Saturday Dec. 1st sky

It's 9:30 A.M., 22 frosty degrees and doesn't look anything like what the weather prognosticators are claiming will happen in the next 36 hours.

Guess we've all seen the glass glob figures for sale at many gift shops and at truckstops. Several years ago as I was waiting for DH, I saw this nativity. Yes, that's a dime in front of it for scale. I couldn't believe the detail at such a minuscule scale and 'for cheap'. It definitely is my smallest nativity. But it's a major reminder for many of 'the reason for the season'.





We have been taught to give gifts to mirror the Gift given to/for us. And I want to share a picture of "Yarn Elf" knitting Christmas stockings for members of his family. Yarn Elf shares his expertise at World Wide Hobbies in Willcox, AZ. He's been telling me of the progress on these, but reading about them is nothing like the amazement of seeing them! Thanks to Lupe who took pictures on her cell phone and forwarded some of them to me last night.

Hurry Up, Already!

Barbar says, "Hurry up, already" and that he's not going to look at the camera until he's posed with a FO!

This is the progress on the stocking for Meg's KAL as of a few minutes ago. I'm on the afterthought heel.

As Promised

Christmas 2005 found not only Blake here a week and having Christmas early, not only the Shetland handspun scarf for his mother, Beth, but also a scarf each for Blake's father Thomas and his sister Shelby.

For Thomas, who is manages a cattle ranch, I chose the Irish Hiking Scarf pattern from Hello Yarn. It's a simple but classic cable. For a ranch manager who has to spend many cold nights during calving season in the damp cold, I thought it would guard against a touch of bronchitis.

Shelby is a lively teen who loves bright colors, specifically red and bright Autumn colors. Having found some Red Heart Acrylic in autumnal variegation, this simple rib pattern was perfect.

Both of these scarves can take harsh treatment, washing machines and dryers and getting dropped in the dirt without casualty. Ta Da! Perfect for their lifestyles!

Something I learned in college

My Freshman year in college I learned two vital life skills. One was to use either baking soda and water or Coke on my car's battery to get rid of all corrosion. The other was to knit bell ornaments.

About the first of November we had a hall meeting for the sole purpose of deciding how to decorate our Christmas tree on the second floor right wing of Conestoga Hall. Everyone knew how to make paper chains and gum wrapper chains and popcorn chains. But we didn't want to use just chains. We wanted something a bit different. One of the girls knew how to knit these bells and everyone had to knit at least one. (This didn't preclude non-knitters! Everyone had to learn to knit, if only for the bell! This was when "we were women and could do anything!" (Helen Reddy....) Throughout the years I've knit many. They're fine for the tree but can also be a pin or earrings or package decoration -- imagination is the limit!

This particular bell is knit on size 2 straights. (You can use any size you want and any yarn you want as well as knitting on circulars -- "knitter's choice", as Meg Swansen says!) Cast on 16. Knit 4, Purl 12. Second row Purl 4, Knit 12. Keep going until it's as long as you want. The trickiest part is in the cast off. You want the cast off to end on the stockinette 4 stitches so you can use the yarn end to seam up the bell, create a hanger and have enough to hang a bell or miniature ball from it!

Knitting has lost a great personage

Mary Walker Phillips has died of complications from Alzheimer's. We have lost another Great in the Knitting World. Her obituary may be seen in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times online.

Progressing

This Sunday was taken up with decorating the big tree and such. We have a small tree on the television cabinet and a 6 1/2 foot tree on an antique table in the living room. Yes, high Arnstrong accoustical ceilings here and they were even dropped in the 1940's!

But to show that there really is some progress in the Meg's KAL stocking, I'm working on the toe now.

Put in your ear plugs... Pennsylvania Rifle Buck Season starts tomorrow, one half hour before sunrise. The hills will reverberate with the racket of rifles....

Saturday Sky

Skiffs of snow covered by heavy jeweled frost, jet trails criss-crossing the pre-sunrise sky. If it looks like it might be cold, it is! 21 degrees.

What a good day to decorate for the upcoming holidays and to knit! I'm on the toe of Meg's KAL stocking!

Seasonal reprieve

Predicted grey and snow went North and East for just a dusting of snow only on rooftops and no frost anywhere!

DH took advantage of this to mow/blow fallen leaves into the gardens. Here, he's finished with the fenced yard and now to be heading 'up on the hill'. (He's come in now and says he looks funny headless...)

Leaves are basically off the hedge rose by the house with sparrow(s) attracted to the rose hips.

And...at least for the moment...we aren't joining the throngs in creating "Black Friday" for retailers to come out of the red and into the black for their financial year.

And Give Thanks...

Yesterday while I was baking pies following the American tradition, the neighbors were putting up their Christmas decorations and had them lit last night. And as the bread was rising last night, Ravelry was producing a Giving Thanks project of their own. This is one of the Raveltars and you'll recognize Jimmy Stewart, the Indiana, PA native who came back home to visit parents at the family hardware store and to speak at my Master's commencement.

I daily give thanks for my many blessings and appreciate that the country is doing so today en masse.

Today knitting steps back to blessings and friends and family and turkey and stuffing and pumpkin pie and thanks.

Good Night, Sweet Girl and Happy Birthday

"Good night, Sweet Girl" I said every night for 11 years and three months to my darling Nilla. Today would be her 12th birthday. It's her very first birthday across the Rainbow Bridge.

Vanilla was a gangly 10 month old papered Great Pyrenees I adopted from an ostrich farm outside of Willcox, AZ. She had been born in Ohio, taken to Arizona;then, her family couldn't understand how she'd get over the three foot cyclone yard fence at night to join other neighborhood dogs in nightly forays. (She could step over that fence!)

Great Pyrenees are gentle giants, well known for their sheep-tending abilities. When I got her, I didn't yet have sheep, but I did have an old collie, Chess, whose hat was posted earlier. I'd told Chess that he had a sister coming home. He met us at the gate. They sniffed each other, he showed her the yard. Then I opened the door;and I couldn't believe it! Chess took Nilla into every room. He jumped up on the couch. She jumped up on the couch. He took her into the bedroom and jumped up on the bed. She jumped up on the bed. (He wasn't really allowed either place.) He took her into the second bedroom, then the bathroom, then the dining room, then into the kitchen and showed her the food and water. I was laughing so hard I could hardly hold it in. At dinner the first night I showed her she had to sit during grace. She not only sat, but crossed her front paws...and did for the rest of her life. It is said that Great Pyrs have long backs and cannot sit up to beg, but Nilla did.

Two years later we got Sugar and Sweetheart, the Jacob x Cormo twins and Nilla was their hero. She would run along the fence line to chase the cattle trucks that went by and would run another fence line to chase the coyotes that would walk the streets at night. She mourned for weeks when Chess died at 14.

Great Pyrs 'blow' their coat, and Nilla was no different. Nilla fur everywhere. I brushed her a lot and she loved it. Her fur I spun, too, and knit this hat from it.
In the picture along with her hat is her collar and tags. When I got it out of the drawer, Tawny our collie came running and sniffed at the collar intensely.

When we had to move back East, Nilla came, too, of course. Everyone we knew came by to say goodbye to Nilla, saying she had the sweetest face. She did. She rode in the cab of the UHaul with us. When we'd stop for meals at Cracker Barrels, we'd see people pointing and laughing at the truck. The first time, we wondered...what? Then we knew. She'd moved into the driver's seat and turned on the turn signal. She did it the whole trip.

Arriving in Pennsylvania she was just happy to have more friends. She was now retired from guarding her sheep and became a couch potato the last three years of her life. But she did perk up and run through the yard when an occasional cattle truck drove the Four Way. And got really excited several times an Eastern Coyote howled in the distance.

She crossed over the Rainbow Bridge this past February 13th. Nilla's having a wonderful time with Chess and will greet us and show us around someday when we cross.

Good Night, Sweet Girl and Happy Birthday.

Oatmeal and Ribwarmer weather...not!

Since the temperature has gone up overnight from the 40's to almost 60, and the air smells like Spring, it doesn't seem like it's two days before Thanksgiving. It doesn't seem like it's oatmeal weather (what we have for brekky during the week.) It doesn't seem like vest or sweater weather as I sit here in a tshirt! It does seem like rhubarb weather...and we did have that with the oatmeal for breakfast! During rhubarb season I cut up and blanch rhubarb, put it in containers and freeze it. That wonderful perennial is too good for just a Spring tonic! (Ah, the joys of rhubarb custard pie!)

Today I'm sharing a picture from Knitting Camp last summer during my show-and-tell in which I'm explaining the 'frogs' on my ribwarmer, my 'not my show and tell' since the Russian Prime was my official show and tell. You can see Amy in the background (Hi, Amy!)as she hosts the production!

Last Spring the Knitbabysurprise group was talking about knitting an Adult Surprise Jacket as a knitalong. I thought I'd really enjoy that, then I looked around my stash for possibilities. Hmmm. That's going to take a lot of yarn. Hmmm. I do have a lot of yarn, but not the combination that will work for this ASJ. Then thought about the J&S chunky weight 2 ply Soft Spun I had gotten on eBay. It didn't have a specific project and it was Spring-like colors (color#64) which is mostly a Spring green with cream.

So, instead of making the ASJ with the group, I got out all my references to Elizabeth Zimmermann's ribwarmer. There was Spun Out #17 (originally Wool Gathering #7), Knitters' magazine #5 Fall/Winter 1986, Knitting Workshop pp 104-105 and the Knitting Workshop video/now DVD. The Knitters magazine I'd found a while back on eBay but the others are available from Schoolhouse Press. I read through the materials and checked the section on the VHS, then cast on. I kept checking the sources throughout...just because. The Knitters' magazine was really good in that it showed options that Elizabeth and others had utilized to personalize the ribwarmer.

I used the Ribwarmer as my news and porch-sitting project. When the days are warm and long, we sit out on the front porch after DH comes back from his activity run. Antsy Nancy that I am, I need to have something to do with my hands...I can not just 'sit there and relax'. Not relaxing. Drives me crazy. So, I get a lot of knitting done then.

By June 1st was my planned finishing date, as I'd mentioned in the Russian Prime post. I had the ribwarmer all knit with the surrounding I-Cord and just had to do the closures. I'd found the perfect buttons in Austin at Hill Country Weavers one year. So, how was I going to fasten them? Had found some hair elastics at the grocery and my hair was currently short and permed with the worst permanent ever, so I wouldn't be using them for awhile. I crocheted around two hairbands. Then, criss-crossed them to fasten the buttons. (DH's idea, actually, to criss-cross them!) Right before camp, the week before, it took me an hour to be able to sew the buttons on. That tells you how sore I still was at that point five weeks after the flight. But on they were!

I really do believe that the desire for attending 2.75 was what speeded my recovery. And, I certainly know that tips from Jaya and from Lucy really helped, too, as most everyone recognized that I certainly was not in 'top form'. Thank you so very, very much.

Look! It's a goose!

A goose?
Where's a goose?

This scarf is the first one I knit! It's handspun brown and cream Jacob. Also, it qualifies as the first jacob I'd spun. I loved it! Before spinning the jacob I'd spun mystery wool, polypay, corriedale and alpaca. The scarf is knit in the flying geese pattern. (Since when would I ever start out with something 'simple'?)

Come to think of it, I really haven't found a sheep I didn't like!

I'm afraid I don't remember the year, but I do remember being on vacation and sitting on the floor of our room, knitting it while telling DH, 'Let me finish just this one row!'

There's another goose in the picture -- a wooden flying goose under the scarf mounted on the back porch wall with two of its friends....

Thanksgiving countdown;or, Seasonal colors of the Russian Prime variety

Before church this morning, I asked DH to take this shot. The only other pictures I have of the Russian Prime I finished last June are, well, worse than this, I think. No, I'm not really happy with this picture but, there are few pictures taken of me that I ever liked, so this will have to do for the moment! (Click for bigger if you dare!)

Last Fall, there started to be talk about a KAL for Meg Swansen's Russian Prime sweater. The problem was the pattern's accessibility. The videos were all gone, Wool Gathering #49 was sold out. The DVD wasn't due until Spring. What's a 'grrl' to do?

By February I was able to get Wool Gathering #49 and the video. The KAL was to start February 1st. I was going to use red and white J&S shetland 2 ply jumperweight. The swatch told me this was not a good choice. (Yes, I swatched! Pardon my swearing....) Back to the drawing boards. So, one phone call to Schoolhouse Press later, I had ordered orange and brown quebecoise. Tami and Eleanor at the Schoolhouse are great! I did get the DVD as soon as it came out. It's so very, very helpful.

The best new inventions I have discovered are opaque colored tape and enlarging the chart on my printer! The tape I use on charts that can be pulled off each line and changed for the next one. It can be reused about 30 times or more! Thanks, Amy, for having it at Camp!

The KAL was a lot of fun. My plan was to have my Russian Prime finished by June 1st along with the ribwarmer so that I could also have my Mimbres finished for camp. The flight stopped that, but I was able to finish this Russian Prime and the ribwarmer! I was determined my flight would not stop me from going to Retreat 2.75. It didn't, but I surely wasn't myself. (I am grateful to be alive. If you would only see the path I took into an antique glass door handle and thrown by the antique door over the basement stairs to land on cement covered brick, you'd understand....). Surely do hope to be accepted for this coming summer.

Saturday Sky and More

As of mid-afternoon Saturday, it still hasn't exactly cleared from solid greyness, but the sun is attempting some light through the cloud deck. At least there isn't any precipitation yet. Right now at 42 degrees, it would be rain. Rain turning to snow is predicted for tonight.

It is definitely handwarmer weather and I wanted to share this pair of sideways garter stitch fingerless mitts. Again, they are handspun heather jacob from 'the grrls'. These are a little longer than most of the pairs I've knit...long enough to cuff.

After grocery shopping this morning, DH and I were able to get some yardwork done. The rest of the garden was cleared, the compost pile spread onto the garden. The leaves are still falling in abundance, so they get spread on the garden then all of it tilled in for winter. The last two stages of the production are expected to occur over next weekend, our 5 day Thanksgiving weekend. Why five days? Here, the first day of (rifle, as opposed to archery) buck season is Monday and the schools always get the first day of buck season off.

Freezing (?) Flaky Friday

Waking this morning after hearing North by Northwest winds buffeting our bedroom all night, I expected to see the predicted inch of snow. I was pleased to see only flakes and 32 degrees. The sky looked halfway promising of the storm breaking up. Yesterday we had most every kind of weather -- clouds, wind, sun, rain, rain/sleet, sleet/hail, rain, sun and snow.

The very last Shasta daisy of the season is wilting. There are also Purple Coneflowers and Nearly Wild roses that believe the blooming season has been extended this year.

With the seasonal weather (as we expect snow around here the week before Thanksgiving), it was time to break out the winter 2005 "Homespun Poncho" crocheted from a "Crochet Fantasy" Oct. 2004 magazine pattern. Crocheted with handspun white heather Jacob from "the grrls", I have a fondness for it even though I haven't made the best of friends with its unflattering boxeyness.

It's Gonna Be Lookin' A Lot Like...

It's gonna be lookin' a lot like the holiday season here 'real soon' with predicted accumulation by morning;so, thought I'd share my Sheep Tree.(Click picture to enlarge in separate window.)

Sheep Tree stays up all year now on the gossip bench in the upstairs hallway.

It all started about 23 years ago when on a trip back East to visit family, I found a redware sheep (lower left on tree). Ever since, I grabbed up sheep ornaments anywhere I spied them, practically. A few have been given to me as gifts, like one big Suffolk from Sylvia when she visited the Shaker settlement in Kentucky. And Peta brought me Scottish sheep from Scotland. Dawn gave me the Santa bell with a sheep clanger for Christmas last year.

There's a ram as a tree topper from Mt. Rushmore and a blue spongeware one from Shipshewana, IN. The teal and terra cotta lamb was thrown by a New Mexico potter showing at Willcox' Apple Festival one year. One found at Fleet Farm in Wausaw, WI. Yes, there's even a sheep cookie cutter found in Kidron, OH.

There are more there...

I've had fun collecting these through the years and people remembering me in their travels...sometimes a card, sometimes yarn, sometimes an ornament, sometimes a stuffed sheep....

It's gonna be lookin' a lot like... Friendship.

Talkin' About Christmas Stockings...

In December 2005, Grandson Blake came up to visit right before Christmas. He hoped to see snow since that was something he'd only seen in pictures. There was a little snow while he was here. He even got to take pictures of it falling as well as to learn how to push and shovel the white stuff!

I was pretty excited to have a kid during the Christmas season, though sad that he wouldn't be here for Christmas itself. Even if a kid's a teenager and not believing in Santa, per se; still, it's fun! We decided we'd celebrate a Christmas for him right before he left to go back home, even down to the meals! And, presents! We had to have presents (all of which had to be able to pass through the xray at the airport). The most fun to unwrap are all the smaller things that go into a Christmas stocking, so I designed a stocking in his favorite colors and knit it up for him.

I had never knit a Christmas stocking, much less designed one. I used a 'wonky' letter design for his name and a standard block lettering for the "HOHOHO". Actually had all the yarn here in the yarn stash. So, that was really fun! The two pictures above are of the stocking on its own and filled with wrapped goodies leaning against the fireplace. It couldn't hang -- too many goodies!

I've shown a scarf for Beth and there were two other scarves that year, one for sister and one for Blake's dad...hold your breath for those in another post!

Sugar and Sweetheart socks

When we lived in Southeastern Arizona I was very fortunate to have raised sheep. My first two were twins, Sugar and Sweetheart. They were Jacob x Cormo. I do still have some of their fleece to process and I just love the white heather yarn I spin from their white sections.

The second pair of handspun socks I knit (about 1999, I think) was a Judy Sumners pattern from the web in handspun white heather jacob. They have held up pretty well, and get worn every year. They have felted some, but that's probably a washing problem! (As always, click on picture to "embiggen" and you can see the detail in the socks!)

The fleece from 'my girls' is just luscious. The white heather acts like cormo but almost feels like cotton! Soft. Comfy. I'll be posting more projects from 'my girls' in future posts.

Oh, and as a follow-up to yesterday's post -- today is a warm, Spring-like 50 degrees on the way to 60 or so. It's been lightly cloudy all morning, but there's a clearing line to the north and west!

Rainy Days and Mondays....

It's Day #3 of grey skies, dampness and yuck! So thought I'd post my STR Rare Gems socks finished last March.

I always take two projects to knit when we're traveling. This was the sock pair I used as traveling knitting to Texas last Spring. The second sock became a FO outside Austin while visiting daughter Beth and family. They're photographed in Blake's blooming pear tree the first week of March. Beth really liked the pair, so they were gifted to her.

The STR Rare Gems colorway is not really a colorway....Rare Gems are the BMFA's 'mistakes', so no two skeins are necessarily alike. I knit a 2x2 rib at the top, the legs are knit 4 purl 2 rib all on 0 dpn's.

We'll just skip over yucky winter weather and go straight to Spring happy dances, OK?