Loose Ends

Have all been woven in on the Victorian Romance Shawl. It has now been folded and slipped into a plastic bag to go into the gift bag, with the birthday card to be presented to my Mom for her birthday.

The Candlelight Kimono is finished except for the loose ends and the hooks and eyes which will be sewn in and on in motel rooms the next couple of nights so that I can wear it on Saturday to the reunion.

So we can call these done. I think I really like the Candlelight Kimono. Can't wait to wear it, I even bought a new pair of black pants and a sleeveless black and white shirt to wear under it.

Procrastinating

I should be totaling up bills to get the money into the bank, so I can go shopping, so I don't have to listen to complaints that I left and there was no food in the house. (I have 2 freezers and 3 pantries, but when I leave there is no food-go figure). So what am I doing(besides moaning that I have a headache)? Sitting here playing on the computer. Yeah that will get stuff done.

Last night I fixed the dropped stitch in the Shawl for mom, still need to weave in the ends, and wrap it up.

I got some pictures of the 1st Green Shetland. It is all plied and everything, well except for wet finishing and measuring, but I will do all of the green at once, so I know that they have been done, and I don't need to wonder, "did I wash that?"

No house, just Knitting

There actually has been some knitting going on, I dug out the 2 sock that have been hanging on, forever, and put them into the backpack so that when I reach a stopping place in the other projects I can work on them. Here is the lace sock, only one I need to cast on the other one or finish this one and then do it. I was surprised that I could pick it up and find where I was with very little problem. This is going to the reunion, so I will have something to work on at night after Mom goes to bed, I'll go out and see if there is somewhere to sit in the lobby, when we are traveling she wants to go to bed at 8:00 or so, and really doesn't want a light or the TV on so I need to go somewhere else. I will show the progress on the other ones next time. there has been some. I really don't know why these have not been worked on, I like the pattern, I like the yarn, they were probably just put aside to finish a gift and were not picked up again, after the gifts were finished, (probably because of more gifts). Anyway, their time has come.

Then there is the Candlelight Kimono which has had its ups and downs, but is finally at the sewing up stage, which means that I have successifully finished the knitting, and tonight while watching TV I will start the sewing up, Then the weaving in of ends and the sewing down (with sewing thread) of the end so that they will not work their way out. It is tedious but I have several movies on the DVR so I will sit in my comfy chair and just do it.

And last but not least are the 7th guy socks, which measure 8 inches and are 1 inch too short for my big footed son Chase. So one more inch and I can put in the waste yarn, knit 2 more rows on the foot side, then switch to larger needles, and change to rib all round for the leg.


I started another of the Victorian Romance Shawls (formerly known as the mystery shawl 09), because I had over half of the yarn I started with left, and I am giving the first one to Mom for her birthday. So we will have matching shawls.

But this afternoon I am going to shorten all of the short sleeves on the cotton nightgowns, which go past my elbows and need to not do that.

House and Spinning

There is a dormer taking shape on the roof of the back part of the house. Next week should see windows and maybe the metal roofing started. The bedroom looks pretty much the same from the inside because they have not cut out the drywall.

So while the banging is going on I have finished spinning the first of the green Shetland, and the spinning time today will be spent on 2-plying it back on itself.

Next week I will leave on Wednesday to drive to Virginia, measure the grandchildren, hug my daughter, and go on to Norfolk, to pick up Mom and take her to the family reunion in Cuba, (actually Friendship) New York. A stop at the cheese factory, then back to Virginia to drop Mom, and back home. Be gone a week. I am taking the computer, whether or not there will be any blogging will depend on how tired I get, and the availability of internet. But by the time I get back there should be great progress on the house.


And maybe even some more on the Green Shetland, since I am taking the spinning wheel as well. Spinning daily is loosening the muscle that gets tight and cramps in the top of my left foot, so it is physical therapy. (That's my story and I am sticking to it.

Green, Green

It's green they say on the far side of the hill...la la la.
Green Shetland pre-drafted. And being spun, prepare to be bored.

That is all.

One day of House Construction

The contractors came and ripped off the roof. This is what the roof has looked like for months, ever since last fall when the hurricane came through and tore it up.

This is what my bedroom looks like now, the white is attic space that is supposed to have cabinet doors, and 3 different builders have "forgotten" to order them so they never got on, and the ceiling there is 3 feel off the floor.

This is going to be fixed, but not today because it is raining,it is raining outside, and, it is raining inside, in the spare room.
The builder came by this morning and I showed him the water, so he spread another tarp over the one he had covering the roof already. We are hoping it quits dripping soon.

They got all of the shingles and plywood off yesterday. That is the rafters and the drywall that you can see. They are going to cut a hole there tomorrow and put in a dormer. A big dormer that will run almost the length of that side of the house.
Then they will do the same thing on the other side of the house, so my bedroom will have dormers on both sides. then they will move to the front of the house, on the left of the picture and put a dormer in Sierra's room, and then the right side and put one in Christopher's room.

Anita Went to Georgia

And came home talking about herself in the third person.

We went to Carl's 40th class reunion. I had a better time than I expected. It was cooler than I expected and it did not rain although rain was forecast for the entire weekend.

I took the last of the pink and really expected to finish it while there, but even though I spun at least a half hour every day, I finished it yesterday after I got home. This is the end of it. I had thought that I would just have enough to do some sampling, but that is a fair amount for just sampling. I suppose I will get the Roberta out and use it for the plying after I play with it to see if I like 2-ply or 3 ply. Any way the pink is at an end.

On to green Shetland.

While in Georgia, I met Clyde Taylor who Carl went to school with, and we talked about sheep, and all things woolly. And the result was that I brought 3 bags of fleece back from GA.

So I could have come home singing Baa Baa Black Sheep, but I didn't (for which Carl was very grateful I am sure).

It is not black wool, I think it is all white, some might be tan but it just might be dirty, we met the sheep it came from, but it is kind of hard to tell...anyway light wool.

The contractor finally arrived this morning, so there is banging, and scraping up on the roof. They are removing the roof, because the guy who did the roof, used thinner plywood than he should have, (probably pocketed the difference, he was like that as it turned out), so all of that comes off and a new roof, with dormers, and a red metal roof is going on. Exciting but we will scarcely be able to move, for a while.

I am an idiot, a very good, acomplished Idiot.

There are people who are under the mistaken impression that I am good at this. Well this post should disabuse them of that notion.

I have numerous idiot proof methods of getting the knitting to somewhat resemble the pattern, one of them shows in the first pictures. See all of those pins, they are small brass coil less safety pins that I got years ago, (I found a place to order 2000 of them and figured I was set for life, I need to go order some more.) When I come to a direction to decrease (or increase) every X rows Y times, I count out Y safety pins, place Y-1 onto the last one and pin the whole thing to first
decrease (increase).

Then when I do the next decrease I move one pin up into that one, when I run out of pins I am through with that direction and need to look at the pattern again.

Now let's take a look at these pictures: In the first we see all of the knitting done since the instructions: " bind off 5 stitches at the beginning of the next 2 rows and decrease 1 on each side of
the next 13 right side rows." (instructions abbreviated drastically) See all of the neat pins, the next instruction is knit even until armhole length matches the fronts, see all that lovely mindless knitting...MINDLESS being the operative word. Let's look closely at the next 2 pictures. Hear we see first the left side of the back and then the right.

No go closer here is the right side again, see the 5 bound off stitches and the neat row of decreases. Now look at the left side, see how the 5 bound off stitches Are Not There! See Anita throw her knitting. Hear Anita say bad words.

I discovered the latest proof that as I age I become an even better idiot last night, that is when I threw the knitting down in disgust. Then this morning after I took those pictures I calmly removed all of the pins and pinned them to the markers that go 5 stitches from the edge, (the decreases go inside the markers). Then I (not quite as calmly, I have to admit) yanked the needle out of the knitting and started tearing it out, (that is also about the time that everyone else left the area, (coincidence I am sure).
When I got to the first decrease (2 rows above the mistake) I started to pick up the stitches and rip of the last 2 rows one stitch at a time, then I bound of those 5 stinking stitches. As I pulled out the knitting I came to the start of the last ball and I wound that up into a neat ball. then I continued to pull out the knitting. That yarn has not been rewound, but you can see in the last 3 pictures the 5 stinking stitches, and the yarn mass, and the neat ball. And when all of that yarn is gone I'll be back to where I was yesterday.

Now I need to go spin for 1/2 an hour and then knit, and knit, and knit...At least the sewing is all done.

Some Relief from Pink

While the pink spinning is still going on, and I have reached the point to packing some extra roving on the previous bobbins, which were not as full as the latest one. Other things are also going on:

I went clothes shopping, I hate clothes shopping!
And then I came home and washed the new clothes, and cut off all of the pants, except the shorts which are not too long, and the one pair I cheated with and just folded over and stitched down. Here is what was cut off of the bottom of the pants, (note all of the hem seam are still sewed in).

There has been some work on the Candlelight Kimono the back is up to where it gets one more armhole decrease and then the top of the shoulders and neck once the armholes are deep enough.
I have one pair of pants that are hand sewing, (mostly because I don't have matching thread and I can fudge it by hand but not by machine), and then I can settle down with my knitting and finish this up. If I finish tonight then I can sew it together tomorrow, and block it Tuesday. It may or may not have buttons before we leave but I can do that Friday if I need to. I would like to wear it on Saturday but if it is as hot in Georgia as it has been here...That will not happen!

Day 4 More PINK

After 2 more days I am up to 2 inches across. Another 2 days and I will need to start another bobbin, or pack the ones I am using, because I don't have very much roving left.

2-ply? 3-ply? I don't know. As a 2-ply I should have enough yardage to make a large shawl. As a 3-ply, maybe enough for a Rayne sweater, but I only have 1 pound. This is superwash wool, and not of the best quality, I keep picking neps out of the roving.

Still trying to decide. there is no law that I have to ply this as soon as I finish it. I could work on the Shetland because that is small amounts of roving and is to be 2-plied so I only need the one bobbin to do the rest of that. Decisions... Decisions.

Day 2 - another 1/4 inch

This is going to get boring fast, bobbins with PINK singles. And more bobbins with PINK single. Sorry. but I can see some improvement, as far as the progress of filling the bobbin is concerned.

I did learn something: I can use the Schacht Woolee Winder bobbins on the Lendrum Woolee Winder. So I can finish spinning and then ply all at once.

The Schacht Woolee Winder is over 20 years old and needs to go in for an overhaul. So I am spinning on the Lendrum.

On Your Mark, Get Set....

The Tour de Fleece starts today, so last night I took some of the bright PINK superwash wool and pre-drafted it what you see balled up there is the last of the pound of PINK that I have. I will sit down and pre-draft that bit later. Once it is pre drafted I put it into the plastic box (that came from Costco with a bunch of disposable razors in it) so that it doesn't compress again.


I have been spinning this for a while off and on and have 2 bobbins full, and had started on the 3rd.

I need to remind everyone (myself) that the goal here is to spin for 1/2 hour or more every day. It is not speed or most spun or anything like that, it is spin every day!

The bobbin I will start with is 1 and a quarter inches across the core at the moment and an empty bobbins is 1/2 inch so approximately 3/4 of an inch of spun yarn. I have no idea if the half hour will show up but I will try to measure after each spinning session to see how much progress shows. It certainly doesn't show by just looking at it.


Once this is finished I may find that Jacob that I have to spin fast and fat, now that gives a sense of progress, but I don't know, I will decide once the end is in sight with the pink.

That is quite pink is it not. Just makes me happy to look at it.

edited to add: after 30 minutes today the bobbin measures 1 1/2 inches so 1/4 inch added today.

Procrastinating

I'm not much motivated to get anything done, I've already made a list of all the bills (which is just depressing), and filled the pill box for the month. But I just haven't gotten the motivation/energy to start something else. But I can show off my latest acquisition:

I finally finished my collection of Barbara Walker Treasuries. The first 3 are not the new reprints. (I really am old ) So it was time I got the last one, besides it has the Butterfly lace motif that I want to use with the Butterfly stitch from the first to make a sweater for Rayne before she outgrows her love of butterflies.


The Candlelight Kimono has reached the "I'm tired of this and want to knit something else" stage so I am having to force myself to pick it up. Once I have picked it up it is fine and I enjoy the knitting, it is just that I want to work on something new.

I promised myself that once the kimono is at the final blocking stage, (i.e. knitted, sewn up and button loops finished) I can wind the yarn for the Rosy Fingered Dawn Shawl, and once the boy's sweaters are finished and sewn up, I can start studying the instructions, and once the 2 pair of socks are done I can start knitting it along with Sierra's Sweater and also start the swatches for Rayne's. Can't make the pattern for that one until the middle of August, because I need to measure her, which will happen the first of August.

Tour de Fleece

I haven't done this before, but I have wanted to get back into spinning regularly. So my challenge is to spin at least 30 minutes every day. Good thing I have a portable wheel, so I can take it with me when I go to Georgia for DH high school reunion. We have already had a tiff over the accommodations so having the wheel to calm me down may not be a bad idea, 4 days of anyone 24/7 is stressful for me, but someone who is high maintenance as well...yeah, having a de-stress mechanism along can't hurt.