First Meeting of my Southern CA Knitters

My little group of friends (Bunnie and Kitty in the above picture) met for the first time to (re)learn how to knit. They are all making the candle flame shawl by Debra Bright using various lace weight yarn from KnitPicks. Only two of the original three were able to make it on Saturday, but we gained another member from the group they work with. So now our group has 4 learners.

When they first arrived, I realized that I had not brought my ball winder or swift, so the first thing they had to do was learn how to wind a ball of yarn from the hank. Then they spent the rest of the time learning how to do the long tail cast on (97 stitches) and knitting their first 18 rows of the shawl. We had a wonderful 4.5 hours laughing and learning together.

I learned multiple things in this process. Never assume anyone will come with their patterns printed off. Luckily for me I had one of them print off extra copies. Two remember to bring a ball winder and swift. It's a long process to get everyone a ball of their lace weight yarn balled up when there is an odd number of people present. Three what seems obvious to you will not be to others.Today we worked at fixing dropped stitches and knit two together's that happened while they knitted on Sunday. One has her first 18 rows completed and will be starting the actual lace pattern. The other has a few more rows to go before starting the lace. However, Foxy joined us today with her yarn, so Bunnie helped Foxy learn how to ball her yarn. After work I'll be helping Foxy learn how to cast on and knit.

As for my knitting, I finished my Caricia shawl using Damsel Imagination Hand Painted yarn. I only used 2.3 balls of my yarn, because the remaining 2/3rds of one skein was so bleached out looking that it looked awful on the shawl. So I tinked 5 rows out and bound off and made the medium sized shawl. It's smaller than I originally wanted, but I like it. I will say it's warm. I wore it to work today and ended up taking it off in the office I'm in. The AC is out and it was extremely hot wearing the alpaca.

I now am working on a pair of Wanida socks by Cookie A. using Paca Peds Mixed Berries colorway. I've already frogged the socks twice, so hopefully I will finally get them into socks. Otherwise, they'll be like the Damsel yarn and find a new project.

-Myrtle

Emotionally Exhausted

I feel emotionally exhausted. Probably caused by just being physically drained, but I can say today is not the day I want to interact with people.

Yesterday was a travel day for me from MO to Southern CA. Part way there I found out my schedule was redone due to a clients server crashing and causing their data to be corrupted. So instead of being in the LA area, I took the 3+ hour drive out to the Palm Springs area (through rush hour traffic). Today I'm sitting at the client site trying to get their database restored using an old backup. Luckily for me, computers don't require me to interact with them as humans do.

Maude, you asked how I find time to knit. The really found time tends to be airplanes, airports, and hotel rooms. It's amazing how much you can do when you travel all the time. I also will admit that I spent the past several weeks working to get it finished off because I was afraid it would become a UFO and I really didn't want that to happen. I enjoy the mentally challenging projects as long as I can do some mindless ones periodically. I have to also admit I like the photo I put up even if it's not of great quality. There is something about a guy wearing the shawl that just seems quirky to me and I enjoy that.

Currently I'm knitting another shawl, but the lace design is much simpler and it's on a thicker weight yarn, so I'll probably finish it this business trip. It's the one Mavis posted about the other day. I'll get pictures up when I finish it. I've knitted 1.5 skeins of the yarn so far and figure I'll get maybe the mid sized shawl in the long run after blocking. I like the yarn in this project better than the socks it originally started as. Yes, I frogged the 1/2 way completed socks and went the green route of reusing the yarn. If I ultimately don't like the completed shawl, I'll frog again and find something else the yarn desires to be.

Mavis, I'm thinking I might have to look at another Anna Dalvi pattern for another more complicated (highly challenging project). If so, I'll probably use the Misti Alpaca again. Do you have a link to the shop with the sale so I can view colors of yarn? Otherwise, I'll just look for colors on line and figure out what might work.

Oh, Maude, I forgot, congratulations of working out in the inclement weather. I will admit I'm willing to go out in the misty stuff, but serious rain tends to keep me home. I'm working on week 4 of the Couch Potato to 5K running plan. I'm sure this week of the plan will be like the rest with me taking 2 weeks to finally feel comfortable running the runs, but I am getting back into shape. I forgot how much I enjoyed running. I'm still taking walks around our property when I'm home, but this gets me out when I travel more than I normally do.

Have a great day all.

-Myrtle

checking in

Maude - 18 miles and in inclement weather. - I'm impressed!
Too bad about the socks. How about a Claptois found at Knitty.com? You probably don't have enough yarn for a full size Clapotis, but I am hearing of people making them narrower and maybe not as long. Ravelry would be be your friend in working on this process.

Myrtle - Wow! good work on Mystic Waters. A local yarn store has Misti Alpaca on sale for $5/skein this month. Want to do another laceweight shawl? ;-) The Anne Hanson Caricia shawl in the pinks and lavenders of the Damsel colorway will be beautiful.

Me (Mavis) - I am waiting to hear whether I have interviews in this go round of nursing school applications. I'm halfway seriously thinking of moving to a more rural area where the competition for nursing school slots is not as great. I think Coos Bay, Oregon looks nice. Too bad my kids are so entrenched here.

On the knitting front I still have far too many projects going. I am trying to be a bit more monogamous and finish a few. I am also thinking of frogging a few more. I did frog one scarf I had in the works because it was becoming quite clear the yarn/needle size/pattern combo was just not working. Now I have to decide if I want to begin it again on smaller needles or finish the orange/green chevron scarf I posted about earlier. The intended recipient saw both and while she liked the color of the yarn in the now frogged scarf she returned her attention several times to the chevron scarf. My coloring is not appropriate for me to think of wearing the orange myself. I guess I have made this decision - haven't I?

Finally - Does anyone have a handyperson that would jump at the chance to do some projects around here in exchange for a place to use as a homebase during a trip to Oregon? Must be able to competently work on plumbing related chores. I know I am capable of doing these things, but it would go so much faster if an experienced being did them. :-)

-Mavis

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to everyone!

We woke up to a really cool, but very sunny morning. I just about froze in my Easter clothes. Fortunately the day warmed up enough for everyone to go out and hunt for Easter eggs at Grandmommy's in the afternoon. Grandmommy would have been very disappointed if that had been canceled. I think she searches for hiding places all year and she is thrilled when there is a long search for the last 2 or 3 eggs. Today the small childeren (6 and under) beat out the older kids (up to 30 under grandmommy's rules) in finding eggs.

Yesterday J and I set out for an 18 mile training walk. By mile 2 it was raining pretty constantly, but mile 5 (and about 1.5 miles short of a nice dry Starbucks) we decided to turn around and head back for another 5 sloshy miles home. It was pretty fun all in all.

Myrtle that is a beautiful shawl you made. It does look like a pretty complicated project and I am impressed that you have completed it as quickly as you did. I am not at all sure where you find the time to knit.

As for my projects ... I came to the realization on Friday that the sock I started in January, and restarted in late February will never be finished and even if it was, it would never be part of a pair. I was just not that into socks. So yesterday I ripped it out and today I restarted it as a scarf. A scarf I can finish ... I think. If not, I guess I take it apart and knit something else. That is actually a fairly standard practice for me. My family teases me all the time about restarting projects. I think of it as going green by reusing the same yarn until it eventually becomes what it was meant to be.

Spring breaks are over for the kids so it is back to the grindstone for C and K. C is looking forward to his last term of high school and has decided on Longwood University for the fall. K is doing well at her "new school" and is regaining confidence that she is really pretty smart. I guess that she believes it better from her teachers than when her parents tell her the same thing.

- Maude

It's finished!

Yes, I've finally finished my Mystic Waters Shawl made with Misti Alpaca yarn, which I started for the first time over 3 years ago. In January I frogged it entirely and started again. I then knit on it for several weeks in January to only put it away again. I decided at the end of March that if I didn't start knitting on it again it would never get done, so it's the only knitting I've been doing for the past several weeks. Today I finished it and blocked it with my new lace blocking wires. I'm so happy and tomorrow I'll be wearing it for Easter.

I'll take pictures of it outside tomorrow, but for tonight I had DS2 model it, since he's only a few inches taller than I am. I was surprised by it's size and I didn't even stretch it much as I blocked it. On DS2 the shawl comes about 8 inches from the floor.

I love the shawl and it was well worth the effort and time I put into it, but I'm ready for an easier lace pattern for awhile. However, I'm sure I'll try another pattern by Anna Dalvi again.

One of these is not like the others

The guinea fowl like to take turns sitting on the eggs. At times you'll see up to 5 guinea hens on the joint nest. Today when DS3 went in to feed and water the birds he saw one of our chickens helping the guineas out. We'd seen it once before with this hen, but weren't able to get a picture of it. It's really funny when you consider the fact that chickens don't let other chickens onto their nests when brooding, so seeing this one share a nest if strange. At times, she's been known to sit onto the guineas to be able to share in the fun.

Note: Shortly after taking this picture she moved off her pile of eggs and a guinea hen went back on.

-Myrtle