Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Day before thanksgiving

Tomorrow we're running before coming home to cook, so tonight is a metric ton of pasta. 
Here are some more things from today:
Dark and stormy - working on sleeves. 
Pie!  Trying a new crust this year http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/perfect-pie-crust-recipe.html. 

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

2 things

I put the pompom in that - now even uglier!  I love this thing.  
My new favorite addition to my wardrobe - a heavier duty knee brace 
Yeah, that's a lot of Velcro but it works!

Sunday, November 16, 2014

How big should a lap blanket be?

I'm thinking 12 squares, 3 x 4. I'm not sure if I have enough yarn.  I think I need one more skein of the red.  I don't like the tan pattern rounds- better to have them all red.  

Friday, November 14, 2014

Finishing Tympany

First, I just done with a conference and got to see some colleagues from where we used to work - it was great.  Got to introduce them to current colleagues and we all had lunch - the most work fun I've had in a long time. 
But now it's the weekend. 
So, Larry's hat needed a pompom.  I finally Googled how to make one and here it is ...
Everyone loves pompous!

Some stuff

Galiano vest in Knitpicks Hawthorne Rose City (and yes, this inspired me to re-read the Scarlett Letter). This needs a better picture. 

Dark and Stormy- Green Mtn Spinnery AlpacElegance - 70% done

Tympany hat - using up Chroma odds and ends, lined with Comfy. Needs a pompom. 

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Long time

So, the Blogger app was getting buggy and not wanting to load pictures, so I got out of the habit. Let me try and restart. 
At work, we do monthly displays relating to the law, or law libraries, or whatever.  It was my turn. I did copyright law and knitwear design.  I put a 10 minute slideshow on title 17 and the history of knitting and got our knitting group to donate their work. 
It's been really popular- shockingly so. With guys, too. 

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Funky Grandpa

Howdy!
So, we went on vacation, I posted some pictures and then things went insane. Work, dental surgery, the start of a new school year at home and work. Chaos. 
So here's my Funky Grandpa, you can find it on Ravelry, whose sleeve I'm going to tear back because it's all wrong:
Why is the sleeve so wrong?  Look at the original:
I got too cute with my stripes and the light and dark are fighting.  It doesn't tie back to the body enough. More is less with this one. In fact, I took 6 months deciding to commit to making this because, much as I admired the original, so many folks on Ravelry had made color choices that didn't do the design any favors (or the wearers). Lovely work, lovely color choices, but not for this particular design. 
I think the pattern may all also need an advanced knitter to deal with the button band - that seems to throw a lot of folks, finding the right ratio is tough.  I haven't gotten to that part yet, but icord edging can be tricky, and deep v necks can be tough to wear (and you have to wear the right top).  It's a really great pattern and I've learned a lot working on it, so NO disrespect to it or other knitters who've done this one. 

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Why am I posting about this bush?

Well, it's not just that we're too lazy to trim the honeysuckle. We had a mama cardinal make her nest right up to our window. We got to watch her, the eggs, and now the two (?) chicks. Only the mom sits on the eggs but as soon as they hatch the dads take on half the feeding duties. It's very cool to watch - I have a feeder at my office so I've seen families of cardinals feeding like this - both parents feeding juveniles who can fly already. Sadly, the honeysuckle keeps growing so it's harder and harder to see what goes on in the nest. 
In knitting news, I finished my second Cotlin Pipit. I added a little more shaping to it and I like it a lot. I'll get someone to take my picture next week. 
I've started on Timamtti (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/timantti) with some Green Mountain Spinnery sock yarn in green.  I think I'll add beads to the diamonds when I get to them:
I like the pattern as it's a shawl rather than a shawlette, those mini shawls which I'm kind of over. They just don't stay put on my shoulders or have enough heft to display their patterns very well.  
And finally, in my stashbusting quest I found this pattern which I loved (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/funky-grandpa) which I think would be perfect with some Knitpicks Palette - grey, black and the stripes in blues and purples. Maybe with a zipper?

I'm still on the fence about the Kauni vest. I don't think the pattern I picked has even enough 2 color distribution, so the yarn gets lost. I'm about to frog it - but I'm open to suggestions:

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Happy Father's Day

It was a busy weekend, 5k race, new chainsaw, lots of yardwork and food. Happy Father's Day to dads everywhere. I miss my dad, but we got talk to my father in law and make a fun dinner tonight. 

Since all the housework where I reorganized my stash, I'm trying to focus on cleaning that up and slowing down to enjoy knitting more. I just don't have time to design anymore so I'm trying to be happy living in the knitting skin I've got. 
I finished up some nice barn red socks 
and I've picked up my pomegranate Pipit to finish.  I'm thinking I'll use up some Aloft and Alpaca Cloud on a Featherweight cardi next. 
And on a home note - we have a mama cardinal in our front shrubs - can you see her pink beak?

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Dying an already knit peice

So, today I ended up with some time at home. I decided to finally dye the last peacock shawl. I decided to let the sun cook the dye using a black trash bag. Yay Georgia sun!
I'll take a final shot when it's dry and modeled. 

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Screwing up sleeves!

So, I had a late night pattern reading moment and made my Rolfe sleeves too long. But they knit bottom up and I had already attached them when I noticed. Ripping down is easy, but ripping up is a mess. Even worse when the ribbing is twisted. I cord to the rescue:
Insert the smaller size needle into the stockinette stitches 
Cut off the unneeded portion a couple rows up
Pick out all the random bits, unthread the running yarn. With new ball (don't use the running yarn you just pulled out, it won't be long enough) cast on 2 new stitches and begin icord, knitting the held stitches one at a time each row
Work an extra couple rows after all held stitches are used up
Much better. 
Going to the Whitewater Center in NC then a baseball game tonight, so I'm going to start some socks. 

Friday, May 9, 2014

Using up old sock yarn

So, that post about the kitchen redo?  Yeah, that was a stressful day.  While I waited, I weeded through my sock yarn collection and pulled out all stuff that didn't go with anything and I'm making some crazy socks with it for Larry. 
The pattern is Mr Pitt's Socks (aka Dad Socks). They've been fun - I'll try these with a single color next. Which I will get sick of in about 3 inches because single colors are dull.  
Also, I'm making a toddler sweater for Melissa's  daughter to go with the toy armadillo. Zinnia comfy sport - it's really awesome. I'm making Rolfe without stripes but having to play with gauge. In fact I have to rip out the back and redo it tonight. I'll take pictures when I have it redone a bit. :p
I also want to start work on <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/galiano-vest">this</a>with some new Hawthorne in <a href="http://www.knitpicks.com/yarns/Hawthorne_Yarn__D5420251.html">Rose City</a>but I'm trying to carrot myself into finishing other things with this. 
And finally - I've been re listening to knitpicks podcasts. I'm not very sophisticated in some of my methods - what I've been doing for decades works so I'm a little lazy - but episode 92 about weaving in ends is really excellent.  

Thursday, May 8, 2014

New toy

Well, not really.  We got a fertilizer spreader. And even when you're 12, the coolest part is still the box. They enjoyed putting it together - spouse had to come home for an emergency dental visit.  Who wouldn't want to assemble a spreader with a preteen after that?

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Fun design toy

So, if you want to waste A LOT of time, or maybe play around with creating your own fair isle designs, go to http://www.colormandala.com/ and make yourself some mandalas.  Really really fun.  My son showed me this tonight - dad's away at a conference for a few days.

Monday, April 21, 2014

Home improvement

IWe recently replaced out furnace and AC units. Nice, but not super newsworthy. Today we redid our kitchen. Our cat was traumatized. 
I still need to wipe everything down to clean up the dust, but it looks pretty. 
The cat hid in the closet all day, and maybe I'm getting exhausted from too many house projects, but I was pretty wound up too. So I pulled out my stash and reorganized, frogged some old projects I never finished and generally got control of some chaos, just not that chaos.