Category: Knitting

Much needed break

Sorry for the hiatus. After getting in about 5:00pm on Monday evening from Virginia I have been catching up on the usual after show work. I have also been feeling worn down from all the social contact and needed a little recharge break. I am naturally introverted and while I do love meeting knitters at shows and online, I do get overloaded at times and need to step back briefly. If that isn’t enough to do me in, then the sheer physical exhaustion of doing 6 shows in 7 weeks definitely finished  the job. 

I am not totally caught up on paperwork from the last two shows yet. I have more pressing tasks to get done first because while we do have a couple weeks home before SAFF, that goes by pretty quick, and some of the paperwork can always be done later. I would rather get it done as I go so the job is smaller but sometimes that is just no possible. I have to remember to be flexible sometimes. I have some dyeing to get done for one thing. We are low on some stock and I hate to run out of popular colors. I also have to go and get my trailer break system serviced. We discovered Sunday night after hooking up the trailer to the truck that it wasn’t working. I don’t know for sure if the problem is in the controller that is installed in the truck, the wiring, or the actual brakes on the trailer. Maybe it’s a combination of things. So anyway that will take a day in itself, since we have to empty the trailer and take it in to be serviced.

A tiny amount of knitting did occur since my last report. I finished the first Hedgerow Mitt and started the second. I was worried that my yarn supply might run short so I weighed the mitt and the remaining ball. Both are 35g. Yep, exactly. It is going to be close, but there are some places where I can fudge it, so I am not TOO worried.

Hedgerow mitt

Okay, I really need to get some work done today so I need to cut this off but I will leave you with some pictures from the Fall Fiber Festival of Virginia 2011.

Fall Fiber Festival of Virginia 2011

Fall Fiber Festival of Virginia 2011

Fall Fiber Festival of Virginia 2011

Fall Fiber Festival of Virginia 2011

Fall Fiber Festival of Virginia 2011

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Some actual knitting content

Well don’t get too excited. It’s not a lot, but there will at least be some pictures that I took in the booth today. Not great but better than nothing. I made it to the point where the thumb stitches are on  holder. Riveting, right?

hedgerow mitts

 We had no more rain over the weekend to speak of, so that’s good. One more show under the belt and trailer is all reloaded for next weekend at the fall Fiber Festival of Virginia. As a matter of fact we got all packed up in record time for us; 45 minutes. If you have seen our booth, you will know that is pretty amazing. It’s got a lot of stuff and it usually takes at least an hour and a half, though we have been known to break it down in an hour and fifteen minutes on occasion. The packing usually takes only 30 minutes or so, 45 minutes at the most. We have a pretty good system down and we didn’t start out this efficient. The time consuming part is if it’s a long haul to the trailer or if the walk ways are congested by all the vendors trying to use a small walkway at the same time. Well, at this show we were fortunate to have a booth space right near a door where only a couple other vendors were also loading and we were able to back up the trailer right to our booth. We didn’t even need to use the hand cart. That’s why it was so fast. Just pack up a carton and walk right out and there was the trailer. Open-mouthed smile

I don’t know for sure what we will be doing this week, other than visiting Heather and Garrod. The girls said they would like to go to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Meredith and I went in 2007 when we were in Baltimore for Stitches East. We’ll see if that works out for something to do. We will probably check out Skyline Drive or something too.

Later!

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Just what I needed

I did a little shopping this weekend at two of my friends’ booths because they really have wonderful stuff.

First, I have been looking for a new pair of earrings since my usual pair that I wear are missing some stones and I am kind of tired of them after several years of wearing them. I am not one to own a lot if jewelry. I will find something I like and never change them until I need new ones because I lose or break them. I am the same with bags and shoes.

So I am visiting with Jennie the Potter who has such fabulous stuff and low and behold she has lovely jewelry too. Who knew? I had her pick me out a selection of green earrings to choose from and of course I needed a charm to match for my necklace.

What do you think? I like :-)

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Another thing I had been keeping an eye out for are some little pouches for my knitting notions that I carry in my knitting bag. I had a plastic container with a lid that I held together with a rubberband. Not the greatest. While chatting with Chris of Briar Rose Fibers I saw just the thing.  She had these beautiful little zipper bags and I didn’t waste any time snagging a couple. :-)

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We are driving home tomorrow and I will probably finish The Girl who Kicked the Hornets Nest on the drive.  I am really enjoying these.

Oh, I have been working on my Sprossling lately. I am almost finished with second front. I also started a set of fingerless mitts with the Bel Air sweater  leftovers. It is Hedgerow Mitts which are free and can be found on Ravelry.

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Okay I am going to have to cut this off for now. I am writing from my phone in my booth and but is getting busier. Sorry too for the slightly inferior pictures. My phone actually takes pretty decent pictures, but the lighting is not stellar in the buildings here.

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Stitches is over for another year and new socks

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Finished the socks finally and started a pair for the baby in the booth (Stitches Midwest) on Sunday with the leftover yarn since I needed easy knitting for that. Here’s how far I got on that by the time we were all packed up and in the hotel for the night. Again I meant to take pictures during loading but we were in a hurry to get it done, so..ah well. Maybe next time.

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We had a really nice suite at the Holiday Inn Express in Schaumberg. I have a Priority Club membership and since I have Platinum status, oo la la, I sometimes get free upgrades. Open-mouthed smile It was nice too have extra room since we were there for a full week.

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Here’s the finished pair and if you notice I started the third book in the Karen Vail series on my Nook Sunday morning too. I also finished my audiobook of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and listened to the The Girl who Played with Fire on the drive home yesterday. I am enjoying both of these series very much.

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We had a great time at Stitches and I want to take a moment and say that we appreciate everyone who came out to support the show. Smile

We drove home yesterday and will have eight days home before we have to leave again for Wisconsin Sheep & Wool.  It’s a long haul but we usually do it all in one day.

I planned to write more but at the moment I have a whining toddler on my lap and need to do something about that, so….more later.

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Good Reads

Well I finished the book I was reading The 7th Victim that I told you about last week and it was quite an interesting read. Now, I admit that I saw where it was going, long before the main character did, but there was a twist I hadn’t predicted. I am excited to start the next episode in Crush. As I said before, I think, this is not the genre I usually read, but it is one of my favorite TV/Movie genres. It’s nice to have light reading sometimes in between more challenging stuff, no?

I am still listening to the The Moonstone when I can and it’s wrapping up the mystery about now in the last two hours. Being 19th century English literature, it’s much more descriptive and complex. It’s got a larger cast of characters some of which you don’t get much advantage to know very well, so I find I can’t listen to it and be doing something that requires my full concentration. I mostly listen while driving or occasionally while knitting something easy, like a simple sock.

I will be on the road next week on the way to Allegan, MI for the Michigan Fiber Festival so that will be a good chance to finish it up. I haven’t yet picked out what other book I will download for the trip. I found none of the 3 for 2 credit offerings at Audible.com this week to my liking, but I do have quite a few in my wish list. I am leaning towards Christine Falls or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo gets such mixed reviews that I am not sure I even want that one. I am pretty sure I would like Christine Falls. Anyone got any feedback on either of these?

Knitting is still moving along at a snail’s pace. I have started the gusset on the second sock but that’s it. No new picture. Just scroll down and imagine that one a little longer. Winking smile

We have been labeling yarn and packing more stock in the trailer for our trip next week. We are going to Allegan, MI, as I said above and from there we will go straight to Schaumburg, IL for Stitches Midwest. We will be in booths 323-325. I’ll be blogging more from the shows. Smile

Okay parting picture for the day (can’t have a post without a picture) are these of Elijah playing on Emma’s bed among her menagerie.

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On to the Next One

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This is all I’ve got for knitting content folks. Better than nothing, but it’s not too exciting for you. I am enjoying knitting with this yarn though and the finished sock feels good. My only slight annoyance is that I went ahead and knit them with the short row heel rather than converting to a heel flap and I wish I hadn’t. I know the short row heels don’t fit my foot as comfortably, but for some reason ignored that and thought that maybe this time would be different. Why do we do things like that? Anyway, it’s an okay fit, but a heel flap would have been better.

I should be knitting my Sprossling, but for some reason I am just not in the mood right now. Socks are about all I can manage right now. We are trying to get so much done right now since we will be on the road soon for the late summer and fall shows and won’t be home very much for that whole season. I am also trying to focus on the children’s lessons while I can too, so that just really doesn’t leave much time left for knitting, and certainly nothing which requires much concentration. I want mindless wind down time stuff, so socks fit that bill.

Speaking of wind down time, after finishing The Help last week, I wanted another very easy to read book, so I shopped my stash on my Nook and decided on a Free Friday download from awhile back. 7th Victim is not my usual genre, but I do like crime dramas and currently am watching my way through Criminal Minds, and this book is very similar to that. It is, in fact, about a serial killer and the main character is a lone woman who is a FBI profiler. It’s good, and even bought the second book with this character,Crush, for when I finish this one. So far there are two more after that if I want to read more.

I have noticed that since I got my Nook I have read many books I might not otherwise have tried. I used to stick mainly to Classics, and still do read them a lot, but it’s fun to have choices from modern authors too for a change. I am currently listening to The Moonstone on my iPod for my Classics fix. I can do that while doing monotonous chores and while driving. I just hate to waste that driving time, don’t you? I have 3 credits at Audible.com that I haven’t used yet. I think I’ll wait for the 3 books for 2 credits sale later this month. I don’t know when that starts though, just that it will be this month. Anyone have a membership and know?

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Books and movies

Let’s start with the knitting, shall we? It’s not much different from last time, but I am ready to start the heel gusset. Can you stand it? Eye rolling smile

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So, we saw Harry Potter yesterday, of course. My opinion is that it was pretty good. Okay, there are some deviations from the text as usual. Don’t we pretty much expect this though with book adaptations? The book is ALWAYS better and more detailed, in a good way. We get to know and love/hate the characters ten times better in the books than the movies. Film makers have a different medium to express their impressions of a work and there are always outside agendas in movies too. They are marketing certain aspects of the screenplay to fit their perceived target audience. That’s one of the reasons that I never watch a movie before reading a book if it is one I might have wanted to read anyway.

Take for example The Road. I hadn’t heard of it before the movie came out, but since Viggo Mortensen is one of my favorite actors I was interested in seeing it. I held off seeing it until after I had read the book though. I didn’t think I liked it for the first 20 pages or so, but after a bit more it grew on me and I finished it in a few days. It’s only something like 110 pages if I remember correctly, so it’s very concise and the dialogue is limited. I was surprised at how well the author was able to pull me into the lives of the characters in such a stark writing style, but he did. I highly recommend it. But, I digress.

Back to Harry Potter; I think these last two were probably my favorite. Not sure why. Maybe because I was moved by the emotion in them. The theme of the book came through, love triumphs over evil, despite the deviations from some of the actual events in the book. This theme is what makes the books so good. I think the movies are a fun addition to the books, but will never be a replacement for the real “story”.

 

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Quiet Saturday afternoon

This is quite a rarity for me, but I have the house practically to myself for a few hours today. Well, the baby is here, but even he is napping beside me at the moment. Smile Wow, what to do? I mean the house is quiet. I should read or knit in peace right? I did do a little reading before I stopped to write this post, and I’ll probably go back to it after I am finished. I may have to get a bit of lunch too. Oh the luxury. I can just eat whatever I feel like grabbing out of the pantry. I am giddy. Laughing out loud 

Oh, I did do some knitting yesterday and this morning. I actually finished the first clue for the Mystic Midsummer Wreath shawl! Surprised smile  I know! I am shocked too. I was driven to get it done this week and somehow pulled it off. I guess that’s what happens when you actually have an afternoon that you can knit, which yesterday the stars were all in alignment or something, since I was able to get some knitting time in. Anyway here’s how it looks so far.

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Pretty cool, no?

Oh, so wait, I didn’t even explain WHY I have the afternoon with an empty house did I? Silly me. They all went to see The Green Lantern. I couldn’t care less about seeing it and besides who wants to take an 11 month old in a movie? Not me. I am not sure how we’ll work that out next month when Harry Potter comes out. We’ll probably just have to go in shifts so the baby has a sitter. He’s old enough to be left a couple hours I think as long as I feed him before I go.

Okay, I am gonna go read since I only have an hour or two left before they get back. TTYL!

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This n’ That Thursday

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Clue 1 was sent out yesterday for the Mystic Midsummer Wreath shawl. So, yeah, it’s crescent shaped and cast on from the bottom edge using two strands and a cabled cast on. I am making the medium size which requires me to cast on 429 stitches. Yep. 429. Gah! I swore and griped, and hated every minute, but now that we are past that, it’s all good. Smile One good side to a bottom up shawl is that of course at some part you start decreasing and it goes faster at the end. Love that part.

Oh, I told you how I got the new Simple Touch Nook, right? I needed a sleeve for protecting it in my bag. I really wanted to get another Oberon for it like my other Nook, but the only sleeve that will fit is the large sleeve, which I thought was too big for such a petite little thing. The small sleeve is evidently just a smidge to narrow. Bummer. They are saying they won’t be making a sleeve custom sized for the new Nook. Sigh. So anyway, I did find one that is in no way as lovely, but it will do for the time being.

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I also needed a new light for my little beauty since my much loved Mighty Bright light didn’t fit well for the little fella. I did a lot of looking around and decided to give the Kandle II from Amazon a try. Two thumbs up for this light. It’s light weight and stays clipped well. It does the job pretty well. It’s not perfect, since the illumination fades some towards the bottom of the screen, but it’s not too bad. The Mighty Bright was more adjustable in this respect, but it worked much better on my original Nook 3G with the heavy Oberon cover, and not on the new one with no cover. I find that I prefer using it without a cover.

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As for the battery usage; I am still using the first charge on Day 12. I have used it several hours a day and have still had the Wi-Fi on 24/7. As you can see I am at 26%. I have used it for reading and browsing for at least 24 hours I bet, which is about right on for Barnes and Noble’s claims. The 2 months on a single charge assumes 1/2 hour a day usage with Wi-Fi off, so 30 hours. With the same usage and 3G always on with my Nook 3G, I charged it about every 4 days. I usually charged it when it reached 25-30% remaining, so really could have easily gotten 5-6 days out of a charge.  I didn’t really mind that even, since it rarely inconvenienced me. Heck, I have to charge my phone every day practically.

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Check out the clarity of that screen though. Sweet!

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Remember when I showed you the room changing chaos the other day? Well here are the results. These are the best shots I could get in the bad light in this house. Annoyed 

This one is the “neater” of the two.

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This is unfortunately about as good as it gets in here. Eye rolling smile

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Two down; one more to go

I finished reading Catching Fire on Sunday afternoon and immediately started on Mockingjay.  Here are my thoughts so far. I go back and forth on how I feel about the main characters, especially Katniss. Just when I start to like her she acts in such a way as to make me regret my affections and think she’s a nit wit again. LOL! However, that plot has thickened finally and at the end of the second book I was eager to see what was going to happen next. So there’s one thing it has going for it.

The main conflict of this book in comparison with the games in the first book, is that if it’s possible to be more tragic, it is. Mainly this is because they all are supposed to have gained their “freedom” and are friends. Note “freedom” is really unknown in the realm, but they had it as good as it gets. Even the citizens of The Capitol aren’t really free, since they are in slavery to their own decadence and debauchery. For the Victors to have to go back in the arena and kill each other is beyond despicable. One thing that confused me is this concept and practice of alliances. I mean, in the end everyone has to die except one, so are these alliances remotely realistic? I can’t see getting chummy and trusting in these people who you have to kill or be killed by them. Is it just me?

Anyway, I am assuming that the Capitol stands for a totalitarian regime which, in order to maintain control, is using fear to keep it’s citizens under control. At the close of Catching Fire, all hell apparently breaks loose when Katniss’s rebellious act in the arena prompts an all out assault on the helpless citizens of district Twelve. This leads into the opening of book three, which I have only read a few chapters of, by my first and obvious thoughts are that District 13, where the seat of the Rebellion lies,  is just another form of totalitarianism. The regime plans out every minute of every day for it’s inhabitants. I haven’t read enough yet to know why they go along with it, but I am assuming they don’t feel they have any other options and their survival depends on what the “state” gives them. Hmm…sound familiar? There is certainly no freedom here either. I guess it’s still to be revealed if anyone has any ideas for whether there even is such a thing as freedom and if it’s worth the price. Stay tuned.

Okay on the knitting front, I am slowly plodding along on my Sprossling and when I have enough worthy of a picture you’ll be the first to see it here. I am also almost finished with a wool soaker for Elijah. Also, I will be starting my Mystic Midsummer Wreath on the 15th when the first clue is released.

I do have a few pictures for you today. As promised, I got the buttons on my el Air and had Joanie snap a few quick shots outside, and  do mean quick. It’s in the 90’s here and a wool sweater is not something you want to have on outside right now. Winking smile

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We have some moving going on in the house this week. Some of the girls are changing room-mates. I took a few pictures of the before/disaster for posterity. Will post hopefully greatly improved living quarters updates as they develop.

BEFORE

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This one I took on a whim today. It’s our wedding picture on my nightstand. We will be celebrating our 23 anniversary this September. I still see us that way in my mind, but at the same time I know we have grown up in so many ways that I barely remember those two in the picture. In love

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