Knitting Musings

So... Hot....

I have several finished objects to photograph, but it was 102 degrees today, with a heat index of 2,345 degrees. It was so hot that even Abby wouldn't go outside... poor doggy! So consequently, the idea of wrapping myself in knitted objects for creative photographs just really didn't do it for me.

Henry, for example, categorically refused to come out of his bag until the "infernal furnace" cooled off. I personally think he's still sulking because his marriage proposals keep getting refused, but he insists that he'll feel much better once he has a turkey leg or two. (Is it wrong that I imagine old Henry VIII as Cartman?)

See, Henry has gotten to his, ummmm, "more meaty" stage.

All steeked up and nowhere to go!!

Henry gets a taste of the ~~executioner's axe~~ scissors...

So Henry is fully steeked, and is ready for the final finishing. I've done one of his arms, but it was WAY TOO HOT to work on, so I'm letting him hang out for a bit.

Speaking of hanging out, Elspeth came over on Monday for a dyeing day, and helped me pin out my newly-dyed Print O' The Wave.... I am in mad love with this stole. The dyeing came out perfectly - navy with the turquoise peeking through and making the whole thing shimmer. As soon as the temperature dips below inferno, I'll try to take some proper pictures!

Cricket, as you can see, was extremely helpful with the whole blocking process...

She promised to let us know as soon as it was dry.

I also dyed up a mess of sportweight merino-acrylic for the Tangled Yoke cardigan from the latest Interweave... as soon as I finish the Tilted Duster (also from Interweave) that I started on Saturday, I'm casting on for this puppy. I was aiming for a darker reddish brown, but ended up LOVING the soft coral color that I ended up with. I can't wait to see how this turns out!!

And finally, speaking of "how things turn out," this is a cautionary tale. If you go to Ross, and you buy at least 2 king-sized comforter sets and a whole mess of other things, you should NOT take the convertible sports car.

It took the driver quite a lot of stuffing to have enough room to get in.

Labels: Dyeing, Henry VIII, print of the wave, tangled yoke

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Oh, Henry!!

Henry and I spent an entire, blissfully study-free day yesterday hanging out at Knit Happens. It was lovely, even if Henry DID ask everyone and everything to marry him...

He's almost done... and I think he's getting a little bored - I caught him catching up on some reading this morning. Apparently, he's a little bit self-absorbed.

Also while at Knit Happens, I "finished" my Print O' the Wave...

We were having a goofy day. If you notice, I sort of totally ran out of yarn, and (of course) couldn't replicate my hand-dyeing. So I'll be overdyeing the entire thing on Monday.

(We channeled the Rowan photo-stylists for this one. And the new Rowan magazine? FREAKIN' AWESOME!)

I think there was a laughing-gas leak - here are Holly and Elspeth bursting into a spontaneous "Sound of Music" moment brought about by an inquiry about "favorite things."

Those crazy girls.

Speaking of crazy girls, check out the 2 fuzzles chez-Musing at bedtime. For scale, that is a KING-sized bed. And yes, Abby is using the turtle (and S' arm) as a pillow.

Before I forget - a couple of housekeeping matters...

First, Abby's AWESOME cooling mat was purchased from Active K9, but they don't seem to be in business anymore!! Here's a similar one.

It is really great - we keep it under Abby's plush dog-bed until she needs it. It helps her stop panting so much faster!

And second - here's my banana bread recipe... stolen from an awesome church cookbook from the Lutheran ladies of a small town in South Dakota!

1 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter
2 eggs
2 c. flour
1/2 c. sour milk (add 1.5 tsp lemon juice or vinegar to milk) - I usually use half-and-half
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup nuts
2 frozen, 1 fresh bananas (or use 3 frozen)
1+ tsp. vanilla
1 cup choc. chips (I use semi-sweet or dark)
1 tsp. salt

Cream butter and sugar
Add eggs, mix well

In separate bowl, compine flour, baking soda, salt
Add dry ingredients and milk (alternate) until mixed
Add bananas (if frozen, thaw first)
Add nuts, chocolate chips

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour

It often takes more like an hour and fifteen or twenty minutes for my bread to be done - I cover it loosely with tin foil after an hour to keep the top from getting too brown.

*************************************************************************

I'm sitting here watching the coverage of the bridge collapse in Minnesota - thankfully, all of S' family and friends have checked in and are fine, although his best friend drove under the bridge less than an hour before the collapse. I still can't believe the images...

Labels: Henry VIII, print of the wave

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I Went to San Francisco, and All I Got Was Some Food...

So last week at this time, I was celebrating at a wonderful wedding... and this weekend, I'm studying. If by "studying" you mean watching the Scrubs marathon on Comedy Central...

Last Thursday, my parents treated me to dinner at one of my favoritest restaurants ... I've been going once a year since I was a few years old, and since it hasn't changed at all since, ummm, it was "remodeled" in 1956 or something, it's always exactly as I remember. And the crab louis salad? A huge pile of crab with dressing on it? YUMMERS.

The eating continued the next morning, when I had a breakfast of sourdough bread (the REAL stuff, not the crappy fake stuff we get on the east coast), and hot chocolate. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

Later that day, we grabbed the best hamburgers ever at Nations... although in all honesty, I have to admit to being a tad bit biased (more on that later!) I even got to spend the day with my friend Jesse from college - it had been way WAY too long since I'd seen him last!

The next day, while we were helping with a few last minute wedding details, we saw this guy sitting on the fence of a house in the neighborhood... he was beautiful. But I was still slightly confused - what was a peacock doing on the fence of a house?

And later that night, we got to celebrate a wonderful marriage. And remember how I said I was a bit biased about Nations? The bride's father is the president and CEO - he and my dad have been best friends since 4th grade. I'm blessed that Cara, the beautiful bride, and I have been as close as the sisters everyone always thinks we are!

And finally, Sunday saw us back on the plane, heading home.

Check out the amazing weather - not a cloud in sight! I don't think I've ever seen the bay looking as beautiful from the air...

And that lace I was working on on the plane? I cast off just as we landed. Can any of you tell where I might have possibly run out of yarn just a little bit and maybe just kinda failed to match the dye-job? Needless to say, this will be headed to the dye-pot for an overdye... just as soon as I finish ~~watching Scrubs~~ studying.

Labels: print of the wave

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Odds and Ends Before the End of Vacation

This past week, I've been thoroughly enjoying my spring break. I went to New Mexico for a few days, took the always fun standardized law test (MPRE if anyone is keeping track!), and have been tying up a few loose ends for the wedding.

I've also been finishing up some knitting - 2 pairs of socks - first one for S (he's already worn them, and nearly felted the heels in just 1 wearing!)

...and the super-long arm-monster socks for Jesse, which are even now USPS-ing their way to California. I really hope they fit!

And finally, I had a dyeing day on Thursday - see, Chaos, May, and Chris had ordered some purple sock yarn, which I then discovered I had GASP already gifted and forgotten to take off of my "for sale" site. Luckily, C, M, and C were VERY understanding, so I dyed up a new skein (which will be in the mail on Monday!)... and I also dyed up a few other things. That orangie-brown yarn? That is, in fact, cormo. I went with the orange and dyed 5 more skeins - but more on that later!

Here's the purple sock yarn I dyed up - hopefully the Black Kitty Brigade (and Chris) will like it!

And here's my attempt at dyeing my laceweight to match. Yeah - not so much. But I think with a nice dark blue overdye, it will be beautiful.

Right - enough with the knitting! So I spent last weekend in beautiful New Mexico - where we even found a waterfall on our hike!

But don't let the "hiking" fool you - most of my time was spent snuggling up with Smidgen. Smidgen is all of 8 months old, so still has what you might call "energy."

Smidgen was found, half starving, under a trailer as a kitten. She's fattening up nicely now - and has determined that the Q-tip is her natural prey.

While I was there, she also discovered that knitting is a VERY entertaining hobby...

... and back at home, there were more cute pets practicing for the sunny-spot Olympics...

Right - I should probably go attempt to clean up the mess I made dyeing before my poor roommate comes home tomorrow - but as soon as it finishes uploading, I'll be posting a video of the most fun you can possibly have in New Mexico, so stay tuned!!!

Labels: Dyeing, print of the wave, Socks

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The Scale Doesn't Lie

The lace is currently sitting in a corner, thinking about what it's done. I'll explain in a minute.

But first, happier news... I finally took the other pics of my latest attempts at boy sock yarn.

S is still "on the fence" about this one. It's purple and black, overdyed with gray. I think it's muted enough for boy socks, but we're still deciding. Obviously, he wouldn't wear these with a suit, but I thought with a pair of jeans, they'd look fine.

This one was much more successful - navy and green overdyed with gray. As I complained last night, it's BORING - but S loves it! I just cast on with it last night.

Tonight, I'm jetting off to the International Sunport (and environs) for a mini Spring Break, and the only knitting I can pack is my current sock in progress because both of my other projects are waiting for next Wednesday's date with the dye-pot. Specifically, the cormo needs a bath in a light orange, and I need to dye some laceweight.

The talented and loverly Elspeth suggested that I knit up a repeat of the edging, weigh it, and see if I have enough yarn. Here's 1 repeat on the scale... the scale isn't registering anything because 1 repeat in laceweight apparently doesn't weigh anything.

So I unravelled my repeat and I measured out double the yarn to see if 2 repeats would weigh something.

So it took about 1 gram for 2 repeats. I have 84 repeats total, with 72 repeats remaining to do.
72 * 0.5 = need an additional 36 grams to finish.

I have (duh duh duuuuuuuuuuh....)

3 grams.

Dude, so not even CLOSE to close. Luckily, I have like 44 grams of undyed (plus more light blue that I could overdye) - so I'll have to attempt to match my random dye process to get something that looks even remotely close. I'm thinking that if all else fails I'll overdye the whole thing with a coat of darker blue just to match everything up.

I went ahead and skeined up my precious remaining yarn to be ready for dye-day, because if this project stays in the corner much longer, the whole "finishing this up" plan may be in jeopardy.

But look! I can actually finish something - presenting the Huge Honkin' Socks...

How long are they? Well, in a pinch, they'll serve as full-arm sock puppets. Who may (or may not) become aggressive unless restrained.

Let this be a warning - 2x2 ribbing on size 1 needles for 72 billion rounds brings out the crazy...

Labels: Dyeing, print of the wave, Socks

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Oops, Did I Buy Some Cormo?

This picture may APPEAR to be 6 skeins of sportweight/light worsted weight cormo yarn drying after a nice bath. This cormo may APPEAR to have been sent to me by the truly lovely Sue from her farm in California. But appearances can be deceiving...

And sometimes things are exactly as they appear, and I'm left with agonizing choices like - what do I want to knit with this? Do I want to dye it? If so, what color?

And can I just take a moment to remark that the internets are EVIL? And that they allow you to purchase cormo with just a few emails with a lovely person who has a whole FLOCK OF CORMO SHEEP? (Side note - has anyone studied the severely addictive properties of cormo yarn? Also, is it wrong to want to make a giant cormo pile on my bed and sleep in it?)

In other knitting news, one gigantic sock is complete. My dearest friend Jesse requested a pair of "over the calf" socks for his birthday, so I'm attempting to oblige. His feet are about the same size as S', so I used my "S Sock Formula" and attempted to incorporate enough increases to make the leg fit. We'll see...

And the latest on Lace Edging vs. Yarn Left? Barring a knitting miracle of the highest order, I'm totally going to run out of yarn. SIGH. So to show that stupid lace who's boss, I'm putting it in a corner to think about what it did. Plus, I kinda was thinking I might be dyeing some Cormo soon, so maybe I could attempt to dye up the rest of the laceweight at the same time...

Finally, here are a few pics from our latest snow day ... and a little video of Abby showing that there's nothing better than playing in the snow and getting all wet and dirty when you've just had a bath the night before.