FOs and randomnesses

Since it's April 22 and we still have substantial snowbanks, I thought I'd photo Henslowe outside. 

The color really isn't correct on any of these pictures but this one is exceptionally dark.

I love everything about this shawl.  Well, excluding the bind off which felt like it took as long to do as the rest of the shawl...

 

 

 

But the bind off is a big part of what makes it so pretty and interesting.

 

 



Also finished is 2nd DGD's Potato Chip Scarf.  It was fun to do because she asked me for it and I was happy to make it.  And she said it is "bootiful"!

On the weather front, this is our backyard.  Yes.  Still with the snow everywhere.  Snow forecast for Wednesday.  But!  Temps in the 50s and 60s by the weekend.  WooHoo!!

We had so much fun at our anniversary party a week ago.  I'll post about that when it's closer to the real date...

There has been knitting going on...

After approximately a year I finally finished this honking big hat for 1st DS. It was in hibernation for a big chunk of that time tho...  All the details are here on Ravelry.

It's going to be a Christmas gift but before I started this project I asked him if he would like/use it.  Cuz I sure wasn't going to do all this planning and knitting to have it sit on a shelf!

He suggested the 2 different sides so that it could have many different looks.

And I was very happy to have the plain side to knit after the other one was so busy.

But it made for an interesting hat and kept the knitting interesting too. 

I kinda love stranded knitting almost as much as knitting lace.

This got finished too.  Or maybe I've already posted about this.  My memory is "this long" these days.  Anyway, bear with me if you've already heard about it.  It's a Christmas gift for 1st DGD who is 7.

 



 

And here is how far I am on the stranded mittens.  Almost done with the 1st lining.  And that flies along pretty quickly.  Will be starting another pair ASAP!  The grey, tan and blue yarn is washed and waiting. 

 

Just a word of advice...if you do stranded knitting with Blue Sky Alpaca Melange be sure to wash it first.  It bleeds like crazy.  Both colors I've used has LOTS of extra dye.  

 

 

3 pairs of stranded mittens and a hat besides??

I had a phone call over the weekend.  It was my sister.  She was telling  asking me to knit her a pair of stranded mittens like I made myself last winter.

I stuttered and stammered and finally said that I had promised 2 pairs of those mittens and a lined stranded hat, like this one, to sons and DILs. 

She said it'd be ok.  She didn't expect them until January.  What?  What did she say?  What?

Besides that, I've got these beauties I'm working on.  And right now I'm in love and won't be distracted by anything else.

This is Henslowe.  Such simple knitting but the construction is what is blowing me away.

See the bit of yarn by the lace?  That is where the shawl started.  Yup.  With 1 stitch. 

The garter is knit first.  Then it is bound off, all except 1 stitch.  You then turn the piece and pick up stitches along the other edge and proceed to knit the lace.

After that is done there is a knitted on picot edge.  Can't wait to get there.  It's so pretty and I'm thinking of putting beads on the picot.

And also on the needles is this cutie. 

 

It's gonna be for 1st DGD. She's 7 and already a fashion-ista. Pink and purple are her colors. Just like this gramma!

 

I'm gonna knit on it until the yarn is gone.  I hope she loves it.

 

So getting back to the stranded mitten dilemma.  I succumbed and ordered the yarn for my sister's mittens per the colors she requested.

 

Do you think I can get 2 pairs of mittens and lined stranded hat finished by Christmas...whose yarn has to be washed first, BTW, because of bleeding...and then get another pair for my sister done sometime before winter is done? 

 

Because, you know, I'm totally going to ignore her January deadline.  I love her but really, I'll be pickled and never want to touch stranded knitting again.

 

I think I know the answer to my question.  (That I'm oh so very delusional.)  But could you all weigh in too? 

 

 

 



WIP, Reading and a Window Visitor

Look at all that! Looks like I've had a case of cast-on-itis. There sure is good choice to pick from for whatever knitting whimsy strikes.

I'm about 11% (what can I say...it is how Kindle tells you where you are) into this book. It's good. And it is the winter that we aren't getting this year. Shh, don't tell anyone but I kinda am missing our regular type winter.

And while I was taking pictures by the best light source this time of year (patio door), look who showed up.

The bold cheeky little critter. I got a couple mug shots of him.

Front view.

Side view.

And when the kitties discovered him he ran so fast I didn't even get the thought put together to take a picture much less press the shutter.

But the kitties knew what was up. Up a tree!

Maybe I'll go back to the mittens. It IS cold outside...

The Advent Calendar Scarf hasn't gotten off to a good start.

My size 4 needle, that the pattern requires, is being used in another lace project and I didn't want to take it out.

So I used a size 5 instead. Ripped because of looseness issues.

Went down to a size 3. Really like the fabric now.

Have never done cables. Day 2 has cables. Tried once. Didn't turn out. Ripped out.

Tried again. Still didn't turn out. Ripped again. Will be omitting Day 2.

Didn't have a lifeline and didn't want to rip all the way back so put in a lifeline as best I could. Turned out ok. Phew!

Got lost in the pattern and should have been doing garter stitch instead of stockinette. Need to rip back to lifeline. Again.

Project officially in time out. It'll be really fun after Christmas.

And besides that it was -10 degrees this morning. Right now, the stranded mittens are looking much more appealing than a lace scarf!

Wanna join in?

There is a KAL going on. Would you like to add a bit more craziness to December? If you do then check this out!

New Things

I never thought to look in other craft departments at Joannes Fabrics for things that I could use for knitting. But look what I found in the counted cross stitch area of Joannes. A chart keeper! I was using up an awful lot of post it notes. The sticky just doesn't last very long on them!

It says to put masking tape on the edges because they are sharp...and they are. Couldn't find masking tape so I briefly considered duct tape and then settled on electrical tape. What!? I'm a farm girl. We use what we have on hand.

There isn't much for magnets with it though. Just short ones. So I bought a roll of sticky magnetic tape that you can cut to the length you want. I used electrical tape on that too to cover the sticky side.

Now I have enough magnetic strips to hold the chart securely in place and underline the row that I'm on too.

And my most recent discovery at Walmart is a new pair of readers to put a little jazz in my reading time. If I remember correctly I got the book at Walmart too. It's an interesting read.

I had time to kill while I waited for DH so I bought a pair of size 10.5 needles on sale and 4 skeins of Wool-Ease in red and started a Red Scarf. It wasn't on my mind until I read Norma's post about the Project and reminded me to get going! :)

And I have gotten a nice start on my Norwegian Woods Shawl. It's coming along quickly. I have slightly over one repeat left on the 1st chart. I'm using Cascade Heritage Sock yarn. I've never used Cascade of any kind before. It's very soft and the price is right. And I do like the color!

Our weather has been so humid and warm. I am anxiously awaiting the middle of next week when we have highs in the low 70s and I'm really really hoping for lower humidity too.

I'm baaack!

It's been a long time since I posted. My bad? But I haven't been hibernating, I've gotten a bunch of things done.....

DH & I drove* to Minocqua, WI to visit 2nd DS & DDIL and our granddog Aida. Well, they have no kids...you have to take what you can get.

We had a great time. We talked and talked some more and then ate and ate some more. Good times! Good food!

One afternoon we hopped on golf carts and took a tour of 2nd DS's golf course where he is superintendent. It doesn't look very green in the picture but it is greening up. And lookie....no snow! We got home to snowbanks yet. Augh!

I also had a birthday. Not telling how old. But I had a fun time!

And! TaDa! I finished DH's Christmas present. And ah, yes, that means this past Christmas not the one coming up in several months. a little slow...

When I washed it up it bled about as much as the red did on 1st DDIL's scarf. It's Great Northern Yarn. 70% mink and 30% cashmere. It seems nice but since I was so exceedingly slow and it is now spring, DH hasn't had an opportunity to wear it except for picture taking and I have no idea if it is itchy or not. Time will tell?
*Actually DH drove. I didn't drive a bit.

Weather conditions

We have had some warm weather....just enough to make a few icicles outside the kitchen window. It's a bit hard to see in the picture but they all are slanting to the north. A warm south wind made them that way.

But the other part of the warm weather, at least recently, is fog. Fog every night and lasting into the day. Grey, sound muffling, icy road making, BORING fog! Excuse me for yelling. I'm just so tired of winter. How in the world did the pioneer people survive in this region?!?! I'm yelling again aren't I? oops. sorry.

It does say Knits in the title of this blog doesn't it? Not weather reports? Well, I've been knitting rather intensely but with slow progress. I seem to be in some kind of black hole where you knit and knit, and knit and knit, and never get anywhere. And the yarn ball doesn't seem to get much smaller either. Maybe my tape measure is shrinking. Or I have magical mystery yarn. I'll post a picture when (or maybe if) I ever get done. And someone please remind me not to make another scarf for anyone any time soon. I think it's quicker to knit a sweater than a scarf!

A little knitting and the view of my lap

It's been a long time since I blogged last. The deep snow, the cold weather and the lack of sunshine has put me in the winter doldrums.

The sun is out today but that only means that I can see the snow piled everywhere just that much better! I know...get over it Marilyn! I'm working on it....

This is the second start on a scarf for DH. I was using the pattern Cerus but it just wasn't moving along very fast and I just wasn't feeling it, so that got frogged.

This past Sunday, I decided on a simple K2P2. I cast on 30 stitches with size 7 needles and it's just been flying along. What a relief. I've been wanting to get this finished for a month or more now and couldn't make myself work on it with the old pattern.

The yarn is the mink/cashmere like I used for 1st DDIL's scarf only her's was red.





The Pansy socks are coming along. I am so wanting to finish these and the scarf. It feels like something hanging over my head and I don't think that is the intention of knitting!














And this is the view of my lap. Teddy, the kitty that can't stand to be held and won't sit on your lap unless it is HIS idea was really trying to help me knit on DH's scarf this morning. Oh-so-much-help.

Something finished, something started, and a naughty kitty

1st DDIL's scarf is finished. It is a Christmas gift I'm embarrassed to say but I'm doing a Happy Dance that it's finally done! The pattern is Lavender Lace Neckwarmer. I made it scarf length because that is what 1st DDIL wanted. It is from the Knit 'N Style magazine. February 2010. I used size 7 Harmony circular needle.



It is not hot pink. It is dark red. I don't even try for the right color when it's red and the winter weather is set at grey. This was even done under my Ott light. Go figure.





This is the water after I washed it in Soak. Not too bad for fading. Not as much as I expected. And this color is accurate.





This is the 2nd rinse and I only did one more. It seemed good enough. This color is also right.





Here it is blocked and drying. If I get an interesting picture of it after it's dry I'll post again. I'm not holding my breath.


Here's what I think of the yarn. It's 70% mink and 30% cashmere and from Great Northern Yarns. When I got it I was surprised by the feel of it. I expected slippery soft like fur but it had more of a cottony feel. Soft yarn but with a different feel to it than I expected. I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't knit like cotton. My hands never ached once while I was working with it. It has a nice fuzz to it and I haven't seen any pilling. As you can see by the pictures it did a bit of bleeding but nothing that was extraordinary. In the 5 skeins of yarn I got there was 1 knot. I don't think this is too bad, although I'd like to buy yarn that never has knots. Unless something shows up with wearing, I like the yarn and it's fun to give a gift that is very different from the average because the yarn is exotic. Or I think so at least! :)




And so I turned right around and started DH's scarf from the same yarn. Just a different color!





And now to show you Teddy. Doesn't he look sweet and innocent? Just sleeping like any normal cat.




Well, I'd be sleeping too if I'd done all this damage in a matter of a few minutes! Yes. He tipped the chair. Yes. He flipped the rug. And yes. He moved the cardboard box off the couch and across the floor in an attempt to get to the tissue paper inside.

Naughty kitty!

Now Christmas is done

2nd DS & DDIL left for WI this morning. So that means Christmas is really over. :(

I'm always a bit teary eyed to see them go. It's a bit of a trip to see them. It takes them 9 hours to drive but it takes us 11 so we can't just jaunt over and visit. (I say the difference in the amount of time is the big age difference between our bladders.) We had a wonderful time while they were here though and that is the important thing. I'll concentrate on that.

I've got a huge bunch of UFOs that I have to work on. 3 pair of socks. 2 for me, 1 for DH. I didn't get 1st DDIL's scarf finished for Christmas so that should be done asap. As a easy gift, I also wrapped up 3 balls of yarn and a pattern for DH. I'm going to make him a scarf also. We do have a lot of winter left though so I do have time. But if I procrastinate too much it won't be good. Oh yeah, I've got a shawl for myself started that is waiting patiently to be finished and I also have a baby afghan that is only 1/2 done. Uff.

As of right now, though, there are end of the year bookwork that has to dealt with so that's my agenda for the next few days.

Have a wonderful New Year's Eve!

Flooded street, flowers & Noro scarf

A few days ago it rained. Really hard. Really fast.

Today we have a busy bee on Autumn Joy.

Joe Pye Weed.

I loves zinnias!

And a few more zinnias.

Veronica, Joe Pye, zinnia, geranium.

The Noro scarf was happy to pose with the cotoneaster bush.

And then the begonias.

The yarn is Noro 246 & 239 alternated every 2 rows. Size 7 needles. k1p1 ribbing. It's been washed but is a bit scratchy so it's going into a nice soak in some hair conditioner. And then it's going to the Red Scarf Project. And the scarves don't have to be red....just gender neutral!

Click on any picture to embiggen.