Thursday, March 24, 2011

A Weekend Away of Knitting Fun

This past Friday morning found me traveling to Plymouth, MA for a 2 day retreat with some of the ladies from one of my favorite groups, the Ocean State Knitting and Crochet Guild.  After checking into the Cold Spring Best Western, we traveled to East Sandwich for some yarn shopping. This was followed with a visit to The Dunbar Tea Room for a delicious lunch.  Then we headed back to the hotel where we knit in a big, bright conference room set aside for us.  Snacks and drinks were set up on the side for our enjoyment as well.
Then it was time to go for supper at The East Bay Grille. One of our servers was nice to take a picture of our table.
After dinner we all headed back to the hotel for more knitting fun.  Audrey and I brought our wheels, so we did spin for a bit. 
 The next morning, we had a wonderful breakfast buffet.  Some of the other ladies came down for the day.  After breakfast, we hit the road again for some more stash enhancement.  Upon our return, we had a lovely lunch and returned to the conference room for more knitting.  









I had started the Edelweiss Neckwarmer, which I am knitting in my handspun "Trillium Lake" on Friday, and the Make It Work! in Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in "Mulled Wine" on Saturday.  Both are very addictive patterns and moving right along. My plan is to have at least one finished by next week.

I'm happy to say I stuck to my resolution not to buy yarn.  I came home with a couple patterns I hadn't seen locally, and a pair of Puppy Snips.  That's it. :)

After getting home Saturday evening, it was time to just relax and knit some more.  :)

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

A "Green" Happy Hands..."Ditto" Increases are Done

Sunday was Happy Hands and, since Spring is trying to hang around, we had a "green" theme.  Some of us wore the color, and some of us knit or spun it.  There was some good natured teasing going on too.  I was pretending I was going to "steal" Marcia's pretty sparkly batts she was spinning.  The snacks even fit into the green theme.  There was a lovely salad and some cupcakes with green sprinkles on them.  Someone also brought some Girl Scout cookies. I did have two of those.  :)

In keeping with the theme, I was trying to finish up the first 4 ounces of "Troll", but had a little bit left when it was time to go home.  Green is not a color I usually wear, but there was one pair of minty green leggings in my closet that used to fit, but had become a bit clingy when I gained weight.  Guess what???  They fit again, and are even a little baggy.  

"Ditto" has all it's increases in so now it's time to start the yoke.  I chose not to bind off stitches under the arm as the pattern said to do.  It makes more sense to me to just knit the body stitch and sleeve stitch together when I start the yoke.  This is the plan and hopefully, it will work.  Either way there will be a bit of ridge under the arm.  This poor pattern has been used more as a guide than actually knit as directed.  So far, I've added length, made full sleeves, and increased where I was not told to.  It will be interesting to see the final result.

"Evenstar" hasn't been touched all week.   I've got some other things I'm trying to do this week and doubt that will change.  I'll try to remedy that next week. 

I'm going to the wheel now to finish the "Troll" fiber.

Monday, March 07, 2011

Time to Start "Evenstar" Beading,  "Ditto" Progress, "Moonlight" Spinning

Yay!!  I finally got the last rows before the beaded knit on edging of my Evenstar Shawl.  I plan to start the edge tomorrow or Wednesday. 

My Ditto sweater has seen a bit of progress. The yoke is worked in multiples of 10, so I decided to add a total of 20 stitches under the arms instead of 10.  I think it will be more comfortable.  The plan is to finish the increases tonight.

The "Moonlight" fiber from Flawful Fibers is moving along as well.  I finally finished the first 4 ounces.  The second 4 ounces will be worked on during the rest of the month after I finish my "Troll" from CJKopec.  It may take until April to finish the blue "Moonlight" fiber.  It will be interesting to see the yardage I get from the 4 ounces when it's plied.

O.K.  I'm heading back over to work on the Ditto some more. 

Friday, March 04, 2011

Dear Janie, I Miss You

Twenty five years ago today, my life changed forever.  It's the day I grew up.  Twenty five years ago today my sister died.  She was shot and killed by my tenant's son.  Dad had died five weeks earlier. Mom had died almost two years earlier.  My dad's tenant was watching Jane after I had returned to work on second shift, after being home for three weeks. Michael kept an eye on Jane from when I had to leave and his mother got home from work, about an hour and a half.  Jane was mentally challenged, but high functioning.  I had to go back to work but couldn't leave her alone because I didn't trust her with the stove.   She was only 26 and I was 25 at the time.   

For some reason, I'm thinking about her a lot more on this day than I have on past anniversaries.  Maybe because it's the quarter century and about the same amount of years as her life.  I don't know.  A day rarely goes by that I don't think of her, remember something about her, and smile to myself.  It was mostly Mom and I who took care of her with Dad there sometimes. Our bond was so close that when she died, it felt like not only my sister being ripped from my life, but, in some ways almost like my child. 

I know she is smiling down on me, along with my parents, and is at peace.  Janie, I miss you and love you always.
March Project Stash Buster & Dusting Off An Old Knitting UFO

Now that March is here, it's time for the next two bags to be opened.  The fiber is CJKopec's "Troll" in lovely shades of green.  The sock is "Flutter-by"  and the yarn is from DkKnits.  I need to pick a different skein because the one I chose does not show the pattern as well as I would like.
One of my intentions for this year was to work on UFO/WIP projects.  The Ditto sweater has been in time out for about a year now.  As of this past Wednesday evening, it is back in the current project pile.  I took it to knit night and managed to plot the increases I need to make it fit better under the arms and across the bust. Since you knit the entire body in one piece, with almost 300 stitches, it takes a while to get across it.  I actually managed two rows while there.  When I got home I continued working on it for a little while.  Progress was eight rows by Thursday evening. 

My Evenstar shawl is also progressing nicely.  I'm about 4 rows from starting the edging with the beads.  I'm debating doing the last pattern row and saving the knit/purl rows for public knitting with some friends. Once those rows are done, it will be an at home only project.  Beading in public with a crochet hook and about 3000 size 8 seed beads could lead to a disaster if they are spilled.

Sadly, my February sock never progressed past the cuff.  It's now a UFO and in the basket. 

Spinning has seen some progress on the "Moonlight" fiber and the completion of the "Trillium Lake" fiber.  I haven't taken my picture of the finished skein yet but plan to tomorrow before the  rain comes in for the weekend.

It's time to pop in a movie, give the dogs a treat, get a drink and get comfy with Katy cat and knit for a while.