Obsess much?

This is only 7 of the 10 scarves that I've woven between January 13-23. Yeah, some might call me crazy. I'm calling it a necessity. In the grand house remodeling project, my computer, craft, and homeschooling room will turn into my daughter's bedroom. That means all of my yarn, fabrics, and books will have to be relocated. In an effort to ease that relocation, I'm trying to use up some of the things that have been sitting around for a while. And this includes my variegated sock yarns. I'm designing with mostly solid yarn or semi-solid yarns now. Plus, variegated yarns look pretty cool when woven. A few of them will give an automatic plaid effect. I'll post more details about the scarves and the yarns they're made out of when I can get better pictures. I would like to have a little sunlight, but it's snowing again.

I've finished the Threaded socks that are pictured in the post below. I will be writing up that pattern soon. The Mullion test knit is moving along. There have been sooooo many missing symbols on the charts. The test knitters have once again been awesome in catching them. Yesterday, I put a call up for test knitters for my Taglioni socks(over there on the left). That has been filled quickly. These were originally called emaNoN, but I've changed it to Taglioni because of the way the cables look like the ties on ballet shoes. I like the emaNoN name and it will be back on another pattern.

Another thing that has been hanging around for a long time is a quilt for my daughter that I started over 5(?!) years ago. The top is pieced flannel, with flannel back, and a layer of batting in between. I had a crazy idea to hand quilt it since it wouldn't fit in my sewing machine. Well, it's thick and hard to hand quilt. I did about 1/4 of it before I stuffed it in the closet. My daughter has asked me many times if I'm planning on finishing it. I've decided to just tie it and be done with it. I started tying it last night and I like the way it looks so far.

Because I don't have enough to do around here (haha!), I've started a cross stitch pattern for my son. My daughter has one of those birth record frames that a friend of ours made. My son has asked why he doesn't have one. We picked one out and I'm working on it. I'd forgotten how slow cross stitch can be.

I'll end with more house remodeling pictures. The picture on the left shows the wall that we had to build. That's where the refrigerator used to be. The picture on the right shows the other side of that wall. You can see the rectangle on the floor of where the box around the refrigerator was. See that mural wallpaper? That's gone. We'll be putting up more cedar wall planks on that wall to match the rest of the house. That wall will also be covered with bookshelves when we're finished. This will be my new computer, craft, and homeschooling room.

Start and finish

The Complicated test knit is almost finished. Things have gone really well and my test knitters have been awesome! I should have a new call out for test knitters later today for Mullion or Crooked Wheels or maybe both.

I've started another new design. I'm calling this one Threaded because of the cables that pass through the loops. I guess that I'm still fixated with cables. I like how they stand out and after a few rows, you can usually tell where they're going to go. These are easier on my hands than all of those twisted stitches I designed last summer.

I'm still working on using up my stash yarn. Since my last post, I got out my neglected Cricket loom and wove 4 new scarves on it. I don't have any pictures of those yet because they haven't been washed. I've been thinking a lot about getting a new loom. I want a wider one and have been considering the 25 inch Schacht flip.

Our remodeling is still moving along. We now have a revamped pantry. We had to do that to be able to remove 3 cabinets from our kitchen. We had to move the cabinets to make room for the refrigerator. We had to move the refrigerator to free up the corner of the dining room where it used to be. One thing just led to another and half of this floor is a mess right now. I really like the new pantry.

Busy, busy. Lots of things going on around here.

2010 in review

Another year ends and knitting is still going strong. I've knit more from my stash, but somehow my stash didn't decrease. ;-) One of my goals this year was to mainly knit my own designs and I did do that. Here is my 2010 project count:

Scarves: 4
Shawls: 5
Legwarmer: 1
Fingerless mitts: 2
Christmas stockings: 2
Socks: 67

Of the socks: 10 were kid-sized, 23 were self-striping, and 30 were my own designs. I didn't design 30 different socks. I knit a few of them more than once either changing colors for the stranded pattern or different sizes. I did release 12 patterns this year. I hope to release more next year. I already have a few designs ready to be written and others that are ready to be knit.

Since I don't like posting without pictures, here are some of my latest finished socks. From top to bottom and left to right, the yarns are Wollmeise Twin in Taube, Dream in Color Everlasting in Tang, Dyelectable Yarns Lolita in Crimson Moon, and Light Brown Hare-Three Hares in Happy New Year.

Right now, I'm working on some self-striping socks for my husband. He's decided that he likes the Felici Sport weight socks the most in terms of warmth and softness. Coming from him, that's high praise for a hand knit sock. In the past, other socks were too thin, too scratchy, etc.

We also have a big project going on in our house right now. We've ripped out the carpet and are installing some laminate flooring. We live in an old log house and nothing is level or square. That makes any type of home improvement project a pain. We had a lot of problems a few years ago trying to get a new tub/shower into one of our bathrooms. Before putting the laminate down, we had to repair some old water damage (ugh!) and level the floor. To do that, we also had to take out the stonework around our fireplace. Below are before and after pictures.

I hope this next year brings a finished floor. Not just in our living room, but the rest of that floor. I also hope to publish more patterns. See you next year!

Merry Christmas

It's a little early, but I thought it better to post while I still had a lot of free time. This is what our Christmas tree looked like when it snowed this past weekend.

I think that I've found a plan for my knitting for the upcoming year. Details to come...

2008 in numbers

I like to count things. Some might call it weird, but I tend to count when I'm bored. I've counted the logs on the walls in our home. I've counted the beams going across the ceiling of our computer room. Yeah, I'm strange, but I hear my sister does the same thing. ;-P So, it's time to count my knitting projects for the year.

For 2008, I've knit:

• 35 pairs of socks
• 2 dolls
• 8 shawls
• 7 gloves/mitts/fingerless gloves
• 6 scarves
• 2 hats
• 1 shrug
• 6 cowls

Once again, socks have dominated the list. I branched out this year and designed several pairs of socks. I'm still working on getting the patterns written. I've also moved beyond always following a pattern and just winging it for the cowls and scarves. I'd love to design a full shawl this next year, but that would put a dent in the time I have to knit the patterns that I already have. We'll see. I also have a few projects that are still on the needles. There are 2 shawls, 1 blanket, and 1 pair of socks that are waiting. There hasn't been very much knitting time lately because we've been busy. What are we doing? Well, I'll show it in pictures...




See you around next year...

Endless repetition...

This is the start of my Queen Silvia shawl from Knitted Lace of Estonia. I started this with the intent of working on it while on vacation. hahahahahaha! That never happened. I knit 5 repeats before we left. I managed to knit 1.5 repeats at my parents' house. Right now, I'm up to 9 repeats complete....out of 20! At this rate, it will be a while before I get to the border. I changed the nupps and made them 7 stitches instead of 5. I guess I like how they're bolder and stand out more when they're made of more stitches.

While I'm still recovering from the flu, I just haven't been up to working on lace. Instead, I'm knitting the self striping stockinette socks that I started on vacation. I did manage to do a short row heel on the short 9" needles without needing another needle. I can't knit very long on those short needles, so I'm also working on the two-at-a-time pair. Those are ready for their heels.

D had a birthday. He's 5 now and says he's not my "little guy" anymore. He's my "big guy." ;-) Either way, he's still cute. He wanted to go to the "peanut restaurant" for his birthday. That's what he calls Logan's. Here he is with his dessert. It was a tiny bucket with brownie and ice cream in it. He received another Transformer for his birthday. He says that he's collecting them. He has quite a collection going that sits on our (unused) fireplace.

As I look at him, it's hard to believe that he's not a little baby or a little boy anymore. It's hard to see that part of him when he goes around using words like "fascinating" and "stabilize." He seems to pick up those big words easily from us and understands how to use them correctly. He's still my very sensitive guy that gets his feelings hurt easily, but he also freely gives hugs and kisses to me. He's so good at puzzles and did figure out how to use the computer at my parent's house. He knew where to find the games.

The weather has been up and down since we got back. We've had warm days and cold snowy days mixed together in the same week. The wood stove has been going steady. It's in the basement, so I'm getting extra exercise going up and down the stairs all day. I check the fire and load more wood into it about every 1-2 hours depending on the size of the logs. Thankfully, Dwight brings a wheel barrow full of wood closer to the house and I don't have to go all the way to the wood pile.

Back from a trip and still alive

We're back from visiting family for Thanksgiving. This trips stresses me out because of the balancing act of having E and D spend time with my family and my husband's family. Most of them live within an hour of each other. Besides the stress, we did have fun on the trip. My Mom cooked all sorts of yummy foods and took us to great soup restaurants. I definitely can't get soup like that up here. Watching tv is so addicting that I'm glad that we don't have cable or a dish. I did get to watch season 2 of Heroes and the first season of Big Bang Theory(so funny!). That's the way to watch tv shows. You get to see one right after another, no commercials, and you can skip the credits. We had a yummy Thanksgiving meal and the leftovers too. We also got to put up the Christmas decorations at my parents house. E and D enjoy that every year.

I did pack less knitting projects this year and still didn't finish anything. I took my Queen Silvia shawl along and managed to get only two repeats done on the center. I took some self striping yarn to start socks. They did get started and I didn't get much farther than the toes. For the airplane, I took along a self striping sock on a short 9 inch circular. The needles are so cute! It's a bit awkward to hold at first, but it is a nice way to knit when you get used to the short needles. These needles made it through security with no problems. I also had a set of wooden dpns in case I got to the heel. I didn't get there yet, but I have thought about it. I think that I might be able to do a short row heel without having to use any other needle.

Now that I'm home, knitting hasn't really resumed yet. I caught the flu. Argh! I feel like I was on one of those movies where someone on a plane coughs and everyone gets sick and spreads it all over the world. LOL. I must have caught it on the plane because I didn't get sick until a few days after we got home. I'm about 50% better now. I didn't feel like knitting while I was sick, so I read books instead.

I finished Diana Gabaldon's A Breath of Snow and Ashes. Great book! I can't wait for the next one in the series to come out, but I read online that it's not until Oct 09. Well, that gives me time to re-read the whole series. I also read Grisham's Playing for Pizza. That was an okay book, but definitely one that I will not be reading again. It had far too much descriptive football sections. I like football, but I really have no desire to read about pass plays, run plays, etc.

Today is a beautiful day. It snowed last night right after it rained. Every tree branch has a layer of snow on it. The wood stove is going and the kids are playing nice. I think we'll take a "snow day" today with lessons and just enjoy the snow.

And now we return to knitting...

I ventured out to photograph my Fiore di Melanzana stole somewhere besides the front porch. This is a rock that is a short walk from our house. It's a flat rock in the middle of the woods. Dwight sometimes calls it our "thinking rock." He used to go there to relax and just think. The kids like to go there and have pretend picnics since the rock makes a perfect table. It's usually hard to photograph anything near the rock because of the leaves blocking out the sun, but this time of year is really pretty there.

This stole was fun to knit. It was surprisingly quick once I dedicated all of my knitting time to it. I really like how there was no grafting. You start with a provisional cast-on in the center and knit from the center out for each side. The long side edging is knit along with the center of the stole. The edge for the short ends is knit on sideways and there are only a few 10 stitches to bind off. I love this type of stole construction. It makes for a very fussy-free knit. There was lace patterning on both sides of the stole, but it was easy to do once you saw the pattern emerging after a few rows. Again, I can't say enough good things about Anne's patterns.

Details:
Pattern: Fiore di Melanzana by Anne Hanson (knitspot)
Yarn: Knit Picks Shadow in Grape (2.75 skeins)
Needle: size 3 Knit Picks classic circular for the main section, size 2 (2.75mm) for the edging
Size: tall width and petite length-blocked to 25 inches wide and 87 inches long
Start: September 27, 2008
Finish: October 29, 2008

Cookie A said that it was okay to give out this link. That's the layout for her book!!! The book comes out in April. I'm so excited. I did a sample knit for the book and it's the one on the cover. Cookie says that the cover is being changed, but those socks should stay. Those socks were fun to knit, but I was nervous knitting it to a size slightly different than mine.

I finished E's modified monkey socks. I did knit a little on my Slow Bee #2 stole, but decided that I should start knitting some gifts. I'm using some left over cashmere and knitting cowls. Dwight could use one, but who knows if he will actually use it. If not, I'm sure someone will appreciate it. My current plan is to just keep making them until the yarn runs out. I have some leftover navy blue and a dark green. I think that I have enough yarn to make two from each color.

I just got my order from Knit Picks today. I took advantage of their book sale and bought a few books. I had to get Nancy Bush's Knitted Lace of Estonia. I flipped through it when it arrived and could see myself knitting quite a few of the projects. The shawls are so pretty, but I will definitely knit them in something besides the neutral colors shown in the book. That will have to be later after the gift knitting is done.

I also bought Not Just More Socks. I love the gloves with the beads on the wrist and the convertible mittens. I have a ton of sock yarn and it's time to make something besides socks. This book is perfect for that. I've gotten good use out of the Not Just Socks for Kids book and thought this one would be just a good.

Enough typing and time for more knitting...

Snow, teeth, and more knitting

Is this what March looks like? Looking through my old digital pictures, I can see that we usually get a dusting of snow. This probably isn't our last snow either. Almost every year, we get a little bit of snow after the azaleas have bloomed. We got a bit of the snow storm that came through yesterday. We got around 5 inches of snow and thankfully not the 20 inches that Ohio received. The birds love coming to the bird feeder when it's snowing. Yesterday, we had birds all over our trumpet vines and the ground underneath the feeder. I spent a lot of time watching them. These pictures were taken through our kitchen window.

We had something exciting happen last weekend. E lost another tooth. She has a cute gap toothed smile now. She was very brave. The tooth has been very loose for a few days and she finally let Dwight give it a few tugs. She said that it didn't hurt that much and no tears were shed. I think she was more focused on what the tooth fairy was going bring. She does know that the tooth fairy is me, but I play along and pretend that the tooth fairy is someone else. She gives me the funniest look when I talk about the tooth fairy. It's similar to the "come-on Mom, you're not fooling me" look.

The tooth right next to it is ready to come out too. She's working on it, but it will probably be at least another week. This picture was taken last Monday, when it reached 70 degrees. It's been a crazy spring weather week with temperatures that high and ending with snow.

In knitting, I'm slowly making progress on Arabian Nights. This picture was taken a few days ago when I was 70 rows into the second set of charts. This section goes faster than the first beaded section. As of Sunday afternoon, I've knit 120 rows out of 200. I wasn't sure if I liked the edging on the sides. It seemed so loose and floppy looking. After pinning it out, I've decided that I like it a lot. I like those large holes that it makes and the little loops with beads on them. Here are some closer shots of those sections.

I've started a few other projects too. I started the NHM #3 mittens from Selbuvotter for E. I'm knitting them out of a Cherry Tree Hill solid in pink and Knit Picks Bare. The mittens are done except for their thumbs. I'm not too happy with my stranding. I need more practice to stop the puckering. I think it might have something to do with switching between projects too. I'm also knitting the chick/egg toy from the Play! issue of Craft magazine. So far, I only have the chick body and half of the egg knitted. I want to make two of them for Easter.

Busy, busy, back to knitting...

Lace and Beads

Look, more snow! Woohoo! Right. For a few days, I thought spring might be right around the corner. Now we have 2 inches of snow on the ground and today's high is only in the 20's. One positive is that it is nice to wake up to a beautiful sight like this. Another positive is the snow does make it easier for me to take pictures of my projects. I really need to work on my indoor photography. Hopefully this is the last of the snow and I'll need to figure out something else for my photos.

I said that I wanted to knit something beaded and geometric. I didn't have to look any further than the winter 07/08 issue of Vogue Knitting. This shawl (#2 in the mag.) caught my eye, but I wanted to use supplies that I had on hand. The yarn is Zephyr in Chanel and it's a dark pink/fuchsia type of color. If I were to knit this shawl again, I would use a smaller needle and knit another repeat of the squares. This shawl is more airy than I usually like. I did think about adding another repeat on this one, but I thought that a large, bright pink shawl with beads might be a bit much. :-P

Details:
Beaded Shawl(#2) from Vogue Knitting Winter 2007/08
Yarn: Jaggerspun Zephr in Chanel (approx. 5 oz used)
Needle: size 3 Knit Picks Harmony
Beads: 8/0 Iris blue
Hook: size 11 (1.05mm)
Start: February 21, 2008
Finished: February 25, 2008

And now I'll introduce Mingus. Isn't it lovely! I do have a lot of socks, but this one is just too pretty to pass. I love the yarn and the pattern and together it's a perfect combination. The yarn is Somoko by Fleece Artist. It is hairy, but that doesn't take away from the bold patterning on this sock.

I did have a cranky moment with this sock. I wont' go into too much detail, but it involved frogging, larger needles, and me muttering about fat ankles. The good news is that this yarn is easy to frog, despite the hairiness. It also didn't suffer much in the frogging and still looks great.

I'm starting another project. It's the Moroccan Days/Arabian Nights stole. I first saw a picture of this stole a few weeks ago and the designer was still working on it. It's so pretty and it has beads! The pattern just became available and I have it. I'm in the process of stringing a million beads onto the yarn. Okay, it's more like 2500, but it feels like a million beads. I prefer the crochet method for adding beads to lace, but the ends of this stole has a beaded looped fringe that can't be added by hook. I'm using some purple yarn that Dwight brought back from China and beads that I had already too. In fact, they're the same beads as those in the Beaded Shawl at the top. I initially bought those for my Seaweed Stole, but ended up using a larger bead.

I'll close with some monsters that I made with the kids on Monday. We were inspired by Craft magazine. From left to right are E's monster, D's monster, and mine. E did everything herself except the sewing. D needed help cutting out his felt for the main part, but he did cut the decorations himself. My monster is made from leftover fleece and I like it much better than felt. If we make more monsters, I'd rather do them in fleece or regular fabric. I'm not a big fan of felt because it looks worn so quickly. These monsters were so quick and easy to make. I can see making a lot of these with E and D. They already want to make more.

Snow day

We're back into the swing of our lessons again. We started yesterday, but all of the snow outside was so tempting. We did do a full day of lessons yesterday, but we're taking some time off today. E did really well on some review work yesterday, she's ahead of schedule on her work, and another day off won't hurt. We tromped around our yard and the neighbor's yard yesterday and today. E and D had a lot of fun near that creek in the picture. I didn't have so much fun trying to get down there. There's a steep hill and the snow was so powdery and slippery. I hurt my wrist a little, but the camera was fine. I was more worried about my camera than my wrist.

It was so cold out there. It was in the 20's when E and D were at the creek, but it was around 15 when I took the snowflake pictures today. Funny how it doesn't bother the kids at all when they're playing. When we came in, we warmed up next to the wood stove and had some cocoa.

We did learn about snowflakes today. I took a lot of pictures of snowflakes. The super macro setting on my camera works great for this. It was hard picking something as a background. A knitted scarf had too much texture. After that, I tried a piece of construction paper. Did you know that construction paper is also very textured in a super macro picture? I was afraid to try anything smoother than that because of the wind.

I did get some decent pictures and had a very hard time trying to narrow them down. Here are some of my favorites. Click to see the bigger picture.


Also today, E drew a picture of a princess and wrote a story about her. In the curriculum that we're using, E had to do quite a bit of creative writing last year. This year, there hasn't been much. I'm having her do the creative writing along with her drawing practice. E also had to work on her story summaries. She tries to retell the whole story and I'm trying to get her to write shorter summaries. Other than that, today has been short day for her.

In knitting news, I'm still working on the Honeybee Stole. I'm around 75% done with it. It's going great, but I can't wait until it's finished. I want to move on to another project. Next, I'm planning on knitting the first clue for the Spring Surprise Shawl or a Jean Greenhowe doll for E.

Ugh, where's the disinfectant?

What a week it has been since my last posting. We had a great get-together/party at our house last Friday. All together, there were 6 kids between 2 and 6 years old. They managed to scatter all of the toys all over the house, but they had a lot of fun. D caught some kind of bug from one of the kids and has been sick since then, but is on the mend. Dwight caught the bug and has been sick since Monday. E has now caught the bug. I really, really hope that I'm not next.

It's been a crazy week weather wise too. We had all of that snow on D's birthday and for a few days afterwards. Then we had some warm days. Our wood stove is still going and the house was super toasty on those days. And yesterday, we got pounded with rain. There was a little flooding in town, but we're up on a hill out here.

In knitting news, I finished my Mystic Waters shawl!!! I just finished it last night. It's so pretty and waiting to be blocked. I was going to block it today. But with little ones getting sick on the floor, I don't want to risk having my shawl on the floor. Ick. I'll block it tonight when they go to bed.

I'm working on my Wollmeise sea foam scarf now. It's mindless knitting and that's probably a good project to have while taking care of the sick kiddies.

How I drive myself nutty...

Knit Henry with fingering weight yarn on size 3 needles. This is a scarf with a 24 row repeat and each row has 452 stitches. If I'm on top of it, I can knit one repeat a day. A day! Yeah, things are going slowly. I've knit 5 repeats out of 7 so far. I'm thinking of stopping after 6 because the scarf is looking wide.

I decided to take a break from that and knit the "Unoriginal Hat" from the Yarn Harlot's blog. I'm using some super chunky alpaca yarn that Dwight brought back on his first business trip to China. He must like messing with me because this is another one that doesn't have the weight or yardage on it's label. Because of that, it's sat in my closet for a few years. I think this hat will look good, but it's torturing me to knit with yarn this thick.

I want to knit lace, but I have to wait. Is it Friday yet? That's when the new clues come out.

And then last weekend, we tried to get a good picture for our cards. What an insane day. Smile. Look at the camera. Stop making that face. That is not a natural smile. No, that one isn't either. Okay, just try to look happy. It didn't help that it was a windy and partly cloudy day. The wind blew the sun in and out of the clouds and that really messed with the coloring of the pictures. This is probably the best one of the bunch, but I'm not completely happy with it. The coloring is really off and it looks so pixellated sized down. I might blog some of the outtakes from that day. They're hilarious!


I did take the kids out the next day and got some really cute pictures of just them. I may just go with those for the main picture for the cards and include the family ones inside somewhere.

And this is what happens when you stay outside too long on a very windy day under a lot of oak trees.

Yes, an acorn hit him square on the head. :-( Ouch! After that, it was time to go inside again.

BOO!

Happy Halloween!

When the power goes out

What a storm! I watched the radar regularly on Monday. It was a nice day, but the storm was coming. It was a pretty big storm that was headed our way. The power blinked twice and then went out completely somewhere around 5pm. I couldn't follow the radar anymore. Oh well. We just had to sit on the porch and wait for it. Yes, we like to watch the storms roll over our house. We waited and waited. There was a lot of thunder, so we thought a big storm would pass over us. It didn't. We got some rain, but it was the good steady rain that the plants love. Not the let's pour it all at once and see how big we can make the ruts in the driveway kind.

E understands power outages now. D is only 3.5 and doesn't really get it yet. No, the lights won't work no matter how many times you check. No, the light won't work in the bathroom, you'll have to just wing it in the dark. No, we can't watch a movie. No, we can't use the microwave. No, we can't open the refrigerator. But we did warm up some canned soup on the gas stove and had dinner by candle light.

After that, we had to figure out a way to entertain ourselves and the kids without going nutty. I brought out an old tape player, my old story tapes, and we listened to fairy tales. Those are old read-alongs that I've had since I was little. I won't be specific, but let's just say that these tapes were probably over 20 years old. :-O They still work and the kids loved them.

Thankfully, the power came back in time for us to put the kids to bed. I got to get on the internet a bit and then the power went out again at 11pm. Great... Now how to I entertain myself in the dark? I knit by candle light. Not much light is required for this pattern as the pattern is easy to memorize. It's my own pattern too! I'll give more details when I'm done with the socks. Knitting by candle light got old really quick and I ended up going to bed early last night.

The power was still out this morning. I had to make a mad dash in the frig to get out everything I thought we would need and throw a block of ice in there. We listened to more stories on tape and ended up painting the rest of the morning. Well, we were sort of painting. It was the kind where you just need a wet brush to paint the page that has the paint already on it. It was fun and we didn't make a mess. I didn't want to make a big mess because we don't have water. We do have drinking water that I've stored in bottles, but the cistern pump and well pump don't work when the power goes out. What fun! ;-)

The power came back around 12 hours after it went out last night. I didn't get much knitting done, but E and D thought the whole thing was an adventure. Thank goodness that it wasn't that hot. I still think that we need a generator. If anything, we really need it for the water pumps.