Calm Down Cardigan

 KNITTING
Almost 20 years ago, I picked up my knitting for the first time in years. It was a very stressful time for us, for the company my husband worked for, and soon after, for our entire family.
  I think the year was 1994, and we were renting a large house that we hoped to buy. At about that time, the company my husband worked for suffered a huge financial loss,and their stock went public. Our whole life was changing in ways that couldn't be dealt with in human terms.  I prayed a lot and found some yarn and a pair of knitting needles in my craft supplies. I knit the entire skein,  ripped it all out and started all over again.
Boy I'm glad I picked up the knitting that day. It helped with stress, and has been a constant companion ever since.

Today, I got some news that really troubled me.  I also got some troubling news earlier in the week. It resulted in my picking some dyed wool yarn and a pattern for a simple cardigan.  My new project is going to be called the "Calm Down Cardigan".  Like a cup of herbal tea, knitting calms my nerves.

These two sleeve-starts are supposed to be a kind of swatch.  I've heard that Elizabeth Zimmermann used to do the same thing; start a sleeve instead of swatching.  It looks pretty good and should be fine for a quick knit.  The dye was called "Brass" I think, and its pretty soft and squishy.  The cuffs are knit on size 9s, then the stockinette stitch is done with size 11s.  I wish I had slicker needles, but I only have plastic and aluminum.  Oh well, at least its started.

I did finish the little blue hat and gave it to a dear friend this week.  I do hope it fits! She's a tiny lady!

Little blue hat - finished!

Little blue hat upside down!

GARDENING

I was looking at a lovely French blog recently, with lots and lots of flowers.  One of the posts was about how this blogger had started thistle from seed several months before and was anxious to see the flowers at the top of the prickly spikes.  Thistles??? We have thistles all over our lawn.  We cut them down with the lawn mower.  We dig them up and hope they don't come back. Wow, only the French can make you appreciate a thing like thistles!

READING
While carding the Grand Canyon of fleeces, I've been listening to an audio book by a new-to-me author, Simon Brett, called The Body on the Beach.  I'm almost done with it. The book that is.  Not the fleece.  I may be a while, so go on without me!

Stages of Development (not)

Remember before, when I said I couldn't figure out why the blue hat was taking so long?  Well, I'm not actually Nancy Drew, Miss Marple, or Jessica Fletcher from Murder She Wrote.

But I am pretty darn perceptive when it comes to knitting.  It didn't take me long (okay it did) to figure out that the hat was getting bigger and bigger, when it should have been getting smaller and smaller (see previous post).  Hmmmm. Verrrrry interesting. To cast on 72 stitches and find 20 or so rows later that I've got an astounding 252 stitches on the needles, has to qualify me for the "FAIL" of the year award.  How could I not see it?? Wow. 

Hat off the needles reveals that it was about to become a shawl!

*****
The Case of the Enlarged Hat - by Brendamyfrienda

Act One Scene One
     The hat seems to be getting larger and larger, by the row. What could be the problem?  Too many stitches? YES!  Case solved. The End 
*****

So I ripped out the whole thing and started over.  I took it with me on my trip to see my niece graduate from college (or University to all you Canadians and UK folks).
 I knitted it and knitted it. I knitted in the car and I knitted on my couch.  I switched to decrease rows and still have not used up the first ball of yarn.  Now that's what's supposed to happen!  (Just call me Sherlock!)

The hat is in full decrease mode on bamboo DPNs and I feel sure it will be the first picture in the next post.
I hate when I get something so, so wrong.  But that's life.  Full of mistakes and blunders.  But I won't give up.  I love to knit, and part of knitting is ripping out and starting over.  And so I did.
By the way, this is what the hat is supposed to look like:

Magnum Opus

Yellow finches outside my upstairs window

Somehow, every time I sit down to write a post, an imaginary cartoon bubble rises in front of me that says, "What?!"  Like looking at the screen will make the words come.  Then, inevitably, I plug in my camera and upload whatever pictures I've been taking since the last post, and hope for inspiration. Usually something comes to mind, but seldom do witty remarks emerge, unless I start listening to a couple of my favorite authors reading their biographies. Then I feel like I can actually say something interesting, or in case pigs start to fly, something memorable.  To me, that would be my Magnum Opus of blog posts: to say something that people would actually remember. Something worth quoting.  I do have high hopes, you know!

       People worth quoting
          1. Albert Einstein
          2. Abraham Lincoln
          3. Brendamyfrienda
          4. William Shakespeare 
(Picture a list of famous people in Wikipedia, with my name following Einstein and Lincoln. Right before Shakespeare, or maybe he can go ahead of me, what the heck!)

KNITTING
So, no magnum opus yet, but I have made great progress on the Blue Angora Feather and Fan Hat.
 It will probably end up in the Smithsonian someday, next to Lincoln's stovepipe hat.  Einstein didn't wear a hat, that I know of.  Shakespeare didn't either, as far as I know, but don't quote me on that! (ha ha, now that was witty)

SPINNING
Now what could be considered my magnum opus of spinning is the fantastic job I've done of carding my stash. Here are some progress photos that will take you down the path I've been on these last few weeks.

Final weight of all gray wool fleece, picked and carded - 1.7 lbs

Nearly full bag of gray wool picked and carded

Just started the white fleece on the left. Its roughly 6 lbs. or 3 times the size of the gray stuff!

In between picking and carding, I've spun a little here and there on my spindles.  They sure are fun.  Like bubble gum for spinners.  Tasty, sweet and not very productive. Just fun!

Butter yellow wool on my Bosworth spindle!

Bamboo roving, one cop full placed on cardboard roller

READING
I've held off mentioning the name of the paperback novel I've been reading, and for good reason.  You just never know when you endorse a book too early, then about halfway through the book there's a hum-dinger of a you-know-what-scene that would make a sailor blush.  And this endorsement may still embarrass me later, but here goes.  I've been reading a Greg Isles book called Footprints of God.  If you didn't tilt your head and blink when you read the name of the author, then you haven't read any of his books.  But this one has not disturbed me as of yet. So far, it is riveting and suspenseful, with about a PG rating. 

PERSONAL
Tomorrow we are taking a trip to the coast for a few days, to see my niece graduate from college.  Its my husband's alma mater, The University of Mobile, and the place where we met.  My niece is a very bright individual and we're very proud of her. She's lovely, but also smart, and those two should always go together in my book!

You Started It!

When I remember arguments I had with my siblings as a child, the most common remark we made when busted by my parents was that the other kid started it.  I was never to blame, of course; merely an innocent bystander. A victim of circumstance.  But my parents didn't really care who started it.  They just wanted the arguing to stop. Now it all makes sense why that was such a lame remark.  Who cares who started it?

KNITTING
So, last week I started it!

Cast on for yet, another hat!

I found the pattern on the Cascade Yarns website, and want to be sure you check out the pattern.

The yarn I'm using is my own handspun.  I bought the roving from my friend at the first of the year, and have featured it in several posts.  It is finally starring in its perfect role, the Feather and Fan Hat.

Handspun

About 20 rows on size 9 circulars

Ready to start the decreases

You're probably wondering why I would be knitting ANOTHER HAT when I DON'T WEAR HATS.  I don't know.  I just don't know.  People often ask me when I'm knitting, "who's that for?" but I can't say right now, who this is for.  Maybe by next winter something will come to me. Lame is my middle name.

SPINNING
The gi-nor-mous batch of wool I've been picking and carding is done.  All told, its well over a pound of wool, and that would be the equivalent of 4 or 5 skeins of yarn.

The price of 100% wool yarn ranges in price from $5 to $20 and up, depending on the preparation and quality of the wool (micron count).  If the wool is blended with anything exotic, that ups the price, sometimes considerably.  The color/dye of the wool makes a difference. The fact that I am only just now at the 'carding - one pass through the carder' stage after literally hours of labor, makes this wool way more valuable to me than to any other person.

PERSONAL
This weekend I got my first pedicure at a salon!  We were all going to a wedding later in the day so my daughter generously offered to pay for me, her, and my daughter in law to all get pedicures on Saturday morning.  It was so much fun, and the owner of the salon gave me mine, thankfully.  I'm a bit squeamish and had told the girls in advance that if a man was going to do my pedicure, I'd defer to them until a lady was available.  But when the time came, the friendly Asian gentleman who picked up the towel seemed harmless enough and did a fantastic job.

clockwise, me, Betsy, Amber

While gone, we told the guys (minus baby daddy) that there was a bottle of formula and bottle paraphernalia laying next to the sink. When we came home, this was what we found.

ingenious way to feed a baby

Baby drank the milk and not a drop was spilled.  Amazing!  

Persona Non Grata

If we don't do something soon, this blog will soon be named, Persona Non Grata.  Its supposed to be about knitting, but seems to not be much about knitting any more.  It's not something you're gonna want to read, if you're looking for knitting.  Its turning into reading and gardening with some spinning on the side. Not knitting. What's wrong?? Please, please don't let me turn into a cat lady that wears knee-high stockings rolled down to her ankles with a long, dark hair growing out of her chin!!  I gotta get my mojo back!

KNITTING
Okay, here's a small, isolated case of knitting, so that I can stay in the hipster club of knitting blogs.  Active knitting blogs, that is.
Here's the swatch-in-action.  Not really an action hero, but at least there's something to give the impression that actual knitting is happening at the end of my arms/fingers.

Shetland and Angora blend on size 11 bamboo needles /3.5 spi

The multicolored spinning batch from the other day is plied and dried.  Its the epitome of multiple colors, but it didn't turn out like I'd envisioned.  Its much more dull and muted.  I guess that's what happens when you add gray.  Art school 101 I'm sure!

 

DULL AND DULLER 

I found some beautiful cream colored wool in the stash bin that had some sheen and was fine enough to be called a sock weight yarn, I think.... and I really wanted to use it for my next project since it was from way, long ago.  I mean a long time ago.  But the reason I keep tossing it back is because it's just plain old off-white really.  I wanted punch and pizazz!  So I decided to dye it and I chose to mix blue, red and a touch of yellow dye to make a kind of purple. But not being an art school grad, I had no idea what I was doing. None whatsoever.  So at the end of the day, I got Burgundy Wine colored yarn.

Not so dull after a shampoo and color rinse! 

PERSONAL: Yesterday was a sweet uptick in the middle of the week.  We went to see my little granddaughter.  We had a bunch of clothes my daughter had purchased/received from a friend, and we knew we had enough of an excuse to invite ourselves over in order to deliver them.  There were lots of shoes and Charlotte had a little fun trying them on. She can't walk yet, but great shoes are a must when you are learning to walk.  You can never have too many, you know! 

 

We grabbed some burgers and frozen custard , then stopped by a local discount store, where we got an electric kettle.  It's beautiful stainless steel, and is the kind like they use in the UK.  I saw some adorable doll houses and seriously wanted to buy one for Charlotte. I just love this little lady! 

It got me to thinking about how the whole birth order comes into play, and why the oldest child usually thinks the youngest gets all the attention. At this point for us, there is one grandchild, and she is surely going to be spoiled rotten before its over with.  But once another child enters the picture, the attention will have to be divided, and at that point, it will seem like no one cares. (In comparison of course.) Then, more kids will only ensure that the impression is correct.  Less attention means people don't care about me. Or so it seems. But nothing could be further from the truth.  Loving someone is a feeling first. Deep love and tender affection may not be displayed like we'd wish, but it doesn't mean the sentiment is not there. I hate to say, "Its the thought that counts" but it kind of does.  I think that's why the youngest child never feels jealous of attention bestowed on the oldest child.  It seems natural because the youngest child was never accustomed to undivided attention anyway.  And yet, as a 'youngest' child in birth order, I have never once doubted that my parents loved me, no matter how much time or attention they gave me. And I can say without a shadow of a doubt, that the tender affection I feel for both of my children is beyond measure.  I hope that neither one of them has ever felt like I didn't care about them.   I hope that they know that I have always loved them, and always will. Even when I'm old and can't remember their names, I'll still love them with all my heart.  And now, even though there's another child in the picture (a grandchild), I still love my kids like crazy, and still have enough love for Charlotte too!

Equivocation

According to Webster, equivocation means this:

a : subject to two or more interpretations and usually used to mislead or confuse

I could tell you lots of things about my spinning and knitting since the last post.  I could infer some things so you'd think I've been really busy.  I could leave out enough, so that you'd think I'm an amazing and crafty person, capable of who-knows-what, if I only put my mind to it.  Or I could be brutally honest and tell you that I've just made a few swatches, carded a few batts of freshly picked wool, and spun some singles. That's what I could tell you. But... Nah!  What's the fun of that? 

So here are some of those classic pictures I like to post. The kind I put on Instagram to make my life look way more colorful, interesting and enviable.  Yeah, that kind! 

 

Colorful Clouds of Carded Wool

 I carded a little gray, blue, green and yellow, mixing the colors with some mohair to shine it up a bit. I spun the samples and will ply them with a darker gray single to make a yarn with two strands of color variegation and a third strand of gray.  I'd love for this to be a muted, subtle sock yarn. Something that would not scream, "Hey, here comes a clown!"
But not so subtle that it just looks like another hank of gray yarn.  

spinning all but the yellow

Each bobbin weighs 2.5 ounces. The bag holds 5 ounces of gray

 I made two swatches to keep up some semblance of being a knitter.  I'm like an anemic knitter. No power. No energy.  Must keep knitting...

And last night we stopped by my favorite LYS where I purchased 2 ounces of silk noil (white) and a pair of absolutely exquisite rosewood knitting needles. I mean, WOW. Aren't they beautiful? 
 

Bryson Rosewood Needles

 We left the yarn shop and met some friends for dinner - a very easy going couple that we love to hang out with. It was a nice night, in spite of the rain, and we got home kind of late.  It was date night so we took our time coming home.  As caregivers, its important to get away and put fuel in your "couple" tank.  Caregivers need lots of breaks and lots of opportunities to be open and honest about things, without equivocation, if you know what I mean!

First Things First

SPINNING
I've made reference, in the last two blog posts, about a massive amount of carding underway.  When I say massive, I'm not kidding.  The silver-gray fleece came from my friend Suzanne, and my goal has been to card everything in the stash by the middle of summer.  Its actually taking longer than I'd anticipated, and I'm sure that's never happened to you. It happens to me quite a bit.  Go figure!
So here is a little photo essay of my progress.  As of today, I'm still picking and carding and have a ways to go.

Picked locks on left, unpicked upper rt, picked and carded lower rt

Unpicked locks (ounces)

Picked and carded batts

KNITTING
What Swatch?  Everybody always comments that they don't like to swatch when they do a project.  So I thought, while I'm waiting for inspiration, I'll go ahead and swatch some of my yarns, and hopefully that will light my fire, so to speak.

(Cue music for Bonanza theme song and scroll through the pictures)

double yarn through a needle gauge - size 8 needles looks about right

Knitted swatch 4.0 sts. per inch on size 8 needles

Doubled yarn looks like a size 6 needle will work

4.5 stitches per inch on size 6 needles

3 more swatches with fancy-dancy labels - only the middle yarn is handspun

GARDENING
My garden is spectacular!  Well, its looking pretty good, and here are some pictures I thought you'd like to see.  C'mon Spring!

Turnips Galore!

Itty Bitty collards

 I'm not sure why the collards are so slow - they were planted at the same time as the turnips. There's also a smattering of spinach which is also really slow growing.  

More collards and a little bucket of radishes

PERSONAL
I  had coffee with a friend this week; I just love her to death! She's so funny and easy to talk to.
My husband and I went to a birthday party for another friend on Monday night and met some really interesting music industry types.  Its Nashville, after all, so I should not have been surprised. They were all "big dogs" and the fellas had neat wives. That's where I hung out.  Chit chatting, I found that one of the gals was from Alabama, and so was her hubby!  Small world!
Last Thursday night we went to see the birthday girl in concert - she sings and plays the piano.
Last Saturday I went to a tea that was hosted by the wives of some rock band members.  It made for interesting conversation; everything from Pinterest to babies to tattoos! 
And here at home, we watched the first episode of The Dust Bowl on PBS. I've always been fascinated with this part of history, and Ken Burns  does a bang up job every time. Consider the show recommended! 

Cup of Tea

After a roller coaster week, including two major tragedies that dominated the news, it was refreshing to have tea today with some lovely ladies.

Fancy tea party!

Thank you gift - Coasters (Hand Knitted by the hostess!)

We all have something in common. We are all married to musicians.  The other ladies are young enough to be my daughters, and their husbands are on tour right now.  My husband used to travel quite a bit as a musician, and was on tour when I met him. He traveled a good bit even after we were married, and while our kids were growing up.

My two kids saying goodbye to their dad at the airport back in the 90's

I never really thought that my experiences were of value but today I was asked to share some of them. Not everyone values the job a musician does; not everyone sees it as legitimate. Then if the musician becomes successful, everyone wants to know "how you make a living" doing something like that.  The supporting role of being a musician's wife is extremely rewarding, unique and has lots of ups and downs.  I wouldn't trade it for anything, and I felt really good sharing with these band wives how important their role is. God bless them!

I'm almost ready to start another knitting project, and I can only say that what's on the needles hasn't changed since my last post.

What has changed, however, is the amount of wool I've been processing.  Picking and carding is taking a while, and I'm really ready to be done with the current gray fleece.  And I'm only half done with it.  What's up with that??  I still have a really large white fleece that is going to take some doing! Gee!

 I plied the shiny green bamboo yarn - two ply and only two skeins, not a lot of yarn for $12.  Pretty end result but disappointed in the small amount of yarn I got.  Probably not more that 200 yards. This stuff better be good when I knit a swatch!

I bought a new book on our date night Friday, but after I got home and made it into the second chapter, I had to put it down. Not my cup of tea, if you know what I mean.  Glad I got it on the discount table! It was banished to the book shelf this morning, and right away I got online and found an Agatha Christie audiobook to soothe my disappointment.  Thank you Agatha for being a classic writer! 

Her books always shoot straight about human nature, deception and truth telling.  My husband and I watch a TV show called The First 48, about detectives solving crimes, usually homicides.  In every episode, there is an interrogation room where a detective and a suspect or witness sit for an interview.  Its always obvious who is a deceiver and who is a truth teller.  I love Agatha books because the same two people always show up. Deceivers and truth tellers. And there's usually a cup of tea being served !!

Blossom

KNITTING
As luck would have it, the little elf hat was too small for Charlotte as soon as it was made.  I have finally measured her little noggin and hope to be a better knitter/seamstress before the next bit of head gear is made!

Striped elf hat already too small

It will of course be ripped out, just like the yellow shawl.  So far I'm 0 for 2 and have no fresh ideas for knitting projects, except to keep working on this blanket.  Always a good diversion.

Knitting on the Sea Waves Blanket and sipping homemade cappucino

SPINNING
I'm done spinning this terrific green-yellow bamboo roving.  Its so shiny, but it's hard. As in, not soft.  There was no crimp in the fiber, so no bounce.  It is silky, though and will make something very nice, but nothing that needs to spring back.

Green and Yellow singles (prettier in real life!)

PERSONAL
On the day of the Boston Marathon tragedy, I had been carding some gray/blue batts on my drum carder, when my husband called me inside to watch the news report.  I'm so glad I had something to spin.  I grabbed my spindle on the way inside, because I knew before long I would need it to calm my nerves.  We all just watched the news for at least an hour, reliving 9/11 and wondering what it all was about. After that, I started warming up some dinner, and then spun with my little midi whorl spindle the rest of the evening.  God help us.

It has been a fortunate week, being so close to our granddaughter.  I have seen her 3 days in a row, and can't believe my good fortune.

View from my son's front yard - lovely hills in the distance

GARDENING
I am truly blessed to have my kids close at this time of our lives.  It cheers me so to have them over for bits of time here and there.  I also feel fortunate to have such a lovely home and back garden. It has taken 12 years to get it to this stage, but I never feel like its finished.

Snow Ball Tree in the back yard

Ajuga in bloom

Apple tree blossoms

monkey grass invaders

Real gardeners are that way.  Always moving plants, adding and taking away; dreaming of what a new flower bed or tree would look like.  Its nice to love something so much that gives such joy.

This morning I met with a couple of friends at church to pray. It's something we've been doing the last few weeks and is another thing that really truly brings me joy.  When life doesn't  make sense, it helps to pray.  I always feel better after!