So here’s a shot of the little bit of knitting that got finished this winter. It’s a Yulie! There isn’t an ! in the pattern but for some reason the name just makes me think there should be one, like you should always say it with great excitement. Or a Swedish accent: Yumping Yulie!

I knew I had to make it when I saw Claudia’s last fall and then I knew it was the right decision when Gayle and I finished ours about the same time.

It was a fun knit and I’ve been wearing it a lot. The yarn is worsted weight but it’s lace, so there are holes which keep it from being all that warm. The upside is that it doesn’t squoosh your hair so it’s perfect for those short trips from the car to the office when it’s 15 degrees out and you look like you’re ready for Crazy Town if you’re not wearing a hat.

The idea behind Yulie! is to knit it with two contrasting yarns so you get a neat spiraling effect. But I found some Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Handpaint Originals marinating in the stash along with some hand dyed Oak Grove Studios kid mohair/merino blend and the colors went together perfectly. They were made for each other so how could I not?  Having stash is a thing of beauty when the urge to knit hits on a late Saturday afternoon. Shop at home chickadee.

I was so enamoured with the colors for the Yulie I decided I needed gloves to match. One down and one to the fingertips and I’m stuck. The first glove flowed off the needles and the second one, not so much. Mostly because I got confused with changing the directions for the right hand, had to rip back and then life got in the way and there the glove sat for a month. I’ve reread the pattern a few times, think there’s a mistake so last night I pulled out a bunch of different glove patterns, read through them and have been winging it. It’s taking longer than blindly following a pattern but I understand this glove construction better now and won’t be so concerned about following a pattern anymore. I’d like to finish them because I think gloves could be a new passion. Think of all that handspun sitting on the coffee table in small quantities. Sounds like a plan, no? Yes!

And even though I hate having my picture taken:

Yulie and almost gloves

The pattern is the Rasta Hat (Ravelry link) with some modifications. Mostly I made the lamb’s tails longer as I went up the hat since I wanted something that would bounce and move around more than the short ones. My memory tells me the pattern has you cast on 8 stitches then immediately cast them off to create the little tails. In this yarn it made a very stubby tail without much movement. So I did several rows with 10 stitches and then moved up to 12 around the top of the hat. Much more fun.

Before I washed the hat the little tails had some body and stuck straight out making it a riot to wear. (Of course I tried it on, wouldn’t you?) But this is chenille and once washed it lost all its body and the tails just relaxed. It’s still a cute hat and the tails still corkscrew, it just doesn’t bounce like it did before washing.

I cast on 84 stitches and used size 5 addis/double points. The yarn is a nameless variegated that came in a kit I bought for another baby hat which I ended up ripping out because the pattern was full of mistakes. The colors aren’t quite as neon as the pic, but it was the best I could figure out in Photoshop Elements.

This is the only time I’ve knit with chenille and it will be a one-and-only experience. Hard on my hands, tough to pull the stitches through on the needles and grows after washing. I’m afraid to put it in the dryer since everything I read said all the little fuzzies would come off. Does anybody have a better experience with chenille?

Now if you’ve been reading and looking at the pic, you may have been going “but — but — but, this is supposed to be a baby’s hat. Yet it’s on an adult head.” Ayup, it more or less fits me (it’s not quite deep enough to keep my ears covered).  Unless there’s a baby out there with an unusually large head, this is so not going to fit a baby.

It was fun anyway. Off to stash dive for another hat yarn. As soon as I finish the gloves, the two pairs of socks and another hat for me.

Susan (right) and Frankie and the basket of goodies

We had our annual Knitters’ Christmas party this week — 30 of us descended on the local food establishment to eat, drink and make merry. The party is also the culmination of our annual knitting for charity drive. This year we split our efforts between a local children’s charity and the Red Scarf project and the pile of contributions was impressive. Susan knit the most items for charity and received a gift basket filled with goodies, including a handwoven scarf by Carolyn which was the highlight of the evening.

Bonnie, Charlotte and Carolyn

Besides the hats, scarves, mittens and more, our group contributed gift items for each other. Everybody was generous so we all ended up with something. I picked out a package that had a lovely silk/chenille shawl kit in deep reds, golds and plums. I don’t know who put it “under the tree” but there’s lots of yardage and it may end up being a couple scarves rather than a shawl. It’s lovely stuff.

Kathy and Terri

While I can’t show you the piles of stuff that everyone took the time to contribute, I can show you what I added to the pile. The pink watch cap and the green watch caps are from Hats On! by Charlene Schurch, the Palindrome scarf pattern is available for free here and everything else was made up as we went. All washable wool or wool blends.

My sister Geri knit this while visiting	And my other sister Gail did this one
Non-pattern k2p2 watchcap	Lace watchcap
Palindrome for Red Scarf Project	K1P1 Sock yarn neckwarmer

The table decorations that Frankie brought; when she said she had a few things she could bring she was being modest, we had a festive autumn theme going on, right down to the scented candle.

Stephanie relaxing

The fire that Stephanie built to take the chill off when the temperature dipped and the rain blew through. It added just the right touch — there’s nothing like a fire to keep people contented.

Frankie and Sharon

The food, OMG the food. There was chili pie, fried chicken, barbecued beef, roast turkey, jalapeno poppers, scalloped potatoes, a ton of tasty salads, guacamole,  blackberry cobbler, brownies, frozen strawberry dessert and I don’t remember what else.  We ate till we couldn’t eat anymore and the table still looked like it had barely been touched.

Joyce and Dyana consulting

All the books, yarn, patterns and magazines people brought to swap and sell. Including the two laundry baskets full of fiction that Leslie was selling to fund her tree-removal project. I  came home with a bunch and Dyana emptied at least half a laundry basket herself.

I brought my Ladybug and gave Kathy, Jan and Jan a very basic spinning lesson, but soon exhausted my beginner skills. I’m betting it won’t be the last time they sit down to a wheel though.

The early afternoon rain was mostly just light sprinkles and it was pleasant to sit in the shelter and listen to it fall.  It wasn’t until our final cleanup and last trip to the car that it really started to pour — just making our timing all the better.

While the temperature could have been a touch warmer and the day a little sunnier, it was still a great way to spend a Saturday. Everybody seemed to have a good time and there’s already discussion about where to go next year.

These irises started blooming about the time the tree peony blossoms died back. Now they’re both faded and the summer flowers are coming on.

And peas! I have peas! OK, maybe only enough for one meal if you have a tiny appetite, but these make me happy. They’re bigger than this now and I’ve been pulling them off the vine and eating them raw. Next year, I’m planting a ton of them. They taste like spring. So.good.

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If you change a few of the pronouns this is pretty much what happens when I sit down at the computer these days.

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Because I’m supposed to be spinning in preparation for Tour de Fleece in July, I have of course been hit with the knitting bug. I’m working on the Minimalist cardigan (Ravelry link) and have the back, a front and half the second front finished. Because I started this in March, having the body nearly finished is lightening fast knitting for me. There may actually be a whole sweater finished in one year. Can I hear a whoo and a hoo? It’s navy blue moss stitch so I’ll wait to show you progress when front #2 is finished.

Speaking of knitting, (weren’t we?) have you seen this series called Fit to Flatter that Amy Herzog of Stash, Knit and Repeat is doing? I’m on a quest to figure out how to fit sweater patterns to my shape and this series is perfect. I’m only up to Number 3 about assessing whether a pattern will flatter or flop. Very well done.

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My oven is on the fritz. I should have figured it out sooner, but it took a flopped German apple pancake, pecan bars that burned on the edges and didn’t cook in the middle, brownies that didn’t rise (not a complete failure because fudgy brownies are the best but these were a little thinner than I like) and finally chocolate almond bars that completely burned on the bottom before I realized that I haven’t lost all my baking skilz and maybe the oven needs a tuneup.

Nothing pisses me off more than wasting perfectly delicious butter, sugar, chocolate chips and almonds.

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Wandering off to find something to eat. I think I hear chips and almonds calling my name from the pantry. Not cooking these.

ETA: to add links I was too lazy to do yesterday and clarify a point here and there.

It seems like a century since I was last here.

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The travels for health and pleasure are finished for a while. Jack has been checked out tip to toe and the upshot is he’ll be a woodworker for a long while yet. A cranky, deaf woodworker, but nonetheless. The doctors’ visits will yield at least one post about hearing loss, but that will keep for another day.

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The peonies and irises are the best I’ve seen in years. The storms have mostly spared their blooms, an amazing thing considering the amount of rain we’ve gotten. Days and days of it.  So much, that a few of the plots at the community garden have tadpoles swimming in them. The only harvest there will be frog legs. ewww

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Some creature has been digging up my transplants, going after the bone meal I use in the soil. Not unusual in itself, but the way the plants appear to have been picked up and placed out of the way makes me suspect the raccoons.

I solved the problem with little cages and coffee grounds to mask the bone meal odor.

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Last night a young raccoon was on the deck drinking the hummingbird nectar. He laid down flat on the railing and looked so forlorn when I came out to get the feeder that I let him finish drinking it before I took the feeder away. sigh

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I’ve been knitting, but not spinning and I need to get my spinning mojo back because Tour de Fleece is coming up in another month. TdF is a month-long spin-every-day project timed to coincide with the Tour de France. Unlike that endurance event we don’t have to undergo any doping tests. But then our winners also don’t get pretty boys handing us flowers and stuffed animals and kissing our cheeks either. Cookie, can you do something about that?

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There’s been a pair of socks (the same pair) on the needles for nearly a year. The second toe is in sight.

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I like physical exercise when I can see results. Let me haul straw and push wheelbarrows and I’m a happy girl. Make me go to a gym: cranky girl.

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My reading has been eclectic:

How to Win Friends & Influence People (let people know it’s all about them) and How to Stop Worrying & Start Living (don’t worry, be happy). It’s taken me 3 months and I’m still not finished. It went back to the library today.

The Twitter Book. I learned two new terms: ambient intimacy, a lightweight but meaningful connection, and attention economy: distributing ideas and comments about what people care about. How do you measure the value of attention? Oh and this blog got it’s first tweet mention. Amazing.

Carrots Love Tomatoes. Don’t plant garlic next to pole beans but it’s OK to plant it next to bush beans. Wah?

Sally Melville’s Mother-Daughter Knits. The patterns don’t sing to me, although the Classic Shirt and the hoodie are possibilities.  However, there’s an excellent, concise explanation at the front of the book regarding getting sweaters to fit. I’ve taken Sally’s classes and it sounds much like her. As well as this post from TECHknitter on designing and fitting knitwear. I’d knit more sweaters if I knew they’d fit me when I’m finished.  Perhaps after 15-odd (very odd) years of knitting, it’s time to figure it out.

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I killed all the zombies by uninstalling the game in an after-midnight fit. Up till all hours, not getting any work done, throwing corn cobs at pixels. Enough already.

I hope the marigolds are doing OK without me (in the Zen Garden of Plants v. Zombies, that is).

I was very impressed with the organization and quality of the festival, especially since it’s an all-volunteer effort. A lot of work went into making it a success and we were glad we picked this one for our fiber fix for the year.

The downside, as often happens with these things, was the weather. While it didn’t rain, it was cold and damp. My second purchase of the day (after some lace weight yarn) was a pair of alpaca socks. I sat in the vendor’s booth and switched my athletic socks for the wool ones and the day immediately got warmer. Yes, of course I have wool socks, but not as thick or yummy as these. Before long we all had new wool socks, which probably saved the day. 

Gail and her new socks

(note felt balls on hat (made by Geri) which garnered many comments )

At lunch we passed on the vendors selling walleye chunks, popcorn and fudge, and had a picnic in the car with the heat turned up high until we thawed out.  Then we went back for Round Two.

I was sort of restrained in my purchases, meaning I came home with money left over and pretty much kept my credit cards in my wallet. I didn’t buy everything that called to me, but enough that I’ll have new yarn and fiber to play with for the rest of the year. I also bought my first support spindle, which will be fun to learn to use.

Geri in her festival-bought hat and me being a responsible blogger

Bunny in a bucket…

….next door to a three-day-old goat in a box

Cheese curds on the way to see the…

…buck-toothed llamas (loving the matching halters/scarves)

and clowning around at the end of the day

We’re considering our options for next year’s trip. The only thing we’ve settled on is it will be later in the year so it’ll be a little warmer.

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Tomorrow my sisters and I are going here. Gail flew west and Geri flew east and we met in the middle on Wednesday. Yesterday we drove north and we’re in position to attack in the morning. Since the weather bunnies are predicting an inch of snow tonight, I think the hat and mittens I threw in the suitcase at the last minute will come in handy.

Today’s sightseeing was a bust because it’s been raining since we got up at 5 am (yup, 5 am). But the lilacs! The lilacs are in full bloom. Too wet to stop and smell the flowers but lovely to see.

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We had lunch with one of Gail’s college friends, a woman who has lived all over the world. She asked what we were doing in town. When we explained about the fiber festival, there was a moment of silence and then she changed the subject. It’s not an uncommon reaction. Muggles just don’t get it and the looks on their faces when you explain it are getting tiresome.

So we’ve decided to stop telling people when we go to a sheep and wool festival. Instead, we’ve decided to tell them we’re in town for a prostitutes’ convention.

It’s called a ho down.

Somehow I don’t think we’ll have to explain that.

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That is all.

Well, look at this:

This is from the MOPACA alpaca show that I went to a few weeks ago. I entered Laminaria in their fiber arts competition and it took first place in its category. Second place went to another Laminaria done in handspun alpaca. It’s the first time I’ve entered a competition and don’t expect to do it often but thought I would give it a try this once.

Woot!

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We’re having typical April weather, warm and humid, changing to heavy thunderstorms, changing to chilly and damp the next day. I’ve started my garden for this year, planting a second crop of lettuce on the deck since the first crop with leftover seeds from 2009 didn’t germinate. I went to the nursery and bought two more seed packets, planted some from each of those and then noticed one of the new packets was also from 2009. Hmmm. I hope they stored their seed better than I did.

New this year: peas! Let’s see if I can grow peas in one of my deck boxes. I soaked the seeds for 24 hours before planting, inoculated them with this powdery stuff to protect them from disease and gave them a nice tidy bed this weekend along with a few sweet peas just for fun. I was so excited 48 hours later because there were green shoots in the box! Peas!

Nope.

It’s a volunteer violet that self-seeded.

If I get peas, you get a picture, until then it’s just a box of dirt.

And there’s other gardening news, but that will wait for it’s own post. Right now I’m far behind in my chores in my virtual Zen Garden and there are zombies on the lawn.

Bad hair day

This weekend was the annual MOPACA show at Hale Arena and despite the dire forecasts for treacherous travel by the weather bunnies, I skipped out of the house Saturday morning to commune with some fiber on the hoof. Who can resist an arena full of these funny-looking, gentle, humming creatures?

Apparently most people. There were five cars in the parking lot when I pulled up an hour after the doors had opened to the public. I wondered if the show had been canceledt. But no, the alpacas were there, the audience just didn’t show. Last year I thought the attendance was sparse, but this year it was nearly non-existent. It’s too bad; while the fiber/yarn purchasing opportunities are limited, the people are friendly and it’s a great opportunity to learn more about alpacas and even get an opportunity to pet one or two. Owners are constantly walking around the show with their animal on a leash and they’re always willing to answer questions.

I spent most of my time talking to booth owners and to some of the Fiber Guild members who were demonstrating knitting, spinning and needle felting. (Mostly to me and each other.) I came home with a single skein of Suri alpaca fingering weight that will get turned into a scarf or small shawl. And one other surprise that I’ll share sometime in the future when I can show a pic of it.

And best of all, I snagged an invitation for our Fiber Guild to visit this farm in the spring. There are very few paco-vicuña breeders in the country and we’re fortunate to have one in our vicinity. Should be fun to take a group out and see these guys up close and personal.

Not a bad way to spend a snowy, icy first day of Spring.

Who you looking at?