It's 100 Degrees, Think I'll Knit a Sweater

Seriously ... What was I thinking?

I haven't knit much on it since last week, so here is a little Cable Pr0n to distract from the lack of length ....

Ooooooh, sexy!


I even made it a larger picture ... so it would look bigger.



Crap. I see an error in a cable.








I guess I was a little overcome by all the cables, and the 250+ stitches, and longed for something simpler. So I started another WIP.

From 60 Quick Knits (Cascade 220), the Smocked Fingerless Mitts.

I haven't made much progress, but there is really no hurry for a pair of wooly fingerless mitts in Baltimore anytime soon.

This is Kool-Aid yarn I dyed a few years ago, in Black Cherry. I get to pick out buttons for them, and I might have mentioned before how much I like picking out buttons. Especially if they are not functional ... no worrying about buttonholes!





And that is it from the Spinster zone. I haven't been keeping up with the Tour de Fleece this year, but I think it's over now ... I really hope all you spinners had a good time with it, and found ways to challenge and amaze yourselves! I might have joined in if I could have found my $*&#( trindle, which is still MIA.

Don't forget to stop by the fabulous Wonder Why Farm for Fiber Arts Friday! As always, thanks for hosting us, Andrea!

My Bone, Dammit!

 

A Sweater in July

... is a hard thing to keep knitting.

I just realize I have it on the dummy upside down ... oops. Okay, mentally flip it over! The cabled yoke is the top. Silly me! I'll take a better picture next time. The dummy is in a room that is not air-conditioned. I don't want to go up there again! In any case, the circular needle I'm using is too short, so I can't spread the bottom out.

So I have to knit 16 inches in pattern, down from the cabled yoke. It went up to well over 300 stitches before I divided the sleeves off. It's at 284 now, I think. It's easy once you get to the dividing point, but I did mess up the increases. Anywho, it's an incredibly warm thing to have sitting on my lap in July.

Remember this is upside down ... the cables sort of flow downward. It's split up the front, with three buttons at the top. Yay! I get to go button-hunting! That's just about my favorite part of any project.

I'm in a bit of a knitting funk right now, mostly because of the heat. It's hard to think of cold winter days when it's 98 degrees outside, and the humidity is roughly akin to that of Kampuchea Cambodia (Showing my age there!)




The absolute most fun thing about this photo session? I had to adjust my (adjustable plus-size) dressmaker dummy down four inches at the hip, and 3 inches at the bust!! I giggled like a loon while I was doing that. I hadn't measured myself before I started running last summer, so I didn't know where I started from until now. Including my waist, I've lost 8 inches overall!

Before and after pictures can be seen here, if you're curious.

I want to welcome my two newest followers, Hege of Norway and Brno of the Czech Republic. Hege's blog is Cloudberry, and I have been looking at her blog for as long as I've been blogging. She is a wonderful knitter, and very busy! Also she takes a lot of outdoorsy photos that are just gorgeous. And Brno ... well, I can't tell you much about her Rainbow-Market blog, because it's entirely in Czech. It's a bit challenging to leave a comment, but not impossible!
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Okay, so that is it for the knitting. And for the kitty fans who tune in to see what I'm babbling on about with the kitties, Molly Cat is adjusting to her eye medication just fine.

Sort of.

This is her freaked out look. She expresses it a lot now.

More eye drops? Now? Can't I just sit under here with the dust bunnies?

If you look, you can see that one pupil is slightly larger than the other. That's the glaucoma eye.

I think Edgar Allen Poe and Petunia are whispering about her...

Glaucoma?

I think she just wants attention ...












Okay, don't forget to tune it to Awesome Andrea for Fiber Arts Friday Madness ... still in the throes of Tour de Fleece, I think. I didn't participate this year. I can't find my d*** trindle anywhere, and it's driving me nuts! (I also can't find a pink bra, and this is freaking me out because I live alone and I don't think my cats are hiding my stuff).

The Lovely Blog Award!

The fabulous Kathryn of Kathryn's Brain blog saw fit to award me the

One Lovely  Blog Award! 

I have only been a blogger for a couple of years, but I think I've been reading Kathryn's blog for much of that. She raises alpaca, mastiffs,and takes wonderful pictures of her fiber and knitting on a lovely red-stained deck. She spins a lot, and I am envious of her fluffy handspun yarn. She gives us all a nice view into her Colorado world, and often includes lovely items such as hand-crafted jewelry from other artisans, and shares garden and orchid photos too! And I really appreciate that she hops over to my shared fitness blog to encourage me in my quest for a better 5k. But what amazes me most about Kathryn is that she has worked on the space shuttle! Awesome!

The alpaca is impressed, too!

So, in the spirit of the Lovely Blog Award, I fulfill the following requirements:

1. Thank and holla-back to the person who awarded me, Kathryn;

2. Share 7 things about myself;

3. Nominate up to 15 blogs that I admire;

4. Notify the nominee(s) of the award!

Now I don't really know 7 interesting things about myself, so I'll just share 7 random things.

1. I am a 10-year Navy veteran, and my dad and mom and I together have served 36 years for the USN. I have lived in 12 different states and attended 7 different schools plus 3 college/universities;

2. I am an introvert, and wish everyone who is not would read the 10 myths about introverts
  (in case you ever meet me in person!)

3. I love classic authors such as Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte, but think Emily Bronte was cold-hearted and maybe a bit sociopathic (Heathcliff was an abominable character!)

4. I check in with the Lolcats  and lolgoggies every day;

5. I don't ever want to jump out of an airplane;

6. I am mostly comfortable with the fact I'll be turning 43 very soon; and

7. I can't find my $*&@ trindle spindle anywhere in the house, and I've been looking for days.

As to the blogs I admire, I like the same ones Kathryn also likes ... especially Vivian of Bits n Pieces, but I have a few others to mention:

Kathi of fiberdance, who is always doing something fabulous;

Melodye of Melodye's Needle Notes, a spinner, knitter, sewer, and crafty person;

Hege of Norwegian blog cloudberry ... I absolutely love to see the pictures she puts up! She's always knitting and reading and hiking and cooking something delicious!

So Happy Fiber Arts Friday to everyone ... don't forget to stop by the Wonder Why Alapaca Blog and see what's going on!

Just found out that the above kitty, Molly Cat, has glaucoma in her left eye. So if any of you are experienced at putting drops in a cat's eyes, I would really appreciate the feedback! 


 

How Much Beaded Fringe is too Much?

I can't seem to stop adding beads. And since I don't possess proper tools, I'm using a tiny piece of wire -- which I have repeatedly embedded in my finger -- to thread the beads. It's tedious and irritating ... and I can't stop! 

I'm making the fringe for Judy Jacob's Crest of the Wave Scarf . I made the fringe different lengths and have four different types of beads, so I could have an eclectic look. I keep telling myself it'll be too heavy if I don't stop soon. But I can't stop.

I'm not the only one fascinated by it.

Molly Cat.

She tried to claim it as her own.










I'm working on the Cardigan with Cabled Yoke ... enjoying it, although picking up 220 stitches is never fun for me.

Kashi box shown for scale. The height of laziness ... I didn't want to step into the next room for a ruler. Because that would have meant leaving the cats alone in that room with my project.







Happy Tour de Fleece for the spinners! Don't forget to stop by Andrea's  for Fiber Arts Friday!