Feels like summer

It was in the 80's, some said 90's, today & I was taking a colorwork class at Webs. Good class. I cut my first steek!!!!

Pictures will come eventually.

For now you'll have to settle for Lorretta, the knit chicken who went for a ride in the car:

Is it spring yet?

I have spring fever. I'm tired of the freezing cold. My dogs are in desperate need of walks longer than the 20 feet to the shoveled out lawn so they can do 'business' without freezing their feet on snow/ice.

The birds are ready for spring too. I've had two people tell me they saw robins, although I haven't been blessed by their presence yet. I did see a crow fly over my parked car with a sandwich in it's mouth last week. Surely, that must count for something.

The good thing about long winters is that there is much knitting to be done. I will run through the projects & in keeping with the weeks events (the State of the Union address), I expect applause after every sentence...stand up only if you think you need the exercise.

I finished Matt's hat!! ***applause***

I have started the Eastlake sweater by Nora Gaughan. ***applause*** There is not enough knitting to photograph yet.

I'm on the instep of the second carribean sock. ****applause****

In the spirit of spring, I'm knitting a chicken with the Ready, Set Knit Knit-a-long. ***applause*** I'm using cheap cotton/acrylic yarn instead of the $10/ball yarn specified. If I'm going to spend $30 on a chicken, then I think I should be able to eat it!

That said, I'm off to paint my toenails bright pink!

Expectation

I've been thinking about expectations a lot lately. Expectations at work, at home, of our fellow man &, of course, of my knitting. When my expectations are met, I usually carry on with the usual business. It is only when I'm running into roadblocks that I pause to reflect on what I'm doing/trying to do & what is stopping me. Sometimes the roadblock is other people. Sometimes the roadblock is me. Sometimes it seems as if the "powers that be" are preventing me from moving forward.

When the "powers that be/the universe/God/etc" intervene with my plans, I find it difficult to take. I've been getting a lot of messages lately. Hawk sightings are reminding me that change is coming. My massage office neighbor stopped playing is electric bass when I thought I found a new office space that would reduce my overhead. On the day that I learned that the potential office would cost the same or more than what I'm paying now, my neighbor started practicing at 5:40pm & continued for the duration of my clients massage. ....Sigh....

I sit here feeling stuck, both physically & spiritually. At least with knitting, when the project is just awful, I can rip it out & start fresh. So while I wait for flow to return, I will carry on.

Sweater Pergatory

I was digging through my sweater trunk the other day & found a store bought sweater that I've had since high school, really. It's fairly pilly & somewhat grubby looking. I'm never gonna wear it again--so now it is in sweater pergatory. Sweater pergatory is between still being worn & donated to charity. I'm trying to determine....can this sweater be something else? Maybe a cool cat/dog bed, a throw pillow, a cushion for my spinning chair, a tote bag, a basket...? (for some reason I just recalled a scene from the movie Airplane when 2 characters are in the airport playing with a piece of paper...: Steve McCroskey: Johnny, what can you make out of this? [Hands him the weather briefing] Johnny: This? Why, I can make a hat or a brooch or a pterodactyl...source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080339/quotes)


Thus I have begun to wonder about sweater shavers. I checked out Ravelry & learned that most people use disposable razors (now I know what to use all the razors my MIL puts in my hubby's christmas stocking every year--that he doesn't ever use); lots of people use electric shavers (I actually have one of these); and some people use scissors. I also learned to never use an electric razor (unless I want my sweater to look like its holey from being worn in The Matrix).

On the needles: I have frogged & completed the neck gaitor for an xmas gift. I couldn't stand the two colors blended. I used the Yak Neck Cuff pattern on pg 237 of Luxury Yarn One Skein Wonders(this is the only one skein book I have in my library--I Love I!).
I also started a lace cashmere scarf. This is a kit purchased from one of my LYS. Since this scarf is a gift for the holidays, I have put the Modern Quilt Wrap on hold.

My social project is a pair of socks from the sock yarn that I dyed at the last spinning guild weekend. Sorry, no picture--they're only 3" long anyway, so your not missing much.

Now that it has become cold & dreary her in southern New England, I have time to "read". I cannot knit without looking. So I'm actually listening to audiobooks. I'm currently listening to "Autobiography of a Yogi" and "Twilight". I'm surprised at how interesting both books are! I will probably get a paper copy of "Autobiography...." so that I can study it further & possibly apply some principles to my yoga practice.


Jazzy had her teeth cleaned last week & had one tooth pulled. She is friskier that ever (swatting at my knitting needle last night--while I was using it. Yes, I dropped & found the stitches). We are hoping her upper respiratory infection will improve now that the nasty tooth is out.

On a non-knitting note: I have entered the modern world & joined Facebook. I have spend lots of time there & still somehow managed to neglect my farm enough that my virtual horse was eating the dried on the stalk corn or wheat instead of the grass. Which reminds me I better harvest my strawberries...

New family member

My 14 year old cat, Nutmeg, died in early September, due to kidney failure. She was the most friendly cat you would have ever met. Exactly a week after Nutty was put down, a small black & white kitty came out of the bushes to greet me when I came home from work. It was a very busy time--I think I was on a 11 day stretch without any day off from any work commitments. I gave kitty a scratch & went in.

The next day, kitty said Hi again. I gave kitty a scratch & offered her some of Nutmeg's food that hadn't been dropped off at Little Guild or returned to the vet yet. Of course, I put out fresh water & a box with an old sweatshirt.

I asked everyone I knew & ran into that week, if anyone would like a friendly kitty. She's so friendly that the neighborhood kids could pick her up by the scruff & she wouldn't struggle. She played with the kids every day after school.

When talking to the neighbors about the cat, someone reported a car driving into our parking area late Saturday night, turning the lights off, then driving away. (The next day there was kitty). Kitty went to visit my hubby while he worked on his bike in the garage. He claims she jumped up on the workbench & curled up like she belonged there (he put food & water in the garage & we sheltered kitty for a night). I put kitty in the garage a second night. I later found out that everyone in the neighborhood was worried about kitty with the rain coming. Several people put out pet taxi's for kitty to hide in.

After a week outside, we allowed the kitty in with the intention of fostering the kitty (now called katkat) until a new home could be found. I made arrangements to take the katkat to the vet the following Friday. At the vet I learned that katkat is negative for leukemia, free of fleas & mites, is 4 years old or more, and has horrible teeth--so bad that they need to be cleaned & one possibly pulled.

We have decided to keep katkat. We are saving money to have her teeth cleaned & tooth pulled. During the saving period, we hope that she doesn't go into heat as that indicates that she is already spayed (no scar is felt on her belly). I guess this means that I'm on a yarn diet---just after Rhinebeck (we won't discuss those acquisitions yet).

"Jazzy" is doing much better after a week on antibiotics for her cold & it probably helps her tooth. She has become even more frisky. She is scheduled for her teeth to be taken care of within the next couple of weeks.

On a botanical note: MY ORCHID BLOOMED!!!!!!! It took 2 years, but isn't it pretty?

The photo on the left is Salta, my hubby, & Zappa taking a break on Bear Mt in Salisbury, CT in October. The leaves were at peak--sorry no pictures of those--we were hurrying to get away from all the tourists at the top of the mountain.

On the needles: I just finished my last pair of sock wars detonator socks, destined for WI. My socks from my assassin are on their way from Norway. There are only 3 of us left in the war--the postal service will determine the winner I suppose.

I'm working on a smoke ring scarf for a Christmas gift. I'm not sure if I like it.....I didn't buy enough yarn (I was planning on making 2 separate regular scarves) so using my knitterly genius......I changed colors after each pattern repeat (see picture below). I'll either give to it's intended recipient or keep for myself & get the appropriate amount of yarn for the smoke ring. It's make from E. Lavold Silky Cashmere. Your comments are appreciated.

Surviving September

September is a busy month for me normally--bike riding, birthdays, my anniversary, last chance to squeeze in vacations, and special events for my business. Then add to that the unexpected--someone resigned at my "day" job (this would be the job where I get my insurance benefit) & I've been filling in to cover, my practice has been busy, I was invited to be a guest speaker to talk about yoga, and my 14 year old cat, Nutmeg, went into kidney failure & had to be put down. After all that, this past weekend I finally got some "me" time playing with fiber.

This past Saturday Kris from The Painted Sheep spoke at my spinning guild meeting about dying fiber. I've been wanting to do this all year! To prepare for my own dye pot trials, I purchased a few books, some basic dyes, some bare yarn & fiber, cheap stock pots, etc. I was so glad that I had asked for the weekend off 'cause then I found out that there was a follow-up workshop on Sunday--I signed up right away. Below are my results:

BFL roving (candy corn colorway)

Alpaca/Merino/Silk blended roving (sherbert colorway)

Tencel Merino roving (try to match Kris's socks colorway)

Superwash Sock yarn (caribbean colorway)

The following are pictures of my hubby sewing!!! Now before you think how lucky I am...the material he prefers to use for this task is fishing line. He agreed to give sewing thread a shot in this photo op.

For knitting: I finished my 7th pair of sock wars socks. USPS confirmed delivery yesterday10/6. I'm not dead yet--then again, I haven't visited the mailbox yet either. I'll post my death socks as soon as I get them.

I cast on for the modern quilt wrap & a skull & cross bones dog sweater. Ogee lace skirt needs to be frogged to rescue line & work out the error in the last pattern repeat--will need some wine for that. All of this is being tempered by the strong urge to spin my freshly dyed rovings---Thanks Kris for the great workshop!

Sock Wars Summer

I've been thinking about my blog alot since my last post....about what I should be working on, I should post about this activity, if I only brought my camera, I need to work less so I can play more, etc. But all of this thinking didn't bring me any closer to posting. What have I been doing all this time? Oh, I've been knitting, cycling, & of course working. I, like most people, don't like to talk about work any more than necessary. So that leaves knitting & cycling.





I completed enough training to do the 75 mile Tour of Litchfield Hills in August & this past weekend I completed 100mile Flattest Century in the East (the tropical storm left just in time, so we only had to contend with wind). Yes, both rides are completed in a single day. Both rides took me approximately 6 1/2 hours to complete (the century took me about 10-15 min longer)--amazing the difference that the terrain can have over many miles. Maybe online driving directions should offer "flattest route" options to conserve gas milage in addition to "shortest", "fastest", etc.





What about my knitting you ask? If you remember, I signed up for SockWars III which began in May with about 1200 knitters. There are now less that 50 warriors. I have completed 6 pairs of socks since this war began! Two pair from scratch & the rest were completing works in progress. I am very tired of the pattern & was greatful to learn that I have been assigned a new assassin--my original assassin dropped out last week. I was hoping that the fluffy envelope in my mailbox today was a completed pair of socks, but it really was my prize for winning the 1000th kill contest--a nice ball of Tofutsies. Thank you Helen!



In anticipation of receipt of a completed pair of socks prior to yet another SIP (socks in progress), I cast on for the pirate dog sweater over the weekend. This will be my first shot at intarsia.