Spinning happened here

I hope you all had a great weekend. Spinning did happen here! Saturday and Sunday saw spinning in small amounts. I spun only 5-10 minutes at a time to accomodate the shoulder and back, but it added up.

On the left you see my bobbin at the start of the weekend, and on the right you see my bobbin earlier today. Definately more singles there and I have done more spinning since then.























I cast off my sock, so now I have a pair. To re-cap - I dyed this fiber at my house last summer. I painted the corridale roving, put it in the microwave, rinsed and air dried it. I spun the fiber trying to maintain long color sections, and plied the multicolor with the yellow single. The yarn was a screamer so this is a stockinette sock.





























I cast on for another sock. I always have a sock in the works for traveling. This yarn was gifted to me as part of the mitten swap I participated in last fall. It will be either stockinette or ribbing to let the yarn do the talking.








I worked on the Diamond Fanstasy Shawl.
















And I worked on the Cables and O's cardigan.
















In addition to all of that, all of *my* stuff is back in the bedroom (DH still has some work to do), the laundry is done and most of it was line dried (I love that scent of line dried clothes) and I think we found a vehicle for DH to replace the one that is very old and wants to retire. Karen and I walked Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and OS X has been updated so we can finally get to work on the taxes.
Whew! I think it's time for bed. Well, maybe a few more rows on Cables and O's......

New fiber!

It seems that my desire to resume spinning has been cosmically reinforced. Today’s mail included my shipment from Spunky Eclectics Fiber Club. The fiber is merino (which I enjoy spinning). I think the colors are fun – they are supposed to represent blue skies, white snow, green things sprouting and the mud that comes from the snow melting. LOL



I am going to try 20 minutes of spinning tomorrow, though I probably will spin something else besides my new fiber. I may play with an earlier shipment – possibly the stuff that came at Christmas. I like those colors a lot:




My other option for spinning is the silk/wool blend I have been working on for a lace shawl.



The color is not very accurate in this photo - I will have to try again. It looks great in real life. I haven't chosen a stitch pattern yet. I just know that I want to knit a lace shawl with this yarn. I won't allow myself to swatch until I have the yarn spun, though. Otherwise I would be knitting away with only half of the yarn made.

I managed 4 rows on the Diamond Fantasy Shawl and about the same on the Cables and Os tonight in between working, shopping for bedroom curtains, walking and dinner. It's time (tomorrow morning) to bind off the sock I have been working on and get a new one cast on. I MUST have a sock in progress for travel purposes. This travel sock is always either stockinette or ribbing so I don't have to track stitches. I let the yarn do the talking on these socks and save the fun patterns for other projects. I do knit patterned socks, I just don't take them along with me when I am out and about.

Have a great weekend.

plugging away

I knit at every opportunity - here's my progress on Cables and O's as of yesterday:



I should be able to knit another inch or two tonight - it's knit night at my LYS.

I finally got a decent photo of the living room carpet.


And just for fun, here's the Easter candy I picked out for my DH who loves fishing



I am off to knit. Have a great evening.

Cable and O-ing

I had hoped to take a photo each day of my progress on the Cables and O's cardigan but that was not to be. Not enough sunlight during the times I am at home for one thing. And let's face it - two or three rows of progress just isn't going to be visible, at least not on line. Between dinner, walking 4 miles or so each day, family stuff and my back exercises, I just don't have very much knitting time after work. The good news is that I am doing a few rows each day and that I am enjoying it. The pattern is simple enough that I can get into the zone and just knit away and relax while I am doing it. I don't have to sit bolt upright with the chart in front of me, but it's not mind numbing, either.

I hope to try some spinning this week. I have been holding off on spinning because of my back issues - no need to irritate already sore muscles and joints with something that I know causes some aches and pains. But I have been going to physical therapy for a few weeks now and I am doing much better. I do my exercises regularly and I don't have nearly the amount of aches and pains I was having when I started. I think I will try just 20-30 minutes at a time. I will set a timer so I am reminded of when to stop. If I can spin for 20-30 minutes each day I will get a lot of spinning done. I have a tendancy to wait until I have lots of time to spin, and that's just not necessary.

I mentioned to Karen when we were walking one day that I was thinking about choosing a week in each month to spin instead of knit. When I have some fiber time I just automatically pick up my knitting. I can't seem to remember to do the one day/week spinning thing. Maybe identifying a whole week for spinning will get me going. I will, however, try my 30 minutes per day first to be sure I can handle spinning again. I may actually find that the daily thing works better for me. I do want to spin more and I am determined to find a way.

Have a good day and enjoy spring.

I love weekends

Saturday was Karen's birthday. We celebrated by walking our 4 miles on the trail, then cleaning up and going for a ride to check on a friend. The we went to my house and spent several pleasant hours knitting and just talking. My son brought the birthday cake over at about dinner time. Strawberry shortcake with home made whipped cream and chocolate sauce.




Karen knitted a sock - practically in front of my eyes. The yarn was sport weight (I think) and she was using size 4 needles. It seemed like every time I looked over there was a another couple of inches of sock knitted. We knitted some more, then Karen headed home to work - she is a night owl - while I knitted away on my Cables and O's sweater...




and also my Diamond Fantasy shawl.




On Sunday Karen and I walked our 4.5 miles on the trail again (I am soooooo sore) and then I worked on laundry and house cleaning and more knitting. I cooked spagetti and meatballs for supper. While the sun was out I took more photos of spring indicators.



This is the start (the red shoots) of my peony in my front garden. I love how the new shoots come right up between the old ones.



Today I am back at work. It will be a busy week. Posting on my blog my not happen much this week. Have a good one.

TGIF. Really.

My new bedroom carpet is so thick and cushy on the toes, especially at 5:15 AM. I posted this particular photo because I thought that maybe including the furniture leg would show that it sinks into the carpet. The color is right on in this photo.



It is all very neutral because we hope to put the house on the market in a year or so and don't want to turn off potential buyers by choosing a color that might clash with their belongings. I like the way it looks anyway.
I can't get the color of the living room carpet right in the flash photos - I will try tomorrow in the daylight.

I have completed the ribbing on the Cables and O's sweater.



I just started the foundation row with the cables, which I love to do. I should be able to make good progress on this project this weekend. Karen and I are celebrating her birthday with some knitting and dessert. Yum. My son (the cook) is making the dessert so it should be good.

It has been a long and busy week. Work was very busy. I am a research nurse in cardiac surgery and we had an emergency implant of a heart pump last week that required lots of extra paperwork to be filed under deadline. I was assigned an extra project (also with a deadline) on Thursday and there is still the regular data collection to be done on the patients already enrolled in studies. Then I had computer issues - an electonic data collection system that didn't want to work and less than helpful help desk people on the job. I am more happy than ususal that the end of the week arrived.

Research coordinators have to deal with study monitors who come periodically to verify data. I have one of those on Monday. It is rare that there are no errors or changes to be made on the case report forms. You look at a computer screen, for instance, filled with lab values and even though you try to be careful, your eyes move to the next line or the next day's results and you write the wrong number down. Deciphering handwriting adds spice to my life, also. I have to read the progress notes and test reports and document adverse events that occur. When a patient is in the ICU for months at a time (not ususal but it happens) it is hard to catch every detail. It is tough for me sometimes to remain calm and helpful when someone is pointing out things that I did wrong or that I missed. I am getting better at it but it's still hard. Fortunately there are still 2 days off between now and the monitor visit. ; )

Have a great weekend.

KAL night

I finally settled on a plan for the Cables and O's sweater front edges and I was able to sit and struggle with the cast on last night. I say struggle because I had to cast on 266 stitches. The cast on method I used is one that is flexible for K1P1 ribbing - can't remember the name of it - and while I love the end result, it's hard to keep it going and not get confused about whether I have to pick up the forward or back thread next. Clear as mud, right? Sorry. I will try to look up the name of the cast on later and add it to this post.

Regardless of what it is called, it's complete. Yippee! Tonight is a KAL night at the LYS so I get to sit and chat and knit my ribbing for 2 hours tonight. The ribbing knitting is made tolerable by the visiting going on - I do not like 1 x 1 ribbing. But it looks good, so I will suck it up. Tomorrow night is the regular knit night at the LYS so I will get 2 nights in a row of knitting and chatting.

I am making slow progress on my hand dyed, hand spun sock (think bright yellow, hot pink and some dark blue) that I've been working on for a while. It is my travel and wait project so it makes progress in fits and starts. I have passed the heel and am working my way round and round the leg. It's a great commute project. I am not yet close enough to the end to think about what comes next.

I would like to get going on the hemp lace top but my life doesn't seem to be allowing time for concentration type knitting right now. Maybe once the living room is back together....

Or not. The boat needs work to be ready for the season, which will start earlier now that we have canvas for it to keep us toasty warm on the sunny but breezy days of spring. A girl can only handle so many hours of boat work, though, before she needs a knitting break. : ) And chocolate. And maybe wine. And a heating pad for the aching back.....