Bad Blogger update!

Well - I have been doing lots of stuff since I last touched base - more riding than knitting, but I managed a few things.

Finished objects - two Christmas scarves for the brothers-in-law. Did these in Louet Merlin - a bit splitty to knit with, but feels great in the hand and I think has very nice stitch definition.




WIPs
That daggone tank for me is still not done.

The diagonal triangle tank for sis is almost done.

The Andrea shawl for other sis is on hold until the triangle tank is done. Front is folded on left, back is on two sets of circs waiting for finishing details, then sew it together and VOILA! Of course, she lives in Montana and it's getting cold there. Guess she will just have to wait for spring!

And started an entrelac scarf out of angora that I got on deep discount. I am glad I tried it on the cheap because I don't like it much. It's actually too soft for my taste. I like a little more body. I think the entrelac will work well though and will give it a little support.

So the question is, I screwed up picking up the first row of green on the entrelac scarf. Frog it? or put some beads on it and hide it? LOL I think I will probably frog it. I hate making mistakes!

Hammerin' Hank models lace

Amazing Lace #6 - Creatures of the Reef in Laceweight Linen

Hammerin' Hank is my horse-shoeing hubby.

Here, he models his lace as he prepares for work.












Horseshoer buns stylin' in lace.















Hank is willing to share his lace. Here baby Lulu shows Hank how stylin' is REALLY done!











(Please note that baby Lulu and Mom Aster are real customers. You can see them on their homepage at www.goodnessridge.com)

Hank has "wrapped up" for the day.

Diagonal Triangle Tank

Front is done. Started the back last night. This is in a really gorgeous hand-painted silk that I got at Md Sheep & Wool.

It's a pretty easy knit. A little boring (garter stitch), but the short rows are kind of fun, and after the shawl a little boring is okay! LOL

I think it will be really pretty! It's for my sis in Montana.

At Long Last!!! CotR is finished!!!

Creatures of the Reef Shawl is completed! Whoo Hoo! What a project that was.

I don't remember when I cast on. Late May? Maybe June.

This is in laceweight linen (Euroflax Milan) in lichen on #4 needles. It's a very beautiful subtle sage-y green. Took one 100 gram cone (625 yds) plus a little bit of the second cone. Now I have to figure out what to do with about 600 yards of laceweight linen!

Here it is on the blocking board. The board is 36x48.

Here it is draped over the balcony. It's amazing!!!

And here it is on the bed, so that you can see some of the patterns better. From the bottom, sea shell border, then a row of eyelet "bubbles", then some crabs and sea horses, more bubbles, some starfish, some bubbles, some fishies swimming left and some fishies swimming right and finally some frothy sea foam.

I did NOT feel the love starting out with this pattern. Made a mistake early on and had to tink back stitch by stitch over 800 stitches! Argh! But it gets easier as you get into the swing of it and each row gets shorter by 4 stitches, so the end actually gets very exciting! LOL

Anyway. DONE!

Sunshine, the Palomino Filly

Here she is! Just 60 days under saddle. What a cutie pie!

Where's Waldo?

Fruit n' Lace. CotR fresh picked from the garden.

Just a quick update.

Plugging along on CotR. Am now on the fish motif, row 105 or thereabouts. I am sure there are a few mistakes scattered about. I keep winding up either short a stitch or with an extra on the motifs, but hey - if you can spot it, more power to ya! LOL

Tank is languishing.

Baby blankie went with me on a short road trip yesterday and I got another inch or so done. It's so nice to have a "take-along" project. CotR - NO WAY. Tank would be okay, but I am at the yoke and will need a little more focus than I can offer on a car ride!

Rode Shadow in a REALLY good lesson Saturday, taught on him yesterday. Rode today and he was a dog. I am going to have to rethink using him as a lesson horse. OTOH, it is so freakin' hot that I wasn't very high energy myself. We didn't do much, but I did want to get him out. Pones are tucked away in the barn with their fans blowing. I always debate out or in, but I think it's less buggy in and at least they are assured a breeze with the fans on.

Then I put on my plantkiller hat and went out and applied round-up to the extensive weeds in the riding ring. I have tried the more natural method of pulling them up and I just can't keep up. So I apologized to the weeds and then squirted them.

Now to shower and off to work!

Yahoo!

The camera is back in action!

This is the koigu baby blankie - wrong side on top, but I think both sides are pretty!






This is the Vittadini tank - I know it's hard to see - need better pics - but all I need to do is finish up the yoke.
And here's the Creatures of the Reef Shawl. Again hard to see, but you can at least see nice progress.

Onward and upward.

Saturday Update

Okay - so I ordered new batteries and a new charger for my camera. I am suffering too much with no photos! LOL They should be here soon.

Have only been working on the CotR shawl this week. Kinda dropped everything else. But making good progress. Finished the seahorse and crab motif and am almost done with the bubbles separator row. I like these things that start out huge and diminish. The rows just go faster and faster! Yay!

On the horse front, little Callas had a tummy ache this am. She seems better now, but that's always very worrisome. Shadow and Pro head off to a clinic this afternoon. NO PICS until I get my batteries. Next time!

Amazing Lace Entry - Contest #4.

Well, I should really have entered Contest #3 because my camera is broken and I can't do pics. Did you know that Mercury is retrograde? It means that communication is difficult.

But I will try anyway - I can do WORD pictures with supporting illustration (all real pics are pre-broken cam) so here goes....

I am doing the Creatures of the Reef shawl in lace weight linen. It's a gorgeous willow green that is cool, airy, slightly slubby, threadlike, flowing and a real pain to frog when mistakes happen.

Here is an early incarnation - about 6 rows worth (that's 6x400+ - 2400+ stitches).

It is now about 4 inches deep by 400 stitches long. It's loooooong. (figure about 6 rows to the inch - 6x4x400=9600 stitches) Why am I obessessing about how many stitches? Dunno. Except maybe there is some "whine" factor involved for when I goofed up and had to tink back one stitch at a time for two whole rows. But we are on track now and a lifeline is in place!

So picture it - mostly border, just the teeniest edge of the seahorses and crabs in place.

/*\8/*\8/*\8/*\8/*\8/*\8/*\8/*\8/*\8/*\8/*\8/*\8/*\8/*\8

So if I cast off right now, it could be:

Picture this.

A sofa dust ruffle.
~~~_______________ ~~~
~~(_______________) ~~
~~[@@@] [@@@] [@@@] ~~
~~/*\8/*\8/*\8/*\8/*\8/*\ ~~

Or maybe:

A bandolier
~~~~ _____] ^ ^ [______~~~~
~~~~( (.'.'. /*\ .'.'.'.' /8\.'.'.) ) ~~~~
~~~/ / .'.'.' /8\.'.'.' /*\.'.'.' \ \ ~~~~
~~/ /~ .'.'.'.' /*\.'. /8\ .'.'.'~\ \ ~~~
~ [ \~~ .'.'.'.'.'/8\/*\.'.'.'.'.'~/ ] ~~~
~~\ \~ .'.'.'.' /*\.'. /8\.'.'.'.~/ / ~~~
~~~\ \ .'.'. /8\.'.'.'.' /*\.'.'. / / ~~~~
~~~~() \\\\\\\\\//////// () ~~~~~

Still have to get the Camera Fixed...

I have been diligently working away on three projects.

1) Vittadini tank. It's coming along nicely and I think will be very cool. Not the most interesting knit on the planet, but I think it will be nice. I added a teeny bit of shaping, so we will see how that does. I am about 3/4 done on this one. Back is complete, front is done almost to the armholes, but the yoke and bobbles take a while. My sis wants one too - going to make it out of some golden yellow Silky Wool - but sis is MUCH more amply endowed than I am, so I am thinking it might be fun to experiment with short row shaping for the bust.

2) Creatures of the Reef Shawl. I really need to make an Amazing Lace report on my trials and tribulations for this one. Stay tuned. I will write it up separately.

3) Baby blankie. Another koigu baby blankie on #4 needles. I am so nutz!!! I started this off in the same lattice pattern I used in Hank's vest. Love the pattern, but it didn't show off the yarn, so I frogged it, started again with the Swedish block pattern, which looks fabbo! But then I realized I had made it too wide and I was gonna run out of yarn (only I think I have another skein somewhere...) Anyhow, frogged again and restarted with fewer repeats, but now I am cooking along. Unlike the first baby blanket, which had a complex 18 row pattern repeat in which every single line was different (!) and in which I never got the flow of the pattern sufficiently to just buzz away, this is a very simple 6-row repeat. Whew!

I really do need to get batteries because I soon will have FO's and I want to publish pics of my progress anyhow!

So once these are knocked off. I have a linen top for youngest sis, the yellow tank for oldest sis, and some scrumptious silk I bought at MDS&W for yet another sis. I also have some silk/linen that I want to make up into a cropped jacket for moi, but haven't found a pattern yet that I love for it.

So I have been a busy bee.

Not much on the riding front. It is SO freakin' hot that the thought of long pants is ACK! Maybe will try to get up at 5:00 tomorrow am and ride in the cool. Baby Callas does come home today from Mel's. She has been under saddle for about 30 days. I may force Henry to ride her a bit - I am not so bold with greenies, but am going to see if I can get her bred, so she will have the year off to have a baby, then go back to work.

That's it!

Have to get that Camera Fixed.

Knitting

A friend came by on Thursday and I was showing her my WIPs. She hadn't seen the Barbara Walker books, so we were flipping through - saw the Swedish block (or is it check - can't remember) in book 1 and mentioned how elegant it was. Then I was showing her baby blankie and I wasn't pleased with how it was knitting up - the variegation and the pattern were clashing with each other, so I had a little aha moment, ripped it out back to the garter stitch edge and restarted it with the Swedish block pattern. Ahhhh. Easy to stitch and I like how it's coming out.

So even though I worked WAY too many hours yesterday, I am back to where I started when I ripped. Feels good.

Tonight I will do a little on the baby blankie and see if I can get the CotR shawl back to where I goofed up.

Riding

Mel had a good day with Callas - a little bit of breakthrough in getting her to work and concentrate through distractions. Going down tomorrow, so should have some pics.

Haven't ridden all week myself. Between rain and work, ugh! Have a lesson today - am really enjoying the new teach.

Whew

Okay - I feel better.

Got the top back to where I am about to start the lace yolk. Will swatch that tonight & maybe get started.

Tinked back about half a row on CotR - will try to get the other half tonight, then have to do one more row. That row is mostly pure knit, so should be pretty easy (relatively speaking). Then I stick a lifeline in and stick to the mantra I should have stuck to. Don't knit when you are sleepy and especially don't knit LACE when you are sleepy!

I HATE Frogging

Tuesday night, I industriously worked away on the Vittadini top and the CotR shawl and messed them both up!

GRRRR.

So last night, I frogged the top back and restarted the yoke shaping. For some reason, I started the yoke and armhole shaping at the same point. But the armhole shaping doesn't start for another couple of inches after yoke shaping. I would have been "creative", but I think it would have looked dorky, so I frogged.

Worked my way back up to about where the armhole shaping should start, so will do that tonight and try to get the front to the point where I am ready for the lace yoke.

If I have time, will start to painstakingly tink back on CotR - can't just rip out a row on that one and pick up stitches. Bummer.

However, it has stopped raining and the sun is out! Yippee!

Bad Poster! Delayed update.

I have been very remiss in keeping up. Busy busy busy! And my camera batteries have finally given up the ghost on recharging, so I need to get some more. So no pics until I get that squared away.

Lessee - Callas has gone down to Melanie's to be truly started under saddle. Yesterday she walked off lead for the first time. Mel reports that steering and brakes are not yet fully installed! LOL But she was just walking around the paddock, so that was okay. She also reports that she is quite lazy!

Shadow is doing great. He packed one of my students to a first and third at a show last weekend. And we have started riding with a new instructor who is very good. I am quite pleased. We did a little cowboy shooting. I made someone else ride him - good thing. That guy rides faster than I can and Shadow went faster than I have ever seen him go! Holy cow! We show this weekend and my camera toting pal will be there, so hopefully we get some pics. Also not supposed to be so hot - good thing. Heat is NOT Shadow's best subject!

On the knitting front - finished the Maggi's linen clapotis. Gotta gotta gotta get pics, it's GORGEOUS! It is supposed to be a gift, but I am struggling with that notion! LOL. Camo hat is done - very ugly, but I think the nephew will like it.

Working on the Vittadini shell - almost to the lace neckline stuff. Fairly boring knitting - just stockinette until you get to the neckline, but the yarn is really cool.

Got the linen for sis's ("baby" sis) top - it's Euroflax original in Neptune - a beautiful wedgewood kind of blue. Cast on for swatching, but am focusing on the shell, though the gauge looks a little goofy. Wound up going down two needle sizes for the shell and looks like this might be the same. Wonder if I am knitting differently? Doesn't feel like I am knitting particularly tight.

Finished the shell border row on the CotR shawl and started the first chart. OMG, this is gonna take forever. I have to commit to working on it at least one night per week, but I am not loving this process - I think I need to find a knit-along to help with the charts. Not terribly clear to me what is supposed to be happening.

Took a break from stashalong for two weeks. Basically got the linen for sis's top and a few cool & funky yarns to make Christmas presents with. I am thinking about felted purses for the neices, and maybe some crazy scarves for the sisters and not sure what for the bro-in-laws.

Baby blankie is on hold. I have to frog it back an inch or two and I am feeling cranky about that notion.

Cleaned up my little sitting room where I knit. Put stuff away - it's a much nicer space to work in now. Have a few more little touches and it will actually be respectable.

Well - I am really late for work. Better run!

This N That

Here's a pic of the clapotis I am working on out of my illicit Stashalong ooops! yarn. The pic doesn't capture the glorious turquoise of the yarn and the sheen of the linen. It's really pretty. That's pretty much all I am working on right now. Someone on knittyboard said "sorry Kate, it's a boring knit" and that's true, but just what I am needing right now. Kind of a mindless task, but the outcome is so pretty I just pet it every day!


Hank and I went on a judged pleasure ride yesterday with Pro and Shadow. Sorry no pics. I really wish I had brought my camera. A judged pleasure ride is a trail ride with obstacles. Each obstacle has a "judge" sitting by it who rates your performance through the obstacle. They were very cool, ranging from quite natural - a steep bank down to a muddy creek, to kind of surprising - the trail system there goes through a GIANT culvert. It was quite scary for my boy, but he tried like a champ. There were wooden bridges, a mailbox that you had to open and close, a "campsite" with a tent, a dummy on a cot and clothes hanging out. Fun stuff.

Pro took everything in stride - a little cautious in some places, but he is a very curious and confident horse. It's pretty cool because he was a big time show horse and I am sure he didn't spend much time out on the trails. Shadow is a bit more of a chicken and didn't do as well, but I was still really proud of him. He showed a ton of try working on things he was scared of. But I definitely need to get that boy out more! LOL

Mel came over and rode baby Callas again. Callas was still quite "exuberant" at first under saddle, so we need to work on longeing her under tack more. I ran short of time last week.

Heading out to feed the pones, catch a ride on a boarder's horse, do a little gardening, then YUCK - head into the office for a few hours.

Baby Callas got her first ride yesterday!

My friend Melanie came over and backed my baby for me. She will go down to Mel's for 30 days or so, and then will be in very light work for the next 6 months or so. She is still quite immature physically, but a light program will be good for her busy little mind!

That saddle thing is SCARY!!!

Okay - so it's not so bad after all. I can trot around like a good girl!








And I can handle someone sitting on me! I am such a big girl!

She really was pleased with herself after all was said and done. And after her initial nervousness about the saddle was quite sensible - just had to include the drama pic!



On the knitting front - got some Maggi's linen at a really good sale and am working on a clapotis. along with all the other stuff that's still in work.

Quickie update

Nothing really to photograph. Lots of stuff in barely beginning stages!

Baby blankie is about 4". Figure this is 1/9" of the way done. Hmmm. It doesn't sound quite so bad put that way!

COTR Shawl I am almost finished with the scallop edging - just have to gather all the yo's. About 1 1/4".

Started the camo hat for my nephew. I was going to put a spider on it, but I think I will just let it be camo all by itself. It's kind of cool looking in a goofy way! It's about 2" along.

Purple vest is on hold until I swatch, measure, wash and measure again. I am afraid I am going to have to frog, so am putting it off! LOL

Other WIPS - just sitting there for now. Trellis Scarf and a shawl in Blue Heron.

Lots of stuff lined up waiting for a start!

I have been a good little yarn gal and haven't bought a thing.

Henry and I took the pones to a nearby park this am and went for a nice hour and a half trail ride. Pones really enjoyed themselves. We did too!

Show pic

Me and the Shadman at the show this weekend. Pics courtesy of my pal Shari.

Quick pics

If Blogger will cooperate - a couple of quick pics of WIPS!

The blurry one is the Creatures of the Reef Shawl. 5 rows times 400+ stitches each, 20,000 stitches and it's sooooo short! LOL

The bright one is baby blankie #2 out of a sunny Koigu on #4 needles. Progressing nicely.

The purple one is a Vest in Progress, but I am a little concerned about gauge and it's really on hold until I have a little time to do math!

Horse showing today. Will bring baby blankie along as I show at 10:30, then not again until 4:30! ZZZZZZ

Ridin' lots

Prepping for a big show this weekend. Riding every day. Man do I feel fit. And pone feels great too!

Cast on baby blankie (on 4's daggone it!) on Monday night. About 5 rows in. Haven't done any more on CotR - will do a couple of rows tonight.

I think the vest needs to be bigger. Measured it and it was 31" - mini! The yarn blooms, but I forgot to write down by how much, so will swatch again, measure, wash and block, measure and do math. Don't know it it will bloom 10"!!!! So might have to frog and start over. But it's gonna be sumthin!

Gotta run!

SKUNKED!!

Well this was going to be a knitting update, but just had to report that Rowdy the bad got skunked last night. He is currently stashed in the horse trailer awaiting a bath. He's really stinky!!!!

On the knitting front, I have done three rows of Creatures of the Reef in Milan laceweight linen. It's knitting up fine, but I think I have decided that I am much happier in fingering weight! This is gonna take forever!!! LOL

Swatched my purple/black/gray wool/silk again. It wasn't going to work for the top I was thinking of, so am looking at doing a cropped vest. I only have 660 yards, so it's a bit of a squeeze to get a wearable out of it. No sleeves, no length to the body, no cables. This is a design challenge!!!

Swatched the koigu baby blanket yarn. Swatched on #5's, not totally happy with it, will swatch again on #4's and see if I have to force myself to suffer with the smaller needles. The yarn is really pretty, but a little bit girly - don't know if the baby is boy or girl at this point - was trying for a unisex yarn. Will have to post a pic and get opinions.

And I think that's lots of knitting (plus I have two lace WIP's that I should do something with).

Gotta feed the ponies and give the BAD dog a bath!

Finished!!!

Whew! Finally finished hub's vest! It's in Alice Starmore Hebridean three-ply. I almost gave up a couple of times, but you gotta stand by your man! LOL





Also finished a cashmere scarf and a Diamond Fantasy Shawl but didn't get pics of those.

On the needles - linen lace Creatures of the Reef for my mom - just cast on.

Swatching for some other stuff. Blew a big wad of moola and got bunches of stuff at MDS&W - details on Stashalong.

Pone is doing FANTASTIC!

Speaking of which - I had better go ride!

Frustrated!!!

I am SO close to done on hub's vest, but I have now put in and ripped out the button band 3 times! ARGH!

I think I just need to pick up more stitches, it is too tight, so that will be next "thing" to try, but I hate redoing. This tells me I am SO not cut out to be a knit designer! LOL

Also wound up tinking like 5 rows of the DFS - must be in a bad biorhythm place!

On the horse front, Shadow is back from the trainer's - all tuned up and lovely to ride! Just had the saddle fitting lady come out this am and we bought a new saddle for his wideness!

Since April 8, have ridden every day except for three! No wonder I am having trouble finishing any knitted items. Too much fanny in the saddle time! LOL

My photo op pal is gonna come and take pics of our ride this afternoon, so if she gets any good ones, will add them on later.

The Restash in pics

Well - a friend of mine says "if it doesn't taste good enough to be worth the calories don't eat it!"

So here are my post/pre Stashalong splurges.

Euroflax Milan lace weight. Can't wait to get started with this. It's sitting by my desk as my petting yarn right now! LOL. This will be a Creatures of the Reef shawl.

Schaefer Andrea. Laceweight silk. Ohlala! This will be a TBD. Will swatch and see how it knits up as entrelac.


Lorna's Laces Sock. The camoflouge (?sp) color. For my nephew - a hat. Cabled spider. Ohyeah!

Last but not least - more Koigu. Another baby blanket. I am out of my freakin mind. Will swatch on 5's. If I don't get too anal, I might be able to do that instead of 4's. Crazed.

Horse stuff.

Rode little Biz today. She is such a nice little mare. Easy peasy. No bucks in the canter, left canter felt quite nice. Right canter still awfully stiff, but she is getting more supple. Also stepped on Ranger - a big chestnut QH who belongs to a student. What a fun horse. He's a little green, a little crooked, but nice movement and a nice disposition. Then hopped on Smokey (boarder) for a bit during the lesson with his owner. He is coming right along. I am most pleased with him. Need to drop a note to the folks who are training Shadow and ask for the weekly report. I miss my big baby boy!

Off to work the DFS - on repeat 6 - will probably take it to 8, but maybe more. Will decide as I go along.

Horsey De-Stash/Knitting Re-Stash

Not really, but...

Shadow has gone down to VA for a few weeks with my teacher. Getting some tuneup, getting him to understand some of the next level of work/movements he will be doing, so that he doesn't learn them from a dork! LOL So one pone down. Then my friend Mel had her filly at my place for a short while as her barn was full, and she took her home yesterday, so two pones down. Five horses! I won't know what to do with myself in the morning! LOL Rode my boarder's mare this am - delightful older QH - very well trained but a bit stiff. I am tuning up her canter so that my boarder, who is an adult beginner, will be able to learn to canter on a cadillac.

Knitting-wise, I re-stashed, but only with stuff that was earmarked for projects. Pics later -but 2 cones of Euroflax Milan for a lace shawl for my mom. 2 skeins of Shepherd Sock in Camo to make a hat for my nephew. I think I will cable a spider on it - very cool! 6 skeins of Koigu for baby blankie #2 and 1 skein of Andrea for a shawl for my sis. I might also try the boucle silk from Schaefer for my sis who is allergic to wool. So destashed 30 and added 9. Almost finished with my DFS shawl which will de-stash another 3.

Starting today, I am on a new stashalong for 2 months. So when the DFS shawl gets done, it will go in that pot. Then I STILL have to finish hubby's vest, but that should go quickly, then I think I will start on the baby blankie and the hat concurrently. The baby blankie will take a while. I need to swatch a bit to decide what stitch I want to use on this one.

That's all!

Really the windup!

I MADE IT!!!!!

Didn't finish anything over the last couple of days - been helping hub with his www.marylandshallissue.org web updates.

I was gonna place an order at midnight plus one, but I was too sleepy. So as I fall off the wagon, this is what I am ordering...

1) 2 skeins of Euroflax linen laceweight for a shawl for my mom
- Was thinking another Diamond Fantasy, but I found the "Creatures of the Deep" shawl from Fiddlesticks and I think she will really like that - she is a beach girl at heart.
Yarn - (in the lichen color) http://www.darnityarn.com/index.php?item=46
Pattern - http://www.fiddlesticksknitting.com/CreaturesLarge.html
2) 1 skein of Schaefer Andrea for a shawl for my sis
- Haven't decided which shawl yet. I have lots of choices - I have the Myrna Stahlman book, plus several Barbara Walker books (design my own), plus the DFS or a couple of other Sivia Harding patterns, plus all the free stuff that's out there, so I will take a look at the yarn and swatch a bit and see what I come up with.
Picked the Frida Kahlo color http://www.schaeferyarn.com/yrn_cc_womencotton1.htm
3) "Something" for a shawl for me (maybe if I like that linen, I will get some for me)
-Am thinking the Baltic Sea Shawl or the entrelac shawl out of IK (Now that would be a CHALLENGE!

So I will still have a nice net loss in the stash and this yarn is all earmarked for definite "things". Mom has a september B-day and sis has an October b-day.

In the meantime, I will need to start cataloging my stash, so that I can target the reduction areas! I did sell some Noro and Poof on Ebay - forgot about that. There's a couple of other impulse buys that I should probably put up and just move down the road!

So add another 12 skeins to the de-stash - 10 Noro Silk Garden and 2 Poof. Whoo hoo - removed 30 skeins! That's pretty amazing.

The only other "problem" is that Maryland Sheep and Wool is the first weekend in May. That could be a small problem - ULP! But I promise not to buy 30 skeins! LOL

Stashalong windup

Okay - here's what I used up during the Stashalong...
Seaman's Shawl (Myrna Stahlman)- 2 Sk Araucania Nature Wool.
Shari's Socks (Actually Wyvern socks Marnie McLean - very nice!) - 2 Sk Koigu
Peg's Scarf (self designed) - 2 sk Koigu
Horseshoe lace scarf (self designed) 1 sk Lisa Souza Cashmere
Baby blanket (self designed) 5 sk Koigu
Hank's Vest (not quite done, self designed) 6 sk Alice Starmore 3 ply

So counting Hanks vest - I think I am allowed it's only the neckband left used up 18 skeins of yarn! Not so bad!

On the sticks -
Dancing Leaf Shawl (Sivia Harding)- 3 sk Koigu
Trellis Lace Scarf (IK Winter)- 1 sk CTH Possum Lace
Linen Lace Shawl (Nancie Wiseman) 1 sk Blue Heron Sparkly Rayon
W - (knitty.com) 1 or 2? , not sure Schaefer Lauren

In planning stage -
DLS shawl for my mom - planning to get some Euroflax and try that
Kuba Vest - Kit from LaLana is in my stash.
Wyvern socks - for me - plan to use up the Lorna's laces for these.

Vest Q and DFS WIP

Otay - here is the WIP Diamond Fantasy Shawl - in Koigu. It looks pretty nice when you pin it out! Kewl!


I have a dilemna too though. Here's the samples for the front/neck bands for hubs sweater. One is garter stitch (on the right), one is seed stitch (on the left). I like the buttonholes I practiced in the seed stitch swatch way better than the other buttonholes, so ignore the bad ones! LOL


Whaddya think? Garter/seed? I am leaning a bit towards the garter, but like 'em both okay.

Here's a closeup to help you decide...

And the almost finished object below!














And from Knitter in Progress...

A is for Age: 49
B is for Booze: Not a big drinker, but microbrews, white sangria, Merlot, Shiraz
C is for Career: Network Engineer
D is for Dad's Name: Mervin
E is for Essential Item to Bring to a Party: Dessert
F is for Favorite Songs at the Moment: The Wind (Warren Zevon)
G is for Goof-off Thing to Do: Web Surf & play computer games
H is for Hometown: Great Falls, MT
I is for Instrument You Play: Mandolin
J is for Jam or Jelly you Like: UGH. Does Peanut butter count?
K is for Kids: None – 2 pups (gunner/Rowdy) 3 horses (Pro, Shadow, Callas)
L is for Living Arrangement: Small Farm with hub and critters
M is for Mom's Name: Carol
N is for Names of Good Friends: Shari, Mel, (Randy, Shelley, Kaja, Jo - sis’s)
O is for Overnight Hospital Stays: ? Maybe for tonsils when I was two
P is for Pets: See K is for kids
Q is for Quotes you Like: "When will then be now? Never again." –Space Balls
R is for Relationship That Lasted Longest: DH – going on 8 years
S is for Siblings: See N for Names of good Friends
T is for Texas: AustinU is for Unique Trait: Like to clean the barn!
V is for Vegetables You Love: Brussel Sprouts, broccoli, tomatoes, lettuce, etc.
W is for Worst Traits: Sometimes bitchy!
X is for X-rays You've Had: teeth, knees
Y is for Yummy Food You Make: Fudge, stir-fried chix, Pork loin in mustard sauce
Z is for Zodiac Sign: Aries/Taurus cusp

More on the Blankie story

Well - just got back from Fla. The wedding was err.... spectacular!

They held it outdoors on the beach, scheduled for sundown so that they would be married against the backdrop of a sunset. It was a beautiful idea and was beautiful to watch, however, the temps were unseasonably cold and a vicious north wind was whipping!

Bride's mom had provided her with a white hoodie sweatshirt with Just Married spelled out on the back in rhinestones (cuter than it sounds!), so after the ceremony, she hopped into her sweatshirt, but she was sooo cold. I made her open her present a bit early, so it spent the evening wrapped around mom!

She loved the colors and it certainly proved useful on the day!

I decided to go with #5 - the medium blues for the shawl. I was leaning towards the Lorna's laces, but someone commented that it might prove too stripey and could look a little funny, so maybe I will make a pair of socks instead. I liked the light blue also, but I am making it for me and with the farm life I am afraid it would show the dirt too much.

Finished two repeats of the lace patten now - about 70 rows - and it's very pretty. Not much to look at in process, but when you stretch it out, you can see that it will be very nice! No pics til later in the week. Next task - TAXES!

Blankie Complete!!!

Wrapped up baby blankie just in time! "Designed it" myself (a Barbara Walker pattern with a garter stitch border) and am soooo pleased with how it came out! I even washed and dried it to be *REALLY* sure it would work before I gave it to my neice. Snuggly soft and scrumptious feeling. It's in Koigu on #4 needles and finished size is 28x36.

Now I am on to the Diamond Fantasy Shawl by Sivia Harding. Since I am being a good destasher, these are my choices! Help me out with which one I should use. I like 'em all, so the winning vote gets made! LOL



1) Dark Reds/blues/purples. Washable wool. Koigu
2) Purple/green. Washable wool. Lorna's shepherd sock.
3) Amber/gold. Merino alpaca blend, handwash. Haneke.
4) Pale blues/greens. Koigu
5) Medium blues/greens/purples. Koigu
6) Dark Purple/green. Washable wool. Bonkers

What do you think?

Just a little ridin' stuff

Thought I would post a piccie of me and my boy from a clinic we rode in this weekend.


No I wasn't knitting, but I am about at 26" on baby blankie with one more ball of koigu to go. WHEW!

Happy Saint Paddy's day

Movin' right along! Picked up buttons yesterday. Swatched a little piece so that I can experiment with a seed stitch and/or garter stitch border and blocked it last night.

While that was drying, charted baby blankie pattern, figured out where I went off, tinked back to that point and then proceeded full steam ahead.

Whew! Will do the neckband experiment tonight and maybe get started on it. Fingers crossed.

Have a dressage clinic this weekend. Maybe will bring one of the projects with me and work and watch. Haven't mastered knitting and riding together LOL!

Vest ALMOST wrapped up!

What a "doh" moment! Picked up a little potty reading (knitting without tears) and EZ spells out in there how to pick up armband/neckband stitches. Why do I buy all these books anyhow????

Anyway, armbands are done. About to start neckband and feeling a bit more confident - will go by a somewhat local fabric store today (reco by the knittyboard folks - great idea!) for buttons! With all systems go, I figure I can do about half the neckband tonight, the other half Friday night and get buttons sewed on Saturday.

Yay! and AUGH! That gives me less than a week to finish baby blankie. We fly Friday at oh dark hundred. Maybe I will take Monday off and knit all day.

Will try to get vest pics up soon. It is gorgeous!

Another quickie 3/15

ARGH!

Did one armhole band with a little twist cable. Didn't like how it looked and there was a bit of buckling, so I left it for the time being and did the other one with straight k1p1 ribbing. 84 stitches. Nope, frogged it did it again with 102 stitches. Nope. Finally did it with 120 stitches and it's okay.

Now have to frog the first one and redo.

Then on to the buttonband/neckband - I guess I will put in lots more stitches than I think belong there!

Baby blanket is languishing. I MUST finish this vest! And I have to go get buttons somewhere!

Joined a Sivia Harding Diamond Fantasy Shawl/Scarf KAL. Koigu or Haneke Merino/Alpaca - that is the question. Can't start it until baby blankie is complete, but it might be a nice take-along project to the wedding.

Just a quickie - 3-12-06

3-10 Finished the back of vest! Fronts blocked last night. Will block the back tonight and sew together over the weekend, then it's just finishing up! Pics soon!

3-12 Vest Yay! Back blocked. Fronts & backs sewn together. First armhole stitches picked up and ready to go. Two armholes and the fronts/neckband to go. Plus I need to find some buttons. But this is getting really close!

Mini vest ugh. I think I blocked this a bit too aggressively. Once I am done, will pin it out with a little "fluff" room, mist it and see if I can revitalize it a bit. Lesson learned - conservative blocking with the Starmore yarns.

Blankie Ugh! Somehow I got "off" on the row count. It's an 18 row - every row is different- pattern and I have been following it blindly rather than doing the analysis to figure out where I am, so now I have to go chart it or something and figure out where the hell I am! And the last thing I want to do with blankie is go backwards!!!!

Now that the weather is getting better, knitting is gonna be tough!! Rode in a quadrille yesterday. Shadow was a star - he hasn't worked in close quarters before and these horses were all strangers.

Latest Project Pics

Hank's vest. Armhole shaping complete. Headed up to the back neck shaping. It looks short to me, but we will see.






Baby blanket. Just a bigger rectangle than last time! LOL









Trellis lace scarf. Lacy blob with lifelines. Once I finish one of the others will dig in on this a bit more. (And just for scale, those lifelines are from a bit of scrap koigu!) Yarn is CTH Possum lace in Old Rose. Yummm.










Lavendar Linen Lace Shawl from Nancie Wiseman's book. Only it's in Blue Heron. This was a Christmas project to be that got dropped. Thought I would take a pic anyway. It will go back in the loop once I have flattened a couple of other things. I like it.















Now I gotta go ride the tractor for a while and hopefully will have time to plop my fanny on a horse too!

First week in March!

Friday-

Didn't ride last night, but taught a lesson.

This weekend is gonna be a bear. I need to:
Farm - call the guys who did some work on my barn and bug them to come and finish. Make a list for them of remaining tasks.
Drag, lime and seed one of the fields.
Drag and seed a portion of another field.

Pick up feed.
Drop off saddle I had on trial that didn't work.
Drive down to VA and video a horse for a friend.

Riding Club:
Finish up the Show omnibus and send to printer. How did I get dragged into this?
Update web page. I am about a month behind.

Sister:
Got get pics up on my sis's web page too.

House & Garden - I really need to clear out old debris from the flower beds. Bulbs are coming up and I should also mulch around them. I am gonna call a gal that used to do yard work for us and see if she can give me a weekend of work and blast away at some of this stuff. When we bought the place a retired couple owned it and there were flower beds everywhere. It was truly gorgeous, but there is no way to maintain it when you are working full time!
Ironing. Ugh.

And somewhere in there, I want to ride, sleep, eat, and knit - and oh yeah, I also have to pay bills. And book a hotel for a wedding we are going to at the end of the month. (Baby blankies final destination - and yes they did jump the gun a bit! )


Did a little work on the baby blankie, but I have been getting up early and I am pooped in the evenings. What an old fart I am getting to be!

Baby blankie is at 17+ inches - needs to be 30" before the 23rd.
Hank's vest is at about 10 inches - gosh I would like to finish this before it's too warm for him to wear it!
The Trellis scarf is at about 1 inch and holding since I am waiting to finish at least one of the others before digging on in.

Staying good on the Stashalong, but Earthfaire is having a 13% off sale. (? dunno - I will have to email and ask why 13%, why not 17% in honor of St Paddy's day? LOL)

She has some beautiful alpaca/merino blend stuff, but I will try to be strong. I still have some that I got on Valentine's day, so why do I need more? I need to keep practicing knitting obsessively more than I practice acquiring yarn obsessively! The Stashalong has actually been great, because it shows me how much I knee jerk and get anything that catches my fancy even though I have oodles of yarn. I hope I can stay strong after the stashalong too and be more disciplined in how I buy yarn.

I am planning to take a continental class this spring - will have to see if I can be more zippy. If I knit more stuff, then it's okay to buy more yarn! LOL