Summer of Socks 2013

It seems that for the past 6 or more months that most everything I've knitted has been shop samples for Fiber Charmer, or I've been too tired to knit.

I've spent plenty of time in April and May sitting in waiting rooms and lobbies of hospitals and doctor's offices, and I pulled out a pair of socks that I'd started in May 2009.  Yes, 2009.  Four years ago.  I knit toe up because I love it, and all I'd done was the toe and a wee bit of the pattern.

 

 

 

At the time I was still learning how to knit and read lace, and I lost my place, put the socks down, and went on to the next project.  Now, four years later, I looked at them and could tell immediately where I was in the pattern.  Not only that, but the pattern is super easy, and I memorized it and got both socks finished up.  I think I picked them up around May 5 and finished the second one up last night, May 26.

 

(The picture is only of one, but they both look alike.  I counted rounds to make sure they actually matched in length this time.)

 

 

While I was refreshing the pattern in my mind, I leafed through the book, Socks from the Toe Up by Wendy Johnson, and thought that there wasn't a pair of socks in there that I didn't want to make.

 

Long before I started dyeing my own yarns, I bought yarn.  I still buy yarns, mostly from other indie dyers because unlike the commercial yarns, hand dyed yarns have variations that will never be exactly alike from skein to skein.  When I see one I love, I buy it.  I have lots of stash, and knitting my way through Socks from the Toe Up will reduce my stash, give me a bunch of new socks to wear and slake my desire to knit on teeny tiny needles items just for me.

 

Next in the book is Lacy Ribs Socks.  I'm knitting that in Fiber Charmer's May 2013 TriDye installment, Go Ahead, Make Me Sing.  The colorway is based on a photo of a giant clam, and being a fan of Alf, The Animated Series, the name is an homage to Clams Never Sang for My Father.  Here's the yarn.

 

 

So far all I have is a few rows on the toe, and I'm officially on my Summer of Socks 2013 journey.

 

This year SOS13 is going to be a more relaxed affair.  No contests, no prizes, just a go at your own pace knitalong.  My goal is to knit the next three patterns in Wendy's book, Lacy Rib Socks, Diagonal Lace Socks in Dream in Color's Strange Harvest (it's what she used in the book, and I actually have a skein), and Butterfly Socks, probably in Fannie's Fingering Weight Plums & Pinks - a mostly solid pink with splashes of purple.

 

Stay tuned for pictures!  Have a wonderful Memorial Day.  Stay safe and take a few minutes to think about the real reason for this holiday.  It's not the cookouts and beer, but the men and women who have served for our country.



Waiting for better weather

I've got lots of knitting to show off, but I'm stuck waiting for the weather to clear up enough to take some nice photos.

I'd been knitting one of the Swirl Jackets from Knit, Swirl, but after frogging it for the second time (first for being way off gauge, and this was after knitting a gauge swatch in the round!  The second for discovering I'd twisted the join - augh!!!) it's gone into hibernation.  I'm knitting socks again finally, and that's makes me happy.  New socks for me!!

So, look for pictures soon, if the weather cooperates.  Heck, all it has to do is get dry enough that I can use my stone bench.  I don't mind if it stays overcast, which it looks like it will be doing for the near future.

More pictures about pooled knitting

I'm thinking that pooled knitting is a lot like turning the heels on socks. You look at the directions and think WTF? However, when you get started they start to make sense.

Of course, that may only be me, but I don't think so.

Anyway, for those of you who need another illustration of this, I started another one as an example to take the guild last night, and I took lots of pictures this time.

The very first picture shows the yarn stretched out and making sure that it will pool the way I need it to.

The second picture shows that after I wound it into a ball, I pulled out several paint repeats and put knitter's safety pins where the rows end/start. You may ask, how did you make them stay? Easy, I put them through the plies of the yarn.

Gladys, who inspired all this, uses a backwards e-loop cast on to get started. I rarely use this cast on, but I did for my samples. I discovered something very interesting when I started swatching, but I didn't take pictures of it at the time.

What I will do is do another cast on and show you my discovery. It's so simple you'll smack yourself on the forehead and say, "Why didn't I think of that?"

In all honesty, I'm sure I'm not the first knitter to notice it either, I just haven't searched around to see where else it might be on the interwebs.

Picture number 4, the blurry one, shows my first attempt at matching up colors and getting gauge. As you can very easily see, gauge was off that time.

I tinked that first row and reknit it, using my cunning discovery, and as you can see in the final picture, I got it right that time.

Full disclosure time. I got it right in two tries on this one because the first one was so (and still is) very fiddly. I think this one will work without needing two different sized needles for gauge.

For the record, this colorway is one I dyed, but this was a test or seconds skein. As you can see in the first picture, the yarn didn't dye very evenly with those dye concentrations. I put it aside, thinking I'd probably overdye it at some point. However, with the vivid colors, I thought it'd make a great, easy to see, example of pooled knitting. I'm pretty sure I'm just going to knit it up to have as a show sample for when someone asks what does "pooling" on the label mean?

It's Friday! Have a great weekend! I'll be back with spinning pictures.

Pooling knits

Last summer, one of the members of the Atlanta Knitting Guild brought in a scarf she had knitted in which the colors pooled into vertical columns. Can I say amazing and beautiful?

She had read about pooled knitting on Ravelry and found Gladys We, one of the yarn floozies. Gladys has explored using handpainted yarns to their full pooling potential and sharing that knowledge with masochistic knitters everywhere.

Masochistic, you ask? Yes.

I've been working with one of the skeins I dyed. I love the colorway, Mood Ring. I had dyed a skein of Knit Picks Bare, the silk and merino blend, which I had purchased before I had started Fiber Charmer and could get yarn from wholesalers. Besides, I figured I'd keep this for myself as I didn't think that Knit Picks would really be a good source for undyed fiber.

So, some of the knitty gritty about why I think this is good for masochists.

1. There's swatching. Lots and lots of swatching. When I'm working at the LYS, I advise people to swatch. You can learn a lot from swatching. That said, I rarely swatch. I knit a lot of toe up, plain stockinette socks, and I never swatch for those. I know there are times when I should swatch, and I have done it, but I've also discovered, as Yarn Harlot herself has mentioned, that swatches lie.

With pooled knitting, you have to swatch. There is no way around it. Swatch and rip, swatch and rip, swatch and rip, eye the bourbon and switch to spinning.

Actually, that's the only reason I think it's good for masochists. Once you get past that, get your gauge and your needles, it's smooth sailing.

Well, I assume it is once you get all that. What I've discovered is that this skein, wound by Knit Picks mill, is shorter than the skeins I wind. I'm talking about a smaller circumference and not the yardage of the skein. I've been getting 37 -38 stitches as my magic number, but when I start knitting, my colors travel. I can correct that by examining every single row and then determining if I need to switch needle sizes yet again.

Honestly, that's way too much work for me. This one is getting frogged, and this yarn that I bought and dyed for myself is going back into the bin. I'll see what I've got in inventory and start again.

I hope that you have a happy 4th! I won't be working on pooled knits today, so I plan to enjoy mine!

Wow, time goes by so quickly!

I'm sorry for the lack of blogging. I knew it had been awhile, but I didn't realize it had been so long.

I've been busy, and I foresee getting busier in the near future.

I'm on the board of the Atlanta Knitting Guild, and I didn't realize just how much work there is in volunteering. I said that to Keith, and he said that's why it's called volunteer work, not volunteer fun.

Hmm.

One of the things that has bothered me most about being an adult is why do work and fun seem to be so mutually exclusive? Isn't there a way to meld them together?

And despite the work, I've actually been enjoying what I've been doing for the AKG. In fact, this upcoming Friday night, there will be a Stitch and Bitch at the American Craft Council show, and I've put in a fair amount of work with the local stores to get sponsors for it. We'll be teaching brand spanking new knitters some of the basics. It's from 5-8, March 11. Admission to the show is only $5 after 5. If you bring your knitting, you can get in for free.

Yvonne Monet of Dave-FM will be joining us too. I think that it's going to be a lot of fun.

I've also been working on Fiber Charmer. Just a day or two ago I realized just how little time I have before Stitches South. I think I'm about to panic! I've got so much yarn to skein and dye, and so little time! I foresee not doing much of anything that isn't fiber related for the next little bit. First Stitches, then Maryland Sheep and Wool where I'm working for Gale, then Carolina Fiber Fest. I need to turn into a dyeing machine and get some more product stockpiled. I had considered being lazy today, but I see that's not possible.

In other parts of my life, I've been thinking that I/we need to grow more of our own food. Gas prices are only going to make grocery shopping even more painful, so I thought about what do we really eat. Yes, last year's cucumber canning experiment led to way too many cucumbers going into the compost pile. I sat down with some seed catalogs and spent some time mentally reviewing what I buy week after week. This year lettuce is on the top of the list. Tomatoes, carrots, celery, these are veggies we eat all the time.

I just had Arborguard come out and trim an oak tree that was shading about the only part of the yard that's suitable for gardening. Limbs were also growing onto our power lines, so now the lights won't flicker when it's windy. I've got to figure out when I can schedule double digging new garden beds into all the dye time I need to do in the next few weeks. I don't want to wait too late to get the garden going. Gas prices here are anywhere from $3.32 - $3.69 for regular! $5 for a head of California grown organic lettuce can't be too far behind. It's a much better plan to grow my own lettuce, right?

I think I've hit the highlights. If you're a knitter who is reading this, think about joining the Atlanta Knitting Guild. When I originally joined the guild, I did so in order to increase my knowledge of knitting. Now that I'm in charge of the programs, I certainly see the challenge of booking interesting people, but I also see an opportunity to bring my desire for more knitting knowledge into a reality. I think the past couple of years have had more of the programming that I enjoy, and I'm hoping that I can continue to keep the programs entertaining as well as educational. Anyway, what I wanted to say is that while the Internet and YouTube can provide all sorts of supplementary knitting help, there is nothing like taking a class in real life. The little tidbits of information that you pick up from the accumulated knowledge of the teacher and the other students will give you aha moments that you can't get from watch videos. I'm excited about some of the program ideas that have come my way, as well as some great workshop suggestions too.

We'll have Karin Skacel joining us in June, and we've got an exciting teacher planned for this fall. (No spoilers, but I will mention that she has a pattern in the winter issue of Knitters Magazine, which unfortunately is not on their website yet.)

Hopefully I'll be able to update again soon!

Let's try this again

The pictures. Will blogger cooperate and let me prove that I'd been knitting my tuchus off?

Why yes, it did. Right now on the screen where I'm typing this post, it looks like I'll be able to comment beside each picture. We all know that once it gets published, who knows how it will turn out.

The blue dress and wrap are what I made for the Atlanta Knitting
Guild's annual bear presentation to the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy. The dress is made from Caron's Simply Soft with some Fun Fur added in to the hemline. The wrap is Fun Fur. I had them both in my stash, and it gave me a way to use them.

Next, we have some items I made for a swap amongst knitters who knit items for cats in shelters. I'll confess that I haven't knitted any cat blankets for donation yet. As I've mentioned
before, there are so many worthy charities out there, and I just
don't have time to knit for every single one of them. I do make an effort to knit for the local ones.

That said, the swap was to include a handknitted gift for the knitter and her cats. As you can see, the ones I knitted did pass Grey's seal of approval. Once again I was able to use stash yarn. The gal for whom I was knitting mentioned that purple was one of her favorite colors, and I had several skeins, whole and partial, of Plymouth Galway in my stash.

Thank you, Ravelry. I perused my target's favorites and found a hat that I would enjoy knitting. It is the Lotus hat, and the details can be found on my Ravelry projects page.

The mouse pattern was a free one that I found. I bought a mega sized container of fresh catnip to stuff the mousie after I felted it.

I had to take several pictures of the mouse since I thought it was

so cute. The one for my swap partner does have eyes that I embroidered.

Next you'll see a hat I knitted from more of the Simply Soft that was in my stash. This was for admission to a knit party I was attending. All the hats were donated to local charities, either Chemoflage or to the Atlanta Knitting Guild for distribution.

The Atlanta Knitting Guild also supports the Atlanta Women's Day

Shelter, so any hats that may not be soft enough for chemo patients will find good use.




Next, you will see 5 blind mice. My sister in law has started fostering kittens. I'm afraid that I encouraged her onto the slippery slope of cat rescue, and now they have 3 cats and

currently 2 fosters. I thought the least I could do was take her some cat toys. (Honestly, if she were more of a drinker, I'd take her bottle of her favorite beverage, because rescuing animals can be as challenging as it can be rewarding.)

Here is a hat that I have since finished. I can't remember if I've taken pictures yet as the battery died on the camera, and I need to recharge it. More stash yarn.

This final picture is a sock sample I knitted from my very own Chris Sock Yarn in the colorway Butterfly Bush. This is one of the yarns painted to pool if knitted in the proper way.

Have a great Sunday! We're having our high temperature right now. High winds and falling temperatures are on our agenda today. Possibly some snow flurries too. Thank goodness we have food, so let's just hope the power doesn't go out.

Sunday pictures are running late this week

This is a side view, followed by a top view, of a hat I just finished. Next is the wrap sweater that I also just finished this week.

I've had a case of finishitis, so I also finished a stoma cover that was waiting for one strap and a fun fur scarf I was knitting to list on etsy.

I do have a couple of more photos, but blogger doesn't like them for some reason. I'll see if I can upload them later.

Lots of meal prep and canning

While taking the canning class at The Cook's Warehouse last weekend, I spied this cute little book. How could you not want to eat such cute food?

I asked Keith what his co-workers would think if he brought a bento box lunch like that to work. Would they tease him, or would they be jealous? We decided they would do both.

Thus, I have purchased some mini cookie cutters, reusable silicone

baking cups, sushi rice and nori over the past few days. I'll need to get some egg molds and nori cutters that will make the little faces, and I'll start making some bento boxes for us both.

I also got 2 1/2 pounds of peaches today. I've got the urge to make some preserves. I do have a lot of prep work to do, and it's not all for the preserves. Many of the bento meals include small amounts of meat, so I've got shrimp to shell and repack, as well as ground meat to measure into 1/4 pound increments and freeze. Then I'll get to do the peaches.

The hat that's pictured above is the second one of the Bobble and Cable hats that I've done. This one is probably for me. I was surprised when I compared it to the first one that I did. The two purples are very nearly the same color, and the hat pictures look nearly identical. (If you're on Ravelry, go look at the two hats side by side in my projects.)

That's all the excitement around here for today. I will mention that as the temperatures creep into the upper 90's today that I've started dreaming about a cave or decommissioned missile silo home again. Believe me, if I ever won the lottery, I'd probably have both types of homes!

It must be time for pictures

I dyed several skeins at a time here.









The two brown and pink ones are very interesting to me. I used the same color dyes, but I used different fibers, different dye methods and different percentages of the dyes.






Here you see Mama and Hopalong snoozing together on the bench. Mama is the feral kitty who got me started on the whole TNR mission. After all these years she rarely lets me get close to her. I think about bringing Hopalong inside since he's turned out to be such a lovebug, but I think Mama likes him too much for me to do that to her.





The hat is a shop sample. It's the Bobbles and Cables Hat from 60 Quick Knits. That book has some great and fun projects in it. I plan to knit one of these up for me soon.

Radish update

As of yesterday, all eight of the radish seeds I'd planted had sprouted. I'm still waiting on the carrots, but I think they have a longer germination time. I'm also wondering if I accidentally planted them too deeply. I'll give them a few more days, then I'll replant them.

I know eight radishes doesn't like much, and it isn't. However, since they grow so quickly you can plant more all season. Also there's only one person in the household who really likes them, so eight at a time is plenty of them. I'd hate to have thirty be ready at one time as many of them would go bad.

I have knitted a great hat in the past few days, and I've got pictures to upload. I think I will need to purchase a model head from ebay. Keith took pictures of the hat on my head. I was having a bad hair day, having napped with wet hair earlier. I was also wearing one of those old, disreputable T-shirts, so all in all it's not a good picture. The photographer has skills, but the model wasn't ready for a photoshoot.

I've also got more yarn to photograph that I dyed yesterday, so I'll post those here tomorrow too.

And some knitting

I haven't done very much knitting this week. I've spent the past 3 days skeining the nearly 20 kilos of sock yarn that I bought on Wednesday. That was a bit tiring, but I had to get it all (or as much as possible) done while I had the skeiner that I'd borrowed. Believe me, a skeiner is on my to get list!


However, I did get a little time here and there. First of all is a sock that I've started with some of the yarn I dyed. I've got to get a better camera! The colors here are close, but there's a luminosity to it in real life that I can't seem to capture.



Anyway, I took photos of the front and the back so you can see how it's knitting up.


Next you can see that I've almost finished turning the heel on Keith's second sock of this pair.





The last picture is the progress that I'm making on my wrap sweater. I've finished the first sleeve, and I've started on the second. I can see that this sweater will need some major blocking to keep the stockinette from rolling so much.

I've been a little worried that I may run out of yarn before I get to the edging around the neck and front, but I discovered that Sublime's Extra Fine Merino DK is very similar (if not the same yarn) as the Zara. They probably come from the same mill. That was a huge relief as I can get the Sublime at Needle Nook if I need more yarn.

Finished Citron

Here is the finished Citron. I haven't blocked it yet, so it's more ruffly than it will be in the future. It's so lightweight and soft, the perfect type of shawl to toss into your purse when going to the movies this summer. (I haven't been to a movie since last summer when we saw Terminator Salvation, so hopefully something interesting will come along.)

This other item is the beginning of a top down, wrap sweater. That's the neckline you see there. I'm using Zara by Filature di Crosa, and I'm loving it. It's a tightly spun merino wool, so it's very soft and has a squooshy feel to it. I'm so glad that I got this when it was on sale, but now I'm wishing I'd gotten more.

I'm about 2 rounds from the heel on Keith's second Malabrigo/Prairie sock. I need to sit down and get that done so I can get those socks finished.

In other news, the sun is finally out! We've had several days so far with no rain, and I'm looking forward to getting a bit more yardwork done tomorrow. Enjoy the weekend!

More dyeing and some knitting

We'll start with the knitting as I don't feel like wrestling with Blogger to get the pictures into an order that I find pleasing. I'll work and work, and Blogger will still format my blog as it sees fit.

Thus, the first photo you see is the Citron. I've finished with section 8, and I'm now working on the ruffle. Each row of the ruffle has 829 stitches. I have less than 8290 stitches left to knit. Sounds kind of horrifying, doesn't it?

Next we have Keith's second sock in progress. I decided to show it next to the first sock so you wouldn't think I was just recycling pictures. I thought about that when I planned to take a picture of sock 2 and I realized that sock 2 by itself looks no different from sock 1 sitting alone.


Next you will see my efforts at dyeing yarns. I'm learning that it never turns out the way you think it will. The two blue yarns are
using up leftover dyes from the day The Chicken Goddess came over and dyed up some lace yarn.

Her yarn didn't turn out at all as she thought it would either. The green yarn is my attempt to try what she had, using more acid as fixative. It didn't work as expected either.

I'm gaining a whole new respect for dyers who are able to get results they can repeat. I've not even tried to repeat anything yet,

but I'm taking lots of notes (and some pictures when I remember).

Once again we have a gray, misty day here in Georgia. It's rained so much these past 6 months I feel like I'm living in Seattle without the benefits of being in Seattle.

Hopefully it is sunny where ever you may be.

I so love Ravelry

Yesterday I was bemoaning the fact that I would have to sit down and figure out the increases for a larger Citron. This morning, whilst drinking my coffee, I had an idea. Why not look at the pattern on Ravelry? Perhaps the designer has given us the information all neatly written out for a larger shawl. Lo and behold, it was there! Thank goodness I don't have to figure all that out. Now, back to knitting.

Forgive my lack of posting

I've been busy this week.

I've started working with my acid dyes.

I discovered I'm going to need a bigger sink.

And I've been knitting on the Citron Shawl. I've finished all the repeats the pattern called for, and now I'm working on some extra repeats to make a larger shawl.

One of my knitting buddies figured out the extra repeats, but when I examined them, I saw she spaced them evenly across the row. If you know me well at all, you know I've got a touch of OCD. Yes, I've got to sit down and figure out the spacing so that it is like the pattern. I'm not looking forward to it, although I don't think it will be very difficult. It will just take a little fiddling with the numbers to make it work out.

Hopalong hasn't been to the vet yet, and that's not due to lack of trying. He seems to be healing up nicely, and he demands lots of petting every time we go outside. He has even been rubbing on Sassy, which has confused her some. You can see it in her face, "why is this cat doing this to me?"

Cowkitty has shown up a few times to get a meal, but he's not here regularly. Hopefully things will settle back down in feral world, but I've seen another new to me cat twice last week. I'll keep the trap ready for another spay/neuter/rabies vax adventure.

Have a great Saturday. We still have sun, which is the longest we've gone without clouds and rain since September. This is day 3 now.

Ah, Hopalong, the elusive

unless there's petting to be had.

It's official. Neither of us thinks he'll get into the trap, but that poor kitty is so desparate for petting that we think we can get him into a top loading carrier. Keep your fingers crossed for us. We want to get him to the vet before the next round of snow.

Yes, more snow. I watched the weather this morning. Our normal high for this time of year is 60F. I think it stayed 10 degrees cooler than that all of today. Yet, we're in line for more snow on Tuesday. I really don't know how all those northeners stand it. Oh yeah, they don't, which is why Atlanta's population keeps growing, as does the urban sprawl.

I've been knitting away on my Citron Shawl. I'm about midway through section number 4, and now it's starting to give me hints of what the next sections will be like (as in many, many stitches to knit.)

I also dyed some yarn today using some leftovers from starting my dye book on Friday. I see I have much experimentation to do, and I'm going to have to order more yarn. I'm afraid this is going to be very addicting. Already I have more ideas swirling in my head, and I don't have the yarn to try them all out!

Pictures later this week, maybe tomorrow, maybe tonight if I can get myself outside before total darkness.

Also, I've got a virtual friend who is starting to do some TNR at her workplace. Here's a link to her blog if you want to read about how she's doing. Massachusetts is not at all like Georgia, and I never thought the south would be more progressive than a northern state, but in TNR, we are! Woohoo! However, what is easy for me is not so easy for her as she doesn't have all the facilities and support systems that I have access to. So, check out her blog and see what she's facing there.

Still trying

I've taken the trap up as I don't think Hopalong is going to fall for getting into it again.

I've tried regular catfood. I tried Boar's Head low sodium deli turkey. Food keeps disappearing, and I think the birds are flying or hopping into the trap to eat it.

Time to try something new. I've got one of those cardboard carriers from the vet's office. As you may know, cats find boxes irresistable. I've put the carrier outside near where Hopalong likes to lurk. I put a small towel in the bottom of it, then sprinkled dried catnip all around. I'm thinking that he might get a little stoned from the 'nip, then look for someplace to sleep it off. If I'm lucky, I may be able to catch him napping in the box.

Otherwise, I'll have to go to the Carlos Museum, find a statue of Bastet, and sacrifice a can of tuna to beg for her help.

As for knitting, I finished section 1 of Citron last night. I'll have to take a picture later. I'd plead laziness, but...well, it's true. I've got other things to do, and I just don't feel like going outside to take that single picture right now. Maybe tomorrow, especially if I've finished section 2.

Trapper mode enabled

If you've read my blog for any length of time, you will know that I've got two feral/stray cats in my care. Mamacat, who's most definitely a feral cat, even though she now is quite talkative and seems to like my company from a safe distance, and Hopalong, whom I'm now starting to think is a stray. Hopalong has in the past week or two gotten to the point where he demands head and chin scratches as part of his meal routine.

Sometime in late December another male cat showed up. He's a big, black and white cat, one of those that reminds you of Holstein cows. In the throes of originality, I dubbed him Cowkitty. I see him sporadically, but he has been spraying near our house.

Sunday a week ago, I saw Mama and Hopalong for their meals, and all was well. On Monday afternoon, when I spotted Hopalong across the street, I could see that he was walking a little funny. When he got close, I saw a large wound, most likely a burst abscess, on his right hip. He held his tail at an odd angle too.

Great. He'd been attacked by Cowkitty, and now he needed veterinary care.


I spent Monday afternoon trying to see if he'd get close enough that I could snatch him up and put him into a cat carrier. Ok, probably not the smartest plan, but I knew he was up on his rabies vax, and I thought I could do this pretty quickly. Note to self, don't try that sort of think while Keith is home. He had to tell me just how dumb that idea was and not to try it.

So, out came my trusty kitty trap. I baited it and put it outside. I honestly can't remember if I pulled it out Monday late afternoon, but it sat outside for most of Tuesday. No luck.


I baited it and put it out again Wednesday. Hopalong looked at it warily, and never got near it. However, around 3:00 when I checked it again, there was Cowkitty. (I'd been checking pretty regularly. The neighbors, if they were looking, would be wondering why I looked like a jack-in-the-box, popping out the front door every 15-20 minutes.) Cowkitty wasn't the one I had planned to trap, but on Thursday he got a trip to Lifeline Animal Project's clinic for neutering and his rabies vax.

When I released Cowkitty on Friday afternoon, he was out of that trap so fast, he looked like a furry blur. I looked out the front door about 30 minutes later, and he was back to have a little snack. I'd fed and watered him while he was in the trap, but he seemed to excel in knocking everything upside down.


I still haven't gotten Hopalong trapped and to the vet yet. I didn't try over the weekend, mostly due to working hours at the vet's office. He seems to be healing pretty well, but I'd still like to get him in and have him checked. The trap will be spending some quality time outside today. I think instead of sardines, I'll have to try something else. Maybe smoked clams?


In knitting news, I did finish a hat over the weekend. I'd taken a class to learn how to knit entrelac in the round. I used plain, boring, solid colored yarn that I had in stash. I was so tired of working with that red yarn. I needed another color for the top of the hat, and of the colors I had, green seemed best. Thus, I present the Strawberry Entrelac Hat.

Citron's beginning

Citron's beginning
Originally uploaded by everbork

I'm playing around with how I add pictures today. I've not used all my space in blogger yet, but in anticipation of someday needing other options, I'm trying some out.

I know you won't recognize Citron, even you other knitters out there, because I'm only on row 12, and it looks a little like a sock toe right now. In the future, it will be a monster with 800+ stitches on a row. I'm not looking forward to that part. Someone else who is knitting it mentioned it took her 35 minutes to complete 1 row the other night. As I approach that, I'll bear in mind just how great it's going to look, and how nice to wear. One needs positive thinking as she starts an 800+ stitch row.

I will have to cut this entry short. Hubby is making breakfast, and I just heard a timer go off. He expects me to be at the table on time! As it's bacon and biscuits, I want to be on time too.

Insanity comes in many forms

This week, it came the form of size 11 seed beads. I've included a picture of this small beaded piece by a pen to let you get some perspective on just how small size 11 seed beads are.

I've had beading madness for years now. It all started when I was in elementary school. I joke about my age, but I was in the first grade very soon after the Summer of Love (1968), and my bead obsession manifested itself sometime around then.

It all started with "love bead" necklaces that my friends and I made. These were simple strands of seed beads and bugle beads interspersed on a strand of elastic. Very easy to make. You take the strand of elastic, make sure it will go over your head and string the beads, alternating between seed and bugles. I wish I could remember how old I was when I made those, but it's really not important. Just take my word that the obsession with beads began quite early.

Not that it's always manifested itself. The beading madness will go dormant, sometimes for years, before roaring back into full obsession. It's in full swing now, with wild and wonderful ideas popping into my head, leaving me wondering just how in world to get them to work.

There are other forms of madness too. Sometimes they involve Malabrigo lace yarn, 2 skeins of it, and a simple shawl pattern called Citron. True, that pattern only calls for one Malabrigo, but the one I've seen knitted up has extra repeats of the pattern, and that's the size I must knit.

Shirley is teaching a class at Needle Nook that I just had to take. Knitting entrelac in the round. This bright red item on the left is the beginning rounds of a hat using this technique. I find using a solid yarn for entrelac is sooooooo boring. Next time, it's most definitely something that self stripes.

The sun has appeared, giving me a chance to get some pictures of finished socks.

The sock with blue heel and toes is the first of a pair for Keith. It's knitted from Malabrigo sock yarn for heels and toes, and Yarnsmith's Prairie for the main color. He picked out the Prairie when we went to SAFF a few years ago. This was before I figured out just how much yarn it takes to knit socks for him. Luckily, the Malabrigo was in my stash, and it matches quite well. The picture shows the blue as brighter than it really is, at least on my monitor.

These other socks are mine, Watermelon colorway from Miss Babs, purchased at the same SAFF. This is one of the times where I liked the yarn in the skein much better than knitted up. In the skein it looked much pinker, but the green mutes out the pink once it's knitted. I did like the yarn itself very much.

If you look closely on the right, you can see my little piece of beadweaving. I had put it on the bench while I was digging out my camera, so you have another chance for some perspective on its size.

Today is the Super Bowl, for those who keep track of such things. I'll admit that I don't, and I've just realized I've no idea who the Saints are playing today. What I really care about is that it's sunny, that I've got graph paper to get some of these beading ideas out of my head, and whether I'll bead or knit today.

OMG! Can you believe there's not a single cat picture in the bunch today?