Feeling Tangerine

Just a note.....

2009-02-04T19:16:00.004-05:00

........that I haven't disappeared, just swamped lately. Half of our local division at work was let go, well more than half, but I'm in the part that stayed. This one wasn't merger/acquisition/redundancy oriented like the others, it is a true shift in business focus so we are scrambling like mad and working around the clock.

Spinning is the only thing I've managed to take a break with. Since this is a large project that involves consistency for a duration, it has been easier to just spin a few yards here and there than focus on knitting related projects. I am really pleased with how it is turning out and I love the heathering.

I was stressing on whether I was on target and stopped before the bobbins were full to ply. I am almost half way there in total yardage for a 3ply aran, 9wpi, 14.5oz and 602 yards, with slightly tight ply to increase the durability of the merino. I got gauge in my swatch (17 spi), a nice fabric (not too drapey like my first sample) and am thrilled with this yarn! It is intended for Harald by Elsebeth Lavold, a gansey (guernsey?) style with traveling cables in the top half. It should make a very comfy curl-up-and-knit-spin sweater for Sunday mornings. Lots of Sunday mornings in Michigan with the long cold season. With cable practice to boot, how good is that!?!

Now I have to spin up the rest of that couch pile from my last post! And those skeins top 6 ounces each!! Much fewer ends to weave in, yay :) You can biggie size the photos if you click on them and actually see the coloration detail.

Stay warm (or cool - wherever you may be!) Personally, I'm looking forward to spring :)

ETA - There has been "stash acquisition" too, hopefully I'll get some pics this weekend........I may have gone SABLE lol :) but that doesn't take very much for me!

I've gone.......nuts

2009-01-11T21:08:00.006-05:00

It takes a lot of wool to make a bit of yarn and my house has been taken over lol. I think I have finally finished blending the batts. Each batt is approximately 1.7 ounces blended from three separate multi-dyed merino tops of 1 pound each. The braids off to the right are what I started with and they looked like a pile of steaming entrails coming out of the dye pot! Much prettier blended don't you think? ;-) The yarn in the photo is my sample from the last post, you can see that I lightened the blend considerably to a more raspberry heather. I only double blended so there will be minor variances in the finished yarn. I could have run it through 1-2 more times but I like watching the subtle shifts while spinning.

I've only spun about 7 ounces so I have about 24 more to go to get to the end total of 1500 + leeway for 100 yards variation in spinning density. I'm spinning a 3 ply so that is 4500-4800 yards in singles then another 1500 yards for plying. And yes, you can BUY yarn, but I like spinning and blending my own. This is my first attempt at a sweater so I am very excited.

Speaking of yarn purchases and excitement, I have received my newest love - St. Aula! From Virtual Yarns of course :) Yeah!!!!!! Stranding on really big needles feels funny but I am in total love with this sweater.

The photos don't do it much justice but if you click on the swatch to make it larger you can see that Dulse is not brown, but green with many flecks of purple, red, etc. mixed in. The background is Limpet, the deep purple but it looks more blue here. The constant blizzards this weekend wouldn't let me get a good natural light photo so I had to make do.

I don't have much time lately and worked most of the weekend so the "Guilt Squad" did major duty staring holes in my back on the office futon. Everytime I got up to do something I was tackled in a traffic jam at the office door by bouncing excited puppers 3 feet tall and pogo-sticking in the doorway. I'm 5'2" - you can imagine the rest but I really couldn't help but laugh at their antics.

And since they did try to be good (even though they *know* they aren't supposed to be on the futon) I'm off to give them some treats and loves before bedtime. How could I resist ;-)

Many thanks again Marina - I wouldn't have considered Dulse without your beautiful photos!

Happy Hogmonay!

2008-12-30T18:06:00.001-05:00

Did you know that Scotland shuts down for the new year for like 4 days to celebrate Hogmonay? Yeah, apparently when you tell a people they cannot celebrate Christmas they get really creative. So I'll get an answer to my question from our Scottish friends when they "stagger back in on Saturday". I love this! I think I will have to add this to my annual celebrations in honor of my ancestors. Then when my friends tease me "you drink like an Irish lass!" I can retort "and party like a Scot!" I should have discovered this in my 20's! :)

My year end party is being spent with my six year old nephew which is apparently a "Family Tradition". My niece gets Christmas Eve's-eve. I'll fill you in on that later.

The Alba swatch is complete. I finally used all of the 17 colors at least once so it is no longer a swatch. It was quite fun because while I had all of the colors in front of me, I wasn't too sure what decisions I had made last year when I re-worked my colors. I like it!

Ophelia is still ahead on number of rows and has not disappeared into the river as yet. She will get more attention once I finish at least one repeat on Alba.

On other fronts, I am preparing to join in with with Ravelry Forum "Spinners Central" to spin for a sweater in the first quarter of 2009. I always thought I would need to be close to a perfect spinner to accomplish something like that but they got me to give it a try and I was delighted.

I dyed up, blended, spun, set and knit my sample. Started out with some basic cables which held up well and then threw in some of Lavold's, they hold up too. The color way is too much like the Shepherd's Wool in my stash so for the actual sweater I dyed up 3 lb's in a brighter mix, everything from deep purple, black, six shades of red, and even some various pinks with a bit of white. I'm blending up the batts now for a nice deep heathered raspberry shade. I think this will help the cables show nicer as well.

Happy New Year Everyone!!!!

Tis the Season

2008-12-15T19:46:00.006-05:00

For sparkly lights! The lights are always my favorite part. When I was a kid we used to have live trees with those really big actual bulbs on the tree. And it was always a huge deal to see how many lights we could actually get on the tree. I have never outgrown that and have been known to challenge the circuit breakers on occasion in my delight. This is as far as I got this year though because I totally broke out in hives by this point. But it looks pretty :)

So while I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I haven't developed allergies to any of my other decorations, I was delighted to find this in the mail when I got home. I must admit, I ordered the kit for stash. Everyone else has "just stash" so I wanted some too. Instead of my standard of "WIP Stash" ;-) We'll see how long this works for me.

I ripped it open, jumped on the bed, and dug them all out to oooo and ahhhh over. Dam I love these colors!! And now that I've been able to check 'em all out I have my choices for St. Aula!!!! Now just to see if the exchange rate will cooperate with my budget. Wheee!!!!

Thanks Sonya, Brigitte and Marina for all of the enabling, you guys are good! But I think it was really worth it!

Back to School for Me

2008-12-01T19:02:00.007-05:00

I have mostly been camped out with google and just about every knitting book I own researching all the various nuances of sleeve construction. Eventually, I will actually knit sleeves for my sweaters, that would actually make them sweaters, as opposed to a pile of potential oddly shaped vests. So to achieve actual sweaters, I find myself needing to understand the "why" of how sleeves are done for that magical transformation. This is so not very blog worthy.

I have also been researching cast-on and cast-off methods - while I understand them and can use them, figuring out why one is the best option for the project at hand - not so intuitive. Most times, the basics work fine. But apparently it's a whole new ball game when it comes to lacey knitting. This is also, so not very blog worthy. But these things take time, and that's what I've been doing with my time, so that's what you get :)

I have also become obsessed with the stranded knits again. I keep trying to do other things, you know, those things with less stitches and bigger needles? Those things that actually let me *finish* something? Yeah, what a unique concept. I like this concept and will learn it eventually, but not this week. This week I had to start Lorraine's Ophelia.

I didn't realize it until I got the pattern that it is exactly what I was looking for when I was playing with traditional charts in the this colorway previously. Still waiting for the two colors I didn't have enough of in stash. Karen was out of stock in the main one but Anne had plenty so they'll be here soon and I can use the J&S 90 that I'm obsessed with :)

I'm loving it but I've had to start exploring different join methods because I was getting blisters from felting. More back to school for me - Schoolhouse Press being on the list.

I ran out of needles and colors to swatch for St. Aula too, so I had to order more of those as well. I really hope the mail comes soon, because these aren't working for me.

Beginnings, new and revisited

2008-11-23T16:10:00.008-05:00

New Beginnings:

I took the pile of squiggly frogged yarn and recycled it. Third times a charm! 17 colors changing every other row. I need one with less color changes to alternate with because my hands were getting sore felting the splices. They are really really smooth now though :-)

Alba Revisited

Tahki Donegal Tweed - yes, yet another CPH. But I really wanted to try the yarn and I need a sweater that I can leave on my chair at work. I was surprised when it showed up. It is definitely a long wool I think and it isn't soft, but it wasn't bothering me to handle so I'm looking forward to this one.

Sweater Swatches - I've been working on tonal dyeing roving and fleece. This is a sample I did in a dye I hadn't used before and had no idea what color I was dealing with. I got everything from soft yellows through fall leaf oranges through almost a burnt orange/brown. I test knit a sample to see the effect and I like it. I'm debating taking on the challenge of spinning for a whole sweater - in reds. We'll see.

I also swatched for St. Aula but the photos didn't turn out and I haven't found the color combination I want so that has to wait. Seaweed is swatched and ready to go.

..........And then we come to this morning. I have been sick, the winter cold thing, and all I have wanted to do is sleep. Sweet sweet sleep for this achey tired body. So I did that for most of yesterday and went to bed at a decent hour like a good girl. And woke up at 3am dreaming that I was almost done with this:

I couldn't go back to sleep so I went digging, found her dusty box, dragged her out and curled up on the couch to figure out where I left off. I never fail to be startled every time I pick her up again how much I love her, fits and all. I won't bore you but I made some progress this am and I am excited that I am now within 24 rows of binding off the shoulders. Does that count as half-way done?

I also realized that I have never done sleeves and should probably practice the sleeve itself with it's shrinking circumference before I try it with the longer floats so I surfed over to the one I knew would not, could not, let me down in having a beautiful and rhythmic fair isle. She didn't, and I'm swatching.

Happy Sunday!

It's just like falling off a bike........

2008-11-17T20:07:00.003-05:00

My head is spinning. My fingers need to be spinning for the nephews mitts but I've been slowly digging through my stash, and cruising yarn stores, and searching online and....... I have no pretty pictures to show.

I realized I need to frog the first sleeve cap on V since I was not paying attention.

I frogged the edging for Alba since I had cast on for Alba the second time for a larger size, which I no longer need.

I frogged an afghan project that I never liked and gave away the yarn because I would never use it.

I frogged a sock cuff in a yarn that I just do not like and decided I didn't have to finish it and could donate the yarn to someone who would like it.

I tossed a bobbin of fiber that I know I won't use because it itches and accepted that I don't have to spin it anyway. It will make great stuffing for dog toys instead and the remaining roving may help being donated to a new spinner that needs practice fiber and is not as sensitive to the itch factor.

I am working to clear out what bogs me down and add to my stash those that I love. So all I have to show right now is piles of squiggly frogged yarn. But I feel wonderfully liberated! And now I feel clear to indulge in startitis - pics next time!

Holloween Treats!

2008-11-02T10:47:00.005-05:00

Trick or Treating was was awesome this year - it was in the 60's and not a drop of rain, a rare gem of a Halloween. I love watching the kids scampering all through the neighborhood all dressed up, makes me feel like a kid again myself.

While I didn't roam the neighborhood in search of candy treats, I did receive a beautiful treat from Scotland. I finally broke down and ordered from Virtual Yarns to see what all the fuss was about with the Hebridean, other than the obvious fact that the colors are fabulous. I like the Seaweed Wrap with the combination of open work and texture and I realllllly wanted to do it in Red Rattle - but of course they didn't have enough 2 ply in stock so I had to switch so I chose Witchflower. I thought it would have a bit more purplish heather to it than it does, but it's still pretty.

I also ordered a few samples of 3 ply and as you can see by the photo, dove in before even thinking to take pictures. This stuff is awesome! Wow. Dense, scooshy, and not itchy all at the same time. I must say all of her research and planning for yarns that meet the specific criteria for traditional designs paid off. Just playing with the stuff makes me want to frolick in the land of crazy cables. But before I jump off that bridge, I have to play with colors for St. Aula and see if a stranded sweater in 3ply is a good idea for me or not.

The Red Rattle I had to get just because I wanted to see the color in person. It's an exact match to my pillow cases - my favorite shade of red. I love the color shadings in Storm Petrol and was quite surprised at how much I like the Solan Goose, have to see if it's too much contrast though. The Limpet was a substitution - I had wanted Kelpie but they ran out so I got a nice note from with a complimentary substitution of Limpet. I love this shade of purple! And lastly, Spindrift. I was looking for a shade that would mimic a golden color without being orange or too yellow. Spindrift may be too brown for my taste but I love the little flecks of blues and purples so I'll have to check it out. There were so many other shades I wanted to try but they were sold out of in 3ply. Some day :)

Well the temp has dropped down to the 40's today so I'm off to swatch and make some baked potato & cheddar soup, yum!

Happy Sunday!

Harvest Yarn & the Sheep Herder

2008-10-26T20:48:00.000-04:00

Varying views on fall. At my house it means way too many acorns to trip over (this year was incredible!), leaves that cover the world, and good reasons for soup and fires. Some areas it means the harvest. I've missed having a garden of any kind in recent years so I curled up with one of my favorite coffee table books for inspiration. Harvest yarn was inspired by a few of the harvest paintings by Vincent VanGogh. I love how he captured the essence of the harvest in colors that bring it to life but are not the typical ones associated. So I captured some of those colors in wool. I find it soothing even though it is a far cry from my usual palette.

Vincent's Harvest
2ply Merino "imperfect" worsted weight (it's a texture thing)
208 yards
100 grams

I keep seeing it in one of EZ's Baby Surprise Jackets, there have been so many adorable ones posted in handspun. Anybody got a little guy to knit for?

So while I was "harvesting" apparently Remy was upstairs "herding". There he is with ALL of the sheep stuffies in one tiny herd. Such a good boy!

Knitting & TV & SUNSHINE!

2008-10-20T08:08:00.000-04:00

All of you are correct of course, relaxing is essential and I need to get back in practice. Something else that goes with relaxing and fun fibery things is TV! Miss that too. I got a DVR so I can record some stuff and schedule some knitting time in front of the tube. Any new shows out there that are worth checking out? I was addicted to House but it went a bit odd with the whole new team thing and I haven't been such a fan.

On the knitting front, I cast on for the first sleeve to "V" but did something weird so I frogged and started over, hopefully I'll get some progress this week maybe.

On the happy front, my land lady was in town this week for her grandson's wedding. I was very very happy today when they stopped by and helped me out with a few things that I hadn't been able to fix by myself. Sometimes the simplest things - like the blinds on the living room window (big big window) got stuck when I put them up to open the windows. I never could get them down again so I put paper over the window for privacy. Just wasn't "enough" to bother them about. Well as a few more things occured I felt it was ok to ask and they fixed the blinds too! It was one of the nicest fall days in Michigan with lots of sunshine and having the paper off the windows and letting the sun shine in was WONDERFUL!!! Woodstock happy dances!!!!

And while I know my landlady also happens to be Majorie's mom, it didn't connect that the wedding was her son's, I'm a little slow sometimes and out of touch blog wise. Congrats to Marjorie, have to scope the blog to see what's up :)

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend too.

Fall, Work, and Fear

2008-10-08T19:25:00.011-04:00

I work too much plain & simple and I love my job but it takes alot in this economy to make sure I keep it. Did I mention I'm in Michigan, single, and dealing with the highest unemployment rates in the country while working in the financial industry??? Yeah, I think you get why I've been scared and working too much.

The BIG BUT - with fall starting all I really want to do is make things like homemade soups, roasts, etc. Things that use the oven I haven't wanted to turn on during the hot months and filling the house with all of those wonderful home cooking smells for hours while I curl up with a fiber project in front of the fire. I'm going to try to do that occasionally and sneek some peeks at what everyone else is up to. We'll see how it goes.

During my hiatus I have also lost about 25lbs - working all those hours did have side benefits. I feel great but all of my WIP's are going to be too big and it's not very motivational to pick them up again right now. So in an attempt to get back in some fibery balance I ordered a kit for "V" from Spunky Eclectic awhile back in a hand dyed colorway of Amy's that I have always admired. With my limited time and not being a speedy knitter, I wanted a simpler knit and "V" is a great replacement for the boring sweatshirts that haunt my winter wardrobe. I've not actually knit a basic sweater other than Kepler and that was my first cabling experience. Boring for many of you but I find stockinette in a colorway I love to be very soothing and it fits my time contraints.

I'll see what I can do for balance. I've been kicked out of all the fiber rings so I guess I'm free to post whatever and whenever I can. I miss knitting. I miss spinning. I miss this. But I miss all of you the most.

ETA - Pics & Links

Happy fall ya'll :-) And a very Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends!

The overworked and overstressed - but definitely trying to fix that,
DeeAnn

test

2008-10-06T07:52:00.001-04:00

Perceptions, or just really strange behavior patterns

2007-11-25T11:42:00.000-05:00

Hope everyone in the US had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! I spent most of the weekend in bed with my annual sinus/cold/virus misery but did manage to grill myself a turkey sandwhich to celebrate and stare at Ravelry when I could keep my eyes open for an hour or so.

Some good things about a cold or whatever is that it forces you to rest, take care of yourself, cut yourself some slack in the never ending list of daily stuff you need to accomplish, and when you start feeling better, some good old thinking time. Thinking about fiber and knitting habits was high on my contemplation list this weekend. I've almost added all my projects to Ravelry and realized several things that I have weird perceptions on, one that I don't accomplish much on the knitting front, two that I love to spin but never actually do anything with it, three I love red and go out of my way to pick any other color so my whole wardrobe isn't red so I have no red things. Looking at my projects I realized that nearly half are with handspun and or handpainted yarns, some even hand blended from fleece I bought in the grease. That's a lot of time spent before I even get to the knitting part and I enjoy it, I just don't seem to acknowlege that part of the accomplishment to myself very much I guess. Or the time planning, recoloring, improvising, etc. And if I add in all the handspun to my stash I think things will become even clearer but it was great to realize I do use it quite often. So I was very thankful to Ravelry this weekend for giving me a wonderful sense of accomplishment. Even though there is a ton to learn, it is really nice to acknowledge all the strides and straighten out some odd perceptions. Maybe having it staring me in the face everytime I log into Ravelry will make it finally sink in :)

Before my epiphany on the Red issue, I had yet again forced myself to pick another color for the next project. I finished Alix's Prayer Shawl but my photos are lousy so I'll post it when I get a decent shot. With that done, and all my socks finished, I needed another "easy" project and I chose the Nantucket Jacket, Interweave Knits Winter 2006. My definition of "easy" being that I can pick it up whenever I have a few minutes here and there and throw in a row or two without having to look up everything to figure out where I am at. This sweater fits that bill nicely, there is a rhythm to the stitches and I can knit the next row by reading the knitting so it is relaxing and not boring.

I couldn't get the color right in the progress shot but this close up captures it fairly well.

And after the Red Epiphany? Picked up some of my favorite red Silky Wool to start swatching with. Maybe an Elsebeth Lavold design will follow Nantucket :)

Guess what I found!?! and finished even :)

2007-11-09T20:25:00.000-05:00

After I moved in October '06 I misplaced a project of mine and it took me forever to find it - MSFIFFAS!! I did find them and did finish them - love 'em. Now that the weather is turning chilly they are perfect Sunday morning socks, when you have no plans to leave the house, curl up in your favorite comfy clothes, and work on projects. On a really good Sunday, this includes a bonfire in the fireplace, mmmmm.....

Meg Swansens Fair Isle Form Fitted Arch Socks from her book "Knitting":

Check out the soles on these - they really custom fit to your foot. Meg's were knee-highs that I don't wear so I made mine a nice crew height. Wearing hand knit socks is my major motivation for knitting them - nothing feels as good and toasty as hand knit wool socks. And these puppies? they are SOFT - baby yarn soft and perfect for curling up on the couch. Yeah!

I also finished the Sweet Germaine scarf for my friend.

Barbara Walker calls it the Germaine stitch and other publications refer to it as Arrowhead Lace and Cables. I'll post a finished pic when Amanda actually wears it this year. It's Henry's Attic Alpaca Prime - wonderfully soft to knit with. This particular pattern doesn't require blocking, just a handwash and dry flat so not a great deal of maintenance for friend.

One new thing cutting into my knitting time (other than ungodly hours at work) is bowling. How exactly can bowling and knitting compete? I'm still not understanding it myself since I was never a bowler until now. However, some great friends of mine conned me into this and then actually bought me a ball to reaffirm the new anchor. It's a blast even though I don't bowl very well and shhhhhhhh.......there's a cute guy in the league that may just be a bonus. (yes, I do imagine him in a proper sweater, preferrably handknit, why do you ask? Ok, I confess, flirting is actually what I'm thinking about :)

Ravelry and stuff - really bright stuff

2007-10-26T18:46:00.000-04:00

When I first got my computer back up everywhere I looked everyone was going on about Ravelry. No clue what the hoopla was about but like a good sheep I put my name in the bin and didn't think anything else about it. Yesterday I go to post and have an invite message in my mailbox so of course I have to check this out instead. As all of you already know, it's pretty amazing! Now I just may be able to find a sweater pattern that I actually want to knit and to wear :)

I've had a new job for awhile and the hours are quite long. Every time I sit down at the computer at night, I'm overwhelmed by what all of you have accomplished this year, I don't even know where to comment! Wow you are prolific!! Me, not so much. It was too hot this summer to work on the shetland stuff so they have been hibernating. I mostly just finished up little projects and a few shawls. Right now I'm finishing the last repeat before the edging on Alix's Lace Prayer Shawl by Myrna A. I. Stahman. It's on the Debbie Macomber site and I fell in love with it because it seemed like the perfect pattern to hold up to highly varigated hand dyed yarns. So I hit the dye room and came up with the brightest, most cheerful colorway "Oil on Water". My inspiration was actually a oily puddle in a parking lot that was just shining in a greasy rainbow.

Crazy colorways shouldn't just be reserved for socks. We'll see if I still think so after it's blocked, but it sure is fun to knit with happy colors.

Shetland Triangle Shawl - Dandelions and Violets

2007-09-25T18:46:00.000-04:00

Ok, to start the catching up..... My sister was born in the time of year where everything in Michigan has finally reached that lush green state we longed for after 6 months of winter. The first things that come up are always dandelions and violets and I'm estatic that anything at all is blooming.

This year, I dyed some merino to match the moment of the season and spun it up light fingering weight. Then the hunt was on for the perfect pattern for me, and the yarn. I think the Shetland Triangle Shawl was the perfect fit. I love the look of the finished shawl, it can handle the long but somewhat soft color runs that I really wanted to show in the yarn and it's the easiest pattern I ever tried - even easier than Forest Canopy. Both were a great deal of fun for summer knitting. I did manage to finish the spinning prior to the actual heatwave of a Michigan summer so it wasn't the challenge it can be - spinning merino in heat and humidity makes me swear alot!

I love how it turned out and the colors captured the look of my lawn perfectly! She was pleased.

Modifications? Well, I added an extra repeat of the pattern stitch and went up a needle size for it, then went up another needle size for edging round. The final edging is short 2 rows because I ran out of yarn but I think it finished off just fine. I like going up a needle size at the end to get a good stretch on the points.

***I'll update this post with the appropriate pattern credits but right now I think dinner is burning!!

Hello, Hello, Is there anybody out there?

2007-09-18T19:19:00.000-04:00

I'm back!!
Holy fleece, it's been awhile. I do finally have my pc back up and running and internet connections again so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. My technology issues and finance issues were in direct opposition there for a bit but for now they seem to be playing quite well with each other. I'm quite excited and I've missed everyone!

If you don't remember me, my name is DeeAnn and I knit very slowly accompanied by charming greyhounds..... :-)

Now, to get the picture stuff figured out so I can post again and to visit all of you and see what you've been up to this summer. Cheers all!!

Contest results

2007-04-21T10:17:00.000-04:00

I loved all of the stories about how everyone celebrated some of their "Big Oh" birthdays, thank you for playing along with me. And the winners as determined by the random number gods are:

Amy
Brigitte
Nicole
Nessa - whom I don't have a blog link for
Lorraine

So what did you win??? It's a surprise! Send me an email to deeann AT feelingtangerine.com with your address and you'll get some surprise goodies in your mailbox. Pretty good deal to open the box and find something that isn't asking you for money :-)

On the knitting front I finally finished the handspun superwash merino socks I had been working on. The funny thing about socks is I have no sense of urgency to finish them until I cast on for another pair. Since I started the Hosta socks I got motivated to wrap these up. The merino was not blended with nylon so I gave it a fairly tight plying and knit it rather snug in an effort to improve their longevity. After the first wash they got the faintest halo and are the softest socks I own. Happy happy feet!

Thank you for all the kind words for Rocky, I really appreciate how compassionate fiber folks are.

A moment of silence

2007-04-19T11:25:00.000-04:00

It has been a very stressful and sad time here at Feeling Tangerine. Rocky, the wonderful and sweet foster that lived with me for over six months and was just recently adopted by the best family I could have ever asked for, became very ill. Day after day we were all on pins and needles while the vets worked to figure out what was causing the problems. It was all too much for him and last weekend they had to say goodbye. It broke my heart. I loved that big guy and he touched us all deeply. His loss is no less than if it had been one of my girls. The only reason he was ever adopted was because they are outstanding people, they live down the street and me, the girls and my niece and nephew got to visit him. If it was not for them, I would have resigned from fostering and he would have stayed here.

A moment of silence for you, my friend.

Bless you Rocky!!

** I will return to fibery content tomorrow and post the contest winners. Thank you for your patience. - D

Apparently I have done something dumb

2007-04-05T23:58:00.000-04:00

Does this surprise me? Not really.

I was trying to update my blog sidebars today and I saved one thing, then changed another and Blogger didn't like it, so I chose to discard changes, and it didn't like that either. Not having made a backup, I had to start over with something. So this is the current something until I figure out some degree of xml, css, and php or whatever that is. I'm not a programmer, can you tell? I didn't really like my blog layout to start with so maybe my adversion triggered the change?

So with way too much blogger frustration, I lost all semblance of what I had wanted to post. Can't remember a darn thing! Think maybe that 40th birthday zapped a few too many brain cells? Just maybe ;-)

So it's my birthday week and while many people reflect at New Years, I don't usually reflect until my birthday month. This is the one time of the year nostalgia is the trend. I don't have children so my moments with my nieces and nephews are precious to me. I will share with you a few of those moments from my youngest nephews latest visit.

A few of my favorite quotes and moments with Alec while spending the night: (Alec just turned 5 and this picture does not do him any justice - Brad Pitt wishes he was this cute at 5)

When we get to my house and unpack his new play-dough. "Aunt DeeDee you come sit by me and play, ok?" he says. "Ok Alec, what are we going to play?" I answer. "We're going to make PaPa!" he declares. "Hmm, then we might need more play-dough..." I say. "Oh Aunt DeeDee!" he giggles with glee. (PaPa is my dad. Understanding sarcasm at 5 - he rocks!)

While cuddling on the couch just before bed he drifts to a horizontal position next to me. "Aunt DeeDee, I'm going to put my feet on you and you can lay on me ok?" minutes later "Aunt DeeDee, why do you like me so much?" (Because I love you so much I can't even talk??)

While being tucked in for the night one of the dogs jumps up and curls up next to him. "This is a good dog Aunt DeeDee. This dog can stay." as he wraps an arm around her and begins to twirl her fur as his eyes close. (he usually twirls his own hair as he falls asleep)

In the morning after getting up for a few minutes, shouting at me at the top of his lungs while I'm in the bathroom "AUNT DEEDEE I NEED TO TAKE A SHOWER RIGHT NOW!!" and I respond "Hold your horses little man, what's your hurry?" Alec "Oh man! I have to take a shower right now Aunt DeeDee, these dogs just licked me ALL OVER!" (Can you see all of the contortions on my face while I desperately try not to crack up??)

Getting ready to leave for lunch. "Aunt DeeDee are these dogs going to miss me when I go home?" "I'm sure they will Alec but they will be excited to see you next time" I respond. Pause. "Aunt DeeDee, you need to get a kid so your doggies won't cry." (Word for word, I swear! Slay me! I had tears in my eyes imagining the 'kid store' from his point of view where we could just go pick one of those out, you know, to help out the dogs!)

Pausing at the windows in the tunnels of the play center at Burger King to blow me kisses and shout "I love you Aunt DeeDee!!". Then when he gets to the hard climb just before the tunnel to the slide informing me "This is the part where you have to cheer and say "Great job Alec, you are the best!", ok? You say that right here Aunt DeeDee cus I'm the winner, ok?" "Ok Alec, but there isn't anyone else here" I respond. "I made up some friends over there and they get to be the losers" he tells me. "Alec, everything isn't about winning and losing, sometimes it is just playing" I say. "It's ok Aunt DeeDee, it won't hurt their feelings, they aren't real." he says explaining everything.

Packing to go home, I ask Alec "Alec are all of your toys in this bag?" "I don't want to go home right now Aunt DeeDee" he says. "I know Alec. Check this bag to see if all of your clothes are in here" I reply. "Aunt DeeDee, I don't want to go home right now!" he says a bit louder. "I know Alec. Did you get your underwear out of the bathroom?" I say. "Aunt DeeDee are you LISTENING to me??" he yells. "Yes Alec, that is why I am talking to you. But in this case, just wanting something doesn't make anything change" I tell him straightforwardly. He hangs his head and says "Oh maaan!" followed by a big sigh as he trudges off to get his underwear. A few minutes later he says "Aunt DeeDee is Madalynn going to spend the night tonight?" "No Alec, tonight is a school night" I answer. "But she HAS to Aunt DeeDee!" he declares. "Why does she HAVE to Alec?" I ask. "Because then it can be my turn again!" he informs me smiling victoriously at figuring out this solution. (Madalynn is his sister, as you may have guessed)

"Aunt DeeDee, I think you wore me out." he says softly from the backseat on the way home. "Two points for Aunt DeeDee then!" I declare looking over my shoulder but he is already asleep by then.

No one has ever struck me speechless so many times in so few hours! Hug your kids or dream of them - they are truly priceless :-)

They say it's your birthday, gonna have a good time!!

2007-04-02T23:01:00.000-04:00

Birthday Fun:Yep, it's my birthday, one of those "Big Oh" ones so I've been celebrating all weekend and plan to continue all week! :) As you may have guessed, as a result, I have no knitterly progress to show for myself whatsoever. So what is a blogger to do? I thought a contest may be nice? If you feel so inclined to leave me a birthday greeting with a thought or two on how you enjoyed some, or one, (I'm assuming you are all over 10 :), of your "Big Oh's", sometime between now and next Monday (the 9th), I will use a random number generator to select a few lucky folks for some nice gifts. I'm thinking some hand dyed fiber or yarn, some custom gemstone stitch markers, and maybe some hand made soaps. I'll post some examples during the week to actually put color back in the blog.

Swatches:
Many Thanks to everyone that expressed an opinion on the recent swatches for my next fair isle brainstorm. If you haven't expressed an opinion yet, please do. It is as nice to hear that it appeals to you as it is to hear that you think it is crazy. As I practice with design, feedback is crucial. I can come up with ideas, but if they have no appeal to others, then I know to just make them up for myself. But if they ever do seem to appeal, I will work on writing up actual patterns to share.

So far the consensus is:
1. no one expressed that they detested it but maybe those that did were feeling that they shouldn't say so in the comments
2. some expressed that that the orange/yellow shades may be overwhelming but liked the more subdued bands of blue and green and deep orange that tempered them a bit in the larger swatch.
3. some expressed that the colors really jumped out and thought this was a good thing, more so after seeing the repeat that I cut and pasted together.
4. and yet others shared that the orange/yellows advance and the greens/blues recede, not necessarily a bad thing, but distinctive in this pattern

Personally, I fell in love with the orangey/yellow shades and my goal was to find something that showcased them and made them stand out, without making them too dominant. I like the shades, but they aren't flattering to my complexion so some temperance was in the objective. I also find that the colorways A. St*rmore puts together are striking and unexpected, which appeals to me greatly. I find the "art" factor here, the distinctiveness that is expressed by the most talented of colorwork designers. The colorways I have done to date are more conservative and stretching into that realm is a personal goal and something I strive to achieve someday.

So enough for text, express yourself and we can have a little fun! If you want to enter the drawing, state whether you spin or not and I will keep the fiber categories separate so you don't end up with something you have no use for. The goal is a little sharing of fun :)

I'm really having a great birthday!

Maybe?

2007-03-28T17:50:00.000-04:00

ADD Knitter on the loose

2007-03-28T08:29:00.000-04:00

This is what happens when I get bored with monotone projects and have read too many Fair Isle blogs.......I crave colors like some people crave chocolate or Cracksilk Haze and I get a little cranky until I get my fix. The next band would pull out the greens and periwinkle-ish shade but I thought I should pause to assess. The stitch patterns aren't set, more placeholders for working out concepts and colorways. So what do you think? Interesting? Yay? Nay? Meh?

I used to paint my house. I could do that a lot faster than I can knit.

It's all in the tension.....

2007-03-26T22:17:00.000-04:00

I had some interesting realizations this past week. It started out fairly ordinary as I succumbed to the influences of blogland and an overwhelming need to cast on another pair of socks. Not just any socks, I wanted spring socks and I really, really wanted to try and tackle a pair toe up. All of my other socks have been top down and I've refined that process to produce a perfect fit, something I have been loathe to stray from. So with some inspiration from Amy, I dyed up some sock yarn in colors that make me feel the whispers of spring. And with further inspiration from Brigitte and Wendy, I decided to try Wendy's standard toe up sock pattern.

Now, Wendy knits socks on Size 0 needles, same as me, so I didn't really pay more attention than that, I just dove in to try this toe swatch. Reading the pattern for the toe explained nothing to me. I had no idea how this was going to make a toe and had to blindly follow the instructions exactly to finally gain the understanding on how casting on 32 stitches was going to work. The whole time the little voice in my head is whimpering "but I don't want my toe that wide!" I got quite the laugh when I realized how the short rows were actually working and that that measurement was for half the foot, not the toe tip! That's when I realized what was wrong. 32x2 = 64 - that's a little bit tiny for a foot. Does Wendy have really skinny feet? probably not.....ummm, gauge, what's the gauge? 8spi???? I get 10spi on 0's, how is she getting EIGHT??

Then another little voice brings a tid bit of information to the forefront from something I read recently where the Knitter/Author stated something to the effect of "don't mess around changing needle sizes, any good knitter can get several different gauges from the same needles just by adjusting their tension." I swore this was AS but she mentions changing needle sizes for gauge often so I don't know where it came from. But the gist of it was, I realized I'm a rather snug knitter. I don't knit tightly, have a very relaxed grip on the needles, don't even bend aluminum 00's, haven't had any difficulties getting my needle into stitches, so I never gave it any thought. But there it was.

So I took this realization and played with it. By adjusting my tension ever so slightly while working on the Queen, I think I have achieved what I needed to get those floats to behave properly. Now I have to get a few more inches done to see if my theory is holding.

As for the socks, I'm going to try the same on the other toe. I think it will make the short row stitches lay nicer. If it does, I'll frog this one and make it match. This one is a little wonky anyway - somehow I got the short row wraps on one side fine, but on the other side, they are showing inside instead of outside. Not sure what happened there but Wendy's instructions are great and I'm having fun learning a new technique. And the yarn is pretty :)

ETA: Marina pointed out that the tension quote I was looking for was indeed AS, although she stated it a bit more eloquently, on her FAQ's page on the VY website.

A little update

2007-03-24T15:28:00.000-04:00

Chart rows = 47.
A little bit of progress on Ambassador. I'm liking the sweater much better than the graphic. It amazes me what happens when you start out with the traditional shetland Fair Isle X's and O's and just kind of stretch it from there. Can you see them all now? Lots and lots of little x's and o's. And only a few hundred more rows to go!

It is actually quite satisfying to knit a pattern I enjoy in only two colors. It will also work very well with my professional wardrobe which means it will get alot of wear. I think it would look equally cool in foreground and background shadings but at this time, I wanted to focus more on the actual blueprint of sweater design. If I do another one, I can play in the color box to my hearts content :)

And for Marina, the side shot results of the pattern placed the "Norwegien Way". Not bad, and definitely worth it to get the sizing I needed. Thank you very much for the information.