Time is flying by and I really don’t know where it is going!  I think it is facebook the girls, I think–as they get older, they get busier. (Plus, it is a non-sport season for K and she has been getting home at 2:30 all winter. How are moms supposed to do anything when their day ends at 2:30???)  I have been the world’s poorest blogger this month–3 posts so far as compared to 19 in 2007 and 15 in 2008.  I know that people say that time goes by faster as you get older but this is crazy!  Anyway, this post is about 2 projects. An old project and a new project, please read on…

Frog it or Finish it Project for all the Fridays of February:

My Second Pair of Jaywalkers (how is that for an original name?)

Start date: February 2007!!!!!

Yarn: Hand dyed Knit Picks Bare – Superwash Merino/Nylon Fingering Weight

Needles: Size 1 !!!!!!!!

Thoughts: The reason this is a “finish it” project and not a “frog it” is due to the knitting memories that the beginning of the first sock holds.  I started this project for our trip to California in 2007.  Also, I knit on these socks when my dad was in the hospital in the spring of 2007.  These are my second pair of Jaywalkers and I should have known not to knit the same pattern twice.  Looking through back blog posts, I can see another reason why I abandoned this project for so long was because I wanted to knit with the yarn I had purchased while in California from which I made these and this.  It looks like I was also making one or 2 other things that spring.  Once again, I ask, where has all the time gone? Why did  I used to have so much more?

New Project:

Stripey Cardi 2009

Start date:February 22, 2009

Pattern: Indigo Playmate by Wendy Bernard from Custom Knits

Yarn: 7 colors of Mission Falls 1824 Cotton

Needles: Size 6 Addi Turbos

Thoughts: I bought this yarn to make a stripey sweater from a Mission Falls pattern book, but decided on using the Indigo Playmate pattern instead since it is knit in one piece and there will be fewer ends to weave in and less bulk from seams.  I’m just knitting random stripes so it could turn out to be fabulous or it could turn out to be completely wonkey!  We shall see!

What’s up around here:

This weekend is sort of my birthday (that is, it is in the quick flash of time at midnight on Saturday before Sunday truly begins).  I have both scrapbooking and knitting plans so I know it is going to be fun!  We are also have a small dinner here on Saturday night with my parents.  I think I like these very quiet low-key off-birthday-year birthdays better than the huge milestones (like years that are multiples of both 10 and 4!). Dave gave me his present yesterday–he brought my van out to be “detailed.”  It is SO clean it is scary!

The girls have been ok this winter, though it is getting long…  They have been sick off and on but nothing serious.  It does seem sometimes though with 3 of them, there is often someone home sick from school.  I haven’t been getting too many days for getting things done.  Of course, spring sports will start soon and all heck will break loose!  Agents J and B are playing softball and K is still deciding between crew and lacrosse neither of which she has done before. She seems to be currently leaning toward lacrosse.  I guess it doesn’t matter to me which one she picks as they seem to be equally dangerous.

Snickerdoodle is getting big.  He can no longer be technically classified as a “kitten.’  He has some really wild, crazy hyper moments!  It can be scary–we think he is part wildcat–possibly tiger or lion. And of course I have a gratuitious cat photos for you.  Here is SD with his favorite skein of handspun wool:

I can’t believe a whole week has come and gone and it is back to Finish or Frog Friday!  It is crazy, isn’t it?

This week’s project is a scarf I started in September of 2006. (I know that because the sales receipt was in the bag with the yarn.)  When I worked at a LYS, there was this brand of yarn that we had SO MUCH OF, but people rarely bought.  I felt sorry for it the way I used to feel worry for yellow crayons.  (Yes, I used to go out of my way to use yellow so it wouldn’t feel neglected–little did I know that someday, I would have a child whose favorite color is yellow (Agent J)).  So the poor sorrowful yarn was Gedifra Techno Hair Oro in pink and silver.  I bought black and pink Gedifra Fashion Trend to combine with it to make a striped scarf. (I was trying to mimic a scarf I saw at Limited Too.)

I was pretty sure that this was going to be a Frog week, but I consulted with Snickerdoodle for a second opinion:

Hummm… decisions, decisions…

OK!  Let’s frog this baby!

Yes, I’m a beautiful cat and I know it.

Time for a little yarn snuggle.

A little frogging frenzy is good for a kitten.

Yarn! Glorious Yarn!

What? It’s over already?

Update on Frog it or Finish it Friday Episode 2:

Felted Bag for Agent J is finished and Felted! Woot!

Also – my new washer felts just fine.  Yay!   I used an assortment of cycles so I’m not sure the quickest route to success, but next felting project I will swatch and test different options.  So if you are thinking of getting an LG front loading steam washer, you can be rest assured, that it does felt.  (What it doesn’t do is a solo spin cycle which really sucks.  It does rinse and spin, but not just spin…).  First I threw the bag in for a speed wash with a load of misc things on hot.  Next, I put it through a rinse and spin by itself.  There was a little shrinkage at this point but no real felting.  My washer does have a sanitary cycle that uses very hot water, but it takes literally hours for it to run so I didn’t really want to try that one. Then I had an idea.  The steam cycle is only 20 minutes and it gets very hot. I ran it through 3 times and it turned out great!  There is still some stitch definition, but it turned out to be a good size.

Pre-felting

Post-felting:  the i-cord felted exceptionally well.

I can’t get J to pose with her bag at the moment (she is up to something involving Sharpies) but here she is with the prefelted bag on Tuesday:

Have a great weekend if I don’t get a chance to post again, and  please remember to stay tuned for next Friday when I once again either frog something or finish something.

There are days when the weather is so bad and it is so gloomy that you think you just can’t take it for another moment, then there are days like today.  Every branch of every tree in my yard is covered in ice.  The sky is blue and the sun is reflecting a million glittering prism rainbows in through my window.  Even a glistening vampire is no contest to the beauty of the winter wonderland out my window.  I’ve tried all the settings on my camera and I still can’t capture the dazzle of it all.

The close-ups come out better – trying to capture the full glistening just disappoints.

It is way prettier than this.  I don’t know if it is that my camera lacks or if it is just not possible to photograph glistening.  I’m almost ready to buy my new dSLR, maybe I’ll find out then.  (I’m also taking camera recommendations if anyone has any…)  I’m pretty sure that once I get one, a class will also be in order.

The birches are bowing. So far we have not lost any trees; we’ve just had some bendies which may or may  not recover.

I just went out to try again and I think what my main problem is that my camera can only show just a small subdued part of all the glitter and sparkle around me.

So my kitten kitten, Mr. Snickerdoodles, is obsessed with my homemade lightbox.  Perhaps it it the rustle of the tracing paper combined with the intriguing shadows from inside, but I do think I’m going to need a new one soon…

Yes, he sliced that hole and the proceeded to try to stick his body through it!  He is a funny one, that Mr. Snickerdoodles.

And lest you think I have forgotten, I do know that today is Frog it or Finish it Friday. I’m off to take the photos now!

Wishing everyone warmest holiday wishes!  This is the photo from our card this year — it was much easier to put a hat on a cat than to get the 3 agents all dressed up and ready for a holiday photo at the same time.  Soon after we get back on our feet from all these joyous festivities, I’ll have some knitting photos to post.  I have been knitting, just that much of it has been done in secret…  Take care, and enjoy your time, Tamara

Over the last year and a half that I have been dyeing for my Etsy shop, Grape Goddess is still my favorite colorway. I just dyed a pound of Grape Goddess in superwash merino/tencel for a special order (12/6/08 eta:  These are no longer needed for a special order so I’m adding them to the shop this evening.) and I just could not help but take practically a million photos of it.

As I was thinking of “recessionista” ideas this morning, I thought it would be fun to “show-off” the entertainment value of spinning as a hobby. Let’s say you bought a 4 ounce braid of roving for $15.00. Depending upon how you spin it, it may take more or less time, but let’s say you are spinning for a pair of socks. Then let’s say you are spinning a 3 ply yarn. That is quite of bit of spinning and then with plying that could really take quite a few evenings – perhaps 1 to 2 weeks worth if you are working diligently. Then you have to choose a sock pattern and do a little swatching – maybe 1 evening. Depending on how fast you knit and how complicated your sock pattern is, the knitting could take from 1 week to 2 months. There it is –$15 dollars of spinning material covers 1 to 2 months of evening entertainment. Now — let’s compare that to one night at the movies – $9.50 for a ticket plus $5.00 for popcorn and $3.00 for a soda (and you don’t even get warm feet after you are done)… OK, so I know what you are thinking – what about that spinning equipment and well, yeah, if you get a wheel, that could take a long time to amortize but if you get a pretty one, it could count as decorative furniture and of course, there are always drop spindles…

This afternoon, I’m off to do some shopping with Agent K — there are some basic things that we need to get. I really need new sneakers for the gym that we joined. I’ve used my current sneakers for yard work and deck staining. Everyone else there seems to have clean sneakers and I don’t want to be kicked out. I think I wrote about this on Facebook, but haven’t mentioned it here yet. I actually took my first spinning class — like the exercise kind! I didn’t think I would ever do that but Agent K wanted to try it. I’m not sure yet if I like it. There were a few things that happened that don’t happen when you spin yarn. First there was sweat and we were in public. Then the next day – let’s just say there were some sore bits that I wasn’t so thrilled about. (also there was no yarn to photograph when we were done!) K wants to go again, and I think maybe practice will help. There was some coordination and left/right stuff that I will need to practice. Well, I have to run to get K to bring her to the orthodontist before our fun evening can begin. I’m sure I will write more about the gym next week… Leaving you with a gratuitous kitten photo and have a great day!

Snickerdoodle moved in with us last Friday and we are all in love. He is a cutie, and so far he is fitting in quite well. He is a purrer and a cuddler which is good because when the girls are home he is constantly held (They have a rotating timetable). He loves to play and loves yarn! One of Snickerdoodle’s favorite “toys” (also, one of my favorite toys, as a matter of fact) is my spinning wheel. He is in love with the leather straps on the footmen. I had to move the wheel to my office and I have to keep the door closed when I’m not in it. He has started to sit outside the door and meow when the door is closed rather indignant that he can’t get to his leather straps! He does meow quite a bit too — he is a very vocal kitten. He is not shy about letting us know he needs attention. It is fun having him here, so far so good!

So today was the day that I decided to start listing things on Etsy again.  After the Fiber Event, I took a sort of break for a bit to catch up on things around my house.  Yesterday I started washing windows.  I washed 12 and then figured out that I have 27 left to wash.  Now, I have decided that it is time to take a break from doing things around my house and starting putting things up on Etsy again.   So in case anyone noticed my little Etsy leave, I’m back and please feel free to visit me over there.

A few weeks ago, I bought this cute little box bag on Etsy:

I haven’t used it yet, but it is really cute and I think it is going to be perfect for carrying around my sock projects. It is made by Jess from JessaLu Knits (and Spins). I really love little knitting bags and I think that you can never have too many!  My favorite thing about the bag is her signature bead work on the zipper pull.  Oh, and I also like the poke-a-dot fabric lining too.   Ok, I just went to her Etsy shop and now I see that she has a box bag in the exact fabric that would match my purse!   Oh my…. I better move along now, but really just one more quick plug — Jess is a very talented seamstress and very attentive to detail and these bags would make awesome handmade Christmas gifts.  Really — you don’t even need to be a knitter to have one of these – they would be great for travel or for carrying around your cross stitch (well, I think, I don’t know what you really need to carry around cross stitch as I don’t do cross stitch myself but I know many of you do). You can use them for toys or for tissues in your car.  And what about just for a lunch bag? They are washable and very pretty!

Also a few weeks ago, we had a Mad Knitter sock blank dyeing day in my basement and it was just mad fun!  I didn’t get to dye my own sock blank that day, but I loved watching everyone else choose their colors and their patterns.  I dyed mine a few days later and this is how it turned out (although the purples are really more purplely).  I don’t know when it is going to become socks, but I think it is going to be a lot of fun to knit. I’m actually having a hard time not pulling it apart and rolling it into balls. Snickerdoodle is really going to love me and my yarn isn’t he?

Well, this is a great segue way — going from sock blank to Sock Blankie!  Yes, I’ve been working on sock blankie and he is growing. Slowly but surely…

Such a great project to work on when you really just need to knit and need not to think too much.

Tomorrow, IHA and I are going to go buy all our kitten supplies and pick up Snickerdoodle and bring him home with us.  My mom thinks that it is so funny that the two of us are going together.  I think that it is really sweet that IHA wants to come with me.  When we were first married and bought our first house we went to the store together to find kittens and I think he is so sweet that after being married for 18 years, he still wants to get kittens with me. (I should scan in some of those photos from when our first cats were kittens and we both looked so young!)  Plus anyway, I need his help because I can’t decide on which kitten food and kitten litter to buy.  I just want to get the best so that everything will go smoothly, you know?

Have a great evening everyone!  I’m sure the next time I post it will be the start of my gratuitous kitten photo series!