..fits and starts

So...here we are in November and I seem to be backpedalling of late.

Case in point, Snelle Annabelle has been frogged and re-cast on no less than 3 times, the last of which was this morning...why, you ask?...because my stitch count is off, again, ....and it only has 26 to begin with. The pattern has a double-decrease which is what has been messing me up -- originally thought it was not working so frogged and did a regular single decrease, with the first leaf working but not the second, so frogpond once again with a double decrease for the first one and single decreases afterwards....swimming in the frogpond again. I think I have been trying to work this at night when I am brain-frazzled so it had not been making sense. This morning on frogging it, I decided to write some cheat notes on my chart with stitch counts....and realized that the chart itself should not be looked at other than for stitch counts because in expecting it to line up, it was not, hence the head muddle. So, tonight I start it again and keep a careful count.



The silk graduation shawl that I have been trying to work on....cannot seem to get past the cast-on row, i.e., it looks crappy/the needle size is all wrong/mixing up a couple of patterns so stitch count is not working....yup, frogpond again...lol.




On the other hand, do have a few finishes:

The first is a turkey illusion cloth....don't know about this one, think I should have left the light and dark as stipulated in the pattern because I can only see the image on the back side, though now that I put it on top of a skein I can see it. However, that being said, in looking at the cloth, I believe I either missed a row or repeated a row because the body seems to have disappeared. And no, this one is not taking a trip to the frogpond, it is done and will stay as it is. Let it be a lesson to me to pay better attention to what I am doing..lol.





The second are my Alaine socks. I did change up the pattern a tad, and decided that I needed to finish them. Since the stumbling block had been the heel treatment, I frogged what had been knit on the heels and changed it to my new favorite heel treatment, Cat Bordhi's Sweet Tomato heel. Now that's what I call done! They are now awaiting washing/blocking along with another pair finished earlier this summer that got misplaced before they could be blocked. I actually have several other items awaiting blocking, so need to get all of them together.



Next up is a new project I cast on for, my "..A Jigging and and a Jagging" Jigsaw afghan. As this will be made with sock yarns, any leftover bits of Regia, Opal, Socka, OnLine, Bernat, et cetera, as well as any full skeins of color/prints that I have decided NOT to turn into socks, will get worked into this. Time-frame to completion is unknown at this time as I am still working out color arrangments.





So, there you have it...an update to YoPP that is actually picture-heavy. Now back to finishing up another batch of dried fruit (apples, cranberries) to put up for the holidays.....

..closing out the month of October...already ?!

So, where were we…oh, yeah, trying to stay on top of posting updates on YoP (Year of Projects)…..
? still working on some of the itemized list…yup
? added new items…..yup
? changed/adapted features of itemized….yup
? finished anything…..yup
? posted picture(s) of finished…..not completely but working on it…..

And…to help keep me in a line since I am concurrently working on:
-Graduation present/shawl (due for January 2012)
-Christmas gifties
-Stash reduction (and stash meaning yarn/fiber/fabric/SIP’s/WIP’s/queue’d items)
I have signed onto another group called Stashdown A-to-Z where each month will be the next letter of the alphabet, goal being to work on/complete projects beginning with that letter in order to whittle down the perpetually enlarging queue (and also to complete any WIP’s with that letter designation, since they after all were queue’d at one point)….from now through Nov.30th is “A” – that is not to say we cannot work on anything but items beginning with “A”, because you can…..the hope being that with focusing on items beginning with a specific letter, you hopefully will actually complete them.

So, with checking my queue’d items, as well as what I had listed for my YoP, and yes even digging in my in-the-works bin(s), pulled several items beginning with “A” to the front of the list – the Alaine socks are now top of the heap, with (Snelle) Annabelle a close second. The rest of the list got re-shuffled as well, with several small gifties being mixed in, as well as the addition of several more such as the Slinky socks (football and hockey projects), as well as one that will take a bit more time than a month so will get worked on as I decide on color placement – Jigsaw Afghan, for which I am using leftover bits of sock yarns as well as some skeins that have fallen into the ‘What Was I Thinking’ category…….

Any-who…need to get going, as my Alaine’s need a partial frogging as I am not thrilled with the heel treatment, so am changing it to suite me (and re-picking up stitches works much better in the broad light of day than in the evening…). Here’s to getting a little more done, a little more blogging posted, catch up on reading a few more blogs, a little more writing accomplished, a few more recipes tried before the holidays are here, and a few directions to turn my attention towards so that I am not so sad when my children leave again (this in particular as one son and his wife are being stationed in Europe, leaving shortly and I won’t get to see them before they fly)……

..until the next time, I remain, that very busy frog hiding out in the wilds of Maine…..

...just because

...not an update, just a little on-the-side post of goings-on...

For the month of October, we are having some kind of jumbled up weather....torential rains at the beginning of the month, frosty overnight temps, and high 70/low 80s during the day ! Frost means I can harvest the grapes (we have wild grape vines growing outside the house), so have picked enough to make a batch of wine -- need to pick these early in the day while it is still cool, otherwise you are competing with the bees and the yellow jacks are not too keen on sharing the fruit with you. Any-who, did pick enough (need 15 pounds of fruit at a minimum, eventual yield is 5 gallons of wine), have left the rest of the grapes for the birds and yes, the bees too!....good thing, because I noticed that some of the vines (that we thought we have trimmed all of the "escapees" from the arbor) were growing at the top of the lilac bushes -- ten feet up in the air and what do I see...deep purple mini globes in assorted bunches....nope, not going after those...lol....and with all the grapes that have ripened and fallen off the vines, it smells very wine-y in that corner of the yard.

So, what else is new....hmmmm....the Dempsey Challenge was this past weekend, with the bicycle tour passing within a mile up the hill from my house, into the midst of which I had to pass thruough in order to pick up my daughter from her Girl Scout camping trip that returned Sunday morning. And if you are wondering, yes, Patrick Dempsey did ride, and from what I heard got mobbed by fans whenever he stopped at any of the rest areas (the Challenge had a 10-mile, 25-mile, 50-mile, and 100-mile routes) -- no, I did not stop to see him, despite being a fan. Maine is home to (and by home, I am not distinguishing between permanent home/vacation home/family member's home) a number of celebrities (actors/actresses, artists, writers, former Presidents), all of whom value their privacy, and who can find it here if they choose to retreat into anonymity....

And, with it being Columbus Weekend, the last big push of tourists (at least until the snow flies) is for what we call "Leaf Peeper" Season when you are quite apt to find yourself driving behind someone driving either erratically side-to-side or slower than the posted speed limit as they point out to their companions the myriad colors on the hillside or reflected in the streams. I am fortunate in that I live so close to a wooded area that I can go walking thru the woods to enjoy the colors up-close-and-personal, if you will.

Other than that...I leave you with a bit of eye candy...one of the little surprises that I found one morning as the frost was melting away.....

updating the update

...yeah, I know, that sounds a bit odd but I suppose it is no worse than saying a round circle.... In any case, do have a few pictures for you, though I will warn you color representation via my cellphone is not accurate.

First off, these started out as the Water-to-Sky anklets, but then because I found myself just too tired to concentrate on directions and/or chart, got changed to a very basic/plain summer anklet (there is maybe three rounds of the charted pattern, which because of the color changes in the yarn, just do not show up and I was not interested in frogging a mohair-based yarn to remove them...and yeah, even though I was a bit more with it by the second sock, repeated the "error" in order to keep them consistent)....they are wonderful in my hiking sandles, coming up just high enough so that the back strap does not rub into the back of my ankle.



As well with being too tired to think straight and wanting just really not thought-heavy things to work on, managed to finish these two little washcloths -- this is actually supposed to be a bright apple green. The leaf one was a real quick knit, started it one evening and bound off the next. The other is trying for a quilt block effect.



And finally, while reading some of my Yahoo group mail a few weeks back, had come across someone talking about Cat Bordhi's new take on heels, including a YouTube link to see it in action. In essence, it is a variation of a short-row heel that uses NO wraps (something I mess up on consistently).....Welll, after watching the video, said "I can do that", and immediately cast on for a new pair of socks in order to do so (all my other socks-in-progress are past the Afterthought heel stage, so could not use them). Have been dragging this pair with me for the past week-and-a-half everywhere I went where I had knitting time -- as of last night, I have about 1-1.5 inches left of ribbing on sock-B remaining to be done. And if I have not said so yet, absolutely LOVE the looks of this heel as well as the fit (and this is un-blocked worsted weight wool socks) -- these have 4 wedges, so will be interested to see how well they hold up.



So, there you have it....an update that is actually fiber-related in it's entirety...lol. Until the next time.....

September ramblin's

….well, it has now been a month since I last posted – where has the time gone ? So, you ask, what have I been doing with myself since last I surfaced?....to paraphrase a line from Fiddler on the Roof, “…..a little bit of this, a little bit of that…” – the woodshed has not only been completed being built, it is now completely full of stacked and split wood. The Hubster figures that with it being stacked 7 feet high (…um, yeah, arms got real sore trying to lift and stack above my head…also contributing to the too tired/sore to be able to knit for any length of time…), and given the inside dimensions of said woodshed (which began life as an existing concrete bunker/box when we originally bought the property), we probably have close to 15 cords of wood – this includes what we still had left of last year’s split firewood. Normally we go through about 5-to-6 cords per winter – but, last fall we replaced the shingled roof with a metal roof which because of how it went on, resulted in some “air pockets” to help insulate the roof….we figure it may not take as much wood to heat this big ole house…but we will see where it stands come next spring. Hubby is super pleased that we do NOT HAVE to go out to get any trees this winter – if we in our travels over the property need to clean up any broken or wind-blown or otherwise damaged (i.e., beaver) trees, we will just stack the logs behind the shed resulting in well dryed and seasoned wood for future burning…..works for me…lol.

Now, as to the knitting and spinning front…..still working on spinning up my summer dye-pot adventure socks (see post from July for colors), will no doubt get to actually cast on for these during the winter.

The birthday surprise made for some giggles, especially as the story that went with it had to do with cakes sometimes falling flat, and without the appropriate item inside of it, the teapot cozy did look rather flattened.




The first baby giftee (a boy is expected) got a pair of longies, which I paired with a purchased onesie and stuffed with tissue paper. This was also well received.
Baby giftee #2 (a girl is expected) is still being worked on so cannot provide any pix of at this time.




And…, because I really just wanted an excuse to use this phrase…”…..are you ready for some football ?!...”, lol, my sidelines knitting has commenced. My 13yo DD is playing middle school soccer, so the hands stay busy while Maman watches the game (Home games, I can’t get to the Away ones)…and just so you don’t think I have lost it, soccer in Europe is known as football, so, yeah, I am not only watching the kids playing football, I am watching my fave NFL team play FOOTBALL – Go Pats! And, will be adding hockey knitting to the lineup sometime in November as well.

….doing a quick run-down of the projects I have been working wound up being a little more than just a quick one, with all of the above, have been working on finishing up some little projects that have been hanging around for ages: small hand towels, face cloths, some quilting, and several pairs of socks (which I have not been able to round up all of in order to provide a photo, but will leave that to a later date).

So, for now will bid you all a good evening 

...update...sort of, anyway

I really haven’t fallen off the face of the earth tho it seems to be so since I have not updated anything in several weeks. Yes, I have still been spinning, and yes to knitting as well tho precious little of either one.

Allow me to back you up a bit to catch you up (…hmmm…that almost sounds like a Doctor Who and River Song episode…lol). First off, DH just finished building the woodshed considerably later in the season than he wanted it done. Now that it is complete, 13yo and myself have been switching off working with him running the log splitter and once the trailer was full, we would be stacking wood (over 95% of our winter heat is done via woodstove). The benefit of a “covered” storage area for the wood is that we will no longer have to shovel it out and off in order to bring wood into the house (which usually resulted in some thawing and wet floors). Any-who, since we are further behind in the filling of said shed than originally anticipated, any-and-all free time is being used for this purpose.

What does this mean for me? Quite simply, once I get a chance to sit down in the evening I may get a few rows done or spin for maybe 15 minutes before I am nodding off in my chair….to say that not much has been done would be pretty accurate as really the only knitting I have managed is the “work even” and even casting on for two different projects still required more than an evening apiece (too tired to count straight, too tight, etc)…sheesh.

In any case, need to get busy – birthday surprise did get finished in time, and have 2 baby gifties that need to be made real soon…so, for now, will just say that will soon be back on track and should get some pictures up once I do. TTFN …

...it's inevitable...

…something I got to talking about with my mom and sisters recently – got to thinking about this because my ‘baby sister’ just turned 5-0.

Why is it, we look in the mirror and still despite the image it actually shows, we still see ourselves as the invincible-I-can-do-anything 20-to-30-year-old ?...you know the one that has no wrinkles (excuse me…laugh lines ! ), no belly bulge or ‘gravity’ affecting various body parts….How did we miss the change of going from BEING the fun-loving-young-adults to BECOMING The PARENTS OF fun-loving-young-adults ?

Any one else hearing the lyrics to some older popular songs about the seasons turning, or that we would miss this and want it back…?

I look back in time and wonder when did that crown of grey and white begin to rest on my head? I find myself wanting to hold things as they are, to stop that forward momentum of change….

Time is inevitable, it marches on, and with it, so do we march on as well -- perhaps still to the beat of the same drummer we have always marched to, …though perhaps he too drums a little slower….or perhaps it just seems to be moving slower because life continues to go on around us at breakneck speed….

In any case…the first 50 were pretty good years. We learned a lot about ourselves and our place in the world. Here’s to the next 50 little sister, or to use your words, “…onto the next Chapter…..”