Not This Year

Saturday marked the beginning of this year's Tour de Fleece.  It runs concurrently with the Tour de France.  (A sporting event whose organizers are blessed with a much better sense of proportion than the US Olympic Committee bozos.). Spinners around the world compete toward spinning goals they have set for themselves.
Armed with fibery goodness and spinning wheels or spindles this competitors try to challenge themselves in tribute to the racers.  (Hear that USOC?  In tribute!). Similar to the event that knitters and crocheters did on the knitters social network, Ravelry while watching the summer games that compete every four years.
I would tell you what those games are, but I could be accused of besmirching and degrading those games.
While I just do not have time to watch the Tour de France or compete in the Tour de Fleece, I simply do not care to run the risk of watching those other games while knitting.  So I won't even watch those events.
Nope. Not this year.
But to all of those Ravelers still competing, craft on!

Campy Fun

Just a bit of light fun, as I watch "The Giant Behemoth". 
A radioactive dinosaur cuts a deadly swath through London.  Meanwhile they show underwater shots of what looks like Nessie, also radioactive.  I'm confused, but enjoying it with knitting and morning coffee.
Cheesy 50's special effects and all.

Hard Working Farmers

 I finally got a chance to view this video on YouTube.  It is called
I'm a Farmer and I Grow It.
It is a subject dear to my heart as both Hubby and Oldest Son are hard working farmers.

I have many farmers in my family.  If you haven't heard of this video, take a look.  It was made by three brothers on a farm in Kansas and it is priceless.

And as we head into the hottest weather of the summer, remember these hard working men and women who are out in the heat doing their best to put bread, meat, fruit and vegetables on your table.
Say a little prayer for them, and when you see one, thank them for all they do. 

My New BFF

Yup, my new Best Friend: lifelines. 
If you look over the picture below, you can see the two pink yarns securing my stitches against dropping.  I chose worsted weight here because with the loose stitches and large gauge, I didn't want something that would slip out of the stitches.
With all the lace I have knit, I have never tried lifelines.  But I will in the future.  My knitting with this tricky mesh yarn is going well, although I still haven't caught up to where I started frogging last week.
But believe me.  Those lifelines will travel up the scarf as I knit along.

Another Skein Down

The picture below may not show much progress, but that tiny orange marker in the top right of this picture is the end of skein three.  Only two more skeins.
I did some calculating.  Each skein gives me about fourteen of the reverse stockinette ridges.  I plan on thirteen ridges on the last skein, to be sure I can still do the 2 rows of garter stitch and have enough left to cast off.  So only 27 more ridges to go!
I can feel the start of my Color Affliction shaw within reach.

Crisis Averted

Check out the picture below.  Count carefully the stitches on the needle.  Eight!
Yea!
So how did I save my Ruffly Joy scarf from being frogged into oblivion?  Basically the same thing I tried at home, but with better light.  And at Knit Nite.
I went down about three inches or so and pushed the ruffles up out of the way so I could see the actual stitches.  And there they were, all eight.  Taking one end of the needle, I picked up one leg of each one of those puppies.
Then I quickly tied the cable in a knot and put a point protector on each tip.  Then I wound up the yarn I had to unravel and packed it all away in the bag. 
Next time that project is in my hands, before I even untie the cable, I will be running a lifeline through those stitches.
I am KNITTER!  I will not bow down to defeat. 

Knitting With Mesh

I think I posted several weeks ago that i had gotten some mesh yarn to use for ruffly scarves. 
It is rather fiddly to knit with, but,I do like the look.  However....
Despite my best efforts, when picking it up to knit a few rows, instead I dropped a few stitches. 
Yikes!  How do you pick up dropped stitches amid all the ruffles?  So far my answer is, you don't.  Right now it is in time out, while I decide what to do.  I have tinked several rows, but am still missing two stitches.
It is very close to being in the frog pond.  Time will tell.

Plying Catch Up

As I mentioned earlier, I had a bit of spinning waiting to be plied.  So today, I sat down with my NASCAR buddies (Yea Junior!!) and plied up a storm.  

I showed you the full bobbins I had.  Some light pink/beige I got from Yarn and a Tale at West Branch a couple years or more ago.  I can't remember the fiber--Corridale perhaps.  I'll have to look for the tag in my spinning guild bag  The green is from Sassy Red Ewe, raised and dyed by her as well.  I think I had 2 pounds of it.  There is was another three bobbins on the lazy kate of the green, but two were partials.  It made a total of 14 bobbins ready to ply.

The lone red bobbin is some more overdyed Islandic; the last of two pounds I purchased several years ago. And then there is the gray.  That is some of my Jacob wool.  A friend from church gave me three bags full of Jacob fleeces.  Well actually more than that, but I found other owners for some of it.  I ended up with 13 pounds, before cleaning.  I finished spinning the small bag, but more than two thirds is still left to spin.
And by the end of the race, this is what I had:

 Five, count them Five empty bobbins.  Granted two were the partial greens that were on the kate, but I emptied them.  I also got two large and one baby of the pink/beige and two large green skeins.  I already had three skeins of the green.  And with two full and two partial green bobbins left, I thinking sweater quantity.

 I originally bought this to try to spin for socks.  This is way too soft and light colored for that.  I could make a scarf or hat of it.  Perhaps even mittens.  I will have to think on it, as this is all I have of this color.  It was some of the wool I unearth when organizing the wool room this summer.  I love finding things I've buried and forgotten.  It is approximately worsted weight.  I am never very good at the wraps-per-inch, but that is what it looks like.

This green I am also loving.  Softer than I thought it would be when spun, a lofty worsted weight.  It will be a great sweater.
And I have bobbins for Spin Guild tomorrow again.

Still Knitting

There is still lots of work happening on Torri's shawl.  But how much can I say about the same blue shawl?
Granted, the color is great.  The yarn is soft and has a great feel.  But It's the same project!  Not much blog fodder there.
But interspersed this weekend with all the knitting, will be some plying on the old spinning wheel.   You see one disadvantage of working in a yarn shop, and big sales was that I often tossed another bobbin in the shopping basket.  As a result, as you can see below, my plying basket has 11 bobbing waiting to be plyed.
And that doesn't count the three on the lazy kate!

Ahhhh!

What a relief. 
True, it is pushing a very uncomfortable 90 degrees outside, but we bit the bullet and got a new air conditioner yesterday.  I was looking at a bother hot weekend, with little knitting, as well as a long crabby summer with no ac, and, well, I cracked. 
My whole outlook on life is better now.  Ahhhh.
And look, see below?  I can still knit wool.

Another Hot One

I truly enjoyed last weekend.  It was cool and crisp.  I broke out the jeans and wool socks and they felt good.
This weekend promises to be more like Memorial Day weekend.
In other words, hot and miserable.
As a result, while I am nearly at the end of the second skein of yarn on Torri's shawl, it may go in time out for a while.  It is long enough now to reach to my toes on my lap, and needs to be tucked over my shoulder, or down my lap for easy maneuverability while knitting.  And this weekend, projected to be reaching 90's and humid, just isn't conducive to a pile of wool on your lap   As Torri said, it isn't as though she will be needing it really soon.

So if the heat is driving the wool shawl into the time out pile, what can I knit instead?  I have been sorting through the nearby WIPs to see what looks good.  Needless to say, I have quite a few options.

I still think that I could work some on the Red Rover Shrug.  It is wool, but spun tightly so not too fuzzy, and still short enough that it isn't going to spend the time laying in my lap.  At least not for a while.  That is a good option.  I really want to finish either the shrug or Torri's shawl before I weaken and start my Color Affection shawl.  

I don't have any current pictures, but I also have Phill's snowplowing socks to finish.  They are the ones knit with wool in the leg and instep, but acrylic blend for heel, sole and toes.  The wool part is done, and I am at the sole on the first one there.  That would be a good portable project too.  Other than the book I need if traveling to Knit Night.  Yup, that is a good option too.

I have the Midnght Black Mohair shawl, that I started in 2006, but that was getting pretty long after I picked it up this past winter.  Hmmm, black fuzzy mohair + 90 degrees + humidity.  I think I will pass on that till fall. 

If worse comes to worse, I do have a bamboo blend from Yarn Hallow that is in the beginning stages of a triangle shawl.  I needed something for a lighter shawl.  And lighter knitting is what I need.  I think I will try to work on that sometime this summer, but maybe I will save it for late summer.  With no AC this summer, and no real prospects of getting any, with out a current income, I think I will hold that for when it is continuously hot.  

When you consider that anything over 75 is too hot for me, I may be getting that out a lot this summer.  

And I may even finish my regular pair of socks that have been on the needles for quite some time. 

But for now, I think the Shrug is up.  So I think I will be getting this hot laptop back in the case, and dig that out. 

Movies and Knitting

I've been watching one of my current favorite movies:  the 1939 version of The Women.  I never realized the ladies in the movie knit so much.  Currently, Crystal is knitting at the fashion show.
How like me, knitting in all the spare moments, during meetings and when in the passenger seat.  I haven't figured out how to knit and drive safely.  Yet.
Knitting and television though, that I can manage.  And as you can see, it is almost long enough to cover my lap, and toes.

Working the WIPs

Pictured below are my two active Works In Progress.  Torri's shawl continues to grow.  Marking the end of the first skein gives me a continuous reference to how much I have done each day.  Maybe it will keep me out of the knitting dark hole, since I can get a sense of some progress each time I pick it up.
Draped across Torri's shawl is my Red Rover shrug made from my handspun mistake yarn.
You remember, I spun it bulky for a sweater, only to realize to late, the pattern called for DK.  (Insert sigh of exasperation here.). I think it is working well though for the shrug since I wanted to upsize it. 
It is currently my traveling project.  It was also my backup when I forgot to put the pattern for Torri's shawl in my bag.  I may just slip in a bit more time on the shrug.
After all, it is standing between me and the start of my Color Affection Affliction.