Celtic Cable

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Thursday, August 4, 2011

Knitting on a WIP and a Prayer

It's been a funny weather day today ... the skies have been full of rapidly moving gray clouds, and the breeze was cool. The humidity is still high, but something about the cloudy sky makes me think of Autumn. I have this problem every year ... by mid-July, I am done with summer. I'm tired of sweating when I walk the dog, I'm too hot to knit, and even the garden isn't fun to tend when it's 98 degrees and the humidity is around 70 or 80 percent.

I am longing for Autumn. I eagerly anticipate that first morning I go out to walk the dog before work, and need to get one of my lovely hand-knit shawls. I can't wait to get out my comforter and my winter robe. My bags of winter hats and scarves and mittens are still hanging on the back of the front door, and my yarn basket is full of lovely handspun. My cup runneth over ... if only cool weather will come!

On to the knitting. Here is WIP ...

The one on the stitch holders is 3" from the back of my heel, and ready for the gusset increases. I will knit the other one through the heel before switching back to the first one. No SSS for me! No sock fatigue allowed!

And here is the "prayer." I am not saying anything about this yet, in case I don't finish it. The pattern is not hard once you get started, but the directions were hellishly complicated! It's three charts, with five cables and seed stitches in between. There -- wasn't that simple? The designer did not write it that way, trust me. I had to resort to graph paper and colored pencils to figure out what they were instructing.


Here are the two Kool-Aid skeins. I'm willing to do more, even went to Weis and bought more mix, but now the weather is 80 and cloudy. Maybe next week.

On the right is three packets Berry Blue and one packet Grape, on the left is two packets Cherry and one each Grape and Lemonade. The blue has a lot of purple in it. I think it's becoming more and more purple ... is that possible? Some sort of odd chemical reaction from the blue dye?








And finally, I had a birthday on the first of the month. My friends' thoughtful elder sons, I think they're 11 and 9, kindly sent me a singing birthday card that they signed themselves.






Har, har. Smart arses!

Happy Fiber Arts Friday (submitted from my front porch, with a nice iced beverage at my side)

14 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday!!

    Now that I've been back in Colorado for 2 years, I remember why I was always ready for the next season. It's much more humid than I remember, which makes it feel hot and sticky. I personally don't mind hot too much since I was a desert rat for 15 years. But the sticky...? Blech. I know I shouldn't complain. It's much more humid in other places. Like Baltimore. ;-)

    It's really not that long until the woolies can come back out. Frankly, it wasn't even that long ago that I was wishing I could put the long johns away. :-/

    Your socks and sweater(?) are looking great.

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  2. Happy Birthday! Funny card...gotta love kids.

    Yes, I am ready for Autumn too. This Summer heat has just floored me from being productive outdoors (unless it involves the pool)

    Socks are looking good. I am starting to think I am going to do the same. I actually bought a second set up circs because I hate using scrap yarn. We'll see.

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  3. Happy Birthday! Aren't kids wonderful?

    Beautiful yarn! I haven't tried Kool Aid dying yet, but I may just have to give it a whirl. It looks like we're going to have some cooler temps next week and gorgeous sunshine. Dying is a great excuse to get outside. :)

    Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

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  4. That Kool yarn is great! Duh, I never thought of mixing the flavors for colors, and here I paint in oils all the time. Sometimes one just gets stuck in a rut.

    Happy birthday and many more!

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  5. LOL cute card. Nice job on the kool-aid yarn is that the stuff you sun dyed?

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  6. Happy Birthday! Your projects are beautiful, great color choices, those cables are totally worth the effort, very impressive!

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  7. Happy Birthday!!

    I feel your pain on combining charts. I once knitted a cable sampler purse that had about 10 different charts, each with a different repeat. Ridiculous. Good luck with it; it looks like it's going to be beautiful and you've got it well in hand.

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  8. Happy Birthday!!!

    I have a top that I am working on that the shoulders are way too long so now I'm tearing out and redoing so that it will fit better. I like the colors you are using in your socks!

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  9. Happy belated birthday! The cables are looking lovely. I usually put sticky notes on the row that I'm knitting, and write on the notes if I need to count the repeats. It takes some to get used to, but once the patterns are established it's easy to see where you are.

    We did Kool Aid dyeing a few times, some flavors are definitely more color-fast than others. Yours look great!

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  10. Kathryn: I lived in Tucson a few years, and I've lived in many humid southern cities. I can say that if I have to live in a hot climate, I prefer dry heat! I could be active in dry heat. Humidity just shuts me down. Today is particularly awful!

    DH: Yes, that's my sun-dyed kool aid yarn. I have another batch outside now, but it's not sunny right now :( Might have to give it two days instead of one.

    Vivian: I use sticky notes for pattern books too. If it's a print out, or if I chart it from the book, I have a Knit Picks holder with magnets that I use to track rows.

    Thanks for the birthday wishes and other compliments! Thanks for visiting my blog :)

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  11. I make no claim to those children but their parents should be taken out for drinks because you know they're probably dealing w/ that sort of thing every day ;D

    As always, LOVE what you're working on, B. Can't wait to see it in person!

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  12. Wow you are way too clever with yarn and needles and dyeing! lovely work.

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  13. Happy belated Birthday :)
    Looking forward to see how the cable project will turn out!

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