So many hobbies!

Change of plans

My original plan for this long weekend was the knit the Liesel scarf for my niece for Christmas.  The pattern says it's for advanced beginners and can be knit in a day.  I think the designer may be delusional.  I started the scarf three times and finally turned to Eric in my frustration.  I asked him to look at the pattern and see if there was a mistake which is why I kept messing up or if it was just me, messing it up.  I was very gratified to get this email from Eric, "I would absolutely not ever consider this pattern to be 'advanced beginner' level.  I think any lace knitter would agree with me that this is a very difficult pattern!"  The pattern has pattern stitches on BOTH sides of the scarf, not just the front, and it's almost impossible to figure out where you are in the scarf by looking at the stitches on the needle.  I basically wasted Friday and Saturday stuggling with that damn pattern before I asked Eric to help me out.  This morning I decided to try something else and grabbed Barbara Walker's "Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns."  Looking through the lace patterns I decided on one at the top of page 276.  My apologies to those of you who don't have the book but if I give you the name of the pattern and my niece reads this post, I don't put it past her to google it and see what I'm knitting for her.  (Yes, Niece, that means you!)  This is a MUCH easier pattern and I've already made it through one repeat and I'm about to start on a second.  I like this pattern.  It's fun to knit and it's very easy to see where I am in the scarf and to see if I've made a mistake.  I hope my niece likes it.

 

I don't like spinning silk.  Frankly, I think it's a pain in the butt.  I wound off what I'd spun on the above spindle and started spinning the llama roving I got back from a processor a couple of months ago.  Since I wasn't knitting a scarf Friday and Saturday and I can't stand not having a project, spindle spinning was exactly what I wanted.  I'm spinning very fine singles that plied will be between lace and fingering weight.  Llama is 4 or 5 times warmer than wool so I thought I'd spindle spin enough lace weight yarn to knit a shawl.  It'll take me a long time to spin enough but I'm not in a hurry and it's nice to always have something I can be working on.  Spindles are very easy to pick up and put down and you can't get much more portable than a drop spindle.

Embroidery

Once upon a time, I was a Medieval re-creationist in the Society of Creative Anachronism.  I get a huge thrill out of being creative and making beautiful things so I made a fair amount of the trim for my garb.

 

I'm also a big fan of Celtic knotwork and since my persona was Welsh, I embroidered several sets of knotwork trim for the cuffs of my dresses.  Actually, I'm not sure how big knotwork was in Medieval Wales but I loved it so I made it.  This set never got used.  (Hey, Yen, would you make me a shirt with this trim on it?)

 

In case you haven't noticed, I'm big on the fiber arts; I was also into blackwork embroidery.  This is a sampler I did trying out some new patterns.  My favorite is the one on the far left.

 

And last of all, I made a couple of patches displaying my SCA Coat of Arms:

 

I've found embroidery ends up looking pretty good if you're a touch obsessive compulsive.  My friends thought I was nuts but hey, my stuff looked GOOD!   

Two down...

 

The Sweetheart Bag is finished.  Yay!  I'm happy with how the embroidery turned out but the shape of the bag isn't quite right.  My niece is 6 so hopefully she won't care.  The flap keeps flopping open so I may add some hook&loop tape to keep it closed.  Not sure yet.  Embroidery is one of my older hobbies but I haven't done much of it in quite a while.  I had fun digging through my embroidery storage box and finding past projects.  I'll dig some of them out later this week to show you.

Having good quality tools makes working on a project so much more enjoyable.  I bought these scissors probably ten years ago and I still love them.  I've used them for embroidery, sewing, beading, knitting...  Gingher makes a darn fine pair of scissors!

 

My Saturday of learning new skills didn't get very far.  Eric had company and didn't have time to have tubes knitted so we could get started and I foolishly stayed up 'til 2am reading and was too tired to really get into the learning.  I did learn how to pick up stitches though and Eric printed off a tutorial on afterthought heels.  I can probably figure out the toe and the heel but I'm going to need Eric to babysit me through Kitchnering seams.  I learn by seeing then doing; reading about the technique is useless for me.

Two Christmas projects down and one to go.  I've got the yarn I'm going to use and a bright, shiney new pair of size 8 straight needles for the project.  I'm all set for the long Thanksgiving weekend.  I'll likely spend a great deal of it on the couch, watching movies and knitting.  I can't wait!

Looking for a recipe

I'm looking for a recipe for Cherry Pepper jelly.  It's basically cherry jelly with the slow warmth of hot peppers.  American Spoon makes a Cherry Pepper jelly that's absolutely wonderful and I'd like to make my own.  Granted, I won't be able to make it until cherry season next summer but I like to be prepared.  It gives me something to look forward to next year.

Once again, don't look Mom!

 

Once again, I seem to have a complete lack of ability to make a matching pair of mittens.  I figure eventually I'll figure it out but at the moment, that skill escapes me.  Regardless, I know Mom will love them and since the yarn is Cormo, they're soft and very cushy.  Knitting with my own handspun and/or hand-dyed yarn always gives me a thrill.  I think they're beautiful.

I still plan on hand painting my own sock yarn to sell in my store but I've been having a tough time with life lately and spending time with friends is a more critical need then dyeing alone in my basement (and that would be dyeing, not dying, just to be clear).  This weekend, Eric is going to knit tubes on his sock knitting machine and then will teach me how to do after-thought heels and how to Kitchner seams.  I get to learn new things, which I love, and I get new wool socks in the bargain.  It's a win win.

There is the small possibility that I'll go see Twilight tomorrow afternoon.  I say small because I'm really not looking forward to theatres full of angsty, weeping teenage girls.  Still, I like a good vampire movie as much as the next guy so I may not be able to wait a few weeks until the fervor dies down.  No, I haven't read the books.  Some of my friends really liked them and others thought they were rather sophomoric.  I'll watch the movie and see if I feel like reading the books.  If I'm lucky, I'll get a better offer to hang out at Alice's instead. 

Trades are good

 

Since I discovered the joys of wool socks, I asked Eric if he would do a trade with me:  two pairs of socks knitted on his sock machine for 8 oz. of my dyed BFL roving.  This is what I dyed up for him.  It looks pretty good and happily, Eric liked it, too.  My new socks aren't done yet but probably will be by the end of the weekend.  I hope.  My feet are cold.

Happily, Mom's mittens are done.  I haven't take a picture yet but I'll have one before the end of the week.  I've been having difficulties finding the right yarn for the scarf I'm going to knit for my niece.  I thought I'd found some Malabrigo lace that would work and ordered it from the Loopy Ewe but when it arrived the deep reds I thought I was getting turned out to be brown - not at all what I was looking for.  My niece is into warm colors right now so I'm looking for some deep, rich reds.  I ordered something from Knitpicks today, along with size 8 10" Harmony straights... I can't wait until they arrive.  And I really hope the red is a luscious at it looks.  I compared the catalog picture to the yarn online and the pictures were very close so I'm hoping I'm not deceived once again.  The pattern I've picked for the scarf claims it can be knit in a day - clearly they don't know me -  so I'm hoping that the three days off for Thanksgiving will yield a scarf.  With the scarf completed by the end of the long weekend, I should have all my Christmas shopping and knitting done... with the exception of some Christmas baking that can't be done early.  Wow!  It's been years since I've been able to just relax and enjoy the holidays.  Usually I'm stressing myself out trying to get my gift projects completed in time.  Last year I was blocking my mom's fingerless mitts Christmas Eve and praying they'd be dry by Christmas morning.  They were.

Hey, bonus!  Cheetos has 0 trans fats!  What?  They were on sale and hey!  Cheetos!

Dang!

None of my local stores sells 100% cotton sheet separates.  The only place I found that sells sheet separates is Walmart (not my favorite store) but they're 60/40 cotton/poly.  I bought one to play with but only because is it was only $8.  It's still in the dryer.  Once I got home Friday, I never left the house the entire weekend so I never got any dye for cotton.  It was gray and rainy and snowy and just too yucky to venture out:  I'm protesting the advent of winter.  I worked on my revamped studio area, dyed some roving as a trade, worked on Mom's mittens - without completing the second one - and watched dics 3 and 4 of season 3 of NCIS.  I have way too much stuff.  I am going to have a kicking garage sale come spring... if I don't sell on Ebay or Craig's List first. 

Fitted sheets

A couple of years ago, I bought these gorgeous red cotton sheets.  Unfortunately, after using them and washing them the first time, the bottom sheet pilled terribly.  I returned them, got a new set and the same thing happened with the second set.  By then, the store no longer carried that brand and I'd lost the receipt anyway so I couldn't return them.  (BTW, it was only the red sheets that had the pilling problem - the other colors were just fine.  Go figure.)  Since then, I've been looking for a bottom sheet that is either the same shade of red or has a pattern in other colors (like white and blue or green) that would work.  I like the red sheets too much to just toss them.  I've had no luck whatsoever finding decent cotton sheets that matched and I don't want to just use a white sheet 'cause that would be boring.  The new plan is to buy a white sheet and tie-dye it blue so I have a sheet set again only this time in red, white and blue.  I'm going to do the same thing only in dark green to go with a green set I've had long enough that the bottom sheet is wearing thin.  The top sheet and pillowcases are perfectly good so why throw them out and buy an entire new set.  Now I just need to find someplace that sells sheet separates.  I struck out with Kohls but I haven't tried anyplace else as yet.  I just got the tie-dyeing idea a few hours ago.

No peeking, Mom!

I have no idea how frequently my mom reads my blog so hopefully she'll miss this post. 

I finished the first mitten tonight.  I had to cast on 6 times for the darn thing!  I managed to screw up the cuff 5 times before I finally got it right.  Geez!  It's not as if 2x2 rib was all that difficult to knit.  I hope it fits.  It's alot harder to knit something to fit when you don't have the actual body part on hand for test fittings.  It's a little snug on me and I think Mom's hands are a bit smaller than mine so hopefully all will be well. 

 

The yarn is my own handspun - 3-ply Cormo hand dyed by me.  I'm in love with Cormo all over again.  It's soft and warm and I'm hoping there will be enough left for me to knit a pair of mitts.  Mom's going to love these mittens.

This is a gift-making weekend so if all goes well, I should have the mittens and the Sweetheart Purse both finished by Sunday night.  I'd like to start the scarf I'm making for my other niece but I don't have the yarn yet.  Most go shopping!

Whatever

Somehow it's Sunday night and I have virtually nothing to show for the weekend.  I stitched together the Sweetheart Bag... and it looked like crap so I ripped out the stitches.  It's currently still in three separate pices.  I started a big pot of chicken soup and it's sitting on the stove cooling so I can put it in the 'fridge.  I won't be able to get back to it until Tuesday.  I started the first of a pair of Christmas mittens and had to cast on six times because I kept screwing up the cuff.  Apparently, the sixth time's the charm.  The only thing I've managed to complete were two loads of laundry.  (Crap, I still have to put clean sheets on the bed.)  The only thing I'm really excited about was watching a new(ish) HBO series "TrueBlood."  I spent Friday and Saturday evenings at a friend's and we started catching up on the early episodes (they're up to episode 10), watching them on On Demand.  I'm really impressed with everything about this show:  the characters, the acting, the writing.  It's times like this that I really wish I still had Cable - of course, I'm too cheap to pay for HBO so I wouldn't be able to watch it anyway.  Whatever.

Someone, please leave me a comment and tell me you actually did something with your weekend.  I'm not so proud that I won't live vicariously through others.