Fiber Camp

Dianne has been here, and the two of us have been having a Fiber Camp.

We've skirted fleeces, spun, sewed (well Dianne has, I've admired as she has!), mended, knit, cooked, eaten, and laughed. She has taught me, I've taught her. An equal exchange, I hope. While she is leaving a lot of things behind for me, her truck isn't leaving empty! LOL Isn't that the best type of friendship?

She brought two denim shirts, she applied some of my hand-woven fabric (Zephyr warp and Lorna's Laces sock yarn weft) to the yokes and collar tips for our camp shirts. Howard took the pictures for us.

She leaves tomorrow. It has been a lot of fun. I'll miss her.

Dianne and I were matched up as knit buddies by Joan Hamer in 95 or 96. We've been working at it since then. It is funny, but there are a lot of places where we resemble each other, and many other places where we diverge. But, that is the fun part of friendship -- we enrich each other.

So, Thanks for being a great friend, Dianne!

The Shawl is Done!

I had thought to make this really wide, and realized that the Intended Victim would probably not appreciate something that wrapped and wrapped around her. So, after some negotiations with myself, I bound off last night. This shawl is not for warmth, per se, but for wrapping against air conditioning, or whatever. It can go in the washing machine on cool, and then air dry. It isn't fussy. I suspect it could even go in the dryer for a touch, but I didn't try it. I'll let Intended Victim.

Too much fun!

Okay, I'm sorry, but I couldn't resist this site. I had trouble narrowing down what I'd say. There have been many threats over the years over this. LOL Until I learned how to cable without a cable hook, Howard threatened to put Where is my cable hook? Other Shoe would be a good one too. I seem to have a gift for that as well. But I thought this one fit the best. Make your own tombstone!

Dollhouse Progress

I suspect you are surprised to see THOSE words, aren't you! Howard has been a gem and has helped me with the house. I've learned a lot with this house. This mistakes I made with the roof have certainly caused other problems. We think that not all the problems are mine, though. This house has definitely been a challenge. sigh
This is the house at the start of last week. The first picture I call "Pieces Parts" because there is no description of where these are supposed to go. It is all guesswork. The little pieces we've figured out -- it is some of the big ones, surprisingly, that are baffling us. All of this lovely trim, and nothing in the instructions as to where it goes. Most of the long pieces are either too long or too short for the places where one would logically put them. So, we will probably cut them to fit and say, "ah, that is where it belongs." You will notice Howard working patiently away.

Even further progress. Bit by bit it is coming together.
This is what it looks like so far. A lot left to do, but it has come a long way, don't you think?

The shawl is more than 3 feet long, and growing nicely. Problem is, of course, that not much shows in a picture at this stage unless I take it off the needles, and I don't want to take if off the needles! So, I'm afraid you are going to have to take my word for it! LOL Nancy's vest hasn't grown much in the last little bit, it hasn't had anything done on it because of the shawl.

Lifelines? I don't need no stinking lifeline!

I hadn't been putting in a lifeline on this shawl, because the knitting had been going so well. Monday, I finally decided to put one in -- just in case. As I finished putting it in, I noticed an error about 6 rows back. Somehow I'd done something so there was a noticeable (to me) amount of yarn that wasn't caught in. It ran behind the fabric, so it wasn't a yarnover. It looked to have happened during the yarnover knit 3 together through the back loop, slip that stitch to the left needle, pass over, slip stitch back to the right needle maneuver. There wasn't a possibility of dropping down and working back up. So, I started tinking back.

The yarn has enough texture that it is hard to see the individual stitches when frogging that particular stitch. Also when frogging slip 1, k3tog, pass the slipped stitch over. Between the color variation and the texture, I just plain had a hard time "seeing" what I was doing. I changed from the size 8 needle I was working with to a 0. I eventually went back 12 rows, to where I thought it was all in control. This morning, I started knitting it up again. To realize that I was in trouble. There were some stitches that had taken off and run to the bottom. There was no hope.

It is with deep regret and a sense of frustration (with myself -- not with the pattern or the yarn!) that I announce that I've started over. I've already put in the first lifeline.

LIFELINE TIP
When you finish a row, move the knitting to the cable part of the circular needle and it is easy to run the lifeline needle through the stitches. I pulled down on the stitches a section at a time. That way I avoided the stitch markers. I had the lifeline in very quickly and was able to make sure I got each stitch.

Shawl Progress

. I realized, when I took a picture of my shawl, that once you reached a certain point, appearances are deceptive. It really needs something to show quite how far it has grown. Six inches or 12 look almost alike, really. sigh You can't tell from the pictures, but these two pictures were taken several days apart. I did a lot of work between them. But you can't tell. Sigh. Except for the YardstickAnd yet, the first picture looks to be the same size as the second, because there isn't a frame of reference in it. So, this time, I used the ruler as a sign that I am knitting away! But sheesh, it does look as if the top picture has been knit more than the bottom. I'm going to confess to taking 6 pictures to get the second one. I even taped the needle straight so I could see progress.

I hate powdered egg whites

This is a minor rant. Powdered egg whites and I are having a long-running argument. I don't have any problem adding it as a dry ingredient. BUT, I get a mess when I try to mix it up into a liquid form 3 times out of 4.

Why is it that I can make gravy without lumps and I can't mix these stupid things up without a horrendous disaster of lumps? There is a certain amount of pride involved, and it gets smashed every time. sigh

Once again today the egg whites won. It was an ignominious defeat.