Month: August 2004

Last Post….

Until I get back from vacation, that is.  We will be gone a week, so I’ll be knitting away, but not blogging away.  We’re going to a hot springs resort in Nevada for a week.  Only my husband would arrange a vacation in August in Nevada, at a hot springs.  It actually does get cool at night there, so it should be pleasant.  And it beats the heck out of working for a living.

I got the pieces for Audrey put together:

I’m not quite halfway done with the lace neckband.  I’m taking that and my socks on the plane tomorrow.  I should finish this sweater while I’m gone.

I have decided that I will start one more summery project before I get started on the Rogue sweater.  I just can’t get into a heavy worsted weight sweater with cables and a hood in August!  My next sweater project will be an Eyelet Cardi; pattern by Bonne Marie of ChicKnits.  I have a stash of Elann Sonata cotton yarn in a nice lavender color that should be quite girlie when it’s done.  You can find the pattern on her “Patterns” page, of all places.

Don’t have too much fun without me; I’ll be back in a week!

Ahhhh, Lace!

But first, the Lucy report.  She seems to be fine.  I’m thinking she got into something outside and ate something she shouldn’t have.  There are such a host of plants and chemicals that can make pets sick.  We quit using slug bait because it can be so toxic to pets, and dogs especially love to eat it.  That doesn’t guarantee that the next door neighbor isn’t using something like this in their yard.
At any rate she is back to her usual self.  I was going to say “normal” self, but just exactly what is “normal” when you are referring to a cat?  It took me about half an hour this morning to get a remotely decent picture of her.

“No, I said no pictures!”

Finally I got a decent shot:

“Aren’t I the prettiest cat you’ve ever seen?”

Riley said, “Not to worry.  I eat stuff all the time; she’ll get over it.”

And now, the knitting report.  I made a little progress on the Waffle Socks.   For those of you that are not keeping up, I am finished with the first of this pair.  I finished the heel flap and turned the heel last night.  I love turning heels; it just seems like magic to me to take flat knitting and make a curved surface out of it.  If any of you have heels you want me to turn, send them this way. (I like grafting toes too;  I know, it’s a sickness.) I also got the gusset stitches picked up and am ready to rock on the foot.

Sorry that’s a little fuzzy; damn sock must have moved while I was taking the picture.

Last but not least, the lace neck piece for the Audrey sweater.  This is just so addictive!  The pattern looks like it might be complicated, but it is really easy to knit.

I started out using a lifeline with every pattern repeat.  I might quit doing this, as it is easier than I thought it would be to keep track.  For the record, I left them all in so you could see.  Click on the picture to make it bigger so you can see them.  I am using dental floss for this; at the end of each 12 row repeat, I just thread a length of floss through the stitches on the needles.  If I screw up badly, I just rip back to the flossed row and put it on the needle, and I have a starting place where I know exactly what row I am on.  OK, maybe I won’t quit doing this.  It does seem like tempting fate.

So now when my dental hygienist asks if I’m flossing, I can answer truthfully, “YES!”.

By the way, Lucy says “Thanks!” for all the get-well wishes.  MEOW!

Progress on Audrey

This has been one hell of a couple of weeks; of the last 20 days, I have worked 16 of them; mostly long, late days.  It makes me cranky when I don’t have time to do anything but work, eat, and sleep.  Not much knitting progress in the last 2 weeks, but I have finished the major pieces of the Audrey sweater.  I finished the second sleeve last night and just have a few ends to weave in.  I just got home from work tonight, so though I would love to start that lace border, it would make for a very unpleasant day tomorrow if I stay up till all hours knitting.

I’m blocking the pieces before I sew them together.  Somehow the front and back are just a tad bit off as far as measurements.  They are the same row count, one is just a bit tighter gauge, I think.  Weird.  It’s enough to bug me a bit, but not enough to even contemplate re-knitting one piece.  I’m hoping blocking will make them closer to the same dimensions.  I’ll wait to take new pictures till I can do it in the daylight.

I have a sick kitty…Lucy has been acting very weird the last few days.  Normally she is a big lovable chicken and does not go outside much.  If she does go out, it’s while we are on the deck, and she stays very close.  2 or 3 nights ago she was out and gone for the longest time.  We went scouting around the neighborhood but couldn’t find her.  Finally about 10PM she came tearing in the cat door like her tail was on fire and an alien was after her.  She has been acting strange since; not eating, hiding in the closet, growling at us when we try to get her to come out.  She finally today is starting to come out of it; she ate tonight and drank some milk, and is purring, though now she is hiding out in the pantry.  I’m almost thinking she might have eaten something poisonous that made her hallucinate or something.  Either that, or the eagles tried to get her and it scared the hell out of her. We talked to a vet friend on the phone and if she is not completely better tomorrow she is off for an appointment so a real doctor can look at her.  Think “well kitty” wishes for her.

I promise some knitting progress pictures soon!

Ack, Lace!

I started the Birch shawl, from Rowan #34.  I cast on 272 stitches last night before bed, before I just plain gave up for the evening.  I started the thing on an ebony circular needle:  bad mistake.  Don’t try to knit fine lace-weight yarn the color of old bordeaux on a black needle.  Switched to my Denise needles, and things went better.

I finished the rest of the 299 cast on stitches this morning after a couple of cups of industrial-strength coffee.  Then I counted, and re-counted, and counted again.  This hairy stuff just does not rip out; I did not want to get to the end of the first row and realize that I was a few stitches off.  Here is the thing after casting on; it looks like a hairy caterpillar.

And after a couple of rows:

It doesn’t look like much yet, does it?

I’m counting on suggestions by Ann of Mason-Dixon Knitting, posted on her blog after she completed this last fall.  She has a link to a nice chart as well that should make this a bit easier.  This is definitely not going to be the kind of project you do while engrossed in an interesting movie.  Or while drinking large quantities of alcohol.  Though it might drive me to drink; on that note I will leave you with the Drink of the Week recipe.

Brazen Hussy

Ice cubes
2 oz. vodka
2 oz. Triple Sec or Cointreau
1/2 oz. lemon juice

Shake in a cocktail shaker, strain into a cocktail glass.

As always, enjoy in moderation!

Project Round-Up

I thought it was time to update where I am on my projects.  I have 3 things going at once.  I would probably have fifteen things going at once if I didn’t arbitrarily decide to limit myself to 3.  This may not sound very Bad-Ass, but it’s my blog, I can do what I want.

First there is the pair of socks that is taking forever.  I have yarn for about another 50 pairs of socks waiting once I finish this pair.

This is Sheep’s Gift, in Montego Bay, from Joslyn’s Fiber Farm.  The pattern is the Blueberry Waffle sock pattern, from here.

I don’t mean it to sound like I am sick of these.  It’s just hard to get excited by wool socks in August.  I’ll change my tune in January.

Next is Audrey:

This is Rowan Calmer, the pattern is “Audrey”, from this summer’s Rowan magazine.  I’m workin’ on it, OK?

Then there is (was) this:

You can clearly see that this is done.  This is the Bottom’s Up Bucket Hat, by Bonne Marie of ChicKnits.  You’ll find the pattern for sale on her “Patterns” page.  The yarn is Schachenmayr Rainbow, from Elann.

If you can count, you realize that this leaves me with only 2 projects on the needles.  I have not completely decided, but I think this will be next:

This is “Birch”, a shawl pattern from Rowan #34.  That picture does not even come close to the yarn color.  I gave up after about five photos.  In reality, it is a deep lacquer red.

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I am listening to Folk Alley, recommended by Rachael.  This just rocks.  Well, OK, it’s folk music, but you know what I mean.  If you have streaming audio capability, listen up.  If you don’t, well, which century are you living in??

What’s On Your Refrigerator??

I am STILL working on the Audrey sleeves.  Go back a few posts; it looks just like the other one.  Not very exciting, I realize.  I actually don’t experience the “dreaded second sleeve” syndrome.  I’ve found that I’m quite capable of screwing up knitting exactly the same thing twice.  This keeps me alert and interested.  The same thing happens with socks.   Between my aging memory, my slow knitting speed, and my tendency not to keep track of changes I’ve made in the pattern along the way, the second one of the pair is like a new knitting project.

We were in the kitchen cooking dinner just a minute ago.  We are making a great French beef stew that is stewing, as we speak.  This involved flaming the beef in the saute pan with cognac.  Let me tell you, you just should not do this after a glass or two of wine.  I could market this as a way to get rid of facial hair.  I haven’t actually checked to see if I have eyebrows left.

Anyway, I was thinking that my refrigerator door surely must be unique.  I’m posting a few pictures in hopes that this will inspire the rest of you to do the same.  If you are of the Republican persuasion, you might as well just not look; this might annoy you more than it’s worth.

Here is a shot of the whole frig:

And a close-up of one corner; what can I say, my family knows me well:

And my favorite section:

What’s on your refrigerator??

Weekend Knitting

Here’s what I did most of the weekend:

And Willie’s main activity:

He likes to sleep in Riley’s crate. Sometimes he even sleeps in there when Riley is in the crate.

I finished the second sleeve on the “Audrey” sweater.

This went relatively smoothly, after I screwed up the first row after the cast-on about 4 times and had to start over.  Don’t even ask how one screws up the first row of a pattern 4 different times.

Here is my “gadget” photo of the day:

Somehow I ended up with an extra music stand in my house.  This one got put to work as a pattern stand.

I started the second “Audrey” sleeve today.  Now that I have figured out where to do the increases and decreases, this one should go fairly quickly.  (I know, I know; that’s tempting the knitting gods again.)

A nice little package arrived in the mail today as well, from here.

This is Phildar Aviso, a cotton/acrylic blend that is just as soft as the Rowan Calmer.  I had trouble getting this red to photograph correctly; the true color is a crayon/lipstick red, and not as orange-y as in the photo.  I finally broke down and ordered this to make the “Kate” sweater from Phildar Famille Spring 2004.  Here is a photo from the Kate Along blog.

I’m not too sure when I will do this.  I want to do one more lightweight sweater before winter gets here, then start on the Rogue sweater as my main winter project.  How to choose, how to choose??  I think this calls for a glass of wine to aid in the decision making process!