The main color for one hat becomes the contrast for the next hat, and on and on...There are so many beautiful colors to play around with. There are 3 women at work having babies around the same time and there is going to be a joint shower in May. I can't believe I finished these with time to spare!
Longest blog break ever! And it was a knitting break, too. All I produced this whole summer were these two socks for Lisa Lloyd's patterns, Corduroy Sock in cranberry and Fence Row in blues, both samples which are now photographed on the patterns. The patterns are a joy to work up, especially in Barb Parry's gorgeous new line of sock yarn at Foxfire Fibers. After I sent these off, I started a new pair of Corduroy socks in some Trekking I had laying around.
This summer was chock full of activity. I ran our a local team of 65 swimmers. We went to Aruba with my sister's family. We have been hosting German visitors for 2 weeks. I was away a couple times with my daughter at her swim meets. And I negotiated and accepted a new full time job which starts in a couple weeks.
I have been trying to set up support systems for myself to ensure that I can handle the job without losing my mind! Cleaning services, help with driving kids around from a high school senior we know, and grocery delivery should help. I am also going with a friend to one of these meal preparation places where you assemble meals, bring home and freeze for later use.
Hopefully, there will be time for knitting. I've come to accept the fact that the next few years may be lean knitting years with my kids at the stages they are in and me working. I'm going to just keep plugging away with this quiet little blog, though. It calms me down to know it's still here.
Ok, so I didn't do the knitting. Just the finishing. Occasionally, someone will come in to the shop and ask to have a sweater finished. In this case, the client dropped the sweater off during one of my classes. After she left, I heard one of the students whisper "cheater".
Now, now, be nice. The woman had a two year old and an infant in tow.
Here are some things I consider before saying "sure! I'll finish it for you!":
In the past month, I have increased my days working to full time. Not the best timing with all the end of the year activities going on! On the home front, it reminds me of the days when we were both working full time when Maddy was a baby. Both spouses working equally forces a more democratic division of labor at home. There aren't "my jobs", just things that need to get done, and we need to work as a team to figure out who is going to do what. It's been good practice for the Fall, when, after having a nice summer off, I am hoping to go back to a new full time position...
We are all having fun knitting the Moebius scarves from Cat Bohrdi's book, Magical Knitting. You need a long circular needle, 47" or longer. Imagine that needle coiled up once, as it is in the package, sort of. You do her magical cast-on and start knitting in the round. The result is a tube with a twist, knitted from the center out, around and around. It is too hard to explain, even harder to see what you are doing when you are actually doing it.
The Noro Silk Garden version used 2 skeins and was done on a 10.5 needle, only because it was the only size I had in a 47" length. It came out nice a drapey. Details to follow on version two pictured above...
These are great carry around projects, once you cast on. The magic is that you really don't see the finished result until it is off the needle, which is part of the fun. They are relatively quick and don't use a ton of yarn, so it's worth the gamble in time and materials to play around and see what you get!
A tornado touched down in my neighborhood last Wednesday. This was what remains of our neighbor's shed. It is wooded where we live, with very large trees. Branches broke off and impaled themselves into the ground.
It all happened so quickly. I was in the car with my daughter when it got very dark and the car was rocked by the wind. We were frantically trying to get home to meet the boys off the bus, but every road we turned down was blocked by fallen trees and wires. Luckily, they got into the house safely and we arrived home a few minutes later.
This gives you an idea of the scale of the trees that came down. That's Maddy in the corner.
Power outages closed schools for two days. On Thursday, with nothing to do inside, the kids ran around outside all day playing adventurous games and checking out the damage. Wednesday night, all the neighbors came to our house for Chinese food in candlelight. Last night, we went to their house and grilled burgers and dogs by the campfire. When the lights flickered on at 4 a.m., I hopped up and turned everything off and went back to sleep, full of relief that I won't have to endure another day with no power (and no plumbing as we have well water). What a fun adventure it's been!
Added later...I let the kids take the camera around to shoot some photos and these were taken by them. It's fun to see their perspective, plus it was nice and quiet at home while they were out talking to our neighbors to get their first hand accounts of the story...
I substituted the Artyarns SR for the Fiesta Yarns La Luz called for in the pattern. Using a larger needle, I got a slightly larger scarf. Artyarns SR is a silk/mohair combinatation with a glitter silvery thread running through. The pattern is available free through Interweave Knits, Summer 2006, also online for free.
There are 8 panels of arrowhead lace, separated by bands of stockinette. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't capture the halo of the yarn, the soft variagated grey and mauve bands of color, and the pretty silver glitter of the yarn in my photos! This scarf was started and almost completed on my vacation - it was a perfect take along project.
The other day I was in our local bookshop and I came upon this book. I decided to treat myself, because, well, just because. That evening, I got into bed and read the book cover to cover, like a novel. I have always admired Barbara Albright, and have always been curious about her because she lived in Wilton, CT, one town over from where I live.
Beyond the beautiful projects and photos, there are pages and pages of information about all natural fibers from llamas, sheep, goats, bunnies and more, plus a wide range of plant fibers. It's fun to read about the entrepreneurs who are producing fiber, some were new to me, some like old friends, Peace Fleece, Morehouse Merino and on and on.
This book combines patterns, with useful information about fiber and fiber people, making it a nice addition to my knitting library.
It's so sad to think about the passing of Barbara Albright. She died in 2006 at age 51, from a brain tumor, leaving behind her husband and two children. There is a lovely page in the back of the book that lists her many publishing accomplishments in the knitting and food industries, her books leaving a lasting legacy to her loves of fiber and food.
One thing I did not find in the book...a project idea for the yarn pictured above, a 50/50 wool/possum blend that my husband recently brought back from New Zealand.
