My Latest New Project

Inspired by cold toes and the dream of a fast project, may I present Blue Cruise Socks?
The pattern is "Iowa Cruise Socks" by Cottage Creations. Worsted weight yarn, 48 stitches on size 4 instead of 64 stitches on size ones, and you can see how I was able to get one done after casting on last Thursday evening.
Of course, the fact I have been home since then, except for church, may have helped too.

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Pattern--Loopy Lozenge Shawl

Loopy Lozenge Shawl
Size 15 needles
Gauge: about 2 stitches per inch

1 skein large loop boucle
1 skein smaller loop boucle (or yarn of your choice)

Use one strand of each through-out

Cast on 4 stitches

K1, Make 1, K to end of row
Repeat until 8 stitches on needle

K 4, place marker, Make 1, Place marker, K 4
K 4, slip marker, Make 1, K to second marker, Slip marker, K 4 (right side)
K 4, slip marker, Make 1, P to second marker, Slip marker, K 4 (wrong side)

Repeat these two rows until total of 44 stitches

K 4, slip marker, K to second marker, Slip marker, K 4 (right side)
K 4, slip marker, P to second marker, Slip marker, K 4 (wrong side)

Repeat these two rows until length desired, minus matching point.
K 4, slip marker, SSK, K to second marker, Slip marker, K 4 (right side)
K 4, slip marker, P 2 tog, P to second marker, Slip marker, K 4 (wrong side)

Repeat until 8 stitches remain, removing markers on last row.

K1, SSK, k to end

Repeat until 4 stitches remain
Cast off loosely
Fling it around shoulders and go show it off!!

To Each His Own

One of my new favorite movies, named above, just finished. Olivia de Havilland plays an unwed mother whose son is given to friends. Their reunion during World War II is such a tearjerker. Great flick.
Catch it if you can.
And one other thing, the cat caught (and partially ate) another mouse.
Sigh. Let the battle begin again.

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Planning the Gansey

After finishing the Caramel Lozenge Shawl a while back, I was torn between finishing some WIPs and starting something new. 
So I decided on something new, after reviewing a couple of my books on gansey and aran sweaters.  I had that yarn I got a while back from the Old Farm Girl in White Cloud.  Actually I got several sweater quantities lately.  This is the Lambs Pride in a color called Blue Magic.  Sort of a heathery blue jean blue.

 I swatched and calculated, and scribbled and finally cast on for a gansey cardigan.  I started with a garter border for about an inch and a half or so, then a plain stockinette band with seed stitch edge bands.  I think I will be closing with a clasp or two, instead of buttons, so no button holes.

I am nearly at the end of the stockinette strip, but can you see the initials worked in purl stitches above? Faint, but when worn and stretched out a bit, I think the LH will stand out a little more clearly.  I counted and calculated and in another round or two will have another garter stitch strip and then start the patterning.  I finally decided on a heart design, baby cable, flying geese pattern, baby cable again, diamond pattern, baby cable and a ladder pattern, going from center front to underarm.  The back will have two heart patterns side by side, and then running back to two ladder patterns in the under arm area, divided only by a purl strip side seam stitch. 
All that will be done from charts, so definitely not a Knit Night project.

What a Difference

Was it only last week that the view across the back of the pasture was a wet and muddy "Lake Hagen"?

 That's what I call the annual mini flood caused by the spring melting.  The weekend winds dried things up quite a bit, and then Sunday.....

Well, during the course of the Daytona 500, we became a winter wonderland again.  This morning's quarter inch + frost had everything glistening.
/Sub-zero temps will do that you know.  But at least the roads are finally passable.

New Beginnings Again

Since I had finished the dishcloths as well as the Caramel Lozenge Shawl withing the last week or two, I have been working on socks, the mobius, and......well, a new sweater.

Here is part of the yarn.  I love the frosty dark blue color.  It is going to be a gansey style cardigan.  And once again, with the help of a couple books on gansey sweaters, I am designing on the fly.  Garter bottom band, front bands in seed stitch, and a plain band before I start the patterned sections.  I also have charted out my initials to go near the right front side in the plain stockinette area. 
It will be an adventure as I go along, and I need to try to graph out the top panels.  So far I am about a inch and a half and almost ready to switch to stockinette.
This will be a challenge to be sure.  And, I am afraid I don't plan on making the pattern available as it will be completely customized.

The Great Mouse War

My Facebook friends know that recently, I have been battling mice.  I can't stand the creepy little vermin.
After flushing one out of the dog food in the back room (the grainy kind, not the good Science Diet stuff) several times last Thursday, I had enough. 
A few weeks ago, when the house cat had been playing with a mouse (that escaped when Gilbert tried to help), I had purchased a couple packs of De-Con and placed one discreetly behind the desk, out of the reach of dog and cat.

Who?  Me?

So, since I had a leftover pack, I set it behind the cabinet in the back room, again out of the reach of Gilbert and any stray barn cat that may try to sneak in. 
Next morning, it was gone. 
So, I picked up an 8 pack of little mouse blocks. 
I tossed in a couple morning and evening all weekend, even getting another package of "mouse food."  Because, frankly, it felt like I was just feeding the mice.
But finally today, the two cubes I threw in last night are nibbled on, but not mostly still there.
I may have won at least this battle in the Great Mouse War of 2011.
Now to have a talk with those lazy barn cats.

THe Caramel Lozenge Shawl (AKA The Gilbert Shawl)

I mentioned a while back that my Caramel Lozenge Shawl was the same color as Gilbert the mini-farm dog.  After that, Evelyn has been calling it the Gilbert Shawl. But either way, its done!

 Gertrude consented to model it Sunday.  My bone crochet hook makes a wonderful shawl pin, don't you think?   It was a quick and easy knit.  I've written up the pattern, and it will be available through Mohair in Motion, and I may post it on my blog and maybe Ravelry later as well.

I had about a quarter to a third of each skein left over, shown here next to Gilbert, who grudgingly gave a little room for them on HIS footstool, at least long enough for a picture.

Oh, Did I Mention Another Project?

Well, if I was going to the Open House, I needed a present, didn't I? 
I found 3 big skeins of cotton yarn and decided on three dishcloths.  But what pattern?
I have a thing about handknit cloths stretching out of shape.  So when I found a round pattern, I figured that was the key.  If it stretched, it should stretch equally in all directions.
Or at least that's the plan.

 I started with the tan cloth, but was having troubles with the lace.  The multicolor one is just 7 short row wedges.  Easy Peasy.  And the red cloth is a mini-Pi shawl pattern.  I must confess, I was finishing the red on after I arrived at Sue Ann's, but she still acted surprised.
And I did mention that I was going to post another picture of the felted roving rug.  Here it is.

 Just lovely.

Frustration

Ok. I finally was able to get a do-so connection on-line the other day, after talking with our internet provider. They thought problem was the phone line. I wiggled jacks and got on.
Tonight I can't even get online with my laptop.
All my pictures! All my witty comments and quips!
Foiled by technology.
We will try tomorrow.

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Sue Ann's Open House

Well, this is a slow connection still, but at least I got on. 

I wanted to share a little about Sue Ann's Open House.  Several of the Spin Guild crew and others gathered at her home last weekend. 

Great get-together.  Good friends.  Good eats.
Some puzzeling presents.  No, Sue Ann.  Those are dishcloths.

And amidst the knitting and spinning, came this wonderful rug, that was needle felted by one of her friends. Hands down the hit of the party.

Lovely, isn't it?

More on this project later.

Wouldn't You Know

So we finally get the truck back. I don't have to wait for a phone call from the repair guy.
I go online, to blog and help Younger Son file his taxes and all I can get is the slowest connection I've had in ages.
So much for getting stuff done tonight.

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Truckless Hubby

Last Monday, Hubby went to the local farm auction, as he does every week. But on the way home, his truck died.
It's still dead.
We think the problem has been found, but still no truck.
A whole week without going to town for coffee with his cronies. No running to have breakfast at the little cafe, or visiting the farm store. No farmer gossip at all.
A whole week, at home, getting into everything.
Oh please Lord, get that truck fixed soon!

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A Very Gilbert Shawl

So there I was, enjoying a snow day and knitting, when I realized that the yarn on my lap looked a lot like the dog by my feet. 

I hadn't realized the Caramel Lozenge Shawl was almost the same color!  And with his curly fur, its almost the same texture!

Snow Day!

Snowpocalypse 2011?  Well, not as big a snow as the time I was snowed in at work when I was a telephone operator, back in the olden days.

But," tis enough, 'twill serve."  Obviously with a 4 ft drift in front of the garage, I was going no where.  Luckily, Russ thought a snow day sounded like a good idea.  And before I was due at the library, that was closed for the day as well.

 As you can see in the first picture, there was a small gap between the highest part of the drift and the garage door.  Hubby shoveled a opening in the drift and then dug out the door so I could do bunny chores and get some meat for supper.  I also got a frozen pie to bake to help warm up the kitchen.  With our drafty old farm house, and a back door that blew part way open during the night for a couple hours, we had 60 degrees in the house last night.  Baking a pie, together with a shut door and shift in the wind helped warm us up before long.

 Here is a view of the inside edge of the drift, taken from inside the garage.

 Hubby was waiting for the wind to die down before trying to start the tractor.  But first we had a visitor.  As I said on FaceBook, its good to have a son with a Big tractor.  He had taken the tractor home and at 4am, plowed his way to the street and on down the road.  He went from farm to farm, plowing all of his boss's associated farms, one by one.  Luckily we were on the way to his next farm, after plowing out a friend next door. 

So much for the big drift.
Blizzard?  What blizzard?

That Other New Project

I mentioned the other day that I started a couple new projects.  I showed the new sock project, but not the other. 
I was asked (well actually, I was begged) to use some of Betty Todd's marvelous Mohair in Motion loopy boucle to make some article of clothing for another item to display at the fiber festivals.  With all my outstanding projects I was unstandably hesitant. 

But then the yarn in question was laid in front of me, thrust in my hands, played through my fingers.
What can I say?  Yarn slut that I am, I weakened.  After all, I usually get paid in extra yarn for these projects. 

Here is the beginning.  I am calling it the Caramel Lozenge Shawl.  When I type up the pattern for Betty, I'll call it the Loopy Lozenge Shawl.  I have one strand of the light color, which has larger loops, and one of the darker color, which has smaller loops.  I started at the point, am now working straight, and will finish with a point on the other end of the rectangle.  Hence--lozenge shaped.
Its going fast and even though I have two skeins of each color, I will probably be able to return at least a full skein, and possibly part of the first skein of each color.  These are 700 yard skeins, so I have plenty to work with.