Take Joy!

Finished Objects

Or, Now They Can Be Shown . . . this is the Thanksgiving Turkey.

He's from a pattern by Alan Dart, British knit toy designer extraordinaire, except that his is done in DK weight yarn, and mine is worsted (spur of the moment project, and that was what I had, etc.), and the colors are a bit different, and the pattern's hat is knitted and mine is felt, and the pattern has a knitted collar, and mine's eyes are different . . .

But I like him.

My worst problem with knitted toys is stuffing—I've made cloth dolls for years, and they need to be stuffed within an inch of their lives. (In fact, I took a stuffing class once with Colette Wolff of the late and much lamented Platypus Patterns [I should have bought them back in the 90s], back when Wee Folk of Cloth was operating, and the doll body I produced could have easily been used to bludgeon some unsuspecting person. I never finished the doll—back then I need pattern and many instructions to follow to the letter—but I learned a lot about stuffing.) Knitted toys, on the other hand, need to be stuffed . . . differently. Firm, but if you stuff them too hard, the knitting warps and the stuffing shows through (case in point: turkey breast. Not awful, but I notice it.), since the only stuffing I can find is white. (Someone—Fairfield?—used to make a special dark polyfill. Three colors, if I remember right: black, dark brown, and a lovely caramel. That, too, has gone away.) Though I have used brown wool roving to stuff small knitted/crocheted bears, there was a lot of turkey to stuff.

Next, The Christmas Lemur.

I made this for Lara's Christmas gift (she studied lemurs in college, or worked with them at the Duke Primate Center, or something . . . at any rate, she's fond of lemurs). This is Hococo, another Alan Dart pattern. This time I used the actual yarn suggested (ordered from Knitting, Beads and Other Things; she carries English DK acrylic yarns, Simply Knitting magazines, yarn-in-a-bag for Alan Dart's patterns, and other goodies; and she's very nice, too); the scarf and holly were my additions. (Scarf done in KnitPicks Palette; holly is felt and beads)

The holly is removable, obviously; so is the scarf, but without it he might be cold, since lemurs are tropical, aren't they?

And here he is in his guise of Chinese New Year Lemur.

And, of course, there are the usual hats. No pictures yet, because I'm slack. But possibly soon!

Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated . . .

It's just been one of those summers. I've had blood sugar issues (resolved now, I hope, with new and wonderful drugs ::sigh::). Besides which, it was in the 90s for weeks on end (yes, I know—Texas . . . but this is the North Carolina mountains, where highs in the 80s used to be hot). So I spent most of the summer napping and/or reading. Too hot to walk, too hot to weed . . . and anyway, the weeds did provide some cover for the plants, so I left them (yes, that is an excuse), since it was dry, dry, dry.

Now,  however, things are cooling off and we actually have rain today! And yesterday! And possibly tomorrow, too! Not a lot of rain, but some water beats no water. I ought to be out weeding, but I'm not, obviously. This weekend, after it finishes raining, probably. Or not—the fall garden is a bust anyway. (Bought broccoli/brussels sprouts/cabbage plants, set them on a table beside the house to grow off a bit while John tilled up a place to put them. Went out two days later and there were only nubs left. Whatever bugs ate them ate even the buds, so there will be no fall stuff here this year. I will still plant greens in tubs against the side of the house, so I'll work on them this weekend, too.)

Ysabeau has been ill, but she's better now. We took her to the vet yesterday—not eating, not drinking, running a fever. He gave her the ubiquitous amoxicillin, and today she is up on the cat tree, glaring at anyone who might possibly stick something in her mouth and give her nasty-tasting pink stuff. We were worried about either a URI or kidney problems, but apparently she has no infection, just a 24-hour thing. If she's not completely back to normal by the end of the week, I'll roll up some quarters and take her back for blood work, just to be sure, but I think we're OK.

I did do a couple of other things this summer, one of which was a KAL/CAL for the Song of Ice and Fire Ravelry group—I finished all three projects (barely), so I am now a Lord Commander's Steward. (I know, that and a couple of dollars will get me a cup of coffee. But it was fun.) And if you haven't read any of these books by George R. R. Martin (there are five of them now, with two more to come eventually. The first is A Game of Thrones, that was just a series on HBO. It was good, but the books are miles and miles better.), they're definitely worth the time. Bloody and bleak in many places, but nonetheless absorbing.

At any rate, this was project one: Dornish Ripple Scarf

I used the Spring Ripple Scarf pattern, and Stroll handpainted sock yarn from Knit Picks. The colorway is Juice Box; I was looking for something to remind me of Dorne, which is a desert country in Martin's Westeros universe.

Second project: Melisandre's Neckwarmer

Made from Bonita Patterns' Crocodile Stitch Neckwarmer pattern, from KnitPicks Palette in Serrano. The buttons will probably be replaced at some point, but I had these and they worked.

Project the Third: The Hitchhiking to the Godswood Shawl. You will notice, please, that this is not crocheted. Yes, I learned to knit, finally! In July, just in time for this KAL. So far I have produced a long strip of sampler-ish stuff (increases, decreases, various stitch patterns), a somewhat wonky blanket for one of Emma's stuffed animals, two knitted mice stuffed with catnip, half a knitted slipper (that was my class learning project; the instructor and I agreed that it was much more important that I be able to produce a pair of boring slippers than that I actually produce one right now), three hats (with a fourth in progress. I like hats. They're as close as I'm likely to get, in this life, to instant gratification.), and the Hitchhiker Shawl.

(It's called Hitchhiker because there are forty-two points, if you are a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe fan. I'm not, but I like the pattern.) It's made of KnitPicks Stroll handpainted sock yarn, colorway Pony Ride, and KnitPicks Alpace Cloud laceweight, colorway Mist, I think. Or Cloud. Pale gray, anyhow. (The ball bands seem to have departed for parts unknown, or under the dresser. In any case, they are unretrievable at present.) Small yarn, small needles . . . it took me nearly two months, but I'm not a fast knitter and I doubt I ever will be. There are . . . um, odd places here and there (where I dropped stitches, and got them back up, but they are sort of fuzzy) . . . which is one of the reasons I did the [wool] felt applique and embroidery, so they are hidden. (The other reason is that I've always wanted a shawl with folk-y embroidery on it, and now I have one. I may add some felt berries later, but I don't have a color I like at hand, so I'm calling it finished.)

That is, of course, not all the news, but it will do for now. We have weeding to do, and little chickens to transfer to the big chicken lot, and a huge pile of wood to split (we came home from the vet yesterday and thought Mr. Poozle was stretched out on top of the woodpile. On closer inspection, it was a groundhog, surveying the territory. It may be just as well we won't have a fall garden.) and applesauce to make and can. We have eaten from the garden all summer, but there wasn't enough to can much—spaghetti sauce, pickled beets, some pickles, a few beans (and beans for next year's seed). Fortunately there is still a lot left from last year, and I have been buying some local winter squash (though the garden did manage to put forth four huge Amish neck pumpkins. Pie this winter!) and apples from the produce stand in Swannanoa. We have frozen blueberries taking up space in the freezer, and we don't really need any jam, so I think we'll can some pie filling. John is planning some hunting later on, and we'll need the space if he gets a deer. I am gathering and freezing figs and chestnuts, which are getting ripe at the rate of a handful a day, but it's accumulating. I have enough figs for jam already, and a couple of pints of chesnuts.

And now, if I mop the kitchen floor, I will be prevented from doing any more cleaning to speak of, and will be able to sit and knit for a while . . .

Goldenrod

From this . . .

(See the bees? That's why I persuaded John to cut me some from a vacant lot near the Waffle House instead of cutting what's in the yard and depriving myself of the opportunity to go out and watch all the little pollinators buzzing happily around in it.)

To this . . .

 

Dyed with goldenrod—the brassy skein of wool on the left was mordanted with copper, the center butter-yellow skein with alum and cream of tartar, and the green skein on the right wasn't dyed at all, just mordanted with copper (but I like the color, so I may leave it as is).

And this . . .

 

These are pieces of a blanket (wool, or at least mostly wool) Mom gave me a while ago. There are moth holes in it, so it's no good as a blanket; therefore, I cut it up. The color isn't as true as the previous photo—the brassy color is softer than it looks here, and the lower piece is a lovely creamy whitish-yellow. Both of them look like they'd make admirable bears.

I still have some of the undyed yarn, and a pot of black walnuts soaking/fermenting on the front porch . . .

Work In Progress

My current work-in-progress: it will be a shawl, one of these days. Hopefully by the time it gets cool enough to weear one . . .

 

The pattern is Flying Diamonds by Vicki Mikulak (available here for $2.99). It's a nice simple pattern, a three-row repeat after you get it set up, and I'm enjoying working on it. The yarn is KnitPicks Imagination handpaint, in a discontinued colorway that I believe was called Woodland. I bought seven skeins when it was being phased out; I think this will probably take three and a half or so, so I'll have enough left to make some hats, or a pair of socks, or maybe some fingerless mitts for this winter . . . but first I need to finish this, I guess.

Here's the diamond pattern. I've actually done a lot more than this; these pictures were taken last week, and my plan—hahaha—is to do one three-row repeat a day until I finish. However, the rows are getting longer and longer . . . but I'm about halfway through, I think, and I shall persevere.

Finished Just in Time!

Just in time for today's below-freezing temperatures and -5 windchill. . .this is the replacement for my late and much-lamented wool scarf (actually, I suspect that I've put it somewhere 'safe' and it will surface about June). It's only a long tube, wide enough to fit over my head and down around my neck. The yarn is Noro Kureyon, which I despise working with because of its thick-and-thin-ness—the thins are really skinny and the thicks are bulky and wooly—but I had six skeins of it in The Stash. I don't remember what I bought it for, but I think I got it on ebay for a little bit of nothing—probably because I love these colors.

 

It's one row of single crochets, one row of half doubles all the way through five skeins. (I still have one skein left; maybe a hat at some point. A small hat.) And it's warm, which was the whole idea—I wore it out to feed chickens and goats this morning, and break ice on their water, and add hot water to everyone's buckets and pools (all of which took half an hour or so out in the wind), and my ears were nice and warm.

I'd love to have another cowl—shorter and not so bulky, that I could just tuck inside my jacket collar, but I haven't found a pattern I like yet. I'm pretty sure I already have yarn for it, though . . .

In Progress

Pieces of the latest crochet project—don't hate me because I have such a high-tech blocking system! It's going to be a hat. . . . if it ever dries. The yarn is sport-weight KnitPicks Telemark wool.

Look! Something Finished!

This is a scarf I've been working on sporadically for the past week or two, and have finally finished. It's Queen Anne's Lace, by Khebin Gibbons (I've lost the link, but you can find it over on Ravelry). I used KnitPicks' Shine Worsted, which is a mixture of cotton and modal, a fiber derived from beech trees. It didn't block with as much definition as I'd hoped, but I love the way it feels—all heavy and slinky and vaguely Art Deco-ish. And it's easy, too. I'd have finished much sooner if I hadn't been distracted by the Maisie Dobbs novels . . .

In other news, I am mostly over my cold, but I seem to have passed it on to John, so he's puny now. It has, however, stopped raining for the time being, and is warming up again. Maybe we can get back down to the river later this week. I certainly hope so. We're both tired of being stuck inside, and so are the cats.

I mailed Emma's birthday box today: We gave her a copy of this book

which both John and I owned when we were considerably younger, and which I am positive she'll enjoy a great deal (particularly since Brian reads aloud very well).

And I made her these

and this

Those are embroidered lizards, yes. And the bag is made by the same pattern my grandmother used to make me one when I . . . oh, about ten, I guess. Many years ago.

We also sent her a booklet of temporary tattoos, a rubber iguana, and a beanie baby chameleon, just because I liked him. (And because I wanted an excuse to buy the sloth for myself. After all, every studio needs a sloth . . . aside from the artist, that is.)

And now we need to feed everything and get ready for tonight's tailgate market meeting, at which the spectre of [most likely unaffordable] insurance has been raised . . . . I'm thinking it might be nice to just take the summer off and go fishing.

Iva's Wrap

I made this last week for John's mother, Iva—a little something to put over her shoulders while she's in the nursing home for PT. It's a free pattern from the Lion Brand site—Tranquil Wrap. Only three skeins of Vanna's Choice Baby, and I had half a skein left; I didn't put the lacy scalloped edging on it, since she has one arm and wrist casted and I was afraid she'd catch her fingers in it. I just worked a row of single crochet all around. And it only took about three hours. (It calls for a big hook—a size N, which of course I nearly never found . . . ) It's a nice, easy pattern. And she loves it, too—in fact, her cast is a matching blue.

Finished!

Here is John's sweater—the so-called Weekend Turtleneck. (Really, it easily be done in a weekend by someone with no arthritis and nothing else to do. I just wasn't either.) I began it in November and then put it away during the holidays; when I came back to it just after Christmas, I discovered that I had inexplicably made it several inches too wide, so I frogged it back to the ribbing and began again. Much better . . . I used Wool of the Andes Bulky in Redwood Forest, which was not the yarn called for by the designer (Drew Emborsky; this came from his latest book, Crochet Designs for Guys). I bought three extra skeins, and used two of them, so I still have enough left for a hat or something. I never could get gauge, so I simply gave up and went by the measurements in the pattern's schematic and that worked very nicely. (Details about yarn and pattern are here, on my Ravelry page.) It's a nice pattern; I enjoyed making it, though I did make one rather obvious change: since John wanted to wear it over a shirt, we decided not to make the turtleneck.

I may make another one, if I can find the proper yarn. John wants one in camouflage, for wandering in the woods, and I have been unsuccessful in finding a bulky yarn with a pattern we like. I made him a camouflage toboggan in Red Heart yarn and he liked the way it came out, but it's only a worsted weight, and acrylic to boot. Any suggestions, leave me a comment. (And it needs to be something relatively affordable, too, given the state of the communal purse these days . . . )

Electrical Queen

I haven't gotten around to photographing all my SAFF purchases, but here's the one that I've begun working with: handpainted superwash merino, fingering weight, from Three Waters Farm. This colorway is called, unsurprisingly, Autumn Leaves.

And here's what I'm doing with it:

It's the Electrical Queen scarf; pattern by John Brinegar, whose blog used to be here, but now it's here—and here's the free pattern. Although his version is a lot more electrical-y than mine. I guess I'm just not a electrical-type person. sigh . . .