RIP

I'll miss you, Car-y!

An Illusion of an FO?

Pattern: Heroes Illusion Scarf by Grad School Knitter
Yarn: Lamb's Pride, light grey and black (don't have the ball bands with the color names in front of me)

The symbol that shows up is from the tv show, Heroes, and means "God send." It shows up in all sorts of places in the show. This scarf is going to be a Christmas present for a friend that I am going to see this weekend. If he doesn't like it, I know a lot of other fans of the show who might like it.

I had never done any illusion knitting before this scarf. It is really fun! I liked tipping the scarf towards and away from me to see the pattern emerge. I probably spent almost as much time doing that as I did knitting it! :)


Pattern: Ice Queen from Knitty
Yarn: Rowan Kidsilk Haze, Steel Grey (I think)

I finished the Ice Queen that I was working on. I did an interesting "interpretation" of a picot binding. Next time, I am going to read the directions more carefully and I will actually block it. It was a fun and quick pattern that was great for Christmas present knitting. I am going to have to make one for myself (with beads!) soon. I'm glad that the recipient likes it.

And finally, here is a picture of Lily from Christmas morning. She "loved" her handkerchief.

Holiday fun-ness and spinning

Here is a picture of my treat baking extravaganza.


I took the dog/horse treats out to the barn yesterday so I could have some test subjects. Let me tell you, they were very well received. The horses were giving me pitiful faces when they realized that there were no more treats coming. The dogs were salivating. Patches is a Great Dane. Great Danes don't like to exert themselves. I was holding the treats a little higher than elbow height when I was walking the dogs back to the pen. Patches was prancing next to me (usually he picks his way along) and making little jumps to try to get the treats. Aggie raced to the pen to sit down so she could get her treat as soon as possible. I definitely won't have to worry about the animals not liking the treats.

On to other holiday stuff! My mom really likes when we have guests around the holidays. That means that she is able to get them to do Christmas-y stuff like getting a tree, decorating cookies and making gingerbread houses. It is a lot harder to get Dad and me to do that kind of stuff. Anyway, here is the gingerbread house that my Japanese cousin, his girlfriend and I made on Wednesday night. Isn't it cute?

The wreath on the roof is adorable!


I've rebelled from Christmas gift knitting and decided to spin instead. I finished up the green roving from a local farm. The twist isn't set on it yet but I have to wait until we have a fire going in the woodburning stove. The yarn would never dry in our house otherwise. I'm pretty happy with the final result.


Then I started looking around in my roving stash to try to find something else to spin. (Sidenote: The roving stash seems to have grown since the last time I looked. Hmmmmm . . . .) What should I find but 8 oz of Louet roving called Violets. So I started to spin it up last night.


This stuff is pencil roving and is a lot of fun to spin. I'm amazed how quickly it is spinning up. This morning, I finished spinning 4 oz. of it before I went to work.


When I ply it, this yarn is probably going to be a fingering weight and is the most consistent thickness that I have done. I think it is the pencil roving.

I'm thinking the yarn might be perfect for a Clapotis or that new pattern, Jeanie. But, if I do Jeanie, that means getting another 8 oz of the roving because a) I would need 1350 yds for it b)I won't have enough yardage with the 8 oz I have now and c) Louet doesn't sell this roving in 4 oz balls. But then that means that I will have an additional 4 oz that I probably won't use for the pattern. Though I could use it for something else. Clapotis, however, needs 820 yds. Hmmmmm. We'll have to see once I get it all spun and plied. I apparently really want to do something with dropped stitches with this yarn.

Horse cookies!

I spent last night making dog/horse cookies. In total it was 4 batches of the recipe but I didn't count how many cookies that was. For two of the batches I used the dog bone cookie cutter and for the other two I used a flower-like, ripply circle cookie cutter. I figured that not everyone would be as amused as me by the dog bone shaped horse treats. They'd probably just be confused. I'll post a picture later because silly me forgot to pick up the camera when I was leaving the house.

I thought I would ply the roving I spun up the other day but all of my time was consumed by the treats. I wound the bobbin into a centre pull ball yesterday because I needed the bobbin and, for some reason, I really like plying off of a centre pull ball that I can hold in my hand. I'm strange, I know. This spinning attempt is really exciting for me because it should be a fingering weight (albeit a heavy fingering almost a sport weight) yarn. It is the finest and most consistently fine single that I have done so far.

Worked a little bit on a Christmas gift last night. I got the one that only needed the border finished yesterday during my break. The other isn't really a Christmas gift but might be if the person likes it. If not, I know two, make that three, other people who would like it. It is an illusion or shadow knitting design on a scarf. The pattern is really going fast and I like the way it is turning out. I thought I hated making scarves but it turns out it just needs to be more interesting than garter stitch or some other simple stitch pattern. Illusion knitting is the perfect solution.

And now, because I need a picture of some sort . . . .

(I love Picnik)

A day late

. . . and a dollar short. Isn't that the saying? I've been working on various Christmas presents. Meant to have one of them finished yesterday but didn't quite get it finished. Even after working on it all during the knitting guild meeting, I still have an inch left to bind off. Guess I will be sending that present rather than giving it in person.

I've also been on the search for dog/horse treat recipes. I call them dog/horse treats because the dogs will eat anything that the horses eat (and probably vice versa!). A few years ago, I made these horse treats with oatmeal, molassas, apple, and carrot in it and the horses and dogs LOVED them. Definitely the mugging-you-for-treats kind of love. It really amused me to feed the horses treats that were in the shape of dog bones. I thought that a batch of dog/horse treats would be a perfect gift for my friends who don't want "stuff" this year. They are trying to keep down the amount of stuff around the house and only want items that can be consumed. The only problem is that I couldn't find the recipe. No idea where I even found it because it wasn't in any of my cookbooks, even the Pony Club one. After much searching of the internet, I found a recipe called "Easier Horse Cookies" that seems to fit the bill. I'll have to make a batch tonight or tomorrow and wrap them up.

I have some exciting news! My friend is going to be making niddy noddies in his spare time. He has already arranged with Kim to sell some in her shop and I might be setting up an etsy shop for him. His niddy noddies are made out of cottonwood and are super light. For a non-spinner, non-knitter, non-fiber person, he is really getting into it! I'll post some pictures of his finished products soon.

Winter is back!

Yesterday, we got all sorts of pretty snow and then it rained for half of the day. This morning, however, it is snowing again. The horses are all prepared for winter storms with fuzzy coats and lots of hay. . . .



Java was exceedingly suspicious of me. He definitely thought I might ride him when I was out taking pictures. Capone (second picture) could care less. He had his entire head shoved into the middle of the hay bale.

I've sent off the majority of Christmas presents to friends and family. Aren't these dishcloths pretty? Now what do they remind me of? Hmmmmm . . . .


I haven't been spinning much recently. (Note to self: return wheel to rightful owner and get myself one.) All of my free time has been eaten up by making Christmas presents and work. On Wednesday, I went to the spinning guild meeting and started spinning up a storm again. My friend's mom gave me a lovely bag full of wool roving (as well as some llama that I haven't had a chance to play with yet) and I've made some real progress with spinning it up. I've been trying to get a heavier weight with it and it seems to be going pretty well. I then decided to spin up some of the other roving that I had around the house. I think that, once I ply this, it will be about fingering weight. I've been a lot more consistent with this batch.


I made the cat a little felted ball out of some of the roving. She usually loses interest in things after 5 seconds but it seems to hold her attention for a whole 10 or 15 seconds! Wow, impressive huh?



I think she is showing off for our house guests. My family just isn't interesting enough apparently.

Squee!

This day just got so much better! And we have clementines! Not that the small, sunny fruits can make a day much better but they sure can help.

Burnt out

Is it bad to feel burnt out by work on a midmorning Monday? It's like I've already been at work the entire week already. Rather that wallowing in a pit of despair, here are some FOs!

Madge from Knitty has been finished for a while now but this was the first chance I've had to take a picture. I took some of the hat actually on my head but those where so wildly amusing that I deleted them immediately!


I'm so proud of my first handspun project! I can truly say that I've made everything about this hat (except for designing it but whatever). *Sigh* I can remember when it was just a ball of roving. It's grown up so much ;)

I finished the beaded lace shawl and can't wait to block it. But that will have to wait until after Christmas . . .


I was going along so well on my Christmas knitting and then the new Knitty came out. It's like the catnip of the Internet knitting world. People flock to the site and start talking about how much they love it (or hate it). Most everyone's progress is halted for at least a few hours while the new patterns are being scoped out. I, like most people, fell in love with Jeanie and Ice Queen. Ice Queen was at least like a Christmas present that I was already going to make so I allowed myself to start on that one.

I've made it without beads even though the beads are so lovely. It just wouldn't be practical for the gift. I can't wait to make my own (preferably in green or blue) with the beads. The Kid Silk Haze is so light and ethereal.

Christmas knitting has been going well even with all of the distractions. I created a spreadsheet (yes, I am a dork, why do you ask?) for everyone for whom I am giving gifts. On it there are categories for what the gift is, if it has been completed and if it has been sent. A good portion of the gifts have been completed and, tomorrow, will be sent out as well. This amount of smugness shouldn't be allowed because something will come back to me and bite me in the ass. It is inevitable :)

Oh, and I forgot to say that, yes, I did get my paper done. It wasn't the most inspiring piece of work that I've ever done. I really liked the topic but just couldn't work myself up to writing it. Oh, well. Just have to finish the take-home final (easiest test ever) and this semester will be over. One more to go . . .

So close!

7 out of 10 pages with plenty more to write but now I'm worried that I will run out of time. (So what do I do? Blog about it. Bah! I need to work on time management skills!)

Hehe

If a person were like our OPAC she would have constant bed-hair and mismatching garments of clothing, and ask you specific questions in a language you don't quite understand. She would answer you in really long sentences, and often say things that have nothing to do with the subject. She's our friend for a while until she decides to burst into crying fits or ignore you completely. She would give you nothing, only point in various directions as an indicator of where things might be.

Electronic Resource By Any Other Name

Paper? What paper?

Once again I find myself needing to write a final paper for a class. So am I studiously reading literature on my chosen subject? Dutifully typing a rough draft? Mulling over my future words of wisdom? Ha! Yeah, right. I'm being distracted by the internet and Ravelry, instead.

The subject is a fascinating one and has so much information out there about it. See, the paper is supposed to be a "library trends" paper, discussing a trend that is changing the library world. I'm writing about the library catalog and how they should evolve using Web 2.0 tools. Those of you who remember my little catalog rant will understand why I am interested in this subject. I cannot, however, bring myself to concentrate on anything at the moment and really don't want to be reading any professional literature of any sort. Problem is that this paper is due on Thursday so I really can't put it off for much longer. Stupid school. Messing with my knitting time.