Up To My Neck in Knitting

The first few months of 2014 was all about keeping necks warm.  We have had crazy cold weather in Northern Illinois this year.  Record breaking cold weather.  School-has-been-cancelled-due-to-the-cold-weather weather.  On one school cancellation day, I dug out some stash yarn and did an advanced Ravelry search (I LOVE that feature, do you?) to find this gem:  Incognito by Mercedes Tarasovich-Clark.  The first one was for me.  While my husband rebuilt a carburetor in the (heated) garage, I made myself a mustache in the well-heated house.  

 Dad's birthday was coming up (seems like all of us have January birthdays), so I fashioned one for him.  He is outside daily despite the weather.  He has to feed his birds and roam his property.  A little something to keep him a bit warmer.  He is always a willing recipient of knitted goods as his mother kept him in them from childhood.  Of course, when I first saw him in it via facetime, he was wearing it upside down.  A bow-tie maybe?  I explained the mustache to him and he righted it promptly.

 Then the young man was in need of a little knit attention (he gets very little of that), so the stash revealed some hunter-type colors and soon Incognito was adorning his neck.

My co-worker has two young girls who are deep into the mustache craze, so I made plans to fashion a few for them as well.

One in stash Vanna's Choice blue, which knits up reminiscent of denim.  The other in double stranded Caron Simply Soft (went down a needle size for a nice, tight fabric).  They were thrilled and the immediate envy of their classmates.

My lovely and hard-working classroom assistant was facing bus duty every afternoon in these arctic temps, so I knit her up a Marshmallow Fluff (fun and amazingly quick knit) in Lion Brand Thick and Quick (again, stash).  I did cast on 20 stitches and followed the pattern from there.  I believe I did not knit entire length (Provisional cast-on and it is knit long and seamed with a 3 needle bind off).  She loved it so much that she requested one for her mother who navigates a school bus and must sit next to the door which opens and closes for each batch of kids.  Made an identical one for her, but no picture to show. 

Isn't she beautiful?

 So, those around me have warm necks and I have a warm heart knowing I have a part in that.  All of the above neck-warmers/cowls were knit before the Olympic Bare Trees Jacket, but deserved a post of their own on this little blog.

And now on to my "test knit".  Standardized tests are underway, and I have begun to knit another queue item:  Owls by Kate Davies.  I downloaded the patterns years ago when it was a free pattern.  This is not stash yarn.  Last year, my LYS closed, and I was heartbroken.  That yarn store was in my "shopping town" which is about 10 miles away.  I was recently informed that my "working town" which is 5 miles away was now host to a quilting/yarn store.  Oooo!  An immediate cold weekend trip was in order, and I found this beautiful blue Cascade 128 Superwash.  As I knit up, I find dye transfer on my hands and uneven dying throughout the fabric, but we'll see how it turns out after washing.  I've heard review that this yarn pills horribly, but Cascade says to wash and dry in the dryer and pilling should not be bad. I'll follow their advice and keep you posted.  Right now I'm loving the yarn.  Soft through the fingers; a delight to knit up with.  

 Tonight I finished up to the armpit and am ready to begin short rows.  

Past and Present

There is a certain time of day, in the late afternoon, when it is necessary to turn on the lights in the kitchen.  My kitchen is such a bright, vibrant space with plenty of sunshine beaming in.  But in the late afternoon during the winter months, the sun goes down and makes it necessary to turn on the artificial lighting.  I have plenty of lighting in my kitchen.  I do not like a dark kitchen.  

Today after working in the kitchen for a bit, I wandered to other areas of the house to do other tasks.  Just a short bit later, I returned to the kitchen and it needed light.  I make the transition smoothly, but for a brief moment, I mourn the passing of the sun from my kitchen.  But within moments, I am swept up in the pulse of making dinner, lively conversation, and reminiscences of the day and the kitchen is bright, bright, bright with love and lighting. 

This picture hung on a wall opposite my seating arrangement throughout the whole of my childhood.  My mother was kind enough to gift it to me when I started out on my own as a young adult and it has been in my kitchen ever since.  It is faded and aged.  I read and re-read this prayer over and over again as a child.  My eyes always seek out print.  I have it memorized I'm sure.  If prompted I could recite the whole thing.

How about a little project viewing?  The granny square lap covering rests over my dad's knees.  This was made by his mother, his wife and his daughter.  The granny squares in the middle were made by none other than my infamous mummu and came into my possession this past fall.  The four corner squares were made by my mother, who gave them to me last summer.  I put them all together, added filler and border (double crochet) and wrapped it for my daddy for Christmas.  I wish my crochet talent matched that of the matriarchs who came before me, but it is what it is. . . Not my specialty.  But I think he loves it nonetheless.

Twelve Things

12

Well, hello there.  It's been a year since I've been in this space.  A busy year.  To try to catch things up properly would take pages and pages of a year in the life essay.  Instead, I thought, let's do a list.  Twelve things for the twelve months that have passed.  Not a month by month sequence of events, but twelve major happenings in our lives.  After we get through that, there will be knitting (and a bit of crocheting) to post about.  But first. . .

1.  The boy finished elementary school.  

2.  The boy started high school.  Yes, we have a high schooler in the house.

3.  Lots of home improvement occurred, especially on the patio where we spend most of the daytime (and quite a bit of the evening) hours during cooperative weather.

After a particularly strong gust of freak wind (that I swear came out of nowhere!), we discovered the tempered glass tabletop shattered into millions of moaning pieces.  We were heartbroken.  That table hosts daily coffee breaks, meals, chat sessions, a spot of reading or knitting, pondering and entertaining.  The table is no longer being manufactured and after numerous phone calls we learned that we would have to take out a small loan to have one custom made.  

Inspiration struck and we designed and constructed our own tile table top.  I think it's beautiful!

4.  We welcomed a grand baby girl into the fold!  A beautiful little girl, who was immediately topped with a flower by this knitting grandma.

5.  My sweet boy Toivo passed away after a long fight with chronic renal failure.  He was a doll and a sweetheart to the end.  I held him as he passed and the last things he heard were my words whispering "I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you..."  I miss him every day.  We were together 16 years and two weeks.  His little brother was very lost without him.  The following picture was a daily occurrence with these two, but was taken the day before he passed away.  The picture that follows it, was Heimo the day after he passed away.   

 6.  The boy got his first deer.  Such a proud, young hunter you never saw!

 7.  The boys went off to hunting camp up north with the woodsmen! 

8.  My school got a brand-spanking new building!  It is beautiful AND has air-conditioning.  It is a treat to work in such a lovely building.  There are times I miss the character and flair of the 100+ year old building, but I am truly grateful to be in such a wonderful new school.

9.  My parents celebrated 50 years together.  Unfortunately, their anniversary was one week after another very large event, (#10) and so they were not given the celebration that 50 years deserves.  We, of course, all gathered with them, but given the expenditure of energy and money on #10, our fanfare with low-key.  What a beautiful couple.  They have been and continue to be an inspiration to me as to what a loving, married couple should be.

10.  I married the man of my dreams!

There.  Whew!  Twelve things that happened last year.  It was a year of big things and lots of lovely little things too.  I will be back in this space soon for an update of knitting activities.  Those big things consumed me and left little time and energy for this space, but hopefully I'll be back with some regularity.  Anything big happen for you last year?

Finished Objects: Disco Doesn't Suck (and neither do ripples)

 Ta-Dah!  The Disco Blanket!  

This pattern is from Lucy of Attic24; it is the Granny Stripe.  I debuted this blanket on my previous segue post.  It began as an effort to learn this crochet.  What followed became a way to use up stash yarn.  What became is an explosion of color!  I tried, dear reader, I tried to stick to my resolve on only using stash yarn, but every so often (every few rows or so), a color that would combine beautifully, fabulously with the one just laid down would pop into my head.  That color would not leave.  I knew that color was available somewhere.  It all started because the color I knew I wanted was wool and this was to be an all acrylic, washable all-season blanket.  Looking at that wool skein in my hand that was the perfect color, and knowing that I would no longer have a very practical, machine washable blanket drove me to it!  I could see it in that wool, that perfect color, but wrong fiber skein. 

Well, once you've caved and made a trip to the store and opened your wallet to the possibilities of color, further trips are absolutely justified.  I mean at that point it is no longer a completely stash driven blanket, right?  And I really didn't have my heart set on a "stash+one" blanket, so what the heck...when the mood/color struck, I was more than willing to make the drive again.  I did put a border around it of several rows of granny stripe, followed by a lovely scalloped edging. 

 So here's the story you've been waiting for:  The man and I made a trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to see my favorite uncle and aunt and pick up a 1937 Chevy Sedan.  This was to be a quick trip.  Neither of us wanted to take time from work.  The mission of the trip was simple, to pick up a truck and spend a very little bit of time with my aunt and uncle.  We enjoyed a very carefree drive up, splitting the trip with a night in a hotel.  Upon our arrival the following morning, we had coffee and conversation with my relatives and then the menfolk set out to corral the Chevy.  That left my aunt and I some lovely womenfolk time to play catch-up and take a stroll to Mummu's.  The men didn't return.  We discussed dinner plans.  The men didn't return.  Rather than worry, we assumed that the menfolk were discussing the finery of machinery, as we had discussed the finery of woolen knits.  Still the men didn't return.  When the finally returned, they informed us of a problem.  The truck we had borrowed to haul this Chevy back with had broken down. 

You already know that my man is handy and he is also especially handy with vehicles.  He spent many many hours on the cold ground outside in the November cold of the Upper Peninsula.  He was under-dressed.  He was now chilled to the bone.  We returned to the room and he took a hot shower, but still could not get the chill from his body.  At that point I took over and wrapped The Disco Blanket around him.  The same blanket he would roll his eyes at whenever I laid it out for inspection.  He made small fun-making comments of it.  

And then, enveloped in the warmth that is a hand-knit, albeit acrylic yarn blanket, the chill left him.  He forgot the sections of 70s colored yarn, he forgot the projective yarn vomit of color.  He was warm.

Who said disco sucks?

*

 The previous winter I had tried my hand at the Neat Ripple Blanket by Lucy of Attic24.  I needed to produce a blanket for grandbaby boy two and loved the ripple pattern.  On the first blanket I had used one skein of yarn (actually multiple skeins, but all the same color).  I wanted to make a true, random color placement ripple this time. 

 This is the result.  This beautiful little grandbaby boy loves blankets and now has a hand-knit blanket of his own.  He cuddles in it with his Jacob-Kitty.

 Thinking maybe I should post of picture of just the blanket as that little guy is so gosh-darn cute, it's hard to look away from his loveliness and check out the actual knit object.

*p.s. we were stuck in the U.P. for two additional days, waiting for parts to come in.

to view the finished objects of others, click here

This is the Segue

 My return to the blog world.  It has been very nearly a year.  No excuses other than life has a way of getting in the way of our simple pursuits.  Life.  This past year has been an enjoyable one.  We spent the year engaged and we continue to be fully and madly in love.  We continue to be engaged and wrap up this engagement in early summer.  Plans are ongoing...

So a quick recap of 2012 will include a few photos.  I have not been behind the camera much this year.  My iPhone has captured most of my pictures.  It is time for a new camera, but until the time comes that we acquire a new one, iphone and old camera will have to do for continued visuals on this blog.  I have finished objects to report and announce, but will save that for perhaps a finished object Friday post.

2012 I learned to crochet.  I started my crochet venture following the Neat Ripple Pattern by Lucy of attic24.  After much trial and error and stash purple/blue/green variegated yarn, I produced a little blankie for grandbaby boy one, seen cuddling with grandpa and new ripple:

 I followed the Neat Ripple with a stashbusting Granny Stripe, also by attic24 Lucy (she writes fabulous tutorials!).  I had all intents and purpose of using stash only yarn to create this beauty, but colors would pop into my head as being the next perfect color and I'll admit I ran to my local store for those colors as the muses called.  I am madly in love with my granny stripe, which has been named "The Disco Blanket" by my man.  There are a few sections of 70s colors, which, while obnoxious, lend a charming granny character to the granny stripe.  (Those of us who had grannies who produced knit and crochet goods in the 70s know of what I write).  Boots is enjoying the Disco Blanket.  My man was not initially fond of the The Disco Blanket, likening it to yarn vomit, but has since been enveloped in its warmth and has changed his appreciation for The Disco.  The whole story will be forthcoming.

 Mid-Spring saw lots of work on our patio.  We live next to railroad tracks and the view from my patio table was not my favorite.  My very handy and talented man made me a visual block in the form of a wall that I had designed in my head.  He followed that construction with new steps under the sliding glass door (not pictured), bricked paths at both ends of the patio (also not pictured), and the leveling out and re-grassing of the patio area.  Notice how low the ground is on the patio.  No longer my friends!  Please note that this picture is very early spring and my patio had not yet been adorned with furniture cushions or green and flowering plants in pots.

 There was an Easter trip to meet the kids halfway and spend time with them.

There was a summer trip to spend additional time with the kids.  We had a grand time with them, but we always do.  Daughter-in-law and I enjoyed a day free of men and boys when we went shopping.  That is becoming our specialty together!

I am the proud owner of a new car!  The 2012 Dodge Dart, to be exact.  Made locally.  This is the first new car I have ever bought.  Didn't like the idea of debt, but was convinced I amnow old enough and liquid enough to do this.  I am very pleased that I did!

Another car acquisition was the 1937 Chevy Sedan pictured below. We made the trek to the Upper Peninsula to pick it up.  Snafus ensued.  Disco Blanket and the man bonded.  More on that later. 

While spending time with my aunt and uncle, I trekked to Mummu's house.  Mummu is gone now, but her love of knitting and crochet lives on. 

And of course, the holidays have come and gone and I have no pictures to commemorate them.  I'm sure someone took pictures...

Thanks for tolerating the update.  More knit and crochet projecting details will be blogged about soon.  Wanted to catch up, so that I can segue into knit blogging once again.

Swinging in the Apple Tree

This week I traveled to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to attend the burial services for my mummu, who passed away this past February. All of her children were there as well as many grandchildren. It was quite a gathering. The last time the family all gathered was 20 years ago. While there, I met my eldest aunt and her children, whom I had never met before. If you remember from a previous post, the family is scattered throughout the United States and get-togethers were difficult and rarely coordinated. Let me tell you, it was a wonder to be together again! At meals and for visiting, we would cluster together and the stories would fly, and laughter was abundant, and our jaws ached from the smiling and laughing. What a remarkable family we are. Every which direction you turned, there was a conversation to hop into, a smiling, welcoming face, the same sharp witted humor in each of us. The air buzzed with our energy. It was very nearly a palpable thing. Not all of the grandchildren were able to attend, and I believe if we all had, that the family energy would have been visible from space! (captured on satellite: the Great Wall of China, The Las Vegas Strip and the J++++ family gathering).

Not everyone "gets" or appreciates my sense of humor, so it was remarkable to be in a room where not only did everyone "get" me, but everyone had and expressed the same sense of humor. It was an amazing few days being with my family. I was very nearly high at the experience of love and belonging and connectedness.

I am known for my sense of humor and goofy nature, my quick wit, my devil-may-care attitude, my easy-going, fun-loving spirit. A few years ago, a colleague of mine met my parents and after spending time with my father and me she commented that "the apple didn't fall too far from the tree". Ladies and gentlemen: I spent the week swinging in the apple tree!

The picture below is of the siblings, less their parents, from the picture opening this post.

A fine looking clan, don't you agree?

I vow to not wait another 20 years to connect with family. Even if mummu's longevity is passed on to all, it is too long to wait to be together; to be in touch. Phone numbers, email and residence addresses were shared, and I plan to use them. So if you are family, and if you are reading this, consider yourself warned!

Easter Weekend (including a FO)

A happy rider!

Easter Weekend 2011, we delivered the Xmas gifted riding lawnmower to its proud owner. We stored it for dad over the winter, as his shed is "down the hill" that is their back yard. As you can tell, he was pleased. I suspect that the minute we left Sunday afternoon, he skipped down the hill and was on it! While in the Quad Cities, we made a trip to Davenport, IA to see the level of flooding. We crossed over the flood on the skywalk to nowhere (it was initially built to provide entrance to a riverboat casino, but by the time it was completed, the riverboat had moved downriver). Oops. Still it has nice views, provides interior viewing and an exterior viewing deck, as well as stairs leading down on the other side. There was a patch of dry grass on the other side, where four of us posed (dad, me, mom, sister-in-law). While walking through the skywalk, we discovered that lovely sister-in-law has a fear of heights. She was a good sport and walked through with us (though she kept in the dead center and eyes straight ahead at all times!) Skywalk is visible in picture above.

We didn't see anyone crossing at that intersection! Black Widow Cowl (Spider and Web Lace Cowl) is off the needles, needing a good blocking and wardrobe being evaluated for proper wearing attire to accentuate this as an accessory. Only modification I made to the pattern was to omit the additional repeat of rows 1-5 on the web lace pattern. After blocking I will submit pictures for your approval. Happy belated Easter everyone! Hope yours was as Hoppy as ours!

(if you were curious, there is some stealth knitting going on, yes)

My Kind of Saturday

We took a small road trip this weekend to visit the Ps. The added bonus was time with my brother and his wife as well. While the ladies went shopping, the men went fishing.

Despite the cold temperatures on the Mississippi River, the men toughed it out.

The poles are minding themselves down on the bank. "should we head down to the bank, or over to what the young one has going?"

The youngest of the men understands the need for warmth (and has a penchant to burn things). When the ladies arrive, he is creating fire.

With afghans from the trunk, we huddle by the fire.

And now I'm home and it was a wonderful weekend with family. My kind of Saturday is surrounded by those I love. Speaking of My Kind of Saturday, when little owl (Skeeter, as I call him), came off the needles, I was all prepared to cast on Shalom, which we all know I have been planning to start for MONTHS! But the weather has been lovely, and the day of Skeeter's arrival was especially so. Therefore, the needles were requiring a springtime knit. Thus, My Kind of Saturday, by irishgirlieknits, being knit with Kollage 100% recycled jeans yarn Riveting.

This is my kind of springtime knit!

The yarn feels a bit scratchy right now, but am hoping it's like a pair of jeans and softens after a run through the washer and dryer! p.s. - I am officially on spring break!!!!