Last post of the year

I've always been project monogamous when it came to knitting projects, but now trying to keep a spinning project and a knitting project going at the same time. So, I'm still working on ToolMan's socks; not a lot to look at yet, and I forgot to take pictures until it was too dark, so you'll have to wait to see those next week. Here, look at some fiber; it'll make you feel better.



Isn't that beautiful stuff? After all the dark colors I've spun for the last month, I really wanted something bright and cheerful. Enter, "Bouncy", 4 ounces of merino/silk blend from Butternut Woolens. I bought this from Shelly last September at OFFF. All her yarns and fibers are gorgeous, but when MonicaPDX and I walked into her booth, I went straight to this and clutched like I was afraid it would get away. MonicaPDX claims she knew at that very minute that I had the spinning bug, and had it bad. I have no idea what she means by that.



And the fact that I've spun 3 bobbins in two days has nothing to do with it, either.

ToolMan and I always buy presents for Andy and let him open them on Christmas Eve. His favorites this year seem to be the dolphin and the sheep.



I couldn't resist buying that sheep; it reminded me of Delores. And look at Andy's face; that is one happy dog!

ToolMan actually got his present a couple weeks ago. It's been covered in sawdust since it came out of the box, so I can only assume he likes it.



First, he used it to make a pair of sock blockers for Judy, and then a lazy kate for Duffy. Oh, wait 'til you see that! I'm not allowed to show pictures until it's done and ToolMan is still working on the finish. But, boy, is it a beauty! I may just have to ask for one myself.

I've been complaining about my little mp3 player not having a fast forward or reverse on it. I love listening to podcasts during my commute, but it's a real bummer when a 'cast runs longer than the train ride and I had no way of zipping right to the place I left off. So, this was what ToolMan got for me:



A shiny, new Zen V, with fast forward and reverse, video, radio, 4 gigabytes of memory and a 6 hour built-in rechargable battery. And this thing is teeny! Remember when pocket calculators first came out, back in the '70s? They were huge! And so expensive; I remember paying over $50 for one only did simple math, had no memory, and only went to 8 digits. It did less than the ones they now give away for free. Computer technology and miniturization, for better or worse, have certainly changed the world and our lives in the last 30 years. Heck, this Zen V has more memory than the first TWO computers we owned!

Then on Christmas Day, we went to SIL Faye and BIL Jim's house in Sandy. SS Chris and DIL Ronda came, with her son Ricky. Nieces Lisa and Jane were there, too. It was a nice, quiet family holiday, and then we got this:



A white Christmas! The perfect kind: enough snow to cover the grass and look pretty, but not enough to stick on the roads or make driving difficult. All in all, it was a really nice holiday, even if I did have to go back to work for the rest of the week.

It's hard to believe that the year is almost over. When I remember back to the events of a year ago, it seems like this year passed in the blink of an eye. A lot of it was painful and tearful and difficult to bear, but a lot of it was also joyful and wonderful and filled with family and friends, and I wouldn't have missed any of it for anything.

The countdown is almost over . . .

I enjoy wearing a different one every day from December 1 to Christmas Day, so over the years I've collected quite a few. Here's the lineup for this year:



I really like the whimsical ones, and the jeweled ones,



and the enameled ones, and the vintage ones,



and the ones that were gifts, and the ones I bought, and especially the one that looks like Andy.

Speaking of Andy, he's turned into a pretty good knitting model:



That's the squishy scarf, finished; from cast on to bind off in two days. I'm reasonably satisfied with it; it's not too wide enough to cover my neck or tie over my head and just long enough to tuck inside my coat without being too bulky in the front. Lord knows I don't need anything too bulky "up front".

I think Andy particularly likes modeling scarfs and posing with WIPSs. Modeling hats? Not so much. Maybe Santa will bring me a head like Cindy's for Christmas.

After a few fits and starts, the ToolMan's socks are back on the needles.



I cast on using Judy's Magic Cast-On; it REALLY is the best for toe-up socks (and lots of other stuff, too). But first, I didn't like the way the brown was knitting up at a different thickness than the marl; so I frogged. Then I doubled the brown and didn't like the density of either fabric; so I frogged, again. Then I moved up a needle size and it was still too dense; and frogged, again. Up another needle size and like the fabric, but then it was too big around; so I frogged, again. Now, it's working into a nice fabric; the toes are smooth, then because ToolMan deemed his last pair as "droopy" and "floppy", I started a K2P1 ribbing on the instep and will continue it all the way up the leg.

I have to work Monday morning, but only until noon. Then I'll be home with ToolMan and Andy for our quiet Christmas Eve. We're going to have prime rib (ToolMan makes the BEST prime rib), watch Andy open his presents, and then settle down for a Christmas movie. Then on Christmas Day, we'll be going to SIL Faye and BIL Jim's house for Christmas dinner. We've gave up on the gift exchanges a few years ago; we all have everything we want and already have WAY TOO MUCH stuff as it is. Instead, we've opted to be "gift free" and just enjoy a good meal, good conversation, and the company of our family.

As we countdown to the end of the holiday and the end of the year, my holiday wish is that no matter where you are and no matter what your beliefs, that you have a warm, joyful holiday with your family and friends. THAT'S the best gift of all.

Playing catch up

That's what this is, playing catch up on all the stuff I should have blogged about in the last two weeks. I finished the Drops hat and the Fetching mitts; ToolMan snapped this as I was on my way out the door to work one frosty morning ( which is going very well, thank you!) I really like the design, even if it does mash down my hair. I'm going to block it one more time, stretching the daylights out of it, hoping for a pillbox that will keep my ears warm without giving me hat head. Since this was a cable pattern with a 24 row repeat, I had to stop or else have something so big that it would have made me look like a bobble head.



The Fetching mitts turned out to be too short over the fingers and they kept rolling backwards, so I frogged them off and reknit them into Voodoo mitts. I made them long enough to reach down to the first joint on my index and I picked up around the thumb to add about an inch of ribbing. I'm very happy with them; they're long enough to keep my hands warm, but I have my fingers free to knit or push MP3 player buttons.

I finished up the last of the Dragon Waste from OFFF, last week. Since the weekend was cold and blustery and we were getting snow flurries (which gladly didn't stick), I spent most of last weekend to ply and set the twist. Not all family members were happy I spent that much time without a suitable lap.



Isn't that the most pitiful thing you've ever seen?

No, wait, actually, THIS might be the most pitiful thing you've ever seen:



That's a boy who loves his mama. Or considers me to be nothing more than furniture, I'm not sure which.

Here's a shot of the Pollworth I'm spinning on the new wheel. Barbara brought me this bat last fall, along with the Country Craftsman. I've been so obsessed, er . . . . enamored with the Dragon Waste, that I hadn't tried anything else. Now that the Dragon Waste is gone, and I wanted to really try out the new wheel, I started that bat. This wheel spins fairly slow, which is a good thing, since it gives me very good control over the draft and twist. This was a small bat, but I'm getting miles, MILES, of length out of this wool. I'm thinking this natural light gray would be beautiful knit up into a lacy cowl or wimple, maybe with some tiny pearls. And even though this wheel only has the one bobbin, it holds a LOT of yarn. I'll just have to figure out how I'm going to ply this; maybe I'll do it on the drop spindle.



I also finished the green mohair shawl. Just a simple triangle shawl, knit from the neck down until you run out of yarn. I've woven in the ends, but it hasn't been washed or blocked yet. It's about 5 feet across now, so I won't have to stretch it too much when blocking.



I also finished this tam:



And this tam and scarf made out of my hand spun Dragon Waste:



The tams and scarf will get mailed tomorrow to a great-niece girl in Tucson.

Here's the last bits of Dragon Waste, all spun and plied and twist set and balled up. ToolMan asked for another pair of house socks and I started a pair with these. I had intended to use the brown for the toes and heels, and the gold/brown marl for the rest, but I didn't like the way the two interacted. These both came out of the Dragon Waste, meaning they are unidentified mixed fibers, so solid brown is very fine and very soft, but the marl is much coarser. After knitting just a few inches, I didn't think he'd be happy with the fabric so I frogged them back off.


ToolMan really likes this gold/brown marl, so I'll have to think of something to make out of it for him. Maybe a watch cap to keep his head warm while he's working in the garage. He's been a busy little bee lately; he finished a pair of sock blockers for Judy, has designed and is building a lazy kate for Duffy, and is trying to "unengineer" some bobbins for Melissa. He's contemplating an Etsy shop with a mix of ready made things like sock blockers and shawl pins, and custom order things like lazy kates and winding stations. I always rave about things he makes for me, but he's anxious to get some feedback from the local knitsibs on what he makes before he plunges into Etsy.



So, while I'm contemplating what the marl wants to become, I pulled out another skein of hand spun, wound it into a ball and am doing a squishy scarf: cast on a multiple of 4 plus 3, then k2 p2 across on every row until you run out of yarn.

Nothing to see here . . . .

I know it's been a week since our last chat; my, how time flies! Since we last talked, I have finished the project with my handspun. I knit a tam for myself out of it, but I tried the magic loop method for about the umpteenth time, and am now convinced this is not a good method for me. I'm sure other more accomplished knitters find it produces a perfectly acceptable fabric, but for whatever reason, it doesn't work for me. I started the brim on the magic loop and then went to dpns. The fabric is fine, but the 1x1 ribbing is too loose (that's the only part I did on the magic loop), so I've got some elastic thread that I'm going run through the inside to firm it up a little bit. Although the tam may not be a staple of my winter wardrobe, I am very happy with the way it turned out. I did like the way my handspun knit up and the fabric it produced. No, I don't have a picture because I am a bad blogger and waited until too late and now it's too dark.

I'm down to spinning the last of the Dragon Waste that I bought at OFFF. I was working on a gold and brown marl and had only some very dark brown after that. ToolMan remarked that he'd like another pair of socks and thought the marl would be nice. I'm not sure that I'll have enough of the marl alone, so I'll use the dark brown solid for the toes and heels. I've finished 3 bobbins of the marl, which have had the twist set, and are hanging in the bathroom drying as we speak. I've also spun the 4th bobbin of marl and plied it, and done the first bobbin of dark brown single. Hopefully, I'll get the second (and last) bobbin of dark brown spun and both bobbins plied this week. I'd like to have ToolMan socks for communter knitting next week. And no, I don't have pictures of these, either.

I also finished the cabled hat and mitts that I was working on last week. The mitts are Fetching, but I'm not at all happy with how they fit. They're much too loose and not nearly long enough to suit me. So I cast on for another pair, along the lines of Voodoo wrist warmers, in yarn to match the cabled hat, which turned out fine. I was worried about the top being too "pouffy" on top, but most of it came out in blocking. It's not exactly the pillbox I was hoping for, but it's pretty close; snug enough to keep my head and ears warm, but not firm enough to give me "hat hair" when I take it off. ToolMan took pics of me wearing the finished hat and mitts, but they're very dark and don't show off the knitting all that well, so no pictures of those, either.

Friday was my last day at work. No, I'm not unemployed again; I actually start a new job tomorrow morning. I took the last job because it sounded like a good opportunity to try something outside family law; the attorney was setting up his own office for the first time (he'd always been with a medium-size firm) so I'd get a chance to start from scratch setting up an office and learning the ropes of plaintiff's insurance claims. Although I like setting up the office, like the attorney, and like the co-workers, it really wasn't a good fit for me. I missed doing family law; I missed the variety of contacts throughout the day; I missed not handling multiple cases in one day (or even one hour); and I missed the feeling of having a positive impact in client's lives. I had already made up my mind to look for something new after the first of the year; when I got a call from a family law firm inquiring if I was still available, we negotiated a pretty good deal. I'll be working at a well-known firm and for a respected attorney, and I am really looking forward to being back in family law.

The news and weather people spent the latter half of last week forecasting a big storm for the weekend. So ToolMan and I were prepared: stocked up on food, charged all the batteries for everything, made sure the car was filled up, lots of rechargable batteries on hand, candles and matches in case the electricity went out, de-icer for the stairs (did I mention we FINALLY got a front porch and stairs last week? YAY!). I came home on Friday fully prepared to not set foot out for the rest of the weekend. Problem is, the storm never reall appeared. Oh, we had big flakes of snow falling most of Saturday morning, but it never got cold enough to stick. By mid-day, it had devolved into the same incessant rain we usually get in the Great Pacific Northwet. And, no, that is NOT a misspelling.

As it happened, we did leave the house today. We have been invited to a holiday party next weekend at Pyramid Brewery, and ToolMan needed something a little more spiffy to wear. So we went out to breakfast this morning and then to Kohl's ToolMan snagged a nice pair of dress slacks, a button-down shirt, and a cabled cardigan. I know, what a travesty, that the spouse of a knitter has to wear a store-bought cardigan! But, hey, the price was right (under $20), even for acrylic. It does have nice woven leather buttons, though, which will look really nice on his alpaca sweater. Right after I get that pound and a half of roving from OFFF spun, and plied, and the twist set, and the pattern found, and the gauge swatched.