Tuesday, December 30, 2014

YOP #2.24-26 or Surviving the Holidays

This picture isn't what it seems. I have often posted a picture that looked exactly like this through out this half of the year. This one is quite different. It's the second glove! To be technical, it's the third glove as the second glove is the 1st glove of the Husband's pair and the first glove was suppose to be the 1st glove of his pair but has turned into the 1st glove of my pair which will eventually get finished. Eventually. The reason that this is so exciting isn't because it means I only have five (or 11 if you count my gloves) fingers left, but because it means that the first glove is finished!


Here is the right glove in all it's glory. I may have actually woken up yesterday morning at 7 am so I could finish weaving in the ends so he could wear it to work. (This also explains the quality of the pictures...better ones coming at some point.)



The thumb and first two fingers have a conductive thread knit in them so that the car's touchscreen can be used without removing one's gloves.


This grey yarn was found at a store in Sparta, WI where we stopped to charge after a camping trip. Husband picked out this yarn. It's been lovely to work with as it has aloe in it. 




This is proof that I love my Husband. I knit intarsia gloves, in the round. I'm sure I could gift a ton of these (there's no way I could sell them; no one would pay that much) but I don't know who else I love enough to knit that many fingers.










One of us is amused by this picture.
This were finished up after Christmas. While I had all of last week off, this is really my first week of vacation. Between taking the little dog to the vet (she has been scratching her eye too much which irritates it and causes her to scratch it more) and doing shopping for everyone (including myself) and serving at church (6 Christmas services in 2 days; I think I've recovered; this was actually one of my favorite parts last week), I didn't get much knitting done. I got some done at church while the worship band rehearsed (after I set all the lighting) and then during the Pastor's riveting sermons (they are really good but it's a lot to hear one that many times; the 6th service was different at least) but not nearly as much as I had envisioned doing. Of course, I have an odd sense of time and space some days which means I'm often surprised when I can't get everything done.

I did manage to finish one of the Girl on Fire Socks. For some reason, I still have to look up the start of the kitchener stitch. You would think I'd done it enough times by now to know it by heart! The first one was finished during a sermon and I started the next one between services. I'm not at all surprised how smoothly the second sock is going now that I know the pattern. Cookie A's patterns seem to be like that more often than not. They look intimidating (I had a few people look at them and comment about how hard they look) but once you know what is going on, they are really simple. I love that they look hard than they really are. Not that some of her patterns aren't hard. This just happens to be one that isn't.



The most exciting news from the last couple of weeks is that I finally have a finished object! Of course, I meant for it to be finished several months ago... Maybe I'll learn to not ground projects for nearly as long.





Finished Projects 

Works in Progress


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Friday, December 12, 2014

YOP #2.19-23 or I'm Not Dead Yet

It has been over a month since I've blogged anywhere. Part of that is due to my work schedule and being so drained from it that sitting down to write would require a different attention span than I currently have available to me. Part of it is personal reasons that can stay off the internet. And the final part is that I don't feel like I've really made enough progress on anything to write about it. Of course, there has been some progress, just not as much as I want to have finished.

I've finished the 2nd Mint Twist sock and had my friend try it on before I closed up the toe. Success! I even managed to frog the 1st sock back to where I needed to add to the heel flap without losing any stitches in the pattern. The toe decreases were just started last night, which will hopefully mean that I'll have a finished pair come Sunday. This will be the first thing I've finished since July...gah. Though one could argue that I finished the Pretty Pillars Test sock...but only one sock. I plan on doing the 2nd one soon as it was a quick knit, so it's still on my WiPs list.

I know I shouldn't beat myself up as much as I do about my progress. Heck, there have been several days in a row (almost a week even) that I didn't knit anything.

I should probably finish the thumb on the first pair of gloves that were suppose to be for Husband. I've started the second pair (the first one) so that he can have them before the new year...at least I'm taking the weeks of Christmas and New Year's day off so that this is a higher likely hood of happening. I've started the 2nd finger and need to add the silver thread to it. I spent a week house-sitting for a friend and decided that Husband would prefer his gloves to not have tons of dog and cat hair in them and I didn't want to have to worry about my friend's mouthy dog (he's only just over a year old, so I get it) eating the thread. My plan is to pick up working on them on Monday when things slow down at work.

 My last Cookie A 2014 sock club yarn showed up today. Mom signed us up for it again next year which I'm excited about. I'm only doing one club next year as even though I keep seeing yarn (and sales!) that are tempting, I want to really make a dent in the stash I have.

Works in Progress

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Wednesday, November 5, 2014

YOP#2.18 or Being an Adult is Hard

Not a ton of knitting this past week. A lot of time was spent giving up my craft room. You read that correctly. I decided to let my oldest step-daughter move into my craft room so she would have her own room. It hasn't been easy for me and while Husband will point out that I do most of my crafting elsewhere, it was my space. He had built it for me. Technically he built a nook in the room for me but we refinished it for me and my use. It has my sense of color and lighting. The ceiling is a beautiful blue and white that he thought I was mad to have him paint until he saw a sunrise in it. I don't see many sunrises but I knew what it would look like based on my past experiences with lighting. And now someone else is in it.

So I spent a lot of last week preparing to move things out and around in the room. Some things are staying (my supplies in my nook for example) but most things have moved out. It's been hard for me because most of the moving happened while I was working a choir rehearsal (I agreed to do the rehearsal so I wouldn't have to work the concert and I did get some knitting done during that). In hindsight, I would have insisted that they wait to move the bookcases until I got home as there's been a bit of drama around them. I think it would have helped me with the changes. I really don't like change. At all. I take it as a sign of huge growth that I didn't break down bawling when one of our staff members at work left this past summer. I cried when I left my last job and I hated my last job. In college, I was a music major and had to play in the concert band, which is required to play at graduation. At the end of my sophomore year when a good friend of mine was graduating, I was a horrible mess. It was amazing I could play my flute at all. My professor looked at me and asked what was going to happen when I graduated. I said I would cry a lot and I did. I believe I spent the last 2 months of college crying off and on at random points.

Anyway......

The knitting I did get done was to cast on a new project. It's a test knit for someone I've knit for in the past. It's to do a single sock and rate the pattern. It's a lovely pattern and I will have the pair done eventually but I needed a palette cleanser with my projects. It's been a fast knit and I'm almost done with the leg. I probably would be farther along if it wasn't for tonight's show...Contemporary music has never really been my thing and it's not something I can just tune out and knit to. I have to pay attention to call lighting cues, which is the part I enjoy the most.

So no real progress on the other projects. Of course, if I managed to update on Sunday, I would probably feel like I had more to write but between roller derby, work and real life drama, sitting down at the computer on a Sunday is hard to do. The only reason I'm managing to do it now is because I have a pie baking and this is keeping me awake. Perhaps I shall knit some more while the pie finishes. (Also, if you managed to make it this far, thank you for reading my venting; apparently when I don't knit enough due to stress, I have to write about why I'm not knitting).

Works in Progress

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Thursday, October 30, 2014

YOP #2.16-17 or My How Time Flies When it Gets Cold!

Another two weeks have come and gone. Not only has life (and work) been busy but so has my knitting. No pictures this time but lots of progress to report on.

Gloves

Husband's gloves have turned into my gloves. I got the index finger done and had him try it on. I thought it might be a little tight but he said it was good. As he was going away for part of the weekend (something about being a renegade with his friends), so I measured his fingers. By the time he got home, I was nearly done with the ring finger. I finished it and the pinky finger and had him try it on and he admitted that it tight on all of the fingers. This actually didn't surprise me as it was fitting my hand fine. I nearly cried as I stared at the glove thinking that I'd have to pull things apart and add to the fingers. Instead, Husband told me that I should make them my gloves so we would have a matching set. Now the question is, do I finish the entire set or make the right hand glove for Husband as well?

Brown Coat

I've slowly made progress on this. There is definitely shaping going on and armholes are starting to show. I'm feeling much better about this project. It's sort of my mindless knit right now.

Girl on Fire

It feels like forever since I've touched these socks but it hasn't been that long. I'm on the foot and it's a delightful pattern. It's sort of a quick knit as well so long as I have time to work on it.

Mint Twist

These socks have been ungrounded. I'm making really good progress on them thanks to having a handful of shows at work. They have become the travel project as I'd like to finish them before Christmas as they were a birthday gift...from May. My friend that I'm making them for has decided to try her hand at knitting socks. She's been knitting for years but has been intimidated by socks. A combination of things has made her interested in trying a simply pair and I've agreed to help her.

She and I went to one of the local yarn stores (StevenBe's) and I found this amazing skein of Miss Bab's Yowza yarn. The most amazing part was that I didn't buy the yarn. Oh, I really, really wanted to but I said no yarn purchases until 2015. It's also a good thing I don't carry cash that often as that was the only way I was willing to buy it. I could have argued that since I have sold off a skein of yarn, I could use that to buy new yarn. That felt like cheating though so I walked away (somehow) without it.

Perhaps by next week there will be pictures and something finished!

Works in Progress

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Sunday, October 12, 2014

YOP #2.15 or This is What Progress Feels Like!

I don't know how, but this week I knit on almost everything!

Arrow Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix so Husband and I sat around and watched a few episodes this week. As we did so, I worked on his glove. I figured out part of the problem. The pattern says to increase after the ribbing. Husband's hands are just...unique. This probably also has to do with not swatching but I think his hands are also not your average pattern friendly. So I frogged that first row and instead of increasing the stitches, I decreased a few. I knit enough rows to begin the thumb gusset and had him try it one. It looked much better. As I knit (and made notes; so many notes for the second glove), I would occasionally stop and make him give me his hand to try it on. It's going so much better! Right now I'm only working on it while he's around so that I can be constantly putting it on his hand. These will be the most custom gloves ever made.





On Saturday I hosted a craft day. I was trying not to pout because I worried people wouldn't show up. I was very pleased that I ended up with 3 of my friends over and I got to work on Girl on Fire. I finished up the leg, heel flap and turned the heel before it was time to go out to a show with a friend of mine. Before people showed up, I managed to get a sort-of life line into the sock I need to frog. It's hard to follow just before the heel and on a pattern that has cables and lace work. Hopefully it'll get me close but I know feel like I can finish the second sock.




I did hear back from the designer for Browncoat. I didn't make any progress, but I did take some photos tonight.




Works in Progress

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Sunday, October 5, 2014

YOP #2.13-14 or Sickness Wins

I've managed to not accomplish a lot in the last two weeks. To add to it, I came down with the same crud the rest of the family has had so my desire to knit (and blog for that matter) is very low. I've thought about knitting a few times but have gotten no further than pulling out a project bag.

On top of that, I'm stuck on my Browncoat. I don't understand the following directions:

Begin Neck Edge
Bind off 8(8,8,9,9,9) stitches at the beginning of the next two rows. Bind off 2 stitches at each neck edge 4 times. Decrease 1 sts at each neck edge every RS row 8(8,8,10,10,10) times.

And at the same time when piece measures 12”(12”,12.5”, 13”,12.5”,12.5”,12.5”) you will divide for front and back. At this point you can add additional balls of yarn for the back and 2 nd front and work all three sections at once, or work each section separately as written.

Divide for Front & Back
With RS facing. Break yarn. Slip sts to first side marker
onto holder (front right). Remove marker and attach yarn.

If I knit until the piece measures 12.5", it's going to be longer than the schematic shows once I block it out. The lace section at the bottom is suppose to be 8" and mine is just over 6". I've checked my gauge with the main section of the top and that's correct.

If I knit until the piece would measure 12.5" when blocked (assuming I can get 8" out of the lace section) that means only 1/2" left which isn't enough times to do the neck edge decrease. Do I continue doing them after I divide for the front and back? I don't know.

I have emailed the designer because I really like this piece and I don't want to have to ground it.

Hopefully I'll get over this sickness and start knitting something again soon. I'm a little baffled that it's October and I've yet to finish anything!

Works in Progress

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Tuesday, September 23, 2014

YOP #2.11-12 or So Much For Progress and Mindless Movies Make Marvelous Progress

I didn't post last week. This is the main reason why:

Husband trying on glove.

After Husband tried on glove.
Yes, that's the correct order of the photos. It was too loose around his hand and then the distance between the end of the thumb gusset and the start of the fingers was too much. It measured out as the pattern said it should...it's just a tricky pattern because I'm making up a lot of things, like some of the gauge. I had a vague idea of the gauge but the knitting intarsia in the round has thrown things into a fun loop. So there's a lot of making things up. The thumb fit great but for some reason is going higher up the thumb than I think it's suppose to go. This hasn't been touched this week. At all. Currently, if I even think about this project, I start to cry a little on the inside.

This past week has been...special. I did manage to get a lot of knitting done on Girl on Fire.




This is the August club yarn. It's the first 2014 Cookie A sock club pattern I've cast on this year. I don't know why but this is a fun and relatively easy pattern. I was able to watch an...interesting movie (it's called "Dragonfyre" and it's like a badly written RPG...it's streaming on Netflix) and still make progress. I'm almost to the heel. I'm tempted to figure out the short row heel as I like the fit of that but I also don't want to mess up the pattern work. Odds are that I'll do the standard heel flap.

Browncoat has also been worked on. No new pictures as it's been spending a lot of time at work and in the car. It even went out to the Renaissance Festival. It didn't leave the car but it was there. On Saturday, as my friend and I tried to leave before the big rainstorm hit (we at least got to the car before it did), I knit about a row and a half before it looked like traffic might move (it didn't...we were there for over 2 hours before getting off site). My friend, who has knit before, was curious about my backwards knitting. I ended up letting her knit on the project until it was too dark to see. Apparently this isn't normally but I like that when this is done, it will have been a group project. There's a possibility that she might be moving down here this spring, which I think would be lovely as it would mean another friend to knit with.

It is late and I seem to have run out of things to say. I'm horribly behind in responding to comments and reading other people's blogs. I really mean to...it's been extremely chaotic recently. Maybe things will slow down in October. (How is it nearly October???)

Works in Progress






















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Tuesday, September 9, 2014

YOP #2.10 or Wedding Travel Makes for Knitting Time

Most of this past week's knitting happened over the weekend. A cousin of Husband was getting married in California. It was a very last minute decision to go and only happened because we managed to find me a ticket that didn't cost and arm and a leg (or a sweater's quantity of quivet yarn). An affordable ticket meant 2 layovers round trip (one in each direction). I was smart and filled my carry on with knitting projects. Three of them came with me. I worked on two of them. Better to have too much knitting than not enough.

As Husband posted on my Google Plus posting of last week's blog about hoping the gloves would be finished before it got cold (I don't think it ever really got too hot), this was the project I worked on the most. On the first flight Friday evening, I crashed. For some reason, I usually get onto the plane and fall asleep. It's odd and sometimes I wake up just in time for the drink service, though not on this flight. It was a mad dash to catch my connection. The 45 minute layover was lost due to the first plane being lately. I thankfully made it. As I prefer a window seat (it's handy when you have a habit of falling asleep very easily), I found myself sitting in the back of the plane (I love and hate Southwest's seating policy). To avoid talking to the loud group of musicians (one of whom kept trying to hit on me), I pulled out my knitting and started to work on the thumb gusset. I was finished with the gusset when it was time to start packing things back up for the landing. Since we took different flights (he had rewards points and got to fly direct), I got to the hotel before he did and sat and continued to work on the gloves while watching bad TV. At that time of night, I think all TV is bad. I did manage to work on Browncoat as it required less thinking. I'm noticing that even though both yarns are fingering weight for the glove, one is slightly thinner than the other, so the stitch height is different from front to back.

Saturday I abandoned my knitting while we explored the city and then headed to the wedding. We took public transportation to the wedding and I pointed out that this would be the perfect time for me to knit. It wasn't practical (and properly not polite) to bring my knitting. I did meet the little girl who I gave Fuzzy to and she is adorable. I was even asked to watch her for a bit by her parents (who I was meeting for the first time as well) and it was fantastic. Nothing like a 2 year old to distract you for being overwhelmed at meeting a million people for the first time (it may have been less than that but it certainly didn't seem like it!). My Police Box shawl made an appearance as it started to get a little chilly at the end of the evening. One of the other guests we shared a table with loved it. They sat a group of Whovians together and it was fantastic.

It was a stupid early flight back on Sunday, so the first flight was another crash until we land experience. Once on the ground, I saw that my flight was going to be delayed. It ended up only being delayed 30 minutes, which was better than the 60 minutes it was originally going to be delayed. I pulled back out the gloves and worked on them for a few rows. Saturday night I had Husband (or was it earlier on Saturday...I don't remember now) try on the glove and it seemed a good fit. Now the real challenge is that I'm using two colors and making up the pattern as I go along. I'm using the Gloves Pattern Generator to get my rough numbers but I'm still making up a lot of stuff. Normally, one would just slip the thumb gusset stitches off onto the side and continue knitting. What does one do when there's a color change in the middle of it? Well, I knit to the first side of the thumb gusset and moved those stitches. Then I knit the rest of them in the new color and put them onto the same holder as the first set. I'm then suppose to cast on 4 stitches, so I cast on 2 with each color and I started to knit plain rounds. Well, now there's a problem.



That's yarn from moving stitches and then casting on. I thankfully had only done a few rows. I'm not entirely sure what to do. I think I'll frog back to that point and then knit the entire row and knit back to the spot where the stitches are slipped. Then I'll carry on. Hopefully that will work.

No work happen on Girl on Fire. I did look at it and pet it a few times but I was so exhausted on Sunday that I didn't feel like thinking.

I did work a bit on Browncoat during the week. The current section is simply stockinette, so it can travel with me to work. Of course, it's more fun to hack portals on my way to work some days..... Sunday I also had my first roller derby practice after taking last year off. As Husband dropped me off from the airport, I took the light rail back to where my car had been parked over the weekend. Yet another opportunity to knit and I didn't have any knitting with me. It would have helped the ride as I may have killed my phone's battery while hacking portals....

Looking forward to the first concert of the fall season (with knitting of course) and an actual "weekend" this week. Somehow I plan on doing everything and nothing in those two days.

Works in Progress

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Wednesday, September 3, 2014

YOP #2.9 or Yarn Fixes Everything

I confess that I haven't knit a lot this week. I blame Ingress. As none of my knitting projects have been happy lately, it's much easier to play Ingress as I walk into work (when my phone decides that it knows where I am) than to knit.

I did find time to work on my new sock. It's called Girl on Fire and is one of the August Cookie A sock patterns. I'm using the club yarn which is very yummy and lovely. I had a doctor's appointment on Friday and they ended up wanting to draw some blood. I hate needles. I've nearly passed out watching blood being drawn from our llamas. Last year, I discovered that if I was petting yarn with the other hand, I didn't feel ill afterwards. So this year, Girl on Fire came with me and I plunged my hand into the bag when it came time to have blood drawn. It turned out that the tech was also a knitter! She asked me about how I organize my projects and when she was done, she asked to see the yarn. It definitely left me with a high note for the morning.

Browncoat has also been worked on. Sunday night, after that day's Renaissance festival, we sat and watched "Howl's Moving Castle" while I worked on the top. I nearly finished the lace section in that sitting even though I had to take breaks. Something about being really tired.

I also managed to sell 2 skeins of yarn this past week. One off of my stash page and another to a friend who was looking for a good gift for someone out at fest. And that's how I spent 30 minutes chatting about knitting at the Renaissance festival and was "late" getting back to my booth. I have another knitting buddy who I now plan to see outside of fest.

Thanks to everyone for their comments over the last couple of weeks. I've been a little extra ADOS lately so I've yet to sit down and respond to all of them. They make me smile to read though. I'm also impressed with myself for getting a post written every week even if it's not always on Sunday. Baby steps!

Works in Progress

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Monday, August 25, 2014

YOP #2.8 or What Do You Mean It's the End of August??

This past week has been amazingly light on knitting. There was a lot of fun at work (I do mean this sincerely) while I attended some tech classes. I made connections and learned all kinds of fun lighting things. I didn't haul my knitting around. This is probably mostly because I was still annoyed with all of my knitting projects.

It's also been stupid hot and humid. We've not had a lot of it this summer but it definitely doesn't encourage me to knit.

I did clean my craft room, which was long overdue. Between parties and searching for things and home improvement projects, things just kept getting shoved into the room. I spent Saturday evening cleaning it up and it's lovely again! There may have been yarn petting as well....

Once the room was clean, I also decided to cast on one of the August Cookie A projects. I'd love to be able to finish it before the next shipment but it's ALREADY THE LAST WEEK OF THE MONTH!! How did that happen? I've not knit nearly enough things nor have a read everyone's everything (blog posts, forum posts, etc.). At least my anxiety is more in control otherwise I might actually be freaking out right now.

Last night, we went out and saw the Guardians of the Galaxy and on the way to the movie theater, I did knit a row and a bit of the Browncoat Top. Less than 3 rows and the lace section will be done! According to the diagram, this is suppose to be 8" long. I did a swatch and got the right gauge but this isn't 8". I'm hoping it blocks out to be that long...

Works in Progress

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Thursday, August 21, 2014

YOP #2.7 or Work Gets in the Way

Posting after Sunday seems to be a thing for me. At least I'm posting.

Last week was rough. I was still annoyed with my two smaller projects (though someone suggested how to place a life-line in the sock, which I'm forever grateful for). Add onto it what we did at work. I can no longer remember why but we seemed to think it would be a good idea to clean our dance floor at work. There are 6 pieces that are 5 feet wide and 40 feet long. It was a lot of scrubbing on hands and knees. The next morning, I was exhausted.

I didn't knit anything until Thursday morning. I spent Thursday and Friday attending the Global Leadership Summit. My church was a host site and I had volunteered to run the lights. I brought my knitting along because it's hard to go anywhere without my knitting. I brought the Browncoat because it was in the least amount of trouble. I took a lot of notes during the sessions but I also managed to knit a lot. There was down time and times where I just needed to keep my hands busy.

I did manage to get nearly done with the lace section. There's only about 4 rows left.

Of course, it was then opening weekend of the Renaissance Festival and I simply won't bring my knitting out there. It is way too dirty.

The fact that I'm just getting this posted on Thursday should probably say a lot about how my week has been going. Hopefully I'll have something to write about on Sunday!

Works in Progress

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Wednesday, August 13, 2014

YOP #2.6 or This Is What Happens When You Ground All Your Projects

This last week, I did manage to get some work done on all 3 projects. However, I also felt like grounding all of them.

I got to see my friend who will be receiving the Mint Twist socks. I had her try the finished one on and discovered that the heel flap isn't quite long enough. I happened to be on the heel flap of the second sock, so it was easy to add to that heel flap. The semi-perfectionist in me knows that I'm going to pull out the stitches on the other sock to make the heel flap longer. I want to finish (or at least get further on the foot) the 2nd sock and have it tried on before I frog the foot of the 1st sock. It does make it hard to want to work on it though. I got through turning the heel and it's just been sitting there, mocking me. I don't know how I'm going to frog the foot of the 1st one and not loose any stitches. It's a rather lacy pattern. I'm sure somewhere on the internet, there is something that will tell me what to do. I just haven't felt like looking it up.

Husband's gloves got frogged eventually. They are even back on the needles and I've started doing the thumb gusset. But I don't want to deal with it when I go out (I usually always have a knitting bag with me). It spent most of the week going places with me, mocking me that it needed to be frogged.

The Browncoat Top is fairing alright but it's not one that I feel can travel to and from work very well. It's larger and while the pattern is fairly simple, I like checking it every now and then. This was the least frustrating project but it does seem like it's taking forever. I do have less than 3 repeats of the lace section left.

So none of the projects were really grounded but they might as well have been for how much I worked on them. And of course, this month's Cookie A yarn came and I really just want to cast something on with it and ignore my other projects.

Works in Progress

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Sunday, August 3, 2014

YOP #2.5 or Really, Gauge is Important

This week I've been pretty project monogamous. I've not had the time sitting and watching things that allow for mindless knitting. I keep remembering that I should finish the Mint Twist socks, but they have become my back-up project. The leg is nearly done (over 3/4 of the way there!) but I keep being drawn to Husband's driving gloves.

After realizing that the new tighter knitting on the color ribbing wasn't going to fit, I frogged it and started over on much larger needles. I got the band to the correct size and went down one needle size for the rest of the glove. One day, I will learn to listen to my gut feeling. As I looked at the needles I was pulling out, part of my brain pointed out that I should really go back down the 3 (or so) needle sizes to what I had originally been knitting on as that would get me my gauge. Not that I've done a gauge swatch, but that's what my gut feeling was trying to tell me.

I happily started knitting and learned how to do intarsia in the round. The yarn for this project was bought almost a year ago. It's taken me this long to start it because it's been really intimidating. This isn't simply a "take this pattern and make it for me" but a "this is what I want, can you figure out the pattern for me" sort of of project. I had little experience with intarsia to begin with and it seemed silly to have one's first project be in the round. I'm glad I leveled up in my knitting skills before I started this one.

Yesterday, I finished the thumb gusset. I pulled those stitches off onto a stitch holder and got Husband to put the glove on his hand.

It was big and not just a little big. It was a lot big. I stuffed the project back in my bag and left my knitting in the car as we were on our way to see a fringe show. As we spent the rest of the day going between activities, I pulled out the Mint Twist sock instead of frogging the glove. For some reason, I feel that frogging the glove in a moving vehicle was a bad idea. It ended up being a pleasant day (one event we went to was the same one that we had met at 3 years ago) and a lot of fun though I knew I'd have to frog the glove. Again. At least this time, I should only have to frog it to the wrist band.

Before I frog it, I did take some lovely pictures of it on my hand.


Black palm, grey top because gloves aren't hard enough.

I probably could have fit both of my hands if I had tried.



Friday night, while I was working a show and knitting on the glove, I thought it would be fun to capture what it is like for me to knit at work. Thankfully my phone has a timer. It took several shots and below is the best one.


What you don't see: the musicians on stage.


This photo was lit only by the dim house light and the work light I have at my position. I'm also in full blacks. The music was phenomenal. It was a concert by the Young Musicians of Minnesota. This is a student run group that is striving to promote classical music to young musicians. It was truly a remarkable concert and a lot of fun to work. It's also nice to have such great music being played live while I knit.

Works in Progress

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Monday, July 28, 2014

YOP #2.4 or Now With More Pictures!

Some weeks are just filled with chaos. I'm pretty sure that was this past week for me. Even though there was all kinds of stuff going on, I still managed to get some knitting done.

As Husband mentioned in a comment in last week's post, I have indeed started his gloves. I've only cast them on twice now.



The first time I frogged, I wasn't happy with how the two colors were looking. Specifically, I didn't like how the purl stitches were looking. I frogged and then dug up some information on the internet about doing ribbing with two colors. I needed to hold both colors at the same time to keep the tension constant, which wasn't what I was doing. I kept dropping the color I wasn't using and I think that's why it was looking so sloppy.

Last night, I had Husband try it on. It was too tight. Way too tight.

 

I liked how the stitches were looking but yeah...Husband barely got his hand through it. It's going to be frogged and cast onto a larger set of needles.

I didn't get a chance to work on Browncoat but here's a picture of it:

 
I really like how the pattern is looking. I'm in the middle of a row (of course) so I couldn't spread it out very well to get a full shot. After the week I've had, it would be nice to have some mindless knitting time.

Finally, the Mint Twist socks. I added a few rounds, but not a lot of progress. There are pictures nonetheless. I'm including a picture of my kitchner stitch that got complimented.

Pardon the blurriness. I was tired.



Works in Progress

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Tuesday, July 22, 2014

YOP #2.3 or Just Keep Knitting

This last week has been a week of progress where I've just kept knitting. It was also a week full of stress at work and at home. It's fun when Husband has to travel all week for work. And that's where the knitting comes in to play.

At work, we've started a new thing where we shut down offices for an hour and get together for lunch. I can rarely make these get togethers, something to do with working in production, but I did make it one day this past week. I also brought up my knitting. One of my co-workers is also a knitter so we chatted about knitting stuff. Someone else asked what I was working on and I tossed her the first Mint Twist sock. There was much petting and ooh-ing and ahh-ing over it. This then led to a discussion of why a knitter would knit for another knitter. It was agreed that a knitter will value the work greatly and that knitters have different styles. My co-worker doesn't like fiddly things, so the lacy pattern that I'm working on would drive her nuts. I however, love working on fiddly things and knitting straight makes me sleepy.

Later in the week, I decided to binge watch Futurama after having done dishes and knitted on my Browncoat Top. It was a nice and relaxing why to end the evening. Once Husband was back home, we also sat and watched The 10th Kingdom. I used the time to continue to knit. We were over halfway through, so it was only about 4 hours or so of knitting. It was a great start to my Saturday. I didn't knit the entire time (that movie does get me to cry sometimes) but got enough process that I'm halfway through the first section.

This weekend I also volunteered at my church running the light board. I bring my knitting along with me. It helps keep me from playing with the lighting the entire time. I could tweak with the lighting all weekend. I will also knit while the pastor teaches. This also prevents me from playing around with the light board. This week was full of adventure as lighting equipment decided to freak out, so it was nice to have the knitting to recenter myself.

I know that last week I said there would be pictures, but that didn't happen. Maybe next week. I should get better at taking pictures to document my progress but I've gotten pickier about how I take pictures. I don't consistently like the pictures I take on my cell phone. I don't always have time to take a picture with the real camera and get them posted. It goes back to that whole having time thing.


Works in Progress

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Monday, July 21, 2014

Chicken fried pork

Husband has been on a strange kick lately. He's been talking about chicken fried steak like a man possessed. One night, he decided that this was what we were going to have for dinner. There was a small problem with this plan-no steak. He ended up using ground beef. Instead of flour, he used some sort of dried corn meal. They were tasty, though a bit crunchy.

The obsession continued and I decided I needed to find a meat tenderizer. I had joked that if I found one at a thrift store I was going to, that I would buy it and we'd have chicken fried pork chops that night for dinner.

I found one. He missed out because of work.

While he was on a plane to California, my bonus daughters and I multi-tasked by cleaning out the fridge and pantry, putting away groceries and cooking chicken friend pork chops.

It was a lot of fun and very tasty. During our cleaning, I found some corn flour, which was going to work much better than the corn meal. Both girls loved it and ate it as leftovers the next day.

As with the all the "best" recipes, nothing was measured out, but here's an approximate idea of what we did, for the sake of documentation of course.

Ingredients

 Pork chops
Corn Flour (about a cup and a half, I think)
Paprika (about a tablespoon)
Salt (a health pinch)
Garlic Powder (less than the amount of paprika, more than the salt)
Vegetable Oil (enough to cover meat when in the pan)

Directions

  • Use meat tenderizer to pummel pork chops into very thin pieces.
  • Combine corn flour, paprika, salt and garlic powder together. Mix them up.
  • Put vegetable oil into a frying pan and heat
  • Thoroughly coat the pork chops in the corn flour mixture
  • Place coated pork chop into the oil. Cover.
  • After about 2-4 minutes, flip pork chop
  • Remove from oil once both sides appear golden
  • Repeat until all are cooked
  • Eat and enjoy
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Monday, July 14, 2014

On the subject of pipes

Last month, we finally got a new dishwasher. Ours had come with the house when Husband bought it with his first wife and it was definitely starting to fall apart. I arranged to have it delivered on my day off and we paid to have someone else install it.

It showed up and the installer got to work. About 5 minutes later, there was a problem. The valve running to the dishwasher was an older type. It's a type more commonly used with connecting gas hook-ups instead of water, so it would need to be replaced. Husband was, understandably, upset as it would be yet One More Thing that he wouldn't have time to do. The installer apologized (they don't do plumbing; they just install things) and suggested either hiring a handyman or doing it ourselves. As I had the day off, I decided to attempt to do it.

The installer was kind enough to leave a valve that was mostly correct. It only had one connection and we needed two but it gave me something to take to the store. The original plan had been to solder the piece on, especially after I couldn't remove the old one without cutting it. The lovely hard water had completely crusted the threading. The funny thing about being a woman in a hardware store is you can either have an employee assume you know what you're doing or assume that you have no clue. Thankfully, I had an employee who treated me like I had a brain and knew what I was doing, even though I had no idea. He kindly showed me to the valves and explained how a compression fitting worked (no soldering required) and then tried to help me find a cap for the side that would end up going to the dishwasher. They happened to be fresh out, so he told me that I would have better luck at a real hardware store.

I came home, started working on it and had rotten luck. Husband was very impressed that I didn't start cussing or screaming or anything else. I no longer remember the exact order of events but I do remember the following:

  • the part inside that causes the compression got horribly beat up
  • when asking Husband to measure a hose, it's also important to ask him to see if there is a label already on the hose so you don't buy the same size you already have
  • turning the water on and trying to gently fix the fitting will always lead to water in the face and everyone will be upstairs so you'll be flooding the area under the sink and have to race downstairs to shut off the hot water valve
  • the best way to not become a screaming, cussing, irritable mess is to walk away after getting sprayed in the face and go do something, anything else
  • it's important to keep insisting that you will finish the project even if you have to go to work the next day before it is finished; this prevents Husband from getting crabby at having to finish a project he didn't want to do in the first place
Eventually, after a few more trips to the hardware store (a real one even), I did get it to not leak and to stay on. The next installer who showed up a week or so later was impressed with my handiwork. Husband gave me all the credit.

So why am I writing this in my crafting blog? One could argue that household repair (and plumbing in particular) is a craft. I could say that I'm simply fulfilling Husband's request that I write about it. The real reason is because working on this project reminded me a lot of my sewing and knitting projects. They often get frustrating and I want to throw them (and sometimes I have thrown them) but that I should probably just walk away and get a breather from it. I also had a huge sense of accomplishment of getting it to work, which I think is one of the reasons I craft as much as I do.

I started this blog to track and document my progress and there are several projects that I've been working on that haven't been written about. Sometimes working on something not at all related, I'm reminded about what I was starting to do. Over the last 12 months, I've struggled to write once a week about my knitting projects. If I'm truly going to be documenting things, I should be writing more often. I have cooked some very tasty things that I've not written about and am now no longer sure I could reproduce, even though I'd like to do so. It's hard to carve out the time to do it but that's something I want to change.
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Saturday, July 12, 2014

YOP #2.2 or Short and Sweet Makes for Fast Writing

Not a full week since my last post, but progress has been made.

I managed to cast on the second Mint Twist sock. I was beginning to get worried that I might have developed Second Sock Syndrome. It was lovely to work with the yarn again. It's so soft and squishy and yummy. I really hope my friend enjoys the socks as much (if not more) than I've enjoyed working with the yarn. I've made a mental note that when I need more sock yarn (Ha! I have enough for my lifetime and then some!), I should get some from Tanis Fiber Arts.

As for the Browncoat Top, I've been slowly chugging along at it. The 3rd repeat of the eyelet section is almost complete. Only 5 more repeats to go! Husband has developed patience when I'm working on this project. He'll ask a question and knows to wait until I stop knitting to get his answer. So long as I stop somewhere logical, I can pick it up again. If I stop mid-pattern, I believe that's where I run into issues.

That's all for this week! Hopefully there may be pictures next week.

Works in Progress

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Thursday, July 10, 2014

YOP #2.1 or Starting Over!

It's the start of my second year of projects and already I'm running behind. Who can blame me though? After nearly 6000 miles in a car over the course of 2 weeks, it's hard to be motivated to do anything.

After getting back late on Wednesday, I had a day to rest. That evening, I took out my Browncoat Top (so named because the colorway is "Captain Tight Pants") and started working on it again for the first time in almost a week. As Husband and I were watching a movie full of explosions, I realized that I had messed up the pattern somewhere along the line and things weren't lining up. I could have just kept going but I was afraid that it was going to screw up my stitch count, so I ended up frogging the entire thing. Again. To say I was frustrated is probably an understatement. Husband paused the explosion filled movie and tried to ask me questions (that part didn't help). I got him to eventually back off and worked on casting on again.

Over the course of the weekend, I managed to get past the point where I had to frog. I've managed 2 full repeats of the eyelet pattern so far. I'm grateful to know how to knit backwards as it means less of a tangled mess every other row. I'm working off two skeins since they are hand dyed. Knitting backwards means no flipping the piece. It's also the semi-mindless part of the project. Even though it's a very simple pattern, I'm discovering that those 8 stitches have to be closely minded, otherwise I lose where I am. I think that's what caused the issue that led to frogging. I wasn't paying enough attention and added a yarn over, which messed things up. I managed to get as much knit as I did because I didn't have to drive over the weekend. There was still driving but I only had to be the passenger.

I'd love to get a Cookie A sock cast on and finished before the end of the month but I have a feeling that I'll be lucky if I manage to get it cast on. Probably more importantly is knitting a swatch for Husband's driving gloves so I can finish that design (I had a sketch started and I have no idea where that piece of paper has wandered off to....somewhere "safe" most likely) and get them knit before the State Fair this year. I'd love to enter them. If nothing else, I should get them finished before winter so he has them for this year. Especially since I was going to make them for last winter...

Works in Progress

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Tuesday, July 1, 2014

YOP: Last post of my first year!*

Here I am on Sunday afternoon working on my last post for my first year of YOP. Currently we're in Flagstaff, Arizona charging the car. Who knows where we'll be by the time I get this online!

It's been a slow week of knitting. California was beautiful! I called Husband stupid for leaving it several times. I eventually cast on my first top and I did do it in the car. It was easier to do in the car once we were in California and I wasn't having to play navigator anymore. I have the first pattern repeat done. I probably won't touch it or any other project before reaching Minnesota as I'm the sole driver now. Husband couldn't take more than a week off from work. At least it's a pretty drive (and a pretty car).

I could be knitting right now as the car charges, but it's so warm outside! Of course, I'm inside working on this post. I don't want to end mid-row as it's always a bit of a challenge for me to figure out where I am. At the moment I'm really appreciating socks as they have so few stitches. I had to cast on 3 different times because I kept getting the wrong number of stitches. The first time, I had about 2 yards of excess yarn and that was a bit much so I tried again. I thought I had the right amount of stitches so I started to knit. Got through the first row (with a pattern) and didn't have the right amount of stitches. Off it went and I cast on again. This last time was the charm though it took me several times to get it right. I kept trying to count and people (mostly Husband) kept trying to talk to me even though I was counting out loud! Two hundred and sixty-six stitches is a lot to count. 

Year in Review

Now to look back on the past year and how I did. I think this will help me find a better balance for things as well as a more realistic timeline next year.

Overall, I finished 22 different objects. A year ago, I was very vague on numbers but I feel that this is a good number considering that whole "working, driving to work, spending time with family and friends" thing that means I can't just sit and knit. And the dog. She needs a lot of walks, which obviously cuts into knitting time. At least she's cute.

So how did I do with specific goals?

  •  Socks
    • I want to do at least one pair every month of the Cookie A Sock Club. They all seem to take me longer than I think they will, which is why I'm committing in writing to only finishing one pair. I hope to finish all 12 before the year is out and to start the ones for the club next year.
Yeah....that didn't happen. I've not even cast on one of the new patterns for this year yet. Nothing has screamed KNIT ME and I've had a lot of other projects. In the last year, I finished one of the February patterns, one of the June patterns and...that's it. Socks really do take me longer than I realize and I tend to get easily distracted. 
  • Shawls/scarfs/cowls
    • I don't really need either but there are some lovely patterns. I'd like to make myself a nice cowl for the fall/winter so I can go out and be dressed up and not have to keep track of an awkward scarf.
SUCCESS! I made two cowls for myself this year. I also made a cowl for Husband.
Well...this was made but not in time for Chicago TARDIS. It was finished in time for the dance this past month. I'm very happy with how it turned out. I also finished a shawl for a friend of mine.
  • Gifts
    • I really like giving gifts that I've made. I've liked the reaction that I've gotten from the gifts I've made in the past.
    • Among those gifts will be 2 baby blankets for the children of cousins. 
I had quite a few gifts this year. Socks, shawl, cowl, scarfs and one baby blanket. And I'm sure there were others but I don't remember right now. 
  • Destashing/using the hoard of yarn I own
    •  I need to work on getting through some of the yarn I have so that I can get more yarn....
I bought yarn. I was given yarn. I definitely did not get through as much yarn as I acquired... I suppose I need to work a bit harder on this one. 
  • Hat
    • As much as I love my troll hat, I have some really lovely yarns that I want to make into hats. My husband likes this idea for some reason....
Also a success. I made a hat based on my grandma's pattern. My husband is very happy with it and is now willing to be seen with me in public in the winter. 
  • Mittens
    • Last winter (in February-ish), I lost one of my mittens that I had made. So now I need to make a new pair for this coming winter.
I also managed to make these before it got stupid cold. It was cold when they were finished but at least it wasn't stupid cold yet. 
  • Designing my own 
    I've had the chance to dye some of my own yarn and it was a lot of fun. I hope to do more of that this year. My husband has challenged me to design my own socks. I've got an idea in my head. Still need to figure out the logistics of it but it will be very geeky.  
I managed to design and make a baby blanket and a pair of socks. Nothing very geeky but it was fun to do.
2014-2015 YOP Goals 

  • Socks: I want to finish at least 6 pairs of socks this coming year. That's one more than I did last year. I'm not going to specify which designs get knit though I'd like to get more of the Cookie A socks knit this year.
  • Top: Finishing my first knitted top is pretty high on the to do list for next year. If I get that done, then I feel I'll be better prepared to knit a sweater for Husband. That won't happen until 2015 which is when I'm going to allow myself to buy more yarn.
  • Charity: I want to knit more hats/scarfs for charity. I've done a few and I enjoy doing it. It also uses up some yarn.
  • Unfinished projects: I want to end next year with no unfinished projects. If by some miracle, I've finished all my knitting before the end of the year, I suppose that means I won't cast on something big that I can't finish by the end. I also have at least one project that was suppose to be finished a few months ago that I've yet to cast on....
  • Spinning: I want to spin more. I'd like to finish at least one of the fleeces I have from my mom. 
  • De-stashing: Seeing as how I failed horribly on this one (as noted above), I want to continue to work on this one. I've already pulled some yarns that I don't see myself using. Now to just get them sold.... This also means no buying yarn until 2015. Husband likes this but this wasn't his idea. I may feel a bit overwhelmed by all the yarn I have...and more is coming. Between the Cookie A club and the Indigodragonfly club, it's going to be a while before I need to buy yarn.

Finished Objects 2013-2014

Works in Progress 2013-2014


*This post was written in Arizona, New Mexico and South Dakota.
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Wednesday, June 25, 2014

YOP #50 or Nearing the End

I'm only 3 days late for this update, but to be fair, I've been in a car since Sunday morning. There have been breaks to charge the car but not enough to pull out my netbook and update this blog. I had thought about writing before Sunday and letting the blog update itself, but I've had a huge show this past weekend.

Overall, it's been a good 10 days of knitting for me (I might as well write about the last 3 days as I'm hoping to write about the entire year next week). During the course of the show on Saturday night, I finished the Vanilla Eyelets. I've decided that they are keeping that name as they are a simple "vanilla" sock which works for some of the crazier yarns I have. The yarn I used was a Christmas gift that I've tried at least 2 other patterns with before designing my own. I even managed to weave in the ends (and not miss any of my cues) and wore them the next day as the family and I headed out west in our Tesla. It was a tad warm to wear the socks but they were very comfortable and I enjoyed the warmth of them when we hit the motel we stayed at in South Dakota.

Husband and I have been taking turns driving. This has allowed me to finish the first Mint Twist sock. Well, mostly finish it. I haven't woven in the ends yet. When we stopped in Colorado to have dinner with Mom, I managed to show off my progress. She was very impressed. She hasn't started socks from that shipment yet. I also gave her the rest of her birthday present, yarn from the Yarn Shop Hop that was being dyed as the shop had run out, which I was going to ship to her. I'm kind of glad I didn't as I was able to give it to her in person and she got to pick which two of the four she wanted. Husband pointed out that they were "exactly the same" but any knitter will know that yarn can vary not only between dye lots but also within a dye lot, especially when hand-dyed.

While we were in Las Vegas waiting for the car to charge, I started to cast on the second sock. I didn't get very far. Antsy children and dry heat making everyone cranky meant I needed to do some intervening. The heat also slows down the charge of the battery, so we were reaching a point that our next stop was going to be later as we waited for the last 5 miles. We ended up skipping that last bit of charge and headed out. It also meant I didn't get to finish casting on the sock as I was driving.

I've brought along two other projects to cast on. One is a knitted top and the other is one of the June 2014 Cookie A sock patterns. I've yet to start either of them. I think this is mostly due to the fact that it's not fun casting on in the car and there have been other things to take care of during our charging breaks. I probably would have cast something on before writing this if my knitting was in the hotel room. Alas, it is the car with Husband who is charging it, so you get a blog entry with pictures instead.

Sock progress as we were leaving South Dakota.

Knitting as we entered Utah. My sock was a source of comfort in the drab landscape. The landscape did improve so much that I stopped knitting for a while.

Finished Objects

Works in Progress

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