Post-Christmas tasks

Christmas was enjoyed by all at our house. We did the drive to Illinois Friday evening, then to Wisconsin Saturday morning, returning to Illinois on Monday, and then returning to Ohio on Wednesday. I got only a few knitting/spinning related gifts. My sister got me a "Sheep to Shoe" kit in the Valkerie colorway from Blue Moon and my mother got me a different lazy kate. I got to spend lots of time knitting on the Cherry Blossom Shawl, but I seem to be in the never-ending chart C. I got my Ravelry invite yesterday and have spent a little time on there, but will get more done later. First on the list is the kitchen floor. We moved out all of the appliances and will start the floor tile shortly, but first we need to play a little of the boy's PS2. (it was his big surprise present).

Snow finally

It finally decided to snow. This started as big snow flakes and then turned into rain. We still have some snow cover, but not enough for me.
I thought I would share what our Christmas tree looks like:
I spent most of this weekend inside knitting, spinning and making Christmas goodies. My family has a Swiss heritage, so we make lots of Swiss goodies. This weekend it was Bratzlies, English Toffee, St. Lucia bread, and some fruit cake. I hope to make some other goodies this week. Around all of this baking I finished my cardigan. It fits a little more snug that I hoped, but I think I can block it to be slightly bigger.
I also did lots of spinning. Here is one of the 2 bobbins of this pink mixed fiber I got at MS&W. I have no clue what I will knit out of it, but I am thinking something ballet related as the pink reminds me of that. I think there is some mohair or angora in this mix since it has a halo.
I may not post again before Christmas, so have a great holiday and I will return with pictures of the knitted presents that I can't share yet.

Second Sunday of Advent

I have no pictures of Christmas knitting, but I have a picture of what I bought with some Christmas money I received:


This is the Ashford Tensioned Lazy Kate. I got it at a cute little yarn and spinning shop in Nelsonville, OH called the Spinning Turtle. I have ordered the jumbo flyer and extra jumbo bobbins from her as well.

I finished the current SIP. These are for my son.

Yarn: Regia Nation Color
Needles: KnitPick dpn 2 mm
Pattern: Top down basic socks with a broken-rib type stitch.


I have been working away on my cardigan and I am now past where the sleeves join in. I haven't seamed the sleeves yet, but need to block them before doing that.
I have also been trying some of the many dish cloth patterns that exist in blog land. Here are 2,

Tis the first day of Advent...

and I have finished some Christmas knitting. I can show pictures of some since those people have already received the present or don't read the blog.These scarves are knit with Wool-Ease thick and quick on #13 needles. They are for 2 nephews.

This is a scarf and hat set for a big family christmas party. They are Wool-Ease and a basic pattern. I hope they are well liked.

Now for non-Christmas things. I have been working on a pair of socks for N using some Regia sock yarn I got on clearance. I think they will be a matching pair, but I am not certain yet.

Here is where I am on the Cherry Blossom shawl. I haven't work on it in a LONG time. I find it boring, but I do want to finish it as I haven't done a circular shawl yet.
I started on a basic cardigan after trying to follow a pattern that called for a Swiss Check pattern. With the color choice I had made (un-dyed for the main color, taupe and sky for the other colors), the sweater started to look like blue and tan stars. I ripped it out and started creating a pattern using the Handy Book of Sweaters as a guide. This is the KnitPicks Wool of the Andes bulky weight yarn.
I also found time to knit the first swatch on the Spring Shawl Suprice project. I am using KnitPicks bare laceweight and size 3.0mm needles.

Faina is finished

I have finished the Faina's Scarf out of my home spun. Here it is:

Pattern: Faina's Scarf from Fiber Trends
Wool: Rust color from MS&W, <8 oz, 2 ply
Needles: KnitPick Options, size 4
Size: 12"x61"

Since I finished something I decided to start something new. This is a Christmas present for a family party. I am using Wool Ease since it will then be machine washable. The hat is from a free KnitPicks pattern and the scarf is the Tiny Bamboo pattern from the Vogue Stitchinary vol 1.


I have also joined the Spring Shawl Surprice (a yahoo group). The pattern will be over 8 clues and complicated. The designer is using the KnitPicks bare in laceweight. I had 1 skein, but to make sure I had enough I needed to order a second, so I was able to buy yarn for a sweater as well. I am not going to pay shipping on something that actually comes from across town. I wish local pick-up was a delivery choice.

Spinning Away

This past week I didn't really feel like knitting, so I was spinning. I finished the Starry Night from Tintangle Farms that I got at MS&W. I ended up with 455.8 yds of 2 ply for a total of 8 oz.

I have gotten back to knitting on the Faina's scarf and I have done one point and almost all of 1 repeat of the pattern. There are 4 repeats between points. It is an easy pattern to knit, but I do have to refer to the chart a few times a row.

Handspun to Handknit

Nathaniel's alligator scarf is finished. This is a kit from Morehouse Merino. It was tons of fun to knit and a neat way of making the bumps. I hope he enjoys it this winter and doesn't loose it. I don't think it would be long enough for an adult, but it can be lengthened or use a larger needle size.
I finished spinning the rust colored wool from MS&W. Here are the singles:

And here is the 2-ply. I got about 560 yds at 12.5 wpi and 3 twists per inch.
I decided that the best thing to make would be mittens and then either a hat or scarf. Here are the mittens. I used 3mm needles, a basic mitten pattern and only about 150 yds of the wool.
Then I decided to make the Faina's scarf (Fiber Trends pattern). This is what I have so far. I am not going to do the fringe since I am a little short on yardage and I am not really a fringe person.

October already?

Since I posted last, the fat cat lost about 5 pounds and we found out she is diabetic and has kidney and liver problems. This will slowly get solved by her eating. Unfortunately she has discovered moist and canned cat food and will NOT eat the dry anymore. The wet stuff stinks.
My son is now a Tiger Cub Scout and we are "enjoying" the added meetings and activities. He is loving it.
I have done some knitting and spinning. I finished the Shapely Tee in blue, the ballet shrug I was working on and decided to frog the bag. I also spun more of the rust colored wool and plied the 2 bobbins of the Stary Night. I ended up with 205 yds/ 120 g of a nice 2 ply yarn. I will have some pictures next time I post.

Too much going on at once!!!

Last weekend for Labor Day we drove 7 hours to my parent's house in Illinois on Friday only to return on Monday. Then this past Saturday I had to take my husband to the airport for his work trip to Milan, Italy. This means that my son and I are on our own this week and then next week my husband goes to Pittsburgh for work again. SO since he is gone other things have decided to happen as well. Late Sunday night I noticed the sump pump was not working correctly (to be specific it was boiling the water that it was sitting in). This means it needs to be replaced, not that complicated, but I don't have some stuff so the in-laws are going to come tomorrow to help with that. To add to the mess, my large cat (Victoria) has decided not to eat any more. She gets to go to the vet tomorrow to investigate that and get her yearly shots.

Knitting is going on slowly while everything else is a mess. I started the alligator scarf kit from Morehouse Merino. I love the pattern, but haven't had that much time to knit. The other projects are still slowly moving along and I have the desire to cast-on a large lace project, but I MUST FINISH SOMETHING BEFORE STARTING SOMETHING NEW!! Hopefully I will have some pictures of finished items next time.

Finished Objects

This past week I have finished 2 items and finally photographed the socks I finished before.

Pattern: Monet Sweater from Creative Knitting May 2007
Yarn: Duet in color SE D21 from Brooks Farm (55/45 Kid Mohair/wool)
Needles: size 5 and 6 KnitPicks options
Time spent: about 3 months

I also finished the Mystery Stole 3. I admit that this is not really my style, but it was a fun knit. I do like the beads and might use them on something else in the future, but I am a very symmetrical person. I still have to weave in the ends and decide what to do with it, but here is the blocking photo.

Pattern: Mystery Stole 3 by Pink Lemon Twist
Yarn: Jagerspun Zephir in Mushroom
Needles: Inox Express 3.25mm
Beads: Silver lined clear (#110) from the Beadwrangler
Finished size: about 72" long and 22" wide

Here are the most recent finished socks.

Pattern: Pennant Stitch from More Sensational Knitted Socks
Yarn: Panda wool in color Basil Curry
Needles: Inox 2.25mm dpns

My next project is the Shapely Tee by White Lies Designs in a light blue cotton blend. I have knit this in the past out of bamboo and like how it fits, so now to make another one.

Mid August already?

I can't believe it is already the middle of August. Since I posted last there was the Dublin Irish Festival with the Columbus Feis, my parents visiting, some knitting, and our second mini-vacation. The Columbus Feis was fun and very hot. We didn't place in the competition as we usually do, but no one got hurt and we had a laugh. My parents got to see me dance and were here that whole weekend (including a trip to the Zoo that turned into a downpour). After that we found out that my husband needs to have knee surgery (scheduled for this coming Friday) and gets/has to go to Milan Italy for work. Unfortunately I will not be able to go along, but since I have traveled out of the US as a child I am not missing a chance to visit Europe. This will be his first time out of North America.

On the knitting front, I have done the front, back and one sleeve of the Monet sweater and have started the second sleeve. While on our mini-vacation (camping in WV), I finished the second sock of a pair I started on our first mini-vacation. (Yarn is the Panda Wool, using a pennant pattern and my normal needles). I immediately cast on for another pair using dpns from KnitPicks. I haven't used those needles yet, since I normally use the longer Inox needles I got in Germany about 10 years ago, but I do like the points and I can get used to the length. My husband thinks I am obsessive since I need to have something to knit on.

Mystery Stole 3 has continued to progress. I have almost finished clue 5 and have printed clue 6. I hope to get started on that tonight, but I have laundry to do. I am knitting it as published, but I will probably not knit a second following it completely (I do like the pointy ends and the middle, but not so for the wing portion). I admire anyone who can design anything. I am a very crafty person, but I must have a "recipe" to follow for cooking, sewing, quilting, knitting, or anything.

Lace Knitting and Harry Potter

This past weekend my "boys" went on a backpacking adventure and left me alone from Friday evening until Sunday dinnertime. I decided to go out Friday night and sit at Borders and wait for the new Harry Potter book. I got tons of sock knitting done while waiting. I had wristband #484 and I got there at 10 pm!! After buying my book at about 1 am, I headed home, glanced at the last chapter and then went to bed. I spent the rest of the weekend alternating reading and knitting on Mystery Stole 3 while watching movies. I have almost finished clue 4 and totally finished Harry Potter 7. I won't spoil the book for anyone except to say I didn't like the last chapter. Now I have 2 weeks until the next Stole clue comes out and I already finished both tasks. I guess I will have to work on other knitting projects. When the "boys" came home they brought about 600 mL of wild blueberries (they had them in a Nalgene bottle) and now they want me to make a blueberry tart. I will have to add some store-bought blueberries to the mix to have enough, but it should be good. I have no pictures to share today as they also took the camera I use.

Finished Lace

I finished the Rosebud Shawl. Here is a picture of the unblocked shawl (with a yard stick at the top):
And here is the picture of it blocking (once again there is a yard stick in the picture for reference):
Project details:
Pattern: Rosebud from Heirloom Knitting
Yarn: Merino Oro, color 011, about 134 g (1675 m)
Needles: KnitPicks Options, US 4/ 3.5 mm
Finished size: about 64" x 64"


Here is the current progress on Mystery Stole 3. I have finished clue 3. Next week I probably won't finish the clue by Sunday since we are going to get 135 rows! and I will be reading Harry Potter (provided I can find a copy, I didn't pre-order).

And the lace continues

Mystery Stole 3 continues. The group membership has grown to an astounding6732 people last I checked. I can't believe I was number 37 of that total. Here is what it looks like after the first 2 clues. I started clue 2 after dinner on Friday and finished Saturday mid-morning. The beads don't show up too well in the photos, but they are there.
When I am not working on MS3 I am trying to finish up Rosebud. I have done 3/4 of the edging and here is the current picture. That is a yard/meter stick in the top of the picture. This measurement is of the un-stretched shawl. I started the second ball of yarn just before starting the edging (each ball has 1250 meters/ 100g).
I am going to leave you with a picture of my fat cat pretending to be human in a rocking chair. This was just after she had her paw on the arm-rest.

I love lace knitting

The first clue for Mystery Stole 3 came out Friday morning. I was going to take the day off and stay home to knit and nap, but I had some work to do and ended up being there for 6 hours. After getting home I was able to get started and then finished up Saturday morning. Here is what clue 1 looks like. Other than MS3 I have been working away on the Rosebud shawl. I have gotten about half way done with the edging. I have worked more since this picture.

Has it been 2 weeks already?

In the last 2 weeks I have gone camping, finished a pair of socks, signed up for the Mystery Stole 3 by PinkLemon, worked on the Rosebud shawl and competed in an Irish dance competition.

First the camping: We went to Seneca Rocks West Virginia and set up the tent. One day we went on a coal fired train ride at Cass, WV. That was so much fun and I got tons of sock knitting done during the 4.5 hr trip. Lots of people asked me about the sock and how I did it since I was standing up most of the time knitting. Here are the socks I finished.
Pattern: basic toe up with 2 x2 rib for leg part
Yarn: Koigu KPPPM color P-116

Second the Mystery Stole 3: PinkLemon is hosting this KAL. There are already over 2500 people from all over signed up for this. The first clue comes out Friday. It is interesting this year as there are people who don't speak English in the group. I have been able to work on my German (I do have a degree in German, but haven't used it since college other than little chats with my sister). Incidentally I re-learned how to knit while visiting my sister when she spent the year in Freiburg. The booklet (Stricken Lernen leicht & schnell by Burda) I learned from is getting worn, but I still use it as my first reference. Here is my swatch for the stole. I used Zephyr in Mushroom and have 3 different choices for beads- clear (didn't show up), silver lined (most people who have seen this like these) and a dark grey rainbow (they really stand out).
Third Rosebud: I have started the knitted on edging and I am half done with one side (the picture was taken earlier in the weekend). I hope to get at least 1 side done before Friday and the mystery stole clue.
Last: The Irish dancing. It was the Cincinnati Feis. We came home with 14 dance medals/trophies. We didn't place below 2nd on any dance. Here we are with most of the awards and our "coach".

Another week gone by

This past week went by with little knitting. Kindergarten graduation went well, but a bit on the long-winded side. We got our Ruby costumes in ballet class and they were lovely. The actual recital on Saturday morning went well, but was a bit long. I have done some knitting on the Rosebud shawl, but didn't bother with a photo of a larger mass of pink. I have done 70 rows of the border and I am now on a race to finish the borders before the new knitting project starts.

Pink Lemon Twist is doing the Mystery Stole 3. I did the one last year and loved it, so as soon as I knew about this one I signed right up. This one has optional beads. I have never knit with beads, so I am definitely going to try. I will use the same color as last year since I bought a whole cone (1 pound) of the mushroom zephyr. Now which beads to use? I think I will order 2 different colors and then decide when they come in.

June already?

I did some spinning this past week. This is the last of the purple tencel that had to be spun. I just have to ply this and then send it to my sister.

Here is my current sock. I got one done and have started the toe on another. This is one of the Koigu sets from MS&W. It is lovely to knit with.
I have added more rows to the rosebud shawl, but you can't really tell there are 4 sides that have 178 stitches each.
This has been a busy weekend. I had my dance dress rehearsal (without costume, ours are not here yet) on saturday morning and then stopped by a yarn store on the way home. I got some of the Panda Wool and then some of the Tofutsies for more socks. After a brief nap we went on a brief bike ride to the elementary school to play on the playground. Then this morning we went on a shopping trip to check out some new bikes. We found some really nice ones at a new bike store and so had to come home and get the bike rack for the car before returning to the store to buy them. This was followed by another bike ride to the playground. It was much nicer than yesterday (I could shift gears and my bum didn't hurt as much). Then after an early dinner we went to the pool to try and teach my son to swim. He isn't learning very quickly. The only reason he went totally under water was because he slipped. Swim lessons start June 11.

This week will just be busier with Kindergarten graduation overlapping my last ballet class before the recital and my husband going out of town for work (and that is just wednesday). Then this coming saturday is the dance recital (hopefully with costumes).

Memorial Day Weekend

Since my last post I have done some knitting, some spinning, some dancing, and went to my 10 year college reunion. I am still amazed that I have been out of college for 10 years now. Almost no one was at the reunion events I attended.

For knitting I have been working on my SIP and I am almost done with the first of the pair. I have also worked more on the Rosebud shawl. It takes about 1.5 hours to do 2 rows now. Here is the current picture (it looks like a larger mass of pink string)
I have also been working my Monet sweater as well. The color of this picture is better than last post's picture.
Here is the spinning I was working on as well. This is the wool/tencel blend for my sister.
Here is the result of my dancing this weekend. I got a 4th and three 1st place medals at the Cleveland 2007 Feis.So it has been a great week and weekend for all of my hobbies. Next weekend is the dress rehearsal for my Ballet class and we don't have our costumes yet. I have been assured that we will not be naked, but until I actually have the costume I am still a little doubtful.

Queen City Feis 2007

The Queen City Feis 2007 was yesterday. This was my first aniversary of competition Irish dance. This year I got 2 first places (the first and last dance of the day) and 2 third places. I did not place in one dance. They actually gave trophies for the adults.
Here are the socks I finished on the plane comming home from MS&W.
Yarn: Austermann Step
Pattern: mini-cable top down

Here is the current SIP:

And here is what the Rosebud shawl currently looks like (just a bigger pile of dental floss)
And finally here is the sweater I just started with yarn from MS&W. This is the Inspired by Monet sweater from Creative Knitting May 2007.