Tall Gal Knits and Spins

Summer life has its pleasures and its annoyances

Its summer time...the weather is mostly cooperating, and the creative juices get flowing...trying out small projects just to try a technique is always fun....

For example, I'm taking great pleasure in making this felted bag...

A combination of a knit then felted bag and needle felting.  I've felted a knitting project before.  Sometimes I love it, sometimes I don't.  This black bag is made out of stash yarn, some Cascade Pastaza that I've got tons of lying around here.  The flower (which I have been told resembles a lady slipper) is from roving that I have around the house.  The stem is twined sock yarn that looks like stem material.

This was a quick easy project to do...I need to go buy bag handles for it this weekend.  Its just the right size to be another project bag, as you can never have too many of those, or to be a small tote bag for lightweight shopping. We'll see what handles I come up with.

And then there is the annoyance of the summer...and normally I don't share things like this, but this one just irritates me...summer time equals sandals, some new some old.  I bought a new pair over the weekend, the DH and I walked into Harvard Square for dinner the other night, its about 1 mile from our place, easy walk, one we do all the time, literally.

Halfway home the other night I had to take off my new summer sandals because I had rubbed a blister on the top of one of my feet.  No biggie, I've done it before, will do it again.  Went to bed and the next morning woke up to this...

it had cracked and bled...and has done so again today...this drives me NUTS!  I have never had a blister do this to me since I was a kid in Iowa in the freezing winters and my hands would crack...

Now it is covered in antibiotic cream and covered with a gauze bandage for a few days.  Its bad enough it is probably going to leave a scar, no matter how much vitamin E lotion I put on it.  So much for cute feet for a few weeks!

I'm off to go do something else crafty...I cast on a sock for the Summer of Socks for the DH (since I'm obviously not wearing any for a while) over the weekend...should have a progress picture for you soon!

It must be summer..I have time to do something besides sit at the computer....

Its been a busy few weeks since the last little sweater update....but not so much that I couldn't make another EZ sweater for Caterina!

I love Elizabeth Zimmerman's patterns...not only are the easy to do once you read through the whole pattern but the designs just make sense.  This is the Baby Surplice Sweater, a little wrap sweater that you an adjust as the baby gets bigger by moving the buttons along.   Buttons, that I will be purchasing this afternoon....

Yes, I am enjoying knitting girl baby clothes!  Not that I don't love knitting for the two nephews and my Godson as well...but this is a nice change of pace.  Actually, I have two more EZ sweaters lined, up one for C and one for her big brother that I'm planning on starting in July...

And the best bit..I'm using up Stash Yarn!  I've actually been extremely good this year.  No sheep shows so far , although I am planning on going to Rhinebeck, school allowing, in October and I'm only getting my bimonthly dose of STR from the club....I just may actually be able to buy some yarn this fall and not have to pile it up on the floor in front of the cubes!

This adorable sweater isn't the only thing I've done.  I finished my quilt block of the month, which I am also going to turn in this afternoon....

Not bad for not touching my sewing machine in 6 weeks!

It is summer time...and with less brain power being abused by school...I've picked up some lace, I've joined the Summer Sampler KAL over at Bad Cat Designs.

These are the first 2 patterns, one a week, and I'm running a week behind...go figure.  But I'm enjoying this as a chance to explore new lace patterns and its just a fun little stole to knit.  Its an open KAL so check out the link above if you think you want to join in.

And just because one lace project isn't enough....

Can you guess what this is the start of....its one repeat of a border pattern for a specific shawl....

No I'm not going to knit it entirely over the summer...the goal is to have the edging "hopefully" completed before classes start up again mid September.  Then try do a few rows every week.  This was my treat to myself for surviving the semester and getting into Harvard officially.  The yarn is the Gossamer Cashmere Silk blend from Heirloom Knitting in yummy burgundy!

Tonight is the summer solstice and tomorrow is my wedding anniversary...we're heading to Portsmouth NH for the day tomorrow...there's going to be some fabric stash enhancement I'm sure and maybe even a little yarn too....

Have a wonderful weekend..I'm off to buy buttons!

I did fall off of the face of the earth again....

But managed to crawl my way back up! 

A fact of life for me while taking classes is that nothing is set in stone about what I can keep up with while classes are in session, aside from work and school.  This is something I need to get used to.  Everything came to a standstill after vacation.  I had a few priorities that had to be taken care of, so I did nothing creative or crafty until the end of classes.

But school is out for the semester, I'm not due back until mid September and now I've got a few things to show you...projects I've completed since classes let out.

These two projects are for my friend M, who just had her second child, an adorable baby girl who I'm going to visit tomorrow....

Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket...easy, quick knit.. Cast it on the day Caterina was born, finished it up earlier this week, sewed the buttons on it this morning. 

And a blankie for the new little one...she's been given many blankets already, so she will have one more to add to the warmth pile.  Fiber Trends Thermal Blanket

This one has become one of my favorite baby gifts....

I'm trying to clean up some old projects...I've pulled out the Spring Shawl by Sharon Miller, I need to figure out where I left off on that and I've started the Summer Sampler Project from Bad Cat Designs.  She is doing it as weekly installments and she's using some of the Japanese stitch patterns, so I'm using this as a testing ground to see if I want to go ahead and pick up the books.

Still quilting and spinning, just haven't gotten to them yet..trying to decide if I want to pick a quilt to do for the summer for the house as a wall hanging or maybe abed quilt...

Hopefully the summer will lead to more regular posts...I am going to be posting some pics from Hawaii on my Flickr account if you'd like to see over the weekend..follow the link on the side bar.

Sure signs of spring

Yellow daffodils and

painted toes!!

The daffodils are staying here...the toes are leaving for Hawaii early tomorrow morning!

Looking forward to some sleep,  sun, more sun, and some quiet time knitting before and after sunning!

See you after the 1st of April!

Look...she really does something this week!

Thanks for all the congrats about becoming a matriculating student.  I've gotten my head wrapped around it as much as I'm going to until I talk to advisor in a few weeks, which must be why I actually got some stuff done this week.

One of the nephew's birthday is in early April, his 1st birthday this year.  I wanted to do something a little nicer for him than the usual stuffed animal and sweater, and I wanted to learn a new quilting technique - flying geese.  Combine the two and we get -

A Beatrix Potter quilt! 

Its just the right size for his car seat and stroller, its going to be 35" once its finished.   The wonderful bit is that a friend has agreed to do the quilting and put the binding on for me.  Not because I can't, but because I'm going away for 9 days and don't have time and can't take it with me. 

The other thing I've worked on is Juno from the Fall 07 Knitty.  (by the way...the spring issue is out!)

I'm using the Atacama Alpaca that I brought back from Scandinavia a few years ago...using the stash!

And I started a sock...with the intention of its going with me on vacation...Veil of Leaves from Cat Bordhi's new book -

So far its a fun little sock to knit...hoping to have a matched set when I get back...where am I going?

To the gloriously warm, wonderful island of Oahu!  For 9 days, no work,  no cold, no rain (I hope).  I'm going to visit a friend and hide for a bit...still figuring out what I'm taking to work on..maybe I'll know next week!

Hi...i'm alive and some news

As I fall of the face of the earth again....I'm alive. February is one of the worst months for me...I hate winter, its cold, dark and miserable and I just lose all my motivation to deal with anything outside of school and work.  I don't think I've honestly knit anything since the last post...not joking.  I've barely done any quilting and what I have done is just because I have to finish something quickly...

March is a little warmer and I'm soon heading for a warm vacation, my outlook is improving a bit.  So while I have nothing to show you today, I'm hoping next friday I will.

So my news is that after 8 weeks of what seemed like interminable waiting and probably the reason for part of my funk the past month - "The Letter" dropped from Harvard yesterday.  As of 3/4/08 when they wrote the letter I am officially a Harvard Bachelor's Degree Candidate through the Division of Continuing Education (i.e. night school for people who have to work).  Between what they transferred and what I've taken I have 40 credits left to complete, 10 classes.  Theoretically I can be done in 3 more semesters and possibly 1 summer school session.   I've emailed who they assigned to me for an advisor and I'm planning on meeting with them in april at some point to figure out exactly how this is going to work.  I need /want to do this as efficiently and quickly as possible without going totally nuts.  From what they sent me I don't have think I have enough wiggle room left to do a special concentration for the bachelor's, I've got classes like foreign language, ethics, logics/stats, and writing intensive courses and a few other "requirements".  I'm sure there's a way to combine it down, but I'll need help figuring it out. 

Its a full fledged Harvard University ALB Degree, just done at night.  Having it will go a long way if necessary down the road. My immediate  goal is to finish this, then the next semester start a master's program through the extension school the next full semester.  I can do this at night as well, if I decide to go for a PhD, then I have to switch to day school.  That's a ways away, but still tucked into the back of my head...as that path means a lot of changes for me with work and personally.

I didn't think they were going to:  A) really admit me and B) give me as many credits as they did.  So I'm still reeling a bit from this.  I'm thrilled and relieved but now also a bit terrified.  Its now gone from taking classes because my brain is melting from boredom to I'm really doing it, again.  I'll be fine in a little bit, but for now I just need to get through this semester and have a game plan for the remaining time. 

So after all that I have a silly picture to lighten the post...

Cauliflower sheep! 

Off to let my head spin a bit...hopefully real knitting content next week!

Midnight blues seemed to be my colors this week

Might of had something to do with the dreary weather we're having.  Its been basically cloudy and grey for a week.  Not my favorite weather.

Since things are slightly calmer this semester I've been trying to take one day a week to do some spinning...this week I was on the lovely Drudik wheel...with some hand dyed merino top.

definitely enjoying spinning on the Drudik.  Right now I'm guess this yarn is going to come out somewhere between a fingering and a DK  once plied.    Definitely dark blues, but there are some lighter shades in there as well.  I've got 8 ounces total of this roving, I've split it into 4 ounce balls, we'll see how much there is when I'm all done.

My other dark blue of the week is Ice Queen from Knitty!  I absolutely loved the way this looked on the model, but light blue is not a good color choice for dark brown hair and pale skin, I went with....midnight blue Kid Silk Haze from Rowan and A#11 seed beeds.

You can see the highlights of the beads, they're a bit more subtle than the larger beads the pattern calls for. I chose them mainly because they are what I had in my bead stash.  If I decide to make another one, I think a trip into Beadworks in Harvard Square may be in order.   The pattern was quick to do once the set up was taken care of and using the cotton for the provisional cast on made it extremely easy to pull out afterwards. The DH is debating on whether he'd like me to make one for his grandmother without the beads for Christmas...are we already thinking of Xmas gifts?

With this little project done I'm thinking of what I want to do next...I need to make socks for the DH, I'd like to make myself a sweater, but I also have a few non lace UFO's to think about.  I also have a couple of quilting projects on the burners...I feel a case of startitis coming.

A fascination with bags

This past weekend I felt like doing some sewing, I did my block of the month quilt square but I felt like doing something else too, but not a quilt per say.  A few weeks ago I had made this bag, from a pattern I picked up at Quilter's Way in Concord ma.

Is a patchwork bag..I love the sandcrab in the middle.  It adds just a little bit of funk to it.  This is a very soft bag, its been lined and quilted around the fabric squares.  These are Kofu squares, slightly heaver printed japanese shirting fabrics.  The bag I lined with with some cool grey/red/black dragon fabric I had stashed.  And its just big enough to hold a large sweater project or several small ones

See?  So i had fun with this, and I learned something new.  So i decided I wanted to do something else, smallish just to see how it would go.  I ended up making two things..a little zip pouch and a small clutch.

   

very cute...and i learned how to sew in a zipper!  Not bad for the first one.  I was so pleased by this little experiment that I decided to go a bit bigger and made this clutch for myself.

Stash fabric and a stash button!  One I had picked up this fall at Rhinebeck.  Its just a little different and  think adds to the bag.  You can see the deep crimson red I used for the lining.

Both of these projects came from this book...and I would recommend it to anyone newish to sewing and looking for small projects but instant gratification.  There are some larger ones in here to do, like some more bags...We'll have to see how much trouble I can get into to.

On a side note, I'm going to start trying to post on Fridays/weekends once a week. With school and work its just too hectic for me to do so more regularly until June..we're aiming for starting this weekend...maybe with some beaded knitting pictures if the weather ever clears enough for me to get good shots!

 

 

 

we're calling january a wash...

Usually at the end of a semester I'm wiped, but this time I was really wiped out and just kind of became an unfocused puddle for the remainder of the month.  So January is a wash and almost over..I'm still feeling pretty beat but the spring semester started last night so wonder woman is back in action again.  I did at least decide to only take one class this time...with a professor I adore and admire (and who actually remembered me and seemed to be pleased I was in his class).  While there will be a bunch of work....like i need to read "The Tain" by next tuesday, I'm looking forward to it.

I did finish up two simple projects.  One was J's scarf for christmas. It is 8 inches wide, because that is what he wanted.  The scarf is a bit heavy in the handle because the herringbone weave makes it dense.  But it is also warm and he's wearing it all the time, so I guess is a good thing.

Started:  Dec 2007

Finished Jan 2008

Yarn:  Classic Elite Inca Alpaca Red, 6 skeins

Needles:  #5 circs.

I also finished up a scarf for me that has been hanging around since October and Rhinebeck...my Quivik Scarf.

Very simple lace pattern, the softness of the Qiuvik makes the scarf.  I need to steam it to make the edges lie a bit flatter, but this will be nice to dress up some of my button downs and basic "nice" tee's.

Started:  Oct 2007, Finished Jan 2008

Needles #6 circ's

Yarn:  Windy Valley Musk Ox, 100% quivik

Pattern:  Little shell scarf, free with purchase of yarn

The other constructive and necessary thing I did was evaluate what I had lying around here as a UFO and decide what I was going to do with it. There were 12!  One is a sock, the Pomatomous socks, those are going with me on a plane at  the end of march to get done.  The constant twisting of the stitches is killing my hands but the second sock will be completed.  Another is FLAK, its  not going to the RIP pond, but I am going to pick it up next fall to do and finish. Just not in the mood right now for it.  I've got two lace shawls sitting...Melanie and Spring Shawl both from Heirloom Knitting.  the spring shawl can sit, the wedding i was going to wear it to has been postponed at least until 2009 (couple realized paying for school and wedding at same time bad).  My hope is that once I come out of the fog later in the spring that I'll want to work on both of them again but for the next few months they're going to wait.  I ripped out two other projects that had been sitting and obviously were not thrilling me.

A few other have been hanging around less than 6 months, so I'm not ready to decide about those yet.

Then there's the promenade shawl...garter stitch, garter stitch, garter stitch.  Mindless (good) but boring (bad).  I just have one side left to go.  I will finish it this year, but again I'm just not in the mood right now.  Yep, January has been a drain on the ole creative juices here at Tall Gal..

I did try several times to start a sweater for me, note the word 'try'.  I even did gauge swatches, washed and blocked, got gauge there, but when knitting commenced, gauge changed....reason why - my hands are killing me this winter with the up and down cold and the work load.  For small amounts of time I can maintain gauge, but then it goes either up or down, mostly loosening because I can't maintain the tension.  I'm not happy about this right now. 

J is getting a sweater - one where my hands seem to be behaving - Jared Flood's Cobblestone.  Good old Bartlett yarn comes to the rescue again.  It's hiding the minor variations in my gauge well, much better than the more refined, thinner yarns I prefer for my sweaters. He's a boy what do you expect...I put him in cashmere for a sweater and he'll felt it or do something else weird to it.

Bartlett is a man's best friend.... and mine right now till it warms up.  I hate to say it, but looks like worsted weights or better are my yarn of choice for the next month or so.  I will make my self a sweater, but I think until the weather gets a bit warmer and my hands aren't quite so tight, we're going to work on other projects...

By the way, grades are out...

yep...that's me

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End of Year

Wow, another year has gone by, hard to believe.
Here's a photo wrap up of the xmas gifts.

Godson's fair isle vest for christmas

J's Christmas socks

comfy sweater for godson, perfect for snowy days

my warm comfy blanket..its folded in half for the shot, but is about 5' long and 6' wide.

And last but not least....J's xmas scarf, its still on the needles, the first time in 11 years I've had to give him a gift on the needles, but he loves the pattern, its about half done.

finals coming up soon, so sparse posting for a few more weeks, then I can breathe again.

Have a wonderful New Year everyone...

checking in....and a surprise

Sorry for dropping off the face of the earth...school and work, we're in the home stretch for the year, i've just to got survive until next thursday and I'm done with work until 2008 and the first draft of the final paper is due that night as well.  Its going to be undergoing some major revisions during the break before the official revision after its review just because..speaking of which if anyone of you have some good insight on Shirley Jackson's Haunting of Hill House and the female gothic drop me a line....

this is the state of my desk...the work box is off to the side.

articles and books for the papers, one of J's xmas presents, my application for matriculation shoved along side, can we say a bit chaotic.

Any who, I have a surprise to show you.  I treated myself to something, something that was a once in a life time 'you've got to be kidding me' double take. 

its a box, kinda big right?  It got here wednesday ahead of the snow storm.

look what it says on the box....spin wheel.  That's pretty obvious right, well here's the surprise...

Can you guess who made the wheel...

its not made by  a mass wheel producer, and not made by someone who I owned a wheel from up to now...

Here's my surprise, I am now the ecstatic owner of a Magnus Drudik Wheel!  She's made out of solid myrtle wood and has ratios of 5.8: all the way to 30:1. She's used, but in perfect condition, someone needed to part with her and I just happened to be paying attention on the spin-sales list at the right moment.  The general consensus is that Magnus has stopped making wheels, or the wait list is so long (even though I "think" my name is on it) that it would never happen.

She's been named Priscilla by my MIL and FIL (because she came a similar way that Elvis the dining room set came).  That huge box, my FIL made for her to be shipped to me in.  Here's santa's helper at work...

They sent me this picture to show me how they were putting the crate together after I explained to them what needed to be done.  Thanks Guys!

And she spins like a dream...I have to hand it to Magnus, he knows what he's doing.  Aside from my Wyatt Wheel, this the only other wheel I've ever been able within five minutes of setting it up to get lace weight on.

I'm just itching to sit and play with it more than this, but work and that friggin paper come first....December 21st can' get here quick enough.

warm goodies

winter hat rough draft, for several reasons...doesn't go with any of my winter coats.  Yep, its warm, love the corrugated ribbing for the extra stability, the pattern I chose is great, the varigated yarn is great.  Second problem, you can't see the pattern that well in the body of the hat because I used a dark skein for the background color...duh.

1 skein of cascade 220 grey heather that I've had kicking around here for about 10 years, and a skein of rustic  wool from the queensland collection .  But its still all stash yarn.

So its version 1.0, the rough draft.  I have colors set aside to do V2.o, hopefully over thanksgiving weekend.  Not stash yarn for the second go, I wanted to make sure that we had better contrast instead of randomness this time.

Something that does go with more of my coats, but will also be an option for inside wear too is my newest scarf.

The first picture shows the color much better (and is a more pleasing shot).  This second one shows the pattern  bit better.  Just a simple 4 row repeat easy lace pattern.  A quick knit on #11 needles.  About 5 hours.

This is Debbie Bliss's Alpaca Silk.  Again it has been kicking around my stash for a while, I think i got this from her club a few years ago as my membership gift.   2.5 skeins of luscious cranberry red.  soft, warm.

Now back to work, have a great weekend!

its cold now....

This was the view out my office window after the storm cleared out earlier this week.  Its currently 34 in Boston...late fall has set in.  The tomatoes may have frosted last night, I haven't gone out to check yet this morning.  I'm refusing to turn on the heat until I absolutely have to, that's what layers are for, and all this wool I own right...

So the office is freezing, about 62-64 degrees, good for the computers, bad for the extremities.  I have polartec fleece gloves that I wear on my hands that I buy every few years, yes I could make them, but these fit perfect and are warm, I'll pay for the convenience this time.  But I have no lap blanket this year, I'm wearing hikng thermals under my flannel to deal with the draft on my legs, and now these...

They may not be glamorous, but they are warm!  Leg warmers out of angora blend that has been kicking around my stash for years.  They are warm, lofty and I made them big enough to go over any pair of flannel or fleece pants that I wear during the winter. 

Along with this I realized that last winter I lost my favorite hat, bought one that is too big to be warm on really cold nights.  So I'm plotting away

Glass baubles and a little yarn - photo heavy

So as a reward to myself for getting through the KFYS 2007 relatively intact and not having even more yarn coming out of the room (i.e. I didn't have to buy more storage units) we went to Rhinebeck a few weeks ago.  The main purpose was to drop off some roving to be turned into quilt batting.  I took 5 out, and should about 5 or 6 king size batts back that I can then cut up and use as needed.  I don't expect to see them much before january.

I usually go with a large shopping list, this year not so much.  I was looking for a particular book, which I found, and buttons, no definite fiber plans of any kind.  That says one of several things -
A) I've lost my fiber mojo - not bloody likely
B) I've maxed out my yarn and fiber stash - I repeat, not bloody likely
C) I'm truly swamped with school and work and just haven't done squat since september
The answer is C, which partially explains the lack of posts lately, nothing to show and I hate rambling just for the sake of a post.

So what did I get,  the book was Simply Shetland 4 with Eunny Jang's Autumn Rose sweater, which some day I plan to make.  The link sends you to Two Swans, a place I like to drool at.  I picked up some replacement needles thanks to a dog that had a chewing fetish and buttons, pretty, pretty glass buttons.

These three all came from Moving Mud Studios, and let me tell you, her work is absolutely gorgeous!  The first two are just singles of a set, the darker brown one I have six of, the smaller one I have three of.   This large one is a single button and is about 2.5" in diameter, it may sit and wait for a perfect bag to be the closure for, or I may turn it into a pendant.  The glass swirling within each of these buttons is just amazing, and playing with them in the light was a lot of fun, I may post the other pics on the flickr account when I get some time.

I also bought buttons from another vendor, and I've lost the slip already, but they're just as attractive.

these buttons with the sheaves of wheat just had a fall appeal to me.  I can see them being used as individual buttons on bags, or if I were to knit a big sweater coat they would work great too.

I did buy a bit of yarn, my single splurge was this

Yep, a lone skein of pure 100% quivit yarn.  A scarf for me, at $69 (it was on sale for the show, is normally a lot more for the pure musk ox fiber) for 218 yards, it stays right here.  I've bought  plenty of expensive yarn(s) before, but not a more rare and luxurious feeling one.  It feels to me softer and more buttery than our friend cashmere, I love that one just as much and will share those skeins as precious gifts to dear friends.  This time I'm being greedy.  I'm keeping the pattern simple, it will be a dressy inside scarf for me, hopefully before it gets too miserable out there

I also got more STR, but those are headed to my Ravelry page at some point soon so check there for the new colors.  I'm tallgalknits there too.  I also picked up some yarn from Briar Rose this year, some lace and some sportweight.  She does nice color work and I like the fact that she does colors that are muted and toned in a different way.

grandma's blessing, sport weight, I've got about 2000 yards of this, it may be destined for  sweater coat for next fall.  And a skein of their alpaca lace weight - Angel Face

no immediate plans for it, and yes I was having a blue day, because here's my final purchase

This along with 11 friends (gunmetal blue) is from Shelridge Farms, I bought it to make this sweater, which has been cast on and like everything else is waiting for me to get away from this desk...not a peach/orange girl, but this blue suits me just right.  I like the fact that the lace changes for modesty at the right point.  I bought extra so I could lengthen the body and arms if need be.  I took it with the wool/nylon combo because I have a feeling this is going to become a favorite sweater and having the bit of memory from the nylon may not be such a bad thing.

Well, that's all I got honest...pretty small for me.  I'm off to enjoy a friday night on the couch without books, is paper writing week so I probably won't surface again until next weekend..

Oh by the way, first paper got an A (WOOHOO), second quiz not so good 16./20 (see first part of sentence), I'll live.  I need the expo class as my last requirement before applying for degree status the happier that prof is the easier my life is.