Live, Going at Full Tilt

I had my usual Grammy day yesterday. Toddlers like going nonstop don't they?

The toy of the day was his blue shovel, but we had time to read all of his books too. Of course, he turned pages so fast that I hadn't much chance to read, but he was enjoying it. I think he has every board book about tractors ever written.

I am steaming along on the Baby Hap. It still looks like a big sack. The last of the gray is done and I have started the pink section. Still doesn't take a good picture. Did I mention I am going to the the final lace border in purple? I found plenty of purple yarn. I was sure I had a bunch.

I did need to take a break from knitting tonight to help Hubby split firewood. We got the winter's fuel delivered this past week.

This is two or three loads. We got six all together. Most shouldn't need further splitting, but it helps to have a few that I can manage. We also run the water heater through the outside boiler, so we burn a bit all year long.

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Plodding Along

The knitting continues on the Baby Hap.

I finished the last row of yellow and am on the first Gray row, the color pattern is now reversed, with the gray to be followed by pink and then the dark purple and more white. I rummaged in the stash and found four more skeins of the Eggplant (purple), so I have plenty to use for the sideways lace bind off around the perimeter.

I have been greatly enjoying knitting this hap shawl/blanket. I finally broke down and bought The Book of Haps.

Haps are traditional everyday workhorse type of shawls from the Shetland Islands. I love the style. And even though the hard copy will be coming from overseas, I was able to also download the book files as well. I decided the book is definitely a winner.

Because the hap is knit in the round after the center square, it gets bunched up and hard to take pictures. However, it makes a handy built in sack that I can throw the ball of yarn into as I knit.

If it wasn't for the lace pattern, it would be quite portable.

 

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Knitting Update

I was so flustered by my (so far) two roosters, that I forgot to post a picture of the Baby Hap yesterday, as I promised.

The actual waves or shell pattern will open up as I go along. Here, I was only on row 12 out of 50 rows of the shell lace. Two more colors to go: gray and yellow, followed by some more white, then the whole color pattern is inverted. I am trying to decide on white for the outside lace, or the purple. The pattern calls for the creamy white, but this IS for the Purple Princess after all.

I may need to see where the rest of the purple yarn is hiding.

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Keeping Busy

Hubby was busy yesterday, gathering up all the bales from the farthest field, ready for pickup.

Notice this is a green and white tractor.

Oldest Son and his Best Bud have since loaded the bales out. Now we wait for a possible spray of "brown gold" and then second cutting.

Like a crazy person, after Mass yesterday, I cleaned out the girls coop. It must have been that the heat weakened my senses. I should have waited a day, because the humidity is way down today and it is almost pleasant out. At times yesterday I could hardly see, with the sweat running in my eyes.

But today, while watching the race at the Michigan speedway, I managed some knitting.

Since the picture was taken, I have rounded the next corner. I like that I can easily see if I forgot to slip a stitch and go back to correct it. A very fun pattern too, The Ten Stitch Blanket.

In my off times I have also gotten back to my Baby Hap Shawl, started for the Purple Princess last October. I would like to finish it by her birthday.

The hardest thing was picking up the stitches AND getting the correct stitch count. But that has been done and I have started the 50 rows of colored Old Shale lace. I will be using purple, a rose pink, gray, and a pop of yellow. It will finish up with a sideways lace border, probably in white. The lace is easily memorized but I do still have the Tapestry Shawl for brainless knitting when needed.

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No Time To Post

No blogging today. I am in the middle of casting off Sandy's Traveling Woman.

More tomorrow.

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Knitting Through the Heat

Even in a heat wave, the knitting must go on. On Sandy's Traveling Woman Shawl, I have five rows left, then bind off. And only three of the rows are the right side, and need to be watched closely. In this heat, a large fuzzy wool shawl is more of a blast oven on the lap than two cats. I can hardly wait to be done. (Praise the Lord for air conditioning!)

But, the caked yarn is dwindling, as you can see below. I raided the stash (such a useful thing, a stash), and found some of my handspun Leicester long wool blend. The color is close as shown in the twisted skein, although it is not quite as fuzzy. If necessary, it will be a close enough match to finish the shawl. I think my yarn may have more of a sheen to it, just a bit.

And with the end of this shawl in sight, startitis may be rearing its head.

In spite of all the projects on needles already, I may have started something with the above yarn.

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Knitting Around Obstacles

This shows why my knitting volume has slowed some recently. Lewie seems to feel the best place to rest is either on my shoulder, with his tail in my face or on my chest on top of any knitting. Not only does he interfere with the knitting, but he is a little blast furnace!

In spite of all that I managed to finish the last repeat of chart A on Sandy's Traveling Woman shawl.

Working on this is also like having a blast furnace on my lap. The handspun Romney/Leister wool will certainly be warm enough for an Alaskan cruise. And as you can see, I have started the final chart.

Barely started, but started nonetheless. And now we have the heat I need to knit through. I need to turn on the AC ASAP.

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Blocking: Sometimes You Need to Take Action

As I realized that Easter is fast approaching, I decided I better get a certain cardigan blocked and delivered to the little Purple Princess. I don't want her to outgrow it before I get it to her.

I quickly put it in a small tub with some Soak wool wash and let it rest a bit. After wrapping it with a bunch of my dedicated blocking towels, I squished out as much water as possible. Then I set it out on the blocking mats.

The feline beasts have been rowdy today, so I decided some protective measures were necessary.

And not a moment too soon it seems.

For now, Lewie decided it wasn't worth the bother.

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From the Bottom of the Basket

I reached down into the bottom of my knitting basket for this one. I had set it aside because, while it was easy and brainless work, I needed to keep track of the number of stitches. Counting this many stitches is not easy at Knit Nite. Too much talking going on.

I counted off 100 stitches, then another group of twenty, setting them off with my trusty stitch markers. From there it was much easier to keep track of the remaining stitches until I reached the magic number of 144 stitches.

This will be the center square of the baby hap shawl. Now I need to decrease each row until I get down to two stitches. Then I start the lace rows, knit around the outside of the square. The feather and fan rows will be in multiple colors, with an emphasis on purple.

But until then, it's brainless knitting again.

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Wallaby Time for "Laban"

With the completion of the two Baby Sophisticates and matching hat, it is time to turn to a Wallaby for Little Laban.  The yarn had already been selected and was ready to jump onto the needles.  (The link is to the Ravelry project page.)

Beautiful Encore in shades of blue and green.  It was soon zipping along.  Shortly after the ribbing was complete and the stockinette established, I pulled my usual trick and made the pocket flap.  I find it easier to pick up the pocket stitches before I go as far on the body as the pattern calls for.

 After finishing the pocket flap I also cast on for the first sleeve.  I like having them done and ready to add when I get to the yoke.  Lizzie once again graciously posed for scale.  Well, okay.  She had claimed to footstool for her nap and wasn't going to move.
The other reason for getting some of the fussy parts of the knitting done is to have at least one easy, non-fussy project for knit nite.
Because...

My Plain Old Boysenberry Pi is going surprisingly well.  I am 10 rows into the next pattern section.  It now starts to change from the previous pattern.  I think it will be easier than I thought.  Although I am looking to change out the section following this.  I am even considering making the eyelet rings like I did in my Leftover Pi that I made with my leftover sock yarn.  I may do some rounds of eyelets, and the some other lace pattern.  After all I will have up to 96 rows to play with over 576 stitches.
I think that leaves a bit of room for creativity.

A Purple Haze? No, It's Deep Red

I managed to finish both of the Baby Sophisticate sweaters for Little Whose It, and Little Laban this past week.  The buttons are gray with a bit of texture.  I had purchased them for my black cotton cardigan and then chose others.  But they look fine here.

The yarn is really more of a wine color and not as purple as the flash makes it look.  I love the little old man look that they have.  Since I had a fairly sizable ball of yarn left after finishing the smaller sweater, I cast on a wee little watch cap for Whose It.  

That makes finished projects 14 and 15 for the year.  The hat will be 16.

And then,  I returned to the Plain Old Boysenberry Pi.

Gosh, do you think I am in a color rut?   This may be the last time I will be able to get much of a picture of this.  As it grows, it will be harder and harder to spread out enough to show the pattern.  I hopefully have made the last needle jump, now that it is on a 32 inch needle.  It is at least much cooler to knit than large heavy sweaters.  I love knitting lace weight for summer. 

Other news on the family front.  Little Whose It will be Little Farm Boy.  Although only 18 weeks along, he managed to show he was all boy on the last sonogram.  That means I will soon turn to knitting in blue.  After all the previously purchased yarn is used up that is.

There already is yarn for Little Laban's Wallaby (a pocket hoodie sweater), the one for Little Farm Boy, as well as the yarn kit I bought last summer.  I think I am ready to make that one soon too. Those are all easy knits,  and with my Pi as a more intense project, I may never get to my Plumcake sweater. I really had planned on that this summer.

But babies are the best reasons for knitting plans to be upset.

Anticipation Is Keeping Me Waiting

Thanks, Carly Simon, for that reminder.  Anticipation is exciting, but it is keeping me waiting for that little bundle due in December.  One way that waiting plays out, of course, is in my knitting.
I recently finished a Baby Sophisticate in the 12 month size.  (The link will direct you to my Ravelry project page.  You can see the project details and pictures taken while the knitting was in progress.  I will try to use this feature more often to share updates.  Now that I know how to do it.)
This sweater is all done but the buttons and weaving in of the loose ends.  I took a good look at it and as I mentioned before, I immediately cast on the six month size.  It is coming along nicely.
I have only one more sleeve and then the front bands and collar on the 6 inch size.  But because I was nearing the end of the first sleeve just before Knit Nite Tuesday, I decided on taking other things with me.

 One of those things was an old project that is suddenly new again.
I refer to my Pi Shawl that I started in 2010 for Elizabeth Zimmermann's birthday.  The lace patterns meant that it was a project requiring more concentration than I wanted to give it at the time, and it fell woefully behind.  The reason I turned to it now was that I had tripped and fallen into that vast time suck called the Ravelry Patterns database.  It shows whatever pattern you want to search for.  And not only that, but versions of the pattern knit by others.  If people post a picture they have knit of the pattern, as I did for the two links above.  So between looking at all the patterns, and the Pi Shawl pattern in general, I had to dig out my Pi.
It was either that, or cast on something new.
And I really didn't want that to happen.  Since at the beginning of the year, one of my knitting resolutions was to "rethink" about some of my forgotten projects, I decided to pull out the started Pi shawl.
Non-knitters may not realize the significance of either Elizabeth Zimmermann or the Pi shawl.  She is a British born knitter, who married a German beer-maker who came to America, settled in Wisconsin and became a knitting genius and guru to legions of knitters.  She has written several books that are well loved by her fans.  I proudly call myself one of them.  She had a no-nonsense approach to knitting that appealed to me: There are no knitting police, or if you make a mistake and can't or don't want to go back to re-knit it, call it a design element and go forth boldly.  I date my beginning as a real Knitter as opposed to casual knitter from the time I discovered her.  The Pi Shawl is one of her classic patterns, and a very adaptable one.  It can be knit plain.  It can be knit with oodles of lace.  If any of you remember my shawl/blanket that I made in 2012 with a strand of black sock yarn, knit together with a strand of various left over sock yarn scraps.  ( I am really liking this linking to projects.  Here is the Leftover Pi.)
In the case of Boysenberry Pi, it is going to be knit in the classic simpler lace pattern that EZ first envisioned.  It is very intuitive, as long as it is set up correctly.  Of course I may make some changes.  I was considering adding a row of hearts around the final edge, before adding the lace edging.  That heart pattern is part of the lace of the pattern I just ripped back, but maybe I can face one repeat.  We will see what happens when I get that far.  That will be many, many rows from now.   Because I did rip back a couple inches, salvaging the inside rows, I was able to avoid casting on again.  And I was able to salvage some of the original knitting.
And of course, there is still much knitting for babies going on.  I need a Wallaby (hoodie) for the new great-nephew, and one for Whose It.  As well as the rainbow sweater kit I bought last year for my grandchild, and oh, so much more.  I gotta keep my grandbaby warm after all.  Probably a blankie too.  I think I have some wool to use for that.
Babies sure do change knitting plans. But I love the anticipation.

Found Yarn. New Project

I mentioned the other day that I had frogged and reclaimed some yarn from a long languishing project.  I had even swatched for a new project.  The idea was for a new tee type top.  I debated over top down and bottom up.  I cast on for a top down tee, knit a few rows and then put it a way for the night.
After sleeping on the idea, this morning I ripped it back again.  But I knew just what I wanted to make.  I have cast on and am working on the bottom border.

I knew I wanted a lace project for me.  So I am going to use this for the bottom border of the sweater, instead of your typical ribbing.  I calculated that I need about 41 repeats.  I am on number 7 right now.  Needless to say, I have a way to go.  Once the lace is finished, I will need to pick up the stitches for the body along the straight edge.  Of course I need to add a bit of shaping as I go along.   It will be either a raglan or set in sleeve.

I had some qualms about starting another sweater for me.  I do have baby knitting to work on, both for grandnephew number 4, as well as for Little Whose It, my grandchild.  But after all, I did take finish two sweaters this year that were started years before.  Even if this lingers on a while, while I work on the baby knitting, I will have still whittled down the project pile this year.

No updates on the SWestie shawl.  I hope to block it on Monday and will post official finished pictures after that.

Second Verse, Same as the First

Well, maybe it's the third verse by now. Once again I have ripped back the lace bind from my SWestie shawl. I had ten repeats finished and was already panicked that I was going to run out of yarn.

It looked great. But after weighing the remaining yarn and having some "fun" with math, I knew I would run out. Drat.

So now I am trying to decide how to finish it. I could do a third repeat of the Lacy V that I still have left. And follow that with some garter stitch instill I am close to running out and just finish with a stretchy bind off. But all my little markers have been removed that separate the repeats. Right now I am leaning to just working several rows of garter. I am still thinking while it sits in timeout.

I want to get this done to start baby knitting.

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There's a Time

Anyone remember the song from the 60's or 70's "Turn, Turn, Turn"?  It was by the Animals, I think. I haven't checked on YouTube. But the song was based on Ecclesiastes 3. "For everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven."
My knitting went like that yesterday.

I went with Hubby to get a set of tires in Muskegon yesterday. I took along my sock project and made a lot of progress on it. The yarn is from Yarn Hallow. It is a merino and tencel blend so it has a great sheen. the color is Spoumi and I love it. Bright and cheery.

If you look closely, the needle is positioned just above the ribbing. I ended up ripping back to the ribbing and starting over. No fault of the pattern or yarn. It was an user interface error. The textured pattern I chose didn't show up in the busy yarn. So rip it back and change to change plain vanilla generic socks. Much more suitable to this yarn.
All this happened after I had begun the lace bind off on the SWestie Shawl.

I loved how it was working,but after some analysis of the rows knit with the first ball, I was afraid I would run out of yarn before finishing. That's the trouble using stash yarn. This is a discontinued color of Gloss from KnitPicks.

So......
I deliberated some more after packing it away and this morning picked a shorter stitch count with a better chance of not running out of yarn. And once again I ripped.
I'm glad I didn't wait until I ran out of yarn.
Yes, there is a time for every purpose under heaven. That old Preacher was pretty wise.

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Life on a Farm

Hubby seems to enjoy the fact that I am unemployed at the moment.  He is constantly having me come out to the barn to hold the trouble light, push this, pull that, etc.  Today we both went to deliver "The Beef" to our meat processor of choice.  (All animals become named The Beef once they are designated for the freezer.)

With that delivered we then proceeded to the auction sale barn where Hubby had purchased a small (tiny) calf to replace The Beef on the farm.  

Meet little #54.  We get rid of one.  We get a new one.  Life on the farm.  

We also had breakfast out.  Whoo hoo!  Morning date time! For Farm Mom here, sometimes that is as good as it can get.

Meanwhile on the knitting front, the recently completed sweater will be delivered tonight.  I have pretty much decided to start the Shetland shawl before I start the sweater I have envisioned.   I would need to swatch the yarn I have planned on using.  And since I want to also use a lace pattern on the body and possibly lower sleeves, with a stockinette upper body/yoke/sleeves it will take some planning.  I had wanted to use a Custom Fit pattern for it.  But that would only handle one stitch pattern.  The lace part would have me on my own.  I am not sure if I really want to try the pattern fudging with my good yarn.  Or, if I were practical,  I would just use stockinette with a simple lace insert up both sides and center back.  That would be similar to the gray cabled cardigan I made last year.
Since all that is up in the air until I decide exactly what I want to do, I continue work on my SWestie shawl.  I almost have a complete lace repeat done, so will be able to share pictures of the new section soon.  I also pulled out my sock projects to work on.  The car sock project is at the heel and I want to work that past the turn before returning to the car.  My home/travel socks are barely started, but will be good to take to Knit Night.  The lace on the shawl does have some plain rows, but on the two pattern rows mean it not good as the only project for Knit Night.  Hence the socks in the bag for a while.
And one last life note, I did hear of a great sounding job.  I put in an inquiry.  But, alas!  It was for a volunteer position.  While I would love the gig, I cannot afford to drive to a non-paying job.
I shall continue to freelance from home I guess.

Lace Prep

I haven't started the lace projects, or even decided which of the lace shawls I mentioned in my last post will be my lacy shawl  project.  But before I go to far on it, I need to do something about when it is finished and ready for blocking.
Many of my knitting cronies from Knit Nite laugh mightily about my obsession with swatching before a project and constantly checking my gauge during knitting.  They also are rather lackadaisical about blocking.  I know that I am not as adamant about blocking as I should be, but before I go too far along on my lace shawl, I need to make a blocking frame.
The purpose, for non-knitters, of such a frame is to stretch out the knitting and really enhance the lace and open it up.  For most blocking, like sweaters and such, I can lay them out on the bed with a fan blowing on it, and hope it drys before bed time.  But with the frame I can stretch the lace out and even take it out to let
If you enter "lace blocking frame" into your favorite search engine, you can see many images of what I want to make.  I saw this link first and was ready to purchase supplies for it.  Nails and boards and such, a few small bolts and wing nuts.  Plywood I could find around the house.
But then I clicked on another link.
PVC!  What a great idea!  It might take more time lacing it to the pipes, without the nails, but I think it would work.  And if I want to take it outside to dry, it would probably be lighter and easier to move.  I think I will be looking into the cost of pipes and connectors.  If I use four foot lengths, it should make a plenty big enough octagon, and the can be connected end to end to make it long enough for a rectangle shawl.
And while you are googling around, try searching "wooly board frame", and check out the images.  I don't think I will get that fussy on blocking my sweaters.

Blankie Progress

The most recent of my blankie knitting has been growing.  This lace pattern is really eating up the yarn.  After I rounded the corner Sunday, I got out my digital scale and weighed the remaining yarn in the skein.  I then played with the figures on my calculator.
Drat.

I had enough pink left for 1 and a half side or so.  Certainly not enough for 3 more sides.  And the yarn used on the stripe wouldn't have helped either.  I needed to buy another skein.  Luckily a quick trip to the acrylic section of Walmart found that they still had some of that color.  So it should be clear sailing from here.
Whether I can finish it in time for our last week of Bible Study is another matter.  Luckily I have a friend who is the neighbor of the recipient and promised to deliver if need be.  Since the baby is here, she may not be able to make it to our last two classes anyway.

I am rather pleased with how the lace is looking though.  And I finally got the buttons on the sweater vest.  They aren't an exact match, but close enough.

Hope mother and baby like it.  Even if they aren't wool.
And believe me, I am going back to wool and blends as soon as I am done with these.

Lace and More

Life still goes on.  I am sorry if I can't manage to post more often.  You would think that not going to work would free up lots of time,but that doesn't always seem to be the case.
Knitting has been zooming right along, in spite of everything.

Since this picture was taken I have progressed around the third corner and am starting down the last side.  The lace ends with the fourth corner and then grafting 12 stitches. Then, blocking.

I don't, as a rule block acrylic.  But after Stephanie's post at the Yarn Harlot blog this past week (you may have to read back a couple posts from the link), I feel shamed into it.  Hopefully it will help with the fuzzies and settle it down.  And it may just help fit the lace to the inside border better.  You can see a couple ruffles here, and maybe they will quiet down with the blocking.

Or not, we will see.  This is acrylic after all. 

Yeah, I know, I am a yarn snob.  I feel bad that this isn't wool, but the reciepient will be happier I think.  She is not a fibery person, or a yarn snob.

While that picture was taken Tuesday at Knt Nite, I didn't dare try to work on the border with all the chatting and such that goes on.   So I prepared before hand and also packed needles and yarn for another project. 

While I have been referring to this yarn as a medium raspberry, I see that the lable reads "dark rose heather".  Either way, I am starting a top down doll sweater, similar to the light green one I made earlier this year for a gal at church.  This one is for Lil Farm Gal's American Girl Doll, and I will be making a matching one for Lil Farm Girl as well. (Lil Farm Gal is short for Older Son's Girlfriend's Daughter.)

I have a ways to go.  But I also have another project looming as well.  More on that tomorrow.

I promise.