One Crazy Fiber Lady

Wow, less than a month has gone by since my last post and here I am again. Can you stand it? Instead of shocking everyone outright, it will be a quick post with a distinct lack of knitting photos once again. However, it won’t be completely photo-less though.

I have been crafting. The current sock (Duet Skinny in Sailor Girl) progresses oh so very slowly. Kind of helping (or hindering) the progress is that the socks aren’t the commuting project at present. Minimalist Cardigan has been serving that roll recently. So much so that I finished the first of the front pieces (Left) and cast on for the other this morning on the train. I’m really enjoying this knit. Its moving along fast enough that I might just finish it before the attention span wanders off to some other shiney pebble, of which there are a number of contenders. A quick look at my queue on Ravelry is a good indicator of that wandering span. Needless to say, there are a number of other knits. Dare I say that I’d like to wear this one to Rhinebeck. Oh boy. Isn’t that the kiss-o-death for any knit project? Forget I mentioned it.

I’ve also been spinning. I finished the second bobbin of that dyed stuff on the Schacht that I don’t think I even blogged about starting. Geez. It was a little hand-dyed soft wool that I got on etsy. (sprouty25.etsy.com) Thank goodness for their archives as I now know what I was spinning. Superwash. In pretty neapolitan colors! I spun it my normal fineness and will probably ply it this coming weekend. The folks will be away visiting my sister and the baby leaving me with the shorties at home. I’ve moved my Schacht to the den/playroom, along with my iMac so I’ll be spending more time there. Makes sense to get it out of my bedroom. I’d been cramming alot in there and it was getting overloaded. Dad pretty much gave me the den to use as I wanted. Now that the tv there can access the dvr and has full cable, there’s no reason not to use the room. The schacht (quickly moving up into #1 position as favorite wheel) sits right next to my computer armoire.

I also managed to fill a second bobbin on the Vermont wheel of the stuff I bought at the NJ Festival. It is “designer” yarn in my books with thick and thicker sections, thanks to clumps of silk. That stuff just doesn’t want to draft. I’ve been spinning it long draw and trying to leave it fluffy and not the seriously twisted stuff that winds up as sock yarn. So far so good. I’m just about ready to ply them but first need to “find” an empty bobbin for the Russo wheel or probably just move over to the Fricke e-spinner and use that baby. Hmmm, will do that tonight after I finish here.

Moving along, Sunday’s start to fall was just downright gorgeous. I took Bandit out of his cage and moved him (and the twins) to the pool area for a little exercise. The pool is closed for the winter {sniff} and with the fenced in area of the yard (and I made sure that there were no openings for at least the bunny to get out – the monkeys can open the gate themselves) he/they could run around safely while I cleaned his cage.

They are gentle with him and it appears that he is bonding with Kat to some extent. She would come up behind him, instinct would have him freeze and she’d sit with her legs around him, petting him. Even after moving her legs, he’d stay for a bit too. Rinse. Repeat. It was very cute. I even pulled out the video camera and took some movies of it too. Bandit is fitting in nicely.

Well time to go relax before bed..

Craft on!

It is another gorgeous day in NYC. My former boss and always buddy was downtown for training today. We met for lunch and are now sitting here on the outside deck at the Seaport enjoying the view and sun.Craft on!

Damn, another week got by me without a post.  Sorry.  The new schedule is still kicking my butt.  Not getting home until 7:15 is getting challenging.  Dinner has been shifted later though most nights they’ve finished, or are finishing, just as I walk in.  Shorty bedtime has definitely shifted later.  The only thing that hasn’t shifted later is the morning alarm clock.  It still goes off at 6AM so we can be out by 7:45.  Sigh. 

With the kids staying up, "my time" has been compressed as I still need to get to bed at a decent hour in order to do it all the next day.  I have been knitting/spinning and other things, but computer time (as that is how the day is spent) is significantly reduced.  Sorry again.  I have lots of pictures (but not with me – except what is sitting in my flickr albums.

Some big events….

1.  Alex gave up his pacifier.  FINALLY.  The new school didn’t allow pacifiers.  Wish someone had told me that, but during their second week there, they finally enforced the rules thereby creating an unhappy boy.  With thanks to Super Nanny, I had him gather his binkies for the Binky Fairy to exchange for a present.  She gave him a dust buster.  He’s ecstatic   The first day was a tad rough (last Thursday), but he hasn’t asked for one since.  Sweet.  The "mean" teacher situation made for a "I don’t want to go to school" kind of weekend, and he got away with it last Friday.  Yesterday, I manhandled him into the car, strapped his ass into his big-boy-booster-seat (another recent change!) and drove the hysterical kid off to daycare/nursery.  His teachers can not be anywhere near as mean as me.  Not surprisingly, once at school, he discovered that the teachers weren’t such monsters and had a good time. 

2.  The day Alex stayed home from school because of the mean teachers, Kat came to work with me.  This company is just great.  They were really wonderful to her, with hidden caches of kid-stuff throughout desk drawers including silly putty, crayola markers and all sorts of other things.  She did amazingly well, was a really good girl, and made it through a long day.  We took the 5:25 train home where she crashed.  Hard.  Not surprised there.  And.  Oh yeah, I did get some work done that day too.

3.  Work is still going amazingly well.  I’m getting to do more and more things as I learn the systems and am making contributions rather than reading documentation.  Nice change, though I suspect there come a point when I long for the quiet days   All in all, I’m glad I’m here.

4.  Mom went to her first fiber festival this weekend.  We took the kids to the NJ festival in Ringoes.  I bought some fiber.  Not surprised huh?  Some wool blends in pretty colors to make the twins sweaters.  Some year.  Though I do have almost one bobbin of Kat’s done on the Vermont Wheel.  The bigger purchase was not a wheel, for a change….

Meet Bandit

He’s a 9 month old Jersey Wooly.  And just the sweetest thing!  After leaving the festival with this little guy in a cardboard box, I had to hunt around looking for a hutch for the little fellow.  Two stores later, at a PetSmart in Hamilton, I had all the supplies for the newest pet.  More pictures of him at Flickr.  Do I need to mention that the kids love him?  Didn’t think so.

5.  I think I burned out on socks… I’ve pulled the needles out of a couple of attempts now.  The Anastasia in the Kitty’s Eyes is definitely a no go, even with my reduced stitch count version of the sock.  The yarn was just too splitty.  I’ve moved to a plain toe up sock using Duets Skinny in Sailor Girl.  Love it.  All this sock sampling has taught me a few things about the yarns I like and don’t like to use for socks:

    a.  Don’t like many stranded/lightly twisted yarns.   I prefer the hard twist, fewer ply yarns like the Louet (Koigu, Claudia, Duet Skinny).   Too many plies or soft twist begs for a lot of attention while knitting so as to catch all those damn plies.  No like.

     b.  While I don’t mind a solid color, or a semi-solid tone on tone yarn, I find I don’t like a subtle variegation.  The bandaid inspired Aussi Sock that got traded/sold was a good example.  The color changes, while not being tone/tone but were pink/cream/brown were just far too pale.  I seem to prefer the more boldly colored.  Boldly going where no yarn has gone before.  Anyway…

    c.  Plain socks rule.  I might collect sock patterns out the wazoo, but sock knitting really is my mindless knitting on the train while reading knitting, so patterns don’t play nicely with that scheme.  Nor does the splitty problem mentioned in a) above.  However, doesn’t mean I’m not totally inspired by beautiful sock patterns.  Speaking of which, my SnB‘s own Jersey Knitter won the SOS2007 Design Contest.  WAY TO GO INA!  Go give her some much deserved congrats.  The socks, which I was fortunate enough to see at the SnB are just gorgeous.  I might make her socks as one of my exceptions to plain knitting sock rules

6.  I’ve finished the body for the Tangled Yoke Cardigan and started the sleeve.  The cuff seems far too big and I fear it will flap all over my arm.  Its sitting in timeout while I debate continuing it or repurposing the yarn for something else.

7.  Minimalist Cardigan is proceeding very nicely.  It has become my commuting knitting over the last week or so.  I finished the back last night and started the Right Front (though will be my Left Front) this morning on the train.  I’m using the Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran in Casket that I bought from Deb a while ago.  It has been marinating in stash long enough.  Pretty stuff and I’m enjoying this knit.

Well the server I’ve been waiting for to reboot is now back up.  Back to work.

Craft on!

While it might appear otherwise, I am indeed alive and well.  I’m seriously touched by recent comments inquiring as to how I am.  It has sadly been a long while since I posted, and I’m sorry about that.  Part of the reason has been that work involves a longer day as I’m now getting home at 7:15 instead of 6:15.  Dinner is now later, which I don’t always get to share with the monkeys either.   I’m trying to adjust to the new schedule and hopefully will get into a real routine that will also include semi-regular posting shortly. 

In the meanwhile, here’s a random Wednesday update as to what has happened over the last THREE (can it really be that long?) weeks:

1.  The twins were on vacation for ages.  Their last day at the old school was August 24th.  They’ve been home, making my mother nuts since.  I did provide her a bit of relief that last week of August when I had one of the girls from school come over for two days.  They finally started up again today at the new place (Tutor Time) and were almost eager to go this morning.  They took to it like old pros.  Alex asked of he could go back tomorrow.  I’ll take that as a good sign, especially since they only go M/W/F

2.  We spent Labor Day weekend on the boat.  The weather was gorgeous and sadly, for most of it, I had camnesia.  I did manage to remember the thing for Alex’s first fish.  We fished off the back of the boat while tied up at our regular slip at the marina.  He caught this little baby using grilled chicken as bait.  It’s not a huge fish, but darn good for his first time out.  The little dickens reeled it in himself!  I managed a few catches too including a small pike, a crab and even a catfish.  It was a very relaxing weekend!

3.  I finished spinning up the second bobbin of that BFL on my Schacht last week.  I pulled out the Fricke eSpinner Friday night and plied it all.  I had forgotten how wonderful that sucker is for plying.  It took me over an hour to ply it all.  Contrary to standard practice, I skeined it and then even washed it immediately.  I set it out to dry in the sun on Saturday.  I’m pleased with the colors and am eager to see how it knits up.  I haven’t measured either the length or the wpi of this skein, but it is all of 4.5oz.  Will be plenty for socks.

4.  Knitting continues.  I have finished not one nor two but three pairs of socks since I last posted.  First up was the Monkeys:

Not sure when I started, or even finished these.  I just know they were done when I started the next pair on Aug 15th.  Notice the lack of monkey-ness on the foot.  I went with the plain knit and opted for a smaller needle than the pattern calls for.  The socks fit my little feet perfectly.

With the leftover Lorna’s in Bittersweet, I knit a pair of socks for Miss Kat.  I did hers toe-up over 44st and used a rib lace pattern on the cuff.  I increased the stitch count the round after the short row heel to accommodate the pattern.  Miss-miss is very happy with her new socks and immediately tucked them in the nearest bag.  I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but the chick is a serious bag lady.  Everything is in bags!  Anyway… I’m very pleased with the socks and will prolly make her (and her bro) a few more pairs.  These were started on 8/18 and finished on 8/24 (my former wedding anniversary but that’s for another post

Finally there was a third pair started/finished.  More basic vanilla stockinette socks in STR Silkie Little Bunny Foo Foo colorway.  I believe I got this yarn in a swap with Dorre, for what, I don’t actually remember   Couldn’t be more standard.  US1′s, toe-up, short row heel.  blah blah blah.  Started:  8/15 Finished:  8/29.  The preschooler socks snuck in before I managed to finish both socks.

The crochet sock blankie progresses but that, like a few other projects, completely lacks updated photos.  I’m just shy of the armpits on the Tangled Yoke Cardigan.  I’ve acquired the yarn (but haven’t cast on yet) for the Hemlock blanket.  It’s rather high in the queue and I might just tackle it this weekend.  We’ll see.  I also finally dug out the much neglected Ribby that I started so very long ago.  A hidden note in the sidebar indicates that I cast on for it on 4/5/06.  I worked on it off and on, mostly off obviously, but last touched it last winter as a break from Celtic Dreams.  Seeing Deb progress on hers made me remember this bad old thing hanging about and I finally dug it out from the back of the closet where it has been hiding since I moved into my new room last February.  I’m ashamed to admit how far along I was when it went into hiding.  Earl here helped me show you:

I had completed not only the back and both sleeves, but also the right front and had done the lower ribbing on the right.  One evening in front of the TV and I had it to the armpit.  One more night and it was done.  I’ve ordered (and even received) a zipper for it, now I just need to do the fiddly things.  But first it needs a blocking.  {snicker} maybe this weekend.

That should do it for now.  Hopefully more very soon including further catch-up.  Miss you!

Craft on!