Broken arm plying

2 weeks ago I fell skating with my daughter and broke my wrist. I went in for surgery a week later and have had my cast replaced since then with a removable rigid splint. Since then I've regained enough mobility in my left hand to type and knit, and spin on my drop spindle. I start OT tomorrow.  I'm looking forward to more twist mobility  but it's going to be a long road ahead.

A little hatmaking

Working on a Christmas present for my niece.  She went to Peru last year and I off handedly said to bring me back some yarn. She did.  She brought back an oversized under tied hank of tangled singles.  I balled it up and let it sit until a project idea came to me. So I'm crocheting a hat, and will use the remaining yarn in a pair of corresponding mittens.  So far it's just a circle.

Wool tour day

We went to the NH Wool Arts Tour today. Here are the girls running to see the Alpacas at Mirage Alpacas...

They sure were nice...
Here's the loot... We didn't get anything at the Wool Room, but I overheard Anne saying that she wasn't going to participate next year so it was nice to see the place one last time. At Chauncy Farm we got a pumpkin, some apple butter from Thyme and Ewe farm in Claremont (which isn't on the picture 'cause the hubs had put it in the fridge and I forgot to get it back out, sorry Thyme and Ewe), hats for the girls from We-Z Farm in Hancock and the harp player was fantastic...Quinnie was wary of him while he was playing, but she struck up a conversation with him between songs - apparently he's only scary when he's playing. On to Western View Farm where I got some sweet shetland roving from Hope Thomas. We didn't buy anything at Mirage Alpacas either, but we spent an inordinate amount of time with their alpacas and their turkeys - Quinnie loved them. And last but certainly not least the Fiber Studio...Wow what a change! I hadn't been there since it was taken over by the new owners, they were busy and I didn't get a chance to talk to them, but they seemed friendly enough. The place has gone through a major overhaul though....they moved almost all the knitting yarns into the weaving studio area, and the upstairs was open to the public, and they had a new staircase that went downstairs to a classroom/studio space and there were two more vendors down there. The whole place just seemed open and airy and you could find things without going into tunnels and it just was lovely. I got two balls of sock yarn to make my sister Beth and Brother-in-law Kris socks for Christmas, and a braid of pretty dyed roving from one of the vendors outside the name of which regrettably I didn't pay attention to 'cause I figured the name would be on the receipt and sadly, it wasn't...well in any even it's very pretty and quite soft....I plan to spin it thin and make some gloves out of it.

I had an awesome time.

Green Autumn Mittens

Well they aren't green, and it isn't Autumn yet but boy are these fun!

I can't put them down. They're like a new toy. Thank you Jared! These are spun with Molly's fleece, and will be for Ali's camp layette. She wants them fuschia so we'll dye them after they're finished (I couldn't wait to get started on them). Oh fun, fun fun!

Decisions, Decisions

Please Lord, help me to make a prudent decision. I am weak Lord, I need the strength to stick with the decision you help me make....

Ok so it's not that bad really. Nothing earth shattering certainly. But I have a tendency to want to do everything and participate in every challenge that comes my way and I get overextended and beat myself up for not being able to do it all.

It's Barbara Chlorite-Ventura's fault. She was the one who sent the notification that the new site for the MS4 was up. I signed up this morning.

I already have multiple shawls in my mental queue. I have already committed myself to knitting Ali the Environment Camp layette, I have 1/2 a sweater another pair of socks, a hat and a pair of mittens yet to go and it all needs to be done before the last week in October. Poor Quinnie keeps asking "Quinnie socks?" and I keep telling her that when Ali's stuff is all done then Quinnie will get some socks and a sweater. Granted her socks will take me like an afternoon, and a sweater, maybe a week, but still...

Also, I tried the MS3 last year - I was able to keep up all right, but I never finished it. I didn't like how it went asymmetrical and I don't really like stoles anyway, I prefer big comfy climb inside shawls. And it was in the Summer, not the fall. Fall is traditionally busy.

I signed up for the Growing challenge and how many posts have I made to update that? Alright I did do the challenge stuff, but failed to post regularly about it.

It's lace...with beads! OH! how can I say no? We'll see how it goes. I can always just print out the clues and knit it later, but then it won't be a surprise...Oh I can't decide.

Help!

Camp sock progress

Been plugging away at the socks Ali needs for camp. Let's take a look at the progress shall we?


As you can see I'm doing pretty well. I have to finish the second sock on this pair and then I have one more pair to go. The local hardware store has started carrying this new to me sock yarn. Let me just say that any sock yarn the hardware store sells is worthy of purchase, no matter what the brand or the material content of the individual yarn. I think it's wonderful that a hardware store carries sock yarn at all so I want to encourage them to continue to carry sock yarn and the best way to do that is to buy it. However, I've got to say it's not torture, nor do I feel I'm lowering my standards at all with this yarn. I normally dislike the Red Heart brand even among other acrylics because I find the yarn too squeaky and it makes me grind my teeth. This yarn, however is completely different from any Red Heart yarn I've ever used before and I really like it. It's 70% wool (that's probably why) 30% nylon - compared to Regia, 75/25 wool/polyester or Opal 75/25 wool/polyamide. It feels almost exactly the same. I love it! I'm not really feeling any effects of the aloe, but maybe Ali will have softer feet when she wears the finished socks. I mean come on, only the very tips of my fingers and the left hand ring finger touch the yarn while I'm knitting so it's not like I'd get baby smooth hands anyway. Herrschners has it for $5 a ball, in case your hardware store doesn't carry sock yarn (and if you ever see a ball for sale there buy it!). It's a real bargain.

Coming up for air

Briefly taking a pause to give some updates on life at the O'Brien household. Ali has turned 11.

We had a really hard time deciding what to get her until I heard about a benefit concert that Pete Seeger will be performing for the strolling heifers in Brattleboro VT in September. So we got her 2 tickets and she and I'll be going to the concert and attending the reception afterward. It's going to be a fun night, and I hope she remembers it always.



We spent the day at Grammy and Papa's boat. We had an Om put on her cake 'cause she'd just finished yoga camp.

My gardens are is doing well and I finally got all my tomatoes in the ground. I still need to find something cheap to hill my potatoes in (cheap mulch hay anyone?) . I got some fence sections for my birthday last month and Ali and I spent Saturday putting up the first 3. They look awesome - much better than the old fence, but they'll look even better once I slap a coat of paint on them and plant a nice little perennial garden in front of it.

I've gotten both sleeves and a third of the back of Ali's Peace sign sweater done, and I'm nearly done with the second of her purple and yellow striped socks done - 2 more pairs of socks left to go, and the remainder of the sweater plus a hat and some gloves and she'll be all set knitwise.

We'll wait until next month at least before we start in on the pants - been doing a summer school run and I actually have less time at home between runs now than I do the remainder of the year.

I'm not dead

I have been so wicked busy and I am so looking forward to school vacation. So what the heck have I been up to? Well....hiking, knitting, planting, lots of field trips, swimming...My plants are almost all in - just a few more to go (no pictures regrettably - I'll get on that soon I promise). I made birthday presents for both my sister and my Mom who have birthdays coming up this summer (no public pictures until they receive their gifts). Here's a peek at some of the highlights of May and early June...

Aren't they gorgeous? Quinn and Daddy hiking at Bear Brook State Park on 4/23/08 - Sean and my 14th anniversary.I saw the Yarn Harlot in North Hampton MA with my Mom - We had a blast!We finished the NETA Afghan. I blocked it and delivered it to Sheryl Amaral of Spin-A-Bit for it's raffle tour.We got some chicks - Quinn LOVES them!And lastly, Ali will be going to environment camp this fall and needs some gear. So I've started making some things...she'll need a hat, some mittens, some fleece pants and rain pants (we'll buy a rain coat), another wool sweater, some more socks (of course). I'm going to have a good time getting all this stuff made up for her (and I'm hoping she'll help with the pants - she likes to sew).

Hopefully I won't be away for so long again.

Easy sock recipe

Rhonda Jean asked if I had any tips on getting started with socks. I do. Socks are easy. In fact they're easier than mittens. Socks are basically a long tube with a 90 degree turn in the appropriate place. This is a recipe (not exactly a pattern) for a super duper easy pair of socks that simply can't get any easier unless they were tube socks.

Take a set of smallish double pointed needles and cast on an appropriate amount to go around your calf divisible by 4.

I'll throw some numbers out there for you just to make a trial pair, but these are so readily adaptable you can swap out needles, yarn weights, and body sizes with only second grade math skills.

So for the sake of learning lets say I have sock weight yarn in something that has some give (no cotton or linen without some synthetic additive) like 80/20 wool and nylon, size 2 US (2.75mm) needles...I'd cast on 56 stitches for a skinny leg or 60 for a big fat leg like mine or even 64 if I want them to go up over the biggest part of my calf.

Knit 2x2 rib (k2,p2) until you get sick of it...most of the time it's between 12 and 20 rows for me, but you could do the whole leg portion if you'd like. Continue down the leg in Stockinette Stitch (that's knit only when in the round) until the sock leg is long enough for your tastes and then work a separate waste piece of yarn for 1/2 of the stitches (example30 stitches if I had originally cast on 60) don't attach the yarn just leave the ends dangling. Go back to your main yarn, pick it up and continue working the sock in stockinette stitch. It's helpful to start the waste yarn at the beginning of a needle. Likewise, if you are using 4 needles instead if 5 you'll need to slip the remaining stitches onto the working needle so you can free up a needle to go back with, but you knew that.


When the piece following the scrap yarn is the same length as your foot is from your heel to the base of your toes begin toe.
With the scrap yarn (this is where your heel will go) on the bottom (picture above shows the sock upside down), flatten out your tube and find the two edges where front ends and back begins. Adjust your needles so these are at the edges of your needles (like the beginning of one and the end of another).

The toe goes like this.

round 1 Beginning on edge stitch k1, ssk, k across to3 stitches before next edge stitch k2 tog k1, repeat for other half.

round 2 knit

repeat rounds 1 and 2 until there are about 8 stitches in between decreases and kitchener toe closed.

Now carefully take out waste yarn and slide your needles back into the live stitches and make a second "toe" for the heel. These are very cute if made with a contrasting color.


There are two known truths in this world. The first is that you will get a hole at the edge of the thumb on the mitten you are knitting and the second is that you will get a hole at the edge of the heel on the sock you are knitting. This is OK. You'll have a couple ends to darn in, so just make sure you pass over the hole and cinch it closed and you're good to go. I'll take care of this hole when Idarn in my ends - I just tucked them in for the picture.


Enjoy your socks!

PS - the sock in the picture was made with red heart worsted weight ACKrillic and size5 US needles - way fewer stitches (36 total) than the numbers I gave you, but the process is exactly the same.

Ali's second sock

Well things have been progressing a little more slowly on the second sock. Not due to second sock syndrome or anything mundane like that but just that the weather has been sublime so we've been outside as much as possible. Yesterday we raked a wee bit, and then I went for a walk down to the boat launch at Pawtuckaway - that's about 41/2 miles away from my house. It was a gorgeous walk. I was reading the first few chapters of my newest book while I walked ($2.00 used Living the good life by the Nearings). I like it OK I suppose, but I think they're far more pompous than the author of Ten Acres Enough (same idea about 100 years earlier). In any event, it was a pleasant walk down and an even more pleasant sit down on the bridge at the boat launch. It's so beautiful there. The water was running fast but was about 5-7 feet lower than usual because they drained the lake (so it doesn't flood). I saw a couple of guys running the rapids in a canoe - that was a sight - and some kids were climbing a huge boulder at the trail head. It was a real pleasant pause. It was NOT a pleasant walk home. Something about my shoes I guess was not right and my feet hurt wicked bad, my calves were killing me and my hips were grinding the whole walk back from which I had to be rescued because it had already taken me twice as long to get half way home, the kids were crying for me and my hips couldn't take it anymore.

We went to the beach today to check out the tide pools. It was 40 degrees and windy but my family ditched their shoes and got their feet wet - and Quinn got her whole body wet when she fell down - Luckily I anticipated this and brought her a whole new outfit. We walked quite a ways but as I had different shoes on my hips felt fine. My feet still ache but not too bad. I didn't even think to bring the camera until Sean and Ali were way out in the tide pool and I thought how lovely a picture it would have been if I had thought to bring the camera - darn it.

So now about the second sock. I don't like the toe and heel on the first sock They just don't feel as luscious as the body, so on the second sock I switched yarn to something equally yummy, and once the pair have been completed I'll take out the first heel and toe and rework them in the better yarn. That's one of the reasons I like toe up socks and short row heels - you can just cut them off and redo the whole thing over new when they get worn. But I never wear those parts out. I always wear out the ball of the foot - wouldn't you know it?

Sock in progress

This is what was accomplished on Ali's sock yesterday. She loves it.

Yay!

I'm gonna see the Yarn Harlot!!!! I called my Mom and we made a date. Stephanie's going to be at the Calvin Theatre in N. Hampton Ma on 4/27 (you have to regester). I'm psyched! It's almost worth it to miss SPA this weekend.

Baby Sweaters

I have 2 cousins who are bout to give birth any day now, and both to girls to boot. I know girls. I have 3 of them, so I know just how gorgeous a little baby girl looks in a lacy sweater. Last month I finished up Sweater #1 for my cousin Emma.

It's an Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern from the book Knitter's Almanac : http://www.amazon.com/Elizabeth-Zimmermanns-Knitters-Almanac-Zimmermann/dp/0486241785

I used Bernat baby yarn 'cause when it's baby number 2 or number 3 it's all about the ease of laundering. Normally I'm a wicked yarn snob and can't stand acrylic but there are certain circumstances that call for it and secondary and tertiary babies are definitely in that category. I scavenged the buttons off an old outfit I found from the 60's. The fabric a pink gingham, and quite threadbare, was not worth saving, but the buttons were pristine. There are little kitties remeniscent of Peter Rabbit drawings. Here's a shot of Emma at her shower.

So this morning I finished Kerry's sweater. Same yarn (I happened to have a couple extra balls hanging around and each sweater only took one ball). Same pattern - it's a really good one, and I enjoyed making the sweater, plus it was super quick. I had these buttons from a project I had intended to make Sam when she was little but got sidetracked (who me?) and before I knew it, she was too grown up for buttons like that. She loved Sunflowers and daisies when she was about 4 and these were supposed to button a little summer dress. Oh well, they look great on Kerry's sweater now.

Oh there are going to be a couple of gorgeous little baby girls to squeeze before the end of the month! I'll get pictures of the babies in their new sweaters for you.