A small little loss

One of the things I love about where I live is the way that the seasons bring certain color combinations into my life. In the fall, I drive by a park where the dark red-brown of changing oak leaves mingles with dark green pines and a dusky plum of other tree trunks. In winter, there's a boulevard with crab apple trees planted on the median. The view of bright red crab apples, dark brown trunks, and white snow pleases me tremendously. And in the spring we get a delightful array of flowering trees juxtaposed against the budding leaves of trees with more subtle blooms.

When we built our porch, I found I noticed certain views from our yard for the first time. One of these was a pink flowering tree that bloomed just in front of a dark red maple, both surrounded by new chartreuse greens. I never got a picture of this view, though I often thought I should try. I tend to think it would be one of those views that never looks as interesting in a photograph as in reality. Mostly, I enjoyed sitting on the porch, taking in these splashes of color and feeling so blessed and wealthy to have this view for the taking.

This spring, I was looking out in that same direction and noticed that the pink flowering tree was blooming, yet, something seemed different. Then I realized that the dark red maple behind is gone. Obviously, neighbors and city workers have control over most of the trees I see from my porch, so changes are bound to happen. But still, it's a sad little loss.

A Couple of Works in Progress

This is a simple seed stitch scarf from the Malabrigo Worsted, worked the long way, in which I intentionally induce pooling.


This is a Kauni Surprise, worked with Jamieson Spindrift. Stay tuned on that.

Owen and I went to the Digger's Outlet over the weekend. I found this sign on the wall amusing.

It appears that all the $5 wedding dresses are currently sold out. I wonder how many Madison area brides have been married in Diggers Outlet dresses. (photo courtesy of Owen, who took it with his cell phone.)

Some of My Recent Stash Acquisitions

Yesterday was nice enough that I actually took some pictures of some of the yarn I've bought over the last couple of months. And I even added some yarn to my stash list on Ravelry. I absolutely do not aspire to have a thorough and complete stash inventory on Ravelry or anywhere else. I don't want to spend the time and energy and I don't think I really want the world to see just how bad it is. Plus, maybe I don't want to really know, myself. Denial ain't just a river in Egypt, as they say.

Anyway, here's some yarn-ography of a few recent acquisitions:


Malabrigo Worsted, colorway Stonechat, bought at the Knitting Tree in Madison.


Yarn From the Barn, from Rainbow Fleece Farm. These have 400 yards in 4 oz, work up at about sport weight. I think they may become a stranded hat and mittens.


Also from Rainbow Fleece Farm, 85% Targhee Fleck Wool/15% silk. I have 9 oz in all, at 350 yards/4 oz


Shokay Yak Down. I splurged on this at The Sow's Ear's spring sale. Even at 30% off, it was still an indulgence.


LittleFreak Sport from CableFreak's ArtFire shop. These are organic merino sport weight wool. They are two different purples, which I thought might be more different than they turned out to be. It will be more challenging to make them work together in one piece than I originally hoped, but I have ideas about that. The base yarn is wonderful and her dyeing is terrific.

Now, I should actually go knit or something, eh?

Tightwad Sewing

About a month ago, my friend Leslie and I hit the Diggers Outlet for a morning of thriftshop recreation. One of the things I grabbed was (apparently) a tablecloth made from this fabric. It's a home-dec weight, maybe not quite upholstery weight, but kind of thick. It was pieced to make a large circle and clearly a home-sewn project. I used about a third of it making this bag. The brown cotton webbing was already in the house, though I didn't have enough to make the shoulder strap, too. I'll have to see if I can find more at one of the local fabric stores. I had multiple packs of black piping in my sewing cabinet, too, so didn't need to buy that, or make my own.

I used a pattern from Terrific Totes & Carryalls: 40 Bags to Sew for Shopping, Working, Hiking, Biking, and More , by Carol Parks. I check this one out of the library about once a year and haven't actually sewn something from it before. This bag is the small duffle.

The pattern instructions call for stiff interfacing on all the major pieces, which I skipped. I thought the fabric had enough structure. Now, I kind of wish I had used it. The pattern is not lined, though I'm considering making a lining and adding it. It just seems not quite complete without it.

Because this fabric has a directional pattern, I also modified the main section and large side pockets to have a seam in the center bottom. Otherwise, the elephants on the other side would be upside down.

The bag is about 14" long and calls for a 12" zipper. I wanted to finish last night and didn't want to run out on a zipper errand, so I substituted an 11" zipper I found in my sewing cabinet. It makes the opening a bit tight, so probably if I make another, I'll try to use a 14" zipper and really run it to the edges of the top.

One thing I would definitely do differently is make the handles a bit longer. I wonder if there was a typo in the book, because it said to use a 75" length of webbing, leave 20" loose for each handle, and attach the webbing in one long continuous loop, with the ends lapping at the bottom. 75" just wouldn't have done all that. Next time, I'll allow 85".

The other modification I'll make on any future versions is to attach D-rings with webbing sewn into the top end seams. The pattern instructions say to just sew the webbing onto the bag itself, but I think it would be stronger and more elegant to catch a loop of webbing into the seam.

Overall I'm very happy with this and can imagine making more bags along these lines.

Catching up a bit...

A few weeks ago, Jaala and I took our kids to Rainbow Fleece Farm's Spring Shearing Day. I took Owen's little camera along, rather than my big one, and didn't get my pictures off of it until just now. So, somewhat belatedly, here are some highlights of that trip.


A very strange looking set of horns on this dude!




Some adorable spotted lambs.


A black sheep getting her haircut.


A Black hen!




My little guy with each of Jaala's kids.

I may have bought a little yarn there. The kids enjoyed lamb brats and playing with a visiting puppy. I bought some meat to take home: about a pound of brats and a half-leg of lamb. The lamb brats were ok, but the leg of lamb was amazing. So much better than the ones I get at the supermarket that have been vacuum sealed in some solution and schlepped from New Zealand. Fortunately, Rainbow Fleece Farm sells their meat pretty regularly at one of the local farmers markets, so I don't have to drive all the way out there next time we need a fix.

Preview of a few items from Knitcircus #6

Goth Gauntlets by me.


Roughhousing Vest also by me.


Orchid Lights Shrug by Jaala Spiro.


Pivot Shawls by Michelle Miller


Spring Daisy Cardigan by Jenny Snedeker

More to come... Stay tuned!

A Little Finished Object!

The younger son wanted me to knit him a Sackboy for Easter. Never mind that I've been trying to get away from turning everything into another gift-giving occasion. It was something I could make from things I already have lying around the house. Except the metal zipper.

Details:
Sackboy Pattern by Alan Dart.
Yarn: Brown Sheep Lambs Pride Worsted, color Wild Oak (had in stash forever).
Needles: US #5

Stuffing was from a toy Sponge Bob my husband eviscerated to make a Sponge Bob suit for one of his robots (don't ask).

The buttons were in stash and the embroidered details are from odds and ends.

The hat was one I made years ago from some cheap-o acrylic in a thrift shop grab bag. I thought I might make baby hats for the hospital, but then Owen got a hold of the hat for a stuffed bear, and it was buried in his room for about 12 years. The hat surfaced in a recent purging. It fits Sack Boy very well.

In addition to this, I've been working on a new stranded knitting project, which I hope to finish up for the August 1 Knitcircus (Issue 7), and I've been assembling Issue 6, which should get mailed in very early May.

More sewing...

So, here's another project for the 5 People/5 Things Note on Facebook.

I sent Erica H. in the Bay Area this double point needlecase. Seems like I just mailed it and she got it already.

She told me she likes pink. We got that covered.



Happy knitting, Erica!

Kate Cardigan Knitters

I just wanted to make sure everyone gets the word. There's an errata sheet available for download here.

Sorry for any confusion and inconvenience.

New Lace Scarf; New Photostylist

This is the Fountain Lace pattern from Barbara Walker's The Craft of Lace Knitting, which I'm sure was rolled into one of the re-releases of her stitch dictionaries. I just don't know which one. I am loving this so far for several reasons.
1. I like a knitting pattern that gives a pretty good effect for minimal mental outlay.
2. This stitch pattern has only four "action rows."
3. I'm using some yarn from a sweater I got at the Digger's Outlet last week. So, my cost for this project will amount to about 25 cents when it's all done. If that. The sweater was a wide-ribbed cowl neck with the biggest cowl I've seen in a while. Seriously, that cowl could almost double as an afghan. (OK, I'm exaggerating. But just a bit.)
4. The yarn is proving to be very lace-friendly. The manufacturer's tag says that it's 43% rayon, 39% nylon, 10% angora rabbit, and 8% cotton. I'm honestly not feeling the synthetic content at all.

So, I was barely out there, taking my pictures, when my "helper" arrived.



All Your Lace Are Belong To Me




It's a nice sunny day for a roll on the bricks, eh? Don't you just want to rub that belly?

Happy Family Moment

A Sewing FO

I made this very pink tote bag for a woman who worked with Mr. SABLE at his previous job. It has two zipped pockets on the inside and it's very pink.

While I was out taking photos, my neighbor came over to see what I was up to, so I got her to model it for me. Isn't she the cutest girl in the world?

An FO!

I started these socks a long time ago: not sure when. Maybe early last year? Anyway, I finally finished them just in time to send to my dad for his birthday, which is on the 27th.

Yarn
Schachenmayr nomotta Regia Color 4-ply /4-fädig, 1 100 gram ball, with a bit of leftovers.

Needles:
US 1 / 2.25 mm dbl pts

Pattern: just the totally generic 2 x 2 ribbed cuff on 68 sts. Why mess with success?

The yarn is actually much darker, more black/dark grey dominant than it appears in these photos. I don't feel like fussing around trying to get accurate colors for a project I just need to mail right away.

Some Secret Spinning

I made this yarn for my friend Jaala. She loves bright colors. When I saw this roving at the Sow's Ear last week, I knew it would be perfect for her.


detail

You can see in the detail shot that it's not perfect. I have some very thin areas and some thicker areas. But it's pretty nice.

This is from Mountain Colors Targhee Top. The color was Ruby River. It was four ounces to begin with and there was very little lost along the way: maybe couple of grams at most. I Navajo-plied it to keep the color areas mostly together. Approximately 380 yards: my guess is it would be a nice sport weight yarn.

It was a fun burst of color to work up.

A Sure Sign of Spring...

In Other News
I've been working on some Top Secret spinning (it's a gift for someone) which I'll show you in a week or so. It's coming out very nicely.

My Lair is such a disaster area that I go down there and I'm overwhelmed with possibilities. I read an article a while back on various working styles. Some of us (frequently the ones accused of being messy) need the visual reminders of what needs doing, what we're working on, what's possible. So we leave our stuff out because if it's all put away, we don't see it and we forget that we're supposed to be doing anything. But I've been dragging so much stuff out lately that I've overwhelmed my brain with possibilities. Too much yarn. Too much fiber. Too much fabric. Alas, I think I need to spend a few weeks making things worse before they can get better. That is, I need to open up all the various boxes, purge, resort, relabel, and then put away. But that's such a daunting task that I just sit at my desk and make little swatches. If I start to seriously start organizing, usually Owen appears and demands attention when I'm about 15 minutes in, so I have learned helplessness about the whole thing. But maybe this week I can at least put away about half the distractions so I can focus on getting a few things done.

Knitting
I've also been working on some socks that go in and out of dormancy, depending on what else gets bumped to Priority One. One of these is the Charade Socks I started a few months back. I finished the first, cast on for the second, got about 2 inches in and stopped. Last night I got a couple more inches done, so maybe that'll get done before barefeet season is really and truly here. Also, I'm hoping to finish some socks that I'll send to my dad for his birthday later this month. The first one is done and the second over half done, so just the home stretch there.

Rant
I have a little rant about the time change to get out of my system, too. I always thought the time change was a minor inconvenience until I had kids. But ever since I became a parent, I've come to despise the time change. When I'm in charge of the universe, we will just have one time all year round. We'll split the difference between so-called Standard Time and Daylight Savings Time. I know there are nice, easy, flexible children out there somewhere. Children who fall asleep when put to bed, and wake up cheerful when it's time to get up, but not before it's time to get up. Well, those are not my kids. I am not exaggerating when I say that it takes my kids at least a week to really make the time change. The Little Emperor has been awake until 11 p.m. several times in the past week and we wake him about 7:30 on weekday mornings. Yeah, this is not a good sleep pattern. Honest-to-Maude, we start him moving toward bed at 7:30. This is a kid who had night and day reversed his first 4 months of life, so no real surprise that he's still bent that way.

So until someone appoints me Time Czar, I have a plan that could be put into place quickly and effectively and would improve school behavior and learning in every community that adopts it. Schedule Spring Break for the week following the time change! Is that just too darn logical for any modern bureaucracy? The kids would have a week to adjust. They would not have this week of rampant tardiness and tired, fidgety kids. The teachers might even enjoy it, too.

So, there you go, a rant and a solution! How often does that happen?

Enjoy the approach of spring.

Fiber Reveiw and Weather Report

One of the perks of producing a magazine is that people send us stuff to review. At Knitcircus, we recently received a box from PhatFiber with samples of yarns and fibers from small-scale producers. One of the fiber samples was Merino Wool Top from Sweet Pea Fibers Etsy Shop. This sample (colorway Sea Otter Play) was about 1 ounce: enough to make a small skein and get a feel for the quality of the fiber and the dye job. I noticed lately that I have several long-term spinning projects stacked up and I wanted a short fun little project. This sample was perfect.


It was a joy to spin. The fiber maintained the nice crimp merino is known for. A gentle tug here and there was enough to make the fiber flow through my fingers.

I made this sample skein yesterday afternoon and evening. It's about a sport-DK weight, weighs in at 25 grams, Navajo-plied to keep the colors pure.


I'm sure I could think of a lot of creative ways to use an ongoing supply of sample-size skeins. But more importantly, by getting a sample I was exposed to a new source of hand-dyed spinning fibers and was able to experience first-hand the quality of the fiber. I'm definitely going to cruise the Sweet Pea shop for future offerings.

And Now The Weather Report

In spite of a trend toward spring-like conditions, and the premature switch to Daylight Savings Time, winter has not entirely surrendered its grip. This connect-the-dots scene was taken under the giant silver maple tree in my front yard. Drips of melting snow and ice are landing in the thin coating of snow we got last night. As a rule, I don't believe in complaining about the weather: it's not as if I can do anything about it. And, in general, I would rather be too cold than too hot any day of the year. But Chez SABLE we are all well and truly ready for spring.

An Orchid

Mr SABLE got this plant from his old work place back in September. Whatever he's doing, that plant really seems to approve.

A Picture!

This is the Jayne Hat I made for Owen a few weeks ago. I followed this pattern, mostly, though I was sorely tempted to give it a good editing. Not that there are any errors; it's just that it could be expressed quite completely in about one-fourth the space. Owen truly loves this hat.

Edited to add:
Those of you who were at Last Saturday Knitting and are dreading the photo that might appear: rest easy. None of them are flattering enough to most of us to print. I'll try again another day.

Updates

Blog posts are getting kind of thin around these parts lately, eh?

I'll see what I can do about that.

Last night I made this double point needle case for my friend Cindy.

Cindy's been cleaning house the past couple of months. At Last Saturday Knitting in January, she gave me some fabrics she was clearing out. I told her I'd give some of it back to her in a needle case. While I was taking pictures just now the camera battery told me it needed charging, so this is the only view I have to show.

In knitting news, I made Owen a Jayne hat, but haven't yet gotten him to pose for a photo. One of his school friends wants one, too, so I think I'll make another out of the left-over yarn. If you don't know what a Jayne hat is, a quick google search with the terms Jayne and Firefly will enlighten you.

I've also been making projects for the next Knitcircus, so those aren't available for public viewing yet. But speaking of Knitcircus... Jaala has set up a Cafe Press shop for Knitcircus stuff. I'm particularly interested in the messenger bag.

I've also been reconnecting with old friends on Facebook. I've found a few folks who were truly lost to me and I'm well pleased to chat with them again.

I also got roped into making a quilt for the 8th grade American history class at Owen's school. Did I already post a picture of that? Anyway, here's what it looked like, sideways, before it was fully complete:

There were four quilts assembled by volunteer parents, one for each of the sections. They raffled the quilts to the students and families at the presentation night on Thursday. Thankfully, we did not win, because I really don't need one more thing that just hangs around in storage forever.

I dusted off my wheel and started spinning again this past week. At first I was very frustrated, trying to spin a merino/silk blend I bought in NH last summer. I took a couple nights off and came back to it yesterday, and it was fine. When the battery is recharged, I'll get a picture of the singles. This will be a long-term spinning project: very fine singles, spun worsted. I think I have about 6 ounces of the top.

That's the news.

Alt Knitting Camp '09

Hey Listen Up! I have an announcement.

Kathy, Sue, and I have made the reservations for Alt Knitting Camp 2009. It will again be held at Devil's Lake State Park, near Baraboo WI. This year it will run Sun Aug 2 - Tues Aug 4. We have room for 18 campers, total. Twelve spots are spoken for. If necessary, we might be able to book additional sites to accommodate more campers.

Alt Knitting Camp features No Classes! No Workshops! No discernible schedule! Non-stop eating, drinking, hilarity, and knitting. Optional activities include swimming, hiking, canoeing, building large fires, roasting marshmallows, and the ongoing search for the perfect S'more.

Modest fee of about $25 a person includes food and share of camping fees. Admission stickers are required to enter Wisconsin state parks.

To reserve your spot, email me. Or p.m. me through Ravelry or Knittyboard. Or just put it in the comments here. You could even phone me if you know the number. Or track me down through Facebook, if you need more choices.

(Edited June 20, 2009 to keep info current.)