A Blanket, Some Mittens and Some Rambling

I've been a busy girl, as is evident from my lack of posting.

Last Saturday night we went to the Opera (The Queen of Spades) and on Sunday Little Squid got his post opera migraine. Which continued into Monday, netting me a half day off of work. When I returned home with Little Squid (he was at work with me until I realized that this migraine was not going away), I decided to tackle the woven squares I'd worked up over the years.

I organized and placed and sorted and, with Little Squid's final approval, started sewing them together. The status as of this post is:

It still needs a final border of the brown blocks -- need to weave 24 more of them -- and several yards more of the jewel green tape. Little Squid is weaving the tape on his inkle loom. For the time being, however, it is serving it's intended purpose as a second couch blanket. One blanket doesn't cut it when you are snuggling with a large child in the middle of a cold winter night.

Then there are the mittens. Knit over the holiday weekend to replace Little Squid's battered bumble bee stripe mittens. They are double knit and, when same color out, the elephants are supposed to be on the back of the hands.

There's been other stuff going on. And all of it takes the form of fantastic blog posts. In my head. As I ride home from work. Yup. Still riding. Managed 2.5 days (5 trips) last week. and 8 trips the week before.

Tomorrow the temperature at 6:30 a.m. is supposed to be 18 degrees.

I might drive.

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My comforter has been back on my bed for a few weeks now and I must say, snuggling under it after getting throughly chilled at work and on the ride home (can you say "double period yard duty?") has been a wonderful experience. My bedroom is finally a haven again, except for the occasional nasty dream about my former "room mates."

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Have I mentioned that I love my job again? My staff is fantastic, as are most of the kids. At my old school the goal really seemed to be to take a good school and make it better. Here ... well let's just say that we're not on anyone's top ten list. There's good, honest work to be done and people who can envision the end result. Kids are knitting and crocheting all over the school and that is only making our job easier. Thank you to all who have made this possible!!!

Projects, Projects, Projects

I've been a busy girl this week.

I finally procured the yarn that I need to finish the work on Squidette's blanket ... and am actually working on it.

I added a few inches to the fabric on the loom ...


And I did some dying.I was trying to go for a gradient from violet to burgundy with some black dyed for contrast but did not really succeed. Now I'm thinking that the burgundy and the black will make for a nice log cabin weave pattern ... after I finish all the merino pieces I have planed for the loom.

And there you have it. I do still knit and weave ... and duplicate stitch.

Reentry

We seem to be over reentry. Yesterday 3 out of 4 squid were moody and 2 out of 4 squid were sick. This morning it was 2 out of 4 and 2 out of 4. Now it is just the 2 sick squid (Squidette and me, if you really need to know). We're getting back to normal. Slowly.

As I drove to work this morning, I realized that I had not knit a stitch yesterday. (Which I now realize was wrong -- I did 2 rows on my cobweb lace shawl while doing the laundry.) That aside, I did manage to warp my loom (direct warp, no winding first) and wove a few inches.
I think it will be part of a blanket. There are roughly 8 feet of lace weight merino on it at 10 epi. This stuff fulls very nicely and should make a nice light weight blanket.

Yes, this means that I have pictures working on my computer again -- I'm working under Linux for now and have promised to continue doing so as long as my machine has a windows partition for things like the tax program and Audible (for which there seems to be no Linux solution as of yet). For the last problem, I spent a bit more on my cell phone bill this month and just down loaded my next book directly to the phone. Took about 10 minutes and was actually less hassle then first putting it on the computer.

Now to put on my headset and do some weaving!

Icarus

After carefully examining the suggested patterns, I decided to go with Icarus, as suggested by Cookie. It is reasonably solid and hence chaste enough to do what I need it to do in synagogue. I'll secure it with a hair stick, most likely so I am not futzing with it during services. One of the drawbacks of being the parent of the Bat Mitzvah girl is that I have to sit facing the congregation -- so everyone will see if I fidget.It is a small rendition of Icarus, only 36 inches on the diagonal and about 32 inches from center back to tip. Yarn is Artyarns Regal Silk, roughly a DK weight, in color 131. I bought 8 skeins and used 3 and a smidge. It took me a month to complete -- mainly because I had to rip it out from a much bigger place and then messed up picking up the stitches ... so I had to go back to the very beginning and restart.

Now I'm debating returning or weaving the rest. If I weave it at 8 epi then I can easily get a 20 inch wide shawl that is 5 feet long ... tempting. But first I have to hide the ends on and block Squidette's shrug. That'll occupy my loom space for a day or two.

Of Tallit and Tomatoes

Dave asked for a close up of the weave structure of the tallit.

It is a basic tabby cloth -- the easiest to weave on my rigid heddle loom. I can do other weaves and have a second heddle and heddle blocks but decided (after experimentation) that one heddle was plenty for me. Eventually I will get a larger loom with more variation but, for now, my Kromski Harp does exactly what I want to do.

On the gardening front, I made my second "major" tomato harvest. (The first harvest was last week and was served up barely cooked with some yummy cured meat and pasta.)

The big one is a Patio, the yellows are yellow plums and the smaller red ones are Tiny Tims. Below, one of the tinier Tiny Tims.
Yes, it is sitting on a quarter. And would have fit on a dime. It was delicious!

Finished! Some Weaving ...

Squidette's Tallit

Started: June 14, 2008
Finished: July 30: 2008

10 epi, 3/2 Pearl Cotton and Pearl Silk

Atarah (neckband) purchased already finished

Tzitzit (fringes on corner) hand tied on the tallit by your's truly, following instructions found online

Regular fringe made of the loom "waste" and knotted over the course of 3 days.

One end had to be rehemmed because I hemmed it in the wrong direction. (Both hems are double folded to hide the raw edges.)

Woven or Knit?

This is the dress.

It needs a shawl (for synagogue).

Now add the yarn (ArtYarns silk)...

Woven (plain weave) or knit? And if knit, what pattern? (Should be fairly solid)

I have 8 skeins -- about 1300 yds

Of Waterfalls and Weaving

So the buzz about town is the Waterfalls. Having heard so much about them we set out, as Squid will do, on our wheels.

Riding over to the Hudson River Park, the Now-Teen-Speed-Demon took the lead and I took off after her. Following were Little Squid and Papa Squid. For a while the NTSD was riding at a nice clip, 15 - 16 mph or so. After the first mile and a half she slowed a bit to let her mother catch up (I was actually right on her wheel) when suddenly I hear "pass mommy." Two seconds later, Little Squid sprints past me, followed by his grinning father. Then he slows down and I'm stuck in the rear with NTSD two blocks ahead of us. The path is too crowded for me to pass them easily and anyway, they'd just speed up on me if I did.

So on we pedaled, down the Hudson River path, detouring past the lines for the Statue of Liberty ferries and back uptown on the East River path. And then, a block past the Governor's Island Ferry slip we saw the first Waterfall.

Oh wait, not that!

This! Click to enlarge and look way in the background. Above is the Governer's Island Waterfall. Below, the Brooklyn Waterfall.

Below, again, the Brooklyn Waterfall

The Manhattan Waterfall up close.

The Brooklyn Bridge Waterfall from three perspectives.

And, an empty loom.

Yes, that means that it was only two weeks from warp on to warp off. Warp speed?

Summertime means ...

Lots of biking. Think we have enough maps?

(In Mike's defense, because he is the map magpie, I tend to give them away whenever we give directions to some one. He wants each adult to have one which means that I really have to carry two with me at all times.)

Lots of weaving. About 8 inches so far. No, I am not going to torture you with endless photos of the same white on white weaving. Consider this it until I take it off the loom.
And graduations. Watch for a special post tomorrow evening. I'm going to go put some tissues in my purse ...

Good News, Bad News

Good News: I got my car back from the shop and it's all shiny, clean and (on the driver's side) dent free.

Bad News: I filled the gas tank ... $72. I'm riding my bike to work today.

Good News: Little Squid graduates from elementary school tomorrow. (We're taking the subway.)

Bad News: Squidette becomes a teenager on Saturday. (O.k., maybe it's not really bad news.)

Good News: I finished warping the loom.

Bad News: I still haven't finished the blanket. Something about not knitting on it and summer temperatures ...

So ... the verdict is that the good news is really nice and the bad news ... not so bad.

A Little Warping

Remember that empty loom that I showed you on Friday?


It's not empty any more.

I still need to do a little bit more to actually get to the weaving stage ...

Right now, however, we're going for a bike ride to visit friends in Yonkers. 30 miles round trip with good visiting in the middle. Yea!!!

Summer Projects

With two weeks (and a day) to go until summer vacation I am thinking about my summer projects. I joined the Tour de France Knit Along again and am going for a green jersey.

What am I knitting for it? Cycling socks. Not very challenging, I know, but I have an added twist. I am weaving a special garment for a special event that we are having in September. (NO! I'm not pregnant!!!)

Cotton and Silk

This requires that I reassemble my loom stand and clean it up.

See! All nice and oiled with Wood Beams. (Which is now making my hands itch!)
With loom attached ...

The first 60 warp ends are wound. Here we go!!!

Weekend!

Two weekends ago , with the laundry done a day early, Squidette and I spent a lovely morning crafting while Little Squid was off at hebrew school. I helped Squidette wind a warp for her small loom using some coned lace weight merino that was marinating in my stash and then sat down to spin while she wove.

Fast forward to sometime this week ...

Pink warp (double stranded) with blue weft (single strand). It softened and fulled to just the right amount with washing.

On my end ...
Roughly 500 yards of Cochineal / Osage dyed Corriadale spun to an uneven worsted weight with a nice rustic texture to match the rusticness of the coloring. On top, 320 yards of 3 ply, lace weight (pretty evenly spun after plying) cotton. I'm thinking lace scarf with the cotton.

On the knitting front, Squidette's blanket has 12 rows out of 185 done of the flower. Yea, I did not work on it the last few nights and instead, started a Rib Warmer using my cochineal dyed corriadale from a few weeks ago. I needed to knit something that would quickly use up a ball of yarn. Got to even out yarn out to yarn in with all this spinning and the blanket will not yield a finished ball for at least 50 - 100 more rows with 5 being used at a time right now. I'll go back to it tonight. Promise!

One Room Down, One to Go

The living room is done! It is clean and white and fairly empty looking without my wheels. I'll have to take care of that.
The new wall of books and stuff. Please note that I moved all of the books in the two tall cases from the bedroom into the living room all by myself. That is not to disparage Papa Squid. He was braving the heat and humidity riding his bike to retrieve the Squidlings from camp. I am better at efficiently cleaning up for Maria (no jokes about cleaning for the cleaning lady -- this place was in a major state of disarray) and he rides faster then I do so the split was natural.

Note the absence of the rug. I took it upon myself to throw it out. After almost 12 years it was stained to the point where it could no longer be totally cleaned. As long as it was on the floor we were not motivated to go out and find a new one. Hopefully this will spur us on.

Oh, and my obnoxious brat wonderful, sweet dear of a daughter has had the temerity to grow in every direction requiring us to raise the seat on her bicycle, purchase a larger violin and go shopping for well, uh ... I promised I would not specify the type of clothing she just out grew.

In other news, I have been weaving again on my Hazel Rose looms. My goal is 256 square equivalents (2 triangles = 1 square) for a spread for my bed. I have just over 100 at this point. All of the pieces are from my own handspun, the lumpier stuff. I expect to full them a bit before joining but we will see when I have all 256.
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Did anyone else hear about the earthquake in Japan and the resulting radioactive spill into the Sea of Japan and think "Godzilla!"? (Then my brain clicked into a more politically correct "oh my" mode.)

Summer Projects

This is where I lay down what I intend to do this summer and you get to laugh at me. First up is my summer reading list:Yes, I have already read the Anne Frank, I want to reread it with an adult perspective. All of these were borrowed from the English Department bookroom hence the heavy duty bindings.

Then, my summer growing list:
Pumpkins. Don't laugh! My favorite Otter is also attempting to grow pumpkins in a container. Look! A tomato! First one of the season.Cucumber vines! Yes, I am aiming for chef's salad with my own cucumbers and tomatoes. Last year we managed a whole pasta dish with our tomatoes. Yummy!

Then we have the knitting which is somewhat constrained by the two Knit-alongs. First up, my first pair for the Summer of Socks.The Padded Footlets from Favorite Socks without the padding. Knit in Regia Silk, these fit Squidette's newly sized 7 feet. Save me from growing children, please!

Then the Tour de France knit-along. I signed up for the yellow jersey. I am making the Chevron Vest from the Summer 2007 Knitters Magazine from my handspun silk/merino/alpaca mix that I picked up at Rhinebeck back in October. Then there are all of the projects already in the queue. The Go With The Flow socks, also from Favorite Socks, a yellow baby sweater started so long ago that I do not even remember how old it is, my cobweb lace stole and a silk scarf that I started a few weeks ago. Oh, and the theoretical blanket that I started weaving on my Hazel Rose looms say ... two years ago? I started in again on this one earlier today and have two more triangles and a square to show for my efforts.

And the spinning ... the bamboo-silk from Susan and some very dirty alpaca that I started on the Journey Wheel after Dave went on about the awesomeness of actual spinning on the JW. Yes, it is awesome to spin on. No, I am not enjoying myself as much as I should since my fingers wind up BLACK during a session with this stuff. I will, however, see it to the end as it is only 4 ounces or so total. That project saw almost 2 hours of work today as I enjoyed myself with an audiobook out on the balcony with my plants.

And there you have it, my summer projects. Will I finish them all? And how many more will get started? And what about the painting?!