December Catch-up

I have three, yes three, projects to post today as FOs! Hurrah, especially since I have since cast on two more projects, for a net of one less project on the needles.

Christmas Shawl
Details:
Pattern: Wool Peddler's Shawl
Yarn: Colrain in burgundy (7.75 balls)
Needles: Size 8
For: Meribeth as a surprise Christmas gift from her dh
Mods: Added one more repeat of the lace pattern
Size: Blocked 6 ft x 34 in from the mid-back to point


Hemlock Ring for me
Details:
Pattern: Hemlock Ring adapted by Jared Flood
Yarn: Cascade Ecological Wool in Latte (3.34 skeins)
Needles: size 10 and 10.5
Size: approx. 6 ft in diameter
Mods: Did many more rows than did Jared, and added an additional stockinette row for a total of 5 between each pattern row.
Thoughts: Yes, it is a bit puckery, but I love it. The size is perfect for snuggling under~~I want more than a lap blanket for snuggling weather. I may try to block the puckers out when I wash it, but otherwise it's perfect.

More Plain Socks~~at least the pattern is plain
Details:
Pattern: toe-up, afterthought heel, 3 x 2 ribbing~~my old standby pattern. Nothing fits like a pair of socks made this way.
Yarn: Opal Harry Potter in the Tonks colorway (saw the yarn and fell in love with the color even though I am not an HP fan.)
Needles: size 0
Start: one Saturday in December
Finish: the following Friday~~six days for a pair of socks! Gotta love that!
Thoughts: You know how much I love Trekking yarn, and this seems to be a comparable yarn~~maybe a tad heavier. I really like the way the yarn knits up, but will withhold complete elation until I see how they wear.

They are about as identical as you can get with socks, and while I am usually not so OCD about my socks matching, this pattern screams to make identical twins. It took some doing, and quite a few ends to weave in, but it worked.

November Baby Sweater

I'm finally getting around to posting the FBS I made for a family at church who just adopted their second child. She's a beauty and was so tiny when they brought her home~~just over 6 lbs, and is weighing in at a whopping 7 lbs at one month. My kids were never that small.

Details:
Pattern: February Baby Sweater by our beloved EZ
Yarn: Plymouth Dreambaby DK (50% acrylic, 50% microfiber)
Needle: sz 4 KP Options
Start Date: November 3rd-ish
Finish Date: November 21, 2008

Thoughts: I can't say enough good about this pattern. Just love it. It's my go to pattern now when I hear of a baby girl being born anywhere in the vicinity. I went with a lighter yarn this time in hopes of getting a smaller sweater than the one I made this summer (although they were both knit on the same size needle. I still find it hard to believe that KP Comfy is a worsted weight yarn.) I did have a bit of trouble with the increase row. I couldn't get them to look nice, and to be honest, I can't recall what I did to finally get a pleasing look. I'll give my usual warning for this pattern~~read it the whole way through first, or you may miss the buttonholes. Speaking of buttonholes, I wound up closing one of mine up, as the buttons were too big to cram three into the space in the yoke. I think two look fine. BTW: Aren't the buttons cute? Got them at Knitting Sisters. They had a ton of really cute buttons the last time I was there.

In other knitting news, my Hemlock Ring Blanket is finished, blocked, and has already been snuggled in. Photos when the clouds clear away. I have a Christmas present to finish, and then it's back to my selfish knitting.

Oh, and Beau said to tell you that he hopes you had as great a Thanksgiving as he did!

Autumn Maple Socks

A couple of weeks ago I was taking some kids from our homeschool bowling league home and rode past a gorgeous maple in it's full autumnal glory. It was so breathtaking that I had to get a photo of it. So the next day after dropping The Teen at her piano lesson I went and grabbed a quick couple of shots. All the foliage this year has been fantastic, and it seems as though many of the trees reached peak at the same time which made for New England-like rides about town.

In the midst of enjoying our autumn I finally finished another pair of socks. Just my second of the year. Pitiful, particularly when compared with my output in previous years.

In honor of autumn, I give you:

Autumn Maple Socks (Thusly named for their resemblance to the tree at right)

Pattern: my basic toe-up pattern~~turkish cast-on, stockinette foot, 3 x 2 ribbing, Abigail's short row heel (which I still just love! Thanks so much for passing it along Abigail!)

Yarn: Trekking 110: I had this mislabeled as 105 until 11/24 (This workhorse of a sock yarn is my absolute favorite)

Needle: Size 1 Addi turbo

Start date: July 2008 (original incarnation was in another pattern which just didn't satisfy me.)
Finish date: November 06, 2008

Thoughts: Love handknit socks. Love Trekking. They've been worn and washed several times in the last 10 days already. On my feet as I type.



In other knitting news~~I've finished a February Baby Sweater for a shower this week~~just need to add the buttons. I'll remember to get photos before I gift this one, I promise. Also nearing completion is my Hemlock Ring Blanket. Hopefully by Thanksgiving there will be a couple more FOs to report.

Beau, 12 weeks

If you live in Virginia, you know that the weather has been lousy this week, so I had to take the opportunity this morning to get out and get some photos of Beau before the next round of rain set in. He was 12 weeks yesterday. When he came home at 7.5 weeks, he weighed right at 7 lbs. On Sunday he tipped the scales at 15 lbs, so he's more than doubled his weight in 4 weeks. Obviously, he's eating well. Training is continuing to go well~~he passed/completed Level 1 over the weekend, and we started working on Level 2 on Monday. His 'go to the mat' is fantastic! I started with the decided advantage that any time you put his blankie on the floor, he'll go and lie down on it. Click, treat! Good dog! Have added the cue, 'Go to your spot.' We also started working on Loose Leash, Down with just one signal, early sit-stay, as well as reviewing his Level 1 work. The 'come game' continues to be his favorite. He's really starting to be part of the family. I've noticed that he's wagging his tail a lot now whenever he sees us and gets very excited when someone comes home. He still loves to curl up in The Teen's or my lap, which should be interesting once he's about 70 + lbs.

Anyway, here's the weekly update.


Sorry about the blurry shots. He's either lying/sitting down or moving at blur speed.

Mom told me to tell you that she promises to have some knitting photos soon. I let her finish a pair of socks and start a new project this week. The socks just need to be photographed. At least they stay still better than I do!

The Delinquent Blogger

So the girls informed me at SnB last night that I am a delinquent blogger. Yep, already knew that. Could even tell them the date of my last post. But in the world of knitting, sadly, there has been nothing to post. That's right, nothing, nada, zilch. In the last three months I have finished the grand total of two projects~~one of which was sent off on Monday unphotographed, and the second, which is a surprise and cannot make its appearance until after Thanksgiving. So, there has been a reason for the lack of posting.

However, there has been another significant change in our household, and the real reason the girls wanted a blog update. We've added a family member...a four-legger. We found that we couldn't bear life without a lab wandering the house, so on October, 4, 2oo8 we brought home our first puppy in almost 14 years.

Meet Piney Creek's General Rochambeau, or as he is affectionately called, Beau.
He's a purebred chocolate lab and was 7.5 weeks old in this photo from the day we brought him home. Our first lab came home with us back in 1986~~Jessie was a black lab who made the move with us to our present home in '90, but she died in '93 or so. Shadow, whom you've met, was our yellow lab. Mr Fix-it and I decided we wanted to get a chocolate lab this time.

Here are some more photos from the past 4 weeks with Beau. He's been a handful at times, but he is a real cuddlebug. We're now getting a full night's sleep (hurrah!) and things are going very well on the housetraining front. I've been clicker training him using Sue Ailsby's Training Levels
and he has been doing tremendously! Already has passed several tests in Level 1, and I hope to have us into Level 2 by the end of the weekend.

The day he came home:


At 8 weeks:

10 weeks~~ready for some football:

Yesterday~~11 weeks and worn out after breakfast and playtime. I woke him while setting up the photo.

And last, my favorite shot of him so far. Taken the day we brought him home. I just love the way the sun lights him in this one.

I hope to update the blog more often with knitting and photos of our Beau. I am almost finished with a pair of socks, which should hit the blog over the weekend or next week.

February in July

This project grabbed me by the needles the beginning of July and didn't let go until it was finished!

Details:
Pattern: February Lady Sweater (Ravelry link) by Pamela Wynne (flintknits)
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca in Oceanic Mix (4.5 skeins~~about 970 yds)
Needle: Size 6 KnitPicks Option on 60" cable (after both my 40" cables broke~~replacements on the way)
Size: Medium
Start Date: July 3, 2008
Finish Date: July 24, 2008

Mods: Didn't do the eyelet increase row, I used kfb instead (check out this increase calculator to figure how many stitches to knit between increases~~use the balanced option. Tremendous help!). I did the raglan a little further than she called for, but wish I had carried it further into the underarm as I do not like the poochiness that happens at the end of the raglan increases. Same thing happened on my Everyday Tweed. I did 24 lace repeats on the body and 20 (?) on the sleeves. I think that is all the mods. Just remembered another mod~~I went down to a size 3 on the sleeve cuffs to keep them from being too bell-like.

Thoughts: I LOVE this sweater! Great pattern, awesome yarn, cool buttons~~what more could a girl want?!?

Buttons~~gotta tell you about the buttons. I knew I wanted vintage buttons for this sweater, so I raided the button box my m-i-l gave me eons ago. Found some possibilities, but most were too small, or I only had one or two of the same style. I visited a friend (same friend who was the recepient of Leda in 2006) to get some help in choosing the perfect ones. We settled on some black plastic, blah ones rather reluctantly, but right before I left I asked if she had a button box. She dumped her grandmother's button box out on the table, and my eye was immediately caught by these square mother of pearl buttons. In swooped my hand, we placed them on the sweater, looked at each other and said that they were perfect. While they don't photograph well, the buttons are the initial attention grabber with this project, then comes the oohing and aahing over the garter stitch and lace~~lots of stroking of the sweater, too.

Texture~~love the juxtaposition of the garter and lace. I think that's part of the beauty of this sweater, and the genius of the creator of the original sweater upon which this one is based, Elizabeth Zimmermann.

Color~~Usually teal is not one of the colors I gravitate toward, but while surfing the WEBS site, after realizing the Skye Tweed was a bust for this pattern, I came across Ultra Alpaca and just fell in love with the color of oceanic mix. I'm thinking I made a good choice.

Reaction~~I don't think I can overstate how much I am in love with this sweater. Based on the reaction of friends, I think it is one of my more successful projects. I've already had one friend (of the buttons) request the sweater in the same color, and one threaten to steal it at SnB last night (yeah, Christine, I'm talking about you!) I had to make sure I sat across the room from her with the sweater hidden from view, although she did try to enlist the help of a conspirator, but I was too vigilant, and the sweater made it safely home. I hate to pack it away until fall, but rest assured, it will get plenty of wear once the weather cools off.

Goodbye, Girlie............

You came home with us on Valentine's Day, 1995, just a wee little thing we could hold in one hand,

barely able to stand while you ate your first meal with us,

and at first you were afraid,.................................................... but soon you knew you were home.











You were our constant companion wherever we went.




Always up for one more hike,










or swim,








or romp in the yard.









You've been all that we could have wished for in a friend








and more.






You will always be loved.



Our Shadow

January 14, 1995 - July 15, 2008