One Crazy Fiber Lady

No real progress to report on the foot.  I’m able to put a bit of weight on it.  And as usual, I push it too far and hurt like hell by bed time.    I’ve been working at home which means a longer day.  I get to my computer some mornings almost an hour before I’d hit my desk at the office.  Lunch time has been a much shorter break as many days Mom brings me lunch and I eat at the computer.  And then it doesn’t end until well after I would have left the office to commute home.  Not really complaining here as I’m fortunate to have this option, but just stating a fact.

Here is a shot of my festive footwear…

It is a good solid supportive boot.  I remove it to go to sleep.  The rubber sole gives me a good foundation to step on.

And another fact?  The touchpad on my Acer laptop (no not the netbook – mom has that now – I bought a new full sized windows laptop last fall) is making me nuts.  It does this weird thing that makes me curse at it.  I think I’ll take a break from it and use the MacBook tomorrow  Options are always nice!

Anyway, enough griping.  Sitting around has brought more knitting and Sims time.  I’ve hit the 10″ mark on Redhook.

It makes for some awesome Sims knitting.  Or TV watching knitting.  I’m going to go back to it as soon as this post is done.  I’m enjoying the best part of American Idol.  These auditions are entertaining!

Finally, I haven’t posted a shot of everyone’s favorite monkeys in a while…

The Sunday of Christmas weekend, dad had the brilliant idea to bring the kids into the city to see the tree at Rock Center.  I think everyone else in the tri-state area had the same idea.  The city was PACKED.  There was no getting near the tree.  Heck we had trouble getting to the Lincoln Tunnel to get into the city.  We wound up driving to Hoboken, taking the PATH train to 33rd street and walking up town.  The above shot was taken right in front of the NY Public Library.  The monkeys kept asking if they could climb on the lions.  Sigh.

Time to go back to knitting.

Craft on!

After almost a week of no difference, my foot is finally feeling better.  It wasn’t so much the ankle that was damaged this go around but foot itself.  I essentially stood en pointe with no training or preparation for that matter, on a dead asleep foot.  I wouldn’t recommend it.  But finally on Thursday, it started feeling a little better.  I can move my toes much better and have regained a great deal of strength.  The outside edge of my foot still has a sore spot but my friendly podiatrist doesn’t think there’s a break, but more of a contusion.   Another week or so and I should be almost back to normal.  Good thing too, we leave in 4 weeks for a 10 day Caribbean cruise!

Knitting has been reduced this week as I’m back to work, even if it is remotely.  I did have my bi-weekly work planning meeting and knit while chatting over the speaker phone.  I’ve made decent progress on Redhook, getting past the 5″ of ribbing at the hem and into the plain knit body.

It is knit in one piece to the armholes.  I like this kind of knitting!

Dad is going to take the monkeys shopping this afternoon so I’ll be making more progress on this sweater.  I need to install the recent patch to the Sims 3 and I’ll have the perfect accompaniment to this project.  Maybe I can get the next generation of my legacy family off the ground.  Which reminds me, I never did set up the Sims blog on the new host.  Should I?

Craft on!

I’m still off my foot but I’m getting way better with the crutches

All photos courtesy of the iPhone as the other cameras are still across the room.

I consider it fortuitous that I switched that Jenny Lund armchair in my bedroom for the Poang chair and ottoman that it had once replaced.  I realized over Christmas weekend that I couldn’t spin in the Jenny Lund any better than I could in the Poang.  So I swapped them, putting the Poang back in my room and the armchair into the den.  So at least I’ve been comfy the last few days.    As a plus, I found I can attach my ballwinder to the arm of the Poang!  Came in handy…

Yesterday, after knitting incessantly on the Red Tweed sweater, I found the darn thing was far too big.  My gauge was off.  Instead of the 6st/in that I initially got, I measured 5.5st/in.  Turned my 38″ sweater into something that I could felt or frog…

Felting Rowan Felted Tweed didn’t seem right.  So I frogged.

I cast on for Redhook with the same yarn.  I did a huge gauge swatch for this one and am getting the requisite 5.5 st/in

Two finished objects to show off now.  Not too long ago, Alex requested hand knit socks.  That is a request that this knitting mama could seriously oblige.  I went stash diving and came up with a skein of Opal Rainforest in blues.  While I had the first one half done during a work planning meeting, and finished shortly thereafter, the project has languished while I finished up the gift knitting and a variety of other things.  I pulled it out yesterday after deciding the red tweed was DOA.  I knit the second sock yesterday.  Just in time too, it is FREEZING out there.  Boy wore them to school this morning.

Fraternal twins.  My favorite!  They are toe-up, 12 st turkish cast on, increased to 48 stitches on a US0.

Way back at the Garden State fiber festival, the twins each picked a braid of BFL from SeeKay.  I intended to make this year’s hats from the spun fiber.  I spun up the blue/yellow/green braid (Sunshine Day) that Alex picked way back in November.   Its been finished for ages now.  This morning I started a hat for him,  Hurricane Hat.

I finished it about an hour ago while watching season 1 disk 3 of Big Bang Theory (OMG that show is so frakkin’ funny! )  Today was a planned day off, using up my last day from 2009 so I tried to make the most of it.  The pattern is an easy one and I cranked it out in about 3 hours.  Maybe less.  Hope boy likes it.

Happy New Year everyone!

Thank you all for your warm wishes regarding my injured ankle.    I guess I need to explain how it happened.  I was working at my desk, moving my blog from one host to another well into the evening on Tuesday.  By 12:45 AM Wednesday, I decided it was time for bed.  Unfortunately, I’d been sitting on my foot and it was well asleep when I stood up.  I figured if I was careful, I’d be okay.  I slowly made my way across my bedroom when about 2 steps from my goal, I apparently caught my big toe on the area carpet.  I then stepped down on the dead foot, folding it.  I heard an audible crunch and even though the foot was asleep, felt it sharply.   Ouch.

So that’s the story.  I did a stoopid thing and now I know better.  The ER doctor directed me to follow up with a podiatrist within 3 days.  Fortunately, a friend of mine’s husband is just that.  The stars aligned on Wednesday as it was holiday SnB at Panera, Tami was going and since she sprained her ankle a few weeks ago, her podiatrist husband was bringing her again this week.  I had called her as a fellow left ankle sprain buddy as I left the ER.  She contacted her hubby and he said he’d see me that night if I could make it there.   Not one to miss a SnB for something minor like a sprained ankle, I made it there with much help from mom.

A thorough exam in the corner of Panera (the weirdest location I’ve even been in and I’m now sporting a serious boot and have a script for an NSAID.  We’re in the stay off it and let it rest phase now.  Might need an MRI in a week or so to see how bad the muscle damage is.  I have seriously reduced strength in my foot and can barely move my toes up or down.  There’s also some ligament damage and IIRC an entrapped nerve.  Hey, if you’re going to do it, you do it right

This has given me some bonus knitting time though!  Recently all my knitting time has been on the train.  Home time was spinning time.  Not so much right now, though it is a good thing I have all those single treadle spinning wheels!  So I’ve been knitting.  I’m working on a top down raglan using Rowan Felted Tweed.  I started it a week ago.  I put the sleeve stitches on waste yarn while sitting in the ER waiting for the Doctor to read my X-rays.  At last measure, during the first period of the Winter Classic, I was 2.5″ from starting the ribbing at the hem.

Sorry for the craptastic picture but the real camera is across the room.  The iPhone was far closer  I dearly love this yarn.  It is my favorite shade and I’m really enjoying working with it.

I have other projects, knitting and weaving to show, all finished, but the shots haven’t been downloaded out of the big camera yet, so they’ll have to wait as well.  Suffice it to say that while I haven’t been blogging, I have still been busy.  I split teacher gifts between knitted and woven this year.   I finally got my floor loom out of storage, replaced the metal heddles with texsolv ones and even warped it.  I’ve used my Schacht Flip Rigid Heddle a couple of times.  So yes, I keep myself occupied.

OK, the family is off at Kohl’s doing a little shopping.  I’m going to return to this sweater and the remainder of the Winter Classic.

Craft on!

Since my last post, we had halloween!

I started and finished a sweater for the little miss:

Project details are over here.

I started a sweater for me:

Project details are over here.

I started a sweater for the little mister:

Project details for this one are here.

Yesterday, I saw this pattern and just had to make it for my littlest niece.

All this knitting, with the exception of a purchase of a single skein of red yarn for the Monster Butt has been out of stash. ¬†The youngins went shopping in my stash to pick out the colors for the Drive-Thrus. ¬†That sweater remains my absolute favorite pattern for kids. ¬†The yarn I’m using for Eyelet Cardi was added to stash in February to knit another ChicKnits pattern but was redirected to this one.

This morning we got up rather early for a Sunday, got dressed quickly and had some breakfast before heading out to stand in line. ¬†The pediatrician’s office received their requested H1N1 vaccines and scheduled today from 9 to 1 to give the vaccines. ¬†We got there about 9:30 and after an hour wait, wrestled two reluctant kids into holding still and baring their arms, they were inoculated. ¬† This was followed by a trip to the dollar store for a reward for being good. ¬†Ha. ¬†Anyway, the rest of the afternoon has been spent outdoors, enjoying the surprise 66F day.

While the twins did this:

I played with this:

The fiber is BFL from SeeKay in Sunshine Day. ¬†I bought this fiber at the NJ festival in Sept. ¬†As you can see, I’m spinning it on the Kromski Sonata. ¬†She makes a lovely outdoor wheel

When I finished the second bobbin (the first 2oz were spun at Jessica’s house yesterday), I pulled out another project.

Oh yeah, that project was on another wheel  This would be the second half of the 4oz of BFL, also from SeeKay at NJ, but in Rubies.

When that was done, I pulled out yet another spinning project in progress:

Bet you thought it was going to be another wheel ¬†This is the Pumpernickel n Jam batt that I got from Into the Whirled at Rhinebeck on the midi Bosworth spindle also from Rhinebeck. ¬†I’m tired now

Outside the hobbies, I’ve been downright exhausted. ¬†We’ve changed development methodologies at work moving to an Agile system. ¬†Instead of only working on one particular area of the application, I’m now working on things across the entire system regardless of expertise. ¬†It has been like starting a brand new job. ¬†My brain is overloading with all this knowledge! ¬†I come home, have dinner, get the kids in bed and then by 9, I’m having a hard time keeping my eyes open. ¬†I’m hoping that as I get experience in the other areas of the app, I’ll be able to stay up like a big girl again. ¬†On top of this, there’s been drama that I just didn’t need. ¬†Oh well.

I’m off to ply the SeeKay singles into some yarn. ¬†The kids picked those rovings for their winter hats for this year. ¬†While it might be 66F today, that will not last much longer!

Craft on!

Any surprise that I totally blew that Sunday / Wednesday posting thing one week in? ¬†No? ¬†Good. ¬†You shouldn’t be. ¬†Any surprise that I totally missed my blogiversary, 5th at that!, yesterday? ¬†I’m not either. ¬†Oh well.

On Friday, the twins turned six. ¬†I can’t believe it has been six years since these:

became these:

I blinked and they became six year old kindergartners. I’m loving the little people that they’ve grown into (though I could skip the whole “I hate you” when I tell them to do something they’d rather not).

Happy birthday my babies.  I love you.

Today, with everyone off, we made the annual trip to an orchard to pick apples. ¬† Found a new place this year in Morris county that had young trees with fruit low enough for the monkeys to get by themselves. ¬†If my math is right, we came home with 15lbs of apples, mixed between baking and eating kinds ¬†I love apples. ¬†Couldn’t nibble my way through the orchard for a change as the digestive system is still somewhat on the fritz.

Yesterday morning I finished knitting Rhinebeck. ¬†After the awful game was over, I set it to soak in the washing machine and then set it out to dry once it had a good spin. ¬†On the way home from the orchard, we stopped by JoAnn’s and I picked up a couple of button candidates. ¬†I ordered a couple of others online. ¬†Hopefully they’ll all be here before the drop dead button sewing on day, Friday. ¬†Here’s the first two candidates:

and on the sweater…

I’m leaning towards the 4 hole button. ¬†If nothing else arrives before friday that is better, these are the buttons you’ll see on saturday, on this sweater!!!!!

This meant I needed another project.  I broke out the box of lace yarns I bought from Knit Picks in January and cast on for Bohus Inspired Pullover from Knit So Fine.

At 7 st/in on US4 needles, this isn’t going to be the quick project that Rhinebeck was!

Craft on

You and I both know, I’m not really good at regularly scheduled updates. ¬†I can post every day for a while and then go days/weeks/months without a word. ¬†I’m going to try for a more regular schedule, something like Wednesdays and Sundays. ¬†They seem pretty well spaced. ¬†But then again, there is my newly discovered distaste of structure for structure’s sake.

Anyway… Sunday I did spent with the Sox and Rhinebeck. ¬†I got much further than I expected to during the game. ¬†Before the end of the third inning, I’d finished the back. ¬†Before the end of the 7th, the left front was done and the 3 needle bind off of that shoulder was done. ¬†I took a break for dinner and the ritualistic washing of the children. ¬†Another hour or so before bed and I had the right front completed as well.

Progress slowed to a crawl from there though. ¬†Being home sick isn’t good for my knitting production. ¬†Well it is good for knitting, depending on the illness at hand, but this tummy bug didn’t preclude actually working. ¬†I pulled out the laptop and telecommuted. ¬†Yay!

Boo for knitting though. ¬†No commuting = reduced knitting time. ¬†I did pick up the stitches for the first sleeve on Sunday, but hadn’t progressed much further until last night when I returned to it in earnest. ¬†Between that and the commute in this morning, I’m a goodly way into the sleeve.

(Click for big) .  I should have the sleeve done this evening with the outside chance of getting the stitches picked up for the second sleeve as well.

I don’t think I’m going out on a particularly rickety limb by saying that I should have this done for the big festival. ¬†But I know better than to piss off the fickle knitting goddess

Craft on!

This morning when I went out to feed Bandit, I discovered he had a new neighbor.  There is a new spinner in the neighborhood!

This work of lace is stretched between the house and one of the tomato plant stakes. ¬†Beautiful work that this lace knitter appreciates. ¬†Talk about cobweb ¬†Without having searched the ‘net, I’m pretty sure this is one of the billionty types of orb spiders. ¬†Pretty huh?

Further playing with the new lens, I spotted these two cuddled up on the bed when I came back in..

Duchess has stopped losing weight and has even gained back the weight she lost. ¬†The thyroid medication has been working nicely for her. ¬†We reduced her initial dosage and she’s stabilized. ¬†She gets half a pill, twice a day. ¬†We initially ground it up and mixed it with sour cream, but I guess she got bored of that and stopped eating it. ¬†Now we mix with baby food meats, either turkey or chicken. ¬†Totally scarfs it down. ¬†The others get a dab of it in the morning as well. ¬†Speaking of the other…

Yup, no lion cut for her this year! ¬†Yay. ¬†Trying to go for a second year now ¬†I have to get her over to the groomer for a much needed bath though. ¬†Don’t you just love that underbite?

The folks took the twins to the boat today for the last visit of the year. ¬†I opted to stay home. ¬†There’s a bit of a tummy bug traveling through the house. ¬†My turn came up last night. ¬†Yay ¬†So I’m spending the day with the last regular game of the season and Rhinebeck. ¬†Here’s how the sweater stands now:

and a loving close up:

Yup. ¬†Love this sweater. ¬†As you can see, I’m finished with the textured bottom of the sweater. ¬†I’m halfway through the plain knitting of the back. ¬†I should be able to finish that up while watching the Sox.

Well, I’m going to do a few things before the 1:35 game so that I can knit and watch guilt free.

Craft on!

This is going to be one of those “little bit of this, little bit of that” posts.

Here are the monkeys heading off for their first day of kindergarten..

Aren’t they cute? ¬†Okay, so this picture is almost a month old at this point. ¬†They’ve been doing very well, getting homework every night except Friday and are generally enjoying it. ¬†Last week they had a class field trip to the Museum of Natural History in NYC. ¬†Mom went as a¬†chaperon/helper type.

They are still at the center where they spent the last two years in Pre-K. ¬†My town does not have full day KG so this offered the best option for us. ¬†The program is fully accredited and children usually come out of it way ahead of their public school future classmates. ¬†It also offered the advantage of being able to transition into the KG class for summer camp. ¬†They joined this group right after graduation in June so they were more than ready for a day without a nap. ¬†Sort of. ¬† Once school started, Kat was wiped out and on more than a few nights, she’s punked out way early. ¬†Its all good though.

I took the monkeys to the Garden State Sheep Breeders show a couple of weeks back. ¬†The car is amazing still covered in mud from the field. ¬†The recent rain hasn’t cleaned it. ¬†I’m going to have to suck it up and wash it ¬†Anyway, we had a good time at the festival. ¬†Its the perfect size for bringing the monkeys to before their heads explode. ¬†I forgot to take pictures. ¬†Again. ¬†Yes. ¬†But I did get this one:

Again, how cute are they?  There was some stash enhancement, but needless to say no pictures of it.

In other news, I need to update the herd status.  There have been some transactions with regards to the spinning wheels.

This wheel?

SOLD.

This wheel?

SOLD.

This wheel?

BOUGHT

It was requested that I provide a closer up view of Fair Isle.  You asked for it:

Taken this morning in the car (duh) while waiting for the train

Finally, with 17 days left until Rhinebeck, here is how Rhinebeck started off this morning:

It is approx 6.5″ at this point. ¬†The plain knitting starts at the 13″ mark. ¬†I’m getting there. ¬†I’ve found it is perfect knitting for playing Sims to while watching the ballgame. ¬†Yes I am a multitasker

Craft on!

The last 4 or 5 days have been primarily about finishing off projects.  Partly because it is a new year, but mostly because NYSW is coming up and I need to justify the purchases

Thursday night at SnB, I finished the socks from the Into the Whirled that I apparently bought from Cris at the Clermont festival during the spring.  As a reminder, I spun it on the Victoria over the July 4th holiday.  I just loved working with it!

Full project details are here (Ravelry).  This means I can buy more fiber from her

Saturday, I spent the day with an old hobby that has gotten the short straw. ¬†Every now and again I really get the weaving bug. ¬†Well, I got it again. ¬†Nope, didn’t get the big floor loom out of storage, nor did I use the table top loom I bought last fall. ¬†I did get my Kromski Harp Rigid Heddle out of storage and used that. ¬†As a matter of full disclosure, I’ve placed an order for a 20″ Schacht Flip RH loop with stand that should be delivered tomorrow, but I couldn’t wait. ¬†We’ll also ignore the 16″ Ashford RH that I have still in the box. ¬†I have since sold the Kromski and am debating selling the Ashford. ¬†But I might keep it for the kids to use. ¬†We’ll see.

Anyway, I had picked up at MY from the 50% off shelf a couple of skeins of Rowan Handknit Cotton. ¬†I know, Risa bought cotton. ¬† I still won’t knit with it, but weaving is a different story ¬† I warped up the Kromski using the 10 dent heddle with 160 ends approx 62″ each. ¬†That direct warping method is amazing. ¬†I had it fully dressed and ready to weave in an hour and a half. ¬†AMAZING! ¬†Even more amazing, I finished weaving by dinner time. ¬†I had a miscalculation somewhere and while I was aiming for two kitchen towels, I wound up with one 14.5″ x 25″ (plus fringe) and one that was quite a bit shorter at washcloth length. ¬†I ran it through the sewing machine on Sunday to zigzag the ends in place.

I’m pleased. ¬†Looking forward to the new loom to arrive so I can eat up some more yarn. ¬†I’m thinking this year’s teacher gifts will be woven scarf/shawls. ¬†I saw examples on Ravelry of gorgeous scarves woven from one skein of Noro Sock. ¬†I have a few of them skeins! ¬†Though I figure for teacher gifts that I was thinking a sock yarn that is soft and squooshy and kettle dyed. ¬†Tina, you have anything like that?

While I had the sewing machine out, I remembered the fair isle cardigan that has been moldering waiting for me to sew the steek.  So I pulled it out and finally did it.  After cleaning up the sewing area of lots of cut yarn (think fringe), I grabbed the button tin and picked out some lovelies for the sweater.  By dinner the bands had been knitted and the buttons sewed on.

I said I had been busy.  Full project details are here.

While I was busy finishing things, there was something else that needed finishing. ¬†Ballerina. ¬†Over the last couple of weeks I’d finished the last short row triangle for the front, picked up and knitted the front band. ¬†The only thing remaining was the white bands at the ends of the sleeves, sewing the arm and weaving in ends. ¬†By 1opm last night, I was done.

Now I have my choice of Rhinebeck sweater  Project details are here.

This meant I had no active knitting projects. ¬†That just isn’t acceptable! ¬†So today while trying to keep my mind off food, I pulled out the border leicester yarn. ¬†I spun this yarn on the Van Eaton wheel and plied a couple of weekends ago on the Womack. ¬†That was ALOT of plying. ¬†Two bumps of roving purchased last year at NYSW translated into 1500 yards of worsted weight yarn.

I pulled out my favorite book, A Fine Fleece, ¬†and cast on for Rhinebeck. ¬† It tickles me no end to be knitting a sweater named that with fiber I bought there. ¬†There’s an outside chance I could finish it FOR Rhinebeck. ¬†Now wouldn’t that be something!

Craft on!