It Used To Be So Easy

It used to be so easy keeping up with a Blog. That was before I stumbled into a full time job along with the small business bookkeeping & tax returns I do to support myself, before the job. And then try to take on a third year University course after 10 years of not, well, something has to give. Lucky for me, the job will probably end a month sooner than last year due to the awful weather we've been having. Money will be tighter sooner but maybe I'll have time to do all the stuff that's left over from last year!!!  
And the course. I have found to my surprise that it ain't as easy as it used to be - don't tell me Estrogen controlls brain function tooooo??? - but maybe that's just because I haven't done one in eons. E-Courses take a lot more time on the computer & a lot more reading.

This all cuts into my knitting time. And listening time. I bought the latest Sue Grafton audio book - W is for Wasted - and I'm still trying to find the time to listen to part 2!  I also bought the latest Kathy Reichs book too - both are favorite authors which makes the data entry go faster when I'm chained to my office at home. With all the rain out there these days, sometimes I wish I were still chained to it. Saturday, the rain was coming down sideways in huge gusts at the school. Luckily, there was no afternoon class or it would've been cancelled due to the high winds. The office shack is on a platform 7 steps in the air - flood zone thing - & rocked with every huge gust. I got lucky myself around 5 and managed to get out, get the fence closed & locked & get in my car in a calm spot before the next battering started!! It became a drive-thru chicken evening because I was NOT going to get out of my dry car & run through the rain at Safeway .  .  .

All this explanation does not mean I haven't done anything. I did finish that last pair of socks & start a new pair. Boy, I can tell I'm not working with Kroy anymore. I knit 3 pairs in a row in Kroy on my 2.5mm bamboo skewers which made a pretty skookum pair of socks. Thick & comfy. This Phildar yarn I'm using now is being knitted on 2.25mm circs & I feel like I should go down to a 2.0mm. Very thin yarn but feels okay when knit. It should fluff a little when wet the first time. Just not Kroy, that's for sure.

I had to dig out my old sweater since it's become quite chilly in the evenings - time to get that furnace filter I guess, cause we'll be turning on the heat soon!! But, as I said, I had to dig out the old sweater & I'm thinking I'll be needing one everywhere soon. What I really need is a hoodie for outside & a big simple wrap inside. I've really been eyeballing that loose, open WIDE Jacket - it's actually billed as a summer jacket - but I think it would do nicely as a comfy wrappy house sweater. It's actually a big rectangle that goes around the body with the ends open down the front with a big wrap collar that extends down the front. The sleeve is just a cuff that falls around the elbow. I see no reason why the cuffs couldn't be extended a little. I think it would look great in handspun & shouldn't take much time to knit. I may die of boredom knitting a huge rectangle of popcorn stitch but I think it will be big & loose & snuggly enough for curling up on the couch this winter .  .  .  .

Where Did the Last Two Weeks Go?

I don't know where the time goes anymore although I suspect it slips away like a sneak thief when we aren't looking. Napping takes up time. So does commuting. And reading text books when you should be knitting takes up a lot of time especially when you can't remember what the hell you read the day before & have to do it again.

I am plodding through my course. Plodding being the operative word. The Tutor finally sent me an email to ask if I was still IN the course. I had to confess that I spent three weeks checking the mail for the portion I thought was missing. I opted for the On-Line edition of this course figuring I'd still get a work book or something to tell me WHAT to study & in what order. I'm a DumbAss Newby apparently. I eventually found the workbook on-line in something called 'Blackboard' which is the new University standard teaching method for all e-courses. I'm soooooo glad I opted for the physical textbook because I need something to scribble in!!! Anyhooo - Blackboard posts assignments, exams, quizzes, chats, other student's comments & monitors the TIME you spend on-line! Ouch. So, I'm plodding along as I said, checking into the 'classroom' & doing my best. And even beginning to like this way of doing things, I just have to get used to it!!  I've done all kinds of Open University courses over the years but it's been lonely because other than the Tutor, you never talk to anyone in the actual course. This 'blackboard' has real potential. Too bad I'm doing a 399 level course with on-going registration. Seems we get a new student every two or three months .  .  .

I'm also plodding along with my socks. I go to work & come home debating nap or dinner. Nap often wins. By the time I eat, it's bed time again. But, I've turned both heels on the latest Kroy socks - the one with Pink in them - I'm sure I was a Princess in one of my previous lives because I love anything Pink, Purple or Red. Quit laughing. I also love silver - not gold so much although I love the rusticness of small gold nugget rings, cuffs & earrings but silver with pink or turquoise stones really turns me on!! Stop dreaming Sharon!! I'd love a matching set of silver filigree cuffs .  .  .  . 


This time of year forces me to knit.And spin. Next month is Touque Month so this month, I have to finish a sweater for me. I have one half finished hanging on the Office door on a hanger. I hung it there to remind myself it must be finished. I love it. It's light & warm & comfy. And handspun by me. But,fickle broad that I am, I have a new love or two. I found the WIDE JACKET by Bergere of France - a lovely side to side simple stitch on large needles. It calls for a rustic yarn in thick & thin. Just a simple rectangle with a shawl collar picked up & knit after. It looks like they used a popcorn or blackberry stitch - the purl 3 in one stitch on WS & knit 3 together on RS - so dear to the hearts of Aran Sweater knitters. There's no actual sleeve, just a cuff, but the sides are so wide that the cuff falls just about the elbow. I can't see why you couldn't extend the opening just a tad before the cuff if necessary. I figure it's just a bit of knitted fluff to get through the late Summer/early Fall evenings or to cuddle into over your pjs in the mornings. Probably takes a few evenings to finish.
And then there's AGATA at Knitty.com. Oh my. Agata caught my eye & I was done. It takes yarn with long runs of color - the only one I can think of is that NORO which is kind of scratchy. But, isn't it gorgeous??? It just screams for handspun. I have a lot of stuff spun up with purple & even some magenta in it .  .  .  a skein is a long run of color, don't you think??

And the Kids are back to School, yeah!

Not much that's Fall like out there today or yesterday! The Sun is out & Summer's made a fine return. I love this time of year when it's still warm & lovely during the day but crisp & cool in the evening - wish we could get a couple of months of this weather before the rain sets in. All the kids are safely behind walls & you can finally shop or just sit at Starbucks with a tea & read in peace & quiet. I love September.

Meanwhile, back at Home - the doctor thinks I may have walking pneumonia. No wonder I'm so tired! 'Course, that explains the coughing fits - the last two bought up toenails!! I swear! And the constant fatigue. Seems I have Silent Reflux, big time. And filling my lungs with stomach contents at night when I sleep. So I'm back on another little pill with fewer side effects than Nexium. It also costs less than half!! After a couple of days on the pill, I felt so much better I couldn't believe it. And that kind of confirmed the diagnosis. In fact, I feel so much better that I have to pace myself so that I don't overdo & 'Hit the Wall' so to speak. A couple of times, I've just broken out in a sweat & had to STOP. NOW. And go to bed for a nap. But things are getting better. Being sick all the time really depressed me but now that I know what it is & what I have to do, my head is back to normal as well.

Now that Normal is back, I've been producing socks like mad. Winter is not too far off really, so I've been replacing all the thin socks in my basket with nice thick Kroy socks. Here's two of the three pairs I've completed in the last month & the new pair that are a little farther along than this picture shows but not quite finished. I wanted to finish as many as possible this summer because  I've even got a couple of sweaters on the go that I intend to finish this year too.

Eyes Close When I Sit Down

Lately, I've been having this problem. When I sit down, my eyes close! I'm tired all the damn time. Not that I'm doing much physical activity that isn't normal or anything, but I could quite happily spend every afternoon snoozing. Some days, if I get up early, go shopping, haul the recycling & clean up right away, I could go back to bed by noon. I want a nap when I get home from work instead of dinner. Old Age??? I'm not thinking so. Maybe this is why people retire???

In the meantime, I managed to finish the Regia socks. One more pair of winter socks!!! I've had to weed out a few pairs as they all got really thin at the same time, so new socks in the basket will be nice when the weather gets cold. Have you noticed we need a sweater outside most evenings lately???

Karen gave me three balls of my favorite Kroy yarn so I've cast on for another thick sock. I've gone back to my favorite bamboo skewer DPs for my latest Kroy socks. I can knit faster & see more of my TV show when I used them for socks. There's no rough joint to pick stuck stitches from on every round for one thing although I do miss those lovely pointed ends! My Kroy is a jacquard patterned yarn which knits up this lovely dense pattern in a slightly thicker yarn than the Regia.  I really like the Kroy socks when it's really cold outside because my basement floor is cement with tiles glued on top. Not much heat there when the temp dips low - lovely in the summer though when you don't need socks!!

Four trips to the Mail Box has told me my course will come to me all on-line. I do like a physical book to scribble up & a physical course to follow too - quite old fashioned of me, I know, but either way you have to haul something with the course material on it around with you! This way I have to haul a laptop. Would've preferred a paper outline with the questions & material to cover. Not liking that a whole lot. Now to fit the work on my desk, the course & work on the desk at work into my schedule where I want to sleep all the time. Interesting.
 I

Just a little Sock Knitting

Too many projects & too little time! I seem to be doing nothing at all or 5 things at once. Maybe it's because I'm a Starter & not a Finisher??? Might have something to do with it, I guess .  .  . 

Motorcycle training just keeps on going - especially the Day School. Day School - runs just like six days of Primary School including recess - Monday to Friday & the following Monday. Once upon a time, Day School ran every couple of weeks for June, July & part of August. We've been running one since February!! And non stop since April. Unheard of. It's a boon for shift workers though since they can do part of a course with Day School & part with Main Program on Weekends. I've even had a couple of guys do theirs in 3 parts over several weeks! Seems we're the only people who will make that happen. Maybe we're crazy but we ARE in the Service industry.

And I've been working on my new course. Learning Kingdoms, Species, Families & genus of plants as well as the chemistry of life & the parts of a cell. The old memory isn't quite as fractured as I thought since I remember the parts of a plant cell quite well from Biology 101 in 1970 something. My problem is the new Software I have to use. Learning how to FIND it helps too.And, of course, ANOTHER new PASSWORD & ID#! My course info hasn't arrived yet but I decided to start without it since I have the text & access to the online class. Seems I'm the only one taking this course this semester - so I'm on my own. Damn.

Got an eye infection just to make life interesting. Why not??? First the voice goes - I now have a croaking whisper or whispering croak - take your pick!! And then the eyes go.  I get it every year at Tax Time. It's from handling dirty paper & rubbing tired, itchy eyes when working too long at a desk. You can't help it. So this weekend, I'm washing my hands every hour for two minutes with soap & then washing my eyes & face. No need for sticky antibacterial eye treatments, washing with soap & water several times a day for at least two days does the trick.

Between the goopy eyes, work & the course, I've even found time to knit more socks. I found another TWO BALLS of Regia Nations yarn. Yes, the Harlot is wearing a pair of the very same ones this week. I swear this is absolutely the last two balls I have!!  Dunno what I was thinking when I got so many balls of it waaaay back when it was on sale - $2 might've been the reason I guess - but 10 balls???. Four pairs of these socks have gone on to new homes in the last couple of years. And I will wear the last one. Maybe. It isn't Kroy but I like Regia a lot too.

I'm all Alone in this Saddle

I got all excited about the new course & even found a second hand text book! But no box has yet arrived with the course in it. Most of it should be on-line but it's not on-line to me, YET. So much for excitement. Take my money & make me wait. Sigh


In the meantime, I'll play with yarn! I finally wound off most of the yarn I spun up for the Tour de Fleece this year. I spun up 8 ounces of RED HAT - this was the yarn I asked for to make the Cowl I fell in love with in last Fall's Knitter's magazine called Reds, Rounds & Ridges. I couldn't locate the yarn anywhere so I got some hand painted & spun my own.

It has more pinks in it than the original which was more red & orange but I like it very much. I'm not sure at this point whether to knit the original pattern - which is a cowl extending from neck to mid body - or to knit more of a long tube which can be extended up & over the hair. Decisions, decisions.


Another project that I spun up for the Tour de Fleece was a bag of fluff called Blue Jeans. It turned out to be some beautiful blue fibre died in light & dark blue mixed with some awful neppy white wool & something in beige that could only be called 'dryer lint'. I was appalled by it but the vendor is reputable & I tried to spin it before writing her a note couched in very diplomatic terms. I didn't want to upset her but I wanted to let her know that her supplier was sending out some very nasty fibre. I was told that it was 'special' fibre that would make 'textured' yarn.

Textured all right .  .  .  .  so, I took it as a challenge & let the neps, knots & bits stay & tried my best to work in the 'dryer lint' because it was really, really awful. I spent a lot of time picking out VM which I KNOW does not belong in 'Designer' yarn!  Challenge met. It was nothing spectacular until after it's bath. It plumped up like nothing else & softened so much - I love it. Was worth the bad words & threats. Was even worth the Diplomatic note I eventually sent the supplier after many tries.
                                                                                  

Back in the Saddle Again

I broke down & signed up for another course at Open University. I've been working on this damned Bachelor's Degree since 1973 when I applied to Douglas College to do Criminology. It was a new Program then & they were really pushing women into it. Since I couldn't be a Welder, I let them push me. I really wanted to be a Welder & work on the pipelines that were to carry oil out of the North. I even had a job to go to outside Fort St John but they wouldn't let me into school. I was told no one would hire me. I countered with a letter with a job offer. But it became a bathroom issue in the end if you can believe it .  .  .  so with no money to go to court, I went to college. It was a muddy hole with Atco trailers strung together with covered wooden paths. It was either too cold or too hot inside but we had a ball. The cafeteria was populated with vending machines that often gave you half chicken soup & half coffee. One coffee/hot cocoa machine regularly failed to shut off after one cup & everyone would rush to get a freebee. Most of us had to bring food because we had no extra money. I ate a lot of turkey or pork neck soup with cabbage, carrots & barley that first year. I had no tv, no phone, no car & shared a bathroom down the hall with two other roomers. But I had a full kitchen. I was blissfully happy.

Stupid me, instead of going FULL time after the third semester, I went part time & worked. You see, I didn't want all that student DEBT. If I worked part time & took two classes a semester, I could pay my own way. I got hooked. I took English, Biology, Geology, Physical Geography, History, Psychology, Sociology, Criminology & a few more ologies before I was done. I ended up with 128 credits in Douglas College which was then only a two year college. I needed 60 credits to get my Associate of Arts. It's so easy to stay when you can register first, have a rare parking pass & live 10 minutes away!!

Eventually I went to the Open University because I HAD to, I continued to study what appealed to me - in 3rd & 4th year classes though. I took Earth Sciences at UBC - the very thought of going there terrified me but they turned out to be easier than the Open U! I took Physical Geography, more Psychology &  Ecology with the Open U.

A couple of classes short of the Degree I just couldn't find the time to take them. And then I had no money to go although I worked all the time. Meanwhile the Open U moved to Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops & I lost some non-transferable courses in the move! Not a tragedy until I found out how much those courses now cost to replace!!!
I did a lot of thinking about it. I could wait until I'm 65 when all the courses are just about free & hope none of the other courses become redundant. I'd still have to pay student fees & buy the books. Or take one every year & be a graduate student in my Retirement. I fully intend to spend my days going to school, spinning, knitting & volunteering at the Food Bank.

Last week, I signed on for another course. People & Plants caught my eye. It's an Ecological course about the interaction of Plants & Populations & how the search for plants as spices, dyes & medicines have impacted people & the plants. I was quite intrigued until I saw the cost of the course & the text!!! Even downloading it to my KOBO as a rental for a year was $100! In the end I found a used one for $70 online. That makes me happy because I write notes in my books, I tab them & highlight them too. This course is 30 weeks long so I should be happy all winter! And one more little tax deduction to help as well.

So, here we go, off on another tangent but still slightly related to yarn, socks, spinning & dyeing. I'll have to see how my 62 year old brain functions in a cyber space course!!

Whew - All Over

I've been spinning like mad for the Tour de Fleece. I wasn't sure at the last minute that I would. But, I did, and I had a blast! I haven't really spun anything much in the last year except a couple of 4oz hand painted goodies from Sunset Fibers - Gail talked me into joining the Group on Ravelry.  Linda, of Sunset Fibers, hand paints all her stuff and she does a pretty good job of it too!!! Every time I turn around, she has another color that I can't resist. I'm beginning to thing I may actually BE buried in a felted coffin because there's no way I'm sharing any of this gorgeous fibre.

So TdF just finished & it's been too hot in my computer room to do much but here's the skeins - they haven't been bathed or hung yet - they're fresh off the bobbins.

 This is 8oz of Red Hat. Linda dyed it up just for me from a picture of a cowl I fell in love with in last Fall's Knitter's magazine. It's not as bright as the yarn used in the cowl but I love it's soft blend of pinks/reds/blue. It's a little pinker than in real life too.

 Most of this skein is Linda's Granite colorway - I had a small blue/turquoise topknot that I added onto the end of the bobbin just to get it spun up & it was too much trouble to tear it apart so after the bath, it will become it's own little skein. The soft shades of Granite come from a new line of 4oz heathered braids that Linda came up with. Several colors flow together as you spin .  .  .

And this one - well, it looks overspun but it's not. I loved the acid greens in this batt that a friend was spinning up. She had a bunch left over & I was sick to death of my purple superwash so we swapped. Now I have this green superwash, some purple & a little left over orange .  .  .  sounds like socks to me!!

I have been busy, Really!

Remember when we were kids & we could spend all day laying in the grass or the sand watching the clouds move around & make shapes. Time used to last forever & we had all the time we ever needed because it went so slowly. Now that I'm 62, it goes so fast that I never get everything done before I'm out of time! I just don't understand. Does time accelerate as we age or does our brain just work differently???

Lately, I've been working on projects that got forgotten in the eddies & backwaters as time marched on. Arvik Ribbons for example - yeah, it's hanging on the door to my office so I don't forget - this incarnation I will wear in the Fall. It's knit from the top down, with a round yoke & increases hidden in the rosy ribbons of color in the top. The really nice thing about it is, I can try it on as I go. I'm past the armholes & moving down the body. This past couple of weeks has been just too hot to work on it though - I mean who needs a lap full of wool when it's 28C in the room????

I'm also participating in the Tour de Fleece again this year. I saw a cowl in the Fall Knitter's magazine that I just loved but couldn't find the yarn for it. Linda, at Sunset Fibers, dyed me up 8oz of fibre which is close to the colors I wanted & called it RED HAT. I love it!! So I'm spinning it for the TdF.

 I also got some of Linda's new TRANSITIONS colorway in GRANITE which I also spun up for the TdF. Not sure what the Granite will become - it's greys & pink & blues - maybe some l-o-o-o-o-g fingerless gloves??? Wooohooo!
I'm hoping there's enough on the bobbin to make something nice - only 4 ounces - but I've spun it finely enough that it may make the gloves if I make a lacy pattern.

I also spun up some wild acid green superwash for TdF that I traded some purple for, not sure if there's enough for a pair of socks but I think there's some orange left from last TdF that may just work. And if I don't like them, there's someone at work that will drool all over them. I'm hoping that I can get a couple more braids spun up before TdF ends. Doesn't seem like a big job anymore since I set up the old Suzie Pro in front of the TV & my favorite chair. And the fan blows on both. All of this going on & I'm still working full time & trying to work in some year ends for three different clients .  .  .  .  Do I really want to take that 30 week course in Plant Ecology???

 Summer in the City

                                                                                                                          

Got an unexpected day off this week so I should be basking in the sunshine, working on my tan - right??? Well, nooooooooo .  .  .  .  it's raining out there. It rained on my LAST day off too. It must've been 105 in the little tin box office out in the paved parking lot on Saturday when I went to work, it rained yesterday but did improve & today, it's back to rain, when I'm off!  Not complaining too much mind you, I'm safe & dry in my basement apartment.  I, too, have been watching the news about all the flooding to the east & across the prairies in the past few days. So shocking to see downtown Calgary under water!  I'm counting my blessings even in the rain.

Not a lot of knitting going on around here other than sock knitting. I have two pairs on the go at the moment but one resides in the car for those moments when I'm waiting for a train - more often that you'd expect when you take the Industrial back road to & from work!, waiting at the school crosswalk - I go through at least FOUR in the morning unless I leave an hour early, waiting at the drive thru - Tim Horton's has got to be the SLOWEST ever but the steeped tea is the best or waiting for trucks to back up - I take the Industrial back road. The last two FLAGS series Regia sock yarn in blue, turquoise, yellow, orange, purple & red are being used in the current house sock. I do NOT know what possessed me to buy 10 balls of the same color! Maybe I had a plan at the time but I forgot what it was. I managed to give away three pairs of socks & two balls of yarn in the end which leaves me with leftovers & two big balls.  I should've made short summer socks but they ended up as extra longs instead. They're top down, the gussets knit on either side of the flap as you go heel and a three needle bind-off at the toe. Car socks are now being knit on TWO CIRCS so the stitches stay on  even if I cram the sock into a purse.

The other pair are thick Kroy socks for Fall when my floors freeze - I have a cement floor with tiles stuck to it so it's COLD most of the year - and I love thick, warm socks!! They're actually past the heel & almost to the toe but I forgot to take a new picture!! My pal Karen scrounged around & found me several balls of Kroy in her stash - thank gawd for friends who like to circulate their finds - I never buy any because I can't go into the store that sells it! They keep all the Perfumed Items at the door so I can't go in. Maybe it's a good thing. I really, really like Kroy yarn & Kroy socks. This is the latest in the series of pink, orange & brown patterned socks & now, the colors I missed, all in one sock.

 Lately, these days, I've been working my spinning muscles. Suzie Pro now sits in front of my TV chair in all her glory with a sample bag of a new blended color product from Sunrise Fibers. The owner has her fibre pin drafted in two or mo

re colors that blend softly as you spin. Or you can separate them to spin if you like. I'm experimenting with doing both & will see what happens when I knit it into a swatch at the end. I'm just warming up for the Tour de Fleece coming up rapidly in July. Anyone else thinking about it yet???

Just a Sucker for Socks

Summer has arrived, it's time to spin on the Patio & what, pray tell, am I doing??? Knitting winter socks!! Winter Socks! I guess I'm just a sucker for socks .  .  .  they knit up quickly - we aren't going to talk about black, dress socks here are we??? - and it's quite the fashion statement to wear two different wild socks at the same time!  Although I'm not that crazy, I do wear Fraternal socks - same colors, same balls but no attention paid to the starting point. There's so many wild color combinations on the shelves these days that I haven't even made more than a couple pairs of patterned socks. I kind of like the looks I get when I'm in my conservative urban granny costume of navy pants & pink top with these wild red/orange/yellow/pink socks in my sneakers!!

Red Hat

I will admit to a teensie weensie bit of spinning on my SuziePro wheel. I got a bag of a new line of fibre from Linda @ Sunset Fibres ooops Fibers to you Americans!! She has a group on Ravelry called Sunset Fiber Addicts & dyes all kinds of interesting things. I found  a cowl in a Knitter's magazine, sent the picture to Linda & she dyed up some fibre for me in a similar colorway!! She called it Red Hat. I think it's going to be a real favorite of mine!!

Pink Elephant

Sunset Fibers is also the home of Pink Elephant which I love. It looks quite dull & grey but when it's spun up there's just enough peach & pink to lighten it a little & it does remind me of elephants. I really liked it's subtle prettiness once it was in the skein & bought two more braids!

Galaxie

The current fibre is called Galaxie. Linda has taken narrow strands of several colors & twisted them together so they spin up as blended colors that naturally spiral together. My sample has very muted mauve/green/peach/grey/pink in it which seems very plain to me but I've only spun a very small amount so far. I'm going to reserve my opinion until I can knit a swatch with this one.

Trying to De Clutter

I've been crabby lately. My house is still a mess even though I keep throwing stuff out & taking more bags to the recycling bin. Hell, I'm even giving books away these days! I swear the junk just grows in the dark of night. The kitchen counter keeps accumulating dishes even though I wash some every night. I'm not sure what this means other than the fact that I have too much stuff. For instance, I bought myself a new ceramic mug & a car mug that actually fit in the  holes in my car organizer. That leaves two sets of Starbucks mugs & a couple of strays on the shelves in my cupboard. And then there's at least a dozen mugs of various sizes & shapes - each with a history. I have to keep my Big Red Mug because I love it but what about all the others??? If I toss them & company comes, what then??? But, who actually needs 19 cups & mugs?? Maybe that should be the first job - I know mugs don't reproduce in the dark.

And there's that pile of plastic shoes. Yep, I love those stupid things. I have them in bubblegum pink, hot pink, purple, navy &  even have two pairs of winter ones with felt linings. Bad for the feet they are. Like thongs. You don't walk properly, there's no support & you throw your pelvis into an odd position & then it gets your back. Last winter, my feet froze in them - even with socks & felt liners. I live on concrete floors & they're COLD. So why do they stay??? It's the colors. Sigh. But, no one needs 6 pairs of useless plastic shoes - they're next on the list. It's going to be an interesting bag of stuff.

I did accomplish something this week though. I finished the Pink Kroy socks at last. Even with a rough jointed circ & a couple of breaks in the yarn, I finished another pair of deliciously warm & snug Kroy socks! Something to be uncrabby about!

I wish I were a harlot


I've been piddling along on my Kroy socks - I'm growing to really, really dislike my lovely Harmony circs ! ! Why?? you ask - well, they used to be wonderful. So shiny & smooth & warm in the hand but I recently had one replaced because the cord had pulled loose. And the replacement isn't much better - the finish is not the same, it's dull & draggy. The metal collar doesn't quite line up with the wooden needle or the cord & there's now TWO rough spots instead of the one I had before I got a replacement! I wish I'd kept the old one & tried to fix it. Knitpicks doesn't seem too interested in  quality control any more! And, rather than spend more money with them, I'm looking for something else. I know I'd like the needles made by Signature but I can never afford them, even when they make needles in sock sizes. Dyak doesn't make anything in US#! yet even if I could afford them too. Addis?? I'd like wood, I prefer wood but it's an option. I suppose I could go back to DPs but they're a pain in the car which is why I went to circs in the first place. Whine, whine, moan, moan. This is no way to get socks made up for the winter! I remember when it was so simple - buy DPs in wood, metal or plastic. End of story. I guess there's just too many choices.

So, I've piddled along on my socks. I haven't even finished one pair in the last two weeks. I AM  approaching the toes on the second sock of the pair I was working on last time but that's about it. I wish I was a Harlot & could whip out a pair of patterned socks in two evenings & half a day while doing 100 loads of laundry & churning out vegetarian meals for my family. I wish I could knit 40 miles an hour like she can - have you seen the YouTube of her knitting??? The woman is a knitting machine!!! It's enough to make anyone else give up knitting.

Always a Sock Knitter


I couldn't help myself & dropped everything to get my Birthday Kroy socks on the needles. I love looking at the skein & wondering what kind of pattern that colored yarn will make in the end & sometimes, I just can't wait. So I cast it on & had the first sock done right away. I had it done so fast that I was afraid of running out of yarn before I got to the toe & had to put the word out for another ball or even some Kroy leftovers to do the toes. Kroy is thicker so I thought I'd make long winter socks with it since we're not quite into summer & I'd get to wear them for a little while before it got hot .  .  .  yeah, well, summer arrived! But, the sock got finished, the toe got knit & I only needed a couple of yards to complete it in the end!! Talk about close.

While I was on the sock kick, I found two more balls - I thought I'd finally run OUT of the REGIA Nation Color series!! The yellow, green, blue, purple & orange dye lot jumped into my basket about a dozen times!!!! Don't ask. I don't know why & I paid for it!!  But the last two balls are in the process of becoming socks for the Sock Basket. I'm knitting hats & socks for the basket this year - the hats will go to Loving Spoonful again & the socks will find homes elsewhere at Christmas time. Instead of spending all my time frantically knitting in October & November, I will knit all year & fill the basket this time. Hopefully. Procrastination is a tough habit to beat.

I bought so much of this yarn that both my Co-workers at the Motorcycle School have socks in this color - I believe one of them has two pairs! He said he loved to wear them out in the parking lot with his shorts & navy Tee. All the Students could find him by looking for the socks.

My Birthday Came & Went

Back in the middle of April when taxes are hot & heavy, I had a birthday. I remember saying I was taking the day off this year but that didn't happen. I think the Ex remembered & bought me Chicken & Broccoli at my favorite Chop Suey house. The Boss gave me a couple of oil changes at Mr Lube AND Karen & Gail gave me socks. Or rather, they gave me the yarn for socks - we all like to knit our own - but the yarn gets given

and traded all the time!!!

Karen knows I just love Kroy sock yarn for it's thicker feel & warm &  cozy end product. I love it so much that I immediately cast it on the needles last night after I got those two skeins even though I had another sock already on the needles. I just wanted to see what kind of pattern it makes - yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. They both know I love anything with hot pink or purple in it too. Gail found  a lovely hot pink skein of Sweet Georgia sock yarn. I've been happily knitting outside on this, my official Day Off while drinking hot lemonade from my NEW 64oz Bubba Keg Mug. The hot lemon is supposed to help my laryngitis & the Big Mug is to help me get my water.

Holey Tax Deadline, Batman

I did something today that I swore I would never do on pain of death.  I worked on Tax returns till they ALL were done on the last day - including the ones I got Monday evening - and then drove over to Revenue Canada & got into the line-up around 9:00 to get them in the box before the midnight deadline. Years ago, when I worked as a seasonal casual, I discovered the Back Door to the joint. The staff mostly used it but if you looked carefully, there was a mail slot with a big blue box directly under it. While the Public sat in the line-up on the last day, I drove up to the back door & tossed all my returns into the bin & drove off again. He he ha ha. Then they remodeled. No more slot & no more access, dammit. It was relatively painless to get into the line-up, didn't even have to get out of the car to deposit the returns. But, it was still hard to realize that I had actually come to this  .  .  .  .

The last couple of weeks haven't been very productive in the knitting department since I've been doing two jobs at the same time. My little two day a week fill in job at the Motorcycle School has morphed into full time - not that I'm not enjoying the extra money but heh, I'm getting too old for this!!!  And I've developed this annoying case of

laryngitis - just try answering phones with it!! I can't take enough time off to rest my voice so now I have no voice left. Grrrr Add all the tax returns & year ends - I've been falling asleep when I sit down - can I retire now??? Please???  I have finally finished a couple of pairs of socks for my hairdresser - we swapped for a perm in January. And I've been working on & off on my Arvik Ribbons sweater.The pink 'ribbons' are spun from 'It's My Party' roving that ranges from chocolate to acid pink.  I spun it up to go with the grey Shetland that I've almost worn out from knitting two other sweaters. I made one too small & another too big! This one should be just right. It's based on a pattern in the Fall Knitter's magazine called 'Ribbons o' Round'. Knit from the top down with a round yoke with increases made evenly on every colored round. I spun the Shetland quite finely & am using two singles held together. The fabric is light & airy but warm - perfect for summer.

The Girls Go Shopping

Wednesday nights, the knitting, crocheting, tatting, spinning, quilting etc girls & one brave guy, Steve, get together at the local Wired Monk to gossip, get rowdy & sometimes, knit. Three or four of the gang are now daring each other to embark on Outrageous Shawls! Karen even brought in a sampling of her "recycled" fibres as encouragement. You have to understand Karen - she retired a few years back to spend her 'Golden Years' with her hubby & commune with fibre. She is in love with lace. And spends a lot of time in Thrift Stores looking for sweaters made of luxury yarns that she can undo to knit lace shawls. Luxury yarns even in lace weight are expensive. This Shawl Thang  must be serious for Karen to bring out the Big Guns.


Several of our members like to shop as much as Karen does. Gladys knows where every discount fibrey sale is going on even when it's only advertised on Craig's List. We all got an emergency email about the Mother Lode of spinning fibre. She suggested we share a Red bag for $10 a pound. Of course we all jumped in and bought some!! Are you kidding??? No one misses out on Gladys' finds!! I bought 2 pounds myself! My pal Gail bought 2 pounds too - she needs it about as much as I do .  .  .  but what the heck, Gladys found it!! apparently some woman had a small mill & processed all this dyed merino into 10 pound bags. When she went out of business a couple years back, it went into her garage & she's been trying to sell it ever since. Gladys arrived out of curiosity & posted it to Ravelry. After we got our bag though. I'm now the proud owner of two pounds of bright cherry merino - slightly felted & a little neppy - NOT what you want to spin finely for lace but certainly great for felted slippers! I I intend to make DUFFERS!

Gail brought a

box to Wednesday night as well. She & I ordered some hand painted braids from the same vendor & to save a buck, we suggested it be mailed as one lot. I can tell no lies - I just wanted more Pink Elephant so the nice woman dyed some up for me!!! I'd bought a 4oz Polworth braid last year & fell in love when I spun it up. Pink Elephant is mostly light grey with a little smidge of dark, some shell pink & a little orange. Delicious when spun. 4oz was just not enough to DO anything with so she dyed up another 8 oz for me!!!  I also fell in love with a cowl that was in the Fall KNITTERS magazine. It was a turtle-neck that came down to the elbows in a short 
poncho. They made out of oranges & reds & hot pinks in lace, sock & dk weight yarns in garter & stockinette. I fell in love with it so she made a new colorway just for me for the project - she calls it RED HAT. I don't think I'll spin it in three weights but I'm not really sure right now either. I may spin it all up in one weight & then use textured stitches to make the cowl or I may use three different needle sizes. I love the braid color & I love the soft Polworth so it may have to just be petted for a while .  .  .

Once Again, I have a Blog


This is the fourth entry I've tried to write in the last week. The Blog, for some reason unknown to everyone, decided it would no longer let me post. I gave it one last chance today after uploading some software to replace my old Browser & BINGO, everything is working again! Yes Dotti, much as I hate to say it, You were Right.

This blog was originally about my crazy sock knitting adventures. And then along came the BoyToy who took up a lot of space. I still knit a lot of socks but my personal basket is overflowing, the BoyToy & his parents - who used to suck up a dozen pairs a year by themselves, are gone & all I can do is knit for charity. Sheesh!! I could spend my time back on the spinning wheel - I've been collecting a mountain of painted rovings, two full fleeces - one light grey, one white, six pounds of Coopworth batts, three partial Shetland fleeces - almost black, an apple box of dirty alpaca & a whole pile of silk hankies. Oh yeah - there's also the remainder - several pounds - of the Brown Sheep Mill Ends I imported years ago to share with my buddy, Gail. Or, I could take up sweater knitting - I'm NOT into those sissy shawls that some of you knit - and I won't go into all the damned yarn I have. But, I may be switching from mainly socks to mainly something else .  .  .  .  I could start working on that Needle Felted Coffin I was mentioning to a friend or two.  And they say you can't take it with you!!

I've been a Dirty Dawg


It seems the longer you put off something, the longer it takes to get back to it. I've been a Dawg, I admit it. I cuss & call names when other people neglect their blogs & leave me out in the cold & here I am, doing the bloody same. Mea Culpa. I have returned.

The cold, damp weather also seemed like it would never go away & like many of you, I fell into that state of semi-consciousness that makes you eat, sleep, work, sleep the days away. Did I watch tv or knit or sew?? Not sure. I now know that I'm capable of falling asleep in any chair with arms - no matter where it's located! I used to laugh at my mother for such behavior! She used to say she was resting her eyes .  .  .  well, I've been resting mine at every opportunity! And it's her fault.

So what have I done?? We won't talk about work other than to say that I swore, I SWORE I would never work full time for one employer ever again because it's boring & mind rotting & full of office politics??? Well, I'm doing it. Knitting/spinning wise?? I have dropped all projects except one sweater & two pairs of socks (gotta have socks fer gosh sake!! That would be positively uncrafty!!) I'm just tired of scattering my time over many projects & never finishing anything. Yeah, I can hear the laughter. But, I'm a Starter, a Big Picture Person & a Bottom Liner. I don't care how a project gets done as long as it gets done & I don't have to finish it. I like to dream up the Big Ideas but not put out the Trash. You don't understand how difficult this is for me. I have all these projects started, I knit a few evenings & the weather changes. So, I made up my mind I would work one sweater at a time.

And this is the one. I know you haven't seen it for a while but the weather changed & I decided that I'd like to finish the one that I can wear NOW. I think I have enough yarn spun to finish it. If I don't, I found the fleece that I can spin to finish it. This will be my summer go-to sweater. The one I curl up in outside on the patio & the one I take to work when it's chilly. And just to remind you - this is spun by me from a couple of small Shetland fleeces from a sheep named Arvik who lived a long happy life in the green fields in Alberta. I loved her fleece because it was multi-shades of grey. My friend Gail gave me the pink & brown fibre - from Great Balls of Fiber - for my birthday one year & I just loved it! I spun it up quite finely but since I'm not a shawl wearer, I wasn't sure what to do with it. Knitter's Magazine came out with their "From The Top" Fall issue last year & I fell in love with the "Ribbons-O-Round" sweater!! So, this is my version of the 'Ribbons' sweater in handspun. I've spun lace weight singles & used two singles held together to knit on a 5mm Denise circular so that it will be very light but warm. When dumped out of the bag, I discovered it was two inches below the armhole where I joined for the body, so hopefully, this won't take forever to knit.

March Mayhem

I couldn't believe my eyes when I woke up this morning - SUNSHINE!  It's been a while since we actually saw any of this & I know the Sunday students will be cheering. They're out of rain gear at last. Wednesday, when the sun wasn't shining but  wasn't pouring either, I bought some of the season's first Primulas. Home Depot had them out in scads of colors - oranges, yellows, pink, purple, blue .  .  . with huge blooms on them. They've sat in the back of my car ever since. Today, I will venture forth & plant them in the big pot of dead Geraniums by my front door! I had hoped the geraniums would survive the winter tucked against the back of the patio, by the door but it doesn't look good. So - Off with their dead carcasses & in with the Primulas!! I need some color in my life! Who knows?? Pansies may be next.

Haven't been knitting a lot lately - my hands have been giving me hell & now my wrists are joining in. I stopped taking all the big timed release aspirins three times a day & switched it up with Tylenol & Naproxin. Yes, I am avoiding anything by prescription for as long as possible since they're expensive. Back to the big Aspirins I guess. They, at least, cut the inflammation!! While I haven't been knitting a lot, I have been knitting socks. As usual, one pair's in the car & one by my chair!! The chair socks are for me. I've gone up to a 2.50mm circ to knit the Kroy socks since the yarn is thicker. I like them on the 2.5s. I used the smaller formula in my head - 64sts instead of 68 - but they knit bigger so it all works out in the end. They're just waiting for me to sew the toes!! Love that Kroy.

Since this is March, it seems time to bring out the spinner & work on making yarn! For Christmas, I received a nice bag of Blue Jeans - just a splotch dyed bag of roving that ranges from medium blue to very light blue. The name is so right because it should spin up to the perfect faded shade of a favorite pair of jeans. Not sure what it will become - there's enough for socks & mitts, a shawlette, a couple of hats or something else that catches my eye. I can't wait to spin some of it up & knit a swatch!

Or - I just ran across this pattern on Ravelry & instantly fell in love!! They're called Duffers. And they come in all sizes from infant to large Adult. Yes, I bought the pattern!!! Are you kidding???  I love the look of them & have lots of leftover Briggs & Little single skeins in different BLUES in the stash that I was going to use in a sweater. Changed my mind & now they're sitting there waiting for this project. They take 2 skeins of Cascade220 or any other comparable yarn that felts.