So where are the strong and who are the trusted?

This past weekend was the Western PA Mensa RG. It was mostly fun but a lot of it wasn't.

It was not fun having people see me this way. It was not fun having people say "why don't you try THIS, or why don't you do THAT, or you should do THIS, or you need to do THAT" like I don't know how to manage my own physical challenges and like I never consulted a doctor or physical therapist. People mean well, I know they do. They say these things out of love, but they don't think. It gets exhausting.

Not to mention, I am generally the life of the party, running all over the place, lifting heavy objects and people, breaking into song and dance at the slightest provocation, running people and things to and fro, and I was pretty much unable to do that. It sucked monkey balls, let me tell you.

That and having freaking McCain staying in our hotel, which was not only a major PITA but led to everyone talking politics the whole time. GAH. Just what I did not need.

On the upside, I had fun talking with some people I dearly love and haven't seen or talked to in way too long. I also got time in the hotel's pool and hot tub which was glorious, absolutely glorious.

So.

This week has been kind of a blur. The impending weather has made the titanium barometer that is mounted in my knee act up constantly. I've also been tired. And all of a sudden, it's Saturday and there's a pile of laundry staring me in the face.

If you're not scared off yet, here's a picture of Bob at the hotel. Heh.



He's so cute. That bed was SO comfortable, too. I wish we had room for a king-sized bed. I slept like a log for the most part.

In crafting, I've been making good progress on the second pair of entrelac socks.



I had to rip out almost the whole entrelac part of the second sock because I missed one rectangle in the first row, and the nature of the beast is that you CAN miss it if you don't count each row carefully before you turn and start building rectangles the other way, so COUNT THEM. It's moving along nicely now, though.

Started a shawl out of the "octarine" yarn. It's actually a stole, which I think will be much more my speed. I'm not much of a shawl person.

The pattern's very simple for lace. The hardest part is remembering to turn the row counter so you remember where you are.

Also working on the Koi socks, almost done with one, and worried about the second.

Why worried, you ask? Because it's snug on my good foot so far. I might make the second one on a size larger needles to make sure it'll fit my puffyfoot.

I love these socks in this yarn though. It's the Silk Garden Sock from Noro and is so wonderfully soft.


Haven't been spinning lately though I did get some silk top to spin. I'm a little nervous about it for no good reason. I'd really like to blend it with the Wensleydale I have to make a nice glossy sock yarn, but carding isn't a good option for silk and I don't have combs or a hackle. Yet. I need to figure out what my next tool will be.
Really, I want a new wheel. I would like to invest in a Fricke wheel, not terribly expensive but from all accounts very good equipment for a decent price and a step up from the Babe. Now that I'm getting paid again (YAY) I can start putting some money away for things like that. The Fricke single treadle (no sense getting DT with my bad foot) is less than $300 right now. So I think that's going to happen around the first of the year barring disaster.

Poor Bob is having such trouble with his allergies this year. He's a regular Mr. McSneezy. He says the weeds are worse than usual. I noticed the apples are certainly worse than usual. We have hundreds of them all over the yard.

They are wormy off the tree, no good to eat, except for dogs

and deer. I wish I could salvage some of them, but they are full of holes even on the tree, and I know nothing about care and feeding of apple trees and have no time/energy/cash to put into it.


I must be off. Deep thoughts are not happening in a cohesive enough form to capture in type just now, though maybe later. I have thoughts but no motivation to record them. Good thoughts, I think, but no desire to waste them casting them upon the winds. So for now I'll keep them to myself. I'm sick of politics anyway.

Alaria Socks

Here's the latest free pattern, originally called Seaweed socks, but I changed the name to Alaria Socks because a well-known knitter already has a pattern out by the name of seaweed socks and I certainly wouldn't want to be confused with anyone well known.



Materials Needed:

US size 1 needle. Pattern may be worked with DPNs, magic loop, or two circs. Just keep multiples of six on your needles and you'll be fine. Socks can likewise be made smaller or larger by adding or subtracting multiples of six, or by using larger or smaller needles. The pair in the picture were made on size 2 needles, because I have large feet.

100G sock yarn, works best in variegated/handdyed colorway

Tapestry Needle for weaving in ends

Gauge-9 stitches per inch in stockinette. (7 if you're doing these on size 2)

Cast on 60

K1TBL, P1 around. (raised ribbing) Continue for an inch or two.

Begin pattern

Rows 1&2
K4, P2, repeat

Rows 3&4
K3, P3, repeat

Rows 5&6
K2, P4, repeat

Rows 7&8
K1, *P4, K2*, end w/K1

Rows 9&10
K1, *P3, K3*, end w/K2

Rows 11 & 12
K1, *P2, K4*, end w/K3.

Repeat until sock leg is 7-8 inches long or as long as desired.

Work heel.

Heel row one-knit 30. Turn work.
Heel row two-slip one, purl one, repeat to end.
Repeat these 2 rows 15 times more, or until heel flap is desired size.

Turn Heel
Row 1-Sl1, p17, p2tog, p1. Turn work.

Row 2-Sl1, k6, ssk, k1. Turn work.

Continue in this way until all heel stitches have been worked.

Gusset

Pick up and knit 15 stitches along side of heel flap.

Knit across in Alaria pattern as set.

Pick up and knit 15 stitches.

Knit one row around. (When you reach the instep stitches, you will continue in pattern)

Knit one, SSK, knit to 3 stitches remaining before instep, K2TOG, K1.
Continue rows one and two, decreasing every other row and working pattern on instep, until you are down to 30 stitches on the foot. Continue in pattern until foot is two inches less than desired length.

Decrease Round: K1, ssk, k to 3 stitches remaining on needle, K2tog, K. Repeat for foot stitches.

K 1 round.

Repeat these 2 rounds until 8 stitches remain on instep needle, 16 stitches altogether. Graft toe. Weave in all ends. Block if desired. Cast on the other sock right away!



The textured nature of this sock makes it ideal for handspun, variegated, color-on-color, or handpainted yarns.

Alaria is a variety of kelp that grows profusely around the world. The kelp forests are a vital part of the environment, helping clean the oceans, feed fish and people, and sequester carbon dioxide.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelp

Post-Olympic Letdown

I'm feeling a bit let down today. I hate to see the olympics come to an end as usual, I really enjoyed them this time. All the angst over China's politics has little to do with the event as sport for me, although maybe it should. That's something I should probably examine. Maybe later. I'm not going to blather about sport here, though, I have another blog for that. And I am planning an olympics post there in the next couple of days.

I've had some upsetting things happen to me recently regarding an acquaintance who used to be a fairly good friend. I have issues, anyone who reads this on a regular basis knows that, but like any good self-aware nutcase, I work on those issues. I also evolve. In the past few years (and I do believe this is part of being pre-menopausal) I have become less tolerant in what I'm willing to expose myself to. It's all turned into a nasty series of exchanges that I find somewhat hurtful but mostly puzzling. I'm having a hard time articulating this because I don't want to bring the drama here, but I really find it sad that a friendship can't just end without acrimony. I don't wish anyone ill. I don't hate anyone. I just don't want to read Jonah Goldberg quotes on my LiveJournal friends page any more.

I'm going to stop there because ugh, it's never that simple or that one-sided and I don't have the energy to deal with it or even sort it out in my mind now. There's truly no drama like online drama, though. The Bard would have a good time with today's technology.

So, as I mentioned in my last thing, I participated in the Ravelympics. I got the Seaweed Socks done. The pattern's mostly written, too, it should appear here in the next few days.


I actually wore them yesterday, they were a bit too hot for the weather but very comfy.

Also finished off the yarn I was spinning from rolags. I made that into another Ravelympics project and ended up with 700 yards of light fingering weight yarn out of 7.4 ounces.


I'm actually very, very pleased with this yarn. Now, what to make out of it? It's too nice for socks. Very drapey, very shiny. Maybe some sort of lace stole.

I took a photo of my puffyfoot after a day's work. Mainly because I had a perfect imprint of the cucumber lace sock on it.


I just love how my toes are all caddywompus. Gotta love nerve damage. The swelling is worst when the weather is very hot.

I've been waking up at night with hideous pain in my knee. Deep, dull throbbing. It goes away pretty soon so I figured I'm probably twisting it in my sleep then it wakes me up. Bears watching, though. If it continues I may give the dreaded ortho a call.

Here's a picture of my kids from the family reunion.



They're extremely silly. Here they are with all the cousins from their generation.



They're like the giants in the land of the munchkins.

This coming weekend is the annual Mensa Regional Gathering here in Pittsburgh. I'm in charge of getting the wine, beer and coffee. The wine is bought and in the garage, the coffee is ordered, and the beer will be purchased and brought to the hotel on Thursday. It should be a good time. Hopefully I'll get to spend the majority of my time in the hot tub, and perhaps I'll get a chance to wear the luna moth shawl. I'm not looking forward to the prospect of going to the dance, though. That will be very sad for me.

It takes time to do the poisoning

I've been remiss, life's been very hectic. Kid chaos, family gatherings, more kid chaos, and finally, the olympics.

I love the olympics and spend as much time watching them as possible, winter or summer doesn't matter. I just love watching them. Blogging suffers, as does knitting to some extent, but I can do extra spinning.

I joined the Ravelympics on Ravelry this year, in the events "handspun heptathalon" and "sock put". I combined the two into one, spinning yarn to make into socks. The result is Seaweed Socks, pattern coming soon.



The fiber is a combination of electric blue and dark green combed top, mixed with a carded roving in blues, purples, greens, sparkle, and a bit of yellow here and there. I weighed, pulled the fiber into random lengths, divided them into equal amounts, and spun two singles which I then plied. I like the result, some of the dreaded stripes but in a different way. I wanted it to be reminiscent of a kelp forest with bands of light and shadow and that's kinda what happened. At least if I squint, it is.







Anyway. Yesterday I was really tired of knitting on the same pair of socks, so I spun some yarn. I had this cool three color roving, two shades of brown and cream together that I'd been carding and put aside for a while. I finished it up. It's a sport/DK weight, probably 450-500 yards. Haven't measured yet but it's a BIG skein.



I'm really trying to stretch myself as a fiber "artist". I have a lot of interesting stash fiber even after the fire sale a couple of months ago, and I combined some of it to make rolags that I'm going to spin. (Rolags are like mini-batts, they're what you get when you use hand cards to prepare fiber.) In this case, I just made a few passes with the cards because I wanted the color to be somewhat disparate. I can't wait to see how this spins up.

Here's the fibers I'm working with-


and here's the first batch of rolags.



Sparkly, huh?

Ok, back to work/olympics. Today's my day off, after all.

Observation of the Day

Arising from a thread on Shapely Prose in which the key to happiness is being discussed.

"There is no key to happiness, because happiness is not locked."

I aint dead yet

Just not much to say. Very out of sorts. Knitting on 3 pair of socks and preparing to participate in the knitting olympics over on ravelry. Pretty depressed, coming to terms with stuff. Worried, broke, etc. Nothing worth blogging about. I did post an entry over on the fritz blitz (see sidebar), our husband-wife sports blog.

So hopefully I'll have some real content soon, but I'm not making any promises. Things are feeling pretty bleak just now.

Updated to add,
Read This.

http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2008/08/because-you-have-belly-button.html

Moderne Sock Pattern

Moderne Socks

Materials Needed

100G fingering weight yarn. Solid or semi-solid colorways will work best. (I used Kraemer Sterling Silk and Silver in Black for the prototype shown here.)

US size 2 needles for large, US size 1 for medium. This pattern is written for magic loop or two circulars, it will not work well on DPNs due to the nature of the fountain lace pattern.

Stitch Marker if desired for marking beginning of round

Row counter

Tapestry Needle for weaving in ends

A note on gauge: Your gauge will depend on what size needle you’re using. My size large on size two needles is 7 stitches per inch in stockinette stitch. A size medium on size one needles is 9 stitches to the inch in stockinette.

Pattern costs $5.00 US.

(When you get to the paypal site, make sure you put a note in the box with your correct email address and which sock pattern you want, and I will email you the pattern within 24 hours. If for any reason you don't get the pattern, email me (link in sidebar)with your payment information and I'll resend it.)
You can also purchase the pattern via Ravelry if you're on there.

I know, the pictures aren't that great. I will get some better photos up eventually, when I can get outside with some help. Part of the problem is I keep cropping my scars out and then there's not much sock left. I need a model!

Melt all my heart away with a smile

I know, I'm way overdue and haven't updated in forever. Life's been kind of hectic. I'm fighting a recurrence of my vestibular disorder. My doctor diagnosed me with an ear infection last Monday and frankly, I'm not sure she's right. I was okay until this morning when I woke up dizzy and very close to full-on vertigo. I've managed to keep it together but I'm very off-center this morning and feel like I could slide into dizzy at any moment.

I finished the Moderne socks. They're gorgeous. I need to take pictures. Also started on socks for my uncle and for my office daughter. I'm doing Garter Rib in a Opal Hundertwasser for him and my Entrelac design in the Kureyon sock for her. I'm still spinning up the last roving I got from Leticia at Autumn Oak and will have probably 1000 yards of chunky two ply from the pound of roving. It's very soft. It's pretty dark brown with different colors here and there, not exactly tweedy but very interesting.

I did attempt some photos on the 4th at the fireworks. Some were OK.




For the most part, though, never again without a tripod. It was too frustrating.

We have two toads that live on our porch. Here's the one that hangs out in Bob's shoe.




Back to knitting, I'm working on a top-down raglan tee out of some lovely Interlacements Kansas yarn. It's a linen/rayon blend and a joy to knit.

Not much to see yet, unfortunately. It's just a raglan with a seed-stitch panel in the front. Boooring. Also finished the Oriel Lace socks, and again, I need to take pictures. There just aren't enough hours in the day.
EDIT-Pictures.


They really are the ultimate girly socks.


Bob and I went on a mini-golf date last night. It was fun, though when it was over I was ready to fall over dead. Three rounds of miniature golf in 80 degree humid weather when I'm not really used to being on my feet that much is a lot of exertion and my foot and leg and knee were dead weight when I got home.

Must be off, we have friends coming over for dinner. I'll try to get some photos up tomorrow, I need them for my Ravelry notebook anyway and I don't have anything on the agenda tomorrow besides chillin and knittin.

Butterflies and zebras and moonbeams

The Luna Moth Shawl is done!

I finished it off last night and it's currently pinned out and drying. I did not block it "hard" at all, just pulled the points out and made the top straight. It's Gorgeous. Here's some pictures.







The colors are great. The details look okay to me, one advantage is it's so damn big that any flaws are hard to find unless you're looking for them.



I think this one is my favorite detail shot.


I started this project in April when I came home from the Nursing home. I didn't knit much on it the last month or so, the weather's been too warm. The yarn is Jojoland Rhythm, non-superwash. The pattern can be found here.





Here's the pre-blocking look...


Ignore the dirty kitchen.


And the poor thing soaking in soapy water.


I'm excited about this project, it's my first attempt at non-sock lace and it's pretty good. I threw it over my shoulders last night and it was plenty big enough, which was a worry of mine. I'll definitely be wearing this out and about in the Fall.

If only there were a county fair somewhere I could enter it. :)

Ooh, you make me live now, honey

I want to take a moment to spread the word about some of my very favorite vendors, fiber folks, and artisans. In addition to the links in the sidebar, these are people I wholeheartedly recommend as craftspersons.

I love fiber and spinning and yarns. When I got my first wheel, I opted for a Babe wheel, because I wasn't sure I'd be committed enough to it long-term to justify spending $600-800 on a piece of equipment that I might not end up using for more than a year. I did research. I ended up with the Babe Production Double Treadle wheel and after spinning on it for two years now, I can say I love it. I have come to a place in my spinning where it would be nice to get a better wheel, but it isn't really necessary right now because my Babe works just fine. Here's where to find Babe wheels, and Nils' customer service is second to none.

http://www.babesfibergarden.com/

My wheel is the white double-treadle model. Not so elegant, but oh-so functional.

http://www.babesfibergarden.com/production.html

One of my first and still favorite fiber vendors is Bill Mutchler from Copper Moose in Vermont. He's wonderful, gives out free advice, and ships so fast it's practically there before you order it. He has everything from four ounce sample sizes to multiple pounds of fiber, equipment, and much more.

http://www.coppermoose.com/

Follow the link to his ebay store to see everything.

Another great bulk fiber vendor is Carol at the Sheep Shed Studio. When you need a LOT of fiber, Carol's your woman.

http://www.thesheepshedstudio.com/

She is so nice, too.

I try to support local fiber artists when possible, and when I feel like treating myself to something special, I like to visit Feistywoman Designs. Her sock batts and sock fiber are wonderful. In fact, that's where the wonderful fiber for the Cucumber Falls socks originated. She keeps a blog here...

http://feistywomandesigns.blogspot.com/

and an Etsy shop here.

http://www.feistywomandesigns.etsy.com

One of my local friends has a great talent for making jewelry. Her etsy shop is here, and let me tell you, I covet many things there. I've offered to make socks in exchange for a particular piece, but I'm not telling you which one.

Intentional Stones

She also keeps a blog here.

http://intentional-stones.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Some more Etsy yarn vendors that I've become very fond of over the past year...

http://fritzl.etsy.com

http://StashUpYarns.etsy.com

http://crazymonkey.etsy.com

Here's another favorite, a soapmaker who also sometimes has wonderful fiber and usually has yarns for sale as well.
http://www.autumnoak.etsy.com

Her soaps are SO NICE. I am not kidding. I love them, and I'm a soapaholic.

And finally, a great pottery artist, who did the olive oil bottle that I got for my mom for mother's day.

http://www.LomaPrietaPottery.etsy.com

I hope you'll consider sharing the love for these vendors and artisans that I've come to love.

Cucumber Falls Sock Pattern

The Cucumber Falls sock pattern is now available! Thanks to my awesome test knitters who will hopefully be sending me more photos soon.

The story of these socks begins with a set of sock batts that I got from a local fiber artist. When I’d spun the yarn, I wanted something special. I started searching through my stitch dictionaries, experimenting, and this was the result. The colors in the yarn reminded me of Cucumber Falls in Ohiopyle State Park here in Pennsylvania, so I named them Cucumber Falls Socks!

A note on gauge: Your gauge will depend on what size needle you’re using. My size large on size two needles was about 7-8 stitches per inch in stockinette stitch. A size medium on size one needles will likely end up around 9-10 stitches to the inch in stockinette.

Materials Needed-

100G fingering weight yarn. Solid or semi-solid colorways will work best.
US size 2 needles for large, US size 1 for medium. I used the magic loop method. This is a long pattern repeat, so will work best with Magic Loop or the two circular needles method, though you could use 5 DPNs if you wish.
Stitch Marker if desired for marking beginning of round
Row counter
Tapestry Needle for weaving in ends

Pattern costs $5.00 US.

(When you get to the paypal site, make sure you put a note in the box with your correct email address, and I will email you the pattern within 24 hours. If for any reason you don't get the pattern, email me (link in sidebar)with your payment information and I'll resend it.)



I hope you enjoy making them!

My I don't have to run day

Here it is another Monday and again I am woefully unprepared to post anything coherent or interesting to this blog.

Work proceeds as these things do. Bills pile up and no relief in sight. I sold off a goodly chunk of my yarn and fiber stash which gave me a small cushion but I keep getting slightly panicky. This too shall pass.

I did finish the Cucumber Falls socks. They're gorgeous. I'm awaiting the results from my test knitters before I put the pattern out there, but so far so good.

Here's the prototype.






You can see how swollen my left foot gets in that photo.



I must say I really like them.

The Daisy Sock prototypes have been mailed off to my younger daughter in Tennessee. They were a tad snug on my right foot so I knew there was no hope of getting them on my left at all. She'll like them.

The latest design is called Moderne, and I'm working it in Kraemer Sterling Silk and Silver, which is a gorgeous, gorgeous yarn.


The sock incorporates three motifs that I think have an art-deco look. So far so good, and will post pictures as soon as I have one finished.

I'll chime in with the thousands of other bloggers mourning the death of George Carlin. He was one of my all-time favorite smart-asses.

And in closing, while it is certainly possible to make ham salad in the blender, it's inadvisable to get overly ambitious with the size and quantity of your chunks of ham, because then you end up with a broken blender full of half-chopped ham salad.

Until next time.

Just like the girl who married dear old dad

The past two weeks have been real turkeys.

(That's one of the fuzzy baby turkeys that live in the woods behind our house. Offspring of this monster, I have to assume.)


I've been remiss in posting of late. Most of it is coming to terms with going back to work, having less time and less energy in the time I've got.

Yesterday was Father's day, a day I regard with something less than enthusiasm. I am happy for all the people who had a terrific or even adequate father around when growing up. I am happy for all the people who even knew what their father looked like when they were growing up. I am sad for all the people who suffered abuse or abandonment at the hands of a parent as well. This weekend as every father's day weekend, I try to spend time with my mother and let her know that I appreciate that she was mother and father to me, and my girls do the same for me.

I've become fortunate later in life. My husband has become the closest thing to a father that my grown children have ever known. He loves them and they love him. We've become a "real family" (not that we weren't before), a traditional "mom and dad and two kids" which kinda makes me laugh because even in the best of times I couldn't imagine that happening to me.

On the healing front, things move on. Slowly. I stopped taking narcotic pain relievers as of Friday, which has had a profound and amazing impact on my mood. Not sure if it's a rebound effect or something but I'm a lot less depressed and a lot more involved in and aware of positive emotions without the narcotics. The pain is worse, though, which is a bummer, but the whole thing is making me re-evaluate how I want to use the pain pills from now on. I'm thinking Aleve or Tylenol unless it's REALLY REALLY bad and then only the narcotics before bed.

It's still slow going on the bending/mobility front. Hot weather is a horror for swelling. Last week, we had several days in the upper 80s and low 90s and my ankle/foot swelled beyond anything I'd seen it do before. Now that the temp is lower, it's much less swollen. I'm not sure if I'm bending better or not. I stopped PT as it was really pointless to go to therapy after work.

I found out last week that due to a clerical error, I will not be getting paid until August. Apparently I was overpaid while I was off on medical leave and nobody bothered to tell me I got several paychecks that I was not supposed to get. We're trying really hard not to panic. Bob is looking for other freelance writing and I sold off a lot of my yarn and fiber. It was heartbreaking. We're probably going to go through the books and DVDs and CDs and go to Half Price books and the Exchange with them. Once I recover from selling off the fibery goodness, that is.

My next post will be regarding knitting and fiber and all that goodness. I guess this one is more just a braindump. Much needed.

Here's an artistic cathead.


And a squishy puppy face for balance.