothing I'm knitting is worth it. Two out of three projects look the same as the last time they were photographed. Ink Spot, started the second side which looks the same as the first. Milkweed project is about three quarters done but looks like unblocked lace does. The un-named Knitty project, I'm on "that island" knitters dread.

I did knit up a sample for the shop in an Organic Cotton.


This is the eloomanator Diagonal Knit Dishcloth.
and a close-up.

It was a quick knit and fun to watch the pattern emerge.

And I knit up some of my homespun,

This if from All Spun Up, sorry I can't find the colorway name. Lovely fiber!

And used it to start Yarn Harlot's One Row Handspun Scarf Pattern

This scarf is done now but needs to be blocked to open it up. Again a quick and enjoyable project. And a great pattern to display long color runs.

I dyed some BFL superwash fingering weight yarn a light Turquoise.

It was kettle dyed and came out a very faint semi-solid. It's destined to be Evelyn Clark's Shetland Triangle.

That's it for my knitting. The garden has had some spectacular spring blooms.

The Graham Thomas Climbing Rose was severely cut back this year - guess it like it because it's out done itself with roses!

The Asiatic Lillies have kept blooming through rain or shine.



And the Jacarandas in the neighborhood have bloomed in all their glory.

(Yes, they're beautiful trees but you want to view them at someone elses house. Messy and sticky debris!)

The Photographer and I went to the Ocean Beach Farmer's Market a couple weeks ago. O.B. never got the message that the Summer of Love is over.

Annie say, "Hey."

My Fully Baked Weekend

Ok - let me just get this out - It was DAMN HOT this weekend!! And then Sunday was even HOTTER! Tying the all time record for the Month of April HOT! Where I was Sunday it got to 100 degrees F at 10:55 am and then stuck at that temperature the rest of the day. (I left at 4pm and it was still 100 degrees.)

This was the weekend we had Celia Quinn here to give her two-day Silk Workshop. Once again we were at Karalyn's home over looking Lake Murray.

Celia lives in Alaska and the heat was really getting to her. Saturday was very warm - put you to sleep after lunch warm but Sunday it was so hot it hurt, and we were in the shade.

We learned more about the history and biology of silk than I ever imagined. We dyed silk caps

and silk hankies


We spun silk in more than a dozen forms while Celia explained all the ways to spin each type, what each is used for and where it came from.


We played with cocoons and did reeled silk and make silk mawata or hankies from cocoons. Celia gave us so much information in a very fun but hectic weekend. Luckily with all that heat it was very dry so our hands weren't too sweaty to spin the silk. Sunday with trying to pay attention and ignore the heat I forgot to take any pictures but it looked at lot like Saturday's picture except with different and lighter clothes, oh yeah, we looked even hotter too.

These three days of heat have cooked all the Spring flowers but The Photographer has pictures to help remember them. My potted wisteria gave the best blooms so far. I severely wacked it back - the plant must have liked the pruning.


And just to prove how special my dog Annie is, here's a picture of her reading.

Weaving Class

Weaving has been encroaching on my knitting recently. I'm attending a 4 Harness Weaving Class at The Craft Center at UCSD. Week One was how to warp our rental looms. Week Two was weaving (in my case TRYING to weave) 14 different Twill patterns with varying success.



It's amazing how easily I got confused about what pattern row I was on! Even when there were only four rows to the design!!

Week Three we finished our sampler and warped again. This time I'm doing a hounds tooth two-color pattern. Turns out for me the hardest part is counting (who would have thought). Anyway, after several mistakes, pulling warp out, string everywhere and re-doing I got the loom warped and the pattern started. If I sound surprised that's because I can't believe I got it to work.



I'm enjoying the 'learning something new' part of this class but I don't think weaving will ever replace knitting as my craft of choice; my need to do it so I don't go crazy and take everyone along with me. There really is something in my brain that is soothed with knitting; if I have to wait in line or on the phone I can remain calm if I have my knitting otherwise by the time I get to the head of the line I'm really not fit to be talking to anyone let alone trying to solve a problem.

Speaking of Knitting, only two finished objects this past week. The first is a Pinwheel pillow, a sample for the Shop. It's a pattern from the current issue of Knitscene Magazine out of Marble Chunky. (BTW this is a great 100% acrylic chunky yarn. It really sells well, everyone seems to like it as much as I did.)



And Saartje's Baby Booties made for my niece who's expecting a girl this May.


Oh - I should tell you it's been raining off and on this week and should continue through Monday and Tuesday - YEAH! It's been fun seeing the reaction to our mini-summer in winter from Bloggers talking about TNNA. (Great pictures from Anne on Knitspot. Mid-January entries)

The Photographer passed along a couple of photos of Sam and Annie from Christmas:

Sam trying out all the extra chairs around the table


Annie with her stuffed chick present. She always knows there's a present for her; we have to hide it because she can smell which one is hers out of all the other wrapped presents.

Last of 2008 Knitting

Here's the last project of 2008 (not the last finished but the last photographed and blogged.) Spiral Eyelet Socks in Paca-Peds, color #604 Fireside.

These socks made it into both 2007 & 2008 projects list; I'm still pulling out UFOs and finishing them rather than buckling down and finishing my green sweater. (What is the matter with me? I just haven't been in the mood for knitting that requires any brain power.) Don't know why it took me a year to get to the second pair, since the second sock pattern changes to make the diagonal eyelet spiral in the opposite direction - it's like a different sock. There shouldn't have been any second sock syndrome fatigue. Anyway they're done.

Found out I'm going to be a Great Aunt again so I've been perusing baby blankets on Ravelry where I found the Barn-Raising Quilt from Knit-a-long

Thanks to friends (Hi Laurie) I have lots of left over sock yarn. A single square only takes 11 grams of yarn. Here's #1 and #2 squares.


It's fun to watch the spiral design come out as you knit. Wonder how long it will take me to knit all these squares? The baby is due in April...

Here's a photo of a knit gift card holder from Starbucks.




(Sorry they're a bit blurry, the camera just doesn't like red.) I wonder what something like this would look like in sockyarn? Might take longer to hand knit than it's worth but if you're a machine knitter - boy you can just go to town. They just stitched along the edge, no mattress or blanket stitch. The original has a machine stitched down bird design on the front but with a busy self-patterning sock yarn there's no need for a design on the front. Just a thought.

I won a book that I was just going to buy; seriously I was planning to get to Amazon that evening when Norma of Now Norma Knits wrote and told me I'd won the book Knitted Jackets she was giving away. How lucky is that! Thanks Norma.

Time to go and figure out what I did wrong on my Curlicue Afgan. I have 26 stitches hanging there with no where to go. I'm afraid I'm going to have to rip back a couple of sections. Hmmm...

It was a Kureyon Weekend

The four day Holiday Weekend is over; we both took off Thursday. Daughter #1 was over for dinner Friday, #2 Daughter was here on Sunday. We ate, we watched The Music Man, listened to March Music and had a very nice, quiet celebration - except for the time Friday when the helicopters were circling because some kids set the canyon on fire playing with fireworks. (Small fire that was quickly put out - Thank-you Fire Dept!)

My personal celebration was lots of time spent gardening, spinning and knitting. I finished the Primavera Socks. Made from Trekking XXL, color 108


Earlier in the week I finished the Tile Socks from Socks, Socks, Socks made from Louet Gems Sportweight.


These are the first socks I've made in a yarn heavier than fingering weight. I love the socks but living in Southern California I don't know when I'll have occasion to wear them. Maybe I'd better stick to lighter weight yarns in the future.

Started the Ziggy Socks from Knitty.


I'm using Kureyon Sock yarn; sorry but I hate this yarn. As singles, it's all twisty on itself making it impossible to use for a stranded project! This is going to be ripped out. The pattern is fine except for one thing - this toe-up sock starts with Judy's Magical cast-on (this was my first attempt using this particular cast-on) Did I do something wrong, there's a row of garter stitch at the cast-on site (you can just see it in the photo?) I ripped it out twice but always ended up with those garter rows right at the tip of the toe. I like this cast-on method but I suspect I'm doing something backwards. Anyone have some pointers to help me?

Last Tuesday was my day to do the Spinning Demo at the San Diego County Fair.


Members of our spinning class covered this Demonstration over the run of the Fair. I was there on Kids Day so I must have been ask many times, "Where did Sleeping Beauty hurt her finger?" Since I was spinning on an Ashford Traditional there was no spindle to show them. We've discussed next time having an old wheel there that has a spindle, at least on Kids Day.

That Wheel was a single pedal which I'm not use to; by the end of my Demo hour my whole treadling leg hurt. Don't know what I did wrong but I'm sticking to double treadle wheels! I can spin for hours on either of mine with no aches or pains, thank goodness.

Last weekend I dyed this Superwash Merino Roving.


I baked it in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 mins and then let it sit to cool to room temperature.

Spinning this is so cool ; I love the way the singles are changing color.


Ravelry let me to Bobby's Blanket. The Hexagon pattern/recipe is posted here. I used some left over Kureyon to give it a try. (6 inch double point for size reference)


I enjoyed making these two hexagons but it's very hard on my hands. I probably won't be making more with worsted weight but I'm wondering if it would be easier with fingering weight? Maybe a use for that Kureyon Sock Yarn?

Under "Small World": Sunday I was reading Laurie's blog Issues with Knitting
where she talks about buying a bag of Kureyon to make Sandy's Sweater in Big Girl Knitting. Well I bought a pile of Kureyon #213 two weeks ago


to make the same sweater. And I too haven't decided on the solid to go with #213. I'd like to use a green but haven't found a green worsted weight I think works with this Kureyon colorway. Hmm, are sweater patterns contagious?

Finally, Annie's poodle foot is growing out. And she's doing fine - never would know she'd been so sick. We're really watching what she eats and
No Table Scraps!

Hiding from the US Open

Yeah, the US Open is "still" in town, just up the road. The Photographer and I spent most of the weekend just hiding out at home trying to avoid the traffic. Can you believe they're playing again today! I thought I'd be free to get out and about by now.

I pulled out my drumcarder; I wanted to try something I'd read on Abby's Blog. (Sorry I can't find the exact entry now when I want to link to it) Whenever I've tried to card fiber with silk in it all I get are neps - horrible neps everywhere. Not to mention the long silk fibers all wrapped around the smaller carding drum, a terrible waste of expensive silk! Abby suggests you don't add your silk until the last or second to last trip through the carder. You take your batt and split it lengthwise, lay out your silk on top of one half-batt and lay the second batt on top making a silk sandwich between two half-batts. So that's what I've been doing with (in my opinion) great success.

I've been using up bits of wool dyed at one time or another; three different yellow wools, two orange wools, a fuchsia wool, fuchsia and white silk and at the end some white tussah for a streaky effect. I'm rather happy with the look and feel. And almost no neps at all - yeah!


The color is very much the color of an Orangecicle so that's what I'm calling it. Once I'm done with this blog entry and move the wash to the dryer I'm going to start spinning.

Fairisle is still entrancing me; I started the Tile Socks (Ravelry link) from Socks, Socks, Socks.


I'm getting their gauge but the socks are too big so I'm going to rip what you see out and start over again with one size smaller needles. The pattern calls for sport weight yarn, I'm using Louet Gems Sport Weight, and size 4 & 5 needles. We'll see if that will tighten up the fabric enough.

Several emails want to know what's happened with the ZigBagZ. I'm working on the handles currently. This is taking me awhile; the double sided Icord is done extremely tightly with two strands of Cascade 220. I'm find this very hard on my bad arm so I can only knit on a handle for 10 mins everyother day. First handle is done and I'm ready to start the second handle. I'm not in a big rush to finish all the knitting because then it's felting time. I'm VERY nervous about the felting part; I only have a 50% felting success rate and I can't stand the thought of this bag not turning out.

Thank you for all the get-well wishes for Annie - she's seems to be back to her regular old happy dog self. She can't have her favorite chicken jerky treats (from China via Costco - the Vet said No, No!) so I tried baking her cookies. She has allergies to wheat, corn and beef so it was difficult to find a recipe to use so I just tried a few mixes of my own concoction.


First batch on the left were the consistency and crispiness I was looking for but my taste tester was only ho-hum about them. Second batch on the right aren't crispy at all more of a Molasses cookie consistency but Annie loves them. The Photographer even tried the second batch and says they have a fishy taste. My secret is several jars of Chicken Baby Food. If you're interested in the recipe email me and I'll be happy to send it to you and your pup. (This is the way to bake cookies and Not be tempted to eat any of them!)

The Photographer filled his weekend playing around with lighting. I had an Asiatic Lily in bloom that was happy to sit around modeling all weekend with no complaints.

Dog, hat, train Trifecta

Where did the last two weeks go? I feel like I'm coming out of hibernating in a cave. We had a very sick dog around here.


She has recurring colitis, the Vet has given us medication to start immediate treatment has soon as we hear her tummy start to gurgle. We usually can quiet it down pretty quickly; except this time I believe the medication made her so nauseous that she just shut down - no eating, no drinking and no moving. And it was Memorial Day Weekend, OF COURSE!

She ended up at the Emergency Vet Sunday, where they kept her overnight, then we had to take her to our regular Vet. That's where we got the picture of her with the IV in her leg.

She's been home for a week and except for her "poodle foot"


you'd never know anything had happened.

They took complete x-rays of her looking for foreign objects; which incidentally found her spine and joints show no sign of any arthritis - pretty good for a nine year old dog! Annie's a rescue so we have no idea what her life expectancy might be. I'm so grateful that she's OK now!

I spent my time in the Vet waiting room knitting the Fake Isle Hat.


If I hadn't had my knitting with me I would have gone crazy with the waiting and worry!
I used one skein Noro Kureyon Color 170 and one skein Peruvian Highland Wool Worsted in Black.

The only fun thing that went on over Memorial Day Weekend was a Steam Train came through town!


Steam Engine Santa Fe 3751 came to San Diego; hadn't been here since 1953. We realized that the trains are very close to us with a bridge overhead which would give us a great view. We drove over to University City High School to park and walked a short distance to the bridge on Genesee. The train was nearly three hours late - we heard it was because they kept having to stop to take on water. While we were waiting the regular Amtrak train came through. Giving The Photographer some test shots.


The police drove by and told us the train would be late so we came home to check on Annie and have lunch. I stayed home with her but The Photographer went back and waited and waited and waited but he came home with the pictures. For Him, it ALL about the picture!

Of course he had to play around with it; it was an old train so he made it look like an old picture.


For those of you that wonder why Southern California has so many fires - look at the brush in the background of the train pictures. Right now it's still green from the winter rains but consider we usually have no rain past May so it's really really dry come September and October - then one spark and poof it's a roaring fire traveling where ever the Santa Ana winds push it.