Sitting Around Waiting for the Hummingbird

It got too dark. Hummingbird didn't show.

It would have been nice if I had zipped off a pic of the hoodie in process instead of waiting for a no-show bird. The blog is about KNITTING not BIRD WATCHING.

I Missed It

You would think, as rare as earthquakes are in New England (reports say we get about 6 per year) that I would notice when one went through. I wouldn't have known anything about it if the MEMA radio behind me in my office hadn't announced it and caught my attention. Ten minutes later our local newspaper called the Town Hall to ask if there was any comment. My comment was, "poop, I missed it!" We have tractors and 'tater pickers that cause more vibration than the earthquake. Fortunately, the reporter didn't quote me in today's paper.

Speaking of the Town Hall, I didn't mention we have had a little animal problem this week. Not your run of the mill animal problem. You may be thinking squirrels, birds or chipmunks. No, keep in mind this is a farm community. We have to be different. We had goats.

Not having been around goats I kept my distance. Cows don't bother me. Those that wrangled Goat 1 and Goat 2 said they were very sweet. I'll take their word for it. These two were claimed and brought home safe and sound. Seems they have learned how to open the gate as they escaped the next day. We also had a horse on the loose in a wooded area of town. Now horses I'm scared to death of if they're not on their side of the fence. Wanted no part of that capture. It too was claimed by its owner and taken home.

That's life in rural New England.

Progress Report

So I haven't been just sitting around twiddling my thumbs. This girl's been workin'. All that's left in the scrap bag is 5 oddballs of Cascade 220 "Turtle" (my favorite). I'm saving that for after I do something with the dark red stash. They'll look fab together in a stripey sweater. This last sweater still needs the zipper installed but I haven't been in the mood-know what I mean?
I have a sweater jacket in process. I "borrowed" the design concept from the cover of Knit magazine or some knitting magazine I walked by. I also started a LACE project. After 2" I tossed it in the knitting bag. No mistakes (yet) but dawg gone it  if lace doesn't hold my attention which is crazy but that's me. It's a Wendy Johnson pattern called Seriously Simple Shawl. Like I said, so far so good but man, my contacts dry out before I get the row done because I don't want to take my eyes off the chart and mess the bloody thing up! It exhausted me.
Give a shout out to you folks in Ontario. Hope everyone is okay. Had a little shake of the earth today.

A Few of My Favorite Things

The Andrew and the Ivy

  

The Lily

 

The Alium

 

The Beau Baby 

 

The Miniature Roses

Back to Andrew

And gobs and gobs of stockinette stitch. Bore you later.

Gah!

What is so hard about finishing a project and taking a picture. Beats the heck out of me but for some reason a time warp occurs and poof! 3 projects later I get around to taking a craptastic photo of hours of

  

work. 

See? Crappy blurry photo #1. Love the sweater. Amazing how lime green goes with pretty much everything in my wardrobe. It would be nice if I blocked it someday.

Then there's the scratchiest silk garment in the world. I call it Pain. I noted in my knitting book to never work with this yarn again. Brutal on the hands. At least it's in focus. 

There's still at least 2 other sweaters that are finished and two more in process. And spinning! *sigh* I guess I need an assistant following me around with my camera if I want to do this right.

As a follow-up to all the bad weather we had, our power came back on 2 days later rather than the 3-4 days "they" were forecasting. This weekend followed up with tornado watches. In New England. Phtlft! Nor'easters  are quite enough, we don't need to take on southern or mid west weather specialties.

The Power of Knitting

Had a bit of a thunderstorm last night that has left us here in Franklin County with no power until Saturday pm. The knitting time will be shorter with no light after 8pm but it CAN be done.
Many trees and power lines fell victim to a storm that lasted less than a half hour but was so fierce it scared the bajeevies out of ME. I love t-storms but that was over the top. As storms go it was a real show off.

The temp went from 100 degrees during the day down to 50 by 11:30pm. Went to bed at 10  sweating and whining and an hour later I was wrasslin' wind tossed porch furniture and running crazy around the house to shut windows. Weather experts are not saying a thing as to what went through. No matter what it was, it sure left a mess. One that will last us for days. No wireless phones, my cell is fussier than usual, no school, no businesses open. Kinda spooky. We're used to this in the winter. Throw the food in a snow bank and you're good until the lights come back on. Not this time. We're just gonna watch that frozen food defrost despite all the efforts to keep the freezer door shut tight. It's too warm to save it.

On the up side? Broke the heat wave. 

I Love My Cat I Love My Cat I Love My Cat

My mantra last night when I came home around 8:30 pm was I Love My Cat. I had to repeat this for hours lest I put him up for adoption or worse. It was too gruesome. Merino single spun, MY hand spun singles(on a drop spindle people, NOT a spinning wheel though the pain would be the same.) that I had just started to ply were everywhere. He started on the second floor where said unborn yarn was safe behind a CLOSED door. He's  a smarty cat. He's opened doors before so what was I thinking? Two balls of singles went from the second floor, down the stairs, through the cat door down to the cellar, around posts, back up and through the cat door, down the hall, through the window to the front porch, around various objects. 4 ounces of painstakingly spun merino. *sigh* I couldn't bring myself to photograph the victim. I've untangled and rewound one ball. Have you ever tried to hand-wind loose singles? UGH! The other is not. looking. good. All I got was "the look" that so many of my friends have received from their attitude-y teenagers. That blank "what-EVER" look from a cat that wanted a treat for all his efforts. I love my cat. (grrrr.)

To "zen" myself I looked at my orchid all busting with blooms.

I looked at the new spun single that my best boy hasn't mangled. If you haven't tried spinning Blue Face Leicester-- it's a dream!

And there they are. Is it me or the stripes but Beau looks fat? Next to him is Andrew the Yarn Demon. That's the "look" I'm talking about. grrrr. I love my cat(s).

I think I have finished the silk vest. I find myself strangely detached from it. Why? It was literally painful to knit. Handling the yarn was hard on the hands. The cool thing about it was the construction. I've been working with steeks for- EVER and they still push that button.

 It's magic I tell you. What at first appears to be some convoluted dog sweater turns into shaped necklines and armholes for actual people.

I still need to fuss with finishing and weaving ends and POSSIBLY undoing the bottom and extending the length and binding off in a stretchier fashion but for now it's sitting on the back of the couch in a most undignified manner. Unloved because of a painful relationship.
Meanwhile....

because the leftover yarn scrap bag doesn't seem to be going down and they were such a joy to knit I'm throwing together another Scrap Sweater 'cept this time I'm v-necking the front just to shake things up. I know, I do live on the wild side.

Have you evah done marathon Dickens weekends? I'm in the midst of a run and concentrating on the not-so-popular video versions of his works. If he wrote what he Knew as all writers are told, the dude was either one sadistic bastard or was in acquaintance with many. Maybe it was just one he plopped into every story. Kinda like Dan Brown with the over the top religious freak he has in several of his stories.  But I digress. Most versions I have been watching are from the BBC but occasionally A&E gets in there. My favorite thing is to spot the same actor in different productions. I sit and think, I know that voice, who did they play and in what? For example, Alun Armstrong (spelling is correct) played Flintwinch in the 2008 BBC  production of Little Dorrit. Back in 1982 he played, well, several parts in A&E's showing of "The Life And Times Of Nicholas Nickelby" including Mr. Squeers. Twenty-six years and what looks to be 50 pounds between the two but I knew him right off. Lila Kaye (Mrs. Squeers & others) was the voice I knew but couldn't place. A quick Google check put it right--character actor including Murder She Wrote episode. I still miss that show.
Well, with Martin Chuzzlewit watched and Nicholas Nickelby halfway through I'll have to order the next two from the library. I seem to be drinking much more tea than usual and I'm assuming that is a result of spending(too) so much time in British mode.

"Call me Garden Cat if  you please. Momma has gone to calling me Sir Shedsalot. It's NOT appreciated. I must overlook her crude and boorish behaviour."

Why I Hate Answering the Phone

Answering the phone. It's part of my job. It's part of what I dislike about my job. Here's one reason why:
Me: Town Hall, may I direct your call?
Them: Is this Jonesfield?
Me: yes
Them: Yes, I'd like to know when your flea market on Main Street is.
Me: We don't have a flea market on Main St.
Them: yes you do I've been to it several times. I grew up in the area.
Me: Maybe you're thinking of Brimfield or Jonesfield, NH.
Them: No, that's in the other direction, I know you have one in Jonesfield.
Me:I'm sorry, there is no flea market on Main St.
Them:Well I know there is! You get off of the interstate onto Main St. and it's past the highway garage.
Me: Our highway garage isn't on Main St.
Them: I know that, I grew up in the area. The flea market is in a big field on Main St. before the two schools.
Me: (realizing she's talking about the next town over) oh, you mean in Smithfield. Not here in Jonesfield.
Them: oh, yeah, well I knew I knew what I was talking about.
Me: (in my head)No, obviously you don't know what you're talking about you stupid beee-auch. (out loud) Well, there you go.
Them: I'll call the town hall in Smithfield.
Me: Here's the number. Talk to Lulu, she'll help out. Buh-Bye.

I wish people wouldn't call me and ask questions when they already know the answers. Seems counterproductive.

It's Like I Said

Don't like the weather here?..wait 15 minutes. From 90 to 50 in 24 hours. Back to woolly sweaters. Higher elevations have snow. Why not? It's only May. Extreme drops in temperature make for some pretty amazing thunderstorms. The kind that rattle your windows in the middle of the night and make you wonder if a B-52 landed in your .5 acre back yard. What's new this year is the wind tossing trees in the road. I like wind but not when I need to watch for falling trees. Driving is challenging enough with the likes of cell phone users and what not these days. Pine trees dropping in my path don't do much for the carnuba wax.
 
 In my last post I was lamenting not being able to wear the 20 Button Sweater. I am at this very moment wearing it.

20 buttons....20.

I've started a vesty-tank toppy thing that looks nothing like its intention with all the steeks it has going on. I will tell you that working with 100% nubby silk is hard on the hands and I'm looking forward to finishing this thing up. On the spinning side of life, there hasn't been any. When you have 20 buttons to sew on....

"Don't believe anything she says about the silk swatch I pulled off the drying rack."

What Is This? July?

I have 20 buttons to attach to a wool sweater. When it's 90 degrees out and the air is thick enough to kick with humidity I just don't feel like hosting a wool sweater on my lap to sew the buttons on. Taint gonna happen. According to the weathah report I'll be needing to wear that sweater in a few days. Ah New England.

The humid weather has also curtailed my spinning as sweaty hands make sweaty roving and THAT equals more frustration than I care to deal with as a new spinner. Gosh! What a CRANK! It's the weather.

"She's such a crank. No matter the weather."

The Wind

Yesterday, the official weather scanner in my office announced that it was going to be windy until 1800 hours (6pm). Dadbugger if they weren't right on the money. Let it be known that the state government got something right on April 29, 2010. Maybe we should put the weather service in charge of some other areas, like the budget perhaps. But enough sarcasm.

I have new roving to play with. "They" call it Sandalwood. I can live with that. It's smooth and silky and has a merino top (no, I have no idea what that means.) that has been a challenge for a newbie such as myself to get a good consistent spin. New toys. New challenges. Its good.

The last of the plain ole domestic stinky sheep roving in its spun plied dried version is awaiting its dye bath. My imagination is wandering to a hand-painted project with lessons learned from the Kangaroo Dyer herself, Miss Gail Callahan. 

And lastly for today, rounds and rounds of button band-across the bottom-button band-neckline fun on my v-neck cardigan. It's too cumbersome to take the beee-uuuu-teee salon appointment this afternoon so I'll be bored to tears with no knitting project for people to stare at while I'm being processed. Bored but blonder will be the result.

Now, perhaps I'll call the state weather service to ask how many clouds will roll by today.

PeeeeeYoooooo!

I spun and plied. Threw 2 hanks in the kitchen sink to soak. My kitchen smells like sheep. Not loving it.
I washed and blocked 4 sweaters, 2 new ones, 2 I've worn to death. Still waiting for buttons to come in. But you wouldn't know I was waiting for buttons because that was in the post that would not...post. Now you know. 

"I'll stay out here on the porch until you get that stench out."

Somedays You Can't Win

I had an entry all written, typed and unaccepted. I don't feel like doing it again so I'll just post this.

It's a silk swatch. Stayed tuned.

I Am A Patriot

I love me a long weekend. Massachusetts has a few wonky holidays and this Monday was Patriots Day. It has nothing to do with the football team. The best known event of the holiday is the Boston Marathon. This Patriots day was picture perfect weathah-wise.

I dyed. I spun. Here's the proof.

My latest hank in it's undyed state. 143 yds of "Getting There". Still have that thick 'n' thin thing going but better than the blue hanks. How do I know it's 143 yds-ish? I made me own niddy noddy out of pvc pipe and T connectors. Not as elegant looking as a whittled wood one but did the job.

The dyed hanks are very different in color even though they were both in the same pot. Amazing. A 1/4 teaspoon of food dye gave me a lovely robins egg blue yarn.

They make me chuckle...so lumpy. The challenge will be what size needle to knit with. The un-dyed hank needs to be washed but I'm going to wait until I ply off the singles on the spindles as they will have the same look in unevenness texture. I'll try dyeing it all in a solid color yet to be determined. 

The sweaters in process, one wool, one cotton, both with steeks, are in two different phases. The wool cardigan has had the steek cut, button bands done and needs only a collar, blocking, buttons and finishing of the steek in that order. The cotton is ready for the steek to be cut (it was too late last night for steek cutting, if you know what I mean.) I'm thinking the bottom, button bands and neckline will all be one with mitered corners (it's a v-neck cardigan, forgot to mention that) at the button/hem edge. So what does this mean?

TIME TO GO TO WEBS!

I need buttons, roving and since they have their anniversary sale going I'm sure to find some morsel to bring home for the stash.

I do love a long weekend.

The AH-HA Moment

 

You know that moment I mentioned in my last post, the one where the proverbial light bulb goes on in your head and your eyes widen? Your mouth opens and out comes "ooohhh". You get it. The frustration suddenly disappears and is forgotten. Well, I made it. I was waiting for water to boil and passing the time with the drop spindle. I was still unhappy with my uneven drafting and suddenly---instead of trying to pull down on the roving with my hand closer to the spindle, I pulled back with the hand holding the roving. Can I have a resounding "DUH" here? All the descriptions I've read specifically said, "if you're right handed, draft with your left hand." Right there in black and white. And yet I continued to dismiss this part of the training.

As a result of this epiphany, my spinning is more consistent. In fact, I'm getting it too thin and will end up plying 3 singles to get a worsted weight. That's not a bad thing. I still need to perfect my joins, though now I'm not removing and working on a section of roving, I'm working straight from the ball. Unless I don't get enough twist and the fiber separates, I am not constantly joining. Such a small adjustment changed the whole dynamic. Next item to work on? Spinning the same size balls of singles so when I ply them together I come out with a 4 oz. hank of yarn. I'm sure someone out there has already written that out but I'll ignore it and think myself quite the genius for figuring it out on my own. I figure it this way, if I buy 4 oz. of roving, divide it in half, spin each half, ply together, I should have a 4 oz. hank. Nothing evaporates in the process or gains weight. Should work. My other thought is: weigh my spindle. Spin until I reach the weight of my spindle plus 2 oz. Then I don't have to split the roving. I'll let you know how that works out.

"Yeah, yeah, you're a genius, just let me in the house and give me a treat."

Diversifying

 

Along with two sweaters I am diligently practicing my spinning. The spinning is getting there but not up to my expectations just yet. My mechanics are still off, but no fear, I'll figure it out. 

The lime-green number is destined to be a v-neck cardigan. I cannot get enough lime green. The blue, charcoal grey, red, green item is another cardigan using up bits and pieces. I had alot!

  

Practice, practice. I seem to do better late at night. I have also taken the term "drop" spindle to heart. So much so...

 

I broke it. I think it's fixable; it still spins but has developed a wobble.

It doesn't wobble when I'm plying so that may be it's sole job.

Here is my progression, counterclockwise. The hank is from my first attempts. Thick and thin. Folks pay alot of money for that! The ball on the right is less lumpy but still too thick in areas. The ball on the left ...I'm getting there. I know my "Eureka" moment, that moment when you say to yourself, "you dope" and smack yourself in the forehead is coming but as you all know I have zero patience so I hope it comes soon. 

Meanwhile, I'm gathering glass jars for my next phase of fiber obsession--dyeing. I thought I had a stash of mason jars but darned if I can find them. Once I get another load I'll find the ones I had. Too bad I have to work for that money stuff. I'd much rather be spinning/knitting.

I Got Fiber This Weekend

And we're not talking cereal that looks like bales of hay. After my fun filled weekend learning how to hand-dye I revisited the shop to pickup blank sock yarn. Above is the result of my class. Of course I also found the bargain basket and adopted six balls of silk yarn that needed a home. I'm envisioning a sleeveless top-but don't hold me to that. On the way home I stopped at the grocery store and snagged a couple boxes of food dye (the brand recommended in the book). So, to review, yarn, dye and stuff I already have at home. Check.

I didn't jump into dye mode. No, I for some odd reason pulled my drop spindle out and tortured a piece of roving for hours. I even plied it but neglected to photo. It's looks somewhat respectable...if you like slubby novelty yarn. I actually enjoyed it. No really, I think I'm going to add my first spin project to the dye pile and knit a hat. That's what I have roaming around in my brain at the moment.

My w.i.p. has had a steek cut. Did I forget to mention it? Oh, so sorry, I'm building a double breasted sweater/jacket. It wasn't what I intended when I started but this happens when I knit. I'll have to post pics of that along with my lumpy hand spun yarn. Remind me later-kay?