A Stitch In Time

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I talk about my various and sundry hobbies here as well as my life in general. The primary focus of this blog is my spinning and my knitting but you can find just about anything covered if you hang out long enough.

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I have elected to join the Yarn Focus Challenge which is being run by Rebekah. 

I must confess I nearly choked when she said no more fiber, but since things already ordered and purchased don’t count, I think this might be a good way to curb my fleece buying problem until MDS&W…  I have bought no yarn or related fiber since Monday.  (Ok, yes, I did buy about 30lbs worth of fleece on Monday but that’s not the point, right?)  There will be 3 free days, I plan on saving April’s for the 2 days of MDS&W…  And then I’ll have a free day in June which I will use for Estes Park…  So yes, it looks like I will be coming for Estes Park ladies.  I just have to make reservations.  So, if you feel so inclined, join us for the Yarn Focus Challenge…  It should be a challenge, that’s for sure!    And thanks again for Rebekah for hosting it!

Ok, not really.  It wasn’t the wilderness at all, but it was the mountains!  I actually met Snow and Kristi in the flesh!  Whee!  Oh my but so much fun was had!  I got to go to the very beginning of the Rocky Mountain State Park and enjoyed the lovely views of the mountains but never quite made it into the park proper.  I was suffering a bit from what all the locals call altitude sickness.  Me, I call it wanting to puke and feeling light headed and oxygen deprived.    But I got to see Estes Park which is a lovely town and happens to be where the Estes Park Wool Market will be held in June. 

We got to see Bighorn sheep which was quite a treat for this tourist, and on Sunday, Kristi held a tea in which the theme was Colorado!  I got to try some really fantastic things and enjoyed them all!  I got to meet Ashley, whose name is NOT Allison (my dear friends who know me well know how bad I am with names so shouldn’t be surprised that I flubbed someone’s up),  and Amanda who works at Interweave Press for my favorite publication, Spin-Off Magazine!

Amanda even invited Kristi and I to come to Interweave for a tour!  Which we took her up on after a visit to see Myrtle Dow who is the owner of Black Pines Sheep where Kristi and I went to visit on Monday morning!  We expected a quick visit, but Myrtle was so kind and allowed us to take all the photos we wanted!  And Kristi and I both got nibbled on a little by a Romeldale/CVM lamb who had been bottle fed recently!  I took so many lovely pictures, and Theresa will be happy to know that I did indeed get a photo of Sidney whose fleece I am happy to have shared with LadyV.  I did send a sample of Sidney home with Shelley and I HAD to redeem Romeldale/CVM to Julie and Theresa...  I may have also extolled it’s virtues to a few others too since Myrtle thanked me for sending at least 6 people her way!  I can’t say enough about what Myrtle is doing on her farm.  I’ll try to explain it a little.

Myrtle is doing a breed upgrade program to upgrade the Wensleydale and Teeswater breeds in the United States.  As of today, there are no pure bred Wensleydales or Teeswaters outside of the United Kingdom.  Myrtle has been working hard to upgrade our breed here in the US and is 2 lambing seasons away from achieving pure bred Wensleydales and Teeswaters!  Myrtle is also preserving one of the oldest know breeds of sheep in history.  Karakul.  While Karakul wool is coarse and suitable for rugs and the like, It is also a sheep which has been drawn on cave walls, and ancient tombs.  While it is considered an “unimproved” breed due to the fact that it is virtually unchanged from it’s characteristics from 2,000+ years ago, it is one of the most beautiful and elegant animals I have ever seen.  And yes, I will post pictures, just not today…  It’s very interesting to me how differently the Karakuls behaved in comparison to the other breeds.  They stayed together almost exclusively and that was an interesting thing since the other sheep mingled with one another freely. 

Anyway, Myrtle was so patient with all of the questions I asked her stupid or not.    Time completely flew by!  We got to Myrtle’s home at around 9:45am and it was after noon when we finally looked at the clock!  We were late for our lunch with Amanda and ate first before our tour of Interweave.  I was so thrilled to get to tour the building which is a very interesting one.  You should go by the SOAR blog and check out the post about the building’s history.  It’s really neat!  (There is also a picture of Kristi and I that was taken by one of the Spin-Off staff people.  I wore my Streakers Shrug that day and the Knits staff really enjoyed seeing it!  As did the Spin-off folks since it is from my handspun!  It made me feel quite good to get such a positive reaction from the staff of the magazines!  After our fun at Interweave, we went back to Kristi’s house and played with some fleece.  (You don’t think I could have let Kristi get out of there without some fiber do you? What kind of friend would I be?)  So we went back to Kristi’s house and washed fleese and played with some samples that Myrtle gave us.  The samples were all from unskirted fleeces, but they were stunning!  We had so much fun!  And then, when all the fleece was washed it was time to go to the Fort Collins Knitting group!  (It used to be the Fort Collins Stitch and Bitch but we all know about that debacle…) 

I met so many wonderful ladies there!  And I already knew a few!  Snow, Kristi, Ashley, and Amanda were all there, as was Anita, Amber, A lady who was originally from New Jersey and who spent St Patty’s day in NYC (I can’t remember her name but damn is she witty and funny!) ANd I also got to meet IG.  And dear god.  I don’t even know her at all, but I was really annoyed at her.  I don’t think it is her personality per se that makes her grate so much on me, butthe WAY she approaches things.  Generally when I think a sweater or garment is lovely, I will ask the recipient if I can see it.  I don’t demand.  We were talking about our visit to Interweave and Ashley hadn’t seen my shrug yet but I had mentioned it at the tea on Sunday.  IG jumped in and said “Give it to me.“  Whereas Ashley said “oh may I see it?“.  I’m sure you know who I gave it to. There were other things, like a yarn that Ashley and I were talking about on Sunday and I did a quick swatch as Ashley and I knit to the same guage usually (2 needle sizes off due to tightness) and worked out if she had enough to make a sweater based on the swatch. I think she does have enough.  IG asked where she got the yarn.  Not a big deal, right?  Well, it turns out the yarn is from Denmark and Ashley got it on a business trip.  IG actually said let me know when you go again, I want some yarn like that.  Now granted, I didn’t know these ladies and perhaps that was ok in their company but I was seriously shocked at the way she demanded rather than asked.  And it didn’t end there.  She brought a spindle with her and some wool.  Her spindle was really messed up, the hook was pushed in to the top of the shaft.  She actually said and I quote, “So, how are WE going to fix it?“  Umm. it’s her freakin’ spindle.  But being the kind and gracious woman that Kristi is, she fixed it for her. No thank you after the repair either…  Hello?  Manners?  Then she said the woman who sold her the spindle gave her some fiber, but she didn’t know why.  Umm, maybe to spin up?  Just a thought… I offered to identify the mystery fiber, but when I did so, she seemed completely uninterested.  Her response to me was, Oh, whatever…  Gah!  I’m not one to be rude, but I could feel the snarkiness bubbling to the surface.  And Snow is right.  She should have her Noro taken from her.  She looks like she is in pain when she’s “knitting”.  It actually hurts me to see her knit.  I don’t actually know what she is doing but I don’t think it’s knitting.  I asked her what the yarn was and told her it was pretty.  Her response?  Nara, norhu, nuru, something like that.  I asked her if it was Noro? She said, yeah, whatever…  Gah!  If she doesn’t even care enough to know that she’s knitting with Noro, she should have it confiscated and have Red Heart put in its place. 

I had a wonderful time, and I can’t wait to see Snow, Kristi, Ashley, Amanda, Anita, Amber, and the other lady from SnB.  I could do without ever seeing IG again…  Thank you again for such a wonderful time ladies! 

I got a lovely thing in the mail recently.  I saw the recommendation on Liz at Pocket Farm’s website and popped on over to Three Dog Designs.  I found a Kody bag I couldn’t resist, so I ordered it.  I lOVE it! 

This bag has all of my notions, all 3 of my knitting projects along with their assorted extra yarn, 2 books, and other sundries.  It will be great to take on the plane with me today…  (It’s 12:30am so it’s oficially FRIDAY!!!!  WOO HOO!)

Oh, and just for Deb  Here are some updated Siv pictures.  I have completed the first motif in either side and have started the center motif.  I really love the sweater so far!!!

And because he is so cute, here’s one of my sweet little Max.  I took this when I was finishing up the seaming on the shrug.  He looks resigned that he couldn’t be on my lap! 

I’ll be back on Tuesday!  I should have a slew of pictures to show everyone by then! 

I decided to join Project Spectrum because I am already doing things that encompass both March and April’s colors.  My Latvian socks are perfect for March and I have been knitting on them all month, and my Siv sweater is Orange and green which I will most certainly still be knitting on in April. 

Siv is coming along nicely.  I am really enjoying it and I’ve gotten to the part where the middle section’s cabling has begun.  I am really enjoying this sweater.  Something happens nearly every row which make it a much more entertaining knit! 

The scarf and sock are languishing though…  But I may just get some done on them on my way out to visit Snow and Kristi on Friday for a 3 and a halfish day weekend!  I leav Friday afternoon and won’t get home until Tuesday!  I am starting to get so excited that I couldn’t keep it to myself anymore! 

SO if blogging is sparse it is because I am packing like a mad woman.  (Ok, probably not but I know exactly what knitting and sweaters will go with me to wear.  That’s a start, right? 

It’s true!  I have 3 projects on the needles right now.  A true record for me.  The Latvian sock, which is at this stage:  I’ve had some questions about the sock, so here are some details.  It is Jawool yarn, and the pattern is the Latvian socks from the Folk Sock book by Nancy Bush

I also started the scarf to go with my Synchronicity hat.  I’ve had questios about that pattern too, it is an Evelyn Clark pattern called everyone’s favorite hat.  It is distributed by Fiber Trends.  The scarf I am using the Italian Chain Stich from the Barbara Walker Treasury number one.  I’m going to use a different stitch for the green that matches the hat.

And last, but not least, there is a new sweater on my needles.  It is an Elsebeth lavold pattern from her first book Viking Patterns for Knitting.  I am making Siv with my marigold handspun.  I had my doubts, but when i saw the photo I took, my fears of the cables being invisible evaporated.

I’m pretty happy so far and am enjoying the pattern a lot after an initial misunderstanding withthe directions that involved me doing some math to figure out the real meaning of the instructions which were translated from the original Swedish publication.

And a final shot of the Shrug in action.  My photographer returned Friday night and I got him to take a photo of me in it today.  I had some questions about this patterns details too, and since I finished it in a total of 5 knitting days I didn’t blog about it in progress at all!  It’s the Streakers Shrug from the Spring 2006 Interweave Knits magazine and I made the smaller size.  I used my blue on blue handspun which i made from roving I got at MDSW 2005 from the Handspun by Stefania booth.  Both blues are indigo dyed but the starting wool was different colors, thus they came out different shades once dyed.  I had more of the dark blue left after I spun and plied the yarn, so I made a skein of the dark blue plied on itself and used that skein for the lace cuffs of the shrug.  I think it really added to the finished look of the piece.  Overall I am quite happy with my shrug and I think it suits my purposes quite well.  I usually wear cardigans to warm my shoulders and arms, but not my torso, so this is a great shape as it doesn’t bind or constrict my shoulders, back or chest.

I didn’t realize I had so many water spots on the mirror when I took the bathroom photos!  I guess the flash illuminated them!

I have done a little spinning, but I am feeling really driven to knit right now, so I am going with that feeling. 

I had a fun mail day today!  I got my first Socks that Rock Club shipment!  I hadn’t ever used STR before but I felt Shelley’s Jaywalkers and knew it was special yarn.

First, thank you so much for all of your compliments on my Bramble Berry and for Happy blogiversary wishes.  I appreciate them greatly and I will answer you all…  Margene came up with a Project Spectrum Meme for this month, and Kristi tagged all of us who read and saw her post.  It’s taken me a while because I have a LOT of red and more pink than I thought in my home.  Here are the photos in no particular order… (Even my everyday dishes have red!

Whew!  And that’s not even everything!  I have red towels, red sheets, red potholders and trivets and pottery with red glaze…

I also finished my shrug today…  Whee!  Here are photos of it!

The yarn was spun from about a pound of a lighter blue and a darker blue indigo roving purchased from Handspun by Stefania at MDS&W last year.  This knit up in record time and the pattern was fantastic.  I would have had it done on Monday had I spent any time on it whatsoever.  SO, I have a fun shoulder warmer for the chilly spring breezes.  I really like it and I have enough yarn left over for a cushy hat!  I know some people that might want one… 

It’s true!  Today is my 2nd Blogiversary!  In honor of today, I am going to have a mini contest.  What is my dog’s full first and middle name?  The first person to answer this question will receive a goodie from me.  (I am going to exclude Anne in ST Louis, as well as my hubby, Shayla and J since they know his full name quite well.)  I will decide depending on who wins what I will send.  If a dog owner wins, I will send a lovely assortment of pup-related goodness.  If a non-pet owner wins, I will find something fun from my yarn or fiber stash to send.  I might send both pup stuff and fiber stuff depending on my whim.   

So, let the games begin!  May the best Blogger/blog reader win! 

Thank you all so much for your sweet comments about Bramble Berry.  You mad me blush! 

When I took those photos it was still wet on the blocking board.  We also had a lot of cloudy and rainy weather so I delayed a modelling shot until today…

Kirk says the car sets off the sweater nicely… 

I like it.  It fits marvellously and It’s super comfy and doesn’t feel haevy or bulky at all.  I am really pleased with it.

I must confess that after I finished putting bramble on the Wooly Board took photos, blogged and immediately put all of my Blue/blue yarn on my ballwinder, swatched for the Streakers Shrug, got gauge on my first try with the recommended needle size and started the shrug!  I’ve been knitting on it ever since and I LOVE IT!!!! 

This is the second major project I have undertaken with my handspun and for the second time I have gotten perfect gauge with the recommended needle size.  I have never gotten perfect row gauge with a commercial yarn and I’m never even close on needle size with commercial yarn.  But yet, with my handspun, I get gauge!!!!  And wow, what a difference it makes when following a pattern if you actually get gauge!  Wow!  I am loving this project and I am up to the arm on it.  It feels divine and my handspun at such a large needle size has wonderful drape!  I may even finish this before the end of next week!  I hope so anyway!  It is a perfect weight for this time of year when it’s warm in the sun and chilly in the shade… 

As promised, I came home this evening and washed Bramble Berry and put it on the Wooly Board to block.  Here are pre-blocking photos:  As you can see, it looks like it was made for someone who is shaped like Elastigirl when she’s all stretched out…

After its bath I put it on the wooly board after setting it up to the proper measurements…

I am looking forward to trying this sweater on.  The magic of blocking has displayed itself to me again in case I ever had any doubts.  I mean the pattern looked pretty in pre-blocking, but on the wooly board it has really come to life.  I LOVE IT!!!!  Now it needs to get cold again so I can wear it! 

And no, Snow, I didn’t knit it overnight…  I started it for the Black Water Abbey Knit along that began in

11 and a half months to knit the freakin’ thing…  And yes, sewing in the sleeves was exciting since the number of rows on the sleeve cap did not equal the number of stitches on the sleeve bind off.  Not even close.  We’ll see if the sleeve looks really gathered when it dries…

No wonder I hated the damn thing so much…  It had been lingering for a year!!!!

Woo Hoo!  Now, on to my handspun shrug project…  It’s the shrug with lace cuffs in the most recent Interweave Knits…

The deaths of 2 wonderful people mark today’s newscasts.  While their lives were very different, Kirby Puckett and Dana Reeve were both beloved Americans.  I always had great affection and admiration for Kirby Puckett and was so saddened when Glaucoma forced him to retire from Baseball.  While not being a Twins fan, I always rooted for Kirby.  He just seemed like such a genuinely nice man.  Dana Reeve however I feel very differently about.  I did not know anything about her until her husband had his accident.  And from then on, I admired her loyalty and love for Christopher Reeve up until his last moment on this earth.  For her to have been taken so soon after is a tragedy.  It is doubly poignant for me since my Grandma passed away from Lung cancer last summer. 

But, enough of that.  I finished knitting the front of Bramble Berry on Sunday afternoon.  We took Max over to a friend’s house to play and he had a lovely time.  When we got home, I set up the Oscars to tape and started watching them at around 9:00pm so I had an hour of banked commercials to fast forward through.  I used the 3+ hour telecast to start seaming the sweater in preparation for the neckline.  The pattern wanted blocking to occur after all of the knitting, so I guess my Wooly Board will get another workout.  I seamed the shoulders, sewed in the first sleeve, completed the first side seam and the sleeve as well, I also sewed in the second sleeve before I went to bed. 

Last night I sewed the last side seam and the last sleeve seam.  I picked up the stitches for the neckline and completed 1 round before bedtime.  I have 9 rounds left to go on the neck and then it will be time to wash and block this sweater.  I am so relieved and excited to be this close to finishing it!!!  I just hope it fits and looks good on me.

I also finsihed the heel flap and turned the heel on the Latvian sock.  I’ve been busy!!!!

I had a really wonderful weekend, which ended with me ctching my hubby’s ick/flu thing.  That’s why I haven’t been as chatty as I would normally be…  But, I will say that knitting with a 101degree fever was actually fun!  I felt like I wasn’t in my own body and I could watch myself knitting Bramble Berry’s front with a quiet detacthment from the grueling reality.  The reality was that as of Sunday morning I could neither breathe or talk with out extreme pain.  Oh, and the fever… 

But, despite it all, I did knit…

AND, I even got some done on my sock!

So, back to my fun part of the weekend…  Friday night we watched a netflix film and went to bed early.  Saturday I went and got my car washed in preparation to take myself and Max down to see Shelley and the ever lovely Marley!  Much fun was had, and we went to Knit Happens so I could pick up 3 more skeins of that fabulous Alchemy Synchronicity yarn that Shelley had given me.  I’m going to make a scarf to go with my hat… 

Later that day I went with Shelley to a Yarn Swap party that was held at Ann’s house.  It was so much fun!  No, alas, I have no photos as I forgot my camera.  But, any of the other ladies who went got great photos…  It added another 14 new bloggers to the list I already read!  So many that I decided to add a “Bloggers I have met in Real Space” heading to my blogroll!  My hope is that most of the Knit bloggers I read will move up there to one day.  I’m working on it slowly…  I know I will add at least 2 more names and blogs to that list within the month…  Stay tuned…

So, new people I met on Saturday night are:
Ann our lovely hostess who is getting married soon!
Sarah who was dilligently working on her Olympic Tubey for which she won GOLD!
Heather who lives all of 5 minutes from me!!!  Wow! (We’ve probably passed in traffic a million times!)
Amy who was knitting a lovely shawl and will sadly be moving home to Ohio very soon.  But she says she’ll come and visit!  YAY!
Chelsea who is moving to Austin Texas very soon, and has a pattern in the Debbie Bliss Happy hooker book!  (Yes, It’s all about crochet, not that other thing…)
Erin who came to the party after dropping her hubby off at another dinner party so she could come!  Go Erin!  Woot!
Holly who is so much fun and makes gorgeous sweaters that are very soft.  (I petted her sweater quite a bit and she even let me!)
Isel who made some gorgeous socks that you can see finished on her blog!
Jenna who was really fun to chat with…  We dubbed a sweater in a book the Shalom sweater since it looked like it had cabled menorahs all over it! 
Kel one of the nestest people and she knits with fantastic bright colors and isn’t afraid to mix it up!  My kind of gal!  Arrgh!
Lara who is a celebrity in this area!  She’s a local DJ on a popular raio station!  How cool is that?  She’s also very sweet and didn’t hurt Rosanna over the yarn… 
Lolly who is already famous because started Project Spectrum that so many out there are a part of and she lives really close to me too!  I’m so looking forward to seeing some of these close gals more often! 
Paula who is just an awesome lady!  She finished mittens from her own handspun and dyed yarn, started a hat to match, finished a sweater and worked on a Jaywalker sock while we were there!!!!  And she Spins!!!!  I’m SO excited about that!!!!! 
Rosanna who is so much fun I giggle even thinking about her!  Between us we devised countless projects for the swap yarn so that others would be convinced to take it home!  And Rosanna spins too! 

Whew!!!!  So, what did I take home with me?  A Jo Sharp book that has designs I want to use 15 balls of Jo Sharp DK yarn for!  A 2005 Knitting pattern a day calendar, 10 skeins of Noro for a shell, 4 skeins of Catalina Alpaca yarn, a cone of pretty purple yarn, 2 balls of sage green cotton sock yarn and a skein of Trekking sock yarn! 

And I finally went back to work on Wednesday!