But sometimes life gets you like that.
I had an unexpected trip back east, and that threw a monkey wrench into any plans I had for posting. I've been back for a week and a half and I still feel like I'm recovering.
I have made a lot of progress on the knitting and spinning front. I finished one pair of socks, though I don't have a picture of the finished objects...they were for my father and I finished them while I was with my parents, so I left them. Here's the picture that I had of them farthest along (which isn't nearly as far as I thought, I think there may still be a picture on the camera...):
I've also done some spinning. I went to a spin-in last weekend and I managed to get most of the second strand done for the cotton that I'm spinning. I just have a bit more to go and I'll have a second skein of cotton. Just two more skeins to go and then it'll be time to figure out what I'm going to make.
I'm almost done with a vest from Interweave Knits that I started a while ago. I really just need to sit down and spend some quality time with it and I can knock it off. I'm working on two pairs of socks (well...one is really slippers), and I'm definitely feeling like I need another project. But I'm trying really hard not to start anything until I finish the vest. I'll let you know how that goes.
As I alluded to in my last post, I managed to accomplish a lot in the last six weeks or so. I've managed a 
num
ber of knitting FOs:
In no particular order, these include a hat that I knit to include in a Christmas giveaway that my company did, a pair of socks knit using the Naive Socks pattern, a moebius cat bed from A Second Treasury of Magical Knits by Cat Bordhi, a pair of coriolis socks based on the coriolis architecture from New Pathways for Sock Knitters, and a moebius scarf that was from a half skein left over from a shawl and a skein that I got as part of the swag from the Floating Knitting Retreat (and I can't remember what it was...).
I particularly like the color blending in the moebius scarf, and it suddenly became my winter scarf. I'm not known for wearing scarves in the winter, but this one just grabbed me and shook me, so I adopted it.
Technically, the cat bed isn't finished, since it still needs to be felted, but I'm counting it since the knitting's done.
I still have several things in progress, including a pair of socks for my father:
These are out of Tofutsies, and I'm using one of the other sock architectures from New Pathways for Sock Knitters.
I also have a bag that's destined to be felted still on the needles (but only have pictures of it when it was barely cast on) and a vest (that also is, sadly, only pictured as a wee cast-on item). At some point I'll get pictures of them farther along.
I've managed to also do a bit of spinning. I've been spinning some cottolin that I picked up one year at Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival (probably 2-3 years ago). I've spun and plied one skein:
I've spun the first single of the second skein, and will begin on the second single this weekend. This is a pretty basic two ply...and I can't find the skein or the card where I have the details recorded, so I can't tell you much more about it at this point...
And I finally finished threading, tying on, etc. and started weaving the placemats that I started a looooong time ago:
There's not much to say about these. It's a summer and winter design, but I'm not completely happy with it. These were destined from the beginning to go into a charity auction anyway, so as long as they look ok, I will be happy with them. It was an interesting exercise in designing summer and winter, and since then I've read more about designing summer and winter, so I will definitely take that learning into account when I do the next design attempt.
And now, onto my reward for all this industry. I'm going to play a game for a bit!
I thought I'd start the year with a post responding to the recipe box contest over at Mason-Dixon Knitting.
Here's a picture of my (oh so boring) recipe box:
And a recipe from it that's from one of my great grandmothers. I got this from a cousin of my mother's quite a while ago. I always lose track of that part of the family, because both great grandparents were widowed at least once and had children from more than one marriage (if I remember right), so there are all these half siblings to try to keep straight. This is exacerbated by the fact that there was a large age difference between my great grandmother and great grandfather (I think it was at least 40 years).
Marilla's Thanksgiving Cake
Cream 1 cup shortening and 1 cup sugar together. Add 1 cup raisins, 1/2 cup shredded coconut, 1cup blackberry jam, 1 cup nuts. Combine 4 cups flour, 1 teaspoon allspice and add this alternately with 1 cup milk into which 1 teaspoon soda has been stirred briskly until it foams to the creamed fat and sugar. Bake in a greased pan until it tests done in a "moderate" oven. Frost with Boiled Frosting (1 cup butter, 1-1/2 cups milk, 2 cups sugar boiled to soft ball stage stirring constantly, beat while cooling to spread consistency).
I will post a disclaimer that I have not tried this recipe, which should be evident by the fact that I haven't put an actual value on the oven temperature. My knowledge of baking makes me think that "moderate" from the early part of the 20th century should be about 325-350 F, but feel free to do your own research to confirm this.
I have much progress to report on knitting, spinning and weaving, but I'm going to save that for another post. I've had the last week off, so it has given me a bunch of time to get some things done and make good progress on others.
A comment has inspired me to post on how I purl in continental knitting. I'm hoping this might help others, since this was my big stumbling block to being able to knit either way.
Technically when I purl when I'm knitting continental, I purl backwards. The stitch ends up on the needle backwards.
Here's the best explanation that I can manage without pictures. With your knitting in front of you, hold the yarn in your left hand in front of the knitting, insert the right hand needle as if to purl. Look at the orientation of the yarn and the needle. Now, it's relatively easy to scoop that yarn up from front to back, but if you have to try to grab it from back to front, you end up doing all kinds of gyrations. The most effective way that I've seen to do this involves holding it at a weird angle with your index finger (which works but isn't particularly fast or efficient for me).
So, when I'm knitting continental, I scoop that stitch up and keep going. By doing this, I actually think that I purl much faster than I knit. The drawback is that the stitches end up reversed on the needles. That's not a big deal, since all you need to do is knit or purl into the back of the stitch.
I was encouraged in this behavior by one of the ladies behind Just Our Yarn, and by Knitting for Anarchists by Anna Zilboorg. I particularly like this book, since it pretty much echoes my philosophy for knitting, spinning, weaving, etc. Do what works for you, don't be persuaded to do something a specific way because they believe that it's the correct or only way.
I do find purling into the back of a stitch to be a pain, and so I often wont use continental for something with a lot of knit/purl patterning (cables for example). I also don't find it as satisfying for my knitting experience (and stress relief), so I usually end up designating fairly simple projects as my continental knits. Knitting continental doesn't bother my shoulder nearly as much, so that is often the motivation I need to cast one on.
I think it's time to go do some spinning.
You wouldn't think that would be possible, would you?
I've been doing a lot of knitting over the last few weeks, and my shoulder is complaining about it. I have an old repetitive motion injury that is mostly kept in check with exercise, but excessive knitting can set it off. Too much mouse work on the computer, and certain other things can also set it off, but knitting is definitely one of those things that I have to watch.
I guess it's time to go weave or spin, since I think I'll regret it if I do much more knitting without giving my shoulder some time. Sigh...
I've had a lot of inspiration from the workshop that I took from Cat Bordhi, so that's part of the problem. I have lots of things that I want to try and I don't want to lose the momentum.
Seems like maybe time to try continental knitting again. If I cast on at least one project that's continental, then I can at least knit something when my shoulder is like this. Sounds like a good excuse to start that moebius cat bed that I wanted to do...
I don't know how lazy I can really call it, since I spent the morning ripping things out of the garden. I did some weeding, then got a wild hair to get rid of all of the holly bushes and stumps that seemed to be scattered in the yard. There were three stumps that I knew of (someone previously had cut them back), then I found two more that had been cut back and sprouted way in the back corner. Those had quite a bit of growth on them, so I may be destined for a trip to the local compost drop-off place. The only place that I can get rid of them if I can't get them to fit in my composter.
Then I spent some time working on the first sock out of Traveler and turned the heel so I just have to figure out how long I want the leg portion to be. Since they're for a sample, I'll probably make them longer than my usual short socks.
I've been designing in fits and starts this weekend. I finally have a general idea of what I want to do for the runner I want to weave. Now I need to try some drafts to see if I can actually do it in 8 shafts. This could be the impetus for starting to save for a loom with more shafts....
I don't write much about work here, but I've changed roles at work. I had been managing the test group, and had an opportunity to move to the other end of the process and help to define what we're building. Since it is something that I had seriously considered when I was job hunting, I decided that I should take the plunge and switch. I started in the new role on Wednesday, and had to dive right in because there needed to be enough definition to allow a small group to start working on Monday. The next couple of weeks will be interesting, since we'll be playing catchup.
But that's for tomorrow. For today, I think I'm going to go find a good book on CD to listen to and knit outside to take advantage of the gorgeous weather we're having.
So, it's more than half way through April and I feel like I haven't gotten much done. I still have the same things in progress.
I do need to spend some time designing a weaving project (or two). I have a couple of things that I want to make, and I just need to make myself sit down and do it. I need a new cover/runner for my cedar chest and I want to explore some new structures, so I'm thinking about making some placemats--that way I can make several pieces in the same theme, but not keep doing the same thing over and over.
I'm headed for Maryland Sheep & Wool at the beginning of May. That will be a nice break from work and a nice trip away from here. Since I lived in the area, I have lots of friends to visit and lots of stuff to do while I'm there.
I swear I'm going to set aside time this weekend to design the weaving and actually spend time knitting the vest that I have neglected for DH. That ought to be interesting, since I haven't done anything since well before Christmas. Wonder if I can keep the same gauge...
Time to go. If I go knit now, maybe I can get myself to do some of the design stuff later.
