Change is in the air . . .

Whaddya think?

Ouch.

I've been restless lately. Maybe that's what brought that serious case of Startitis on; I don't know. I do know that there are times when I feel like I'm going to seriously bust out somewhere . . . I just haven't yet found the outlet. Knitting is soothing and pretty, and knitting culture is a blast. (The MS3 experience has been great so far.) But it's not active enough for all of my needs. Inside this reserved personality is a musician, and nothing really can take the place of music, once it has become a part of you. My piano skills are so seriously degraded after more than 12 years of neglect that it's frustrating to try to play. I don't know anyone around here that would like to make music with me, so I'm left to my own devices.

Which brings me to today's title.

Ouch.

Typing is fairly painful right now.



Any guesses why? ;o)



Have you guessed yet?












C'mon . . . you know what that is, right?
















Well, okay, if you must know . . .



I'm such a novice at this . . . but I'm improving fast, and it's highly portable. I'm still going to work on a couple pieces with Cadence, especially Pachelbel Meets U2. But this, hopefully, will be what I'm looking for. Short of borrowing someone else's guitarist, this is what I've got.

So why start something new, especially when I've spent so many years of my life playing and drilling at the piano? I've felt lately like I'm just coming to know who I've grown up into. I'm not the same girl that sat at the piano for thousands of hours, relying on the music to pull her through whatever came her way. I still dearly love the piano--but I feel as though I need a musical medium that's more readily available, and I'm ready to learn and stretch some more. And one that's not so serious for me.

Meet Scheherezade, Cadence's cousin.

She's glad to be out of her case again . . . it has been almost five years since she last saw the light of day. I just wish I still had my callouses from ten years ago . . . man, it's hard to believe it has been that long. I was getting somewhere back in college. The fingerings and string positions are coming back fast; my hand strength is pathetic, though, and my fingers awfully soft.

So, I'm back on Mom duty, and trying to figure out how I can smash several hours of guitar into an already full day . . .

Tonight

I've decided that instead of blogging, I'm going to actually go knit on my MS3.

So, here are some fun things to look at while you're dealing with the disappointment. ;o)

Pansies at sunset . . .

Coral bells and Aquilegia . . .

And Home Depot's contribution to my daily recommended allowance of gaiety. :o)

Have a great night!

MS3 - The beginning

When my swatching yarn arrived on Monday, I started right in. Well, sort of. I had a bunch o' stuff to do, so I started as soon as I possibly could . . . which was 9:30 Tuesday morning. (But I was knitting it in my mind almost all day. Have you ever done that?) After finishing a swatch that was too open with a US3 KP Classic circular, I went down to a US2, (I'm gonna learn the metric sizes for these things--I'm tired of typing "US"! lol), and here's what happened:

Not bad, eh? The first repeat was a little shaky, but I finally got into a rhythm during the second repeat, and that's what I'm going for in the stole.

When I tracked my FedEX package this morning from Fire Mountain, my heart sank. My beads for MS3 (and a gorgeous array of other goodies that you'll see another day), were scanned as departing Portland Tuesday night at 10-something, and then scanned as departing Portland at 8:52 this morning. AUUUUGH!!!! So, I called FedEx, and got a moderately helpful (if very uninterested-sounding) phone rep. He put a trace on my package, and I felt better, although really disappointed that my beads wouldn't be delivered until tomorrow. So, I went about my day, deciding that I really shouldn't go to my LYS to pick up a #13 steel crochet hook for the beading, and gathered my wits about me.

By the way, did I mention that I left to take my mom to the airport this morning at 5:30? It was a bit uncomfortable (especially considering that I had a weird night--tossed and turned, dreamed a ton, and kept waking up during the scant 7 hours I had in bed), but I managed to make it home without being actually drowsy for more than the last two minutes. So, by the time I had the FedEx package traced, I felt like I had been up forever. In reality, it was only just over five hours; but when being up for five hours means that it's only just after 10am, it feels kinda strange. Mom's flying down to Tejas to see my brother, my adorable SIL and they're 2.5 week old munchkinette. Oh, how I wish they lived closer. I would love to hold her. My Mom and that brother (I have three, total) are my best friends next to Vern. It's hard to have my lil' bro and his lil' family that far off.

So, I went back to my day, taking care of the munchkins and all, took a few minutes to catch up on the few blogs I read, and sat down to finish the MS3 swatch when, to my uttermost surprise, I see a purple polo flash in the windows of my front door. The doorbell rings, DS the younger goes streaking for the door, and I get up to see what's going on. And there it is--my little box of beads! Woo-Hoo! (Don't you just love technology? It's my guess that somehow the scanning equipment substituted "Portland" for "Spokane". Whatever happened, I'm just glad that my box either went from Portland to my door in two hours and 19 minutes, or somebody in a purple polo was having a more tired day than I was. Or maybe it was purple polo-wearing software. You've gotta love databases and their attendant code. Anyway, I ordered two different colors, and I reallllllly like this one. What do you think?


So, as I play a little with the contents of the box, I planned out a quick trip out for a crochet hook, gathered the munchkins up, and off we went. I grabbed the mail, and (be still my beating heart!) the Zephyr Lace was nestled in back, behind something else I ordered that came today. (Why, oh WHY?, doesn't Knit Picks offer Priority shipping for their orders? Two days from NY & MI, but a FULL WEEK from Ohio. Sniffle, sniffle, grrrrr.) It was a few hours before I could start, but it's coming along well.

The beading is a bit awkward, but nothing like learning to knit. ;o) The trickiest part is keeping hold of both slick needles while I manipulate the hook, bead & stitch. I spear a bead with the hook in my right hand while holding the work in my left, which is worked to the stitch before the beaded stitch. I hook the stitch to be beaded, and keep gentle tension on the loop as I push the bead off of the hook and onto the stitch. As I do this, the stitch usually slips off of the left needle, and then I insert the left needle into the top of the stitch, gently pushing the bead down to where it's supposed to be. Then I work the stitch, and go on my merry way. I'm still waiting for my chart keeper to arrive (gotta love KP's slow boat from Ohio shipping), but for now I'm doing okay with marking each RS row after I work it, and just putting a pen or pencil just above the current row. (You can see the tic marks at the edge of the rows in the photo above. I'm on row 11 there.)

Meanwhile, the house is reasonably presentable (well, except for the laundry room and the kids' room . . . ), and this is how DS the younger spent his afternoon:

Well, that, and other various permutations of the same. He had a blast.

Have a wonderful week!

Woo-hoo! The mail is here! The mail is here!

Well, if I didn't get a couple of surprises in my mailbox today!

First up, was a CD I ordered from CD Baby on Friday. It's Andy Shelton's Market Street. Very, very cool. CD Baby is for independent musicians, and based in Portland. And they're a riot. You should place an order with them just so you can read their order confirmation email. No, I'm not kidding. Seriously. Go buy a cd. It's so totally worth it just for the laughs!

Second, my swatching yarn for the Mystery Stole 3 arrived from Sarah's Yarns! (I ordered them on Friday, as well. Don't you love prompt shipping and Priority mail?) OhMyGoodnessOhMyGoodnessOhMyGoodness! That means that my Zephyr ordered on Saturday should get here tomorrow! Hooray!

I can't say enough good things about Sarah. Her swatching program is stellar, and she sent me color cards for the yarn lines I requested. Woo-hoo! Don't you just love companies who actually want to sell you their products? Especially when they realize that the customer is the one bearing the risk of mail order transactions. I requested JaggerSpun Zephyr in laceweight and DK, and JaggerSpun's heathered wool 2/18. I'm definitely going with the Zephyr lace (love it love it love it), even though I haven't even been able to do more than pet the teeny tiny coils of yarn.

I'll post pics soon . . . right now I've got to go get some tidying up done, and then get my tail off to town to get some groceries for the crew this week. I just couldn't contain myself! :o)

Knit on . . .

And she sews!

Yes, I do own a sewing machine and serger, and occasionally use such. When I'm lucky, I get cute results.


This is a dpn/straight needle book I made this morning before breakfast. (Breakfast was at 11am, so don't go thinking I'm some kind of over-achiever or anything.) This is made from three fat quaters (horribly off-square fat quaters, I might add), one button and about half a yard of 1/8" ribbon.

Inside view:


The top pocket is 6." deep, and the lower pocket is 4". The pockets range from 1/2" to 1" wide, with scant 1/4" ditches between. I saw a needle roll at a blog (now lost to me) where the bloggista mentioned that she liked the double rows of stitching between the pockets because the needle case folded more easily. Monkey see, monkey do; and I'm very pleased with how well mine folds. I didn't remember to put interfacing in it, so it's no more substantial than three layers of quilting cotton. I also paid very little attention to the pattern as I cut, so I could have improved the overall look of the pockets with a little fussy cutting. The blank bit at the left is there partly because the pocket fabric wasn't any wider, and partly so I could add a little fob for stitch markers and maybe a spot for a tapestry needle. The flap on top is plenty wide enough for me to add four small, self-contained pockets for point protectors, a row counter, stitch holders, etc. (I know, it's not "finished". This was just before breakfast, you know. A girl can only sew so far before she needs sustenance.)

In case you didn't notice, allow me to point out my favorite feature:


This was one of those moments of serendipity. I bought two of those little wooden buttons on clearance at a local variety store because I just loved them. I'm not a button fanatic, but I couldn't pass these up. I took a tapestry needle and sewed the button on with ribbon, secured with a knot between the button and the outside of the book. The tails of that knot are left to dangle artistically. ;o) I then zig-zagged a piece of ribbon folded in half to the back of the case in one of the ditches between the pockets which is tied around the strawberry.

So, now that I have a pretty, functional, made-it-myself solution for my straights, I need to tackle making something for these odds and ends . . .

I have a few ideas, and am itching to get started on trying out my idea for corralling those stitch markers by set, instead of in a big jumble on the stitch marker. But first, I've got to go get lunch for everyone.

Stay tuned . . . knitting content to come soon.

And a teaser . . . can you guess what this is?

3, 2, 1. . . . US, that is.

I’ve had this fascination lately with very small needles. Granted, I’ve had a foray or two into larger stuff (like the misbegotten baby sweater below), but mostly I’ve been fiddling with Paton’s Grace mercerized cotton (did you know that mercerized just means preshrunk?), and sock yarn. (Huh. “Sock yarn” sounds so simple, so unassuming. And yet, to the initiated, it calls forth images and memories more powerful than any other yarn, imho.) But I digress . . . (what else is new?)

Last Tuesday at stitch night, someone asked me about my FCSS, and I said that it wasn’t much further along than the last time I had it there. Someone talked about how hard lace knitting was (with which I would have agreed only a few months ago), and I said that I liked knitting on the FCSS because it was mindless. They laughed, and went on to other topics, while my brain caught hold of the word “mindless”, and my synapses fired. No, it wasn’t mindless. Mindless is this poor, lonely, neglected sock which will soon be frogged again.



It served its purpose, keeping me awake a couple of times in church, and on a long car ride when I didn’t have to drive. But it has definitely lost its allure. A good hand and pretty colors can only take a sock so far. It has to be interesting . . . engaging . . . not too hard to memorize, but complex enough to require some level of attention at regular intervals. I must get a kick out of figuring things out and getting them “right”; otherwise, I’d be happy as a clam with stockinette tubes and simple heels.

So, this afternoon I decided I wanted to knit. Last night I had decided that I wanted to knit up some gorgeous, bouncy, hand-painted Collinette Jitterbug in Mist, so it was wound and ready to go today. (I’m thinking I’m going to follow Knit and Tonic’s example and wind yarn right off, instead of waiting until I’m chomping at the bit to knit it. It takes too long then!) So then, what did I do? I found the pattern I wanted to try (Grumperina’s Jaywalker), and decided I wanted to do them toe-up. (I can’t bear the thought of wasting even one foot of Jitterbug.) I’ll just weigh the skein as I go along and when it gets to 50g, I’ll cast off and start the other sock. So, off to Google toe-up instructions for the Jaywalkers. Found ‘em, and decided I didn’t like the toe that was used. (I reallllllly don’t like a provisional cast on over two dpn’s. Drives me nuts knitting the first round.) So, I Googled for “basic toe up sock pattern”, and ended up at Amy King’s freebies page. (It’s awesome. If you haven’t been there, go now. I’ll wait. . . . .) Back? Good. Where was I . . . oh yes, Amy’s sock patterns. I found a toe up sock that had intriguing instructions–you knit a cute little square, then pick up stitches on the selvages and increase as usual, making it into a little cup-shaped toe. Very, very cool.















But, instead of using the provisional cast on called for there (I just can’t get away from it! Aaaaaaaaaugh!), I did a long tail cast on and then just picked up stitches from the loops along the bottom. It’s seamless, as you can see . . .

And I looooooove the whole “avoiding messing with needles so close together you want to scream” and the “gaps between the stitches because you don’t have tiny little Tinkerbell fingers” stuff. (Disclaimer: I know that there are plenty of you out there who, with A Passion, Love the Provisional Cast On for socks. And that you have larger fingers than I do. (I only wear a size 5.5 wedding ring.) I understand Passionate Opinions, and hold a few myself. I just don’t want to go there for socks. For shawls and lace, no problem. Even for sweaters, no problem. Just not for socks. No, no, never ever for socks.)

So, I knit my little square and pick up stitches and increase away, trying it on as I go so as to get the taper right. I have long, pointy feet, and regardless of what Stephanie (LINK HERE!) asserts about elegant and aristocratic feet, mine are just long and funny. So, I make fairly wedge-shaped socks. See?


















Very pointy. (And I know I made a mistake putting in the row of garter stitch before the pattern. I read somewhere that someone did it and they liked it–with my tension, et al., it’s more of a Sesame Street Count’s eyebrows look than a nice transition from stockinette to Jaywalking. I’m hoping it will block out.)

In other news, I'm still having trouble finding projects that I actually want to finish. I absolutely loved the Vine Lace Baby Hat from Knitting Daily . . .



And so much so that I made a scaled-down version for my daughter's doll. It's such a fun little pattern, and makes such a springy, gentle, pretty fabric that I cast on for the second one almost right away. I'm toying with the idea of making a couple more, but I decided to wait until after the intended recipient receives this one, and I find out about fit & the new mama's washing preferences. (I know that handwashing and baby clothes don't go together very well, and with a new mom, the KISS concept rules supreme.) Here's a closeup of the dolly version, so you can see the stitch patter better:



(Modeled by my ball of Jitterbug, no less. ;o) So, since I was waiting on news from my SIL on the hats (which I still haven't sent, [blush]), I started this:




















It was supposed to be a baby hat for a little nephew of mine, but I've long since lost any desire to work on it. The pattern isn't turning out anything like I had envisioned, (I made it up as I went along), and I realized a couple of rows ago that it's more than likely going to be too small. :o( However, I did learn a really nifty way of doing a rolled edge. . . .



That's some kind of corrugated ribbing above the stockinette rows for the rolled edge. Att least, I think it is. I picked up the idea from a shrug someone at my knit night made, and thought I'd try it out. (The gal that knit it is amazing . . . she runs an insurance office, and I often wonder if she ever actually does any work. She turns out FO's like cupcakes, and she's 6' 1", so she's not knitting up quick, tiny little things in XXS.) Anyway, the knit/purl sections above the corrugated rib is pretty klunky, but I really do like that little rib/rolled edge combo. The rib is a row of k1, p1 followed by a knit row, repeated for as long as you'd like. It's good and substantial, and keeps that rolled edge from going anywhere. I wish I had known this earlier, in time to keep the rolled edges of my kids' sweaters from threatening to swallow half of the body length. (Yes, I switched to a needle several sizes smaller, and knit as tightly as I could--it didn't help.)

Before I started the yellow hat, though, I cast on and knit 97% of this:



Yes, it's missing a sleeve in the photo. I frogged it. I somehow missed an increase row in the yoke, so the flat-knit sleeves were too skinny. I cast on a couple extra sleeve stitches underneath in the body, so I could pick up a couple extra and knit in a gusset. Then, once I did that a couple of times, (both knitting just a gusset in the armpit and a strip all the way down the underside of the arm), I hated it. I couldn't get the tension to match the sleeve stitches. And, once the sleeves were a proper width, I could see that they were too short. Booger. So, I frogged the sleeve, thinking I'd reknit it in the round. (I'm guessing the pattern had them knit flat because the rest of the sweater is knit flat, and two short seams are cheaper than dpns. Anyway, then I really started looking at the sweater, and this is what I saw:



This is Patagonia Nature Cotton (same company as Araucania Nature Cotton, but this is hand-painted), knit on a #10 bamboo circular needle. The yoke pattern was interesting to knit, but it just looks like a mess with this yarn. (Note to self: the no variegated yarn knitted into lace rule applies to any textured stitch.) I really like the plain stockinette part of the jacket, but the yoke just looks like a mess. So, this one's going to the frog pond, too. {Si---------igh}













In other news, I'm really having fun figuring out the Eye of Partridge stitch on the underside of my Jaywalker socks. It's hard to see in the photo--it switches over just above the halfway point down from the toe. It's cushy, and interesting. Now, if someone can just tell me how to get rid of those peaks where the Jaywalker angles start . . .

WikiMeme

Okay, I finally have to give in a do a meme. ;o) Camilla tagged me, so here are three events, two births and one holiday from WikiPedia that all fall on June 14th. (Yep, I just turned 31. It's odd . . . that number keeps increasing, but the older I get, the less I feel like I really know about life. Sure, I can knit and cook and do all kinds of things, but really, life in general? Just as big a dork as ever. Anybody else feel that way?)

Three Events:

1645 - English Civil War: Battle of Naseby – 12,000 Royalist forces are beaten by 15,000 Parliamentarian soldiers.

1919 - John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown depart St. John's, Newfoundland on the first nonstop transatlantic flight.

1967 - Mariner program: Mariner 5 is launched toward Venus.

Two Births:

1444 (O.S.) - Nilakantha Somayaji, Indian mathematician (d. 1544)

1479 (O.S.) - Giglio Gregorio Giraldi, Italian poet (d. 1552)

One Holiday:

International Weblogger's Day – Celebration of the work of webloggers around the world


Okay, since I have a woefully small blog readership, I'll tag a few I've at least emailed. ;o)

• CCR of Knit Read Cats Hockey
• Julia of Knitting History (the historical angle makes this an obvious tag)
• Lea of Woobie's Wool
  
• Susan of I'm Knitting as Fast as I Can
  

I know that's a short list, but this is seriously outside of my comfort zone. ;o) Off to leave "tag" comments.

Have a great weekend!

Just one of those days . . .

There's nothing like a little Weird Al to keep things in perspective . . .



Got to work late 'cause my alarm was busted
The boss chewed me out and everybody's disgusted
'Cause it's just one of those days
It's just one of those days

I lost one of my socks in the dryer
I can't find my wallet and my hair is on fire
Just one of those days
It's just one of those days

I just wrapped my Cadillac around a tree
A big swarm of locusts is following me
There's not even anything good on TV
It's just one of those days
It's just one of those days

Left all my Beatles records out in the sun
Got a Coke bottle stuck on the end of my tongue
It's just one of those days
Gonna be one of those days

The Nazis tied me up and covered me with ants
And I spilled toxic waste on my brand new pants
Just one of those days
Ever have one of those days?

The bank called me up and told me I'm overdrawn
Some freaks are burnin' crosses out on my front lawn
And I can't believe it, all the Cheetos are gone!
It just...just one of those, one of those days
Just one of those, one of those days

[Seriously good guitar riff here.]

The F.B.I. has got a tap on my phone
Those darn Russian spies won't leave me alone
Shouldn't have got up this morning, shoulda known
It's just one of those days
It's just one of those days

A 747 crashed into my den
And there's nothin' but tater tots for dinner again
It's just one of those days
Never mind, it's just one of those days

Big steamroller just ran over my mom
And I cut myself shaving and they're dropping the bomb
It's just one of those days
That's all, it's just one of those days

Then late at night, just before I go to bed
The world blows up and now everybody's dead
You just can't deny it, it's just like I said
Just...just one of those, one of those days
Just one of those days, one of those days

--Weird Al Yankovich

(If you want to hear it, click here. As with most of the musical YouTube links, spare your brain cells and minimize the window while it's playing.)

Not Dead Yet.

Just up to my eyeballs. Life happens, you know. ;o)

Just a quick rundown of what has been going on:

1. Haircut. From below my shoulder blades to now just brushing the tops of my shoulders, with a fun little flip at the end.

2. Yard work.

3. House work. (It was really getting to me, and we all pitched in. Can't let it get that far away ever again!)

4. Dump runs. Up here in the wilds, there are county-run garbage dumps all over the place, because there is no standardized waste pickup service. (And Waste Management doesn't like to drive up 20% grades with 6" of snow pack, either.) We've been taking, literally, truckloads of hud to the dump. All junk that has been sucking the life force out of me for nearly a decade. Vern is an absolute Saint for moving so many boxes of just plain refuse six times in the last eight years. The next time we move, we'll be lightening our loads considerably. I already feel better. ;o)

5. Family time.

6. Kiddo time.

7. Grown-up time.

8. Knitting time. I've been going into the local LYS for their Tuesday UFO night, and having a great time. It's good to have a couple of hours of girl talk, even if I'm not doing much talking. And, it makes for good knitting, too. I'm working on a sweater for the next line item, and I'm to the boring stockinette part, so it's perfect for Tuesday night.

9. New niece. Hooray!!! My brother & SIL just had their first little girl earlier this week. It's amazing, and I can't wait to see her in person. Since they went and moved all the way to Tejas, it's not likely that I'll see her until Christmas . . . she'll be six months old! Waaaaa . . . . I'm really close to my brother, and I love his wife dearly, and it was really hard being so far away at such a monumental time in their lives. I'll have to console myself with watching reruns in the afterlife, and knitting lots of adorable little things for the 9lb, 20.5" roundy little thing. (She's so cute! Even as a newborn, she's adorable.)

10. New work at church. I've accepted a volunteer position to work in the children's program at church, and it's taking some time. Weekly meetings, and then time to prepare my part of the gig and time on Sunday. Right now we've got an average of 38 children between the ages of 3 & 11 for nearly an hour, and it takes the wind right out of your sails, I tell you. We're working on splitting it into two groups (3-7 & 8-11), but that won't happen for at least a week, maybe two. Wish me luck . . .

And that's about all I can think of right now. I really am alive, and I'll try to see if blogging really fits in with my everyday life, and if so, at what level. I've really been feeling a need to immerse myself in my family--the kids are growing up so incredibly fast (my oldest is almost 8--EIGHT, I tell you! He's halfway to legal adulthood already. What happened?!?!?!?), and I can't bear to be a mother in absentia any longer. I'll have loads of time to knit and blog and be social when they're older and flown. But for now, I'll blog in moderation, and try to remember to take some good knitting photos soon.

For now, some garden eye candy. (I just love June, don't you?)







And a smile as you go . . .