I am not quite sure what hit me

I am not quite sure what hit me, but boy! did I get sick last week! I have been sleeping in the guest room so as to avoid catching the cold my DH has had since New Year's Day. I was going to give you a blow by blow (no pun intended) description of my illness, but I will spare you. Suffice it to say that I did no knitting for 24 hours! Thank goodness for antibiotics. I tried Zicam for the first time to ease the symptoms and I highly reccomend it.

I did get a lot of knitting done over the last couple of days. My brain was ready to get up and do things but my body complained after only a short time so I knitted. I finished calorimentry and fetching. I was gifted with 2 skeins Jasper in a beautiful heathery blue colorway and that is what I used for these projects. I searched on Ravelry for ideas and these two projects seemd ideal for this time of year and considering my walking activities. I love the way they came out. I still need to sew on a button - maybe tonight. Once I feel a bit more energetic I will take and post photos. I also made it to the heel gusset on both alpaca peds socks. Now for the heel turning. (grin of anticipation) Photos of that coming soon also.

It took quite a while, agonizing, flipping pages and debating the pros and cons and my knitting abilities, but I chose to make Annemor #12 from the Selvubotter book. I thought I would do a pair of mittens first but I have to have these gloves. I am almost finished with the cuff pattern but still have to do a gauge measurement, so they may be frogged if the gauge is off. I am using size 0 needles and Shelridge Farms sock yarn.

It's dinner time and I am hungry. Try to stay healthy.

Trekking socks are finished!

I finished the last half inch of ribbing last night and chose to do the sewn bind off from EZ. (suggested by Karen and seconded by many on the web). It went very well but I was too tired when I finished to try them on. Hopefully today I will model for photos.

Now I am down to two pairs of socks in progress and feel better. I plan to choose some yarn this week for a pair of mittens from Selbuvotter
I have lots of sock yarn appropriate for this type of knitting at home. I need small, portable projects but I need a change from socks and this will do nicely. Very parctical at this time of year, too. Though you would never know that by the temperature outside right now - it is 65 dgrees in MD in January!

I spent some time updating my Ravelry project list, including photos. I am nauti54knitter on ravelry. I do love having a digital camera.

I am off to work on my alpaca Waving Lace socks. Happy knitting

Yarn diet, anyone?

Last year it seemed that there were a lot of people starting yarn diets. You saw yarn diets and rules referenced on many blogs. There were various lengths of time and many different rules. I did a version of a yarn diet myself. This year, though I am seeing more messages about knitting more of what is in the stash because I like it and want to knit it. No rules about what people can and can't buy, but commitments to making fewer purchases and to knitting what is loved and owned.

Personally, I think this is a better philosophy. I needed to break the yarn buying habit, so my yarn diet served a purpose and I am glad that I did it. I think my yarn diet was good for me. But I like the positive feeling of knitting what is in the stash. Instead of thinking about denying yourself, you are making something wearable from something beautiful. This is, I think, a much better idea.

My yarn related plans for this coming year include knitting more of what I own, but also include buying yarn for making sweaters. I have lots of lace weight yarn and lots of small amounts for things like socks, mittens, scarves, etc. I want to knit sweaters, though. That is where my yarn money will go this year.


I am a Ravelry member/user, and while I have used the search part of the system quite often, I haven't made as much use of it as I could as far as my stash and project documentation. I have felt that I am "wasting" knitting time by spending time on the computer. I do wonder, though, if I might be helped by getting my stash documented in a place that is easy to view. My actual stash is in storage tubs that have to be hauled out or in or whatever when I want to survey it or look for something in particular. It would certainly be easier to log in to Ravelry to look over choices of yarn than to go out to the shed in the cold (or heat and humidity)and dark (which is usually when I decide to look for something).
Having a written list of things I would like to make might be good, too. I might be less likely to get sidetracked with impulse projects. On the other hand, this is a hobby. There should not be too many rules. Hmmm. Things to ponder.

I just got the call - the dark grey Donegal tweed that I ordered for my not yet designed cabled cardigan - has arrived! Yippee! Now I have to buckle down to complete and measure my swatches.

Frog pond

This is how much knitting I had done on the hemp lace top when I noticed a mistake. See it just above the cable in the knitting?





This is what I had left after visiting the frog pond. I could not imagine that I could drop down that much knitting (with double decreases and yarn overs) correctly and re-knit. So much for knitting to the arm holes this weekend.




All was not negative this weekend, though. This is the fiber I am spinning for a shawl. It is so soft and luxurious feeling. It is a rambouliet and silk blend.



And this is the singles I am spinning, planning a two ply for the shawl. I have one skein finished already.



Back to work tomorrow. That means much less fiber time but I do plan to finish those trekking socks in the next day or so, and maybe I can manage 2 rows per night on the lace top. I'll try.

I have sock yarn!

OK, I actually have a lot of sock yarn, but I was referring to the yarn I have been spinning. I finished spinning the singles last week and did the plying tonight. I have about 370 yds of a barber pole variegated yarn.




























I am almost finished with the bamboo Trekking socks, also. I have decided to do about another inch of pattern. I have to figure out how I want to finish them. I don't like the idea of ribbing but don't know what else will do the job. Suggestions, anyone?















I am heading back to watch the playoff game and knit further on my socks. I hope to have progress on the lace top to show you tomorrow. Have a good night

guild meeting, locks and a found hat

Once a month I have a dilemma. Thursday night is the knit night at my LYS. The first Thursday night of each month is the knit guild meeting. I have to decide between the two. There are a couple of people in the guild who are a little long winded and a little abrasive. On the other hand there are some people that I really like and don't see otherwise. It's only once a month, but I really miss seeing the people at the LYS.
I chose the guild meeting last night. It took 20 minutes to discuss making a donation to the library in the name of a former guild memeber who died, and no agreement was reached. It's just not that difficult, people. And we have the money in the treasury - it's not like we were even asking people for donations! Grrrr
I am trying so hard to be easy going and friendly and good spirited. Things like that make it difficult.


I arrived home from my knitting guild meeting last night to find my husband replacing the lock in the front door. We had been having trouble getting the key in and out recently so he put some WD40 on his key, inserted it in the lock and turned it to try to spread the lubricant. It turned and turned and turned in the same direction. Not supposed to do that. He has a cold and had planned to take it easy and read a little, then go to bed early. Instead he drove to the local Home Depot to buy a replacement lock (the innards, anyway). They didn't have exactly what he needed, and the extra key he bought (there are 3 of us in the house and only 2 keys come with the lock) didn't work. Wasn't even close. Poor guy, it was not a good night for him.

I knitted a hat for a co-worker to match the scarf that another person is knitting for her. (see December 10 post) It was too big and I took it home to frog and re-knit. When I was reay to knit it, I couldn't find the hat. I search high, low and in between. I called the car repair place I had been to, the person who drove me home, asked DH, no one had found it. I returned to work after the New Year holiday and there it was, in the hands of the recipient. I had left it in another person's office and she was on vacation so it just turned up. I am both frustrated (I had to guess how many stitches to cast on instead of counting what I had done the last time and going down from there) and relieved that I hadn't acutally lost the thing or over looked it while searching. She will now have fingerless mitts made for a birthday gift. ; )

I knitted several rounds on my bamboo Trekking socks last night. Today is Friday so I can stay up a little later and knit tonight. Work does get in the way of doing what I love. I hope to ply my sock yarn tomorrow and to work on the lace hemp top this weekend. I also plan on football watching. None of my favorite teams are in the playoffs, but I will enjoy the games anyway. I have been working on cleaning and laundry all week so I have less of that do to over the weekend.

Tonight Karen and I will walk. Karen ate and didn't walk while she was away. I ate and walked while she was away, but I think the eating outweighed the walking judging by the way my jeans fit. Sigh. Getting old really is the pitts.

Enjoy every minute of your weekend.

My New Year

New Year's Eve was a quiet night spent at home. We don't go out much - most places are too noisy for Bob to deal with (hearing aids amplify all noise, not just the ones you want to hear) and this particular holiday is noisier than others. So we sat at home and did things we enjoyed. I knitted and Bob played on the computer and read.

New Year's Day, though, we drove up to NY city. Our main intention was to go see Rockerfeller Center and the tree, and we did that, but we also went to the Jacob Javits Convention Center to see the boat show there. Yes, the boat show was open on New Year's Day. Isn't that a bit odd? I thought so, but it was convenient for us so we attended. We browsed at boats bigger than ours - what else is the future for if not to dream of what we might have/do in the future? When they threw us out at the end of the show we headed over towards the tree. I have not driven in Manhattan in many years and was a little stressed about my abilities, especially when it comes to parallel parking. I found a spot a little further away than would be ideal (due to the wind and cold) but I could get into it and there was no risk (we thought ) of getting blocked in, so we stayed there. The parking meter machines take credit cards - imagine that! We tried to use ours but the card got stuck. Gulp. Manhattan on a holiday and the card won't come out of the machine. What are our chances of getting help any time soon? Finally, after turning the cancel button several times and squeezing my fingers in the opening I was able to remove the card and we prepared to push quarters into the slot. A very nice lady told us that we didn't have to pay on the holiday, though. All that worry and we didn't have to pay.
We found a place to eat that was cozy and warm and not too expensive and had dinner (at 9 PM), then added a few layers of clothes and walked to see the tree. It was breathtaking, as always.


No matter how many times you see it or think you know what to expect, it is still awesome. It is sad that a tree has to die for that, but since no one asked me before they cut it down, I think the least I can do is to really appreciate it, right?













I took lots of pictures with my new camera - that was so much fun! No guilt about wasting film and the ability to view the pictures right away instead of having to wait for film to be developed added to the fun. St. Patrick's cathedral is another must place for us to visit, but it was closed. It looked like renovations were underway.







I didn't know, until that night, that there is an M & M store in Manhattan. We visited, of course, and it was jammed! The amount of waste was really something! There were trash bags of candy on the street and several had been torn open and were scattered over the sidewalk and street. That helped explain why the candy was $9.00 per pound. A litle pricey for my taste. We looked at the Saks window displays and watched the skaters for a while but we got cold and headed to the car. As we walked down the street we had parked on, my heart started racing. I couldn't see the Explorer. I saw a dumpster, but not the vehicle we had arrived in. We had been towed once before (even though we were parked legally - even the transit cop said so) and I had horrible thoughts. But someone had pushed a dumpster on wheels right in front of us and that hid the car. Phew! With a little work I got us out of that spot and we headed home. We arrived home at about 3 AM and headed straight to bed.

Bob and I had taken the 2nd off, so we slept in. In the afternoon Bob got to work installing the new range he bought for the kitchen. The one we had was the original in the house (about 20-25 years old) and was definately "well worn". We hope to sell the house in the next year or two and thought this would be a good investment towards that goal. It looks good and despite being a basic model, has many more options than the one we removed. I especially like the self cleaning oven option. No more evil sprays to use and wipe out, climbing half way into the oven in order to get it all out. Christmas gifts were put away, other things were put away and the house was vacuumed. I got in my 4 mile walk despite the cold wind and my very strong desire to stay cozy and warm. It is so much harder without my walking partner. Thank goodness she got home last night. Actually, knowing her, it might have been this morning when she arrived home. She is a night owl. I finally sat down to knit at about 9:30. The alarm going off at 5:15 this morning was not welcome.

Knitting and spinning news - not a lot, but some progress has been made. I have gotten halfway up both feet (toe up socks) on the new alpaca peds socks. I tried two different patterns and ended up choosing the one on the left.












I have a pair of socks that I started a while ago (2 socks on 2 circs at once) in Trekking bamboo that I had put aside for holiday knitting and I will try to finish those up. I would also like to finish the sock I am working on for my son for work. That's 3 pairs of socks in progress and I would like to decrease that number. I feel pressure with that many pairs in the works and I want to enjoy what I am knitting. I didn't try to knit on the lace hemp top - I was too tired last night, but I hope to make headway with that this weekend, and maybe have some photos to show you. It is an enjoyable knitting project with 5 different but easily memorized patterns in each pattern round and a round of knit in between. I finished spinning the yellow sock yarn single
and I am now ready to ply that with the variegated single to make my sock yarn. Hopefully that will also happen this weekend, and I wil have photos to show you.

Happy knitting.