1/2 Way!

My knitting time has been severely cut back as I try to meet my deadline for my second book. A couple more weeks and I should be able to pick up speed. I hope. So when I can grab a bit of time here and there to knit it's been on my Frog Nog Cowl because I have the pattern memorized and there isn't anymore shaping. Just round and round and round and round and round....

~Daughter #1

In response.......

Well, I am feeling a little bereft now that the Tea Cloth is finally finished. Wandering in and out of my yarn room sniffing hanks of wool and sighing..Sad really.
My next mammoth project is going to be Sharon Miller's Queen Shawl. I have the merino..on a cone..2/48 which translates as pretty friggin' fine as opposed to what I was just knitting which was fine-ish. A 2mm needle...pish tush..I've knit with thinner and the pattern which will require a lot more study. My plan was to start this in July. I have lots of.......oh crap June is almost gone.....eeeeeeee I had better make up my mind, Borders outward or borders inward?
Thank you for the lovely comments. I am rather chuffed. As my darling Daddy would have said, "Don't break your arm patting yourself on the back."
Yesterday was Father's Day and I thought of him all day. Too bad I don't have a picture of him knitting. Like that would ever happen. He would sit and knit and if anyone came to the door he would stuff the knitting down the cushions of the couch and pick up the newspaper. When I told him I was expecting he went right out to the wool shop and bought yellow baby wool...3ply... and new needles and promptly cast on a sweater. When the woman in the shop asked ,"Oh, is Ann going to knit?" My father said," Good god no, it's for me." He said he didn't care who knew now. HE was going to be a Grandfather! He loved knitting baby sweaters with tiny cables and eyelets..

The Welsh Daffodil Tea Cloth

Sunday morning I was out and running around to the shops to buy more T pins. Who would have thought I didn't have enough? I expect to find a stash of them now that I have literally "hundreds."
The sun was threatening to go behind a very large BLACK cloud but I kept the good thought and hauled all the stuff I would need for blocking outside.
String, pencil, interlocking foam slabs, T pins, bottled water. What else could I possibly need?

I measured off two feet of string and in a mathematical precision type way inscribed a circle onto the foam. Ready! I slapped down the sogging mass of knitting.

And began hauling it out and pinning it down. Something is not quite right. Looks like waves on a beach.....grrrr

1. Doesn't look much like a circle to me.

2. It is a lot smaller than I expected....crap. I keep pinning expecting a miracle.

Finally I stop and take the all the pins out and go re soak the knitting...damn

Go look in garage for something to use as a straight edge.

You can't see the lines but I inscribed a newer smaller circle and bisected said circle in 8 points..

Now I am on to something here. I haul the cloth out of the house in a plastic jug and dump it on the foam. Water sloshes and floods every where. Firstly I pin out 4 points then 8. Ahhhh.... I am on to something now. By the way the bottle of water was replaced by a very large white wine spritzer. Should know better than to drink water when working on complicated problems.

Looking much better.

My knees are killing me from crawling around. This was actually not a bad way to block. Aforementioned spritzer is getting a little too far away. Remedy that next.

Almost done.

Did I really knit that??

The chairs and the bottle of water (snort) are weighing down the foam while the drying is in process. Once this is accomplished I will have to weave in the ends and it will be truly finished.
I will have to purchase a dark cloth to do under it as it is too small for my glass topped table.

Daffodil Tea Cloth

2.75 mm Addi Turbo lace needle

6 balls Coats Opera Cotton

Marianne Kinzel's Second Book Of Lace Knitting

finished diameter 45.5"

Fire in the Hole!

These are my finished sock weapons, launched from a post office this morning and are now ever so slowly making there way to my target. LOL. (I bet that sentence gets us on an FBI/RCMP watch list) I really can't believe that I'm still alive, I thought for certain I would be knocked out by now. So now I sit back and wait for my SIP's (socks in progress) or my death what ever comes first.

I celebrated by starting a new project. LOL I got some absolutely awesome handspun from the Samurai Knitter called Frog in a Blender. I love it. Every time I pick it up, I smile. it's sock weight but i didn't want to hide this in my shoes so after a long deliberation I decided on a cowl for the fall.

A spinning eyelet should make it look blenderish. Then I found the perfect pattern in my (mum's) book. It looks like little webbed feet!! So I did those around the bottom and then will start the spinning eyelets from there. I know, I have a bit of a twisted sense of humour but it's really not that sick.
If I was really sick, I would sew on little eyes here and there....... ;o)

My life with socks.

For centuries I knit socks on three needles. Three metal needles that were about 7" long. It was tortuous. I did it but did not enjoy it. Back then sock yarn was a boring as bleach too. Grey, brown, navy and if you were daring ...dark red. Then my life was transformed when I saw Meg Swansen use 4 needles. It was truly an OMG moment. I didn't knit continental, just the good old "english" way, but I thought what the heck I can do that. Fifty - six stitches translated so nicely on four needles.
Then, be still my beating heart, we got self patterning sock yarn! and I discovered 2.75mm short bamboo double points. Oh joy oh bliss. My life was content. It can't get any better than this, right? Then we got toe up socks. No guess work on foot length now. Not crazy about the short row heel. Gussett heel discovered. woo hoo Hours of mindless knitting watching TV. Every time I look down a new pattern has emerged. Life is good.
Now fancy shmancy patterned socks have become the rage. I got a pattern and 2.25mm "sustainably harvested domestic birch hardwood" needles for Corinne's socks. These needles are as blunt as an unsharpened pencil, very annoying. I persevered. I knit and frogged and tinked and sighed...lots of sighing. There is no joy in my Sockville.
I began to hear about knitting socks on two circulars. I tried but always ended up trying to get all the stitches on one circular. I bought books, I watched YouTube, I resisted, I watched Corinne and thought ...."Hey, I get it." I bought 2 addi turbos in 2.25mm.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Not having a good time here. Flopping wires all over the place. My tension is shot. Not good.... O.K. I tried very hard but it just isn't me.

I am standing out in the crowd. I am going back to my four double pointy bamboo needles - plain knitted socks! I feel free.......lolol ....and I have about 6 balls of Kaffe's new Exotica yarn to knit up....yummy
Corinne, Wanna play sock roulette? Pretty please?

Progress report..

I am on round 153. It is difficult to get a picture at this stage. I am on the home stretch now. Hovering in the wings is the new project. It takes over an hour to knit the plain round and over two hours to knit the pattern round.

Birthday wool! Thank you Mummy for the "where with all" to go shopping; arrayed on birthday shawl from Sandy (who knew this had my name all over it. It's a stunner and it has silver threads shot through it. Divine.I am wearing it to work today.) Back to the lace weight. The colours are, pewter, copper, curry, sable, suede and off white. With bronzed beads yet..OOO's and AHHHH's.

About the pattern: I get daily emails from Knitting Daily always interesting some days more than others. Sign up, it's free and sometimes you get gorgeous e patterns also free. You will get advertising for interweave press publications but not so much as to be truly irritating. This is the "Thordis Icelandic Shawl." It just struck a cord with me and I have to knit it. I am going to add some beads at the end. It reminds me of a Hap shawl. This was one of 7 lace patterns that are available to readers.Speaking of Piecework I have to stop at Chapters tonight and get the latest issue of that magazine, before they are all gone. It is all about lace.....I can not find a copy of "Anna" in London. They are supposed to be issuing the Neibling patterns..damn x 2
The gauntlet has been thrown down by smarty pants child. Hmmmm she has already finished Clue one and I am only on row 10 of the Mother's Day Shawl KAL this is going to take some serious knitting to even the playing field. Guess who's socks aren't going to be worked on? At this rate she should have them for the winter. That is all for now!

~MuM