Woof

Not much knitting to post. Still working on the Stole-that-never-ends. I'm also working on some socks for a friend. I was already working on them, then found out she ended up in the ICU, so, suddenly, these socks seem so much more important...even though she lives in Phoenix and probably won't need socks for about 6 months, if then. :) Deborah Norville Serenity sock yarn in Surf.

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I managed to mail off the baby blanket, hat, and socks to the growing boy, as well as the socks for another good friend. Those were supposed to be birthday socks, but since they are about two months late, we are going with lovely surprise socks. :)

Here is a peek at the Stole-t-n-e. You can also see my helper. What is is with knitters and cats? Or lesbians and cats? I got a cat before I ever was either!

I had another date tonight with one of the ladies I've been seeing, but she isn't feeling well so we rescheduled to Saturday. It is a good sign that she felt bad and requested a rescheduling right? :) We get along really well, this one and I, and I enjoy talking to her. This is not the one who spins, but she does knit. I have been communicating with a fourth lady, but she is being slow on the uptake and her opportunities to meet me are diminishing rapidly, both because other people are filling my time, and because I don't like it when people feel flaky.

That is all for now. Still reading Yarnagogo. It is fun, but it does make me wish I was in a LTR again. Oh well, she will arrive whenever she needs to. Until then, I've got a business to plan and stuff to do, right??

For now, I'll enjoy my weekly quality time with this new lady:

I know, I'd be jealous too. :)

Spinning

So, I spent this past Saturday at the house of my first date from last week, J. She and I had yummy food, knitted, and she taught me to spin! She is also letting me borrow one of her wheels, plus she brought roving too, so I can spin on my own. It is really fun and driving me completely crazy, but that is part of the learning process huh?

Here is my first skein (on top of the lace stole I am knitting - which is taking Forevah!!) It is Alpaca and is Navajo plied. So pretty huh?? No clue what I'll do with it, but I'll figure something out, or maybe I'll just keep it and hold it sometimes. :)

Here is a shot she got of me actually spinning. I generally dislike shots of myself, but this one is mostly about the spinning, so it is all good. I have to admit that I'm pretty good at spinning. Even when it is screwing up, which seems to be happening a bunch now that J isn't there to tell me what I'm doing wrong, I can get fairly even thickness and that thickness is generally thin, which means when it is plied it will not be quite so big. I tend to like sock weight or DK weight, so I really want to be consistently spinning very thin singles so they can even out to a lighter weight yarn. J spins like THREAD weight singles....they are so gorgeous. That is my goal.

What I've been working on the past couple of days. I still can't quite imagine actually knitting it up and having it look good. I sometimes forget that I've already spun and knit an entire project! I wonder how much yarn this will make if I Navajo ply it, which I plan on doing, mostly because I have only two bobbins and don't feel like balling it all up to double ply.

So, second dates for two of the three women I met last week. Go me. Not sure about the third. She seems cool, but is pretty busy. I'll probably text her today to say hi. I am really looking forward to my second date with A tomorrow actually. It is at one of my favorite places with a big outdoor patio. I hope it isn't packed! 

If I can just get the rest of my life to start following my home life (which is amazing right now) and my dating life (so far!) then I would be super excited. Mostly, I just need to get money coming in the door. 

And just to add some adorableness....I just can't get over how cute Sam is! She slays me.

Dating

Date number two went really well. She has the same birthday as I do, though two years later, and she is geeky in all the right ways. It is likely I will have a date with a third person this weekend (if I can figure out the time). I'm not a player, I swear, I just also don't want to end up settling for anyone (or them for me) and it takes me some time to get to know people. The first lady will be making me some food on Saturday and that sounds like a great time. Maybe she will help me spin as beautifully as she does!!

I have been in contact with my first love for a while now and recently had a dream where we were in a submarine and all this crazy stuff happened. I told him about the dream, but I refrained from mentioning all of the making out we did in said dream. I don't want to tell him, but I wanted to tell someone I guess, so hi world, here ya go! Not that anyone is reading this, so I'm fairly safe. Anyway, he had a dream about me, no details beyond I was in it and I had his back. Part of me wants him to have romantic dreams about me, but in reality, I don't want romance with him anymore, but I miss the closeness we once had. Oh well. Being in some communication with him is good. Unfortunately, his partner seems to be rather jealous of me...not that she needs to be, and I find that frustrating. I am so not a threat to her!!

Anyway, maybe I just miss kissing people. I wonder if any of these ladies are good kissers and would be willing to make out a little, but not have it be a binding sort of relationship thing right now? Probably not. Oh well.

I got a phone call, so I got distracted. I forgot what else I was going to talk about. Gonna log off now and head to bed soon! Toodles.

Project update

Today was actually a very productive day, something I haven't had much of lately. I had a lovely breakfast with a friend, did some yard work, bought food and a new cat tree for the kittehs (their old cat tree finally died), and grocery shopped (long overdue). Not much by many people's standards (or my old ones), but recently it seems like a lot. Now I'm catching up on some TV and writing. I do need to put that cat stand together...

I had a lovely date (in two parts) on Saturday with a new lady who also knits and spins. She has a spinning wheel. Is it strange to find that very alluring? :) We seemed to have a connection, so we will be having another date this weekend, she has offered to cook and show me her wheel. Oooooo! I probably have another date on Tuesday night, with a different person, who also knits. I'm not quite ready to settle down yet, but I am enjoying meeting new people.  

It is sunny, quiet, and cool in the house. Just one of those gorgeous days that Portland gives you to remind you that 1) she can be kind and 2) why you decided to move here in the first place. When the rain and cold of winter make you dream of moving to southern AZ, she pulls out a day like this and says,"It's so hot down there...don't you want to stay here with lush, beautiful me? See how I shine in the sun?" And you sigh as you agree that moving to the desert is a horrible idea. Of course, the next day, she may slap you with a freezing rain, or clouds for a week, but you remember how stunning she is in that sun and you hunker down to wait for summer. I love it here.

Here are some of the projects I've finished in the last year or so. I haven't been very prolific, but I have been happy with what has come off of my needles. 

This is what I have dubbed the Harry Potter Blanket. The colored squares were designed by Marie Wright as individual squares, I think a lot of people may use them as washcloths. I designed the black squares, I posted a picture of them a couple of posts ago. They have a lightening HP on them, like the movies have. Unfortunately, the black makes it difficult to see. The blanket turned out really well. I made it with Shine and this is probably one of my favorite cotton blends to work with. I'm repeating some of this information from the previous post, but I thought it would be nice to have it with the finished picture. I am considering selling this, but I haven't decided yet. I may just bundle it off to Seattle to my friend K.

Got some baby blankets done this past year too. The following two are both the same design, Pine Forest Baby Blanket. It is simple and lovely and really easy to do without a lot of thought once you get the pattern down. The yarn is Madelinetosh Vintage, which has recently become a big favorite. It is cushy and lush and the colors are brilliant! This one is in Norway Spruce:

And this is in Byzantine:

Another baby blanket (yes they have been arriving all year!) This is the Sheldon blanket again, but in Lion Brand Homespun. Hate the yarn, liked the final product. Famile likes it too. :)

 Now, I usually despise novelty yarn, but a friend of mine asked me to make a scarf out of Sashay (in Tango, seen here) and then sent a bunch more yarn (most of it novelty, unfortunately but some sock yarn!) and said she wanted it as her Christmas present. How could I refuse? It is fiddly and I had to make up my own "pattern" for the scarf because the directions on the ball made no sense, but I love how it turned out. Enough to go buy more in Salsa for a scarf of my own. It isn't horrible, just slow going.

The hats that I currently have are awful and it is always a good idea to have a good cap (or three) here in cold, wet Portland. I grabbed some Madelinetosh chunky (in Charcoal and Ox Blood) and made Andrea Goutier's Hurricane Hat. It was simple and I get lots of complements. :) The Ox Blood one isn't done. I also had enough to make a wee hat for my nephew!

Now for a mess of socks. I didn't do anything special on any of them except the last two:

Serenity in Cinnamon. These are a bit loose, so I am adjusting for other socks made with this yarn.

We wear flip-flops as shoes in this house (old old wooden floor with tiny nails that pop up, one needs to stay shod), so Tabi socks are the way to go when it comes to winter socks. (it also stays chilly in the house so we definitely want socks with our flip-flops!!) I'll probably start a few for my new housemate at some point...

The final product of the toe I showed earlier. Mini Mochi in Earthy Tones.

Cascade yarns Eco Alpaca in Chestnut Twist, which is ridiculously soft and I've already worn a hole in these over the winter!! My ex requested a full body suit complete with feet, mittens and a hood after she touched it. I dubbed these the Alpaca Socks of Yumminess.

Chroma Yarn from Knit Picks, in New England.

These are my "sunshine socks". The color made me think of sunshine, something that is usually in short supply here in the winter. I adore them. More Madelinetosh! This time in Chamomile, which seems just right for a naturopath...calming, sunny, herbal. :)

I used the tail end of the Chamomile to make these wee socks for my nephew (need to mail them before his feet get too big) and finished the cuff with the purple left over from my niece's socks. They are adorable. Oh, and for size reference, those are tiny daffodils.

For my dear friend A, who does not wear wool well, but has a perfect foot size for experimenting with different sock ideas, Crystal Palace often comes to the rescue. This colorway is BBQ sauce. I adore it. The pattern is a modification of one I have in a stitch dictionary called a Turkish Chain. I like how it turned out, though it doesn't have quite the same look as the original stitch. My housemate modeled for me (as I have gargantuan feet) and then one of the socks promptly disappeared during their pre-mailing wash. I hope it comes back soon. 

That's all for now. I've got a lace shawl on the needles as well as some plain socks. Neither is really ready for the camera. I hope I can properly block the shawl...I'm not a big blocker. I guess that is what the intarwebs are for huh? :)

Have a lovely day, to anyone who might read this.

New year, new everything

It has been over a year and what a year it was! 2012 kicked my buttocks and I was happy to see it go. I graduated from naturopathic medical school, studied a lot, took my medical boards, spent 2 great weeks with my family and friends, spent two fairly miserable weeks in Montana (though it is so beautiful there!, broke up with my girlfriend of 4 years, and still lived with her for almost 4 months after we broke up! Oh yeah, and two of my best friends moved out of state. Whew.

2013 started out so much better though. A freshly empty house (the ex brought a majority of the furniture into the relationship...thank the goddess I still had my bed and that I got the dresser), an AMAZING new housemate, who's praises cannot be sufficiently sung, a short new romance that really helped me over a bit more of the hurt, a newly minted medical license, some new friends, and a ton of support from my old friends. I am truly blessed.

I've been reading www.yarnagogo.com which is written by Rachael Herron. I read one of her knitting books and just loved it. Now I am vicariously living through her life from 10 years ago via her blog archives. I see some of what I am going through in her posts, though she is infinitely more cool than I am/ever was and she knits things that are so much more interesting than I do. Though, I do wonder if we always thing what we make is just ok, and even the most simple things that others make are just so amazing!! Works of art really!! Anyway, makes me want to be a knitting blogger who becomes famous and well read. Doubtful, but who knows! Maybe if I update this thing more often and change the name to something more catchy, I could. Yarn...stat! :)

I have more pictures to add and I will do that over the next few days. Maybe writing on this, relatively unseen blog will help clear out the rest of the cobwebs and get me moving on more important things like my practice webpage and activist blog. Not yarn activism, but size activism. Yarn activism though....save the sheep? Yeah, not really a thing huh?

Lots to do tomorrow though, so this cat is headed to bed. I thought I'd throw up one of the pictures I'm most proud of recently. This blanket is going to my friend's new baby (I wish I could take it personally). I knitted some of the Oregon coast into it on my birthday trip out there this year and couldn't resist making sure it got a good picture with the ocean. He'll love it.

blankets galore

So, I'm at 86 hexipuffs now. 86 out of 300 and something.....I should put together a portion of the blanket and see how big I will really want it to figure out how many I will actually need. It's kind of exciting to be getting near 100. :) I started on October 4, 2011. We'll see how long this booger actually takes. :)

The past month or so hasn't been super productive. I made another pair of kid knee socks for my niece. Her socks also have a rune on them, it is Ansuz, which transliterates to "A", her first initial. Her mom said that they love the socks and she wanted to wear hers all night. :) That will bring a smile to your face!

Here is a closeup of the rune:

I am also working on a Harry Potter blanket. The designs for the colored squares are from Marie Wright (this is just one pattern). I liked her squares so much that I decided to make them into a blanket. The main issue I was having was that she only did 12 squares and that would make a nice baby blanket, but I wanted an adult blanket. So, I designed another square that would go between all of the other squares. I tried to make it look like the HP that is on all of the movies and books. What do you all think?



This is one of the colored squares, my favorite so far, the Sorting Hat:



I am using Shine by Knit Picks. it is an insanely soft cotton/plant fiber blend.

I'm in the planning stages for a baby blanket that I want to make really quickly. We'll see how that goes. :)

Russian Knitting

I spent the month of December in Russia and got a fair amount of knitting done, mostly on the way there and back, as well as on a train ride.

Here is what I got done total. That is 25 hexipuffs and two knee socks for an eight year old. :) The hexipuffs were not stuffed yet because I couldn't imagine trying to take polyfill with me to Russia! I just ran the excess through the top of each puff and had these cute little flat Hexi - non puffs.

These are the ones I did just on my trip home. It was a 32 hour trip total, but I didn't spend the whole time knitting. :) 13 total, not too bad.

This was the one casualty. I bought wooden needles for the socks just in case, since I've heard tales of the TSA getting upset about metal needles. This one broke on the way home. :( It did wait until after I finished the sock though! What a trooper.

Here is one of the knee socks. Sorry for the picture quality. My camera is still MIA and all I have is my phone. :(

This is an attempt to show the rune I put on the sock. I put one on each side of the calf and it is the transliteration of 'P', which is the initial of the boy who will be wearing them. I am still working on the ones for his sisters, which will have their own rune. :) I keep getting distracted. The rune is supposed to look like this: |\/

|

|/\

These are my fingerless convertible mittens, right and left, open and closed. Next time, I need to remember to start the mitten bit lower on the hand. It has a tendency to come off of my fingers in the front, which I don't like. They are phenomenal though in keeping out the cold with really thin gloves beneath them. They are good by themselves too, except for the whole coming off the fingers. They made a big difference in Russia.


This is a pattern that is for Harry Potter themed squares designed by Marie Wright on Ravelry. She has 12 total. I decided I wanted to do a blanket though and with just the 12 squares, it will be a decent baby blanket, but I wanted a big person blanket. I have designed a square to go between those squares, which increases coverage to about 60"X60". The black square is the one I designed. Any non black squares I will post in the future are Marie's designs. I'm excited about it. :)

I used Knit Picks, Shine Worsted, (Dandelion for the yellow one and Black for the black one) on #6 needles. They turned out about 10x9.5"

Can you see what I was trying to do there? It is HP like they use for the movies. I think it looks better in the picture than real life actually.

This is a scarf I made for a friend that she pulled out and let me photograph. I completely forgot about it! It is a variegated yarn and the patterning turned out really well. I don't remember the name of the yarn at all.

An interesting thing happened in Russia. I got to teach several new techniques to a Russian friend of my partner. She spoke very little English, and certainly not knitting related English, and I speak even less Russian. My partner had to translate, which was interesting, considering she also does not have a Russian knitting vocabulary! It worked though and we figured it out. She picked it all up really quickly, which was nice, though sometimes she would whine so much until she figured it out. Yuck. Can I put that on my resume?? :)

That's all for now. I'll post the other square for the blanket later and hopefully the socks for my niece soon. I've got some other ideas bouncing around in my head, just not much money. :)

Hexipuff Update: I am at 74 hexipuffs now. Going for 300+.