Another catching up post!

Oh my, it has been forever since I posted! So much to catch up on.

The holidays were fantastic. We had such fun visiting with family and relaxing at home. It was wonderful having Christmas and New Year's both fall on weekends. We all enjoyed our gifts. I gifted myself with a Kindle and have thoroughly enjoyed it. I debated the purchase forever. Big price tags warrant such debates. I was really afraid I'd end up with buyer's remorse since I'm not as avid a reader as the rest of my family. However, I have not regretted the purchase for a second and highly recommend the Kindle for anyone who enjoys reading on any level.

I've been knitting quite a bit. I finished the Stonehenge handspun BFL socks.They may just be my favorite socks ever. So soft and warm and the colors are delicious. The fiber was Crown Mountain Farms BFL in Stonehenge (I used 4 ounces for the socks, 3 ply fingering weight). The pattern is Twilight from 2 at a Time Socks.

Nearly finished the first sleeve of Skully (front and back body are both done).Love the skull and crossbones, hated knitting it though. I don't think I'm cut out for intarsia. The stitches look awfully wobbly. I'm sure hoping once it's washed and fluffed a bit it'll even out. And I just noticed in posting this picture there's a mistake on the right arm of the crossbones that's going to need fixing. The second sleeve is going to be plain or perhaps I'll put a stripe or two of white around the upper arm. I like the idea of asymmetry.

I started another shawl. Bitterroot from the Winter 09 Knitty.I'm knitting it in Knit Picks Shadow laceweight yarn in Cattail Heather. I've only got a skein and a half of this so I may end up with more of a shawlette. I do have a KP gift certificate (thanks Jen!) so I'm covered if I decide I want a full shawl and need another skein.

Still plugging away on the Vanilla socks in Salvia yarn. Those are my purse knitting and since we didn't really go anywhere in January little has been done on them.

I started a pair of 6ply socks in Fortissima Socka fair isle yarn. This yarn has been in my stash forever. Thanks to the stash diet it's finally seeing the light of day.

Knitters with a weak heart may want to stop here. Remember this sweater?The one that the collar wouldn't lay flat on and gapped and sagged if I weren't standing still as a statue for a picture? Well here it is now.Shocking, I know. I frogged the whole thing. Even with washing the yarn is a bit wavy from being knit up but I'm sure it will knit into a fine sweater. I love the color and it is truly one of the nicest acrylic yarns I've used so I couldn't bear to just throw it out. I'm leaning towards Bantam.

Spinning, not much progress. Working on superwash merino for a 3 ply sock yarn. I did switch to a poly drive band and have noticed a huge difference. I kept my hemp in case this one should break, but I have no intention of going back. The poly drive makes treadling effortless and so smooth. Tensioning is a breeze. If you can get a poly band for your wheel, do give it a try.

The stash diet is still going ok. I nearly caved a few weeks back when I found some patterns I wanted in a catalog. I did order the patterns and was tempted by the yarn, but managed to resist. I don't think I have yarn in stash that would work for either pattern I bought, but they will give me incentive to finish what I'm doing so I can buy yarn for them this fall. I did cave on the perfume diet a bit. I bought two designer knockoffs (Mugler Angel and Comptoir Sud Pacific Amore de Cacao). I got 4 oz of the Angel knockoff for soap making and it is fantastic. I had a bottle of the real thing years ago and loved it. Not sure what brought it back to memory lately but I'm glad I was able to find a much more affordable version!

Amendment

Hmm, the reaction to my stash diet was not as I had expected. Rather than agreement, I've gotten nothing but grief for my decision. Regardless, this feels good and right to me, so I'm going on as intended...knitting and spinning from stash for the first 3/4 of 2010. I'm going to make two amendments though. 1. Gift certificates, should I happen to get any, can be used freely and without guilt if I feel I need a treat. 2. For each sweater I finish (I've got 3 currently on needles and at least 2 in the wings), I can buy something. But only if I'm going to use it. No stash yarn. Ok, do you all feel better now?

I finished the Charlotte's Web shawl over the weekend. To my abject horror, I discovered a huge hole when I laid it out to block.It took several hours to dry in which time I was able to screw up my courage and fix the hole. I was able to ladder up the stitches and secured them with sewing thread. The fix is not perfect, but it is barely perceptible if you don't know what you are looking for. I wore the shawl to work this week to rave reviews. Promise I'll get a picture of it on sometime soon. I adore this pattern and plan to make more of these shawls. I might choose a different yarn next time. I used the Koigu KPPPM that is called for in the pattern. I used every inch of colors 3, 4 and 5. I've seen some lovely shawls done with Socks That Rock, that might be a someday option. I think it might also be nice done in one color rather than 5.

That being finished, my current projects are as follows:
1. Vanilla socks...3/4 done with the first sock. Made a ton of progress during the excruciating New Moon movie last weekend.
2. Twilight socks...just started the gusset on the first sock. This Crown Mountain Farms BFL is amazing. So so soft. Can't wait to see how these wear. As soft as they are, I hold little hope for longevity.
3. Skully take 2...about to decrease for the armhole on the front (back is finished).
4. Nutkin mittens...nearly done. I'm working the thumb on the second mitten. I don't like the way the first thumb turned out, I messed up the decrease, so I think I'm going to pull it back and reknit the top of the thumb.

A few weeks back I mentioned I applied for a FLP library card. I'm happy to report the card arrived in less than 2 weeks and I had no difficulty getting on the website and finding audiobooks. They use Overdrive rather than NetLibrary and it's taken me a while to get used to the interface, but I've found a bunch of books. The great thing with this system is it lets you create a wishlist. So I can go on when I have time and search for books and then when I'm read for a new read, I can pick something off my wishlist. On the downside, it doesn't look like the eBooks are compatible with Kindle, but I'm still trying to figure out the eBook thing so I could be wrong. Regardless, if you are looking for a source to borrow audiobooks, it looks like Free Library of Philadelphia is a good, inexpensive option.

Stash diet redux

In late 2007 I went on a yarn diet. At the time I was trying to save money to buy my spinning wheel. I went 4 full months without buying any yarn. Now I'm once again contemplating dieting. Not necessarily to save money, although that will be a very happy side effect of the diet. I'm not an excessive stasher. I don't buy tons of yarn the way some knitters do. My trouble is that I tend to buy yarn for a project but then never seem to actually get to that project. I've got 3 sweaters on the needles that need attention. I've got yarn for at least 2 more sweaters, 4 or 5 shawls, umpteen balls of sock yarn and enough fiber to spin for maybe a dozen projects. It's time to knit/spin this stuff up. So I think I'm going to declare a freeze on yarn & fiber spending for most of 2010. Here are my intentions...

1. I will not purchase any yarn or fiber from January 1 through September 30, 2010. This will take me up to vacation time when I will sure want the freedom to shop.

2. Should I get any gift certificates for yarn shops, I will allow myself to use them for yarn if they would expire before 9/30/10. Otherwise, I'm going to try to hold off using them until the end as well.

3. I'm going to finish (or at least make a good stab at finishing) the 3 sweaters I've got going before starting anymore sweaters.

This diet is also going to apply to indie perfumes. My collection has gotten way out of hand. You've seen the pictures (and the collection has grown since the last pictures). You know. Those tiny little bottles are like crack to me. Well, no more. I've unsub'd all the mailing lists and dropped off the BPAL board. I've got plenty enough perfume to keep me sweet smelling for the duration of the diet, if not longer.

Just writing all this down seems liberating. Knowing I won't be spending money on stuff I don't really need is a relief. I don't think I'll feel deprived (most of the time). I think it will be nice to rediscover all the exciting projects I had planned in the past.

First snow and knitting round up

We had our first snowfall of the season yesterday. I'm truly not a snow fan, but this was one of the good ones...gorgeous big fluffy flakes that fell gracefully and stuck to the grass and trees but melted off the sidewalks and streets. Just enough to make everything look pretty.
Today is supposed to be sunny and mild so it will probably all be gone by tomorrow.

Remember a few weeks back I posted about my aunt who gave me her Pfaltzgraff dishes? Well, being a knitter, you just KNOW what my thank you was going to be...The pattern is Monkey (no purl variety) and the yarn is Socks that Rock medium weight in Lagoon. The colors don't come out very well in the photo...they aren't nearly that glaringly bright. The socks have been sent off and I'm hoping they are keeping her feet toasty warm.

Since this blog has been sadly devoid of knitting content of late I thought I'd post some photos of my current WIPs.

First up are the Nutkin mittens. These had been languishing in the bottom of the knitting basket for months. With winter now here, I decided I better get in gear and finish them. The pattern is quite easy to memorize. It is actually a sock pattern that I'm modifying to mittens. These should be finished in a week or so.

Next are my current socks...
Stonehenge socks. This is the Twilight pattern from 2 at a Time Socks and the yarn is my handspun Crown Mountain Farms BFL. They are so soft and the colors are gorgeous. I'm in total love with CMF. I've heard people rave about how fabulous their fiber is and I must add my voice to the chorus. I believe the prep is top rather than roving so it drafts like butter. There are virtually no slubs or imperfections of any kind. Plus they give you a generous 8 ounces of fiber.

My other purse knitting is a pair of plain vanilla socks in JL Yarns Savlia. The yarn was super cheap and is quite fine in weight. I'm knitting them on US 1 since that's the smallest needle I had available. But I'm thinking I might go down to a US 0 for the next pair.

The final project I'm working on is a Charlotte's Web shawl.I am totally enamored with this shawl. I'm using 5 skeins of Koigu KPPPM as the pattern calls for. This is sock weight yarn so it's a bit heavier than the lace weight shawls I had been working on. Something about cold weather calls for knitting with heavier weight yarns. Lace weight seems to me to be better suited for warm weather knitting! Many folks knit this shawl with Socks that Rock and I do think that would be stunning, but it's cost prohibitive for me at the moment. The pattern is extremely easy to knit and goes fairly quickly despite the nature of triangular shawls with each row getting longer than the last. I'm about 14 rows from the end. I'm going to have to start thinking about what type of edging I want to do. There's a crocheted edging or a fringed edge. I love the look of the fringe, but I hate actually doing fringe so I'm still thinking about it.

Once I finish up the shawl I'm going to go back to the Fylingdales sweater I was working on last winter. I think I'm better than 50% done with it and should be able to finish it up this season. The Colour Your Own Philosopher's Sweater is still hiding in my closet too. That's a much more daunting prospect as I'm only midway done with the first sleeve! But I'm sure it will see action at some point this winter.

audiobook update

I was noodling around on Ravelry the other day and discovered a group for audiobook lovers. Here I uncovered a thread regarding library downloads. Seems I'm not the only one who enjoys the download services offered by libraries. I also learned that there are libraries out there that will allow you to purchase a membership and enjoy their services even if you are out of the area. One such library is Free Library of Philadelphia. They offer a paid out of state membership for only $15 a year. I thought this sounded like a very reasonable price so I clicked over to check it out. Turns out if you've got an Access Pennsylvania library card (and mine is) you can join for FREE! So I filled out the application over the weekend and hope to have my card by next week. This should give me access not only to NetLibrary but to another service called OverDrive that I am unfamiliar with. Fingers crossed it works out. I'll be sure to post how I make out.

For now, since I finished Scarlet Letter (great book btw) I broke down and went to the library and borrowed an audiobook cd. I was disappointed to discover it's the abridged version. Why is this even allowed? I want to hear all of the author's words, not just those the producer picks and chooses. You do get the major points of a story, but it always feels like something's missing.

Audiobooks?

Thanks to our new Pennsylvania budget cutting funds, our library has had to drop NetLibrary. NetLibrary was my main source for audiobooks for my Zen. I've found audiobooks to be the perfect companion for knitting, riding the exercise bike and while doing computer input at work. We can still checkout audiobook cds from the library, but it's time consuming and not entirely failproof to move them to the MP3 player. NetLibrary was great because you could get the audiobook all in one file. I'm hoping this is only a temporary thing, but for now, I'm looking for alternate sources for free/cheap audiobooks.

I've subscribed to CraftLit again and am listening to The Scarlet Letter. I'm fortunate to have resub'd after the book was finished so I won't have to wait for new chapters. The nice thing about Craftlit is that Heather gives some explanation to each chapter. For a non-literary type like me, this is extremely helpful in understanding the finer points of the book.

I'm considering treating myself to a Kindle for Christmas. I'm fortunate to have saved enough money this year to afford such a luxury. I'm just not entirely sure how much use I'd get out of it. In case you haven't figured it out, I'm cheap with a capital C. So how likely am I to spend the $10 a pop for most Kindle books. I know there are free ones out there and I'll be doing some investigating before I make a final decision. The thing I like about the new Kindle is that it now offers text to voice so the thing will actually read to me. How cool is that? I'm sure it's just a computer generated voice, no Jim Dale or George Guidall. Jury is still out. Anyone have one? Any thoughts?

Generous

A few weeks back I as talking with mom about having found some old brown Pfaltzgraff dishes at the flea market. The pattern is called Gourmet. They are dark brown with a cream colored, often mottled band around the edges. My Grandma Miller had these dishes so they kindle a real sense of nostalgia in me, fondly reminding me of scrumptious meals at her house. The pattern is fairly easy to find at flea markets and not terribly expensive. So I've picked up a few pieces here and there. So I'm telling mom all this and she said she recalled one of my aunt's mentioning that she had a set of these dishes she wasn't using and had been looking to get rid of them. She said she would inquire if my aunt still had them and let her know I was interested. As luck would have it, she did still have the dishes and by further luck, my folks were planning a visit to see her (she lives a few states away).

So my parents got back from there trip and today dropped off the dishes. Now I was expecting maybe 4 or 5 place settings since my aunt had said she knew some had been broken over the years. So I was blown away when dad opened the car trunk and I found 2 boxes and 2 tote bags full of dishes. My aunt sent me not only the dishes but all of her serving pieces.My mind is reeling at the shear generosity of it.The pieces are gorgeous and I will put as much of it to use as I possibly can. Some of the larger pieces may have to be stored since I don't have much occasion for their use. But I guarantee each piece will be cherished.

When I asked my parents was she sure she didn't want anything for all this, they told me her reply was simply "maybe she'll think of me when she uses them". This, I promise, I will!

The most wonderful time of the year!

Ah, it's that time of year again. There's a nip in the air, the leaves are aglow in bright reds and yellows, Halloween is just around the corner and C and I are on vacation. As I'm sure I've said before, we are staycation people and this year is no different. The week leading up to vacation was a bit hectic so this week of relaxation was even more welcome. I'm relishing in complete self indulgence.

Friday we started off with a trip to some of our favorite stores. We didn't find anything at Comics and Paperbacks but had fun looking around, he at comics and I at the mystery books. Then it was off to Yarn Love in Hummelstown. I got to look at and fondle all the gorgeous yarns they stock and was thrilled to see knit samples of Clapotis and Damson on display. It's all well and good to see photos on Ravelry of yarns and knitted items, but nothing compares to seeing them in person! I bought a skein of Dream in Color Smooshy. Gorgeous gorgeous yarn. The colors are so intense. I met the owner of YL, Pam. What a delightful person. We chatted about yarns and patterns and she made me feel so at home. I've been impressed with this store every time I've been there. We finished up the day at Olde Factory Antiques again. My mother in law spied the Jello Halloween molds I managed to miss when they were in the grocery store and I've wanted for soap making. I also picked up some small glass dishes for soaping.

Speaking of soaping, I ordered the Swirl Soap kit from Brambleberry to learn swirled melt and pour over vacation. You can see a video of the technique on SoapQueen tv. That's on the agenda for later today.

I've finished a few knitting projects. A pair of No Purl Monkey socks in Katsara Panda yarn.This is a fast knit and comfortable sock pattern. I'm not as into the pastel colors as I was when I purchased this yarn a few years back. These may end up being gifted to someone.

Also finished a Burnished Leaves cowl. This was knit in Knit Picks Shadow yarn. Soft and light as a feather. Not too warm, just enough to keep my neck warm when my hair is up. This too was a quick and easy knit.

On the needles:
Skully, take 2. Yes, I'm making a second stab at the Skully sweater. I'm actually using the modified drop shoulder sweater pattern from Knitter's Book of Sweater patterns and only using the skull & cross bones chart from the original pattern.

Vanilla socks. This is my current purse knitting. JL Yarn Salvia in a green, yellow and red colorway.

Grandma's Favorite washcloth. Been knitting these like potato chips, one right after the other.

And various other projects that get a row or two at a time. It's delightful to have such a variety of things to occupy my time!

Score!

I had a few days off this week and one day hubby and I visited one of our favorite antique stores in Hummelstown, Olde Factory Antiques (no website, but you can find directions here). It's an old 3 story factory loaded with whatnots and their prices are usually pretty good. On the second floor I found an old Singer sewing machine for $5. I looked twice. Made C come over and look. Yep, $5! I love vintage sewing stuff but generally it's too pricey for my frugal nature. But $5, there was no way we were passing this up. The thing weighs a ton and was filthy. But we bought it.

We got it home and I worked on cleaning it up. The decals are very worn and there's a good bit of rust, but it cleaned up pretty nicely. We did a bunch of research on the Internet and found out it is a Singer 27 vibrating shuttle. Manufactured in 1906 in Elizabeth NJ. It is a handcranked machine. Some pictures show an actual crank you could turn. This one has a wheel making it feel a bit cumbersome to crank for me. The machine could be mounted on a treadle stand and driven with a belt by the treadle (so I'll keep my eyes open for one!)

The bobbin is unlike any I've seen before. It's long and thin and rides in a bullet shaped shuttle.
The bobbin winding mechanism seems not to be working. It won't hold the bobbin and there isn't a band to drive the mechanism. So far I've not been able to locate instructions or pictures of how it is supposed to work.

The machine does appear to be in working order. The crank turns easily and quietly. The spool pin is missing but would be easy enough to replace. We are fortunate to have a sewing machine repair man a few blocks from our home. He serviced my Kenmore this summer. He works from his home and is a wealth of information. C and I chatted with him about old sewing machines for nearly half an hour when we picked up my machine. We plan to make an appointment to get his opinion on the machine in the near future.

I don't really plan to use this as a working machine. Although I would be tickled if we could get it into working order. Just for the joy of saying I got a sewing machine for $5! For now it's strictly for decoration.

I do have my eyes open for an old Singer Featherweight in working order though. They are works of beauty and I understand they are fabulous little sewing machines. We often see them at the quilt shows for anywhere from $200 to $500. Someday....

It's a knitter's love fest

I'm riding pretty high on the knitting mojo right now. I finished the Heroine jacket and could not possibly love it more.It felted beautifully in one machine wash cycle in hot water with 2 pair of jeans. The collar is rather big. Where I to knit it again I would definitely rework the collar. But I find if I fold it back it's not too bothersome. I've sewn the bottoms of the lapels down so I've got pockets. Although the jacket is rather bulky it offers the ideal amount of warmth. I've been able to wear it as a blazer at work on chilly mornings and it works equally well as an outdoors jacket. The final count was 26 balls of Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Current and 8 celtic cross buttons from Buttonsgalore on Esty (go buy from her if you need buttons, she's wonderful to deal with!)

I finally finished the Heart and Sole toe up socks I started back in April. I'm not really that slow a knitter. But I am an easily distracted knitter and other projects just seemed to keep pulling me away. I love Wendy Johnson's pattern for the slip stitch heel toe up sock. I still enjoy my top down socks. However, if I want to knit toe up socks, this will be the pattern I use.

I've been spinning again. Finished two skeins of superwash mill ends that I got from Jen. She sent me a whole bag full months ago to try to encourage me to spin enough yarn for a sweater. After sampling and test knitting I decided I liked the look of 3 ply for this yarn so it's taken me some time to spin. The fiber is a joy to spin and the yarn is lovely. But as I said, I'm easily distracted and although I DO want to spin enough yarn for a sweater....someday.... my current obsession is to finally spin a good 3 ply sock yarn. I've been reading Intentional Spinner and am hoping to pick up Spin Control soon to improve my spinning knowledge. And I've been practicing on some Ashland Bay merino top. I moved to a smaller ratio on my Minstrel (8.5 to 1) and it made a world of difference. I am proud to say I have finally successfully spun what I consider a fair-to-middlin sock yarn.Granted it's only maybe 30 yds, but it's a start. I'm ready to jump in and use the "good fiber". And check out all the new Good fiber I've got to choose from!!!The big lump on the left is Crown Mountain BFL in Stonehenge. 8 (that's E I G H T) ounces! In front 4 ounces of BFL in Swamp Flower from Liberty's Yarns. And all those lovely batts came from Jen. I'm so happy to let you guys know Hanks in the Hood is back in full force. Her Etsy shop is chock full of gorgeous custom blended batts and her handspun yarns.

I finally broke down and treated myself to a knitter's purse. I lusted after a Jordana Paige for ages but could never bring myself to spend the considerable amount of money one costs. Especially since I've heard from more than one person that they aren't the best made purses you can buy. A mention of her Rio bag on a podcast got me thinking about and jonesing once again for a cool knitter's purse. So I started combing the internet for the perfect bag. I found it in the Namaste Newport bag.The color is Peacock and is a rich teal blue. The bag is the perfect size to hold all my purse stuff on one side and my knitting on the other. In the center there's a full length pocket to keep wallet and such secure. My only complaint was that there's only 2 pockets in the purse. I'm an organization FREAK when it comes to my purse. I hate things running around loose in there. So I sewed up a pocket organizer (good instructions here, takes less than 1/2 hour to sew) and I was all set.Now everything has a place, my bag is super organized and I've got knitting with me wherever I go. I got mine from Hip Mountain Mama (click the bag link to go to her site) since she had the best price and came highly recommended on Ravelry. I too can heartily recommend her site. Service was excellent. I ordered on Labor Day weekend and had my bag by Thursday!