Distraction

I have a post sitting in my drafts, nearly written except for the parts that require real thought. I am kinda short on that right now, as I’ve just started my last class for my Master’s(!!), I have just taken a wee part-time job I am unsure about, and Em has decided he likes to walk more often than not. Eep!

Until I have some spare thoughts to share, I will offer up pictures. Pictures placate, right?

I am immensely pleased by this:

I do love zucchini, especially grilled.

I am also tickled to death by this: (embedding is just not working for me. Follow the link for a 20 second video)

Though also a little scared.

I have knitting nearly done and some fab spinning action to show. I’ll be back soon enough for that!

One

Geez, when I asked if I’d get kicked out of blogland I wasn’t expecting almost no one to comment! Its ok, I’ll be fine *sniff*

Moving on…No knitting/spinning/dyeing today, I’m afraid. Why? The last few weeks have been all about one thing:

Em turned one last week.

I can’t believe it, either.

There was one thing to be done before his party. Not cleaning, not unpacking (still), not preparing food. Nope. Em needed his first hair cut.

At the salon:

See how long that hair was?

Unsure about the process:

Cute, no?

We had his birthday party the following week, which just happened to be World Wide Knit In Public Day. One of our guests was Catie and her family. Catie celebrated both events here:

And of course, this could hardly be a birthday party post without some cake:

Finally, a comparison.

My newly born son, last year:

And my newly one year-old boy:

Mama loves you, little one.

We interrupt this knitting for…

…more knitting. While I might have had the keeping of my handspun at the top of the page as a wee bit of ulterior motive (I think it is too pretty to bump further down), I was really knitting something else. Bright stripy pants, actually.

The color isn’t great here, even with a little editing. It does show the pattern a bit, though. This is a bit more accurate color-wise, I think:

Hmm, that’s still not the best. How about a picture of the yarn?

The weird thing? The really, really, really weird thing I’m almost afraid to say so you people don’t kick me out of blogland?

I knit them for pay.

I know, right?

It was an experimental colorway (read: a big oops!) that I put a label on and prayed for a sports fan. Sure enough, an LSU alumna contacted me. However, she doesn’t knit…and wanted to pay me to knit for her, as a surprise for her husband. What could I say, but yes?

Weird, I know.

Details

Pattern: Sheepy Pants

Yarn: Knit Picks Bare, hand dyed by me in the “Go Team!” colorway

Needles: This time I used the recommended 5s for the ribbing and 7s for the body. Last time I think I did 8’s on the body (I forgot to note that). I used some crappy 16″ bamboo circs I picked up at Wal-Mart as I lost my pretty Options size 7.

Modifications: I didn’t do any modifications this time. Since I was knitting shorts I knew I wasn’t in danger of running out of yarn. Last time I only did 3 sets of short rows, but this time I did the full four.

Oddities: I have to say, if I was knitting these for me/Em, I wouldn’t have been so worked up about the striping. Since someone was actually paying me, I fussed over making sure the legs were exactly the same and the crotch gusset was kitchenerd with the right color. In all honesty, it was a little more fiddly than I would normally have gone for.

For example, Em’s longies:

There’s an odd stripe near the crotch of the left leg. Then, there’s the whole reversal of colors from one leg to the other. And please, don’t get too close to the crotch*. There’s some scary kitchenering there. Nobody sees it, though. And, it’s my kid. He can wear funny looking drawers if I say so. Someone else’s kid? Not so much.

* Honestly, if you’re that close to the kid’s crotch could you change him, please?

On a jag

I can’t be the only one who goes on a jag, either a spinning or a knitting one.

After I made the second mistake reading the ballband swiffer cover pattern, a wicked easy one to read, I realized what I really needed was some spinning. First, I finished spinning some fiber that’s been on the bobbin for at least 18 months. It looked like this for a long time:

In fact, I think that’s the only photo of it for the 19 months of it’s life. Now, there are two bobbin’s full that are just waiting for me to look at the how-to-Navajo-ply video.

That didn’t satisfy me, so I pulled out a bag of Foxfire Fiber’s cashmere/tussah silk blend in lilac (you have to scroll down to see it, but it is SO worth it) . I think this is what Jess bought for me at Cummington last year, but I was hugely pregnant (37 weeks) and can’t remember if she bought this or my other acquisition from their booth. Either way, it was luxury and I am glad for it.

I admit some trouble drafting the silk. It didn’t talke long for me to realize there was no way I could spin this as smooth and even as commercially spun yarn. For the first time, I decided I didn’t mind that. Some sections, yards and yards of it even, were nearly perfect. Then, I’d get into a funk and couldn’t spin straight to save my life. It didn’t matter, though. This stuff was wonderful to spin– I nearly typed that it was “like silk” to spin, then realized it was.

To keep too-thin spots away I spun it to be about fingering weight (14ish wpi). At some point I realized a few things. One, I wanted this 2oz bump to go as far as possible. Two, I didn’t want to Navajo ply and cut my yardage in third. Finally, I wanted to preserve the color changes as closely as possible. The colors are fantastic, transitioning from a light lilac to a deep one, and a pale silvery shade in between. I wanted that in whatever lacy thing this was meant to be. So, I got brave and decided it would be a single.

This scared me a little:

It was freshly off the swift and oh-so-overspun in too many places. Here’s a closer look:

Scary, isn’t it?

Then, it took a nice hot bath. It was still a little over-spun but not too terribly bad. It was (despite my fear) strong enough to take a spin on the ball winder:

I was pleased.

For the first time in my 20 months of (off and on) spinning, I cast on right away. I couldn’t help myself, I wanted luxury now.

I am doing two repeats of the Ostrich Lace pattern. It is in both the Vogue Stitchonairy Vol. 1 (no. one oh eight-to defeat the auto-smiley) and the Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns. The Walker Treasury Project has a swatch here.

We’ll see how far I get.

To wash that bitter taste away

I think something pretty is in order, for no other reason to combat yesterday’s vent. So, how about a few FO pictures?

Side view:

The side view shows off the short rows in the bum, for accommodating a fluffy diaper.

Details:

Pattern: Sheepy Pants

Yarn: just about 220 yards of my hand dyed self-striping yarn

Start: April 13th

Finish: April 17th

Modifications and details:
*I did just three sets of short rows. I wasn’t sure if I had enough yarn, and figured we could get by with 3. For most of our diapers I can, but some of the bulkier ones it’s a bit of a stretch.
* I was planning on just making shorts, but kept going to see how close I could get to pants. I really liked the thicker stripes on the legs, my real motivation for keeping going
* I did both legs at the same time from opposite ends of the ball. For the record (as if I didn’t know this) this means stripes are backwards on one side. Duh.

Measurements: 17″ rise, 7″ inseam

And finally, just for fun, a picture of my silly boy trying not to laugh:

Knitting furiously

Which I realize usually pairs with “fast” to mean “with great intensity.” Lately, it means, “with much anger.”* I have been wanting to post, and even have photos of CT S&W (11 days ago!) loaded in the computer, ready to add. I just haven’t been able to get past the anger and into a better place to write. I’m working on that, but it’s taking some time.

I’ve been thinking much on what I remember of an old Knitty article on images of women knitting in mid-century film. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to put my finger on the right key words to search for it. I remember only that women were often viewed by men as knitting demurely, while in actual fact they were knitting out their anger? I only recall that it was obvious from their intensity while knitting that they were Not. Happy. but the interpretation at the time was on their femininity at knitting. I know that doesn’t make sense, not being able to put the right words to it is why I can’t find the article. Please do send me the link if you have a clue what I am talking about. I very much want to read it again.

I am knitting, currently a Swiffer cover. It’s good that I’m knitting my anger into something meant to collect dirt and nastiness. Better than knitting it into a baby item, right?

I plan to take a number of pictures today, some of the completed brightly striped longies, some of the extra yarn I dyed a few weeks ago that I’ll be putting up for sale soon. Today is a baby-free day and I’m reveling in the ability to fold laundry, mop floors and go to the bathroom alone. I hope to post a real post in the next few days.

*Forgive my over-usage of quotations, I’m not caring about grammatical details at the moment.

I heart spring

Although I’ve been in New England for three years now, spring flowers never get old. Mostly, I think, because I am still learning things. Like, this. Anyone know what it is?

It lives outside my dining room window and has thus far survived the marauding herds of deer.

On the subject of bright colors, I have another FO. I haven’t taken pictures yet, it’s the last week of the semester and it’s possible I’m drowning. I have a progress photo, taken when I needed some encouragement to either frog or continue. I kept going, but still am not so very sure it was a great project. Take a look for yourself:

Very. Bright.

The point of the project wasn’t another pair of pants for the boy, rather it was an experiment to see how the striping yarn I’ve been dyeing works up in the project it’s intended for.* The colorway was an oopsie one, intended to be far closer to the pastel end of the spectrum. I didn’t think anyone would buy it, so I thought it would be a good example (knit in Em’s size, though, so not entirely a waste). I’m not sold on it, and if I’m not, then who would be?

*What a poor example of grammar. Excuse me.

The stripes are kinda cool though.

Maybe I should make it a black and white photo.

And we have a winner!

I know you want the winner. I was going to post my latest work in progress, but I’ll bet really you want to know if your name is there. Soooooo:

The winner is! Bea from Baa Baa BlackSheep!

Go check out her blog, it’s a good read. She has some cute little dogs for you puppy lovers, too. I am very much looking forward to shopping for her next weekend!

I was totally not expecting the response I got. 57 comments and 75 entries blows my old record out of the water. Kelli posted on her blog and sent over 15 people; Elaine sent over 5 (I have no blog for her) and I was listed on WiKnit, a knit contest blog. An unbelievable amount of traffic came from these people. I’m really glad y’all stopped by.

And here I thought it would just be you regular folks.

Two years!

Happy Blogiversary to me! Happy Blogiversary to me!

I honestly can’t believe it has been two years. Some days it feels like the blog has been around forever.

In the beginning I posted a ton, thinking about the blog constantly. Once pregnant, I couldn’t think of anything, much less string together interesting sentences for you guys. After all that time, I never thought I’d come back to it at all. I surprised myself at the beginning of this year with a commitment to blog every week. I’ve not totally achieved that yet, but I’m a lot closer than I was six months ago. Who knows what will happen when I finish my degree?

In honor of my 2 year blogiversary and the awesome friends I’ve made from it, in real life and virtual, I’m offering a contest. I know you’re flabbergasted, it’s likely been 18 months since I last had one. This one is easy, though. Just leave a comment by midnight on the 16th (Wednesday) to be entered to win. Send someone over and have them note your name and you get an extra entry!

What’s the prize? April is for the Connecticut Sheep and Wool festival, the first of the season. The winner gets the choice of fiber or yarn bought just for you at the festival. Sound good?

Hey, it’s the least I can do to say thanks for two great years.

Goodbye Swans

Change is good, blah blah blah. I get that. I do. I just hate to say goodbye to some things.

This was the view from our front yard for over two and a half years:

Sometimes, this was our view: (you may have seen this somewhere before):

The first year we saw an awful lot of this:

That part wasn’t so fun.  Swans are on the mean side, and they make copious amounts of poo.

Although we were cramped into a 640 square foot cottage, we loved it.  Mr. Cygknit joked to the landlords that if they’d just build a second story we would stay.  Once Em got mobile there was no choice but to move, though.  A pond in your front yard and a dam/waterfall by the parking spaces + an almost-toddler is a bad mix.  We moved last weekend, into a converted barn on a good deal of well-kept land.  There’s no pond in the front yard, though there’s a good bit of wildlife.

It just isn’t the same without the swans.