Time flies

Then suddenly it's summer. Holy crap.

Well it's trying to be summer around here. While other areas of the country are suffering under heat waves and horrid temperatures we here in the PNW have yet to have had a day where we've even come close to 90 degrees. I'm not complaining because summer's my least favorite season but I'm sure hearing the griping amongst the hoi polloi for the lack of summerninity. You want summer? I suggest going to Texas for a few days. A little heat index of 115 degrees F will make you yearn for here.

Events

June was a fairly busy month for me, culminating in a trip to Mt Hood/Parkdale Oregon to attend a 4 day workshop held by Judith MacKenzie. It was essentially a free-for-all event where the students decided what they wanted to learn at the beginning and it went from there. To give you an idea of what we packed in those 4 days we did:

• How to spin a worsted spun yarn of different thicknesses
• How to do different draws from worsted to full woolen long draw
• How to spin a slub yarn
• How to spin different types of boucle yarns
• How to spin alpaca
• How to spin other luxury fibers such as bison, cashmere, baby camel, and silk
• How to dye in acid dyes
• How to dye with indigo
• How to create a batt with different fibers on a carder
• How to create a garnetted batt
• How to make a marled yarn
• How to choose a fleece and what to do with it later
• How to spin bast fibers (flax, ramie, hemp)
• How to spin cotton
• How to rett bast fibers

You can imagine what I was like when I finally left for home on the day 4. Exhausted but very very happy. I picked up all sorts of tips and tricks from her and have been passing them on to my fellow spinners. My spun yarn after that workshop has improved significantly.

I'm currently doing some spinning for the Tour de Fleece though my right knee has not been allowing me to do a lot of spinning. I'll be working to finish off a bobbin of three that I'm currently working on for a sock yarn. It's coming out beautifully.

Knitting

I've churned out more baby sweaters to eventually be sold for a fundraising. They work up so quickly and are fun to knit. I took the pattern and made some adjustments for my own liking and wrote it up as a free pattern on Ravelry, called Basic Yoke Baby Sweater 2.0. Others have tried it and enjoy it, which makes me feel good.

For my birthday I received three books: Knit, Swirl! by Sandra McIver, For the Love of Knitting by multiple authors, and The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook by Deborah Robson. I was caught up in the thrill of the engineering of the Swirl sweaters that have come from McIver's book and started up knitting my swatch to get the right size. I even took it with me to Judith's workshop in case I needed something to work on in the evening. Ha ha fool me -- I didn't touch it because I was too tired. So I arrive home and work on it a bit (the yarns are Stonehedge Farms Shepherd's Wool with Dream In Color In Native laceweight in raspberry tones).

Then Frank Habit publishes a stole pattern.

In case you haven't seen it here, I love lace. I'm a lace junkie. I love how it turns a pile of string all looped together that looks like a dog's breakfast into stunning beauty when it's all dressed. (That's right. Ordinary knitting is blocked. Lace knitting is dressed. Not that it's snobbish or anything.) You can bring me to my knees when you open up a stunning lace piece that looks like it's been knitted from frog hair on size zero^googolplex needles.

Frank has decided to go into lace knitting with a vengeance, coming out with a series of patterns that celebrate the women in his life. The one that made me drool was the one dedicated to his grandmother Jennie or as she was formally named Giovannina. I added that to my wishlist, not expecting to make it anytime soon, but an opportunity arose and I am now in the process of knitting it. The Filigran yarn is nice to work with and I'm making progress now with the body. We'll see how quickly I get this knitted up (the center motif requires 20 repeats of 30 rows).

Cats

Nothing new in the home front regarding the cats. Sammy is recovering from the state she got herself into from grieving for Maisie. Buster is finding that Fritz, while a fun playmate for a while, tends to be like the pestering kid brother and follows him around wherever he goes.

And Fritz? Well, let's say he isn't the brightest bulb in the sign. I like to call him a clown short of a circus. He's just now learning to come to his name but it takes a fair bit to do it. He hasn't figured out to leave Buster or Sammy alone when they cuff him and hiss. It also takes him a while to figure out that when I'm coming out of the kitchen and he's right there that to get out of my way he can turn around and walk faster (he walks backwards instead and is pretty good at it). But he's a playful, friendly, sweet-natured dope. He's figured out that he's not going outside without a harness on (which he doesn't like) so he doesn't dart out.

And that's the news from Chez Runamuck! Have a good summer!

Checking in

Each weekend I've been busy doing something and think briefly, I should update my blog. It's been a while and not everyone is on Facebook or Ravelry. But just as quickly it leaves my brain and before you know it another week has passed. Or my case, two months.

I've found as I've gotten older that unless I set out reminders for myself or stop and think for a minute beforehand what I must do I tend to flit from one thing to another at the cost of paying attention to other things that should be attended to. If I have things written down and go over them first thing in the morning I'm very good at getting them done. But if it's not on the list and I don't add it, it will be forgotten. Unfortunately, the blog writing has fallen into the category of not being put on the list. I will try to do better.

Things have changed a fair bit here at Chez Runamuck. I found a young cat that fit the household dynamic a month ago. His name is Fritz, is a year old, and has made friends with Sammy and Buster. Fritz isn't a lap cat but he is affectionate, a chatterbox, and has found all the toys in the short barrel tower. His favorite is a furry mouse that came in a gift pack I received from my Secret Santa last year. He carries it around in his mouth, plays with it on my bed, and has chewed the tail off of it. The other two weren't sure at first but Buster found him to be a fun playmate and Sammy has taken to him as a housemate. It's made life around here comical at times as the chasing goes on in the evening with either Fritz chasing Buster or vice versa.

In April I went to a fiber festival in Hood River. It was the first one for this particular group and they had a great turnout. There were some beautiful things there and I didn't come away empty-handed. One of the things I was looking for was purchasing a Schacht Matchless wheel on layaway. I had my Louet S10 for putting down as a down payment and wanted to pay off the remainder in installments. I found a buyer and the wheel is now being built. I was able to negotiate having the wheel available for my upcoming workshop at the end of June but I have to return it until it's completely paid off. I got the chance to work on someone else's Matchless while I was there and I was very pleased at how well it spun and fit me. So I'm anxious as ever to get it paid off and home!

May has been busy. I volunteered some time to demonstrate handspinning at the annual AgFest in Salem OR. That was fun showing how yarn is made from animal fiber. The kids were delightful to watch. Agent D and I took advantage of a beautiful Saturday to go to the Gorge and take pictures. The water from all the rainfall made the waterfalls spectacular.

One of the things I've been doing is preparing for a class on making toe up socks. I've knitted up sample socks with three different toes and heels to demonstrate different methods. In addition to those I finished a hat for Agent D and a baby sweater for one of the gals in the office who is expecting her first. There will be more baby sweaters coming: one for the grandson coming for one of my partners in crime in my unit, the others for sale to raise money for Outside In.

June promises to be a busy month. Between teaching, taking Judith MacKenzie's workshop at the end of the month, and my birthday, my challenge will be pacing myself so that I can get everything done. Summer's almost here which will mean hiding in my cool house.

FO!

I'm involved in a project with several of the PDX Knitbloggers where we all knit the Haruni shawl out of StitchJones Titanium Sock yarn. I finished mine last night and released it from its blocking wires and pins.

This could easily be set up to be a square tablecloth. I can see this done up in white yarn and draped over the tea table for afternoon tea.

Hawt

It's been a hot weekend here in the Rose City. It's been a while since our last really hot period and this one isn't supposed to last very long. I'm not going to complain about the heat because I know there are people here who are delighted by this. They can have their moment of indolence in the heat. I'll stay comfy in my air conditioned house and sip frosty beverages while I knit my lace.

Speaking of lace, I'm working on the Miralda's Triangular Shawl from Nancy Bush's Knitted Lace of Estonia. It requires more concentration than most projects I've worked on recently. But one thing about lace is the immense satisfaction after working on what looks like a hurled hunk of string. I'm not quite halfway done but it's so pretty.

It's a go!

Rhinebeck, the informal name of the NY Sheep & Wool Festival held in mid-October, is one of the biggest festivals in the US for handspinners, weavers, knitters, and producers of fiber. It hasn't really been on my radar in past years, but a gentle nudge from the Knitting Curmudgeon encouraged me to look into going. A number of folks I'm acquainted with through the Web meet there on Saturday, plus there are folks I know who are vendors there. So this year my goal has been to save enough to go. I've been watching the flight prices and scored today with a flight with Delta to Albany NY. Squee!!

On the knitting front, I finished my second chameleon, this one in Abstract Fibers SuperSock in colorway Burnside Bridge. It's half the size of the first one I did. I like the blue.

Squee factor 6

Get ready for it.

It's gonna make you want to coo and squeal. Especially if you're female. Somehow there's a program we're born with that when we see something this small and cute our voices go up several octaves. In some cases so high only dogs can hear them.

There are few things so adorable. Frank Habit's Incredibly Adorable Niece(tm) Abigail is way up there. Hello Kitty items. Twenty-four hour old infants.

Ready?

Baby Surprise Jacket for Baby Kipp

Laines du Nord Baby Star on size 2 needles

As you can see Buster had to inspect the work to make sure it was well done. I'm hoping that Baby Kipp isn't too large when he's born because the jacket is small. But he will come home from the hospital in style. I'm not one for baby cuteness but I can't help succumbing to that cute factor it exudes.

Making messes

Friday was the last day for a coworker so the office threw a breakfast potluck for her. I made hard boiled eggs for the occasion but rather than leave them plain I dug out the food coloring and vinegar and dyed the eggs. The leftover dye looked too fun to throw out so I experimented with some microwave dyeing on a skein of Pendleton wool I had lying around. Not all the colors took but those that did gave it a dusky rosy purplish cast with sections of blue and green. I can see this as the beginning of a very slippery slope if I want to go that direction. I have all the equipment except for a heat source in the basement. Hmm...

Creative juices

The completion of the Adult Surprise Jacket set my creative juices flowing the past couple of weeks. Out of the leftovers sprang a netbook bag. I made it so that it was padded well enough to protect the netbook yet look fun. This bag turned out to be a little small but it works.

With that completed, I turned to thinking about the year and what I need to get prepared for Rhinebeck. The Knit In Public Day event is in June. I'm thinking that I could sell some of my handspun there, so I'm working on spinning yarn for that event. Currently I have some Briar Rose Fibers BFL on the Joy that I'm spinning up into fingering weight.

My colleague in crime at the office is pregnant and will be going on maternity leave in the summer. So on the needles is a Baby Surprise Jacket, this in yarn I picked up at GLBT Knit Camp in 2007 when I walked out with my arms stuffed with yarn from WEBS' back room.

In the back of my mind there are also craft projects for selling at the employee craft fair in November (I'm thinking washcloths and baby things) and Christmas projects. My neighbors in particular are on my list for all the things they have done for me. So there may be times when I'm working on a project and I can't say anything because I don't know if they're reading this or not. Fun stuff!

FO - Adult Surprise Jacket

When my mom first taught me how to knit, she was your typical knitter of her generation. She didn't have many patterns but she had knitted for some time so had reached the point where she didn't need a pattern to make the basics. She had two books, Mary Thomas' Knitting Book and the Reader's Digest Book of Needlework. But she never did any knitting patterns from Elizabeth Zimmermann. I don't know if she ever watched her Knitting Workshop or other TV programs.

When I took up knitting later, I discovered Elizabeth's books and methods. Her writing encouraged me. My first lace shawl was her Pi Shawl. I tried the Baby Surprise and after a couple of attempts was able to complete it. I've looked at the Adult Surprise Jacket and wondered what I could do with it. The possibilities were endless.

When the February Lady sweater was popular last year, a number of my buddies knitted it. I tried it on but I didn't like how it looked on me. But as the months went by I wanted to make a sweater. Other projects were on the needles and wheel that required my attention. During the secret project time I revisited the Adult Surprise Jacket and looked through my stash to see what I could do with it. It naturally lent itself to being striped but the examples I had seen didn't appeal to me that much. However, the construction intrigued me so I went hunting in my stash to see what I could come up with. Several colors were in my Cascade 220 stash to do the job, so I gathered them up to hold until I could start the sweater.

The sweater took 2 skeins of 6 colors and one skein of ivory. It was knitted on size 7 needles and took me less than a month to complete. A friend of mine had said she had done it in one color and found herself growing bored. The color striping made my sweater fun to knit like self striping socks so in no time I had it completed.

What to wear

Oregon spring is fickle. Some days are warm and sunny with the promise of summer, then the weather turns to cold, rainy, and windy and you feel betrayed. This year has been no different than others. We had some really nice days during March where the temps got up to 70 degrees. Then some Pacific storms came in bringing in cold air from up north and socked us. The mountains got more snow and people grumbled about the rain and wind. I got sucked into Mother Nature's temptation of the warm weather and reprogrammed my thermostat, only to be rewarded with 30 degree nights that froze our collected keisters off. It's hard to roll over in bed when you're plastered with cats trying to suck the warmth out of you.

But the days are getting longer and the spring colors are making the neighborhoods bright and cheery. It's a good time for working on a colorful sweater. I mentioned in my last post I had started working on Elizabeth Zimmermann's Adult Surprise Jacket. It's coming along very well. I'm nearly done with the sleeve section. I try to get a stripe done each day but of course there are the longer stripes that sometimes take two days to complete. It will be a great spring and summer jacket.

Yesterday I went with Agent D to view "The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers." For those of you who were either not in the US in the early '70's or not yet born, Daniel Ellsberg was an employee of the RAND Corporation who was active in the decisionmaking on Vietnam in the mid '60's. He and others compiled a history of US involvement in Vietnam that came to be known later as The Pentagon Papers. These documents were rated top secret and contained incriminating evidence showing how deception upon deception had been made to Congress and the American people. Ellsberg at the time (so he claims) was just doing his job but had a crisis of conscience. The story of his involvement and subsequent leak of the Pentagon Papers to the press is told in "The Most Dangerous Man In America".

I went to see the movie partly out of curiosity and a desire to fill what was a hole in my understanding of that time period. When the Pentagon Papers were released to the press, I was just a kid, ten or eleven years old, with no true understanding of the implications of his act. I had heard of Ellsberg and the papers. But the movie helped fill in holes in my understanding. My political beliefs had already been molded in some ways by the Watergate scandal. I feel more how important it is for Americans to not take everything we are told as the absolute truth. It is easy to be swept by idealism and jingoistic rhetoric. I'm still one for seeking out nonviolent methods of resolving conflicts but understand that this is a very difficult goal to achieve. It's important for those of us who live in this country to do what they can to find out as much as they can from different sources and work to preserve our fundamental right to know.

Pictures at last

I've been remiss in posting pics lately of what I've been up to. For the most part there hasn't been much to show as I've been working on the commission scarf. The touch pad at work has made it easier to do the knitting so I'll have it done by its deadline. This weekend I'm working on getting as many stripes done as possible.

You can see in the corner of the above pic the latest addition to my spinner's toolbox - a Fancy Kitty Kitten drum carder. It's been baptized with some Abstract Fibers wool combined with a silk bell I picked up last year. The blending is turning out beautifully.

I've added a ticker for when I'm going to Rhinebeck this year. I've made my motel reservation (the HoJo at Saugerties) and hooked up with a roommate. Now to wait a couple of months and save my money for the plane reservation.

Call Me Slacker

My days at the office have been quite full since around Christmas. I've been coming home feeling like I've been rolled out by a pastry chef and left to rise. However the leavening in me hasn't been very responsive so by the weekend I was spending the day feeling like flatbread. But I've been getting more energy lately. Not enough to wash the walls and scrub the floor but enough to get a few things done like taking out the recycling and washing and folding (yes folding!) the laundry. There haven't been very many spoons* available thanks to the asthma occasionally coming up when I least expect it and kicking me in the gut, but something's changed and so far (fingers crossed) I'm finding more spoons in my energy drawer to use.

One thing I did was the Seattle to Portland Yarn Train** last Saturday. This is the crawl's 3rd year. A group of Seattle knitters ride the train south to partake of the riches our city's yarn shops provide. Since I have access to these pretty much all the time, I didn't go about with the crawlers but parked myself at the Starbucks in the Governor Hotel as Portland ambassador, navigator, guide, and commisserator to those with sore feet. Around 1 pm a group had assembled with me and took over a healthy chunk of the place, changing the ambiance from a quiet corner to a place full of gabbing knitters. However I didn't escape the fumes from the nearest shop, Knit/Purl. I came home with a couple of skeins of sale yarn and a new tote that looks a lot like an attache instead of a knitting bag. Tres chic!

I currently have on my plate another Harry Potteresque scarf, another commission from the same woman who ordered the Gryffindor scarf only this in black and green. Combined with the work at the office, my hands were getting a real beating. For a while I was having to not do any handiwork at home while my hands recovered but I found a solution that has helped me immensely: a touchpad for my office computer. It has more features than the touchpads you usually find on a laptop computer and the motions require much less effort and tension on the muscles. The effect was almost immediate. Now I'm doing my knitting without feeling like I'm getting claw hands from all the work at work. I'm also spinning on a handspindle at work on one of my breaks to have something different for my hands to do.

I was asked what I would be doing when I was 80. I told him I'd be running races up and down the nursing room corridor. I probably wouldn't in reality because I don't want to hurt someone who couldn't get out of the way, but I'm sure I'd be thinking up some kind of mischief or something to make people smile. Like attaching playing cards to my wheelchair's frame so that they flap in the wheel spokes. The staff won't forget me.

*If you want to find out what the heck I'm talking about, read this.

**Here I am a slacker because I have no pics of the crawlers at other locations, but here you'll get Michelle's posting.

A very productive weekend

There is something so satisfying in completing more than one project. This weekend was the one I had available to complete projects for this week and prepare for Christmas. It's Secret Santa week so I had to fetch gifts for my recipient. Of course she'll have handmade gifts as well.

Some beaded wristwarmers.

And beaded earrings.

One of my knitsibs has been recently diagnosed with a rare type of cancer. Instead of a blanket from those of us in the group, she's asked for hats to wear while she's going through treatment. She lives in Minnesota so a warm hat was definitely in order. I found some Cascade 128 in my stash and whipped this up today.

Last year I volunteered to do a test knit for one of my friends. The pattern called for Handmaiden Camelspin, which is a sport weight yarn of camel and silk. It has beautful drape but no bounce so it's not very forgiving to knit up. I didn't finish the test knit because I fought the yarn. I tried another pattern with this yarn and was fighting it there as well. This time around, though, I was successful in producing a nice little neckscarf.

The Winter Olympics are next February and the talk on Ravelry is about teams and preparing projects for the two plus weeks of crafting time. The new line up my cable company has for my package includes Universal Sports which has been showing some of the World Cup competitions of various winter sports. I've always enjoyed watching the Winter Olympics even though the US has not been a strong contender in many of the events. My loyalties will be leaning toward Canada's team in those events where the US isn't a contender for medals. In the meantime, I'm trying to decide what I will do for those weeks. One possibility is another Dale sweater, this time in black and white with red trim. I have some patterns from previous Olympic games that I can consider.

In the meantime, I have one UFO I should return to, namely the sweater I started last year out of Kauni yarn. I'm on the body with the second sleeve left to go so any progress I make on it will be good. If I complete it by the end of January I will be very pleased.

Slow recovery

The week has been one of trying to recover from SOAR. Between the altitude and a chest cold I was pretty much out of it. Facebook and Twitter folks saw a fair amount of my presence but I had no real brains for doing anything beyond those and watching the idiot box. I'm behind on my NaNoWriMo, I haven't done any complex knitting, and my spinning wheel has been pretty much sitting idle. I did do up some of the mohair locks Karen purchased at OFFF to spin up but I need to find a good yarn for plying it with so that the color doesn't get lost. I did finish a UFO pair of socks that had been languishing since last year so I'm pleased with that progress. I'm doing better energywise but I have laryngitis. No hollering for me for a while.

Tomorrow I have jury duty so I spent this evening going through my girlie bag and pulling out anything potentially comfiscatible at the courthouse. That meant no knitting or tool bags. I have other things I can take for entertaining myself during the dreary wait. It's been a long time since I last went to jury duty so this will be interesting.

I finally had a decent lighted day for taking pics of my SOAR swag. From Blue Moon some Blue Faced Leicester in Fall "On Top".

From Polwarth Co, some lovely silver polwarth roving that will make beautiful fingering weight yarn for a scarf.

From Sweet Grass Wool Targhee top in Moki Canyon. I found enough to make a vest.

SOAR Roomie Deb had a dyeing class and came away with a silk hankie. She just wanted one layer for a sample from the class so Barb and I split the rest. This will be fun to throw into a mystery batt for practicing my drum carding skills.

Barb did a swap with me. In exchange for one of my orifice hooks. Barb did a number of her Barbara's Buns in lovely polwarth and silk. So pretty!

The Monday following my return from SOAR I had an errand and lunch. The errand went quickly and gave me some time to rest before lunch. When I opened my door there was a package waiting for me from Black Bunny Fibers: Border Leicester wool/mohair/silk in colorway Hailstorm. The picture makes it a little lighter than it is. It's a pretty combination of blue and gray that will be nummy to spin. Thanks Carol!

In living color!

One mitten down. One to go. The new modem's on its way. Keep your fingers crossed. In the meantime, here are a few pictures from events in the past few weeks.

Franklin Habit made it to Portland during OFFF weekend. He made a call out to his Dolores Devotees for help in arranging it and I was able to hook him up with Knit/Purl. He was quite delightful and very happy for my assistance in getting him to the City of Roses. It was my pleasure, Frank.

Judy "JMCO" Becker has adamantly said she would not learn how to spin. While my fellow spinsters are still trying to convince her to take up the craft, I've opted to take a different tack and lure her to my handspun. I spun up some Dicentra Designs merino silk into fingering weight yarn and gave her the yarn to play with. She came up with a stunning wrap that has garnered many compliments. You can read her full story of the wrap on her blog. Fabulous job Judy!

There was also Spin In Public Day in Hillsboro where we encountered rain but no one shied away from it. Not even the small fry. Baby Hazel and Mama Rachel were there with their February sweaters.

Then there was OFFF. The Spinnerati and Knitbloggers had tents on the main lawn but shade was a premium. By the end of the day we were huddled against one side of the two tents to keep from getting cooked. We had visitors from regulars like Tina Newton of Blue Moon Fiber Arts and Morgaine of Carolina Homespun to newcomers Frank Habit,

Rabbitch, and Oregon newcomers Condom Amulet Naomi with her "spinster" husband Ron and Sivia Harding (welcome!).

Another notable was this lovely lady who spun while she walked over 300 miles. This is the sweater she knitted from the yarn she spun.

Karen wore her lovely stashbuster shawl and fell in love with some mohair locks, but being the nonspinner she needed someone to spin them. I offered my services. [BEG]

Soon to come: SOAR! I looked over the requirements list for the classes I'm taking and figure I might as well pack the suitcase acquired earlier this summer with everything but the kitchen sink. In the meantime I'm preparing my arsenal because you don't know whether you may come across this.