vista’s Neighborhood

I'm not focusing very well on my NaNoSweMo sweater. I started a new project today, a chemo cap for my friend because no one had gotten a chance to finish one for her yet. She starts chemo tomorrow and I know her hair won't fall out instantly but I think if it were me I'd take it off before it had the chance to fall out bit by bit. I have no idea how quickly it all progresses, really, but I want her to have a hat in her possession, darnit! Anyway, I picked a pattern that calls for worsted weight yarn so it's a quick knit. If I write this post fast enough I may even get to the top decreases tonight. I thought maybe I could finish it but that's not happening.

So, now that I've figured out that I can export my photos from iPhoto in a roundabout way, my card reader won't recognize my flash card so I can't get photos off of my camera. I seem to have whatever is opposite of the Midas touch with mechanical and electronic devices these days. I took a couple of iPhone photos of my faded socks instead. I know it's not great but I think you can see what is going on in this one.

faded socks

The sock on the left has faded less than the sock on the right but it is still faded and pretty dull looking. The ball of yarn between my feet is the leftover yarn that hasn't been washed. This is from one wash. In cold water and Soak. Here's the photo of them freshly knitted and not at all faded, for reference.

holey socks

I finally (FINALLY!) finished the mermaid costume I was knitting for a friend's daughter's 5th birthday. It's the Splash pattern from Vickie Howell's book, New Knits on the Block. (Rav link to my project.) The 5-year-old in question loved it and put it on immediately and had it on for the next two hours that I was at her house at least. I hope she didn't sleep in it because I'm not sure it would be comfortable.

finished mermaid

I want to make another one for another of the girls who was there because I didn't make her a birthday gift this year and she looked like she would love one too. I'm thinking of Knit Picks Comfy bulky in either sea foam or marlin. Thoughts? I wish I could stash dive for this project like I did for the purple one but I don't think anything I have is bulky enough or in my stash in large enough quantity to use doubled to make it the right weight.

Finishing things is always satisfying, of course, but finishing gift knitting even more so. Especially when the recipient is as enthusiastic as today's was! She could barely wait for me to finish sewing in the elastic before she put it on.

I have one of the looms warped for this week and a few picks woven onto it to get the kids started. I'm going to show it to my friend Victoria tomorrow, who is a much more experienced weaver, and maybe she can give me some tips. She also loaned me a warping mill so I can measure the warp for the other two looms. Look! I'm even learning the lingo!

When Michelle & I went to the Outer Banks of NC in September, we stopped by a really nice store called Sandy Bay Gallery.  After making our jewelry purchases and chatting with the owner, we walked back outside and stopped to admire the hippo pottery.  But oh look!  Hippo Mouth has a resident!

the hippodrome

welcome to my abode

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Is that the blurpiest little frog ever? The shop owner saw us looking and came out and said he lives in there, and that sometimes there is another one that hangs out close by.  But before I could get more photos inside the hippo, she coaxed him out onto the wall:

2009_11080300

and that is about half of my vacation photos right there....

Wow, it has really been awhile since I posted. But, I AM BACK! I honestly don't know if I'll be able to post daily, but I'm at least hoping to post a little more regularly, especially with all that may be happening in the next couple of months. Here's my confession - since the middle of July I've been working a "day job" again. That is why I haven't been posting as many new yarns, why I haven't been blogging and in general just haven't been "around" as much. But, for many reasons I rather not go into right now, I have QUIT that job and now will be able to devote my full attention to getting ready for my November shows. This is the perfect time since I do have my two most-favorite shows of the year this month - DIY Trunk Show in Chicago and Art vs Craft in Milwaukee. I am determined to have lots of new yarns and new knits for both of these shows! This means I'll be spinning and knitting like crazy over the next few weeks and I will be listing at least ONE NEW YARN EVERY DAY in my etsy shop. Due to time constraints, I may not list *everything* I spin, but yarns not sold at the shows will all be listed by the end of the month.

The other news, which is NOT 100% quite yet, but about 99.99999999999% sure is that we are MOVING. Not just moving to a new apartment but to a NEW CITY. And a NEW STATE. This is going to be happening within the next few months, which is the main reason I quit the job. More on this as things progress . . . but I won't be TOO far away from where we are now, which means I'll still be able to do my "normal" shows in both Wisconsin and Illinois.

For now, it's back to my old (wonderful) routine of daily spinning and listing yarns. Today, I spun 9 new yarns! Some were for possible custom requests, but several will be listed tomorrow, including 3 new art yarn skeins. In the meantime, though, I wanted to catch up with the new yarns that I have listed lately - these are skeins spun in the past few weeks that are new and still available -

Here are direct links to each listing in my etsy shop -
Squish-tastic! - November Garden - Hand Spun Bulky 2ply Yarn
90 yards and 30 yards
Kitty Mixers - Brown Eyed Girl - Hand Spun Two Ply Yarn (merino wool)
140 yards and 120 yards
FunctionArt/Batt-tacular - Holly Hobbie Redux - Hand Spun Art Yarn - 120 yards, 5.4 oz
CoilySpun - Vampire Valentine - Hand Spun Coils & Beehives Yarn - 12 yards
Beautiful Bamboo - Marmalade Pine - Hand Spun Single Ply Yarn
134 yards and 124 yards
Beautiful Bamboo - Kitty Grrlz Dark - Hand Spun Single Ply Yarn
Kitty Singles - Marchengarten - Hand Spun Single Ply Wool Yarn
Kitty Singles - Berry Crush - Hand Spun Single Ply Yarn
Kitty Singles - Italo - Hand Spun Single Ply Yarn
Kitty Singles - Cormorant - Hand Spun Single Ply Yarn

I think that's all for now, but should have more new yarns for Sunday!

I visited my friend who is about to start her chemo today and delivered her shawl. (I've also figured out a way to upload photos so you get to see it.

back of comfort shawl

For the back I followed the pattern exactly (the Chunky Highland Wool Wrap from Elann.com) -- other than not using wool of course. If I were to do it again I'd change the cross of the top left cable of the fleur de lis pattern to make it so that it doesn't go over twice in a row. I'm not sure if you can see that in this photo or not.

front of shawl

For the front I changed the pattern completely. The cable they had on the front pieces was very pretty but it pulled far too much in this totally synthetic yarn (Crystal Palace Puffin). Since I couldn't block the pulling out it had to go. I fiddled with a couple of more simple cables but ended up just using a stitch pattern from Barbara Walker vol. 1. I like the way it turned out. My friend liked it too. She said that the nurse told her that some people get cold sitting in the chemo chair during the treatments and it would be perfect for that. I hope it is.

I need to dig out a chemo cap pattern. I'm thinking about making one from some Sock Candy I have. I'll have to soak it in vinegar before giving it to her though, since my Sock Candy always loses its color on the first wash. I need to get a good picture of my post-wash Holey Socks to show you. It's really astonishing.

I think I may have gone overboard with books for Niels. He seems to be overloaded a bit. He took a book out of his class library and has been reading that. It's from the Guardians of Gahoole series about a group of owls. I haven't read them so that's all I know. I'm still hoping that he'll want to read Fergus Crane because it was such a fun little book. I also think he'll want to read to second of the Magic Thief books when we finally get to it.

I tried that tomato soup in my blender again, this time with less onion and it was red. It's still too oniony, I think. I have a can of pumpkin so I might try the pumpkin soup recipe next that uses sautéed onion and roasted garlic. It sounds really good.

My sweater is still growing in a very boring and unphotographable way. I mean, I could take a picture but it's not much to see.

Day 6 and I'm running out of stuff to say already!

It turned out that I needed to knit a few more rows before I could bindoff on my socks so I did that last night and didn't end up knitting on my sweater at all. I have a cool new pair of socks though. I love them so far. I am curious to see how this yarn holds up because I have definitely durability issues with some cotton sock yarns. Time will tell!

Stripey socks

These are the Upstream Master pattern from Cat Bordhi's New Pathways book 1. I think it might be my favorite architecture. The increases happen on the sole and there's something about it that makes a sock that hugs my foot well.

I also finished a woven scarf today. I started it waaaaay back in May when I first got my loom and just kind of lost my oomph. I will be teaching the kids at Niels' school how to weave this week, though, so I need my loom for the class and had to finish off the project that was on it.

I thought we had enough of the loom that you can half see in that picture for the class, but I was wrong so I am going to be taking my Cricket in so we can have several kids working at once. The loom pictured is a Beka 10-inch rigid heddle beginner's loom. Here it is with my Cricket.

They are both the same type of loom but the Beka is much simpler. I have to work on getting it warped over the weekend. I'll probably also weave an inch or so on each loom to make the starting easier for the kids. I got Weaving Made Easy out of the library this week. It happened to be in the new craft book section, I wasn't actually seeking it out and I really like it. It's simple projects for rigid heddle looms. I might actually try to make the bag in there after the kids are done using my loom. It will depend on me being able to warp it long enough for the bag. I have to figure out a way to clamp the warping peg farther away without taking up the whole house with my warp yarn. Perhaps a warping board would be more useful at some point. Not yet though.

My sweater continues to grow. I have started the waist decreases but the edges of the fronts continue to increase more rapidly so the quantity of stitches is still growing fairly quickly. I can take it though. I'm tough like that.

Four friends, who hadn't seen each other in 30 years, reunited at a party.

After several drinks, one of the men had to use the rest room. Those who remained talked about their kids.

The first guy said, 'My son is my pride and joy. He started working at a successful company at the bottom of the barrel. He studied Economics and Business Administration and soon began to climb the corporate ladder and now he's the president of the company. He became so rich that he gave his best friend a top of the line Mercedes for his birthday.'

The second guy said, 'Darn, that's terrific! My son is also my pride and joy. He started working for a big airline, then went to flight school to become a pilot. Eventually he became a partner in the company, where he owns the majority of its assets. He's so rich that he gave his best friend a brand new jet for his birthday.'

The third man said: 'Well, that's terrific! My son studied in the best universities and became an engineer. Then he started his own construction company and is now a multimillionaire. He also gave away something very nice and expensive to his best friend for his birthday: A 30,000 square foot mansion.'

The three friends congratulated each other just as the fourth returned from the restroom and asked: 'What are all the congratulations for?'

One of the three said: 'We were talking about the pride we feel for the successes of our sons. ....What about your son?'

The fourth man replied: 'My son is gay and makes a living dancing as a stripper at a nightclub.'

The three friends said: 'What a shame... what a disappointment.'

The fourth man replied: 'No, I'm not ashamed. He's my son and I love him. And he hasn't done too bad either. His birthday was two weeks ago, and he received a beautiful 30,000 square foot mansion, a brand new jet and a top of the line Mercedes from his three boyfriends.’

We got a Scholastic order from school today which included a copy of The Invention of Hugo Cabret. I had been considering buying it and thought it was a bargain in the catalog. I see now that it's 39 cents cheaper on Amazon but this way we earned points for our teacher to get more books for class! I feel a bit guilty buying books like this because I feel like I am trying to turn Niels into the same kind of reader I am: the kind who also enjoys comics and graphic novels. This book is half pictures, if not more. I haven't started reading it yet but I flipped through it and it looks really interesting. He already likes comics, of course, but this will help that along too.

I was running around all day so far and the only knitting I did was on the ribbing of my stripey socks. I'm done and am going to bind them off as soon as I finish posting this, which doesn't help me reach my sweater goal, of course, but gives me a fun new pair of socks to wear tomorrow! I will probably knit a bit on the sweater too. I want to watch yesterday's episode of V before I go to bed, even though the things I've read so far have not been terribly positive. It could get better! Right? Right!

Aspiring to Be a Praying Person