Socks

I've been looking at my sock WIPS as Christmas vacation draws to a close.  I started 2 new sock projects over break:  one for my dad and one for me:

There are others as well, several, in fact, in various stages of completion.  All in their own ways magical, I've abandoned them for a variety of reasons.  Often it is so I can knit on something newer and shinier.  For 2 of the projects, I left them because of being stuck in a particular spot.  I want to finish all but one of these socks and mend some others for my January knitting.  It may take more than a month!

 This sock has a problem...maybe it's me with the problem!  I can't remember what pattern I used to start it.  I love the pattern, have looked through all of my books and patterns, all of Ravelry, but can't seem to find it.  HELP!  I'd rather not frog these!

 Lovely circle socks.  I'll finish these; getting tired of circles, though.  Look below:

 More circle socks.  Maybe for next Hallowe'en!

 Frogged!  I ran out of handspun yarn to finish them.  No worries!

 These are a challenge.  I don't love knitting mosaic stitches.  The charts throw me.  But it fits so far and I'll tackle them again!

 Yikes - I am lost in the chart here.  I love the yarn and the square Kollage needles I'm using.  But I seem to be off in the chart and need to get the right mind space to find myself and continue!

 These simple skyp socks are great!  I love the yarn and the sock rocket needles and just need to get down to business to finish them for my youngest son.

And thrums!  What's hard about worsted socks?  I worry about the mohair thrums slipping out, but they are fun to knit...I got in a few rounds today.  I'm thinking I can knit a bunch of these for my quilting friends for next Christmas.  We'll see.

Nothing that a little dedicated time and attention won't fix.

Planning for 2013...and beyond!

So I have a plan...after discovering that my unfinished knitting project list hovered someplace above the 40 mark, no matter how many I finish, I surely need one! I ruthlessly made some rules after Christmas: no new knitting until all are finished with the exception of baby items for Baby Jupiter. Further, each item has a month or part of a month from now until the sometime in 2014 when all will be done. 

Isn't this a lovely last image of Christmas?  The next day we had warm temperatures that melted  snow and the magic disappeared.

 Already, the second rule has been compromised. But here at the end of January, I have finished 4 pairs of mittens, 3 hats, a scarf and a tea cozy. All were WIPs except for the scarf! That's a dent! And still 2 days remain in the month!

Lame acrylic mittens knit for no reason, but it counts as completion!

 Now to do that, I shifted items around and made a discovery. A kal can be a help in completing items. I really wanted to post mittens on the Naknimitmo group on Ravelry! I also wanted to give Elizabeth her pair of mittens and they look so nice with her jacket.

Elizabeth's Holly Jean mittens - love Cascade 220!

In planning my list of diminishing WIPs, I made another discovery. Projects begun more recently seem to get finished. It's the older discontinued items that languish. I suspect the reasons for this are as numerous as the projects themselves, but I tried to take that into consideration as I listed and mixed the older with the more recent. I also tried to take into account the amount of finishing needed. And I have decided that serious rearranging is totally acceptable as long as work is completed.   So in spite of rearrangements made and more expected in the future, here is the original list.

 2013
January: White alpaca sweater and Nemesis socks from Tunis fiber
February: Handspun corriedale Paperboy cardi and pink crocheted bag
March: Pink stripe pullover and thrum socks
April: Red zigzag blanket and black lace scarf for 'Cole
May: Brick colored cutaway cardigan and lt blue fingerless gloves
June: Purple/orange wild handspun shawl and gray alpaca blend vest w/ bobbles
July: Mittens: Nema, purple acrylic, and thrum
August: Orange Cakewalk socks and Tom's blueberry vest
September:  3 sisters cardi in purple and felted nest
October:  Red wool cardi - Sitcom Chic - and stripey socks w/ picot edge
November: Red ruana and Alison's scarf
December: Red pi shawl and Mission Falls flower bag

Hena Mittens knit from Mission Falls 1824 Wool.  So fun to knit and embellish!

2014
January:  Burgundy mohair cardi and Shetland circle shawl
February: Orange, pink, brown vest and wild handspun bag
March: Orange handspun pocket scarf and Annie Modesitt bag
April:  Charlotte's Web
May:  Philosopher's Wool cardi
June:  Red Swirl sweater - Annie Modesitt
July: Periwinkle Peace Fleece cabled hoodie
August: Minni cardi
September: KnitPicks colorwork cardi and Mosaic socks - red and brown

Thrum mittens.  Gauge changes over time!  And now Tom wants a pair - he's entranced with these, but I think they'd be too small for him.

It's powerful and overwhelming to see it all in print in one place.  It looks manageable until you think about the life that flows around it and the time required to accomplish the many tasks that make up my life.  What I didn't include above as I bragged a little about how many things I already finished is that many of them were done when I had the flu, home from work for a few days and ignoring dirty dishes and laundry that needed folding.  I'll continue to be the hopeful optimist as I gaze at the list.  But realistically it will take near aggression to wrest time away from other things to meet this goal of no WIPs by September 2014!

Elektra

I just finished this lace shawl. It's a creation designed by Rosemary Hill and its completion makes me want to just jump into another! I used handspun yarn, 2 ply, made from a natural colored bond fleece purchased from Gleason's Fine Woolies. Very tame color for me, so I added a few bright colors of beads for interest.

Thomas in Dan's Vest

I'd just love to knit one of these babies for all of the men in my life. What a great vest! I'm told my older son's students even like this vest and it's hard to impress high school students!

The yarn is a blend of rambouillet, gulf coast native and shetland fibers that I had blended and carded into roving. It's a 2 ply yarn that I spun fairly fine on my antique Canadian production wheel. The rambo and GCN were white, the shetland brown. So why does the yarn show up as gray? Taupe? One of the great mysteries of spinning. I like the color, but have lots of this fiber. (And I mean lots - 2 giant bags to begin with!) I am still spinning this yarn and will be spinning it for awhile longer. I believe the next project I knit from it will be overdyed another color...maybe garnet!



My next vest will be knit for DH in a 3 ply yarn called snow on blueberries. I have enough for fronts and may use millspun for the back. This winter. Yeah, that's it!

Still Giving Thanks

Pink and purple yarn, fleece dyed in Harrisville



Iced cardigan knitted in mohair/wool blend of handspun, wildly autumnal colors!



Charlotte's Web Shawl in blues. Must knit late at night - no interruptions!



Black baby alpaca shawl in fircone pattern.




Blueberry Pie...yum!




Banana muffins with chocolate chips - triple batch!



Broccoli and Bacon Quiche


Sunday night has arrived all too quickly again. I spend today scurrying around trying to make the best of the last day of Thanksgiving break. I cooked like a madwoman, finished 2 yarns and did some knitting on a cardigan that I have almost finished. Started a black baby alpaca scarf for Nicole and a Charlotte's Web shawl for me. I even managed to take pictures of some of these things, as you can see. And it's back to school tomorrow. Yay!

Peace at last

Well, today's heat and back to school activities left me with a sizable headache. My cure? Spinning luscious fiber, of course! A month or so ago, I received a magic box from Morro Fleeceworks, earlier than they had predicted. It was filled with over 6 lbs of a lofty mixture of cormo, alpaca and silk. Yum. The stuff is incredible to spin! I'm tired, need to go to bed, but can hardly stop!

What shall I make from this bounty? Peaceful moments for months ahead and then...to be continued!

Summer is over (if you're a teacher, anyway!)

What a sad way to begin a post! But it's true. So we started the day with fresh veggies, flowers, and a Molly muffin and home fries from Foxxy Roxy's!

Book group will meet tonight where we will discuss our reading of The Letters by Luanne Rice and Joseph Monninger. It was a light, predictable, summer read.

I'm off to the grocery store. This is not a job I usually relish, but today the heat will make the air conditioning seem exotic and wonderful! It's strange to have such heat at this time of year, but we will be back to seasonably cool on Friday and Saturday in time for the weekend. Kayaking, perhaps?

Great American Irish Festival

On a bit of a whim, we decided to attend the abovementioned event. The music was loud and wonderful. We ate some chicken riggies and deep fried Oreos. Wow! And the food was reasonably priced. All in all, a nice way to spend a midsummer's day.



On the way home, we stopped in the town park in Harrisville. For years we have been driving by there and exclaiming how beautiful it is, all nestled there in an island in the midst of the Oswegatchie river. Today was just the day for exploring it. Tiny but lovely, we walked the path, gazed at all angles of the river and enjoyed the cool breeze. All along the path was posted the pages of a children's book called Trout, Trout, Trout. They were fastened to small wooden stakes right at a child's height. Indicators of a literate community always tickle me.

Yesterday we went to the Civil War Reenactment in Massena. Tom always enjoys the battle. Thomas and I wait it out, then head to the river. Noise, smoke, weapons? Nope! There were sailboats on the St. Lawrence and a party boat drove by before we headed home. The day was ended at home with gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches. Heirloom tomatoes make everything better!

Currently knitting: Twisted Float Shrug with online class by Annie Modesitt, boring brown sock for a gift. I started spinning corespun from a batt I bought from Marilla in coral and peach and glitter. Trouble is, the silk thread I'm spinning around has been known to bleed orange on all it touches! I need to check that out before spinning much more.

New Phone Finally!

My poor Blackberry died. Not recently...it died sometime during the New York State sheep and wool festival at the end of October. And I haven't missed it terribly, but recent bad weather made me a bit more aware of my vulnerability as I travel the back roads from St. Lawrence County into the Adirondacks. So I had to have an iPhone. Of course. Yikes. It is fun.

But not really as fun as finishing knitted projects. Here is a fun pair of socks I finished for my dad this summer.



I've also been looking at the Holiday Yarns sock knitting club.. Crazy, I know, but it looks like fun and what's better than socks this time of year. Now that I think of it, I need a pair of them on right now! And I would dearly love a snow day. Hmmmm.

Alaska Socks

I've finished the first installment of my sock club from Alaska. We stopped at a shop called Mission St. Yarn Shop in Ketchikan and they had some of the wonderful sock yarn with cashmere in it, hand dyed, of course. Then I noticed they were offering a fall sock club. Just 3 installments and it would bring back Alaska to us, right? Who could resist? Not me, and my sometimes enabling husband agreed.

When I was at this point, I noticed that I would not have enough yarn to finish the second sock. So I contacted the shop owner, Sheri, who very quickly sent me another half skein which was plenty to finish. I've worn then once and they are heavenly - soft, cushy and warm. I can't wait til the next shipment! Now why can't I finish a few sweaters this quickly?

Here they are finished:




In other fiber news, I did a bit of local shopping with the kids this afternoon. Our St. Lawrence Arts Council has a lovely display of fiber art that will be available for viewing until Jan 23. I really enjoyed looking as well as shopping for gifts from the bounty our local artists offer at this shop. I even bought a show piece for a Christmas gift for my husband. It's a wall hanging that merges traditional rug hooking with metal working. The artist is a person Tom has bought jewelry from for me several times, so I can't wait until he sees that I could get something for him from her collection as well. I'll post a photo as soon as we are able to bring it home.

#3...A travel sweater

This was my Chicago sweater. Most of what you see in the photo was completed on a crazy weekend school trip I took with my son and the Spanish club at his school. We drove to Chicago in a bus which left lots of knitting time. Before we left I happened to stop by my LYS and noticed a new line of yarns they were carrying - The Earth Collection, an organic line of yarns made from different fibers by Plymouth. I chose an alpaca yarn called Ranch. And I never do this, but looked at the accompanying book from Plymouth and loved the sweater on the back called Pandia. I bought the whole lot on a whim at 10% off as I had filled my frequent buyer card. I think it will be a great throw on in all weathers sweater due to the 3/4 sleeves and lace knitting at the top. Someday I'll finish it!

Red ripple blanket

Now this is a lovely thing. Fun to knit, I'm using those wonderful nylon needles, size 7 as most of the yarn is worsted weight. It's a wonderful collection of yarns, some remnants and some added simply because they have a bit of red in them. Brown sheep plain colors create sedate narrow stripes between wilder and wider stripes of handspun. Often the colors are variegated or tweedy and textured. I should try to remember to bring this along to knit when I must focus on other things. I'm not sure why it got set aside the last time. Probably, I started a new sweater or something. Oh, look, a butterfly. A short attention span is an embarrassing thing. Maybe I'll dig it out and bring it to knitting group night in Massena this Wednesday. I feel better already. Project #2, documented.

An accounting begins

I wonder just how many projects I have on the needles. Here I plan to start a brutal accounting of these projects, with photos of each. I do need to finish a few. But starting is my second favorite part of the process, and so much easier to achieve than my first favorite which is finishing, of course!

This first is a sock knit of handspun. I purchased the hand dyed roving from Ginny Tullock, aka FatCatKnits, and spun it fractally. This was my first attempt and I am pleased. Having achieved 300 yards of double ply yarn, I thought I'd have enough to finish the pair. Sadly, this seems to be not the case. But no fears as Ginny is a sweetheart who dyed me up another batch of roving. I'm finished with one sock, minus kitchener ending, and have enough from ball #1 to start the second sock. I have started spinning ball #2 and should be good to go for my late August deadline. Project #1, stay tuned for more!

Let go, Winter!

In the North Country winter, nature provides us
With only a soothing palette
Which by April has become monotonous,
A tapestry of threads of
Brown dirt,
White snow,
Gray sky,
Darker gray branches
Weaving upward with interlocking fingers,
Neutral dark green fir trees, spruce and pine
Spearing the sky.

Look closely
Before complaining bitterly:
This tapestry is shot through with
The bright blue flash of a pair of jays,
Iridescent green of a wood duck's neck,
(Sitting in our uncovered pool)
Drunken fruit cocktail in the sky
Mornings before rain,
And the tiniest shoots of spring green -
Of crocus
And snowdrops
Promising purple and orange and pink.

And that promise
Will have to suffice
As winter's snow quilt melts away
And spring's light counterpane of green
Grows to cover the landscape.

April is Poetry Month!

One last gasp - winter
Eternal lace blankets all
Both blessing and curse.

Another sad Sunday evening

I'll never know how vacations slip by so quickly. And then it's Sunday evening again! I'm scrambling trying to get the laundry caught up, fiber pursuits put away where I can find them when I have a few stolen moments.

And another thing I'll never understand is why my mind registers no fiber progress, when evidence says otherwise. I have photos that show a few things I worked on over Thanksgiving in addition to cooking a gargantuan meal and a few other time eaters. These are good things. Maybe the only things that count are those that are finished. These do tend to be few, but I need to start considering work done progress. Look at these:



Socks from a sock blank that are past the heel area, even if they aren't finished by the end of the month as I had hoped.



A hat/cowl (Gryla's Howl from Berroco - a free pattern!) I'm making for a secret Santa gift. This is handspun from this wonderful bond fleece:



Here it is on the wheel, single ply:













Another few spinning projects:





A white cross fleece I'm handpicking and spinning from the cloud on my antique Canadian production wheel.








A Spunky Eclectic hand dyed roving in the Lame Duck colorway. This is destined to become a pair of socks for my dad.









Another Spunky roving in Rosebud. Luscious and my mom is lusting after it. We'll see!




It's nice to see things lined up here...some progress made. Finishing is nice, but working toward is necessary to get to the finished stage. Must learn this in my heart!