As The Yarn Turns

We Interrupt This Blog ...

...To deal with life. There has been plenty of blog fodder this week, just not much time to write about it. First what would normally have been a slightly dull annual checkup turned into a frenzy of tests (still not completed) and drug prescriptions. One of the things I do in my non-knitting time is to help run our little software and networking company. This week we were rushing around to get some CDs ready to go to the big amateur radio convention in Dayton, OH. (Just the CDs, not me.) Normally we could have easily gotten them ready by Wednesday. We're a very small company though and the doctors kept me busy enough that we were working down to the wire.

The good news is that even though it hasn't been a good week for most knitting and spinning, it's been a great week for knitting on my mobile May Socks. So far, I've received several requests for hand knit socks for Christmas from nurses and technicians.

Then on the spur of the moment Wednesday night we decided to relive our childhood and see if there were any tickets left for the midnight showing of Star Wars: Episode III. Now this is a small town. No one has been waiting in line for days much less weeks so we figured our chances were good. We were right. With my May Socks in hand, I knitted until the movie started. I wish I had thought to bring my camera. I had so much fun waiting to get into the movie. Some people brought books to read while they waited to get in. One group of people sat around the back of their car and watched movies. Most people just sat around and chatted. But the highlight was when a small child walked up in a Darth Vader costume and the crowd shouted out, "All right, Darth Vader's here!". You know it had to be the highlight of his/her day. We thoroughly enjoyed the movie too, by the way.

In still more news, this blog was featured on our local Comcast show this past week, In The Know With Shoals, as an example of blogs. I didn't get to see the show (see all of the above) but apparently it was just a general example of blogs. Still, that's exciting for this little blog

So today should be a relatively easy day followed by a frenzy of activity over the weekend. Tomorrow we have our cul-de-sac yard sale so we'll be getting ready for that. Plus Rick and I have our anniversary this weekend. We'll see how much knitting I can squeeze in.

by Sydney  |

It's a Shawl!

The Shetland Tea Shawl is finished. I am a knitting goddess! Okay, maybe not but I'm feeling pretty darned good about the shawl. I'm rather proud of this shawl. Plus I've been working on it so long, it's starting to feel like part of the family. It's being blocked while I'm typing here.

I really didn't have much trouble with it. I had to rip back a few rows very early on and I tinked back a few stitches here and there. Overall it with smoothly, slowly but smoothly. The only real problem I had was that I ended up two stitches short on the edging instead of one stitch short as mentioned in the instructions. I have no idea how that happened, but it was easy to work around. It was also supposed to end up 60 inches in diameter. Mine is only going to come to 55 inches. Hey I'm short though so that should work out okay too. Here it is in it's unblocked, prune-like state. Doesn't it look much better now? I gained about 30 percent after blocking.

I used a cone of no-name baby camel yarn and knitted the yarn right off the cone. It was a little stiff to knit but bearable. Once this stuff gets washed though, it's wonderfully soft.

I've always liked knitting lace but I loved working on this project. I'm not really a lace kind of girl but I'm sure I'll find an occasion to wear it.

Off to admire my work again...

by Sydney  |

Not Lace

So what am I doing when I'm not working on the Shetland Tea Shawl? Well I'm spinning some Jacob wool.

Some of it will be used to knit some wrist warmers for next winter. I haven't decided what I'll do with the rest of it yet. I've discovered that it takes me about an ounce of fiber to get a system down for spinning a new fiber. Some draft easier than others. Some need more or less twist. Some like to be thicker or thinner. By the time I've figured all of that out, I used up an ounce of fiber. Luckily we've spun way more than an ounce of the Jacob so it's going quicker than it was initially.

I'm also still knitting on my long suffering May socks in Cherry Tree Hill yarn.

Socks tend to be my mobile project. Sometimes I'll work on socks at home but mostly I work on them away from home. This is the second sock so with any luck at all I may finish it soon and start on something new.

Later: I've been playing around with the blog for no other reason than I'm tired of the old look.

by Sydney  |