Technical Difficulties

This week does not have an entry to 52 Books in 52 Weeks due to technical difficulties. I thought I finished Widow for One Year, by John Irving, but as I got down to the final minutes of the audible.com recording, I quickly realized the there were a number of issues that were unresolved. I've read enough John Irving, like just about everything he's written, to know that he just does not leave folks hanging for an eternity. Then I heard it: "End of Part 1." But that's all that was on my iPod! Fortunately, Audible.com, like Amazon.com and eBooks, keeps my library for me. I'd forgotten to download Parts 2 and 3. So stay turned - it's a great book. John Irving can set a scene like nobody else. I can picture everything - it's better than a movie!

So onto my upper midwestern listing of what I've accomplished this week!

Tour de Fleece: In conjunction with the Tour de France, Ravelry has a Tour de Fleece for spinners (the kind with one wheel and a treadle, not two). I joined the Spin Our Socks group and started spinning the Embers fleece. On the bobbin is what I accomplished after Day 1. I think the goal of the group is to spin 3-ply sock yarn, however, I may have to be happy with a 2-ply. We'll see if I have enough fleece for a 3-ply.

Off the Needles: Pair #7 of the 52 Pair Plunge III is another pair of mini-socks. These little socks are great for working out patterns.

On the Needles: For Pair #8 of the 52 Pair Plunge III, as well as the July pair for the Great Sock Off, and my stress-free pair for Summer of Socks, I started the Knaughty & Knice socks for Interweave Fall 2008. It's a fun pattern, but is a little slower going than the patterns that got me to seven pairs in one month-but maybe slowing down a bit is a good thing. I have some more ideas for mini-socks to catch up.

I also started playing around with the Knit One Below method from the book of the same name by Elise Duvekot. It's been a challenge for me to follow the excellent directions provided in the book. When it comes to knitting, I tend to assume I know how it goes. I'm usually quickly humbled, as I was this time. It's a super-easy technique, if you follow the instructions. I'm working on a bag using the technique, in Green Mountain Spinnery two-ply black worsted and Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride in teal. The Lamb's Pride is a second, because it's not colorfast (although my fingers aren't turning teal), so I wanted to use it with something that wouldn't show if it did bleed.

On the Hook: I'm not much of a crocheter, but I do still have a lot of scraps of washable sock yarn. I'm doing this modified granny square in hopes of using some of the scraps. Actually, I'm hoping to use all of them. My sock yarn stash is significantly reduced because of the Sock Yarn Marathon I've been working on since February 1, but I want it reduced more! Hopefully, this will help.

Last of All: I was totally surprised and extremely pleased with the shout-out my Etsy shop, Sheepish Hand Knits, received on the Daily Chum on Friday. I recently started a new line of sock yarn called "Big Foot" and as a result of the Daily Chum piece, I've been busily packing and dyeing up more yarn this weekend. You can see the the piece here:
http://www.limenviolet.com/blog/?p=6731 IdaW, Limenviolet and all the Daily Chum folks - thank you!

Spring Comes Late to the Dakotas

These little guys popped up this weekend, peeking through the pine needles in my center garden. Not many of the bulbs I planted last fall made it through our difficult winter. I did have some snowdrops come up which I planted a few years ago and never showed themselves until this spring. So, maybe others will show up next spring.

My gardening faux paux of the week, or maybe for the whole growing season involves one of my favorite foods - rhubarb. I've lugged around a Canadian Red rhubarb plant from a number of residences in the past 20 years. I always divide it when I move, leaving some of it behind. When we moved here almost four years ago, I did the same thing. It flourished here more than anywhere else it's been. The raspberries planted near it did too. Last fall, I decided I would move the rhubarb into the center back garden where I'd planted another, less tasty, rhubarb plant. As you might guess, the less tasty one came up and has been growing like gangbusters - but no Canadian Red. I checked around and found a greenhouse here in town that had a few Canadian Red rhubarb plants. I rushed over and bought them. As I was looking for a place to plant them, guess what I found? Yep, the Canadian Red rhubarb I divided up last year was ALL coming up. I did say rhubarb was a favorite, right?

Off the Needles: I finished Corrina Fergeson's Broken Chocolate Bar Socks that I was test knitting. I'm waiting until she puts her pattern up on Ravelry before I post the photos. So, film at 11!

On the Needles: I'm doing a pair of toe-up, two-at-time socks using some inexpensive Paton's self-striping yarn. I needed something for knitting at meetings and this fit the bill. I'm also still stealth knitting the same sweater. I've lost count how many times I've ripped. More recently, I removed the ribbing to change to a different ribbing.

Rescue Chair: Thank you everyone that contacted me about the color of the rescue chair. It will be RED. I have been sanding this week and it appears that at one time in its early life it was red.

52 Books in 52 Weeks/Book 22: The Quiche of Death, by M.C. Beaton. This is the first in the Agatha Raisin series set in a small village outside of London. Agatha purchases a quiche to enter into a contest as her own. Unfortunately, the judge dies after eating it. I'm not as fond of this series as her Hamish Macbeth series.

Book 23: Loving Frank, by Nancy Horan. I thought I knew a lot about Frank Lloyd Wright, but I was wrong. While the book is haled as historical fiction, it is based very clearly on fact. It is excellently written and researched. I think it's considered historical fiction because the author had to speculate as the reactions and conversations. The main character is Wright's mistress Mamah Borthwick, who left her husband and two children, to be with the also married-with-children Wright. The ending was so out-of-this- world, I thought the author made it up - but after some research on the Internet, once again I was wrong. Highly recommended!

Strip Tease

Hopefully, the title caught your attention! If not, the socks should! This pair is from the Strip Tease colorway from Tempted at 3am. The pattern is also from Tempted and both were part of the April Sock Club. Try as I might, I've had problems getting in on sock clubs, but I signed up just in time on this one. While the photo doesn't do the yarn justice, you should know that they have some sparkly and that sparkly is silver spun into the yarn. Again, I had to do some significant alterations so that these would fit me. I am truly beginning to realize just how small my feet are! It is difficult to see the stitch pattern on these, but it is a simple lace pattern that zigs back and forth like it was . . . going up a pole. Really.

These socks used 288 yards, which brings me to a total of 4318 yards since February 1 or 2.45 miles for the Limenviolet Sock Yarn Marathon. These socks are also my April entry for The Great Sock Off of 2009.

ON MY NEEDLES: In another attempt to expand my knitting horizons, I'm working on a pair of socks from the pattern "Veil of Leaves" from New Pathways for Sock Knitters, Book One, by Cat Borhdi. Rather than the usual ribbed cuff that I usually do, these has an invisible cast-on that ends up as a tube. I did mine the Lucy Neatby way, rather than the way described in the book.

Again, I had to size down. I went to talk by Cat Borhdi at Stitches West. I made a point of looking at her feet - they aren't that big! That's when I realized, my feet are just that small.

I'm using one my favorite commercial sock yarns - Trekking. The colorway is called "Fog", but there's just too much of a gold color mixed in the tweed to look like fog does around here in the Dakotas.

ON THE MACHINE: I've had this delightful quilt on the long-arm machine for quite awhile. I also have others to finish quilting. I thought if I added an "On the Machine" feature to the blog, I might feel guilty enough to finish these quilts - remember I said "might." Tessellating Kitties is designed by Jinny Beyer and is paper-pieced, using Jinny Beyer-designed fiber. Did I mention I'm a Jinny Beyer fan?

52 Books in 52 Weeks/Book 19: Cat Pay the Devil, by Shirley Rousseau Murphy. Thanks to this mystery, I've got my reading mojo back. I've read others in the series and really wish I would have read these in order, but I didn't. The saga of the talking cats and their ability to solve mysteries and rescue their furless counterparts never ceases to entertain me. It's not so far fetched that it seems like fantasy or science fiction, but just different enough to intrigue me. This time the human roommate of Dulcie, one of the cats, is kidnapped by a former parolee Wilma supervised. Fast-paced, excellent characterisations, this Joe Grey Mystery does not disappoint.

Cabled Socks

After using the patterns of others and finding them way too big, even though my gauge is correct, I went back to using my own patterns. This is a cabled sock that I've made a number of times before, but this time I knit it toe-up. I'm very pleased with the fit. Also, it's made of Trekking XXL fingering-weight yarn, which is one of my favorites. This pair counted as my April socks for the Great Sock Off of 2009, as well as for the Limenviolet Sock Yarn Marathon. I'm now up to 2.29 miles of sock yarn used since February 1.

I haven't finished a book this week for 52 Books in 52 Weeks, although I'm close!

I'm continuing to work on the Pokey fluff, the alpaca fleece I purchased at North Country Fiber Fair. It's like linguine - the more I card, the more there seems to be in the bag!

Right now, I'm working on a pair of socks in the Strip Tease colorway from Tempted at 3AM yarns. I am using the pattern that came with the sock yarn, but I've made some significant revisions so that the socks won't end up too big.

The Dimetapp Sweater Is Done

It's done, finished, kaput! I love knitting with thin yarn and tiny needles, but there is something a bit masochistic about doing a whole sweater like that, even for a small person, like myself. There is a small shift in the sweater, so the yarn was not completely balanced. That is a little disappointing for a commercial yarn. But still, it's a gorgeous color, fits well and completely suits the use for which it was intended.

52 Books in 52 Weeks/Book 18: Sugar Cookie Murder, by Joanne Fluke. Despite the fact that someone gets murdered, this book, like all the other ones in this series, makes me smile. I'm not sure if it's that Fluke has the characters and the location down pat or what. Since I spent most of my childhood in Minnesota, I feel like I know each and every one of her characters personally and that I for sure have visited Lake Eden. I was a little surprised to finished this book so quickly, given it's size. Half of it are recipes for the dishes mentioned in the book. The big plus - there was one for Jello cake that replaces the one I lost three moves ago!

Dimetapp Sweater

I haven't posted much lately because I've been working diligently on this fingering/sock-weight sweater. I think the actual colorway is called Elderberry in the Wildefoot Luxury sock yarn, but I've re-named it Dimetapp. I think you spill Dimetapp on this and not have it show! Most of the sweater is made from re-cycled yarn as I made a sweater out this a couple years ago, but was not happy with how it turned out. As a result, I just didn't wear it. I still had a couple cones of it left so as I've run out of yarn I supplemented with the coned yarn. I purchased the yarn as seconds so there are some sections that are pretty thin. I may need to in after and reinforce them. Even so, with the change in design from the other one, I think I'll wear this much more than the earlier one.

Also, it's going to take over a mile of sock yarn for the Limenviolet Sock Yarn Marathon on Ravelry!

52 Books in 52 Weeks - Book 16: When the Astors Owned New York, by Justin Kaplan. I usually read a lot more non-fiction than I have this year. The advantage for fiction for me is that I can read it faster. Even so, I felt the need to turn back to non-fiction, at least for one book, and this one was no disappointment. I know very little about New York society in part because I never really cared. I live out in the middle of the Great Plains and the thought of regularly dressing up instead of wearing blue jeans makes me cringe. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I'd heard of all the fancy hotels in New York at the turn of the 20th century, but never realized how luxurious they really were or why they were that way. Very interesting read.

Book 17: The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers, by Lilian Jackson Braun. This was a recorded book read by George Guidall, one of my favorite readers. I'd read this entry in the The Cat Who series shortly after it came out a few years ago, but actually thought it was an earlier one in the series. I recently looked it up and found that it's the last that Braun has written. Given her age, one wonders if it is truly the last. As there are some catastrophic changes in Qwill's life in this one, so it seems to provide a turning so that someone else could take over the series and further develop some of the newer characters.

New Socks

It seems as though everyone that sees me do two-at-a-time toe-up socks comments at this point that it looks like a bikini top - and I guess they're right! These socks are part of three Ravelry Challenges: The Knitting Purls Toe-Up Knit-A-Long (KAL), the 2009 Sock-Off Marathon (March sock) and the Limenviolet Sock Yarn Marathon (the one I found out I had 12 3/4 miles of sock yarn for). I'm going to use the Pillars of Fire pattern by Terry Ross for this pair and I'm holding off on knitting much now because I wanted a pair to work on at Stitches West, which is coming up this week.

The yarn is Lime & Violet Shuanmi2 Sock that I purchased from the Loopy Ewe (a button to the Loopy Ewe is conveniently provided in the sidebar). It's the Babies Blues colorway which while it has pink the blue is more of a dusty blue than a baby blue.

Since I've been holding off on knitting until I leave for Stitches West, I've been spinning. I bought some teal roving a few months ago off eBay. When it arrived it seemed a bit too intense for even a teal lover like myself. I barber-poled it with some natural and am very pleased with the result. The first skein is off the wheel and weighs in at 5.5 ounces, 480 yards and 18 wpi. I have plenty more of it to spin up so will be back at it when I return.

52 Books in 52 Weeks/Book 10: Dog On It, by Spencer Quinn is a the first in a new series - A Chet and Bernie Mystery. Chet is a wash-out from the K-9 division of a police department and he's partnered with a private detective who is former member of the same department. What is unique about this series is the mystery is told completely from Chet's perspective. The storyline itself is like many on television for the past 30 years, but I was drawn to this book because of the narrator. I really like Mrs. Murphy mysteries because much of those are told from the cat's perspective, but Chet did not strike me as being as intelligent as the dogs I've been around, and I found that disappointing.

Misti Alpaca - Part II

I finished the Misti Alpaca sweater last night and here it is drying. The color is a little washed out from the previous photo. The earlier photo shows the correct colorway - the flash went off in this one and seemed to wash out some of the color. On the whole, I am pleased with it. It only took 3 skeins of the Misti Alpaca fingering/sock weight. The label gives the impression that it is machine washable. Fortunately, I read a post which stated it felts if machine washed, so I guess I'll be washing this by hand!

The 1300+ yards goes against my 12-3/4 miles of sock yarn in the Limenviolet Sock Yarn Marathon.

52 Books in 52 Weeks Challenge/Book 9: For some odd reason, I enjoy reading holiday books out of season. Further, it doesn't seem to matter which holiday. A Highland Christmas, by M.C. Beaton is one the entries in the Hamish Macbeth series. I enjoy Hamish Macbeth's pragmatism and he doesn't lose it during the Christmas season either. He is not a perfect character, however, which makes him all the more likeable. It ends on a happy note for all concerned.

Pomatomus Part Deux

Here is the first completed Pomatomus sock. I've started the second - no second sock syndrome here. But I'm going slow because I want most of this skein to count towards the sock yarn marathon. I couldn't find coral reinforcing thread, so I used a natural color on the toes. After this much work on a sock, I'd hate to wear through the toes - ever.


52 Books in 52 Weeks: Book 5 is Unholy Dying, by Robert Barnard. I thoroughly enjoyed this British mystery from 2001. In many respects it's a typical British mystery in the Agatha Christie vein: It's set in a smaller city (okay not a village) in Yorkshire and the character most of us would find to be the most despicable is bumped off with a host of suspects with motives, the most likely of which is a Catholic priest who has been accused by the newspaper reporter/victim of having an affair with a young woman in his parish. Barnard has a pair of detectives that are worthy of their own BBC television series that wrap this mystery up into a neat little package right before the reader's eyes. Good characterization and excellent plot make what could have been a boring read into a page turner. Barnard has been writing mysteries as long as I can remember and only gets better.

The Great Sock Off of 2009

My plan was to hang on to my sock yarn for the Limenviolet Sock Marathon starting February 1, but then I saw the sign-up on Ravelry for The Great Sock Off of 2009. I couldn't resist. It involves making one pair of socks a month for 2009. I also needed a project I could carry with me. So the the LnV Marathon is going to be down about a quarter mile for January. My socks for the Great Sock Off will count starting in February.

This pair uses the Ragtime colorway of Brown Sheep Wildfoote sock yarn. It's beautiful. This is my own pattern that I'm writing up. This is the toe-up version. I've a done a couple cuff down before.

52 Books in 52 Weeks: Book 2 - Cat in a Midnight Choir, by Carole Douglas Nelson. This series features Midnight Louie, a black cat PI in Las Vegas - very entertaining and a great read.

Sock Flat

I finally knit up one of my sock flats from this summer. It's always a surprise what comes out. I did these toe up and because my bind off is so tight, I used a picot cast off which is not only looser it gives the socks a very nice finish. As you can see it only takes about 2/3rds of a sock flat to make socks for me. I'm working up an idea of the remainder - film at 11!

It's Been a Christmas!

After my last blog entry, I had to rush down to Phoenix because my step-father was not doing well (he seems to be better now) and my mother was overwhelmed. It was a bad week to be gone, weather-wise, and I had some real concerns about getting back in time for some work commitments just prior to Christmas - but I made it. Unfortunately, my oldest cat, Hans, was not pleased that I left and gave me the cold shoulder upon my return. He can never keep it up long, because all I have to do is come close and he starts to purr!

For the first time in my life, my mother did not make me guess what she wanted for Christmas! She has a couple feather pillows which my grandmother made for her. I wove covers for them soon after I graduated from college and they had finally worn away (gives you an idea how long I've been out!) I only had a few weeks, but I made these out of Sugar n' Cream and included a zipper so she can wash and dry them. I used a pattern from one of the Harmony Guides for the pillow on the left and the cable one is from the new issue of Cast On. I sized them for my grandmother's pillows as "standard size" was not part of her vocabulary! (At least the pillows were both the same size.) Anyway, my mother was pleased with her presents.

Here's the scarf I made for my son out of the yarn Hans enjoyed a few entries ago. I wish the cable pattern showed up better. It was my first foray into Reversible Cables and I used the Palindrome pattern available at:

http://www.cometosilver.com/patterns/palindrome.htm

February Lady Sweater

I recently signed up for a KAL (knit-a-long) on ravelry. I've always avoided knit-a-longs because I tend to get competitive and get mine done first! I don't know if I did this time or not, but it didn't take me very long to make this sweater. It's an enlarged version of a baby sweater designed by Elizabeth Zimmerman for the Knitter's Almanac (it's for February, hence the name). I used a merino, alpaca, cashmere blend I bought on sale at a yarn shop about 50 miles from here. It's nice and warm, which is a real plus because it snowing outside my window right now!

Lace Scarf

I just finished this lace scarf using the yarn I won at the North Country Fiber Fair about a month ago. I also won a pattern, but I really wanted to use my own pattern "Reversible Lace Scarf" and see how it worked with lace yarn. This is a lace-weight merino used double-stranded. It's a combination of pinks, browns and little yellow. Despite all the holes, it's will be warm, soft and snuggly - not at all itchy.

North Country Fiber Fair

I had a wonderful weekend at the North Country Fiber Fair in Watertown. Here are a couple photos of my winning entries. I took two firsts, the Booga Bag with Nicky Epstein flowers and the yell0w-orange skein of handspun from a roving I painted. The yellow-orange skein also took best of show, which is called the Kay Cheever award.

The two third place ribbons were for the Aran knit sweater and the bluish skein of handspun from my painted roving. (Incidentally, one roving of each winning skien is on my Etsy site - http://sheepishhandknits.etsy.com). I've never received any ribbons before, but that's probably because I never entered anything, anywhere before!





Even better than receiving ribbons was the time I could spend renewing old friendships. People were there whom I haven't seen in a number of years and conversations just seemed to continue from when I saw them last. It was truly a winning weekend!

I've Become a Podcast Junkie

I love to knit and spin while watching television. This summer, there's only been one program I watch regularly and a couple others I try to remember to watch - not enough to get much knitting or spinning done. Then, I discovered podcasts. I am downloading to my iPod right now. I started out with one, the KnitPicks podcast. An acquaintance of mine was interviewed earlier this year and when I found out about it earlier this summer, I thought it would be fun to hear her podcast. I was hooked. In addition to the KnitPicks podcast, I subscribe to 11 other knitting and spinning-related podcasts! Fortunately, a couple seem to be taking a few weeks off right now. But this week alone, the download consists of nine different podcasts! And the crazy part is - I keep adding because at least one of the podcasters mentions another one she just discovered! At least this is a constructive addiction - because I am getting a lot of knitting and spinning done!

For some solid information on knitting and yarn, my favorite is the KnitPicks podcast. When I have a little more time and want a good laugh with some information thrown in, I really enjoy limonviolet's podcast. Then there are a few by some very busy moms: Brown-Eyed Mom, Knaked Knits, knittingatnight and She-Knits. I doubt any of these women sleep, because not only do they have time for their children, work or school and knitting, but they podcast regularly too! Pretty impressive! That's my short list of podcasts. I listen regularly to more and frankly, if they weren't good, I wouldn't listen!

Two Socks/One Circ!

As I think I've written earlier, I decided this year to take my knitting up a notch and explore some new techniques. I've tackled knitting one sock on two circulars and really enjoy that method, so my next step (no pun intended) was to try two socks on one circular. I used Melissa Morgan Oakes 2-at-a-time Socks book and really appreciated the clear photos. I'm not done yet, but I'm close.

The first thing that disappointed me was the time it took to get to the heel flap. Then, I remembered I was knitting two socks at the same time, not one. Now, it seems as though it's going faster. I really like this method too.

My only complaint with DPNs is that if I'm knitting in public, they tend to escape. My most embarrassing escape was in a town meeting situation that was held in a theater. I like to sit in the back, so I don't disturb anyone. But this night, at a quiet moment in the meeting, one of my DPNs escaped and I could hear it roll down to the front of the theater. A couple other people heard too and turned back to look at me. I tried to look as innocent as possible. I retrieved it at the end of the meeting and of course, an acquaintance said, "Lose a needle?" I don't think that will happen with either of the circular methods.

Quivit

A few years ago, a friend dropped off a bag of cleaned quivit at my office. What a gift! Not only was it quivit - but she'd picked and washed it too! It has sat in the bag it arrived in hooked on to my spinning wheel until this past week. Now look at it!

About a week ago, I fixed the drive band on my wheel and found the "10 Minutes A Day" site on Ravelry. I can't just spin for 10 minutes, it's usually for the duration of whatever I'm watching on television or the pile of fleece in my lap.

This skein is 396 yards of lace weight/2ply/16 wpi, weighing in at a little over 4 ounces. I'm thinking scarf - stay tuned!

Harry Bear

Meet Harry Bear! He's a Berroco pattern I got free with the purchase of a ball of Chinchilla yarn. He is a quick, one-skein project - it took me longer to make his scarf than it did to knit him! Chinchilla is a rayon, chenille yarn that is very soft to the touch. My cats have been checking him out all day!

Entrelac - Mission Accomplished!