Just a Few Skeins

Life is a rollercoaster!

2009-12-15T12:38:00.001-08:00

Talk about ups and downs! The mittens that should have been mindless for some reason are a disaster, and I saw the cutest hot water bottle cover on Knitty and ran out to buy the stuff to make it and then realized that it would really only be decorative...since hot water bottles don't get that hot anyway...bummer.

Hello World!

2009-12-14T14:07:00.000-08:00

Yes, it has been a long, long, time since I have posted on my knitting site...mainly because knitting has taken a far, far backseat to my Masters degree.

So what, you may ask, is prompting me to start posting again? The answer is:

I found a great new way to Kitchener and I made the perfect poached egg!

First the Kitchener.
I was trying to join a headband done in a cable stitch and I knew there had to be some way to weave them together. I would have been happy with "close" to the cable and associated knit and purl sections and found "Musing on Kitchener Mantras" You will want to read Suzi's post but the summary is to look at the stitch (usually the right side on the front needle and the wrong side on the back needle...just look at the stitch. Once you get past the anchoring step, you will always be touch two stitches, one comes off and one stays behind.

The first stitches are anchored by: Front needle: Opposite On; Back needle: Opposite On

The stitch that follow you alternate Front to back touching two stitches on each needle thus:

Front needle: Same off, Opposite On
Back needle: Same off, Opposite On

That's it! Look at the stitch and if your directions is "Same" then knit the knit and purl the purl. If it is opposite then purl the knit or knit the purl...just like that. There is a strange 1/2 step jog that someone will figure out but I actually didn't notice it in my knitting....I just loved that it made it harder to find the woven edge...thanks to Suzi I have one gift finished!

Now about poached eggs.
I saw the movie Julie and Julia this weekend and just LOVED it! It made me want to rush out and buy Julia Child's "Mastering French Cooking" cookbook...particularly if I could find an old, well loved copy! But there is one scene where Julie is poaching and egg for the first time and I just wanted to cry! I remember going through the same agony and same glee the first time I made eggs benedict from scratch. They were the best things I had ever eaten. Last night I made myself a poached egg for the first time in 5 years and "Yum!" I had dreams of all the ways to use poached eggs. I got up this morning and poached another and put it on a piece of sourdough bread with a little brown mustard and fresh spinach. "Yum!"

Back to work for me and hopefully I won't be gone so long this time.

Quidditch Round 3

2008-03-14T13:12:00.000-07:00

Quidditch ~ Round Three
1. When Rita Skeeter prints a bad articles about Hagrid in the Daily Prophet, which Professor teaches Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures class while he is away?
c. Professor Grubbly-Plank

2. What was the article Rita Skeeter wrote about Hagrid called?
c. Dumbledore's Giant Mistake

3. When the school champions were being chosen from the Goblet of Fire, whose name cam out first?
b. Viktor Krum

4. What is the spell Ludo bagman says to magically magnify his voice when he commentates?
a. Sonorus

5. What kind of dragon did Cedirc have to face in the first task?
b. A Swedish Short-Snout

6. Who raised the trophy after winning the world cup?
b. Troy and Quigley

7. How many bedrooms did Mundungus Fletcher claim to have?
d. 12

8. For what did Moody mistake his birthday gif of a carriage clock?
b. A basilisk egg

9. What did Mr. Ollivander produce for the end of Cedric's wand?
d. Silver smoke rings

10. The dark mark is on Snape's left arm.
a. Yes...eventually

Picture Scavenger Hunt
Karkaroff

A Basilisk

Mundungus Fletcher

Amos Diggory

Snape

School!

2008-03-11T12:31:00.000-07:00

So I am going back to school! I'm not telling many people...I would just rather do my thing and then once I get closer to the end of my Master's studies then I can tell folks. Kind of like not announcing you're pregnant until the end of the first tri-mester!

I am working towards my Masters of Astronomy...yeah, go figure! So for you HSKSers out there I will be submitting my application to Hogwarts when I am done. yeah....right....

Cheers!

p.s. Oh yeah! I casted on for the Orkney Pi Shawl and am very excited about working on that when I need a brain break. I had to go create my own little reference chart to keep myself straight.

What a fantastic reminder!

2008-02-28T11:12:00.000-08:00

Potter post:

When you get a cute ecard like the one Miss Mandy Finch-Fletchley sent to remind us to post how could you NOT run and post immediately!

The best part is at the end of the ecard if you mouse over the two characters you can make them sound really funny! If you dare give it a try here: Click-me!

I was ahead of schedule for my HSKS project and now I am running behind...go figure. Hopefully I will get to set up the sewing machine this weekend and get caught up.

On the knitting front I actually got a project done!! Wahoo!! It isn't for my swap buddy .... sorry.

The hat is knitted with the old "Twining" method a traditional Scandanavian knitting technique dating back at least to the 17th century in Sweden. You can find a description of twining on Knitty.

Quiddich time

2008-02-19T11:29:00.000-08:00

Okay, first answers:

1. a. Neville
2. a. rubber mouse
3. c. lipstick
4. a. 43
5. B. Black
6. d. Blue
7. b. Magenta
8. d. Padfoot
9. c. Uganda
10. c. single-malt whiskey

Picture Hunt

Goblet of Fire

Madam Maxime

Dragon from first challenge

Viktor Krum

Madam Pomfrey

Weekly update

2008-02-15T08:21:00.000-08:00

HSKS post: Well the one thing about the HSKS is that it helps me post on a weekly basis!! Major kudos to our house prefect for reminding me to get on line and blog. I'll be sewing up my bags this weekend. I'm going to try and make several for our next charity sale!

Right now I am working on the house puzzle....

(post post)
I figured out the puzzle...
"Then you should have died!" roared Black. "Died rather than betray your friends as we would have done for you!"

One more ball in the air!

2008-02-11T08:37:00.000-08:00

HSKS #4 post. I am really doing well getting my package put together for my downstream swapper. All that is left is the bag and I might just make some more stitch markers because they are fun and I love the colors.

I'm not doing very well on the blogging or Quiddich part! I can't access the information at work and all my evenings are booked! I learned last week that emailing to the post, which worked well for the last swap, isn't working at all! I asked around and other folks are having issues with Blogger as well. Still like the site, just hoping those kinks get worked out.

The new HKSK format is very cute and I love the activity level but when you can't get there on a daily basis you miss what is going on. BUT the little clock at the bottom (I finally got that far down) helps a lot!

Life post
Well it is official, I am a student again! Just signed up for the Masters in Astronomy program and I am excited and scared. I am most worried about the balancing act of parenting/wife-ry(often the same thing), work, home, podcasting, society work, volunteering, life/fun things and now school. I only have two classes (starting in March) and they are a bit of a review so that is a relief. I know I"m going to have to give up some of the other stuff but for now I am starting by just saying "No" to the new stuff. School is working out to be a very valid and handy reason why too!

Later!

Gasp!

2008-02-04T15:43:00.000-08:00

I have been sending in posts for the past couple of days via email only to figure out that they are not getting posted to my blog!!! GASP! And here I thought I was being SO much more efficient!

So I am now in blogger directly and catching up as quickly as possible...first my HSKS #4 answers (emailed on time but never posted....so sad)

Quidditch Round 1 HSKS #4

1. b. Voldemort and Wormtail plotting to kill him

2. a. It vanishes after a few hours

3. c. Malfoy attacked Harry when Harry's back was turned

4. Snape

5. c. The special protection Harry received from his mother would also pass to Voldemort

6. d. 77

7. b. The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures

8. Neville

9. a. 30th

10. a. Navy Blue

Mr. Ollivander:

Mad-Eye Moody: (I love this one)

Cedric:

World Cup Tournament:

Dark Mark:

Treading water!

2008-01-25T14:30:00.000-08:00

Just take a deep breath and keep on kickin' and swishin'! If I start saying "No" now maybe the water will stop pouring in and I will finally be able to touch bottom. Why is it that saying "No" makes you feel like a meanie? (Rhetorical question) I pledge to improve my delegation skill starting tonight...and my anti-procrastination skills...tomorrow.

On to knitting...I actually picked up some knitting last night! Go figure! Actually I went out to Yorkshire Yarns to the Thursday night knitting meet-up and visited. This weekend I need to see how much I can get done on the charity knitting front! We are only 2 weeks away from the Breast Cancer charity sale and I can still whip out a few more items. I might just pull out Belinda's knitting machine and some sock yarn that is collecting dust and make a couple of long tubie scarves that the kids around here like so much, then I can turn my hand-knitting attentions to more detailed products. I would feel better have more to contribute...especially the tubie scarves because we can put those in the lower price bracket making it easier to accurately price the hand-knits.

I am also almost done with my HSKS 4 partner's gift!!! I have 60% of the components and the only pieces left are making the rest of the stitch markers and finishing up the sock bag. Those can be done after the sale.

Okay, back to work for me....

Time Warp

2008-01-19T00:37:00.000-08:00

Wow! Well hello out there to all my buddies in the HSKS group!!! It will be fun doing another swap and since my downstream partner is a Ravenclaw (just like last time..go figure!) I have all sorts of ideas from the last run.

I feel like a little Hogwarts teacher tonight, it is 12:45am and I am just finishing with the final re-read of the Astronomy exams I had to write for this weekend's Science Olympiad. Now that was an unsung class in the books and movie!!!

Work has been hell and all of my knitting is all CHARITY knitting for our big BREAST CANCER CRAFT FAIR! If anyone out there in knit blog land would like to participate just drop me a line/comment and I will email you with the details. 100% of all proceeds from the sale goes directly to Breast Caner research and patient care. We love this sale! It is the week before Valentine Day so I have to get on the ball!

Cheers and thanks for all the kind thoughts! I feel 98% better since my surgery...now if my immune system would kick in so I wouldn't catch every damn cold bug I would be at 100%

XOXO Capella Monoceros

Still recovering from surgery, illness, and the holidays

2007-12-27T11:11:00.000-08:00

Hello out there in the knitting world! I am alive but owe many people apologies for late swaps, gifts, cards, news, etc. Here is a quick review of why I have dropped off the radar. I am getting through my email and mail as quickly as possible and will try and catch up with everyone personally.

So I have been learning a lot about my digestive system.... mainly the Gallbladder! Here is the culprit now...

Near the beginning of December I ended up in the emergency room with pain the likes I have not experienced since labor with child #1! Blood tests confirmed it wasn't a heart attack (overlapping symptoms) and the ultrasound found all sorts of nasty stones clogging the "Sphincter of Oddi" (lovely name eh?) which basically was interfering with the processes of the liver and the pancreas within the digestive realm.

The end result was a couple of ultrasounds, an ERCP (Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography) or "lets shove a big tube with a camera and various tools in it down your gullet and into your stomach to have a look around" and finally Laparoscopic surgery to remove the gallbladder.

I have been recovering since and floored by every cold and flu bug on the block. My body was just not keeping up with all the healing and keeping well functions so I have been home, drugged, and recovering for a while....much longer than I expected.

My family has been outstanding doing everything except my knitting and my email allowing me to sleep and heal. Mom and Dad came into town for the holidays to spoil me rotten and helped me reintroduce my body to real food. Tonight is the first night since the emergency room incident where I am actually getting out to do something with friends unsupported by my familial medical staff....I'm going to the Lakewood Knitters Meet-up to knit!

Thanks for all the lovely notes and warm wishes and especially for the patience as I catch up with my swapping obligations!

Holiday Cheers!
Alice

Knit bags ahoy

2007-10-31T12:00:00.001-07:00

for knitting
Originally uploaded by Justafew

I had to pullout the sewing machine so I could finish my swap partner's sock bag for the HSKS#3 swap. I got her bag done and then broke the machine needle so everything ground to a halt.

Got a new needle for the machine last night and finished up my bags samples and was really pleased. All the bags are reversible the light blue bag has a self closing loop, the darker blue bag only needs a drawstring and toggle to finish that project and the two blue and gold bags are grocery bag...well actually they will be knit bags but the pattern is from a grocery bag. They turned out great! (IMHO) I followed the tutorial from Craftster: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=177482.0

I think I'll whip some up for the holidays....if not for gifts as a way to wrap them.

Ta-da!

2007-10-30T14:12:00.001-07:00

Okay Stephanie your HSKS#3 swap is on it's way!!! You should get it on Halloween day that is the plan at least! I broke my sewing machine needle and couldn't finish your larger bag so you got an extra pair of needles instead...good trade off I think.

Just a sneak preview, I hope you enjoy the swap

Busy, busy!!

2007-10-18T15:15:00.000-07:00

Wow! How time flies! We are behind in everything so this will have to be quick....

First off...HSKS #3 Trivia
Trivia

The Tales of Beedle the Bard
Grindewald
No
Deathstick
Fred
They were all white
Snape
Kelpies
Milkman
Flitwick
Bertie Botts Beans
Jelly Slugs
Chocolate Frogs
Blood Pops
Okay and this one took me...like...FOREVER!!
Jenean's first HSKS kit and for the bonus is was made my Ansley....

There!!!! Go Hufflepuff!!!

Now, back to work and then home to get ready for a Girl Scout training this weekend (I'm facilitating which means I have all the prep, delivery, and clean-up ..along with my fab-co-trainer of course but it is a lot of work...)

My house ROCKS!

2007-10-08T11:40:00.001-07:00

I was off at a conference this weekend and so not much help to my Quidditch team...but I did make sure I had all my trivia answers up and posted!!

Thank goodness we have someone like Laurie Ann! She found the snitch! That is 2 (count 'um) snitch finds for good old Hufflepuff!

Quidditch round 2

2007-10-05T15:17:00.000-07:00

1. A teacup
2. Dedalus Diggle and Hestia Jones
3. Aunti Muriel's house
4. Barny
5. A lynx
6. Gillywater
7. Gwenog Jones
8. Hippogriff
9. Magenta
10. Devon

Who else just loves these Tarot Cards!

A Gryffindor Quidditch Uniform
A Hufflepuff Quidditch Uniform

A Ravenclaw Quidditch Uniform

A Slytherin Quidditch Uniform
A different take of The Room of Requirements isn't this cute! But in case you intended the real one...

This is hysterical!

2007-10-04T10:30:00.000-07:00

I was checking out Celtic Mommy's blog this morning and she had this posted. It brought me to tears!

Check it out yourself and pass it along!

My Owl has arrived!!!

2007-09-28T13:13:00.001-07:00

Just look at my wonderful HSKS #3 package from my upstream buddy Jennifer (Ravenclaw)

There is lovely black back with little (Badger) prints lined with a lovely yellow-gold, hand made of course. Outside there is a button that reads...

"Direct descendant of Helga Hufflepuff"
(very cool)

Inside there was a little HP friends book, HP stickers, clover DP in size 2, a pattern for "Slippery Socks" and some yummmy super wash sock yarn.

But look closely at the yarn...here, this will help...

Special hand-dyed yarn just for Hufflepuff. I love the colorway names.

Jennifer, you rock! Thank you very much!

Yarn Bling

2007-09-26T15:49:00.000-07:00

I just wanted Stephanie, from Ravenclaw, to know that I am still working on her swap package and thinking of fun things for her kit...constantly!

A little out of focus so we don't give everything away I have your stitch markers done, your yarn selected, needles in hand, yummy treat tauting me from the kitchen and all that is left is to finish the bag. I am really having fun with the HSKS #3 challenge.

I had a wonderful email from Jennifer to tell me my Owl is on the way....I can hardly wait. Will need to sneak it into the house as the current over spending in the knitting budget (for which my husband believes should be $0 and he would never believe it was a gift). Puts me in a prime position to earn this badge:

The “Knitting Caused My Divorce” Badge

Okay so I exaggerate but it didn't help that I did all my fall shopping and paid Katie's room, board and tuition all in the same billing period.

Done!

2007-09-25T10:31:00.001-07:00

Lace has no stretch so they are a tad loser than I am use to but that gives room for any changes in washing. I had to modify the pattern a little to get the foot length to work for me. Toe up, short-row toe and heal and fun to knit!

Campanula almost done!

2007-09-24T12:26:00.000-07:00

With Katie off at college and the boys out on a Scout outing I found myself with a surprise free day! I worked on stitch markers for my HSKS #3 partner and sat down to make some progress on my Campanula Socks (for Campanula KAL and August Sock-down!)

I made fantastic progress getting from the heel turn to the ribbing which I plan on finishing at lunch today!!!

Most of yesterday was spent around Katie and her Freshman Convocation. It was a lovely affair and a good start for her four year attachment to that institution.

(Katie is on the left)

...back to work!

Proud Mom!

2007-09-21T10:56:00.000-07:00

I need to take a moment away from knitting to puff up my proud mom chest and crow!

My daughter Katie just earned her Girl Scout Gold Award!!!!

It is the highest (youth level) award in Girl Scouting. The prerequisites for the award are daunting even before you get to the final project and Katie spent about 85 hours total on her final project.

She creating three astronomy curriculum kits for two different school districts, orchestrated the donation of four telescopes and then spent time in the classroom and with after-school clubs teaching students and teachers about astronomy. She also spent time at Astronomy Fair, the farmer's market, and at various elementary school science fairs setting up hands on activities for the kids. She did this because she was disappointed with the absence of astronomy in the public school system and she believed that if she made it really easy for teachers to 'play with' astronomy they could incorporate it in the curriculum more often.

So, I am very proud and I am sure she is glad I am not nagging her about deadlines any more!!! :-) (that's why parent's aren't allowed to advise on their own child's projects!)

I am too knitting!

2007-09-20T10:45:00.000-07:00

So raise your hand if work get in the way of your knitting and blogging! Yep that is what I thought...not alone there! I show up and shower them with wit and grace so why do I have to run all this data... beginning of Autumn quarter is always such fun! Whee!

Okay, so it has been slow going on the knitting front but I do have some progress to share. This is the Kimono Shawl from Folk Shawls that I am knitting for Mom as her Solstice gift. I needed something that was heavy enough to really work as a warm stole in Gold Hill Colorado and still be lacy enough to be interesting but not a snag magnet.

This is a photo of the all over pattern.

And where we are so far...unblocked

The pattern is good for traveling and for visiting and knitting at the same time. If you plan on talking while you knit this one I recommend adding stitch markers at each pattern repeat. I am using the snagless tiny hair bands and they are not slowing down the knit at all. They have a lovely way of 'hopping' onto the needles all by themselves.

So I am getting as much knit-blogging and Ravelry catch up as I can before the next round of Quidditch starts at HSKS #3
I am also playing with a pattern for a set of coasters for the design contest at same site.

Okay back to work.

HSKS #3 Trivia Answers

2007-09-13T00:06:00.000-07:00

Okay YES I am knitting!!! For those who are use to seeing knitting on this page it is still going on but I have some House business to take care of as well.

Go Hufflepuff!

1. b. Charity Burbage - tortured and killed by Voldermort with the Avada Kedavra curse specifically and in print *** (see notes)
2. c. Alecto Carrow
3. c. The wand chooses the wizard.
4. a. to kill the owner
5. d. Jack Russell Terrier
6. a. Otter
7. a. Stew
8. In book 5, at the start of term feast, what is Ron eating +++when trying to talk to Nearly Headless Nick?
c. Roast potato +++ (see notes)
9. b. ‘Three up... two across
10. d. ‘For those who take, but do not earn'

Picture Scavenger Hunt
You may either post these pictures on your blog OR simply link to them.
Rolanda Hooch
Firenze
Argus Filch

Moaning Myrtle
Colin Creevey

Trivia special notes

***
See curse spell reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unforgivable_Curses
(although there is the possible second answer (extra credit?) of Possibly Mad Eye Moody - While trying to help Harry escape from the Dursley's was hit full face with a curse. Voldemort was casting Avada Kedavra curese at everyone so most likely Mad Eye was killed by that curse even thought it wasn't 'said' in print.) BUT as Adele has pointed out he wasn't a teacher at that point...at least there isn't a specific reference that I can find to his status so my original answer stands with this one side note.

+++
Quote from the book...

“Excellent,” said Ron, with a kind of groan of longing, and he seized the nearest plate of chops and began piling them on to his plate, watched wistfully by Nearly Headless Nick.

“What were you saying before the Sorting?” Hermione asked the ghost. “About the Hat giving warnings?”

“Oh, yes,” said Nick, who seemed glad of a reason to turn away from Ron, who was now eating roast potatoes with almost indecent enthusiasm.

“Yes, I have heard the Hat give several warnings before, always at times when it detects periods of great danger for the school. And always, of course, its advice is the same: stand together, be strong from within.”

“Ow kunnit nofe skusin danger ifzat?” said Ron.

His mouth was so full Harry thought it was quite an achievement for him to make any noise at all.

Christmas Around the World Swap Questionnaire!

2007-09-12T14:01:00.001-07:00

Here are my answers for the Christmas Around the World Swap (CAWS) so if you thought a was a bit off before...well....what can I say.

1.Are you religious? No.
2.How long have you been knitting? 10 years.
3.Would you consider yourself a Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced? Intermediate.
4.Do you have any other hobbies besides knitting? Astronomy, travel
5.Favorite color(s)? Earth tones, greens and blues.
6.Do you collect anything? Telescopes, yard, knitting WIPs.
7.Are you allergic to any fibers or animals? No.
8.Do you have any pets? No.
9.Coffee, Tea, or Hot Chocolate? All of the above!
10.Cookies or Sweets? Cookies.
11.Do you knit socks? Absolutely.
12.If not socks then what? (tell us about your favorite knits). I have several shawls and stole as my WIP. You can see my WIP and my Projects and Queue on Ravelry - Justafew.
13.Do you put up a Christmas tree? Yes but not until a week before.
14.Favorite holiday treats? Egg nog, cookies, pies
15.Favorite holiday smells?Pine trees, turkey cooking, baking.
16.Do you celebrate Christmas in a traditional or unconventional way? My parents and I celebrate Solstice and with the kids and my husband we celebrate a traditional Christmas holiday in a low key fashion. No trips to a house of worship but we are very festive with our decorations and merriment!
17.What are your favorite holiday traditions? Spending time with the family, the family tree decorating evening with good food and music. Everyone gets a special gift ornament each year. I HATE shopping!
18.Finish the sentence: “For me Christmas is all about....” family
19.If you were a Christmas ornament you would be…….? An antique glass owl
20.What was your favorite gift you've ever received? Or given? Tough. Most memorable received gift was a restored antique school desk, my most memorable gift given were the stockings I knit for my husband and kids. I was pretty proud of them and was able to knit them in secret!
21.When do you start your Christmas? Start with Solstice and continue on through New Year's Day.
22.Do you send Christmas cards? Do you make them or buy them? Usually don't but we make tons of phone calls! The cards we do send we purchase from/to support local fund-raisers
23.What is your favorite Christmas dish? Roast turkey with horseradish and cranberries
24.Carolers are at your door. What do you do? Smile with delight, listen to the songs and then invite them in for punch and cookies (in a perfect world I would have those ready to go right? Martha I am not!)
25.When do you open presents? Christmas eve or Christmas morning?Morning!
26.Do you celebrate with family or friends or both? Family and any friends who need a place to celebrate. The more the merrier.

Needle lust!

2007-09-11T13:49:00.000-07:00

I'm sure everyone has seen these....

They are the new Knit Picks Harmony wood needles!

Now since already have the complete set of Option needles and plenty of others I am hard pressed to buy them for myself (I have double point overload) but I am curious about the 32" (US0) 2mm needles. Those I could get into those for sock knitting if they don't break!!!! For $6 I might just have to give them a try!

Back and Panicked!

2007-09-11T12:54:00.000-07:00

So the point of a vacation is to enjoy, to relax and repair. I just got back from vacationing with my folks and the time with them was wonderful! I was pampered beyond all expectations! I was even treated to a private dinner prepared by Chef Janos ... my folks have the most wonderful friends! He just happened to be in Gold Hill Colorado working on his home there (my parents are up the street) and he wanted someone to try out some new recipes on! I KNOW!!!! If you are in Tucson Arizona you have to go to his restaurants!

As soon as I dig out the camera there will be pictures elaborating the fun.

What was not wonderful was coming back! I have a tsunami of work, tasks, housework, and commitments all threatening to crash down upon my head. I am fretting over the yarn choices for my HSKS #3 partner Stephanie!! I am looking for just the perfect blue and bronze sock yarn and nothing seems good enough! I want it to be a surprise for her so I won't post anything yet but here is a sneak of what I'm thinking about.....it has blue, silver and bronze covering both the movie and the book Ravenclaw color scheme.

This is only one of the yarn sets for her so hopefully with two different sock yarns at least one will please her!

(As you are reading this I just bit the bullet and pushed the purchase button so there is no turning back! Wow, that actually feels better!)

I have some crystal bead and material set aside to start putting together the rest of her package so I'm not a complete slacker!

...more later

HSKS Questionnaire

2007-08-31T08:31:00.000-07:00

Had a power knitting session last night (which means I ignored work and my podcast so tonight will be hell) and finished up all the weaving in of Katie's socks so I could give them to here while she was home from school.

I also got the ribbing on my, now, favorite socks finished so I have them on my feet as we speak. No washing and blocking this time! All the sock went directly to feet!

Finished the swatch for Mom's shawl and it looks like I can go up a needle if I wish. I'll switch out today at lunch and see what I think. She is a small woman so being a little to tight in the gauge wouldn't hurt. The determining factor will be the look of the fabric in the looser gauge.

On the HSKS #3 home front I now have my upstream swapping partner, Jennifer, and my downstream partner (the one I am giving gifts to) is Stephanie! That puts me smack dab between two Ravenclaws! It's a good thing they are such nice people, such good representations of their house.

But I am also sure they are wishing they could be in Hufflepuff!

So here is my questionnaire for HSKS #3 for Jennifer
1. What Hogwarts house have you been sorted into?
Hufflepuff of course!

2. List your favorite double-point needle brands, including size and length. Or would you prefer circulars?
I have become a Knit Picks circular needle fan for socks. The are nice, flexible and much more reasonably priced. I like long cables (32" or longer) and small needles (2.5mm or smaller). I currently knit socks with two circulars or one long needle and magic loop it. My favorite direction is toe up but I knit on double points and top down first so I can really go either way.

3. Would you like to try a new brand needle? If so, which brand? Size? Length?
I am completely open to new options and new experiences. I leave to my wonderful gifting partner to treat me or challenge me.

4. If you are a RAVENCLAW, do you prefer the colors in the film or the book? Do you have a strong preference?
I'm not Ravenclaw but I have been wondering how to do black and yellow attractively so you don't end up looking like a deranged bumblebee!

5. Do you have any allergies?
None :-)

6. If you are swapping scarves - what is your desired length for the pattern?
I'm in the sock swapping group and I like my socks with solid patterns, cables or very discrete lace. I have been wanting to knit a pair of knee socks so I can play with the calf shaping.

So Jennifer and Stephanie I will be gone from Sept 2nd to the 9th and will catch up with you afterwards!

Cheers!

Greetings Jennifer!

2007-08-30T00:00:00.001-07:00

Jennifer sent me a wonderful email this evening introducing herself as my 'up stream' swap-ster for HSKS3! It is uncanny how much the Hogwarts Sock/Scarf Kit Swappers have in common. Many of us are also in Knit the Classics, many have gold medals from the Knitting Olympics, in fact you can go down the list and find something in common with each person besides just being in the HSKS 3 group and knitting!

Check out Jennifer's site and her Etsy shop she has some wonderful earrings and beautiful stitch marker jewelry.

I'm still waiting to find out who my buddy is so until then I'll wait patiently on markers and needles.

Golden Snitches and Knitting

2007-08-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

For the most part you wouldn't think that Golden Snitches and Knitting would go together but they do! For those of you active in the knit-o-sphere you know that everything is connected to knitting! Yarn is what holds the universe together...I use to think it was duct tape but now I know better. For those of you who doubt this theory well....don't! Trust me it is safer not to doubt this.

So HSKS 3 (Hogwarts Sock/Scarf Kit Swap #3) is about to begin and I'm excited already. I joined on a lark to do knit/swap some Hogwarts related silliness not really understanding the complexity of this group! House points, hidden pictures, Golden Snitch loose in the blog-o-sphere...all of this starting on Saturday and I leave for vacation on Sunday and still need to get my astronomy podcast out!!! I hope my house-mates don't hate me!! I'll have to sneak in computer time on Saturday and Sunday before the camping begins. Oh wonderful Hufflepuffs I will do my best!!

Hufflepuff Rocks!

(image courtesy of BlueSkyTides)
I know we get housepoints for posting the HSKS 3 logo on our blog (which I have done) but do we get extra points for posting it on other blogs??? :-)

I'm heading out to Medicine Wheel with Mom and Dad next week and taking my September sock for Sock Knitters Anonymous (SKA), I'm knitting up a pair of Jaywalkers with some Tofutsie Yarn and these are the second pair of a dozen socks to knit. Whee!

I hope November's choice is a fast and easy sock since I will be NaNoWriMoing it as well. I have NaNoWriMo-ed for the past four years finishing only two of the four years. Hum, I guess a knitted sock will have to be part of the book or maybe even a major character. We shall see. I need to get my sister Kellie involved in NaNoWriMo she is an outstanding writer who would thrive in the NaNoWriMo setting and we would finally be able to see some of her work!

I'm rambling so I will sign off now.

Once you get past the embarrasment...

2007-08-23T12:16:00.000-07:00

I unearthed a project today and put it into the official WIP line up. It is one of those projects that got pushed to the bottom of the basket for no fault of its own. It did nothing wrong, it wasn't too hard nor was the yarn too split-y, it was just usurped by something more seductive...like socks or perhaps something more important...like a sweater for a child.

So it is back in the light and now on the sideboard AND in Ravelry....so it must be official.

Joiner

2007-08-22T13:04:00.001-07:00

So I am a joiner. I like to join groups and I like to belong. I like working on similar project as other it doesn't matter where they are as long as there is a way to share and learn from each other. There may be a hint of competitiveness involved but that isn't the driving force. But being a joiner, in the knittingverse has the undeniable consequence of too many project for one pair of hands to knit.

But that hasn't stopped me yet...introducing the next KAL/SWAP...

This one looks appealing in that I only have to supply the KIT to knit, not actually have to knit the article! They have some nice well defined rule which bodes well for SWAPping fairness. One of the reasons I pick my SWAPs carefully! I have watched to other Hogwarts themed KALs and SWAPs with interest so when this one came up I just jumped right in!

On a different note I have been busily photographing my current projects and I am just about up to date with the WIP. They are currently on the Flickr badge on the right sidebar and on my Ravelry page.

Okay enough of that, back to work.

Badges! We need those stinkin' badges

2007-08-17T11:27:00.001-07:00

So Brenda Dayne over at Cast On has some wonderful adult "Scout type" badges knitters can earn. I definatly have earned the knitting while intoxicated badge and the Knitting innovation badge....now I just have to decide between the "Happy Camper" or "Badgewhore" banner!

I am always jealous come Court of Honor time when I hand out badges to my Scouts so this is just right up my alley. I wonder how the would react to my badges!

Where was I!

2007-08-15T14:31:00.000-07:00

Apparently I received an invite to Ravelry a couple of weeks ago and completely missed it in my inbox! How stupid was that! So here I am, resisting the urge to go hit the 'where are you now in the que' button and finally sucumb only to find out I am already in...sometimes I wonder which stash my brain fell into.

Any way, I'm off with a new distraction to eat up time I don't really have! Wahoo!

Yet another good cause

2007-08-08T10:32:00.000-07:00

Many of you are already long time participants with the Red Scarf program but it looks like our Brownie Troop is going to participate as well! Go Brownies!

They are only 2nd graders but we have our college bound big-sister-Senior-Scouts to get them started. I predict some knitting, some crocheting, some knitting machine work, and some knitting loom scarves in the near future.

The scarves all go to the Orphan Foundation of America (OFA)
and are sent with Valentine's Day care packages to kids who have aged out of the Foster Care system and into higher education or trade schools. I am big on education so I love the idea of encouraging them to continue with their studies. I think about my own daughter and all the support she gets from all of her family members...everyone is there to back her up....and it is a little sad to think of someone else not getting the same personal boost. If this helps then I'll be happy.

Decisions....decisions.....

2007-08-07T15:02:00.002-07:00

Ack!! I signed up for the Bee Shawl KAL and have the yarn ordered when wouldn't you know it Anne came out with a stole version...Stung!

So the dilemma which to knit; Honey Bee Stole (I like Stung better) or Bee Fields Shawl? The names are pretty great either way.


Honey Bee Stole		Bee Fields Shawl
	Click image for ordering information

I'm not sure if this is going to be for myself or my mother. I was going to make the decision after it was finished. Now I also have MS3-Swan Lake in the works so maybe the second stole will even out the total 'wrap' wish list which is currently at 2 Pi-type shawls and 2 stoles. Then again, maybe I just need to listen to the yarn. Fortunately the amount of yarn I ordered would allow either.

Another irony....I'm allergic to bees!

To BEE or not to BEE

2007-07-30T14:07:00.001-07:00

As if to make up for lost knitting time this year I seem to be possessed to try several KALs at once. The newest one on the list is the Bee Shawl KAL. I have ordered the yarn and it is on the way! I'm waiting to see if they finish the stole pattern before I am ready to start but I thought it would make a nice holiday gift for my mom if the Pi shawl ends up looking too...matronly.

Fortunately all of the KALs have been rationalized into holiday gifts or things I need...like pink sock. Of course you know what they say about rationalizations right......

Just as soon as I find the cord!

2007-07-26T14:55:00.000-07:00

Somewhere in the mess that is called a house is my card reader. Once I find that beast I can get some photos updated.

Found a nice list of Triangular Shawls today. The best part about the list is the patterns are listed by yardage! Cool eh?

ARGGGG!

2007-07-25T15:15:00.000-07:00

Okay at some point I just have to STOP!! I have been obsessed with gathering materials for new projects...not bad except that I already have too many WIP and too many little caches of projects hidden around the house. And yet I just can't stop!

I blame it on two things:

a) the number of fantastic and diverse KAL out on the net and

b) We are quickly approaching the beginning of Autumn (around the 1st weekend of August if you follow the Earth/Sun seasons) and so I think my body is going into 'harvesting' overdrive.

"Gather what you can before it becomes dark and dismal!

There is another theory and that is that I am over-compensating for the upcoming ABANDONMENT of my daughter as she heads off to college!

On top of it all I ripped out 2" of my Mystery Stole the other day. Sad, I know, but they mistake I am trying to correct would have haunted me!! Truly, it would.

Great idea for a great program

2007-07-18T10:59:00.000-07:00

I was reading my email from the 'sockamaniac_sockalong' yahoo group and Ramona (aka - MezzoDiva the Operatic Knitaholic) has come up with a wonderful idea. She is participating in a Breast Cancer Walk and in exchange for a donation she is giving away a lovely sock pattern!

You can visit her website for more information and don't forget to donate!!!

Wow!

2007-07-06T11:05:00.001-07:00

I am finding it hard to believe that I haven't posted for almost a year!! Gasp!!!

Most of my attention has been on getting child #1 graduated and off to college (this fall), managing my astronomy podcast , family, and two Girl Scout troops. Well, things are beginning to settle down so maybe I can get back to knitting!

What better way than to join up with a knit-a-long (KAL) and sign up for a summer swap!

The KAL is none other than the Mystery Stole #3 and the summer swap is with my favorite group Knit the Classics! I have a great package all ready to ship for my selected swappie down in Magnolia Texas now off to the post office!

Daisys!

2006-06-16T13:48:00.000-07:00

Okay so what has been keeping me so busy? Well the podcast eats up a lot of time and then there are these cuties!

My daughter Katie, who is a Senior Girl Scout, is the leader for this new Daisy Girl Scout Troop! The troop may be small but we are having the time of our lives. They are posing behind the cake they decorated. He is a better picture of the cake...

The girls decorated the cupcakes and worked together to decorate the cake and had a wonderful time!

Kool Aid!

2006-06-16T12:57:00.000-07:00

So between the "To Dye For" party my knitting group put on and the "Dye-o-rama" I participated in I have been having a great time dyeing yarn with Kool Aid! Now having fun and being good at something are two different things! :-)

I got the greatest hand dyed yarn from my swap partner Aija...I was so impressed it was very professional looking and she did it all with Easter Egg dyes!

In addition to the yummy yarn Aija gave me two skeins of sock yarn, a cute little bag to carry my sock project in so I can knit on the go. (Perfect for me!) Loads of candy, some egg dye, and a cool Travel Bug for my Geocaching fixation! Aija really read my blog and did a wonderful job!!!

She was a much better partner than I a was. Some of us just don't have great color combination skills so I think mine was a bust...poor Amber! I really wanted to dye up something great for her but alas, I'm just not that good. Amber, I hope the Almond Roca (made right down the street from me) made up for the bad colors.

I am lame!

2006-06-16T12:51:00.000-07:00

Wow, life has just gotten way too hectic! I am in treading water mode and I don't think I am in danger of drowning but it means that some things, like this blog, get put to the side for...oh you know....the thing that puts food on the table....work!

I haven't had time for any big knitting time blocks just little snatches so there isn't much to update you on. BUT I have exactly 2 weeks before I step on a plane and fly away to Colorado.

That will be sooooo great. I have been printing out the directions for the 4th Mystery Shawl and can't wait to start knitting her on vacation.

I have my Dye-O-Rama buddie

2006-05-02T15:04:00.000-07:00

I found out who my Dye-O-Rama buddie is today so I hope KnitPicks hurries up and sends me some yarn to dye! Speaking of which, out knitting group is having their "To Dye For" party tomorrow! I will get to practice which is really good! I think I am going for bright colors (I'll get Katie to help me tonight) and knit up some cute/crazy socks!

I'm back!

2006-04-21T19:52:00.000-07:00

I hadn't realized just how long it had been since I posted...or really knit for that matter! Life is insane! (I know, I don't need to tell all of YOU that!)

I finished my podcast last night and came staggering into work this morning with ~2 hours of sleep and realized that sleep deprivation, in small amounts, can provide artistic clarity! Of course 6 hours from now when I am trying to have a intelligible conversation I will have to gauge that statement by the odd stares and blank looks coming at me from across the table.

But in-between writing code today I got the chance to catch up on some horribly negected knit-blog reading! Man, everyone is busy!!!

A big thanks to Stephanie for posting about the Dye-o-Rama otherwise I would have totally missed the deadline which is today! Our little knit group on campus is planning a Kool-Aid dying party for May Day so this fits in perfectly. Check it out!

So what is the next thing that Alice does.....that's right she starts to research!! Ah ha ha ha ha! I couldn't wait to get home and post.

Now I just created a post with my collection of research on Kool-Aid dying (nothing original mind you .... I'm much more like a pointer "Hey lookie over there at what she/he is knitting that is so cool...." So I got hung up at Scout's site and just adore what she is doing with stripes and dying her yarn! So no simple dye job for me babe' I'm SO gonna figure out stripes!

Here we go!

Scout's page and her cool homemade Ghetto Warping Board
Diana's tutorial on self striping yarns - hardware free and with math
Gina's Tutorial - hardware free with math
Eunny's Tutorial...very precise stripes!
Jessie of A Piece of Vermont had every step of her process documented!

Expect pictures of disasters soon!!! :-)

For my special April Fool's Mystery Exchange buddy - Lisa!

2006-03-27T11:45:00.000-08:00

Photo credit: knitty.com

I find it amazing how the pairings for swapping buddies happen. I thought they were totally random but now I know they can't be.

My April Fools Day Mystery Exchange buddy is from my hometown - Houston. My folks are still there and when they are not in Houston there are in Gold Hill which is right around the corner from my Valentine's Day Exchange buddy Amanda! Ohhhhh, goose bumps!

Anyway, Lisa strikes me as a person that like to try all sorts of new things! If you saw the answers to her questions you would see that there was nothing this woman didn't like and nothing she wasn't interested in trying out! I like people like Lisa.

So, in celebration of spring and of mysteries I am giving Lisa her own opportunity to Kool-Aid dye some wool for herself. Who knows how it will come out!!! (see there is a little mystery in knitting) And all of you can play along with the following Kool-Aid dyeing sites:

Here is a great step-by-step guide to Kool-Aid dying

And what is best about Barbara's site is she took the time to create and share a Kool-Aid sample chart so you can see the colors!

Knitty has a nice how-to and I am going to try her suggestion for putting the dye and wool in a ziplock bag and putting it in the sun like 'sun-tea' that would be great for camp!

Over at Monkeyknits Jen has some photos of the process in progress (I like pictures)

And Kiki has an interested method in her online descriptions

I hope you all get to give this a try, I know I will. Joan in our knit group is going to put together a little kool-aid party for us and I am dying for her to say when!

Back from the Woods

2006-03-27T11:17:00.000-08:00

On Friday, just as I was packing to head for the woods for a weekend of Girl Scout Training, a lovely package arrived!!

Now I knew it was from my "Mystery Exchange Pal" but with a weekend of playing Outdoor Trainer ahead of me I knew better than to open the package and distract myself, better to keep it as a reward for a long weekend.

And what a reward it was!!

There is a

handmade card

hand dyed laceweight wool (I thing she did this herself!)

#3 DPN

a lovely Blue Moon DPN case

"Southern Fried" a S. Carolina mystery

and chocolate...not pictured as it was consumed!

Now how did she know that my DPN are scattered on my desk? Given the fact that I just spent the weekend with my N.Carolina co-trainer and 2 Southern participants my Texas-drawl came right back and so I had to giggle when I looked at the book...while my family laughed at my drawl rejuvenation.

I know! Sherrill is absolutely the best isn't she!! Thanks for everything, I love it all!

Poor neglected knitting

2006-03-21T11:59:00.000-08:00

This poor neglected creature has only gained 1 row in the past week...poor, poor creature!

It is a good thing that hedgehogs are such patient animals...at least I hope they are! It would be bad if this thing got felted and then turned around to bite my ass!

I've been bad....

2006-03-14T15:41:00.000-08:00

I have been bad....I haven't been posting.... but here, I have something to (hopefully) appease my friends and any offended muses or gods...

Pi!

Notice the lovely numbers around the side...starting at the top! Yes, I celebrated Pi Day twice today. The first time at 1:59 UTC and again at 1:59pm at work. Yum!

Ahhhh!

2006-02-28T14:53:00.000-08:00

DONE!!!

2006-02-26T12:16:00.000-08:00

I'm ready for my gold metal!

I did it! They are done! They are ugly but they are done!

If I look like I haven't had any sleep that is because I haven't, 9 days, 9 different
astronomy projects plus the daily grind. The Olympic knitting took a back seat I went most of the work week without knitting time...other than meetings of course. That worried me but on the last day the cuffs were stitched up and the gloves were
off the needle. Whew!

Oh and look, I have an action shot too!

Any likeness to Kilroy is completely accidental...

Time is out of control!!!

2006-02-21T03:34:00.000-08:00

Ack! I thought I had posted more recently than the 10th but apparently not! That is so strange because I know that I have been typing in posts...I must be blogging in my dreams or in a parallel universe.

Scary!

I am also fighting with Blogger who has decided to ignore my html code or the previewed blog and publish the blog totally out of wack!

Well I have proof that I have been working away on my Olympic knitting project!!

< insert fanfare here! :-) >

I am knitting for Team Wales and my project is Nona's I-cord fingered gloves. I am making notes in my head as to how to improve upon them the next go round...nothing wrong with Nona's method just the way I interpret directions....can you say "read BEFORE you start dear Alice!"

	My daughter (in her Vogue model pose) holds up all the little knitted sausages that will become fingers...
	The fingers horribly distracted by Valentines Day chocolate at a Girl Scout leaders meeting....
	Fingers actually picked up and glove started......Wahoo!

If I can keep the pace I should have no problem finishing the gloves before the end of the olympics...I hope, of course I just realise that I missed a day with Monday's "President's Day" holiday! Hum, I guess there are going to be a couple of all nighters after all!

Madrona Arts Festival

2006-02-10T14:30:00.000-08:00

Even though I didn't get to sign up for any of the classes, Eric and I walked down to the Madrona Fiber Arts Festival and went sock yarn shopping. Eric introduced me to Eva Gallageher who owns Spin Alpaca. Eva has some wonderful fibers and yarns! Ohhhh so soft and yummy!

Did I get myself in trouble???? Why yes!!! Of course!!!

But I didn't go overboard...so that is a relief. What is freaky-weird is that Eric ended up buying exactly the same Blue Moon sock yarn I did in exactly the same colorway - Fire on the Mountain! (insert Twilight Zone music here) So we are going to knit up our socks and wear them to the next SIS meeting!

For my special Valentines Exchange buddy - Amanda!

2006-02-03T12:48:00.000-08:00

Okay, I wanted to pass along some of my favorite links for sock knitting to my special Valentines Exchange pal Amanda!

I know you like earth tones but I couldn't resists trying to find a little Valentines Day sparkle to your earth tones so I sent you some Fortissima Colori Disco! I gave you the long #1 needle so that somewhere down the line you can get a chance to try some magic loop knitting. I have completely converted myself to knitting on two circulars and when I bought your needle I got one for myself to try magic loop knitting as well.

This first tip is great for any time you need a provisional cast on, I now use it all the time when I knit socks from the toe up. Click on the image to start the movie.

Click Image!
Go Knitting at Knoon for more video goodies!

Links to knitting socks with 1 or 2 circular needles GREAT for those who travel around with their socks to knit.

Excellent Toe up instructions -
>Turkish cast on tutorial for toe up socks
Your putting me on original

Amy's Socks

Denise's Lessons

KnitWits Magic Loop

KnitWits Basic Sock

Wendy's Toe Up Pattern - short rows

Many ways to start a toe

One needle, two socks, toe-up

Must-have sock knitting links:

Start thinking about summertime folks!!! Cool Socks! (Joan I double-dog-dare ya!)

You're putting me on!

Socknitters Home Page

Nice list of links

Toes and Heels

Peggy's stretchy bind off

Denise's two nice stretchy cast offs

Knitting Help has a great video on how to magic loop your knitting.
Click the image to play the movie

Well, I hope you like your valentine exchange it was sooooo hard to choose a book for you since your are so well read! I appreciate everything you have done to get this group up and running!

Three cheers for Amanda!

Old site re-found

2006-02-02T07:59:00.000-08:00

Next week is our knitting group's Breast Cancer Charity sale so this weekend I am making kits for beginning knitters. I was looking for a site I found a long time ago that hand knitting videos to help learn different skills in knitting, I wanted to reference that site for our new knitters.

I found it!

I'll add it to the side bar so I don't lose it again!

If anyone would like to donate to the sale I would be happy to take up a collection, my podcast Astronomy a Go Go will be donating all of its listener donations to the charity sale from now until Valentines Day. Go to astronomy.libsyn.com and click on the PayPal donate button!

Because I'm a joiner that's why!

2006-01-24T00:56:00.000-08:00

So yes, I have succumb to yet another KAL! I couldn't resist Stephanie's great idea for a Knitting Olympics...it was just too imaginative and I am all for supporting imagination and "group supported reasons to procrastinate on things I should really be working on"! Whether I FINISH this one is a mystery if my husband and kids were aware of this project there would be some heavy betting going on behind my back.

Everyone is picking out buttons for their home country and displaying them proudly on their websites and blogs but at this point I was a little hesitant to join up with mainstream...those who know me will snort and say "so what else is new". Since the USA is so well represented I decided to help out the Welsh National Team. I apparently have genetic links to Wales that dates back to before the Penn colony. Besides, they included drinking and a cute little dragon on their button what's not to like!

If I ever get back to the mother island, I would love to visit Wales! This last trip was planned by my Girl Scout troop and the then 15 yr old had a very different agenda from mine. Who knows maybe drop in on Brenda from Cast-On and lust after her microphone which is so much nicer than mine!

If you haven't listened to Brenda's podcast yet you should. I have my own podcast, astronomy related, so I can appreciate just how much work goes into putting one together. She has a great sense of humor and just the right amount of irreverence to suit me. You will find a list of other knitting podcasts on her website that is much more up to date than mine! Currently I listen faithfully to Cast-On, Knitcast, and About Time. I check in on Secret Knitting from time to time so see what the project is before I listen...its not that I don't like her podcast it is just a matter of only having so much time in the week to listen.

So! According to the rules you have to pick a project that will be challenging for you and I am going to choose gloves! I have made one pair and they didn't fit anyone, the fingers were too small and the palms were too big. So, I am going to follow Nona's pattern for the serial gloves from her website.

I have visions of using up all the bits and pieces of sock yarn shoved at the bottom of the yarn basket.

Of course before any of this happens I MUST finish off more knitted articles for our charity sale NEXT WEEK. I feel horrible, I never knit to my potential for this project. All the proceeds go to breast cancer research which is such a great cause! I only have a few articles to donate so I am going to bust butt this weekend and knit up some more and get some beginners kits put together. The sale is February 7th and 8th at the University of Washington Tacoma so if you are in the area, drop on by!

Sometimes you just need a kick in the you know what!

2006-01-23T23:05:00.000-08:00

Okay, so just how many lines can you cast in the water before you lose control? I think I am personally approaching that limit! :-)

From personal experience it is a pattern that I tend to follow (and don't realize it while it is happening) I get this swarm of new passions, try to do them all, get a taste for everything and then when I realize that I have really overloaded myself and I am forced to step back, re-evaluate and set priorities. I am at the peak of the cycle and can't focus on a damn thing!! Argh.

My husband recognized it first he said I keep a hobby until I have purchased everything you need and then quit...actually that isn't true because he is assuming that what I do for SCOUTS are all my own hobbies. But what I am talking about is less about crafts and skills and more about dedications or what-I-think-are-going-to-be-life-hobbies or obligations...knitting, astronomy, podcasting, volunteering, training...these are all bigger things, well at least to me.

Hummmm, okay let get a little attention deficit here...oh look a chicken!

Stephanie got me all excited with her Alien Scarf. I remember going off and looking for all the illusion and shadow knit patterns I could find a while ago and then didn't do anything with them...except file them away in the back brain area and now Stephanie had triggered them to the front again so I decided to blog them up real quick so I don't need to remember them and can just come back to the post and find them. The timing is great because we are all madly knitting for the Breast Cancer Charity sale in February so I think an Illusion Heart Scarf would be fun, we had a bunch of white yarn donated and I didn’t know what to use it for and now I do.

I was also looking for a gift for a fellow set of astronomy podcasters, actually the Slacker Astronomy is the top rated astronomy podcast and it mixes just the right amount of humor with hard core astronomy. The 3-person team is great and Dr. Pamela Gay has volunteered to come out and help me talk to teen-age girls about science and about podcasting. She is volunteering to come out from Harvard…to the Pacific NW…on her own dime! What a gal, AND she is a knitter!!! WunderWoman! I think that a set of Slacker Astronomy scarves is a definite and maybe a knitted Flying Spaghetti Monster to boot.

Anyway here is a list to get you started if you go off and search on your own search for "illusion" and "shadow"....

Greek Key Scarf from the MenKnits newsletter

The Linux Illusion Scarf, perfect for any computer geeks out there even if they don't have a Linux box

The Knister Scarf from DIY KnittyGritty

Skull and Crossbones from Ysolda

Emily Byrd's Snowflake scarf...which is perfect because I have all the white yarn someone donated!

Stephanine told me that she got the Alien Head scarf from the Stitch and Bitch book but I also found the chart online at this UK site.

Here is a chart for a Heart Illusion Sweater that could be modified for a scarf...nice Valentines Day gift.

There is another sample on Heidi's page but apparently this chart is lost...sad.

The book "Shadow Knitting" by Vivian Hoxbro gets very detailed and has some great patterns. She has some great application beyond the scarf on her website.

There is a shawl that looks fun but I think I would rather figure it out than spend the money on a kit. It actually looks like a good weight for work!

There is a "how to" posted on Jigsawknits that describes how to create the patterns so we can all go out and create illusion sample blocks to share with each other!!!

Oh I just had a HUGE neuron surge!! I can't say too much in case my secret Valentine exchange partner is reading this blog....illusion knit Valentine Day sock! AH HAHAHAHA!

Okay, I have to get back to the stuff that puts food on the table...gag. I hope GWEN is happy now, she was very nicely scolding me to get-on-the-blog! Getting bored eh Gwen??? :-) Anything for you sweetie!

As time goes by...

2006-01-12T11:15:00.000-08:00

Ugh! Have you ever been so sick you just can't do anything, not even knit! Wow! My last two days were just that. Usually when I choose to stay home to be sick I overdose on movies and knitting and always feel better....not this time, just sleep and more sleep and more sleep.

For those of you who missed the last two Mystery Shawl-a-longs they are great! You pick up the required knitting materials and then you get a lace shawl given to you in installments and you really don't know what you are knitting until it is done. What is really funny is listening to the chatter on the yahoo.group around the project around everyone's speculations about what they all think is going to happen.

The directions are well written and there is tons of help and advice so go give it a try so if you are looking for a fun, slightly challenging, event give this group a go!

Now I am off to get knitting on some scarves for the February Breast Cancer charity sale! If you have anything to donate make sure you drop me a line!

Calling all crafters!

2006-01-05T15:59:00.000-08:00

My knitting group at the University of Washington, Tacoma has it's Charity Craft (mostly knitting and crocheting) sale coming up. 1000% of the money we bring in gets donated for Breast Cancer Research and Patient Care.

If you would like to make something for the sale or have an extra hat or scarf to donate we would love to have them. The sale is the second week in February, I know it isn't a lot of time but I haven't thought to look 'this' direction for help.

I am also making knitting needles to create some beginner knit kits, if you have yarn for scarves to donate I could use them for kits. Last year the beginners kits were a hot item!

Email me if you have items and I will give you my address!

Thanks in advance for the help and support! I will post pictures of the event on the blog!

Pandora

2006-01-05T03:27:00.000-08:00

I am usually in the middle of any new technology push so if you already know about "Pandora" then ignore this post. I just finished listening...hell I stopped in the middle...of the "Inside the Net" podcast to check out "Pandora".

Alice's Mellow Folk Rock

In short it is an online radio station designed around your own personal tastes. They ask your for the name of songs or singer you like and then they start picking out artists based on your initial selection. As songs come up you can say if you like them or not and they continue to refine your personal selection. Once you get the radio station the way you like it then you can share it! The icon above takes you to the first station I put together, Alice's Mellow Folk Rock...evolving as we speak.

ANOTHER big distraction from work! Yeah! But it was nice after a very long night of recording and editing the podcast! Go give it a try and we can start sharing music to knit by or write by or podcast by or fill in the blank __________!!!

Take care everyone! Now I should go back and finish "Inside the Net" oh yeah and WORK!

Some knitting done and looking towards Valentines Day

2006-01-03T16:05:00.000-08:00

I got some scarves done for our up coming charity auction and that made me feel better. I have been so busy that I wasn't really contributing well.

Also, the Knit the Classics group is having a February "Valentine Day Book Swap"

Now I'm not that into the contemporary romance novel but I did love the Gabaldon "Outlander" series.

"Nothin' better than a swash-buckling, bodice rippin', time travelin', Scottish brogue, period romance...nope nuthin' better! You can quote me!"

I"m also throwning myself into the KTC blog ring...no particular reason other than I seem to return to the KTC site more frequently than other sites...I even have them in my bloglines so I know when there has been an update! I like the site there is always something going on but never so much that it wears you out. Besides the ladies running the site are fab!

Knitting through the holidays!

2005-12-29T01:29:00.000-08:00

Mom and Dad were here for the weekend so we were super busy!

Mom and I got her 6 year old sweater finished and it looks great...of course I FORGOT to take a picture!!! Duh! Well I'll get Mom to take a picture and send it along for you to see.

Mom and Dad did their cooking classes in Oaxaca, Mexico again this year and they shared their recipes with us. We made a pecan soup, habearo pepper and orange butter, and a pumpkin seed mole that was outstanding.

Here are the recipes

Sopa de nuez con chile chilpotle
© Restaurante El Naranjo, 2005

Serving Size: 8

4 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 large garlic clove, crushed
1 pound roma tomatoes, quartered
1/2 pound pecans
1 ounce stale bread
7 cups milk (whole milk)
4 canned chilpotle chilies in adobo, or to taste
salt, to taste
freshly ground pepper, to taste
8 pecan halves

Melt the butter along with the oil in a medium saucepan, fry the garlic, bread and pecans, until all golden, divide the mixture in batches and place in the blender with some of the milk, and some of the tomatoes and chilpotles, be sure that the mixture is smooth, place back the blended mixture into the saucepan, repeat the process until
finished, and bring to a boil, season with salt and black pepper to taste. Let it simmer for 3 min, serve hot, and decorate each bowl with a pecan half.

Orange and Habanera Butter
Adapted from Restaurante El Naranjo, Oaxaca
Zest of one orange
One small orange Habanera with seeds removed - chopped as fine as possible.
Two sticks butter, softened to room temperature.
Blend ingredients by hand or with mixer.
Serve with french bread..yummmy, it gets hotter each day!

Pumpkin Mole (traditional Mayan recipe)
1.5 cups of dried pumpkin seeds
2 chilpotle chilies in adobo (more if you want it spicier)
1 can Glen Muir roasted tomatoes
2.5 squares of Giradelli dark chocolate
1/2 flour tortila
salt to taste

First roast the pumpkin seeds in a large pan. In a blender combine all the ingredients in batches until everything is the consistency of wet mud. Add all the batches back to the pan and slowly bring to a slow simmer. Cook for 15 minutes or so and salt to taste.

We ate soooooo well over the weekend and I really don't want to get near a scale!

Anyway, back to serious knitting this weekend after the TAS Student year-end party on Friday! TTFN

Knitting day and I am now available on the iTunes music store!

2005-12-21T16:20:00.000-08:00

It's Wednesday and that means knitting! Can you believe that I got all the way to work and DIDN'T bring knitting today! What a riot! I had fun and got to watch, or attempt to watch, Ingrid knit. I have never in my life seen anyone knit that fast!

Ingrid is knitting a scarf with a lovely lace pattern. Actually, it has been 4 hours since lunch so she is probably finished! She doesn't need to follow a pattern and she understands how stitches lay and how to manipulate them that she can make the individual stitches twist and turn at her will. I am no where near her level of knitting! I wish now that I had made a movie of her knitting, I will bring the camera to knitting next week and see if I can capture the magic!

I finished Tess of the d'Ubervilles, man what a tragic figure Tess is! Sad book with some great imagery. I need to log in to the Knit the Classics site and see what the other folks think. I also finished "North & South" by Elizabeth Gaskell. Fabulous book! I will definitely suggest it the next time the Knit the Classics group takes suggestions! Read the book and if you like it go buy the BBC DVD, excellent long watch!

Well, I started podcasting and it is a LOT of work!!! You can find me in the iTunes music store, at Podcast Alley, and at Pickle.com. The name of the podcast is "Astronomy a Go Go" and you can get to the site directly from the side bar. DON'T get your hopes up, these first session are pretty lame-o but I hope that with practice will come improvement and if not that at least experience!

Later.

Struggling with trees!

2005-12-20T17:49:00.000-08:00

Well we FINALLY have the tree up! Given that we don't actually practice the religion of Christmas, but then again who really does, we do participate in all the trappings like a large part of the population. I no longer really see it as a hypocrisy, it is a traditional seasonal celebration. Since there was no 'tree' in the Christian history of the celebration of the birth of Jesus I can put mine up knowing it was stolen from earlier religions and just dare the challenge. I think the Egyptians, Pagans and Romans have a much longer history with evergreen and bring them into the home around the Winter Solstice than the modern Christian religion.

I remember as a camp counselor we use to make decorations and shiny objects and leave them on trees as an offering for the wood sprites, so maybe that is where it comes from.

The current decorating of trees is wholly a trip through time, there is no current/living religious justification for hanging ornaments on a tree, but for me all the little things the kids made, or I made for them, or our recent tradition of them receiving one ornament each year so they can one day have a starter set for their own Yule trees is a sweet fun tradition I enjoy.

Michael was not cooperating at ALL with my picture taking during the tree set up. I had to sneak up to the top of the stairs to get a picture of him hiding behind the tree. He was also not very excited about learning how to put the light on the tree and claimed that I was far to fastidious about the "spiral up and down the branch, lights above your head point down, lights on the lower boughs point up, cords can't show". Geez!

So, I will post a picture once we get the ornaments on and everything picture perfect!

I have been a fan of podcasts these last several months and after writing my post on knitting podcasts I decided to create my own podcast on astronomy! I am targeting folks who are just starting out in astronomy and older kids. You can subscribe to my podcast on the sidebar with the other podcast links. Take a listen and then comment on the website for the podcast...Astronomy a Go Go!

My son Michael supplied my introduction, he was much more interested in playing with the recording devise than he was decorating the tree! Go figure.

Here is wishing everyone a wonderful Winter Solstice! Celebrate the day because it marks the return of the SUN!! Wahoo!

Knitting podcasts

2005-12-13T14:52:00.000-08:00

Podcasts. The rebel child of a torrid affair between the internet and radio. If pressed I would describe them as 'On Demand' radio and that would be partially correct. Even thought the name 'podcast' has a fruity sound you don't need an iPod to listen to podcasts. Anything that will play an MP3 file or video file, like your computer or MP3 player, will work. I found installing an podcast aggregator, like iTunes or iPodderX, helped me keep all my subscriptions organized. The aggregators go out looking for, and downloading, the new episodes so I don't have to.

When I turn on my computer in the morning they scurry about looking for what has been updated since the last time I was on the computer listening and viola' I am good to go. Best of all they are all free! At least for now.

Currently my podcast list has everything from the typical BBC/NPR news updates, daily astronomical info-mercials, weekly hour long programs on music (Scottish bands) technology, science, astronomy, a monthly video skit on mixing drinks (gotta love La-La) and now programs on knitting.

If you look through the categories of podcasts on one of the podcast aggregators or indexes like:

iPodderX not to be confused with....
iPodder
PodCast Alley
BritCast a podcast aggregator for British podcasts
iTunes
Podcasting News

You can find podcast on just about everything. Some of them are very basic recordings done in the garage all the way to the professional multi-million dollar broadcasting extravaganza, but the variety is most of the fun.

But back to the knitting podcasts. So far I have found three each with a different mission and each appealing in their own way. First off lets start with

KnitCast! KnitCast is a British knitting podcast hosted by Marie Irshad. Marie meets the designers, bloggers and other members of the knitting community. She recently developed a series of podcast live from a UK knitting show that have been fascinating!
Cast-On Hosted by Brenda Dayne an American now living in Wales and making us all tremendously jealous! Brenda includes music, a description of her sweater of the week, interviews, rants (sorry about the Clapotis Brenda) and other bits of wit. Very hip.
Secret Knitting A podcast from Germany hosted by Daniela Johannsenova has you casting on and knitting along on a mystery project. There is no telling what you might end up with!

There are two other fiber related podcasts that seem to be ready to launch any day now so I will let you know when they appear.

If you knit I strongly recommend that you try out these three podcasts, at least once, so you can get a feel for where the knitting community is headed. Podcasts are the aural cousin to blogs which knitters kick out more frequently than swatches! I have started using a aggregator to list all the knitting blogs I like to visit so I don't have to wonder who has updated recently. I use Bloglines so I can access my lists from anywhere.

"Well that's the news from Lake Woebegone, where all the women are strong, the men good looking and the children are all above average." or something like that!

Magnetic Poles drifting

2005-12-12T15:47:00.000-08:00

It isn't knitting but it is interesting the magnetic north pole is drifting! Okay yes, it is always drifting so don't panic, but it at least for the lay-public we now know the direction, Siberia!

So, it may be that aurora become more rare and we will need to do a better job teaching children about magnetic declination (or variance) and explain why they shouldn't use those 50 year old maps with our compasses!

You can find the whole story at the "Universe Today" website. Now I am willing to bet that we start seeing "Doom and Gloom" emails about the end of the earth or the huge swing in the magnetic poles in emails by the end of the week. Remember folks the magnetic poles oscillate normally.

Wednesdays!

2005-12-07T14:15:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday!! You've gotta love Wednesdays!! If I were sick as a dog I would still come to work on Wednesday just to go to lunch with the knit group!

The star of the day was Gwen!!! She finished the heel on her first sock!

We also welcomed a new knitter to our fold, Kris from the Institute of Technology.

But wait! There's more!

Last night was our needle making festival. My Senior Scout troop has volunteered to help a younger troop in Tacoma learn how to knit and we are going to start by helping them make their own needles. Here is the group doing the initial sanding on the needles for the Brownines and doing the final sanding on their own sets.

Makahlia, who is visiting my co-leader Sandy, is a new knitter and just couldn't wait to try out her new needles. She really learned to appreciate the importance of fine sanding skills!

So all is well and good on the knitting front even if actual "Alice rows" aren't being accomplished.

Later!

Dinner with an Astronaut

2005-12-06T12:04:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful opportunity last night. The Boeing Employees Astronomical Society hosted a holiday dinner at the Museum of Flight and the guest speaker was astronaut Dr. Bonnie Dunbar.

Dr. Dunbar is standing on the far right.

It was a wonderful evening and a great experience for the kids. The girls got all dressed up and Michael was sporting his new all black pseudo-suit (see top picture) and they got to experience a dinner with multiple forks and knives...ohhhhhhh! ;-)

Dr. Dunbar is now the President and CEO of the Museum of Flight the fact that she is a native of Washington is even better. She has a wonderful speaking style which kept the teenagers attention.

Beer, socks and not much else

2005-12-05T12:58:00.000-08:00

It was a busy weekend and I got very little knitting done. I did finish the fall striped sock so that was nice to get done. I need to find another set of socks to cast on so that I have them around as a nice small emergency project 'cus that is what socks to best!

I started the blocking and finishing process on my Mom's sweater. This is a sweater that she started a million years ago and just never got around to finishing so I offered to block it and stitch it up for her. Here are the sleeves....

I need to talk to mommy dearest about gauge! Not that I am one to talk but I think this is going to be huge!

Another little project for the weekend was getting all the bottles washed so we can bottle the beer we brewed a month ago! I have 48 clean 20 oz bottles now and should probably go to the basement and get one more case just in case. It takes awhile especially when folks leave the labels on the bottles! Dave 'donated' (re: cleared out his basement!) the cases and they all had labels on them so here is the process:

1.) soak the bottles in water and a little simple green for about 10 minutes
2.) rinse inside (thank god I have the little bottle washer) and out
3.) use a razor blade and peel off the label
4.) load in the dishwasher and sterilize

So it took a while but they are done!

Here is the recipe we used for the beer it will be a lightly spiced Irish Stout:

1 lb Clover Honey (bottling)
12 inches cinnamon sticks
4 oz ginger root, freshly peeled and grated
2 teaspoons All Spice
1 teaspoon Cloves
4 grated rinds from medium size oranges
6-8 pounds dark malt extract
1/2-1 pound roasted barley
1/2-1 pound black patent malt
3-4 ounces bittering hops (e.g., Bullion)
small amount aromatic hops (optional)
ale yeast

The house smelled great when I was prepping everything, grating the ginger and orange rinds and even better when we brewed. I need to go check the brew, I'm worried that we let it sit tooooo long and it will be ruined. Let's hope not that would be a shame!!

I did it!!!

2005-11-30T23:51:00.000-08:00

Okay with 13 minutes and 47 seconds to go before midnight on November 30th I did it, I finished my first NaNoWriMo!

That's right stand up and applaud!!! Wahoo! Oh wait, you don't know what NaNoWriMo is? Okay each year starting on the first day of November hundreds, no thousands, in fact this year about 60,000 people from around the world scraped every bit of free time they had to try and write their very own 50,000 word novel. Hey, it is harder than you think! The writing is a challenge but the hardest part is finding the TIME!

In 2003 I was a lurker, in 2004 I got about half way through and then died about Thanksgiving but this year I finished. Now my novel isn't done and it is a whole bunch of crap but I did get 50,083 word done and turned in before my monitor turned into a pumpkin so I am counting that as good!

So what did I win my kids asked? Well nothing but I did get a coooool button to stick on my sidebar! Well I at least think it is cool. (See! Look! It's over there! -->)

Stephanie, one of the creators of the Knit the Classics site finished daaaays ago and in the process I found out that Melanie (Teabird) was also a NaNoWriMo slave so I will have to find out how she did as well.

It was a great experience and I will definitely do it again but I will make sure that I don't plan a single solitary knitting project during the entire month!

I'm tired and I just realized it is December, so off to bed with me! I don't think I will be typing for a while in fact I think I will just switch to quill and ink for a month or so and write some plain, simple, short letters.

'Nite all.

Time to catch up!

2005-11-22T10:47:00.000-08:00

Okay, the knitting has been sitting and seriously neglected AND the holiday gifts are now laughing at me! "You can't possible get us finished now!" Ugh!

I was looking for a nice cable pattern for a man, something elegant but not flashy, and I stumbled upon these two sites:

MenKnit - and internet men's knitting netmag where I found this Irish Walking Scarf
Dave Daniels'Cabin - is another men's knitting site and he has some lovely woodwork as well.

Well that is all I have for now... I have to log in and work some on my NaNoWriMo novel.

Everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

A lovely surprise!

2005-11-21T23:37:00.000-08:00

"One cannot divine nor forecast the conditions that will make happiness; one only stumbles upon them by chance, in a lucky hour, at the world's end somewhere, and holds fast to the days ..."
-Willa Cather

This is the quote that opens the lovely book "Maiden Voyages" that Teabird sent me as part of our KTC book exchange. I just happened to be listening to the above song while I flipped through the pages so it was really special! I love to travel and don't get the opportunity to venture out very often but I have been blessed with two very special trip with Girl Scouts so I have the bug for sure.

When I flipped the book over and looked at the quote on the back I almost cried with laughter! Take no offence fellow crafters.....

"If the exploring of foreign lands is not the highest end or the most useful occupation of feminine existence, it is a least more improving, as well as more amusing, than crochet work."
-Mabel Sharman Crawford, 1863

Melanie included a lovely journal for me to capture my next big adventure! It was so thought full of her to take the time to get to know me a little! Thanks Teabird, I love them!
Here are my lovely gifts with my little teapot from China...

It was a good weekend for movies! I took my daughter and her friend to see the new "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" on Friday after school and then on Sunday the same friend and her mother joined us to go see the new "Pride and Prejustice".

Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle and nothing to worry about. Keira Knightly didn't come close to capturing Elizabeth Bennet and she seemed forced, silly, and a screen hog. As Darcy, Matthew MacFadyen has potential, they should have given him more screen time and not taken away so many of his great lines. Now on a positive note! Judi Dench was wonderful as Lady Catherine de Bourg, she terrified me! The supporting cast was good, actually I think they cast Jane and Mary wonderfully and they did a great job Kitty and Lydia were passable. The location shots were beautiful. I would love to find all those wonderful old trees they used and sit back and enjoy the scenery. The soundtrack is absolutely AMAZING! I would really be surprised if it didn't take an Oscar, it is just stunning. There were a couple of scenes that I liked, the dance scene when they ended up dancing alone was a good effect and I love the final scene. It is worth going to see the movie to enjoy the music and scenery but if you are a big fan of the Firth and Ehle duo then be prepared that it isn't going to be a satisfying....but then again HOW do you take "Pride and Prejudice" and cram it into 2 hours?!?
Okay, Alice, take a deep breath!
Ah! I'm better now.
Knitting didn't happen this weekend and neither did any writing for NaNoWriMo so I am going to close this post and get busy!!

A little surprise is in the mail!

2005-11-16T03:39:00.000-08:00

Well! I am very excited, and relieved. I have faithfully surrendered a package to the U.S. mail to be carried Eastward to my dear friend Stephanie in Cabin John, Maryland! Isn't that just a lovely sounding name for a town Cabin John...and her address is even better Cypress Grove Lane. So sweet!

Hey Stephanie! Look out over there!

So, here is a hint (a very lame one at that) for what she is receiving in the post.

Like I said, lame hint. But since Stephanie has done such an outstanding job with the KTC book exchange and the KTC site I threw in a few extra little trinkets!

On the knitting front not much happening. I have picked up all the billions of heel stitches on those tiny "0000" needles. What ever possessed me to knit that small. The end result in quite fine (ha ha ha!) but still it is time consuming. I might possibly do it again but then again "0"s might be just fine enough.

Later!

Happy Knitters and Feet-to-Be!

2005-11-09T14:59:00.000-08:00

So I have to show off "The Group"!

Now don't let all this industrious head-down-hard-at-work body language fool ya. This crew is chatting madly and so into their own knitting (and everyone else's) that they don't even know the picture is being taken! (Thanks! Charlie!) Unfortunately we are missing Deb and Ingrid from the picture. They really do exist...I swear!

Now Noreen and Gwen have a reason to be heads down, tongue sticking out, deep in concentration...they are pulling out the waste yarn of their socks and picking up the stitches for the heels!

Gwen had the additional incentive of not being allowed to see the new "Knitting Over the Edge" book that Belinda brought in to share...evil Alice made her finish picking up those stitches!!! Bad! Bad! Zoot!

So both Gwen and Noreen have their heel stitches on their needles and are ready to go...and the crowd rejoices!!!

Oh! I found a delightful 'tips-and-tricks' page today...it is from Nona who I am appreciating more and more everyday! Thanks to Nona!

Happy Feet

2005-11-09T11:19:00.000-08:00

Today is Wednesday, Happyday, Knitday!

I wore my sandals barefoot coming in this morning so I could finish my socks and wear them! (Talk about incentive, it was in the 40's this morning) All I had left was the K-graft the last heel and weave in the ends. By the end of the 8:30a meeting I was wearing one sock, I grafted the heel in the 9:00a meeting and wore the socks back to the office and trimmed the ends there.

Happy feet!

On this pair I did the double decrease heel to mirror the toe. I think that is how I will have Noreen and Gwen finish theirs as well. On the burgundy pair I did a star heel which I actually like better but there is a lot of trying-on-as-you-go to get the depth right and I think it better to keep the directions simple. I need to find better directions for afterthought heels. I do like knitting from the toe up, 2 on 2 needles but I also like the fit of the gussetted heel. Hummmm...I'll have to think about that one.

For those of you who like the technical details both socks were knit from the toe up 2on2circs, the blue pair with double decrease heels on #0 needles and "Sock it to Me" Puzzle. The burgundy pair are knit on #0000 needles with a star heel and with KnitPicks "Simple Stripes".

Another busy weekend!

2005-11-07T02:04:00.000-08:00

Wow! The Girl Scout troop had its planning retreat this weekend and we had a great time! We spent about 2 hours planning (there was lots of planning for other planning times too) but the main intent was to have a fun relaxing weekend. And boy did we! Needless to say there was very little knitting...I finished the blue socks but screwed up weaving the heal twice but nothing beyond that.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves....keep in mind it is hard to get climbing photos from the ground without a lot of big butt shots!

This is soooo cooool!

2005-11-03T03:05:00.000-08:00

Okay, I have been a major voyeur on the Mystery Shawl 2 and have the yarn to start now that everyone else has finished! Its not that I was being anti-social I just had tooo many obligations at the time and needed to postpone until I had the time and the materials.

But! That is not why I got back on the blog today!!! I was looking around at the site for the Peace Palm KAL and then drifted back over to Nona's site and found her serial knitting page. What a hoot!

Are these not the cutest little fingers! So I am going to convince my knitting group to start our own little Nona-KAL. I'm not going to let them have her website until the end so they can play with all the other installments.
I now know why I have been knitting socks all these years...it has been so that I would have left over yarn for crazy fingered gloves!

Picking up a heel

2005-11-03T02:16:00.000-08:00

Man is life busy! So on the knitting front I couldn't get my daughter to settle on a yarn for her OSW so I just picked up the socks that wait patiently for occasions like these and was able to finish the cuff on the second and pick up the stitches for the heel on the first while I caught up with old episodes of "Rome".

These are the same poor socks (toe up 2 socks on 2 circs) that traveled to Atlanta with me where I broke one of the circular needles and had to continue one sock at a time with a magic loop intervention. The circ is just on the limit of what can be used for magic looping so it isn't as smooth as it could be.

I also did a big 'no-no' and joined another KAL. BUT I HAVE A GOOD REASON...I SWEAR! Last year I knit Katie some fingerless gloves and they never did fit just right so I am going to frog the entire mess and start them over again. See I have good intentions, now to find the good time.

I have figured out what book I am going to send my Book Exchange Buddie on the Knit the Classics KAL/RAL it seems we have at least one author in common interest. It is likely that she already has to book so I will sneak in a couple of surprises to hopefully make it more endearing...besides you can't have too many copies of _______________. :-)

Happy Halloween

2005-11-01T02:30:00.000-08:00

Okay so no significant knitting has been going on, just working on the socks still trying to get the time together to start on the OSW (one skein wonder) I wanted to start last weekend.

Also plugging away at finished the Mystery of Udolpho for the Knit the Classics...I got my book exchange buddy today and I'm excited! Actually by receiving buddy already knows who I am but I still don't know who has me!! Goody! I think that since my buddy knows what is going on (she is the coordinator) that I will have to come up with an extra special surprise for her! Let's just ponder that shall we!

Today also starts National Novel Writing Month and even though I didn't get close to the mark last year I enjoyed the game so I am signed up for this year too. The trick is to make it a goal to write anything, I would die if I made the goal to finish the novel! There is way too much to do as it is, the writing is just another form of therapy. If I didn't like sleeping so much I would have so much more time! But curling up in a warm bed under my Chinese silk comforter is just too happy a thought. Ahhhhhh!

We did have a good turn out for the TAS Halloween Special public night! We had games for the kids and I did a presentation on debunking bad astronomy in a lime green cat costume. Mars sat behind some haze but people were able to see it or at least say they saw it so it wasn't a complete loss. All the experiments worked out fine but I wish I had taken pictures of the event, it would have been fun.

We also squeezed in a brewing session on Sunday so I have an Irish porter burping away in my laundry room! Smelled good yesterday so we will see how things are going when I get home from work.

Have to run, too much work and too much to do...Scout night, NaNoWriMo month, getting ready for the weekend retreat etc.

Knitting stitches complete? 0! Number of Women with a greater interest of the outdoors and playing in the woods? 10! So which is more important?

2005-10-24T13:56:00.000-07:00

Spent the weekend playing in the woods, ah what fun! I was training a session at Leadership weekend called "Outdoor Exploration" with 2 other trainers and it was a fun session full of just play. As soon as I bring in my camera I will add some pictures.

I took the opportunity to teach people about orienteering, geocaching, and letterboxing and they loved it! I hope they will all sign up for our Pathway's class on geocaching. So now I can start working on that class....but first it will be the Halloween Public night this Saturday.

Too much to do right now so I'll be back later.

Next project for Udolpho

2005-10-19T20:33:00.000-07:00

Now that the Panes bag is done and ready to be donated as a gift for the "Give a Little" campaign to support the American Red Cross and disaster service I can move on to another project!

A couple of weeks ago I was all in a tizzy to pick a project to travel with and I had finally narrowed it down to a shrug of some sort. I think I am going to do a "Once Skein Wonder"(OSW) and give it to Katie so she can keep on wearing her tank tops into the fall and at school and I'll probably do a "mini-sweater" (aka boob-holder) at the same time...I think she will like the knickname if nothing else! I will have camp this weekend, to get started, and so the simplier OSW will probably go on the needles first.

For myself I will find a simple shrug pattern for the house and for work. Soooooo here we go on two more KALs!

Round 2 on Felting

2005-10-19T11:47:00.000-07:00

So I took the Panes bag back to the washer and sent her in for another round. I finally got her felted down a little bit more. This is still one big bag! in the picture she is stuffed with a Gore-Tex jacket, a fleece jacket and a Pashima shawl!

I took the picture at work, and quickly, but you can see what our fall colors in the background! All the trees are very quickly starting to turn and it is very lovely.

I get to play at camp this weekend (training) and I can't wait! Since I have working with a "play" session I am going to introduce them to macrame and make some little owls! My daughter thought they looked like evil owls but I think they just look perplexed! :-) I found the directions for "Why Knot" There are several other owl patterns there as well.

Felting late at night

2005-10-17T22:49:00.000-07:00

Well it took me two movies but I got all my i-cord finished, all the ends of the Panes bag woven in and then got her felted. One warning about mixing black and bright colors, the black bleeds and tends to mute the bright colors a little bit. However I'm willing to reserve comment until I'm finished and she is dry.

I put her to bed last night, blocking her over a bucket, but when I got up this morning I wasn't really pleased/thrilled. I think she is going to have to go back in the wash this afternoon for another felting session. The i-cords are done and they came out nice and smooth!

Funny but now that I have an iPod I want to type iCords!! Okay, maybe it isn't funny but it tickled me.

This weekend the TAS Student, and some friends, headed out to the Museum of Flight for a challenger mission. It was a lot of fun! This time I was data and I had a lot of fun typing all the messages back and forth. Here is my console in 'Mission Control'... There are about 100 post-its on the side representing messages from different stations that I had to send to the shuttle crew.

And here is our 'Shuttle Crew' (everyone got to play both Shuttle Crew and Mission Control) Don't they look serious!! They were receiving their instructions and were doing a great job paying attention...I guess since I was running around taking pictures I couldn't be considered doing the same. My daughter Katie is the Medical officer on the far left, she ranks second on the flight crew and if she said "Stop what you are doing and come let me poke this thermometer up your nose" we had to do so. Fortunately she didn't pick on me!

And the entire crew. We had a mix of TAS kids and their friends, some other Girl Scouts from my troop and come Cub Scouts that Ken invited. I was ready to do it again!

Given this there was little time to knit except late at night which is why I was felting until 1 am. Gross...this morning came way too early! But, if all goes well tonight I will have a picture to post tomorrow (if Blogger gets photo happy again) and I can take "Panes" off the "keeping up with list".

I-cord!

2005-10-14T17:57:00.000-07:00

So I am plodding along with i-cord for my panes bag. I need two 90" sections! Geez! I sure wish I could leave out the yarn and have the brownies do it for me!!! :-)

I wonder if you can twist and felt instead? I know that when I make baby booties I just twist the yarn tightly, fold it in half, and then let it twist back on its self. A couple of knots in the end and all is done. I think I will take some scrap yarn and try it out but since this is for charity I'll stick with the i-cord torture.

She's back!

2005-10-12T12:22:00.000-07:00

I was off at the 50th National Girl Scout Congress and National Convention in Atlanta and it was fantastic! It was a wonderful experience as a leader I never really wondered how the bigger picture worked, I trusted the process, but didn't know how it worked. Now I do.

On the knitting front I didn't get much done because I broke one of my needles! :-( It was very sad I had to limp along with one sock on one circular needle that was just at the limit for 'magic loop' knitting.

I will try and post some pictures but for now I am just trying to get back to normal.

Cheers

Wednesday!

2005-10-05T22:11:00.000-07:00

I just love lunch-time on Wednesdays! Love it! Love it! Loooooove it!

I belong to such a lovely group of knitters and crocheters. I finally remembered to bring the camera so I could get a shot of what folks are working on....

Jeannie was working on a cabled project (a pillow cover I believe) but for knit-time she has switched to something that allows her to knit and talk at the same time...a basketweave project.

Gwen has been working on socks. This is her first toe-up pair and she reached a HUGE milestone today!! (Fanfare!!!) She is at the heel! (and the crowd goes wild) So she spent lunch time getting the waste yarn row put in for the afterthought heel. Notice that she is also sporting a very lovely pair of socks she made from the top-down. Gwen is creating quite a collection of socks.

May is new to the group and she has been wanting to make socks so Noreen got her started on a pair of toe-up, two-circular, afterthought heel socks...Noreen has all but finished her pair...ah the student becomes the master!!!

From left to right we have May and her brand-new, just on the needle sock, Noreen taking over the roll of sock instructor, Belinda who is starting on the back of a gorgeous mohair/novelty/sparkly yarn drop-stitch sweater and Carolyn who is, prepare yourself, swatching!! Carolyn is such a good girl!

Deb, in the front, is newly retired and I think she is busier now that when she was working! Tennis everyday, swimming, thank goodness we still get to knit with her! Jeannie is next to her, then Gwen and at the counter is Charlie. Gwen and Charlie own the "Metro Coffee Shop" where we meet. It is very conveniently situated right in the middle of campus. Aren't we lucky! A knitting group with their own personal coffee shop!

Okay so I really need to get back to the job of packing and getting ready for the trip!!! Yikes, just a few more hours.

Running out of time

2005-10-05T06:51:00.000-07:00

Yike! Okay I leave tomorrow at 4 am (gasp!) and I still have not gotten may act together on knitting so I will just talk along the socks that are gathering lint at the bottom of the knit bag. They have been so ignored by other projects they deserve a little lime-light! Besides, socks are one of the best travel projects ever!

Oh right! I still have to pack! (hee, hee, hee) The iPod is loaded and ready to go, I loaded up Jane Austen's "Persuasion" for my walks, pictures of the kids, and 1 gig of music. Who needs a toothbrush and clothes! Ha!

So this is the pair of socks that is waiting for the 'sock knitting class' in our knit group to catch up. I wanted to have the heel done so they could see what the afterthought heel looks like and I have a heel ready to pick up along with them when they are ready.

Note on afterthought heels: I took my original directions from Dawn Brocco's site but found that with 0-needles and 0000-needles it take many more rounds prior to decreases and inbetween decreases to get the fit right. My advise to the group is to start by knitting 4-5 round then try the sock on! Use your heel to monitor the decreases as you go! If you just follow the directions blindly you will end up with socks that are so tight across the heel you won't be able to wear them! I'm sure that this is due to the smaller size needles. But, since the group is using sizes from 0000 to 2 we are going to follow the 'fit as you go' instructions.

My boss, the only active knitting man I know, is wearing his first pair of handknit socks today and he is very proud of them! He did a great job and did some beautiful work on the heel.

It is nice having a boss who knits because he doesn't even think about it when I pull my knitting out in a meeting.

Today is also Wednesday which means it is Knitting Day! Wahoo! I will try to get some good pictures of what the group is working on today.

Decisions

2005-10-04T15:38:00.000-07:00

Yikes! I think I picked the volume with 6.5pt font! Now where did I put those reading glasses...

As far as my project for "The Mysteries of Udolpho" is concerned I went from 3 ideas to 10...that is the wrong direction for sure. Last night as I was reading I decided that I really should have a shrug/bedjacket so this morning I pulled out a pattern that I downloaded a long time ago, the "Shrug-Shawl Bedjacket" by Linda Wish. I think I will go out and find a nice soft blended yarn to try this out with and if I like it then I can find a nice alpaca. I think to make it would with the book I will find a nice rich earthy color and add some leafy motifs along the way. I am also going to make it longer so it will cover parts of my hands.

I made the mistake earlier of adding some new software to the computer so I lost the previous blog on the mandatory reboot...bleck. I'm sure what ever I said wasn't very important.

Time traveling weekend

2005-10-03T10:00:00.000-07:00

This was the weekend of the Tacoma Astronomical Society student camping trip and starparty. The plan was to drive to Goldendale and take part in the Klickitat County Starparty. Some of the other things the kids wanted to do was to visit the Goldendale Observatory, visit the Stonehenge replica and, as they are all teenagers, eat, sleep, and just hang out.

We left late on Friday and it rained all the way to Goldendale. Not one person in the 3 vehicle caravan had been there before so we were relying heavily upon posted directions and what we could find via Google maps. We got there after 5 hours battling narrow highway driving with ubiquitous semi-truck spray...you know the stuff that you can't wipe off the windshield. It was still raining when we got there and the starparty had been cancelled but we have previously decided that we would stay the weekend no matter what. The good thing about the fact that it was raining was it meant we could turn on all the blasted white lights we wanted! It made setting up much easier.

The boys slept in the camper, the girls slept in the truck cab, Alice slept in the back of the truck under her portable awning and Ken pitched his tent under the awning of the camper. No one needed any encouragement to hit the hay early we were zonked!

It stopped raining around 3am but the clouds stayed with us all through Saturday. We jumped in the two truck, bath towels in hand, and did a little time traveling. Did you know that there is a certain point on Hwy 97 that if you hit a particular curve going just the right speed...54.7 that you can transport yourself to the Salisbury Plains of Whitshire, England? Best part is that you are there around 1400 BC! AND, you are much, much, taller!

This replica is not full size but is apparently laid out based on the best guess of current archeologically findings as translated by Sam Hill the creator. After seeing Stonehenge this summer it was really creapy to see a replica with all the stones inplace and standing upright. The above picture was taken by Katie Dennis and you can see just how overcast it really was...what you see is all the sun we had.

This is the group with the heelstone in the background.

After that it was back to Skyview Acres for lunch and some down time and the NWRAL meeting. The sun decided to try to clear things up but after an hour of playing with our feelings it gave up and went back to bed.

After dinner and a movie (man there are definately some advantages to having friends with motorhomes! DVDs rock!) it was time to head off to the observatory.

Now, I would like to state for the record that before we went to the observatory I told all the kids in my truck to bring their red-lights and cold weather gear because it would be dark when we got back and if it cleared we would be working with starparty red-light policies!

The Goldendale observatory was delightful and it was interesting to hear about the history of the scope and the observatory. There was a full house and maybe only 1-2 stars TOTAL in the sky when we finally got to scope viewing time. Steve, the observatory manager, was very dutiful and did give everyone a chance at the eye piece. Michael and I were last and we started noticing that it was getting colder and colder as we waited. I was musing that it might actually be getting clearer and low and behold it was! We grabbed the other students and headed back to camp to find it perfectly clear! There was only one cloud and as Dan pointed out it was black. It took us a while to realize the significants of a black cloud at night and then it finally sank in...there were NO lights reflecting off of the clouds...nada...nicht...zzero lights. It seemed like everything was naked eye viewing.

We had several hours of wonderful stars. Sure it was still really wet everywhere but even with a slight wind, and air full of water it was still better than any night I have experienced at Table Mountain. Phil, the owner, was very supportive and ameanable to all our ideas of future events at Skyview Acres.

Now the tough part. With clear skies comes what....anybody....anybody....Beuler? Right, cold air. And what do you get if you combine realllly cold air with water??? Right! Ice. I got up at 2am and my tent, my sleeping bag, the zippers everything was frozen. The coyotes were happy and singing in the adjacent campsite and I was crunching through the grass to the porta-potties. The next morning the tent rainfly came of as a solid cap...it was cool! At $5 per person per night I am definately going back to Skyview Acres if I want some seriously dark skies.

So, on the knitting front (yes I haul it everywhere) I got a few more rows done on the Panes bag and not much more so I am still looking for a project for Uldolpho! It needs to be a good traveling project since I am heading for the Girl Scout National Convention this Thursday, at the crack of dawn no less! I picked up my copy of Udolpho and I'm glad I didn't try to read this online, it is much longer than I expected and with tiny type I will probably have to pull out my reading glasses! Anyway I have to figure something out by tomorrow!

Ooop!

2005-09-29T10:30:00.000-07:00

Okay so there is a switch in the reading order in the "Knit the Classics" group which means I need to find a project for Ann Radcliffe's "Mysteries of Udolpho". Hummmm, so what does one knit for a gothic romance? Corrention, what can one knit in public to go with a gothic romance. Maybe a little peek into the book will help.

Almost feels like I need to knit something for a journey...

So I am considering the following: Bloom Shawl, the Hot Lava cardigan/shrug, I also remember that I have a pattern at home for a faroese shawl. But that is my M.O., go out and find something new instead of finishing up what you have laying around! Sad...so sad.

Wednesday is Knit group day!! Whee!!

2005-09-28T13:51:00.000-07:00

It is so great having a knitting group at lunch on Wednesday....hump day. Working on a university campus and meeting at the coffee shop means we have all sorts of folks in the group and a wonderful setting. Those of us who are staff here need the lunch-time break and it perfectly balances the week! Its all downhill from here folks!

Coming along nicely on the Panes bag. I'm taking it with me this weekend to the Klickitat Star Party so I will have some free time to work on it and hopefully get it felted before I head out to the National Girl Scout Conference! East coast here I come.

Picking the project for the October reading

2005-09-27T11:18:00.000-07:00

I have decided that with each monthly read of the "Knit the Classics" group that I would use something about the book as a theme for a project to knit while reading the book. For Moliere's "Tartuffe" I have decided to knit the French Market Bag.

I know, I know, not very deep or creative but I have been meaning to knit this one for some time and it will be a very nice way to get rid of all the odds and ends of wool! I am a trainer for Girl Scouts and one of my participants brought a finished one and was knitting another at one of my weekend trainings so I am even more inspired to get it on the needles! There was a lovely knit-along for the bag so if you would like to see the gallery of bags please go visit the site!
So the next task will be planning on what to knit for Ann Radcliffe's novel...any suggestions?

Blogger fixed!

2005-09-26T11:06:00.000-07:00

My earlier attempts to post this morning were thwarted by Bloggers attempts to get back up again. But it looks like their hints for clearing the cache and cookies has helped!

My mom and sister Kellie are modeling 2 of the 4 Karalund sweater my mother and I knit for last years family gift exchange. It was great fun having all the sisters and Mom in our sweaters even if the weather was much to warm for it. You've gotta love Houston with Thanksgiving in the upper 70's!

So, the real issue is what to make for everyone this year. Mom is hard at work finishing her book so I will be a one-woman factory. Since Mandy is in Texas it is unlikely that she will want another sweater so maybe felted bags will be the gift of the season!

When does it become Clutter?

2005-09-23T11:12:00.000-07:00

So, as you can no doubt tell, I am rebuilding my knitting blog from scratch. Actually once I got past the 'but I worked so hard messing up the other one' stage it was quite refreshing! It would be nice to do with the house you know? Set up the 'new house' in the back yard, move all the good stuff over, perfectly organizing as you go, and then burn down the old house when you're done.

Voila'!

So same with blogs. I started to move over the cute little progress indicator bars and had to ask myself "Is this necessary or just clutter?" Does anyone out there really care if I am 67.27% the way through the Panes bag...probably not. My guess is that folk are much more interested in what the final project looks like and what yarns and colors I used. I love all the little blog toys but for now I am going to concentrate on streamlining the blog. I will add my daughter Katie's projects since we overlap and she isn't interested in maintaining another web-based log outside of her social rant on Xanga.

Late night Solstice celebration

2005-09-22T23:22:00.000-07:00

Son Michael and I had fun last night celebrating the sun's passage across the celestial equator (aka the autuminal equinox). Autumn is really my favor time of year but from a solar perspecive I really hate seeing the sun creep south. We are going to have a wonderful/huge party for the celestial turning point and the winter solstice so stay tuned!

Why I like Knit-alongs

2005-09-22T16:46:00.000-07:00

After years of knitting I really do consider myself a new knitter. Why? Mainly because I am still following directions vebatum and my palms still sweat when I try to branch out on my own and do something like....gulp.... substitute a yarn!

Knit-a-longs are great! Everyone out there starting with the same pattern but making all their own modifications and sharing them with the world. I can poke around and look at pictures and relax with my decisions for minor modifications and read along as folks excitedly post their progress. I broadens my "knitting club" to a "knitting planet"!

So, I have been voyeur long enough!

Starting Over

2005-09-19T15:26:00.000-07:00

Well the last knitting blog drifted off in to obscurity so hopefully the new ability in Blogger for posting pictures will help. Honestly I find it more interesting to blog for my Girl Scout Troop than for myself.

So why start now? Simple if I am going to participate in knit-a-longs it is only fair to post pictures and comments. I know that I hit everyone else's blogs looking at their progress through last year's Karalund and Clapotis project as reference and I should have been returning the favor.

I may be taking on more than I can maintain but then again what else is new!