One Crazy Fiber Lady

Wow another Monday. I have to admit that my previous awesome knitting clip is slowing down. Two reasons.

First I found that I can actually read on the bus without having a queasy reaction. Yay!

Second the techie in me has been reasserting herself. I know I’ve mentioned it in the past that I’ve wanted to port my Android knitting counter app over to iOS. To that end, I’ve read books on the subject on and off for probably close to a year. Each time I feel like I’m { this } close to actually starting to code, something bad happens: hit by car, job in jeopardy, etc. But now things have settled down and last week I dug out the books again. This time it is really clicking. I wake up in the morning thinking about how to solve/code/handle various aspects of the app. A good sign! Fingers crossed that nothing bad happens (I am somewhat apprehensive as things do have a tendency to come in threes as to what would be next in that bad list).

While the knitting has been minimal it has indeed happened. Friday night on the bus I finished the first sock. This morning I did the toe on the second.

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Location:Eastway,,United States

Two days in a row?  I know, amazing   I’ve had some photos sitting on my phone for a while and finally got them onto a computer where I can type words at a significant clip rather than the hunt n peck method with just a single fingertip on the phone.  Aren’t you lucky?

A couple of weeks ago, I took the kids to the Garden State Sheep Breeders show (NJ Sheep & Wool).  I picked up a few things including THE PERFECT BUTTONS for my Kauni 2.  The monkeys had fun playing in Leann’s display…

They have a natural affinity for fiber   And some pretty good taste. They both demanded something from her booth, Alex picked yarn while Kat opted for fiber.  Training them well!

As I promised yesterday, here’s the finished socks.

• Yarn:  Forbidden Woolery Lush in Gillyweed
• Needles:  US0 Blackthorns
• Pattern:  own over 48 st – toe up
• Started:  9/4/11
• Finished: 9/15/11

The boy is quite pleased with his socks, as am I.  I found I can actually fit into them.  Sweet.  So any further socks for him are not for naught with how fast his feet are now growing.  I’ll be able to wear them when he outgrows them   Not to mention how quickly I was able to blow through this pair.

Taking the bus to work has been most helpful on the sock knitting front.  My bus ride is about an hour, give or take, depending on traffic.  I’ve moved to the bus because the three legged train to PATH to subway was sapping the life from me.  The bus is a longer commute timewise, but I don’t have as many connections to make, and I get to sit and relax for a longer stretch on both the bus and then the subway.   I always seemed to be waiting for the next conveyance, getting on and then getting off.  Exhausting I tell you!  So while the bus to subway is an hour and 45 minutes its more restful.  And it will be coming to an end.  Office move is tentative for mid-November.

I’m taking a break from the monkey demand knitting and working on a pair of socks for myself.  I’ll start in on the hats next, and then the sweaters.  Alex picked another Drive-Thru as the sweater he wants.  Checking back in my FO collection, apparently, I knit that sweater for him every two years.  Guess how long it has been since the last one?  You got it.  Two years.  Kat wants a hoodie.  Need to find a good pattern for that… though I’d be surprised if I don’t already have one somewhere.

Speaking of the bus, those of you who have never traveled via the bus lane to the Lincoln Tunnel don’t know how unnerving and disconcerting that express route can be.  Get a load of this:

Yes, we are on the same side of the road as the traffic moving AWAY from the tunnel.  The normal traffic heading to the tunnel is on the OTHER side of the concrete divider.  Takes a bit getting used to this view.  And yup, whenever possible I do try to sit in the very front of the bus.  Finds that it counters any natural tendency towards motion sickness.  Though that’s becoming less of a problem (as I hoped it would) as I was able to read on the bus last night and I was sitting way way back.  I was happy for a seat though.  The terminal was a mess last night.

Anyway, time to get back to the job.

Craft on!

I know. I had been posting regularly and then silence. Last week was a mess. Mom had cataract surgery on her left eye on Tuesday. She’s fine and quite pleased with her new vision. So I worked from home to help out on tues and weds, ‘cept I started with a miserable cold on Wednesday and spent the rest of the week sniffling. Still am actually but at least well enough to get back on the bus and head to work.

Yup I have been knitting. Finished those socks I last posted about and owe the details on. The kauni sweater is my evening baseball knitting. I started the corrugated ribbing of the first cuff last night. Let’s not discuss the Sox now. Ouch stupid Yankees. Stupid Os.

Anyway, current bus knitting is these socks. Details to follow

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Location:Broad St,Carlstadt,United States

There are pros and cons to traveling to work by bus. Which is something that I’ve been experimenting with recently. The three legged train to path to subway has been getting to me. So the only two legged option is the bus to the Port Atrocity Bus Terminal followed by the subway. There is another bus I could take to the GWB but that’s an icky ride on both the bus and subsequent long assed subway ride. So two legs is good. But the bad is something I didn’t have to deal with on the train: traffic. Ugh. Stuck in it now actually trying to get to the tunnel. But it does offer up superb knitting time.

Alex’s second sock after only two commutes by bus.

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Location:9th Ave,,United States

Yesterday was the big day, one that made my retired parents happy.  The one where the kids who had been home for the last two weeks when camp ended finally go off and do something else during the day.  Yesiree it was the first day of school.   The monkeys are now second graders.

Kathryn actually was happy about the start of school.  She just wasn’t happy about standing next to her brother.  She gets like that sometimes.   Which explains the sourpuss on her.  It also goes to explain the happy face on her brother.  Nothing like getting points with mom for not being a pain AND getting under Kat’s skin.  At the same time!  Woo hoo.

Anyway… they are now in second grade.  We’re continuing the trend started last year where they are in separate classes.  It worked out very well.  This year, they reshuffled all the teachers at our elementary school.  One of the kindergarten teachers last year is now teaching first, a second grade teacher is teaching fifth.  As it turns out, Alex’s first grade teacher, Mrs. D has moved to second grade and yes, Alex is in her class again.  He liked her very much and was happy by the results.  Kat’s teacher last year has left the district.  Not sure where she went off to, but I do wish her the best.  Kat is upset that she won’t be able to say goodbye to Mrs. P.

They had their first bit of homework last night.  Decorating their writing folders with inspirational pictures, quotes, etc.  Mom must have spent 45 minutes sifting through pictures on her computer and printing them out on label paper so they could stick em to the folder.  They’ve both loaded up with family pictures from over the years.  No, no knitting or yarn pictures, though i would have put them on mine.

Speaking of which, here’s the status of Kauni 2.  I started the first sleeve while the Sox pounded the Jays last night, 14-0.  Always happy when that happens   Its moving along.

Craft on!

Labor Day I hit the nerve wracking stage of the Kauni sweater.  The time where I finished knitting the body stitches and the next step involves a sewing machine and scissors.

1. finish body

2. The Steek helper - Vintage Singer Featherweight

3. Sew

4. Take a deep breath - there's no going back...

5. Lay it out

6. Revel in the magic

Craft on!

I finished the first items on the knitting request list. Kat now has a new pair of socks.

Kat Socks

• Yarn:  Footloose in Electric Youth
• Needles:  US0 – Blackthorn
• Toe up over 48 st. (cast on 12)
• Started:  8/30/11
• Finished: 9/4/11

She’s pleased as punch with them.  Nearly killed herself running through the kitchen with these things on.  The tile is insanely slippery.  You either need to wear shoes or walk barefoot on it.  I cast on for Alex’s sock but haven’t gotten very far.

I’ve been working on my Kauni sweater, but I think that work deserves its own posting.  I’ll put that one up tomorrow.  Instead, here are more sights of my commute.

The knit bombing was chained to a street sign under the Brooklyn Bridge.  From the datestamp, yes, I have been sitting on this for a bit.  Shortly after I took this picture, the bicycle disappeared.  I’m glad I was able to capture it when I did.

Leann requested a picture of the progress at One World Trade Center (aka Freedom Tower).  I took this one a couple of weeks ago just before I entered the WTC PATH station.

You can see it pretty well from across the East River as well…

Hope everyone who celebrates had a good Labor Day.  Ours was quiet.  Kat had a playdate.  I knitted.  We did the boat thing Sat/Sun.  All in all, a nice weekend.  Back to everything tomorrow.

Craft on!

This will be a post with lots of randomness to it.  First, the last finished project.

Spunky Neapolitan Socks

• Yarn:  Spunky Eclectic
• Colorway:  Neapolitan
• Needles:  US1
• Pattern:  Basic over 52 st
• Started: 08/03/11
• Finished: 08/27/11

Next up:

I had to restart Kat’s sock.    I started with too few stitches yesterday and wound up with a really really pointed toe.  This time, instead of six(12), I cast on 12(24) using that awesome method I linked a while ago.  I’m much further along as of my morning commute, however, I learned a very important lesson:  you can’t take a decent picture of knitware on your lap while on a moving subway train  I would have waited but next stop was mine.  Better picture tomorrow.

The kids have me dizzy.  For quite a while they not only refused to wear my handknit items, they actually pointedly asked me to buy them something instead.  Okay.  Fair enough.  I respected their wishes, and really, redirected the knitting energy on ME.  I am a selfish knitter after all.  So now?  They’ve both put in a request list:  socks, hats and sweaters!  Wow.

This has me scratching my head a bit.  All over the city, they are removing cobblestones and/or paving over them.  What’s going on out here in the boondocks known as DUMBO?

They’re actually putting down cobblestones!  I’m not a huge fan of the pretty bricks.  Chalk it up to my foot size and/or my terrible ankles, but I have a heck of a time walking on these things.  They are a broken ankle waiting to happen if you ask me!

Pet peeve:  listening to people chew.  Totally squicks me out.  Sadly, two days a week I have to hear it at work.  I have a co-worker who blessedly works from home most of the week.  I saw blessedly as when she’s here she nibbles on ice.  ALL.  DAY.  LONG.  She sits in my bionic hearing rang.  I hope after the move that my desk is across as it is getting old having to sit with the headphones in all day.  I think I’m beyond the point where I can gently ask her to knock it off in a nice way.  UGH.

I’ve discovered that this blog is good for more than figuring out when I knit something or bought this or that item.  I found a true practical usage.  Last week I suffered through a terrible headache for the better part of it.  Like always, I initially wrote it off to stress, weather, not sleeping so well, for staring at a monitor all day long… all of the above.  All good excuses for a headache, but nothing out of the ordinary that should be causing misery for that long.  Then I had a vague memory of another weeklong misery period that I remembered blogging.  I couldn’t remember when it had fallen so I did a little reading of the archives.  I found it had been in the early fall of Sept 2008 for well over a week.    I smell a pattern Batman.  I pointed it out to mom.  She went:  Hay fever.  Awesome.  I think she’s right.  I went back to taking regular allergy meds, adopted a Neti Pot and now the headache is gone.  thanks to 2008 CFL for recording this info for her future self.

Finally, we all know that I’m a bit of a collector of things:  yarn, fiber, wheels, electronics, purses.  I don’t need all the stuff I have and well, some of it needs to find new homes periodically.  I’m considering putting up a small ‘store’ on the blog, an online garage sale if you will, to find new homes for all the excess stuff.  I’d list things like the once loved by now replaced electronics, commercial and handspun yarns, fiber, and like new Coach bags.   Good idea?  Bad idea?  Feedback would be much appreciated..

We survived Irene with nothing more than a small puddle in the basement, which in itself is not unusual.  We get puddles down there with any sustained rain storm.  Same thing goes for the small lake that forms in the backyard.  There’s a low spot that formed when the tree stump that had buried back there when the pool was put in, rotted away.  Well now water congregates there during heavy storms and we have our own pond.  Its gone now, along with all the droppings the mighty oak in the middle of the yard decided to part with during the windy parts of the storm.  The kids would probably tell you that the worst part was the 8 or so hours without electricity.  I knitted and read an actual paper book during that time as I’d let my Kindle battery die before the storm and hadn’t added the current book to the iPad (and it wasn’t a book I’d purchased online) but was still sitting on my powerless desktop computer.  On the up side, I had the nice version of the book which stayed open by itself, which allowed me to knit while I read.

So with the train being out (yesterday) and requiring patience (today), I’ve been working from home.  I tell you, I do so like working this way.  I fixed all my assigned bugs yesterday while the kids had a Godzilla movie marathon.  Today, I’m reading documentation and reverse engineering a previous implementation.  I can do that AND knit as well.

Both Kat and Alex have requested hand knit socks.  Last weekend when Leann was here for a little spinning, she brought along some of her gorgeous yarns.  I let the kids each pick their own yarn for the socks.  Since I finished the last pair of socks on Saturday (will post final project details shortly), I cast on for Kat’s this morning after spending some time with her bare foot and a tape measure.  Buggers have gotten much larger since her last pair!  Still cute though   I’m enjoying the weather, sitting outside on the patio with my laptop….

• Yarn:  Footloose in Electric Youth
• Needles:  US0 – Blackthorn
• Toe up over 48 st. (cast on 12)
• Started:  8/30/11

Munchkins are off at the park with PopPop as I sit here and toil.  Okay, gotta get back to researching which is the better approach.  Boss let me know that they will be relying on my recommendation as to whether we use the new SDK or not.  I haven’t a clue at present.

Craft on!

Power is back up but without the trains I’m working from home. We are having a Godzilla film festival