Knitting, with Dogs

Another FO!

Remember the shawl I was so coy about?  It's done.  Here's another of my stunningly inartistic photos:

It's the Creatures of the Reef shawl, from Fiddlesticks Knitting.  I was making it as a gift for someone who loves the sea -- hence the coyness.  I had a deadline of today (29 September) to get it done, and because I'd dawdled a little on it, I was burning the midnight oil last night!  I finished pinning it out on the blocking styrofoam about 1 am this morning, and was in bed VERY soon after that.

I know there was a big KAL for this pattern a while back, but just in case everybody in the world doesn't know about this shawl, here's my opinion. 
I think this is an easy pattern.  You do have to watch the charts every other row, because you're knitting designs into the lace instead of knitting lace patterns, but other than that, there's not much to it.  Every other row is just knit, so you can co.  You start with the cast-on at the bottom on the long edge and decrease as you go up. 

I have to say that the Fiddlesticks lace patterns are just wonderful to use.  The charts are large and easy to read.  Dorothy even does the work of counting the stitches between motifs for you.  I heart Fiddlesticks patterns.  Everyone should knit one.  I mean it.

Here's the shawl draped on me:

Dear Robert took the picture and managed to cut off one side and the bottom.  I love him anyway.

My dog spokesmodels weren't so cooperative today.  Here's what I cropped out of another picture -- Bouncer turning away:

Oh well.

There's something about finishing up a project like this that really bucks you up.  I feel all fizzy today.  If it weren't for my eyestrain-and-lack-of-sleep headache, I'd be bouncing all over.  Now there's the eternal question:  what next?  I started a shawl with some yarn I got in my Whose Lace Is It Anyway? swap but put it down when I decided I wanted to do this shawl as a gift.  I may pick that up.  I've got the second Sleepytime sock to finish.  And I think I want to go back and finish up the Spider Queen shawl I started a year or so ago.

Decisions, decisions.

Random Sentence Friday

It is ready to crush the world...with love!

I shouldn't've, but I did

Lookee what came home with me Tuesday:

It's a Country Craftsman spinning wheel!  I bought it mostly to take to Stone Mountain to spin on, because it looks more like what people thing a "real" spinning wheel should look like.  Here's another view, with another dog*:

I didn't even tell the folks at SnB about it last night.  That's because a few years ago, you could have said "Country Craftsman" to a group of spinners and odds are that some of them would have heard of it.  These days, not so much.  The wheel isn't in production any longer.  I've got some accessories coming from Detta's Spindle, since I figure I better get 'em while I can, since they're few and far between these days.  (BTW, Detta is a lovely person, and I really enjoyed talking with her!  Recommended!)

It's funny -- the first time I saw one of these wheels, I was a pretty new spinner.  I was walking through Perimeter Mall in Atlanta, and *gasp* there was a SPINNING WHEEL in the window of one of the shops!  It was a Country Craftsman, and the shop was one of those shops that sold folksy home decor.  Being the Enthusiastic Beginning Spinner that I was then, naturally I had some fiber with me, so I went in and asked if I could try the wheel.  I had only moderate success with it, since I'd never spun on a double-drive wheel before, and had only the faintest idea how to adjust it.  Of course, I was also sitting in the display window with the wheel, trying to figure out how to spin on it, which may have increased my stress level and fumble-fingered-ness to quite high levels.  :)  Imagine that all these years later, one of these wheels now lives with me.

It spins well (I had better luck adjusting tension this time).  It came with the distaff that's on the wheel, a lazy kate, and 6 bobbins(!).  The lady I bought it from (found via the Spinners and Weavers Housecleaning Pages, btw) had bought it used, and didn't know much of its history.  It looks to me like one of the earlier wheels, because apparently later wheels had 4 oz. bobbins and a scotch tension option.  This one has small bobbins, a little bitty orifice, and no scotch tension.  However, if I decide I want to try scotch tension with this wheel, I'm going to borrow TwoSheep's idea and improvise!  Great fun.

Beth, I can use this wheel to take pictures of how the double-drive set-up works too, so you don't have to depend on my lousy descriptions.  :)

One last picture:  here's the second picture, including part I cropped out above:

*(As you can see, my dog spokesmodel is doing a little better today.)

10 Knitterly things about me

I'm coming a little late to Grumperina's knitting meme, but here goes:

1.  I hate the Feather and Fan pattern.  I know people love it, and recommend it to new lace knitters, but it bores me absolutely to TEARS.

2.  I like to use single-point needles, but only in the shorter lengths (e.g., about 10".)

3.  When I use single point needles, I prop the end of the right-hand needle in the crease between my thigh and my body (only when I'm sitting, obviously).  And I only throw the yarn with my right hand when I knit this way.  It's my version of the way Shetlanders use a knitting sheath or belt, and the way some knitters tuck a long needle under their arm.  Nobody taught me this.  I came up with it long years ago as a way to keep from having needles flopping around.  It works surprisingly well when I'm knitting lace, but of course it only works on flat pieces knitted back and forth.

4.  I don't really like to wear sweaters.  That's why I make so few of them.

5.  I tend to knit things that look interesting to make rather than things I'd actually use.  That's why I knit lace, even though I'm not at all a girly-girl, and would never choose something lacy to wear in the normal course of events.

6.  I love to wear hand-knitted socks, but I think knitting socks is kinda... boring.  (Apologies to all you die-hard sock knitters out there.  It's just me.  I'm weird.)

7.  Knitted ruffles hold a strange fascination for me.  See about about not being a girly-girl.  I would NEVER pick a blouse with a ruffle, for instance.  But I see ruffles on a knitted item, and I want to make it.  And this in spite of the fact that ruffles are one of the most boring things on the planet to actually KNIT, mind you.  Go figure.

8.  I almost never have any problems with tight cast-ons or bind offs.  I never have.  And I don't go up 2 needle sizes to bind off or anything like that.  I think it's because I started out as a loose knitter, and from the very beginning, I read stuff about casting on loosely and binding off loosely, and took it straight to heart.  Sometimes my cast ons and bind offs are TOO loose, in fact.  I'm finally learning how to get a good balance between being too loose and too tight.

9.  I can't use the Denise needles because their smallest size is a 5 (US).  I almost never knit with anything larger than a 5, unless I'm making a worsted weight afghan or something.  I much prefer smaller needles and smaller yarn.  You should see my lace-weight stash.

10.  You know how people use handpainted yarns for socks and match up the colors/patterns so they have "identical" socks rather than "fraternal" socks?  It never occurred to me to try that until I saw it online.  Never even crossed my mind that it was possible.  Who says the internet isn't educational?  :)

FO, and retreat!

I had an eventful weekend, and a productive one!  First, the FO:

It's a baby blanket I did on commission for a friend.  Her only specification was that it be pink.  So I found two shades of pink acrylic that were bearable to me (I hate many shades of pink) and started knitting.  I based my pattern on Fiber Trends Field of Flowers shawl.  You knit the center square flat and then knit the rippled edge round and round.  Dead easy, and a fairly quick knit.

(And before anyone gets all squicky about the acrylic, hey, it's a baby blanket, needs to be washable and dryable, and not everybody likes superwash.  There ARE appropriate uses for acrylic yarn!)

I was trying to get Jasper to be my spokesmodel (barksmodel?  woofmodel?) when I took the picture of the blanket, but he seemed a little reluctant.  This was the closest I could get him to stand:

Last weekend was the annual PHG annual fall retreat.  It was a great time, as usual.
There was Alice in antlers:

Greg wearing a newly-spun yarn necklace:

Annie being her inimitable self (with Kim spinning in the background):

Kim's daughter Marissa made an adorable needle-felted monkey for an ornament exchange.  (It looks much better than my crappy photo indicates:

Look at the adorable little banana!

I didn' t get any good pictures of the Initiation of the Retreat Virgins, but that went well.  There was almost no blood shed this year.  :)

I roomed with Janet and Laura, the Best Roomies EVAR!  I got some knitting done, and lots more spinning than I expected to finish.  We had a great time, and those of you locals who didn't make it missed out on a fun time.

Handspun Secret Pals Swap

I think I'm going to sign up for this.  It's a tie-in with the new book Spin to Knit from Interweave.  Sometimes I need a little jog to keep me spinning, even though I failed miserably at the Tour de Fleece.  But I've learned my lesson -- I won't wait till the last minute this time!

Oregon shawl, FINISHED! (Lotsa pictures)

I finally got my Oregon shawl blocked!  It was my Amazing Lace project, and it's done, done, done!  And it's HUGE.  And I lurve it.  Luuuurrrvvveeee it.  For Rhonna and everyone else out there that's curious, here you go!

Here are the blocking photos.  It was too big to block out on my full-size bed, even on my styrofoam panels.*  So I had to move out onto my patio.

(The brown bits are packing tape that's helping to hold the styrofoam panels together.)
Another view:

Center detail:

It was mosquito city out there yesterday.  I was being eaten alive.  There was one little beetle type critter that I had to shoo away a couple of times.  Guess he's just a lace fan:

Did I mention it was big?

In case you can't read the ruler, that's 80" wide.  Jeezopete.

Off the blocking board:

My sorta-interpretation of the picture on the cover of the pattern:

Clothing is NOT optional in shawl poses in my back yard.  I think my brown loafers with white socks really complete the look, don't you?

This is a wonderful pattern.  I started on it back in May, I think, and knitted on it on and off since then.  It's a boatload of knitting, but none of it is hard, and the patterns are easily memorized and not at all boring.  That's saying a lot -- to have a reasonably easy pattern that doesn't bore you to tears.  I found no errors in the pattern.  I did take the option to omit a couple of rows after the trees in the corners are done because I only had 4 balls of Zephyr, and I really didn't want to get half way through the fourth side of the border and find out that I didn't have enough yarn.  I had less than half a ball left when I was done.

It's a great project, and I recommend it.  And I'm already at work on my next lace shawl, but I'm keeping mum about that one for now.  Yes, I'm coy.  But I'm okay with that.  :)

*And let me just say that in my Ideal Knitting World, I would have a huge, sturdy  blocking surface always available, and a place where I could just put it out and LEAVE it for whenever I wanted to access it.

A word to the wise

Here's something NOT to do, fiber friends.

If you have a ball of rayon/cotton yarn that you forgot the yardage on, it's ok to wind it on your niddy noddy and count the wraps.  That works fine.

It is NOT ok to put a 2-yard skein of slippery yarn on a swift that works best with 1 - 1 1/2 yard skeins.  If you do this, the first time the swift turns, the yarn will fall off the swift into a tangled mess, and 3 episodes of Lost later, you will only have untangled HALF  of the frackin' mess.

Ask me how I know this.  Jeezopete.

Savage Chickens etc.

Y'all check out today's Savage Chickens.  Made me laugh out loud.

Of course, I also laugh out loud at the "Messin' with Sasquatch" and "Hooray BEER!" commercials.

Knitting news:  My Oregon shawl is still not blocked.  Yes, I'm procrastinating badly.  Dear Robert will be working this afternoon, so maybe I can do it today. 
For some reason, I can only do stuff like this when he's not around. 

I'm also about 2/3rd through with another shawl, one that I haven't blogged about yet*.  We've been blazing through season 2 of Lost**, and I've gotten a LOT of knitting done the past few days. 

*and I'm not going to blog about it now.  It's a surprise.  :)
**6 DVDs in a week.  Jeezopete.

9/11

From The Writer's Almanac post for today:

For the Falling Man

I see you again and again
tumbling out of the sky,
in your slate-grey suit and pressed white shirt.
At first I thought you were debris
from the explosion, maybe gray plaster wall
or fuselage but then I realized
that people were leaping.
I know who you are, I know
there's more to you than just this image
on the news, this ragdoll plummeting—
I know you were someone's lover, husband,
daddy. Last night you read stories
to your children, tucked them in, then curled into sleep
next to your wife. Perhaps there was small
sleepy talk of the future. Then,
before your morning coffee had cooled
you'd come to this; a choice between fire
or falling.
How feeble these words, billowing
in this aftermath, how ineffectual
this utterance of sorrow. We can see plainly
it's hopeless, even as the words trail from our mouths
—but we can't help ourselves—how I wish
we could trade them for something
that could really have caught you.

by Annie Farnsworth from Bodies of Water, Bodies of Light