Some Spinning, Some Garden Pics, and a Broken Appliance

First off, this brown yarn hanging out to dry on the clothesline is part of a very long term project to make myself a sweater from my own handspun.

This is three-ply, probably something like sport weight, and I think (would have to dig in my archives to verify), from a merino/romney cross fleece. This fiber came to me in a tremendous Craigslist deal a couple years ago. (Was it actually that long?) I'm sure this will be a very favorite sweater when I eventually finish it. But it's a lot of plain brown spinning.

This is a 7 gram mini skein of two ply yarn from Sarah's yearling lamb Spooky.

I bought this fleece from Sarah's recent sale. I have a bit to learn about processing a raw fleece for spinning, but I'm excited about this. It is next-to-the-skin soft! I'll probably make a nice three-ply yarn out of it eventually.

Next up, a bunch of nice flower images, taken over the last couple of weeks.










And finally, a broken appliance:

This is what a washing machine looks like without the big rectangular shell. Last week mine started making an ominous noise and yesterday I realized that it was no longer spinning out the water. It pumped out the water that sank to the bottom, but it was hard work moving all that sodden laundry out. I decided to hang it on the line, rather than stress my dryer because I think the dryer is next to go. Mr SABLE, being the handy guy he is, ordered the necessary part online last night, and should get it working by Wednesday or Thursday of the coming week. There might be one laundromat run in my near future.

Tempis Fugit and all that...

I feel like I'm so far behind, I must be ahead, or something...

Anyway, I've been knitting, but I can't show you that stuff quite yet.

I've been muddling along. Trying to keep the most basic of needs met for my family: clean clothes, milk in the fridge, and something to eat every evening around 6:00.

School ended June 12. My folks popped in for a quick visit last weekend. Owen left for a school trip on Monday. We helped out a friend with her day care crunch on Tuesday and Wednesday (her son gets on well with my younger one, in general). Took the little guy to the dentist on Thursday. Skipped book group Thursday evening. Went to the airport late Thursday night to pick up Owen. Found out the plane was delayed due to weather. Found out the plane returned to its last departure point when it couldn't land in Madison. Found out the plane would not, in fact, arrive in Madison until 8:30 the following morning. Then, left the airport around 12:30 a.m. Friday, drove through some of the most scary heavy rain I've ever driven in, got home a bit after 1:00, set the alarm to get up and be at the airport again by 8:30. Fortunately, this time the plane did land, and the 28 middle-schoolers and two teachers were able to get home. Owen slept for seven hours yesterday. I crashed on the couch before 9 last night and made it official by going to bed a bit before 10.

That's the recap in brief. I omitted all the tantrums and whining that I've mostly ignored.

This weekend, I hope to get a few patterns written and make a serious dent in laying out the next Knitcircus. And move my computer to the basement, where it's cool and quiet!

Garden Goodness!

The strawberries are ripening! I think in a few days, we'll have a whole bunch at once. This was the first one:

I ate it two nights ago. It was so good!

For some reason, we have this one solitary great big dark purple iris:



It's not a Siberian Iris: it's a way more substantial flower.

I was strolling around my neighborhood the other evening and I was quite impressed with all the big stands of irises in bloom. There must have been some great bargains on iris corms last fall, because I don't remember seeing so many around in previous springs. They sure do look nice, though. I think I might need to buy a dozen for Mr. SABLE this fall and see what he does with them...

Garden Pictures

Here are a few images I took in the garden this afternoon.

The Russian Siberian Irises



The Strawberry Patch



Fernland

Celebrity Sighting!

Yesterday Jaala & I trotted on down to The Knitting Tree to meet Ysolda Teague and give her our big Wisconsin Welcome! We may have slipped her a few copies of Knitcircus, too, while we were at it. She has a new self-published booklet of patterns, Whimsical Little Knits, and it's really cute. The projects are indeed, whimsical and little: hats, toys, slippers, accessories. Give it a look.

In other news, I've finished the main body section of one of my big secret projects. On to the sleeves... It's pretty realistic to count on getting this done by mid-June if I'm diligent. I realized that the other big project I hoped to get done for the August Knitcircus will just have to wait until the October issue.

By the way, if any of you have any nice patterns for fall garments for adults that you would love to see in print, send them along! We could definitely use a couple more to round out Issue #7.

Yarn!

I've been working on lots of quasi-stealth knitting lately, so not a lot for the blog. Also, I've been writing an article for the next Knitcircus that actually took a bit of research, so that had most of my attention last week. The knitting is a race to the end of the school year, after which it's a total crap-shoot whether I can get much done until September.

I did get a pleasant little treat in the mail the other day: two sample skeins from The Green Mountain Spinnery. They've agreed to give us a bit of yarn support for Knitcircus. I'm going to design something from one of these yarns for Issue 8, which will come out in October. Not sure yet what, as I'm knitting frantically for Issue 7 right now.

This is Yarn Over, which the Spinnery creates from various left overs in limited edition colors. It's a 2 ply heavy worsted wt, mostly wool with a bit of mohair.


This one is Cotton Comfort. 80% wool, 20% organically grown cotton. It's a 2 ply DK weight.

I'm eager to get my fingers into both of these, but have to stay focused on the projects already on the needles.

Injuries on my mind

Monday afternoon the little guy convinced me that a little bike ride around the neighborhood would be fun and good exercise. I should know that nothing good will come from exercise, but I'm trying to be a good example.

Off we went and it was great for the first two and half blocks. Then the little guy made a reckless move, cutting me off. My front wheel grazed his back wheel. I attempted to stop and correct and maybe a few other things all at once and the result is that I hit the pavement. On the way down, my, um, delicate parts got slammed onto the bike frame. My left elbow and knee both got a good scraping. The little guy was very contrite and when we got home he got the first aid stuff out and set about bandaging the elbow and knee. Since then, I've had some generalized aches and pains, but it mostly responds to ibuprofen.

On Monday evening, I was catching up on Molly Bee's blog and read all about her sudden impact. Must have been something in the air.

So, last night, I do one last email check and my chat window opens on gmail. My friend Kathy leads with this, "I have 22 stitches."
I responded with the first, most natural thing I could think of.
"Ow!"
Then her second line appeared. "Row 2, k5, kfb 3 times, k5."

"OH," I think. "Those kind of stitches."

I guess I just assumed that if injuries were in the air, Kathy would be joining in the fun. Thankfully, her knitting problem was a pretty quick fix. Much faster than a wound involving 22 stitches would have been.

Some Garden Pictures

Blossoms on the Mother's Day Apple Tree. We might even get more than one apple this year!


The dried oatgrass from last season. New stuff hasn't come up yet.


Some tulips getting ready to do their thing.


Bleeding hearts. These are looking so happy, we might need to divide them and spread the love around.

This year for Mothers Day, my guys brought me a couple of pink spireas, after I dropped a few totally-not-subtle hints that I would like them for a particular space near our porch. This morning, while the air was cool and crisp and sunny, Mr. SABLE and I dug and loosened up the intended weedy patch. We removed a big garbage barrel full of dandelions and such and got the spireas planted. I need to go get some magenta petunias to go around, but at least there's a lovely bed all ready for them. It was nice out digging around with the Mister. By myself, I get kind of overwhelmed, plus, I'm never really sure where he might have something special that I shouldn't destroy. The little guy was playing with the neighbors and Owen was chatting with strangers online or something.

All in all a satisfactory day, though some muscles I'd forgotten I had are talking to me now.

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?