New Pics...

Here they are! I'm doing this because I highly doubt that youngest daughter reads my blog. I know my Mom does, but I doubt my kids wonder what I'm up to or what I'm working on. Though the youngest flirts with knitting, she's more interested in the concept of creating and designing things than actually making them...

Anyway, these are the mitts she's getting for Christmas. I took graph #92 (I believe) from Lizbeth Upitis' book on Latvian mittens and adapted it to the fingerless design. I added the thumb gusset in plain purple and then added the braiding at the top of the gusset and the top of the hand for stability. I'd love to say that I'd planned it perfectly to get the braid at the top of the thumb gusset, but it was sheer luck that the bind off row coincided with a plain purple row in the actual hand design.

These still have to be washed and blocked, but I'm going to do all the projects at once on some weekend (probably after Thanksgiving while the rest of the world is doing the mall crawl and I avoid it like the plague ). I plan to cover my bed in towels and pin everything down for an entire day to give them a chance to dry. It helps that I have an overhead fan to keep the air circulating nicely. But I'll close the door (and prop it to keep kitties and dogs from saying "Ooooooo! New bedcover to rub all over!!!!" ).

Let's see if I can drop a second picture down here or if it will rise to the top of the page.... Oh well, it's also at the top of the page, but it's obviously the one on the right. Cherry Tree Hill in Indian Summer done in Jeannie Townsend's Cascading Leaves pattern. I don't think the pattern shows as much as I'd like, but I like the symmetry of Indian Summer and Cascading Leaves... I would never think of purple as an "Indian Summer" color, but the colorway is gorgeous. The bronzes and coppers and browns with the purple were simply too pretty to leave orphaned at the store.

I don't know what it is, but I'm in a "brown" mood lately. Not one of my favorite colors, which is dumb because it really does go with everything, but I've been knitting a lot with brown lately. I tried the magic loop method for the first time and did a headband in an Icelandic design from Dale's 92 Albertville flyer in brown, red, orange and peach with two single lines of sky blue. Came out really nice. Once I get that inside seam put together, that'll be another present for oldest daughter.

I also bought some yarn from Cathi at www.stonebarnfibers.com in her Gypsy Girl colorway of Cattails. Oh, what rich colors!!! My monitor didn't do this colorway justice. Course, I knew it would be better in person than on the computer, so that's why I ordered it and I certainly wasn't disappointed. I can't wait to cast that on.

But first I have to finish more projects. I'm into the second repeat of the pattern on Aunt Lois' dropped garter stitch shawl. It's slow work because there are two dropped stitch rows for every 12 rows of simple garter. All those yarn overs take time. I might end up taking that one to work with me so I can make some noticeable progress. After all, I knitted up my mother-in-law's shawl (the Wool Peddler's Shawl) in one week. I could probably manage this one in a week also, but I haven't carried it with me yet. Maybe this week once I finish the second pair of fingerless mitts.

Would probably be a good idea also. The second pair are for oldest daughter to replace the pair I'd made her that were either lost or stolen. She saw the first pair and I want these to be a surprise. I took several elements from the graphs in Upitis' book and combined them for my own, switching out the colors hopefully in a logical progression. I'm only into the third color change so I don't know yet how the whole project will work yet, but my fingers are crossed. So far, so good.

Let's see what else is new...

I also ordered fiber from Cathi at www.stonebarnfibers.com . Some gorgeous merino in a colorway called Daffodil. I've been trying to spin with merino/tencel and wondering why I was having some trouble. Damn stuff was slippery as all get out. Well.... Duh! It's got tencel in it. So I ordered plain merino to see if I could handle it easier. I was thinking of taking the colorway and plying it with a solid, so I ordered another 4 oz. of her solid color "Spice", thinking the contrast would work nicely. She was out of Spice. So she wrote and asked if I had a second color choice and I asked her to pick one. Her sense of color with her hand-dying is sooooo exquisite that I totally trust her judgement. And she sent me 4 oz. of the most gorgeous Ruby. Wow! I know I received it a week ago, but I haven't been able to touch it. Too much work and other obligations that kept me from being home much in the last ten days. But today is definitely a laundry and spinning day and my fingers are itching already. (I can't forget the laundry, though, or I won't have underwear to wear tomorrow... I bet you'll sleep better tonight knowing this stuff... LOL!)

I also got smart. I received my check for October on the second part-time job and I've decided that some of that money will go towards a "cleaning lady". A friend of mine's daughter is trying to save to buy a nice used car and she hires out for $15/hour. Yes, I did do some cleaning yesterday, but I'd much rather pay someone to do it for me and spend my time spinning, so I've hired her to come over and help clean and organize my mess. Her mom says she's wonderful and I'm more than happy to contribute to her car fund if she's willing to do the stuff I can't stand doing. (Give me a yard and I'll work for hours and hours. Bring me inside and I resent every single moment with a sponge or a broom in my hand... )

Oh, btw, remember I was trying to write for Harlequin for their new Spice Briefs line? Well, they don't like my stuff. So to heck with them. I'm going to investigate more with my knitting and spinning. I'm thinking of going for the Masters Certification with The Knitting Guild of America. I heard an interview with Ann Budd on the Knitpicks podcast and she says that she wouldn't recommend it for everyone because it's very time consuming and very detailed. She actually did get her certification and she said she learned a lot, though she doesn't use a lot of the new techniques with the kind of designing she does.

I was thinking that it might be something I could look for. Lord knows, I have the time at work. Maybe if I can get through some of the projects I have lined up, it might be worth it. Especially if I want to teach knitting. I think I'd make a good teacher. And I'd learn more new techniques and might find a way to incorporate new ones into what I'm already doing. I can already cast on in about six different ways, though I'd like to learn more ways to bind off. I can sew a seam so it's practically invisible (though no sewing at all is even more desirable... ). I can set in a sleeve and pick up stitches. Increase and decrease. Why not get the certification to go with it? It's a thought. I'd love to hear opinions on this.

Okay, off to start more laundry and hop in the shower. Have my "cleaning girl" coming today and have roving in the other room that's tired of being ignored. Have a wonderful week!