Productive Week

(I'm sorry if you read my first attempt to publish this post with the photos hanging off the edge of the page... What a crazy convoluted business this has been. Anyway, I'm now trying to figure it out with Flickr as my image host... and changing my whole stinkin' layout.)

On to my post: Last week was spent turning messes like this...

... into clean/organized spaces like this...

I threw junk out, took three van-loads of things we no longer needed down to Goodwill, and put things away that had been sitting out for ages. Next, I need to go through all our stacks of papers - ugh. That will take awhile... but for now I can breathe a bit. You wouldn't know this by coming to my house and peeking around on a regular weekday, but I am a neat-freak.

I love to have everything in its place. I can think better when my space is organized.

I have spent quite a bit of time since becoming a mother, breathing out the angst that comes from not having an organized environment. I've had to let go of the irritation and frustration over it, because really... it's not worth being angry about. It is what it is... and every once in awhile (for about 5 or 10 minutes) I can have it the way I like it. And that's actually very nice, because it reminds me that the possibility of it isn't entirely out of reach.

In the midst of all the purging and cleaning, my beautiful prize fiber arrived - the Sheep 2 Shoe Kit from Jersey Knitter!

In case you are wondering, that is a lot of fiber. 8.5 oz is more than I usually spin in one sitting, but I'm determined to start this project soon so I immediately divided it up and braided the sections so it's all ready to go when I'm done with my current spinning projects. I'm really getting into knitting with my handspun lately. I recently finished some lovely singles...

... and one skein was combined with some Fisherman's Wool to become my winter hat!

The pattern was Three Tams on Knitty, and I really enjoyed knitting it. So much so, that I'm using the other single to knit another one in reverse. Besides, it looks cute on me...

... don't you think? And it's super warm with the double-stranding. I had to take a photo of the inside too because it looked so awesome! It really shows how far I've come with this knitting thing over the past 7 years. I mean, there's no way the back of my fair-isle projects would have looked like this when I first started out...

Happy Halloween!

This year we carved pumpkins at our friends' house... Evelyn's pumpkin is the only one not in this photo. For some reason, Picasa won't let me upload more than 4 photos at a time so I'm still working out the issues with that. We let the kids design their own this year (this is easier to do when you each have a pumpkin to carve. In the past we have only bought them for the kids so it was harder to relinquish creative control!)

Phil initiated a Halloween craft session with the kids a couple of weeks ago. The kids hung spiders from every doorway, ghosts in our kitchen and each wall has a picture of a bat or pumpkin... I helped cut out the bats, Nathan made lots of spiders, and Jamie was a pumpkin-makin' machine!

Here the kids are dressed up all ready to go through the neighborhood with their Daddy... Evelyn is wearing a costume that my mum made for me when I was her age. I had made the wig for Jamie a couple of years ago and just added ribbons to it - she looks so adorable next to her sneaky brothers, the black-caped crusaders... :) Trick or Treat!

Good Times

The sock mittens are taking shape rapidly, and I loved Charisa's idea of overdyeing them in blue... I'm going to try that later this week just as soon as the thumbs are complete. I'll still most likely donate them as they are a bit tight for my hands, and I only have made hats and scarves for charity recently.
Yesterday, I received exciting news that I won a Sheep to Shoe kit on the Jersey Knitter blog for providing tips for reducing the use of plastic bags - can't wait to get it and start spinning! Thanks so much, Jersey Knitter!

Today, I am spinning this gorgeousness... Wensleydale, hand-dyed by Allspunup. The colors are so beautiful and I'm trying to preserve them by spinning a soft, low-twist single. I have Evelyn playing mix-and-pour with a tub filled with barley. It's a peaceful and glorious Fall day. Good times.

The Socks that Were...

I'm having picture issues on my blog. I've noticed lately that when I upload directly from my computer to Blogger that my pics look all grainy and horrible. This didn't happen before, so I decided to investigate what the peeps on the interwebs had to say about it. Apparently since Blogger merged with Picasa (or invented it? Whatever...) they want me to use Picasa to upload to my blog. Which is fine - I have Picasa, but I haven't played with it much so I'll have to mess around and figure it out. Hopefully that will help the pics retain their quality - we'll see.

This is Evelyn all dressed up for church... I stayed home with Jamie because he's got a mild cough and we don't want the other children (or the lovely old ladies) to get sick. I bought this adorable pinafore yesterday at my friend Stashka's Going Out of Business Sale. I'm sad that her Cooler Choices store has closed it's e-doors, but it was really nice to pick up some organic and boutique clothing for the kids at cost. I also got a little Christmas shopping done. If you're local and want to see all the wonderful things that are left, email me and I'll give you the address. The farmhouse is open again today from 12-3pm.

Last night I turned the 2nd heel on a pair of socks. There's something weird about this yarn though... The two skeins were dyed a bit differently so the one on the right has bits of orange spiraling up the sock, while the one on the left has all the orange pooling at the back of the sock.

I don't like it. Not really the pooling, or the spiraling... just that they don't match at all and that I find it somewhat disturbing - enough so, that I don't want to finish them - which is too bad considering how much time has gone into the socks already. So, not wanting to waste the cable-work already done, I've decided to unravel the heels and end with a rib - transforming them into mittens! What's that you say? Mittens without thumbs? No, you see... I've been looking for an excuse to try steeking (Ack!) and what better way to experiment with this than on a wayward, almost-abandoned sock project. In case you're a non-knitter, or haven't heard of steeking... this is a technique in which you stitch around an area of knitting and then cut (yes, CUT) it open. Usually this method is used when making something like a fair-isle cardigan in the round - you knit a tube and then later cut it up the front, folding it over and seaming it like a sewn garment to hide the raw edges. I'm going to cut (yes, CUT) holes in the sides of these sock feet and add thumbs to make them into mittens... Then I can donate them to charity since I've started up the Knitting for Peace group again. Let the experiment begin!

Finishing What I Started

I have several friends who do not write posts on Sundays. I don't know if this is due to a religious observance, or just because they take weekends off to enjoy more time with their families... but Sunday afternoons around here tend to be pretty mellow and therefore pockets of time become available for such things as reading, writing, knitting, and other quiet activities. Everyone is home from the church service and fellowship, and the kids are now outside enjoying the last remnants of the sun before Autumn takes hold for good.

There is so much to tell you. After eight and a half months of diligently working for a couple of hours at a time here and there, I finally finished my Outlander Shawl.

It was difficult to find a good spot to take pictures of this... I ended up spreading it out on my neighbor's trampoline.

I began this shawl on New Year's Day and was hoping to get it done before the state fair, but alas I was a few weeks late for that. Oh well, next year.

I'm very pleased with how it turned out, although I do admit I made a few mistakes on this one. Laceweight yarn is not very forgiving and it was difficult to make corrections when I went wrong. This shawl was a learning project for me, and I know having finished it I can dive into another lace project with confidence that it can be done... And that was point of the entire exercise.

When one finishes a large project like this, it can be difficult to decide what to do next. As it happens, for the following week I had a rip-roaring case of "Startitis" - a condition that begins with a flurry of ideas and next thing you know, you have several new projects on the needles, all cast-on within a matter of hours... And then you have to choose which ones you really want to finish... because if you worked on them all throughout the day you wouldn't get much of anything done. So, I chose, and I finished... in the following order:

1. Evelyn's Pink and Brown Scarf and Hat (She is 3 years old now - Can you believe it?)

2. A Hat for Baby George (Isn't he adorable?! George is Molly and Keva's new baby. They came to visit us a week and a half ago.)

3. A Hat for Wendy's Baby Shower and some Bonus Booties (made from the same handspun yarn as George's hat.... the booties were almost a no-go, I had to un-ply a section of the yarn to finish them - whew!)

4. Nathan's Montessori Slippers

They were finished a week late, but the teachers didn't mind and I'm so glad Nathan loves them as much as I do.

5. Bamboo Baby Sweater

The handspun yarn in this project actually contains only a small amount of bamboo, some silk and mostly merino wool. I found some cute little faux bamboo buttons to go with it.

This lovely little sweater will be sent to my childhood friend in England who recently had a little girl if she emails me back soon with her current address... Otherwise, it's going to my 2nd cousin (also in England) who was my flower girl and is now the proud mama of a baby boy. The pattern (EZ's February Baby Sweater) was a surprisingly easy knit, and if I can get on top of all the baby knitting I'm behind on I might consider knitting this one again. As it is, I think I still have six more baby hats to go... and new babies grow very quickly.

Pocket Pete has been terribly neglected - I expect to be spinning a bit more this week.

Last Days of Summer...

There is still so much to do around here, but today I'm home with a sick Kindergartener on the 2nd day of school and I'm forcing myself to blog because really, who knows when I'll have a moment to do this again... (Be forewarned this post may contain formatting issues, and all manner of run-on sentences - and it will probably be quite long, so go get your coffee.)

Let's see if I can give you a picture-presentation of the events that have occured over the past

few weeks!

Phil and I celebrated our 11th anniversary on August 22nd!

Who let those kids get married?! I had to scan these in because it was before digital photography came about. Honestly, I'm really happy to be married to Phil... and even after all these years (and all these kids) we're still in love with one another and are able to communicate in a respectful way. I think there's something to be said about having met your spouse before they grew up and knew who they wanted to be. I met Phil in 6th grade, and although I would never have guessed we would date in high school and end up get married in college (I was too much of a snob to talk to a math geek like him,) I do appreciate now that I at least knew he was a nice guy even back then - as a middle schooler... Let's face it, that takes effort.

At the beginning of summer I made a list of things to do and activities to try with the kids. Last year I ordered apples for drying and this year I ordered two 23 lb boxes.

There were a lot of apples - but Evelyn and the boys helped me peel and place them on the dehydrator, I was on coring and slicing duty, and after a week and a half it was all done. I borrowed another dehydrator from our friends at church which made things move along a bit more quickly.

Now we have plenty of yummy apples to add to trail mix or school lunches - I like to use Ginger Gold apples because they don't turn brown and you don't have to add anything to them before drying them - they are just a simple, healthy snack and the kids love them.

I spent some time teaching Nathan how to weave, and he swiftly churned out several washcloths. (They still need to be cut and hemmed on the sewing machine - that is a project for another day.)

My friend Betts gave me this little two-harness loom for the kids to use - thanks Betts! I had to use my banister-railing as a warping board, and it took a few days to set it up, but Nathan was eager to learn and now Jamie wants to try.

Nathan lost his glasses last week (grrr) and we still haven't found them. It's a good thing his school doesn't start until the 28th... If we don't find them soon we're going to have to pay out of pocket for new ones. I'm not happy about that - they are worth at least two weeks worth of groceries. :(

Last weekend, Phil and I walked with our UCC church in the town parade - that is always a lot of fun... This year the weather was overcast, but it didn't rain and the boys enjoyed riding their bikes alongside the big trucks!

I finished a really gorgeous 2-ply (300 yds, Merino/Silk/Bamboo) and decided to call it "Straw Into Gold." I'm setting the twist right now.

Last Monday, Phil's mum came to visit and we went to the Evergreen State Fair...

See how relaxed and happy they look in that photo? Yeah, I thought it would be fun to go on that ride too... it was terrifying. Brenda and I screamed and screamed everytime the "Cliffhanger" swung upward - I think I'm getting too old for this sort of thing! I was happy to win a few ribbons though. :)

I spent a few days spinning at the fair and had a fantastic time, however it was stormy and poured down rain the last couple of days and my friends and I got drenched carrying our wheels (well-covered with plastic bags) around the fairgrounds and out to the parking lot! Here I am picking fleece in the Sheep to Shawl... They dyed the wool while it was on the sheep this year!

While I was gone, Phil did some painting in one of the bedrooms and spent some time building huge, elaborate train tracks with the kids. (Did I mention that I love that man?)

I put out some art supplies and the kids made masks...

My friends and I planned and pulled off the first-ever meeting of the new, entirely awesome Snohomish Knitters Guild! (And even more exciting... 60+ people showed up to knit and eat this cake!)

We will meet every 2nd Tuesday of the month from 7-9pm at the Garden City Grange in Snohomish - I can't wait for next month, and I hope many more knitters will join us!

And then, to top it all off (yes I'm almost done,) my son Jamie had his first day of Kindergarten yesterday. Here he is with Ty, our little neighbor and friend from preschool just before orientation began.

Sigh... Jamie was so excited to ride the bus today, but he woke up sick. He seems okay this afternoon though - hopefully he'll be well enough to attend tomorrow.

Told ya I was busy... Now I've got to go finish up the curry chicken for my frozen meal club that meets tomorrow, and get started on some slippers for Nathan - he's going to be in the Montessori program through the school district this year and they wear slippers in class. I could buy him some, but I have all this yarn... and well, don't you think I should knit them?

In Spite of the Weather

It has been quite warm (upper 80's) and humid the last couple of days which usually means that I want nothing to do with a lapful of wool... However, I have that new Turkish spindle I've been playing with... and when I received the newest installment of Allspunup's spin-along fiber I was eager to get it going on my wheel! Here is the first half spun into a single: (I'm going to attempt one of those yummy bobbin-on-fiber shots...)

I'll be spinning another single with the other half so I can make a 2-ply. What isn't really captured here is the glorious shine... It's a Merino/Silk/Bamboo blend and WOW, is it ever shimmery and heavenly to spin!

Before I left for Sock Summit I finished up a Merino Tencel blend that had the shine, but didn't come anywhere close to being this soft:

Now, don't get me wrong... it was nice, but the merino/silk/bamboo spins like buttah.

In other news, after a bit of nagging, begging and cajoling by my son I reluctantly agreed to get the little loom warped up for Nathan. (It took only a few hours for me to acquiesce, and then about four days to get the warping done... and I didn't even have to look at my notes!)

He spent a good part of this afternoon weaving a cotton dishcloth... I was sure to make the warp a couple of yards long so he can make a few before I have to do it again. I'd teach him how to warp it himself, but I don't have the heart to... I mean, I kind of want the kid to like weaving for awhile before he knows about all the set up involved. I sincerely appreciated his patience while I got it done this time. The loom was a gift from my friend Betts and I can't wait to let her know that it's finally being put to good use!