Spinning!

I had my first spinning lesson yesterday! What fun! The two hours sped along. And I was actually spinning! Figuring out how to get the wheel to rotate clockwise and how to stop it was the hardest. My time on the drop spindle paid off though - I took pretty easily to the drafting technique. My husband has created a monster!


My first spindle full of yarn!


The cat saying "what the heck is this thing?"


And I went ahead and added a rib to the bottom of the sweater. I think it looks fine! No more curl and you can see the hand spun yarn! I've actually finished the main body up to the armholes. I have to finish the one sleeve and start the second. Of course, I have spinning "homework" so we'll see how much of the sweater gets done this week!

Typo!

I actually used Addi Turbo's Size 2 on those fingerless gloves!

Sometimes You've Got to Change

Well, sometimes you just have to change . . . This is my new Bejeweled scarf. Yes, I frogged the first version. The feel of the lace weight and the Kidsilk Haze was wonderful, but I wasn't happy with the way it looked. So on to something else in the stash! I think this will look great!




Now, I have a question. I'm thinking of adding a ribbed edging to the bottom of my EZ sweater. I assume I can just turn it upside down, pick up stitches all along the bottom edge and knit a rib. I'd like to straighten out the stockinette curl at the bottom so that the strip of handspun will be visible when I wear it. What do you think?

Jane asked what pattern I used for my daughter's handwarmers. Well, I read several patterns and then just started knitting! Here is what I ended up with:

I used sock yarn and a size 1 circular needle. I also knit them using the magic loop method which is why my daughter thought I was just making another pair of socks!

Cast on 60 stitches, place marker and join in round.

K2P2 rib for 1"

Knit in round until length reaches from just below the elbow to where you would like the thumb hole to start. I tried it on LOTS!

Remove the marker.

Turn, slip one, purl to the end of the row.
Turn, slip one, knit to the end of the row.

Repeat these two rows 8 times to make the hole for the thumb.

Replace the marker, join the row again and knit until you are 1" short of where you want to end.

K2 P2 rib for 1". Bind off.

Pick up 20 stitches around the thumb hole, placing a marker at the beginning of the round.

Knit 4 rounds.

K2P2 rib for 1".

Cast off.

My daughter particularly liked having two different colors! One of her friends even wants the pattern!

Ice Storm

We had an ice storm Sunday that continued into Monday. Crazy weather - lots of people are still without power. Luckily, ours never went out. I thought I'd share a photo of the tree in our front yard and a closeup of the grass. I'm not sure when it's going to melt because the temp is not going above freezing for a few more days. The tree looks a little different than it did with all of its beautiful red leaves!

Secret Pal Goodies!

My Secret Pal has struck again! The package came while I was at work. My daughter called me practically breathless to tell me that I had a package! I could almost HEAR how big her eyes were when she called me! And she told me she would make sure that I took pictures of everything. So here we are! The Holiday Issue from Interweave - I think I'll use some of my new Saratoga Llama yarn to make the neck warmer - I have just enough yarn in the skein. Then there is a lovely skein of Opal sock yarn, a beautiful hand made card and finally, a ball winder!!
The Rowing Cat pulled it out of the box and immediately set it up on the table for me. She ran upstairs to grab a skein of yarn that needed winding, and off we went! We even made my husband get into the act! My daughter was very miffed because my husband was actually much better at the winding motion. He said he just has "the touch . . ."

And here is the beautiful skein all wound and ready to go! I can't tell you how exciting this was. I kept thinking of buying one, but just never got around to it. Now I have one of my very own thanks to my Secret Pal!!

As for progress on my other projects, I finished one STR sock and have just cast on for the second. It really is pretty fabulous yarn to knit with. The skein I bought was the lightweight yarn - I think I'd like to try the medium weight next time just for comparison. And I'm about halfway up one arm of the sweater. I'll probably be able to cast on for the second arm this weekend but will have to get back to knitting the body!

Knitting Progress

Thanks for all the wonderful comments on the lace shawl! I'm just happy it's finally done!

How does it look?? The beginning of the sleeve! I'm taking EZ's advice to start the sleeves while the enless stockinette of the body is in progress. And I get to see how great the handspun from my Secret Pal knits up! I am VERY excited!

And here is the progress on the body - endless, endless, endless!

Here is a picture of the beginning of my Bejeweled scarf (click the button on my sidebar). I'm making it with a mix of Kidsilk Haze and KnitPick's Alpaca Cloud. I think it will be beautiful after some blocking. But there is still lots to go.

And here is sock number one from the Socks That Rock Rocktober colorway. I love the color and have cast on for the second sock.

And my daughter just called to tell me that there is a Secret Pal package waiting for me when I get home!!!!

Lace Magic

Happy New Year! We spent the weekend in Marblehead, MA with Mark's family. Here is the Rowing Cat with her new copy of the latest Warriors book - she loves this series. She is lounging with her new bathrobe . . .

This is a picture of Mark's family at our New Year's Dinner. From the left, Mark, me, Norry, Elena, Paul, Suzanne and Carl. Mark, Paul and Carl are brothers. My mother-in-law Joan must have been in the kitchen when this was taken. Take no note of the wine glass in my hand. I have to admit to a slight hangover the next day. This was actually the eve of New Year's Eve, so I had a day to recover!

And here is a little Lace Magic! I finally finished this shawl after starting it 4 years ago . . . It's the Faux Russian Stole from A Gathering of Lace. I definitely enjoyed making this but I'm not sure I want to dive right into another one just yet! Here is the shawl pre-blocking laid out on the carpet.


And here it is in the sink getting wet.

And here it is pinned out and blocking! I love the transformation!

I can hardly believe I actually made this! Later in the week I'll have some pictures of the progress on my EZ sweater and the Bejeweled Scarf (click the button on the sidebar for the knitalong!)

Christmas Goodies

Whew - I survived another Christmas! Here is our "eerie" Christmas photo. I'm not quite sure how I managed it with the camera, but it's interesting!


Here is a picture of the completed hand warmers for the Rowing Cat! She loved them and has hardly taken them off! The "I'm making a pair of socks" ruse worked - she had no idea! Her friends at school are going to be jealous of these if they thought her "Amethyst" hat was "cool"! She even received a compliment on them from one of the ladies at the yarn store this morning!

And now for the most amazing news! For Christmas I received a very soft skein of llama yarn from Saratoga Llamas. That in itself is tremendous, but it's the paper underneath that is the real gift!

My husband is giving me 6 hours of spinning lessons with Lin Woods from Saratoga Llamas!!! And, at the end of the lessons, he is going to buy me a spinning wheel of my choice! How great is that! I was so surprised and still can't really believe it. Just the fact that he went by himself into the yarn store to ask about spinning and then continued, by himself, to Saratoga Llamas to talk to Lin is amazing! And the best part is that Lin has her students spin on each of the wheels that she has, so by the end of the course, you have an idea of the brand/type of wheel you feel most comfortable with. I could not think of a better present! (Letting him sell his used scull and buy a new one this spring was worth it!)



Mark worked at Gore Mountain on Christmas Day, so I was inspired to finish the shawl I have been working on for 4 years! The Rowing Cat almost fell off of her chair when I showed her the finished product - she's been bugging me about it forever! Of course, as soon as I put it down on the chair the cat decided it was the perfect location for a nap . . . I have to check and see if I have enough blocking pins, and if I do I'm going to block it this afternoon. Stay tuned for some lace magic!

I've Been Tagged!

I've been tagged by Stephanie to list "6 Weird Things About You."

Here are the rules:

THE RULES: Each player of this game starts with the "6 weird things about you." People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly.In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says "you are tagged" in their comments and tell them to read your blog.


1. I don't like to make phonecalls. Email is great!

2. I like the TP to roll from the back, not over the top. I'll change it if the roll is put on the "wrong" way.

3. I don't like to dust under the bed - where does all that stuff come from???

4. I go around the house turning off lights - drives my husband CRAZY!

5. I can bend my left pinkie finger almost all the way back to my wrist - very weird.

6. I always have at least 3 books going - one for the living room, one in the bedroom and one at work.

And I tag: Anne, Knitting Knirvana, Midnight 2 Sticks, Rain and my Secret Pal!

Some Holiday Knitting!

The Christmas countdown has begun . . . The tree is up and trimmed. There are presents under the tree (mine and Mark's)! None for the Rowing Cat yet - she is very upset about that :-) I do, however, still have wrapping for her to do. Tonight we'll be making my family's peanut butter fudge recipe. Of course I had to make a quick Price Chopper stop this morning before work to pick up the forgotten Butterscotch Morsels . . . Upon completion of the fudge, the Chrismas candy war will begin. Mark's grandmother made Peanut Butter Christmas Candy every year and he is the one in the family the recipe passed down to. It is a mixture of peanut butter and confectioners sugar. It has always been too sweet for my taste, so we argue every Christmas about which recipe is the best! The Rowing Cat falls on both sides of the fence as you can imagine!

We watched The Christmas Story this weekend! What a fun movie! The Rowing Cat had never seen it, so it was really a treat - I had forgotten how funny it was! This will be on our holiday viewing list from now on.

We also found out that Mark has to work at Gore Mountain on Christmas Day. This will mean getting up insanely early and opening half of our presents before he has to leave and then opening the rest when he gets home. This will be somewhat crazy! It also means that I'll be responsible for properly cooking the Christmas Roast - YIKES! This is going to call for lots of spiked eggnog! The Rowing Cat and I will spend the afternoon next door at my brother's letting the little ones open family presents. Another YIKES! But I'm hoping for some quiet knitting time to bring back my sanity - is that too much to ask??


Here is the start of my EZ sweater - the seamless pullover - page 66 or 68? in my copy of Knitting Without Tears. I must admit though that this has already been ripped out. I thought I would like to do a turned hem on it, but knitting the hem together did not go well. So out it came. Which turned out to be a good thing because I discovered that my gauge was off. If I had continued with this, the sweater would have been HUGE! So, I'll be casting on again with a smaller number of stitches and will just let the stockinette roll happen on the bottom!



These three are scarves I brought in as Holiday gifts for my co-workers! I think they're just fun little treats! Also very impressive to the non-knitter! Definitely going for the WOW factor at work ;-)




And I found out that our cousin Lexie, sister of Anne has gotten engaged!!! Looks like a summer trip to Montana - twist my arm!!

Getting Ready!

Here is a picture of my Secret Pal roving spun up ready to go into the cooking pot! I really like the colors. I've cast on for an Elizabeth Zimmerman sweater knit in round from Knitting Without Tears. I'm using an off-white Cascade 220 for the body and will use this yarn for contrast on the yoke. I think it will look great! But lots of stockinette to get through . . .

Here is the yarn all wound up and ready to go!

And here is a scarf I'm knitting up with the Briar Rose yarn I purchased at Rhinebeck. I love the colors - greens and blues. I'm using a Lily Chin cable pattern that I have used before. It was inspired by a post on this great blog: http://www.verypink.com/parasceva.htm

I think this will be a Christmas present for someone!

We had great news this weekend - Mark is now an official Ski Instructor at Gore Mountain!!! He went to a two day instructor course and was one of 25 out of 60 participants chosen for a job this winter! He'll be able to keep in great shape for next season's rowing competitions!

If you have a chance head on over to our Montana cousin Anne's blog and give her a big hello! http://eweknittoo.blogspot.com/

Secret Pal!!! and Pumpkin Bread Recipe

Here is our Thanksgiving turkey! We had some issues between my husband and his mother regarding the "doneness" of the turkey, but once those were resolved we sat down to a wonderful meal!

The following day there was a surprise in the mail! My Secret Pal sent me a package! As you can see, Shadow had to investigate! And this package came all the way from Wasilla, Alaska! I can't believe it! How fun!



The package contained two BEAUTIFUL rovings to feed my spinning addiction. The colors are wonderful! My daughter has already claimed whatever I might make from the turquoise roving since she has a pillow exactly that shade! And the multicolor is fantastic, beautiful greens with yellows, reds browns - I couln't resist!


Here is some of it spun up - I had to get right to my spindle! Oh yes, my wonderful pal also sent me the marvelous book Spin to Knit! I have been hoping to get my hands on it! It is wonderful with great photos and explanations for new spinners. Also some teriffic patterns - I love the sweaters and the hats! There was also a bag of Heath Bar Bites but those are long gone!



The Rowing Cat and I looked up Wasilla on the internet and found a great little video about the town that we watched! She can't believe that my pal is from the town where the Iditarod Race starts! She's loved the Balto story forever thanks to the animated video!

Thanks so much to my Pal! You're keeping me busy!

Here's the recipe - This was given to my daughter by her Kindergarten teacher and we have made it every year since! Thanks Mrs. Schrader at Jerry Thomas Elementary in Jupiter, Florida!

Pumpkin Bread

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1/2 lb. canned pumpkin
1/3 cup water
1 3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves

Cream sugar, oil and add eggs. Add pumpkin. Add dry ingredients alternately with water. Grease two 8 x 3 3/4 inch pans. Bake at 350 degrees for and hour or until done.

Enjoy!

Help Mom!

Here is the Rowing Cat's stash pile dumped on the couch in front of Mom for a drastically needed untangling . . .


Then I did my magic and this is the result - now the Rowing Cat can start up again on her black scarf.

Except that this happened before she could grab her yarn!

The cat knows a good haul when she sees one! Below are the finished socks from the yarn sent by my Tea Swap pal - they turned out great!

And here's a little "One Skein Wonders" hat I finished. I splurged and bought some Socks That Rock yarn this week - off to cast on!

Spinning, Knitting and a little Hound Dog

Faith, of The Knitting Cook podcast, spoke at length in her latest episode about the wonder of the knitting community, especially the on-line community. I have to agree with everything she said. Here's my story: My Secret Pal 9 spoilee is a woman who lives in Massachusetts and is a writer for a Boston newspaper. My daughter is also a writer, albeit a thirteen year old one. She loves to write. She writes every day and hopes to someday write stories for children. This is simply amazing to me. I would find writing stories to be sheer torture. I mentioned in an email to my spoilee that my daughter wants to be a writer. My spoilee passed on some "words of wisdom" for her which was wonderful. Then I received another email from her suggesting a book she thought might be perfect for my daughter! The book is called Writing Magic and is written by Gail Carson Levine. That night I went to the bookstore, found the book and brought it home. Well, you can imagine that the Rowing Cat was VERY EXCITED about this book. It is perfect for her! And she is very impressed that A REAL WRITER recommended a book to her! So that is my story about the knitting community. It is a place where a fellow knitter takes the time to reach out and do something special for a thirteen year old! I know that I'll always remember this gesture of kindness!


Here is a picture of the merino roving I bought at Rhinebeck. It's a beautiful color and looks nice when spun, but I have to admit that I'm not loving it. It's probably just my drafting technique, but I'm not happy with the way it feels in my hand. I think I should just put this away for another day. I have some wool roving still sitting in my stash that I think I'll pull out and try.


Here's a picture of sock #1 from the Tea Swap Regia self patterning yarn! I'm about halfway through the second. My daughter is very anxious for me to finish them! They do look most impressive to those not initiated into the world of self patterning yarn!

And finally, a shot of the Rowing Cat in her jeans and teeshirt doing a dance to Elvis Presley's Hound Dog for Talent Show night! These girls made quite a pair!