Its a sad, sad situation

This afternoon, I'm singing some lyrics that you may recall:
It's sad, it's so sad
It's a sad, sad situation
And it's getting more and more absurd

Yes, I am not going to be able to finish the Calm Down Cardigan.  The back is not yet finished.  There is one completed sleeve.  And. One. Ball. Of. Yarn. Left.

One ball of yarn, one knitted back of sweater, and lefty (arm)

How did this happen?  My calculations were so wrong, so very wrong. There is no way to knit the left front, the right front and the right sleeve with that measly little ball of yarn!!!  So absurd to think I could do this.  The drama is over.  The End.

On a lighter note, I've discovered a great video podcast from Wexford Knits, that has inspired me to not only bounce back from a humbling knitting failure, but to push ahead with my projects.  The podcast production is good ( please check out the trailer) and the pace is excellent.  Highly recommend it!
It makes you want to knit and find new projects to start.  She should work for a yarn shop.  I love people like that; inspiring, excited and doing what they love!

SPINNING
After picking and carding for as long as it would've taken the Israelites to wander in the wilderness, I broke down and started spinning some stuff.

A week's work from bottom left: crimson yarn, dyed wool and roving and knitted sweater parts

This great red yarn came from wool that was dyed ages ago, and looks at me every time I open the wool cupboard in the garage.  That stash is like a liquor cabinet to a high school fraternity kid.  It beckons me, and says, "Just take a peak. You know you want to! " The stash is full of carded, dyed and natural colored wool just waiting to be spun.  I resisted for a while, and then finally gave in and grabbed this crimson batt.
It is three ply and the singles are loosely spun but plied normally.  There are two skeins and a little more wool that could be spun, but I stopped here.

I dyed about 8 ounces of wool, some of the recently carded wool, and roving that I'd carded previously.  Using only a 1/2 tsp. of purple dye, the wool is fun and makes me want to jump in.

And to scratch the itch that I've had for learning to spin on a support spindle, I picked up my tahkli spindle and some lemon yellow wool.  Its so fun, and I took it with me in the car today when we all went to the mall.  H and M just opened a new store in Nashville, and we decided to check it out.

Going to the new H and M store in Nashville!

And I've discovered a new way to use my yarn meter.  When braced vertically it can double as a spindle-kate for winding singles off of a spindle!!  I'm so proud of myself for making this discovery!

READING
I started reading Lonesome Dove, but its a hardback from the library. Easy to read print, but heavy to keep up with at over 800 pages, so I ordered an old used paperback version online.  It should be here in a few days, and I'm looking forward to some evening sessions on the patio after dinner.  I love to read around dusk.  Things are calm and I am usually out of energy from the day.  When its too dark to read, that's my cue to come inside!

PERSONAL
My daughter and her husband came over last night.  We had planned to go to a little downtown community nearby for sandwiches and a walk, but the weather turned rough so we stayed in and had frozen pizza and watched a video.  Very funny movie and excellent pizza!  This morning we had a big breakfast and headed to the mall.  I'm so glad my kids live nearby.  I wouldn't trade these times for anything!  Family is so important to my husband and me.
  Over the past couple of years, we've purposely slowed everything down, and found that we live among some terrific people in our community.  We've never taken the time to get to know our neighbors, but we are now.  Its amazing how rich you find yourself to be, if you just look around.

Living Dangerously

Somehow I got the quixotic idea that I should proceed with the Calm Down Cardigan, without concrete assurance that there would be enough yarn to finish it.  This may seem like a "whatever" kind of situation to a non-knitter, but to us, its like tightrope walking over Niagara Falls.  Or jumping out of a plane with a parachute. Its as close as we come to living dangerously.

Our minds are filled with self-doubt as we get closer to the mid-point of any project, even when we know we'll have enough yarn.  Its a lot like money and a budget.  You know its okay now, but what if something happens and I don't have enough to pay the rent.  That kind of doubt!
And with homespun yarn, there is no going back to the store for more. Its one of a kind. There IS NO MORE.

So, now that I've implied sufficient drama to this post, I'll show you the knitting-so-far, and the what's-left-of-the-yarn.

You see, I did actually weigh both the knitted stuff and the cakes of yarn, and my calculations seemed to indicate that I wouldn't run out, but I'm here to tell you, it just doesn't look hopeful.  And yet, I keep on knitting.  Living dangerously is my middle name.

SPINNING
There's no need to post any pics of the fleece picking.  Its coming along, but taking forever.  I even dreamed last night that I was through with it.  Is that not sick??  I need to get a life!

PERSONAL
After a fun Memorial Day with all the kiddos, I realized that my patio was sorely in need of a good washing.  Power washing!  So I did.  What a mess it was - literally dark green in places.  You can see how clean vs. how dirty in this picture. The part under the table had yet to be washed.

Hitting the pavement

Power Washed Patio!

READING
Two books need to be updated here, just in case you don't have a life either, and you're actually interested in what I'm reading.
First, The Lost City of Z,  lost the battle for my attention.  While interesting and full of good information, it seemed like the writer had a hard time getting to the point.  I have no idea how many hours of it I'd listened to, but eventually I had enough.
Then I was inspired to get Uncle Tom's Cabin as my new pick, but after the download was finished, I saw that 20 hours might be a little ambitious for me.
There I go again, taking on unrealistic goals.  I can feel the horse rider pulling on the reins and saying "Whoa, Nellie!"
Today I have some less ambitious goals, like cleaning the bathtub and sweeping the front porch. It may not warrant a call to the local news, but for me, it might just be worthy of a Tweet or two.

Peripatetic

My little Bosworth midi - ready to go at a moment's notice!

Peripatetic - Traveling from place to place, esp. working or based in various places for relatively short periods

Yeah, that's me! Seems like lately I'm just here, there and everywhere.  Last weekend my husband and I traveled back to my hometown for my high school reunion.  Just two weeks before, we were there for my niece's graduation.  Travel is not cheap these days, but I am.  We are doing the best we can to save money while hitting the important things in life.  Not sure how successful I've been, but what the hey? Life is all about the journey, right?

Before the trip -  Turkish spindle in my back yard

 I took my Turkish spindle with me to document some of the travel and spinning combined!  I was inspired by a thread on Ravelry where spinners posted pictures of where their Jenkins Turkish spindles had been.

Driving down the highway of life!

Spinning in my parents' front yard

Mine is not a name brand, but it was still so much fun doing this, I gotta tell you!


Coming home I've determined to finish up a few bits and bobs.  Here are the singles, and the plied bobbin of bamboo silk that I bought earlier this year in Asheville, at Earth Guild.

And here's a pic of the picking/carding I'm working on.  Major progress, but hardly making a dent in the huge bag of fleece.

9 bags of wool - 4oz. each

KNITTING
I have just about finished one sleeve of the Calm Down Cardigan, but came to a screeching halt when I started feeling that, "Oh no, what if I run out of yarn!" feeling. So I weighed the sleeve and the rest of the yarn, and it looks like I'm in the clear.  I hope. Not really 100% sure, but pretty confident that there should be enough.  I guess if I run out of yarn, I won't be calling it the Calm Down Cardigan anymore.  It will more than likely have a one-word name with four letters, if you know what I mean!

LEFTY

Twice the Fun

GARDENING
Today before the rains came, I dug up all the turnips, collards and spinach in the garden.  Its time to plant the summer stuff and I think we're about done with late season frosts.  I chopped and cleaned and cooked almost all of the greens, saving some for dinner, some went to the freezer, and what wasn't prepped is in a big plastic bucket on the patio. 

Turnips!

I also got some pictures of the newest blooms this week.  I am a total nerd when it comes to flowers. 

Wild flowers!

Whirling butterfly plant

Rose Garden

KNITTING
After I started the Calm Down Cardigan, and knitted the heck out of a sleeve, it was abundantly clear that there would never be enough yarn to finish the thing with those big, honkin' needles, and I was hatin' those big honkin' size 11 straight needles.  That's why I never knit with anything bigger than a 10. Its like knitting with telephone poles. 

Gone, gone, bye bye!

So its all ripped out and re-started with size 8 and 10 circular needles.  Much better!! It doesn't bum me out to frog the two sleeves, because they were a kind of swatch anyway. 

Take two on the Calm Down Cardigan

READING
I started a new audio book today, called The Lost City of Z.   Here's the excerpt from Amazon:

In 1925, the legendary British explorer Percy Fawcett ventured into the Amazon jungle, in search of a fabled civilization. He never returned. Over the years countless perished trying to find evidence of his party and the place he called “The Lost City of Z.” In this masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, journalist David Grann interweaves the spellbinding stories of Fawcett’s quest for “Z” and his own journey into the deadly jungle, as he unravels the greatest exploration mystery of the twentieth century.

I listened to it all morning while in the garden, and it was warm and muggy today, so it felt like I was in the Amazon.  It kind of made me feel like I was really there, and that made the heat more bearable.  

PERSONAL
Last night we took my daughter in law out to eat for her birthday, with all the family.  It was so fun, and my son made her favorite cake - Snicker Cake!!    Perfect way to end a birthday dinner.

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!