"Snow" the Other Four-Letter "S" Word

We have snow - lots of it. I'm tired of it. It's cold, too. I'm tired of that as well. After that depressing note, let's go on to the fun stuff. If anything, this weather has given me plenty of time to knit.

Off the Needles: Pair No. 32 of the 52 Pair Plunge III is yet another pair of Dead Simple Lace Socks, designed by Wendy Johnson (aka WendyKnits) our of her Socks From the Toe Up book. I altered the pattern significantly to make a much smaller size than her smallest size - so these fit very nicely. The yarn is Festivus from Tempted which arrived as part of her sock club.

Moebius Scarf is being blocked as I write. It turned out a little narrower than I hoped; but I am very pleased with how my hand-spun looks in it. Hopefully, I'll have photos next time.

On the Needles: I'm still plugging along on Herbivore. I hope to have it finished by next week.

As one might well imagine, I have Pair No. 33 of the 52 Pair Plunge III on the needles. I just turned the heel, going toe-up, 2-at-a-time. I'm using Trekking, one of my favorite commercial sock yarns.

On the Wheel: I'm finishing up on a two-ply superwash and I'm hackling (is that a word) some of my hand-painted roving for an article on using a diz and hackle in the preparation of worsted yarn (as opposed to woolen yarn). If you're confused, I'll post the link when it is "on the net".

Finding Time

This week has been a struggle to find any time for myself. That includes even a short entry into this blog. I am looking forward to working regular hours in the coming weeks, even though every day has been interesting and certainly not dull.

Off the Needles: I finished the bamboo socks about this past weekend. These were made from On Your Toes bamboo/nylon sock yarn. It's a beautiful colorway, but I was not pleased with the quality of the yarn. I purchased this in a yarn shop and I paid a bit more than I like to pay for it. My biggest complaint? Huge knots, lots of them! The big advantage to getting a big ball or skein of yarn is so you don't have to do joins - or at least not a lot of them - but I had to with this yarn.
These are Pair No. 28 in the 52 Pair Plunge.

On the Needles: I'm still working on my Herbivore. I ripped back because I wasn't happy with it. The second time through it's looking much better.

On the opposite spectrum from the bamboo yarn is some one of the Monday Night Sock Knitters purchased from CreativelyDyed.com. I'm doing 2-at-a-Time Socks, toe up. I'm well into the leg of the socks and still no knots - nunca. Great yarn, great colorway. Can't wait to finish and photograph.

Recently, I've been intrigued by moebius scarfs and decided to give one a try. I'm using some of my own hand spun. More on this one next time.

52 Books in 52 Weeks: At long last, the challenge is winding down. I hoped to be done by now, but I'm moving right along.

Book 49: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Wonderful characters, great story. Nobody Owens escapes death at age 2 or 3 by toddling into a graveyard when his parents and sister are murdered nearby. He is then raised by the long dead inhabitants of the graveyard. As one might imagine, the person who murdered his family, really wants him dead and returns to finish the job when Bod is about 15. Considering the author, it's not surprising it has a bit of a comic-book flair to it. One of the best I read this year.

Book 50: Death by Cashmere, by Sally Goldenbaum. I wish I could say the same about this book, but I can't. The worst disservice done to this novel, is the blurb on the back summarizing the characters, plot was wrong. It had the owner of the knit shop as the protagonist, not the owner's aunt, who only knits occasionally. Very disappointed.

Book 51: A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. Fortunately, with this challenge one could re-read a book read previously. I lost track as to how many times I've read this one. This version was from Audible.com and was brilliantly read by Tim Curry.

I'm currently reading the Shirley Rousseau Murphy, Joe Grey mystery. I'm about a third through it. So, I'm confident it was be Book 52 - if only I can find the time!

Miss Greta Loses One of Nine Lives - A Cautionary Tail/Tale

We came very close to losing Miss Greta this week. Suffice it to say, we learned a lot, but we didn't have fun. What we thought was a problem with hairballs, turned out to be a severe urinary tract infection. We learned that simply because a cat is throwing up, it can be a lot more serious than hairballs. I want to thank my friends on Plurk and Twitter for their very helpful suggestions - particularly, the friend who gently reminded me that cats usually aren't "sick" with hairballs. Fortunately, that suggestion stuck with me and we got her to the vet first thing Friday. Because our Miss Greta is one tough cookie, the vet thought she probably had this infection for some time and it just suddenly brought her down. Through every one's thoughts and prayers and excellent veterinary care, Miss Greta is at the deck door right now cursing at the birds - just two days after taking her to the vet. She's a ways from her usual perky self, but she's back on the path.

On a brighter note, I want to give my Yankee Ingenuity Award to FNB Plastics for developing the "Original Spinning Wheel Cup Holder." One of the down sides for spinning, at least for me, was that I didn't have a place to have my coffee or soda near. I could move the wheel near a table, but then it blocks the door. When I'm at a spinning event, the cup has to go on the floor and then I'd have to stop spinning and reach down and grab it. It just wasn't efficient. Now, the cup holder sits on top of the wheel, at least for the Ashford Joy wheel, and I can drink, many times without stopping the wheel. There's models for many different wheels and more in development. To attach, there's bolts that fit through the open spaces in the wheel, so there is no glue, no drilling into the wheel. The cup holders are made in the USA and are reasonably priced from the manufacturer (mine was $30, with shipping). FBN Plastics can be found at www.fnbplastics.etsy.com



On the Needles: I seemed to have skipped Sock Pair #13 - so I am actually on Pair #17 which is from Trekking Hand Painted. I'll have to get the numbering straightened on Ravelry. (No wonder math is not my strong suit - I can't even count!)




Off the Needles: Since it's been a little over a week since I've blogged, I've finished off Pair #14 - the Bubble Hand Spun, which was photographed last time; Pair #15 - a pair of socks from leftover Regia self-striping (I think) with vanilla heels and toes from Brown Sheep Wildfoote; Pair #16 which is left over hand-dyed sock blank with Wildfoote heels, toes and cuff in a burnt orange.

52 Books in 52 Weeks/Book No. 35: The Piano Teacher by Lynn York. This is not the usual type of book I pick up; however, one of the blurbs said that Ms. York was a cross between Agatha Christie and Flannery O'Connor - two of my favorites, for very different reasons. Other than the fact this was "sort of" a cosy mystery and it was set in the South, I didn't catch the resemblance. An okay beach read, but then I'm not a beach person.

Finally! The Reason I Have Problems With Math

Last time I talked about how 3 = 1 by plying three single strands into one yarn. This week I've taken the one yarn and made it into two socks at the same time. Therefore, 3 = 1 = 2. Anyone that has known me for any length of time knows about my aversion to math and that I have knit forever. Particularly disturbing to anyone that enjoys working with numbers is my argument that it's illogical and my demonstration above and last time only goes to show that it is illogical or it's an explanation as to why I have problems with math. These socks are now finished and are from my hand spun. I have lots of yarn left over, so I'm sure you'll be seeing it in other garments in the coming months. This is Pair #15 in the 52 Pair Plunge.

Off the Needles: Also, off the needles is Pair #14 my Bubble Socks, which was my stealth project from last week.

On the Needles: I'm working on a pair of cropped socks from leftover yarn. This pair will be Pair #15. It just dawned on my that I am more than a quarter done with this challenge.

On the Carder: I haven't mentioned Pokey, the alpaca fleece for a while. I'm finally to the point it's not behaving like linguine noodles and expanding each time I take more out of the bag - I can finally see an end to the process. It's still a ways down the road, but there is an end. I have decided that Pokey should blend fleeces from Abbie, Black Ear and Patches' Boy, some of our local sheep. The finished garment should be worn by someone on the red carpet, so when they're asked, "Who are you wearing?", they can say Pokey, Abbie, Black Ear and Patches' Boy. Yeah, right.

52 Books in 52 Weeks: I have been reading The Piano Teacher and Buffalo for the Broken Heart. If I'd concentrated on one, I might have one finished - but no. So stay tuned.