It's a Wonder I Get Anything Done...

With all the sheep shearing to be done!





...and repeat ad nauseum!

Thanks, Amanda!

A Virtue I Sometimes Lack

Sometimes, my impatience gets the best of me.
Yup, I wound all 800 yards of the laceweight by hand. And started the shawl. Bad bad bad, especially since I have an impending deadline to meet. To my "credit," however, I only finished chart 1 and it is now on hold until more pressing matters are dealt with.
'Nuff said.

Nothing Personal...

That's about it. Nothing personal on the needles. It's all work stuff that I can't show you. I finished a pair of socks ("The Goat" [they're cashmere]) and I can't show you more than this:
And feel bad that this lousy photo will have to do as far as my SAM2 September brownie point! I'm working on another something and I can't show you that, either, but I will say that I am loving Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport. 'Nuff said.

I was working on something else that I can't show you, and even if I could, I doubt you'd really want to see my end of it (tech editing in progress isn't exactly the kind of thing knitters [or anyone else, for that matter] are waiting up nights to see), and that's done, for now. If it all works out, it'll be pretty exciting, I think, but I doubt anyone really wants to read me rambling on about my love for editing others' creative work...

Here's something I can show you. I did a little Kool-Aid dyeing the other day. I had a hank of Knitpicks Paint Your Own laceweight (or, Bare, whatever they're calling it now!) that I figured I might as well dye. This was kind of a spur of the moment thing. I had seen Laura's recent forays into "grown-up colors" and, as I found myself at the grocery store, I hunted down the Kool-Aid and figured I'd give it a shot.

This was the color I had in mind:

This is the yarn, 2 packets of Grape, 3 of Black Cherry, and a simmer later:

I love it when a plan comes together!

This lovely, nearly solid hank is going to grow up to be Icarus for my wonderful mom. The girls chose the pattern, and are so excited that we're going to surprise Nana. Who knows when I'll actually get it done? I haven't even wound it, yet. Which begs the question: Should I bite the bullet and just get a ball-winder already? My main concern is that sometimes when I've had yarn wound for me at a LYS (while on vacation, of course. Still no LYS here!) the tension seems rather, well, severe. That paired with the fact that I have a wooden swift leads me to think I'm better off winding by hand. Any opinions? (I've come to realize that I rarely get any opinions when I ask for them, but I'm giving it a shot, anyway.)

Allow Me to Introduce You

To my new best friend!

Yup, Play-doh!







The girls play with it for hours, if time allows.









I've gotten a lot of knitting done this week thanks to Play-doh (and the fact that I have, perhaps, the only two 3 1/2 year olds on the planet who don't grind Play-doh into the carpet for some reason. Trust me, I know how lucky I am!)

Unfortunately, most of the knitting I'm currently doing I cannot show you. Well, I could show you, but then, one of us would have to die.

So, here's a cavalcade (okay, two) things you've already seen in their new state of being!

The blocking frame made a huge difference in the fit of Zigzag (I know, the picture's horrible, but, trust me, it looks a lot better!)









And I felted the clogs! Now they fit my feet









instead of Skippy's dad's feet!
More to come later about the goat, knit surgery, and how not to make a yellow and orange fun fur hat look like a clown wig (I hope! Any ideas?)

Rockin' My Ever-Lovin' Socks Off!

Today, my doorbell rang, and it was my all-time favorite doorbell ringer, Anthony, my mailman. I love when he rings the doorbell, because it usually means one thing. Yarn. Today was no exception. I got the yarn for an upcoming test/sample knit for the ever more prolific Chrissy. That I was expecting. She had mentioned that there would be another "little something" tucked in along with the yarn as a thank you for the editing I've been doing for her. Little something, indeed!
That is the Full Set of Knit Picks Options interchangeables! I honestly don't know what to say other than Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You! This is so much more than I ever expected! I am truly overcome! What a treat to get something this cool for doing something I love (Yep. I really do love tech editing. It's a disease.) So, in case I didn't make myself clear, Thank You, Chrissy!

I've been up to a few little somethings, myself. First up: Sockies!
These were made with the surprise yarn I won from SAM 1.
Pattern: Uh, cast on 52, work orange stripes in k2 p2 checkerboard, rest of leg in k2 p2 rib, eye of partridge heel flap, standard stockinette foot, etc.
Needles: US size 0, Inox circs
Verdict: Ilsa says there's not enough orange (she's a bit obsessed).


Matchy-matchy stripes!
And SAM2 September credit!



Next up is a hat comissioned by my friend Barb's daughter. She chose the yarn (Lion Boucle) and I hope she likes the hat. It should fit.

Here it is on a similarly sized child's head. Should keep that Minnesota chill out!

I'm finally making my mom's socks. I was going to make her Pomatomii, but this yarn (Lorna's Laces) wasn't taking to the pattern all that well, so I decided to make something up.

What do you think? I think it's all coming together nicely. I am loving the LL, never used it before, and the colorway is so lovely and soothing (but what's up with the name? Buck's Bar? What's that supposed to mean?)

On deck is the hat for Barb's other daughter. She, also chose her own yarn. Ah, Fun Fur. It will be a-flyin' soon!

Hey, Nice Rack!

So, I picked up my Fair entries today. No judges notes, just the ribbons and a check for the second place entry. When I saw the "alternative display method" they used for Zigzag, my eyes rolled right out of my head onto the floor. Onto the dirty, Astroturfed floor. Yup, right there next to my sweater. Oh, well. It turns out there was no visible harm done, after all. I decided to reblock anyway.

The first time I blocked this sweater, I didn't pin it, I would just occasionally "encourage" it by tugging it to the dimensions I wanted it to achieve. This "method" is perhaps why it fit me like a sausage casing. Just a thought. I know that certain cultures dry their sweaters on a frame, or rack, and I was struck with a frugal genius moment.

Today, I made my own sweater rack! I noted how big around I wanted the sweater to be (in my case, 38" seemed to be a good amount of ease. Not too tight, and not too loose) and divided by 2. 19". I wanted my frame to span 19" or therabouts. I figured 22" in height would be a good, reusable measure. I went to the craft store and headed for the painters' supplies. There, I snagged four sections of canvas stretching frame. Two 22" and two 18" (they didn't stock 19" and the sections are about 1/2" deep, so it was close enough) Just my luck, painting supplies were 30% off this week, so instead of the whopping $4.88 I was willing to pay for my supplies, the grand total came to $3.42.
Here are the pieces, all laid out (they come pre-mitered and have a tongue and groove joint so that you can just slide them together. Slick.)

Here is my frame, all ready to hold the sweater after a few minor adjustments are made...
I took some batting and padded the corners, wrapping them with plastic wrap from the kitchen. If I had had some quilt batting, I might have padded out all the edges, but that would make the dismantling for storage and the resizing as needed a bit trickier. I then stuffed the whole contraption into a tall kitchen garbage bag, (clean, of course) since wool sweaters do not like to dry on thirsty materials, (mold, anyone?) and then placed it carefully inside Zigzag, who had been soaking all this time and had been rolled in a towel and had her excess water gently pressed out.










She looks happier already.

Drama Drama Drama!

First of all, thank you all for your concern and outrage on my behalf as far as the Fair Fiasco. Sometimes, being a knitter in Pueblo is a lonely business, and it's nice that I have contact (albeit virtual) with people who know what I'm talking about and can sympathize when things go wrong. Thanks for helping me not to feel so alone!

That said, I contacted the Fair and they are moving the sweater to a laid out position and notifying the Needlework Chair about my "concerns" with the display. I get my stuff back on Wednesday, and we'll see how things block out from there. If I can't get the shoulder nipples to disappear, maybe I'll take off the neck and release the sleeves, frog down to before the damage and reknit. That wouldn't be so bad, and it would give me a chance to re-re-set the sleeves. They're still not right. That whole thing about this sweater being "art" was a bit of emotional hyperbole. Sorry. There are many things I would do differently were I to knit this one again (which I just may, someday). I'll get into it once it's home safe and I can take some photos to illustrate my points. I will be interested to see if my problems with the sweater were also points considered by the judges.

Again, sorry about all the Drama, and thank you for the kind words.