Livestock and Fiber

So much for back into the blogging thing soon. Ah well, such is life I suppose. Spring, (and also having more of a delve into the Twitter universe perhaps - I added a twitter feed in the sidebar) is making me want to try again again though so I thought I'd try and get a start on that while my daughter is focused on her Grannie (who is visiting from England for a few weeks).

I spotted on ravelry that the NH Sheep and Wool festival happens on Mothers Day weekend so I mentioned it to my husband and he said lets go, so we did! We got our usual ridiculously late start, and had a detour on the way due to a bridge that was closed but not signposted well (we saw the detour signposts AFTER the detour started having driven all the way to the bridge and back...). We got there eventually if only for the last few hours of Saturday afternoon. All my daughter wanted to do was look at animals (and pet them if at all possible) so we spent a lot of time walking around the sheep barns until we could drag her away to get some late lunch! We also watched some of the sheepdog demo (having timed things badly enough to the actual sheepdog trials).

When we left I felt slightly as though I'd just skimmed the tip of the iceberg in terms of looking at the actual fiber offerings. I did manage to come away with a Mother's Day present I appreciate more than flowers or chocolates:

Pretty yarn (from Maple Creek Farm - rav link as their website seems to have gone away) and time with my family doing something fun.

I also bought some roving from Ewe & I Farm. My mum got me a drop spindle a few years back which I never got round to using so I thought it's about time to give it a go. It's so long since I've used one though, need to check out some of the helpful videos online methinks.

Next on my craftiness list is going through my ravelry queue and finding a project for that pretty yarn, and also reordering and making notes of yarn requirements for projects because hopefully we shall enhance my mother's visit by taking in the WEBS tent sale this weekend. We may also try and make a visit to the MA sheep and wool festival the weekend after since my mum will still be here, and my husband and daughter had a good enough time in NH to want to do it again. Budgeting, budgeting, budgeting...

...and Making

Two posts in such quick succession after so long. Am I setting myself up to fail I wonder?! Since posting in August I was away for a while (singing in AL & GA over Labor Day weekend and then a trip to England - visiting family and friends plus some more singing - for the bulk of September) and then not feeling creative or productive and being so much out of the habit didn't get back to the blogging.

More recently I've been starting to get back into the swing of things again. Lots going on in the kitchen (examples in my previous post). As for crafts, I haven't been sewing much of anything but there's been quite a bit of knitting lately. Perhaps I can do some something old something new posts!

Here's a picture of one of my current works in progress. This is the Gathered Cardi (ravelry pattern page) from Knit.1 Magazine (Spring/Summer 2008 edition). I went out and bought the magazine after seeing this photo, not sure I would have bought it from the pic in the magazine (especially as I'd not even noticed the existence of that particular publication before). Here's a link to my project page on ravelry.

Also please note that my almost cardigan is being modelled for me by a dress form. It is my somewhat belated excellent birthday present from my husband. Now that I have passed the baby swing chair that was residing in my sewing room (not that my daughter sat in it more than a handful of times) on to some expectant friends there was a space for me to set it up. Now I just need to sort out the rest of the room and perhaps I can manage some sewing in the run up to Christmas. I have The Omnivore's Dilemma on CD from the library to listen to while I work. Wish me luck!

January KAL - first sock finished!

January KAL - first sock finished!
Originally uploaded by commonplaceiris.

Still working on my January socks for the 2008 sock knitalong group at ravelry. I finished the first one (modeled here with help from my lovely assistant).

I'm close to turning the heel on the second sock, so maybe I'll manage to finish in time to start February socks in February!! Once they're finished I'll try to get a better photo since none of the ones I took today came out particularly well (I'm just pleased they're in focus since my daughter was climbing all over the place while I was trying to take them).

Diagonal Rib Socks by Ann Budd from Interweave Knits, Winter 2004(my project page at ravelry) (download pattern as a pdf file here). The yarn is ONline Supersocke 100.

January Socks Begun

January sock (wip)
Originally uploaded by commonplaceiris.

This is the beginning of my January project for the 2008 Sock knit a long group at ravelry. It's my first new knitting project of 2008 - I cast on on 6th January for something to do in the car on the way to my in laws for family Christmas..
I'm making Diagonal Rib Socks by Ann Budd (link to project info at ravelry) from Interweave Knits, Winter 2004 (pdf download here).
I love this yarn (I have to go find the info on what it is as the label got separated from the yarn). I'm not sure how well the pattern reads but don't care too much to be honest as I just love looking at the yarn. It actually seems to look better to me the further on I get which is nice, long may it continue. I have been having a slight problem with forgetting which round I'm on half way through and finding I'm off but I'm fudging it and getting back on track!

Warm Finished Objects!

Pink Mittens
Originally uploaded by commonplaceiris.

With the weather getting colder and owning nothing to keep my daughter's hands warm I decided to grab some bulky yarn and knit up some mittens. (Not that she is really willing to keep anything on her hands you understand but it's time for that battle to commence, especially as she seems to be being won over to hats at last.)

I took a look at some mitten patterns and using suggested number of stitches and such from Kate Gilbert's Gifted pattern (which happened to be the right gauge for the yarn and needles I was using) I got going.

I decided I wanted to knit in the round (actually I used my Denise interchangeable circulars -- think that's magic loop method, right?) and fiddled around with where the increases and decrease went, and kitchenered at the end. Also I added a row of holes so that I can thread ribbon or i-cord or something through to tie them on (although her jacket coat does a pretty good job it turns out).

The first one was a little small so I sized up for the second and then knit a third (perhaps I'll get around to knitting another to match the first and gift it). Of course the bigger pair are a little too big but they stay on quite well and will do for now (and then get grown into).

I've also managed to make my daughter a new hat/bonnet that covers her ears and because it ties on (hadn't added the ties yet when I took the picture)cannot be pulled off easily when she tires of it. (Although today we went out of the house and I asked her if she needed a hat and she said yes and wore it the entire time we were out, even while we were in the store which is pretty impressive based on her track record.)

The hat is from helloyarn's top down bonnet pattern which I like a lot and will use again, am tempted to make one for myself but not sure whether I'd actually wear it... Perhaps next time I make one for my daughter I will actually add ears (and maybe even embroidered face) as per the original pattern.

For my own head covering purposes I finally had a go at calorimetry. I wasn't sure when I first saw the pattern that it was really my kind of thing. But then I saw so many versions of it appearing on the Internet I got interested, and I realised that it'd be a useful thing for those days when I want to go outside with my hair up (especially when it's up because I've washed my hair). It's a nice quick and easy knit and I've been wearing it a lot. I'm not sure whether I'll wear at as much when it gets really wintery, or perhaps I'll wear it under my actual hats to ensure ear coverage!! We'll see. I think I will probably make this again, if not for me then as gifts for friends (and possibly family).

Visiting and Ravelry

My parents are visiting. They've been here for three weeks already and go home on Thursday. As usual I anticipated all I was going to get done with my mum around to help out and as usual I've done hardly any of it. There's the time spent visiting, the time wasted procrastinating when I finally do get me time that I don't use for housework, and the extra stuff that has to be done because we have people staying with us. Also my parents always time their trips to do singing stuff which means the weekends tend to be full of events rather than relaxing, not to mention the potluck cooking that is usually involved too. This trip we did actually have one weekend mostly free which was nice, we made it to the Saturday farmers market for the first time in ages. We (my husband and I) were going to go on a date to see a movie by ourselves for the first time since my daughter was born, but then there was nothing on that we were excited to see. Disappointing.

Anyway, I'd been thinking I'd get back to this blog in September and clearly didn't. I haven't even managed to keep up with the year of color posts (though I have been taking pictures and putting them up in my flickr account).

I managed to get into my sewing room a couple of times in the last few weeks which felt good. I made myself a new tank top based on drawing around an old tank top. It came out pretty well I think. I know the weather's getting colder here new, but as a nursing mother that means I need layers so that I can have some pulled down over my midriff and some pulled up to allow access when nursing so I don't get chilly! I'm also working on a pair of trousers for my daughter -- I'm always sad about the lack of warm trousers on offer for little ones and last year I made some reversible elasticated waist trousers for my daughter that worked great. They actually still fit, sort of -- they're too short but they still go over the bulky cloth diapers unlike a lot of store bought pants.

Not sure whether I'll manage to blog more when my parents leave. This is especially true because today I got my invite to Ravelry so I may get sucked in there adding stash and projects and the like. I'm going to try and go slow and steady with adding my stuff because we have managed to make the house a bit more presentable while my parents have been here, and have found a fairly good rhythm for the day which we should maintain. (I'm commonplaceiris at Ravelry)

Here's one of my current knitting projects which I did just add, a new pair of Aubrey Doodlepants for my daughter since she's growing out of her old ones (they're too short but just about squeeze over the diapers still) and we need some warm things for the cold weather that's coming.

My mum and I each cast on a pair a few weeks back ready for some long car trips and look how far we've come (she's about the same amount through as me). The gusset is a bit wider than I meant, but then the space between the leg holes on the short soakers is often wider than that so hopefully it'll be a good thing. I have almost enough yarn in one ball to get to the end of the first leg so I'm not sure what I'll knit with the rest of the yarn. Maybe a short soaker, or perhaps I could make a hat and mittens and lanolize them for my daughter to wear when playing in the snow.