WoW: A Holiday Weekend

It was Labor Day weekend here in the states & I spent it doing pretty much nothing.  It was hot and muggy all weekend and it was all I could do to stumble from the freezer (for ice & creamsicles) to the a/c unit.

The time I was up I spent on the computer. Halah the druid reached 90 and Icihott the DK reached 80 (and then 81). I am quite pleased.

Malted

It's all done!

Malted Me

Still knittin'

New Month, New Knitalong

Well it is Camp Loopy time again and I started project 3 last night. The pattern is Malt by Tin Can Knits and the yarn is Cascade Ultra Pima Fine. I am short a skein, but have a whole month to come up with a solution. The knitting is very easy which is a huge relief after the intensity of July.

I really need a kick back project right now. Of course I am still trying to knit my Catkin, but I don't have the deadline pressure anymore. I hit a really fussy part of the pattern and can't do anything else while knitting it, no reading, no talking, no listening to the radio.

Today is just a lazy Saturday. I slept in until 8am (usually I get up around 5 - 5:30) and am getting warmed up for the day.

*update* Thanks to the gods of internet searches, I learned how to fix my editing problem!  Now this post should look a bit nicer. I will add a bonus photo just for fun.

Finish Line

Dew Drops - done
 

Color Affection - done

Catkin - 25%

Notes From the Field

Finished Color Affection Sunday. Still knitting DewDrops, it is due tomorrow before midnight and I am determined to finish. There is a good 8-10 hours of knitting until the end, though, so I have to get back to it.

I have knit & spun so much this month, I can hardly believe it. I will be very happy for August which is a break month for Harry Potter knitting club. All I "have" to knit is a sweater for Camp Loopy; it should be a breeze after knitting parts of 3 shawls, a washcloth, several blanket squares and spinning 5 skeins of wool this month.

Back to Regularly Scheduled Knitting

Now that the Tour is over for another year, it is time to make some serious progress on the knitting.  I have two shawls to finish in 10 days and I'm not very sanguine about the second one.  The first is on the last 2 inches (of 400 stitches per row), but it is just garter stitch and moves quickly. 

OK back to work.

Day 22: The Last Bloom

One more skein for the Tour! It was a great spinning day today; we had a surprise downpour here in Southern California & I took my spinning wheel onto the porch to enjoy it. Then I did the plying a few hours later to let the yarn rest and it went well. I really love the cheerful colors.

I also spent a few minutes trying to spin cotton on my Majacraft; it was a little tricky to get started but I was making solid yarn after a while.  It is not relaxing yet but will get easier.  I certainly have enough sliver to practice on.

In other news, knit a few rows on my Dewdrops shawl. 

Race Rewind: Day 10

The brown wensleydale / cotswold fiber I spun at the beginning of the tour.

Day 21: An Effort Was Made

Yesterday I did manage to sit down and spin one puff of fiber which took about 40 minutes. Not a shocking amount of progress, but still progress.  I have 4 puffs left to spin, need a day to ply, and there only 3 race days left. I had better get moving!

Day 19: Short & Sweet

I found a 2 oz puff of fiber to finish out the Tour spinning days (only 5 left!)

2/7 th of 2 oz spun while watching Treasure Island with Eddie Izzard. It is very good. Part two tomorrow. Now, bedtime.

Day 18: I ApPlied Myself

Two Navajo plied skeins of Rainbow Trout.

Le Tour

The Tour de Fleece started last week & I have been able to spin each day so far.  It is amazing that I can go from "no spinning, no time for it" to finding an hour a day and suddenly I am spinning for longer than that. The time just appears!

Day 1 6/29 - Ply the red / blue singles
Day 2 6/30 - Ply the red / blue singles (471 yd)(4 oz)
Day 3 7/1 - Spin brown Wensleydale / Cotswold cross 40 min
Day 4 7/2 - Spin brown W/C 80 min
Day 5 7/3 - Spin brown W/C 60 min
Day 6 7/4 - Spin brown W/C 60 min
Day 7 7/5 - Spin brown W/C 15 min (4 oz)
Day 7 7/5 - Spin Rainbow Trout merino / tencel 45 min
Day 8 7/6 - Spin Rainbow Trout merino / tencel 105 min

Storm Warning

My little shawl made it in under the wire yesterday for Camp Loopy. 

This was a super fiddly pattern, although clearly written. My downfall was taking this project (with beads, lace AND cables concurrently) to events that I was trying to watch, like baseball games. 

I LOVE it.

The Start of the Tour

... is hard when you don't plan.

Spent 2 hours & 3 minutes plying almost 4 oz of red merino / silk.  The bobbins did not come out evenly, so in the morning I will be unwinding bobbin 2 and then plying the balance.

But now, bedtime.

Rest Day

Lots of long days (staying up too late) and early mornings (trying to be at work on time) plus a walk up Mt Rubidoux this morning have taken their toll and I am taking it easy.  A nice nap, checking the Ravelry boards, staring at the cockatiels, this is all I have energy for.  I need to go to the store & laundromat but can't be bothered to put pants on.

Doing lots of thinking about what I should spin for the Tour de Fleece but have not made any decisions yet; just today I thought it would be fun to spin a lot of white wool to set aside for natural dyeing.

City Mouse

Today was a "spin in" day at David's house in Lake Balboa. It is almost a 2 hour drive but well worth it.  I got to see old friends, meet new folks, and make a bucketload of progress on my Color Affection shawl.

Pole Position

So, I got up at 2:30 am, paid the rent & the electric bill, played some WoW, walked the dog, made lunch, worked all day, checked email, played some WoW, walked the dog, now it is 11 pm and I am  still wide awake. Question 1, when did I become a semi responsible adult? Observation 2, this is not actually a good sign.

In other news, I bought red nail polish and I love it!

That's Wierd...

Here I am, just sitting, being happy.

It's  very disconcerting.

Camp Loopy

I cast on yesterday for my Camp Loopy project 1 - "Storm Warning" by Liz Corke.  It is going well, although I also discovered the show "Mad Men" yesterday and did rather more watching than knitting.  But there have been no major mistakes or need to rip back and start over.

The yarn is a blue faced leicester blend.  It is one of my favorite breeds but a bit scratchier than the merinos & mink I have been working with lately.  I still love it beyond all reason.

May: I Knit

Yarn Crawl 2013

Who knew there were so many yarn stores out here? I think the total Crawl was 32 shops. That is awesome! Of course, not the one by my house.

(more later, crabby tonight = sassy post, not fun)

Warm Neck Report

The cowl is complete!

Pattern is A Noble Cowl. I made it quite small, but it does the job in keeping my neck toasty warm on cool mornings.

Stitch & Pitch

I made it out to see the San Bernardino 66ers!

Easter Spaniel

My Holly!  She joined the family 8 months ago and is still a joy.

Captain Tinyarn

600 yards, 32 grams, superfine cormo.

Red Lantern, Part 2

I finished my scarf!

 The gray color of the "in progress" picture is more accurate.  The sun was setting when I took the "finished" picture.

Red Lantern

The last musher to finish the Iditarod gets the title of the "red lantern" and I am going to be one of the last in my knitting group to finish.

I had to bail out on the Mush! socks as they are just too small. However, I have been diligently working on the change ringing scarf for most of the "race" as a backup project and if I turn the damn computer off and pick up the needles I think I can finish today.

I would really rather play WoW all day but I am going to a party in the afternoon and won't have knitting time.

WIP Wonderland

Everywhere I turn I see a partially completed knitting project.  Today I stuck to working on the cowl at work as the pattern was the simplest one.  The scarf got stuck on a cable and the socks are at the ankle / heel and very tricky just now.  In addition, the sock pattern has not been printed out so I can work on them only when I am actually sitting at the computer.

However, the mushers are still mushing on the Iditarod trail so I will work for a couple hours on the socks tonight.  I am at that place where I think they are too small, so hate to "waste" the effort in proceeding, but don't want to rip back to the toe.  At least it isn't snowing.

Staying on the Trail...

I am knitting my Mush! socks tonight and watching YouTube videos of sleds & sled dogs. Progress is being made!

I had an equipment malfunction; my single 24" needle came apart at the join and I can't find my superglue.  I tried a few rows with DPNs and that worked fine, but the pattern is really designed for circulars.  Instead of buying one long one, I am trying it with two 9" needles. It is a bit fiddly but I think it is working fine.

Oh, cowls.

I am procrastinating on my myriad knitting projects that have deadlines and happily zipping along on a cowl.

















Oops.

It's a Wrap

My friend Martha is writing a book.  I want to read this book.  How else to convince your favorite budding author to spend more time editing?  Knit her a wrap to keep the chill away!

I began in December, finished in January and then promptly waited almost two months to do the finishing work and sew on buttons.  Par for the course here at Chez Picky, but today I was able to give her the wrap and it was a big hit.

Project: An Author's Friend

closeup of borders and cute ducky buttons

Full size, about 25 x 50 inches

Mush!

Today is the start day for the Iditarod and I am in a Ravelry knitting group to participate in the Iknitarod so we get to start our projects as well!  I haven't knit along with this event before but have been looking forward to it for months. You pick a project that you want to work hard to finish before the end of the race (when the last musher crosses the finish line).  I learned that this is a variable time / date, not a set time, and that adds to the challenge.

The chatter on the thread has been focusing on blue / white / gray yarns and fibers to represent the ice and snow and sky of the Alaskan countryside and there has also been a bit of chatter about the Northern Lights. I want my project to combine these things and found a great sock pattern to try. The gloves are in the same color family, but I can finish one glove in far less than 2 weeks, so I wanted a loftier goal.

The pattern is Skew and is free from Knitty.com.   Perfect!  The yarn is a skein I just couldn't resist and am really, really looking forward to knitting. It is soft, springy and drop dead gorgeous.

Finn McMisile from Woolen Mill St yarns

The start of the race is in less than an hour; time to get my materials together, make sure I can live stream the race and make some more coffee! 

Not knitting

An action shot of the gloves I am supposed to be knitting, except I put them down for a scarf, then I put that down for a pair of socks...

The socks will be done tonight, then it will be time to finish the scarf, then I can go back to the gloves.

Just in time for spring.

Alpacalooza

Last weekend I demonstrated spinning at an alpaca show in Norco.  It was really fun.

 There were alpacas

 There were inquiring minds

 There were spinners!

 Even more alpacas

 And there was  yarn!  Above, some alpaca /merino I spun.  Below, some llama.

A New Hope

Peerie, 2/21

A few weeks ago I had a really difficult week. I was missing Dozer, I had just lost Kiwi, I gave away two cockatiels, work was stressful, the sky was still dark all the time and I was just really sad.  I had the other birds, the cats, Holly the new dog, but it was not a good situation.

I saw someone with a pet rat over at the Dickens Festival (we were sitting in the spinning booth) and got the idea that it was finally, finally time to become a rat owner again.  After Dixie passed away in 2002 it was just too painful to think about replacing her.  But now the idea of a little warm furball on my shoulder seemed right. 

Enter Peerie, a young rat from the feeder tank at the pet store.  He joined the family on 2/9 and was about a month old.

Peerie, 2/16

He is handsome, friendly, curious and (as of Friday) clean and good smelling.  Yesterday we graduated to him riding on my shoulder while I walked Holly around the block. 

I have been much happier in the last few weeks, work has been a little better, the pets are still bad but that is nothing new.  I still snuggle the cats & dog all the time, but this little rat has really filled an empty place in my heart.  I hope we have a good future together. 

Fab-ruary

I'm still knitting the gray scarf, but started some gray socks today and earlier in the week swatched some gray yarn & brown yarn for a shawl.

I'm trying to get a little bit of tidying done each day.

I went to both days of a spinning demo this weekend.

I am reading a little each day.

The cat went to the vet for a checkup and the dog got her new license.

So far February has been productive and satisfying.