Cottage46 Knitter

2nd time's the charm

Spring Forward Deux is done and it fits!

And it was chilly enough last night that I even got to wear it. 

Pattern: Spring Forward from Twist and Turns
Yarn: Cotton Ease in Blossom
Needles: US7
Comments: My first attempt at this sweater was too big, but I knew I'd knit it again.  I wanted the neck opening to be smaller so I lengthened the saddles and moved some of the neck stitches to the saddles.  I also took out some of the moss stitch on the sides and added a diamond cable to the front instead of a larger moss stitch panel.  I'm quite pleased with the results.

We're having a leisurely 4-day weekend at Cottage 46.  We've gotten back into the walking habit and are doing 5 miles most mornings.  My feet are not adjusted yet and keep blistering.  Very annoying.  I'm working on a baby sweater for a library silent auction while I contemplate what to knit next.  Maybe Cassidy from Chic Knits, or I might do something from a Fine Fleece.  Henry VIII is impatiently waiting for the KAL in Sept. 

I just finished reading The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe.  I devoured it in 2 days.  The main character is a grad student who is preparing to write her dissertation.  She discovers the existence of a 17th-century book of magic that was owned by one of the women executed in the Salem witch trials.  It made me miss academia.  If we ever win the lottery, I'm going back to school and staying there forever. 

The garden is growing well, but we're still spending a lot of time trying to beat back the grass that had been growing there.  We've had 2 tomatoes off the largest plant (which were fabulous) and the other 48 (!) plants have tiny tomatoes on them and are ready to be staked.  Now that we've spent $45 on tomato stakes we'd better have lots of tomatoes!  I guess we'll be investing in Ball canning jars too. 

Project monogamy

Spring Forward is moving along fairly quickly for 2 reasons: project monogamy and a complete lack of indexing projects.  Seriously, I've done like 2 so far this year.  My biggest client seems to be sending work to India.  I've got to do some serious marketing, but knitting is so much more soothing.

One more inch of cables and then on to ribbing and button bands.  Must pull out the button collection and see if I have anything that will work.  We're having breakfast with my mom and grandma next weekend in Shipshewana.  I may have to hit the Yoder Dept. Store and raid the button section.  They're having a quilt show so it will be crowded.

The garden is doing surprisingly well given the 6 inches of rain we've had this month.  Standing water in the garden = not cool.  I'm still battling the grass that thinks it still gets to grow where it used to.  I need to put down some more newspaper and straw.   We had our first tomato tonight.  Soooooo sweeeeeeeet!

I looked up from weeding last weekend and saw this guy.

Two words: Prehistoric.  Enormous. 

Spring Forward 2009

I'm hanging out this morning at a branch library while VK does some yard chores for his aunt.  I was going to do some work (editing 2000 bibliographic entries that migrated weird), but I forgot to bring my little USB plug-in number pad.  I'm not typing in 14-digit barcodes without a number key pad.  So I've been dinking around on the Internet for 2 hours and really wish I'd have brought my knitting.

I've been working on another version of the Spring Forward cardigan in Cotton Ease.  It's moving along pretty well.  Project monogamy.  (Pardon the multicolor table.  It was blue, then it was yellow, now it's both.)  I'm adding a diamond cable to the front instead of having about 20 stitches of moss stitch by the button bands.  I love this pattern and I'm mildly confident that this one will fit!  I'm going to an all-day fitting class next weekend at knitting camp.  Looking forward to it.

We spent the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend getting everything planted in the garden and putting up a wire fence around it.  No bunny salad bars here.  After 6 hours out in the sun, I had a migraine for the rest of the weekend. 

We added 3 rhododendrons to the yard this spring.  They are blooming like crazy!

Kevin has been putting out hummingbird feeders for the last couple of years.  We have one right on our deck that he literally has to refill every day.  I've been nose to nose with a couple of hummingbirds already this spring. 

We also have a robin's next on the same deck.  I think the little guy on the left looks like he's growing weary of the paparazzi. 

FO and Why doesn't Sonya read anymore?

Sorry for the long time, no post.  We migrated to a new software system at the library and we've been putting in a new garden at home.  A HUGE new garden.  We were thinking 15' x 20' and ended up with 25' x 45'.  Oy.  Both things have left me a little frazzled.  You know you're tired when a colonoscopy presents itself as an opportunity to curl up under heated blankets and take a drug-induced nap.

Anyway, the garden:

And the really sad thing is we don't have a dang thing planted in it yet.  We've had a really wet spring so it didn't get tilled until late.  Hopefully we'll get everything planted this week. 

We also went overboard at the flower place:

 

   

Despite the general hecticness, I did finish my Cable and Os cardigan.

The button bands really are the same length in real life.  Really.

Pattern: Cable and Os cardigan from No Sheep for You
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece (I frogged my Fir Cone cardigan for 7 skeins and bought 2 more from Ravelry)
Needles: US #5
Comments: A very enjoyable project.  I added a buttonhole band and did the sleeves from the top down with short rows for the sleeve cap.  Stretching seems to be minimal; it's knit pretty tightly and has lots of twisted stitches.

In other news, I joined not one, but two (!) book challenges for 2009.  I was a voracious reader my entire life until knitting came along.  And frankly the Internet has nibbled my attention span down to a nub.  So I'm going to cut waaaay back on news blogs (not knitting blogs.  Please.) and try to read actual whole books.  I'm a librarian for Pete's sake.  So I added a Book Challenge page to keep myself honest.  (Upper right column somewhere, if you're interested.) 

Coming soon: pictures of my second attempt at Spring Forward.

Henry VIII came to America today

And he came right to my mailbox in rural Indiana.  Alice really packs up a lovely box of yarn, eh?  Still debating the pullover v. cardigan issue.

I'm moving right along on the Cable and Os.  I'm doing the sleeves from the top down.  In Barbara Walker's Knitting from the Top it's called seamless set in sleeve.  Lorna Miser covered it in a class I took at knitting camp last year.  After tearing the house apart, I finally found the hand-out from that class and away I went.  Basically you pick up stitches around the armhole, then start knitting the 20% of the stitches at the top, picking up one stitch at each side until all are picked up.  My row gauge must be off a little because I ended up with a pretty deep sleeve cap.  I've tried it on and it seems to fit OK though. 

This pattern has some serious symmetry issues.  You'll see what I mean when it's finished.  Perhaps someday I will catch on to these things before the sweater is half knit.  Perhaps someday I'll read through an entire pattern before I cast on.  Probably not.

Finally a project

Well I finally settled down and started a spring cardigan, Cable and Os from No Sheep for You.

I had a half knitted Fir Cone cardigan that I totally screwed up the shaping on. 
Lace + Shaping + Minimal instructions + Me = Kind of a mess.
And the pattern didn't really float my boat anymore so I frogged.  I'd forgotten how nicely Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece knits up. 

I have all the pieces of Must Have cardigan done, waiting to be blocked and sewn up.  But it's wool and now it's spring, so that may wait until fall. 

This weekend we're going to take the sod off the spot where our recession/depression garden is going to be.  The Burpee seed order has been submitted, the rented rototiller is lined up, and my dad will be supplying the composted cow manure.  The only spot in the yard that's sunny enough is down by the lake, so I'm hoping it won't be too wet.  We're both excited about this little adventure.  Which is interesting because I loathed working in the garden as a kid.  But I didn't like veggies then either.  Except potatoes. 

Kiki has been doing her best to be helpful. 

Serious knitting ADD

Since the big Oregon finale my knitting has been all over the place.  Seriously.  I've had a cold so that hasn't helped.  It's a good thing my current project basket is large because I can't focus on anything for very long. 

There have been numerous sock projects cast on and tossed aside. 
Salida:

Bayerische (which I think might work better for me on US1s instead of 0s):

And this poor yarn is on its 3rd or 4th incarnation. I don't even remember what it is anymore.

When I am able to concentrate, I've made pretty good progress on Must Have Deux.  Although checking the Ravelry page I see I started it last April, so not exactly lightning speed here.
       

And even when I can't hold myself upright, I can work on this stockinette alpaca vest. 

I did a few rows of Abalone's swatch.  Spindrift is scratchier than VY's 2-ply, isn't it?  I'll get back to that when I don't have to stop to blow my nose every 20 seconds.

I survived celebrated by 41st birthday yesterday.  Whoopee!  No big yarny gifties to show, but VK always pays for my summer knitting retreat.  I hear that I have some lovely flowers from my parents at the library.  (My gift to my co-workers was to keep my germy self home today.) 

VK was home sick today too.  When we're both sick we call ourselves Pneumonia and Congesto Sniffiletti.  Funniest if said with a fakey Italian accent.  Anyway, VK was in the kitchen fixing lunch when I hear, "Ouch!  Oh, I need some paper towels."  He had dropped a knife and the blade landed on his big toe.  By the time I managed to get to him, his flip-flop was full of blood.  Honestly, I've never seen so much blood from something that wasn't a head injury.   It bled for a long time, but finally it stopped and we got it neatly bandaged up.  So the day was not totally without excitement!

Oregon!

Yay!  Oregon is finished and I'm wearing her right now.  She's very comfy and light and warm. 

I noticed once I saw the photographs that my motifs don't quite line up on the front.  I think I just need to move my buttons a little to bring things into alignment.

Pattern: Oregon - Autumn colorway
Yarn: Hebridean 2-ply from Virtual Yarns
Needles: US3
Comments: This is the first time I've used this type of yarn.  The colors are nothing short of stunning.  (Next up is Abalone in Spindrift; I'm looking forward to comparing the yarns.)  I did run out of Golden Plover and ordered another ball.  I know my gauge wasn't spot on throughout the whole sweater.  I'll order the next size up next time. 

The pattern says to trim steeks to 2 stitches.  I did that on the armholes, but it seemed a little close so I didn't do any trimming on the front steeks other than trimming off the dangling ends.  And I think the buttonholes are little close to the edge of the neck band.  Next time I'll move them back a couple of rows or add a couple of rows to the band.

Overall, I'm quite pleased.  I'm trying to decide how often it is socially acceptable to wear it.

Lost on Sleeve Island

One sleeve done.  One sleeve to stub length.  (And the trees are not upside down this time.  I checked.)  Despite all the snow we've had, there was one clear spot on the deck.  Go figure.

I finished my TKGA master knitter swatch resubmits and mailed them off yesterday.  Hopefully by this time next week I'll be starting Level 2. 

When I was buying Malabrigo for Christmas presents I bought myself a skein (purple of course) for a cowl.  Now I'm ready to make the cowl and I. Can't. Find. The. Malabrigo.  I intend to conduct an indepth search tomorrow, but if you hear weaping and gnashing of teeth from the Midwest tomorrow, you'll know I didn't find it. 

Just so I have a 2-picture blog post, the socks I've been working on.  Grumperina's Roza's socks from an IK issue that I can't find right now.  The pattern makes a nice snug sock. 

Does anyone else think this winter has been a bit... much?  If so, enjoy the following.  A Texas friend of VK's sent it to him, hence the Indiana references.  Insert your favorite cold weather destination.

65 above zero:
Floridians turn on the heat.
People in Indiana plant gardens.

 

60 above zero:
Californians shiver uncontrollably.
People in Indiana sunbathe.

 

50 above zero:
French & English cars won't start.
People in Indiana drive with the windows down.

 

40 above zero:
Georgians don coats, thermal underwear, gloves, wool hats.
People in Indiana throw on a flannel shirt.

 

35 above zero:
New York landlords finally turn up the heat.
People in Indiana have the last cookout before it gets cold.

 

20 above Zero
People in Miami all die.
Indianans close the windows.

 

Zero:
Californians fly away to Mexico.
People in Indiana get out their winter coats.

 

10 below zero:
Hollywood disintegrates.
The Girl Scouts in Indiana are selling cookies door to door.

 

20 below zero:
Washington DC runs out of hot air.
People in Indiana let the dogs sleep indoors.

 

30 below zero:
Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
Indianans get upset because they can't start their snowmobiles.

 

40 below zero:
All atomic motion stops.
People in Indiana start saying, 'Cold enough fer ya?'

 

50 below zero:
Hell freezes over.
Indiana public schools will open 2 hours late.

So I went to the post office the other day and there was a big priority mail package.  What could it be?  I haven't ordered anything.  So I rip it open and lo' and behold!  It's my Master Knitter level 1 notebook returning from the reviewers!  I wasn't expecting it yet.  Anyway, only 2 swatches to reknit and a couple of questions to resubmit.  The reviewers provide so much feedback on every swatch!  What's good, what could be improved, etc.  I've learned so much already.  I'm hoping to get the resubmits in the mail next week and then on to level 2.

I almost have Oregon's first sleeve done.  Finally.  Very disappointing that I have another one to do though.  Stupid sleeves. 

My cousin has been posting old pictures of our family on Facebook.  What a hoot! 

Here's me in my first wagon.  I think I was a few months short of 2.  Nice bangs. 

Here I am bathing with my cousin Danny.  Nice pigtails.

I love this one because I think it's my first rendezvous with Chex party mix.  Which I love.  Especially with extra Tobasco.  Nice security blankie.