The Year of the Boar and other Randomness

Happy Chinese New Year. It's the year of the boar. While I was not born in a year of the boar (I in fact am a sheep, evidently, although I know little to nothing about the Chinese zodiac,) I do have a special place in my heart for pigs. And now I will have a little piglet nephew to love. Yes, the royal little baby of Princess P. and Prince B. will be a little bouncing baby boy! I all ready have projects lined up for him, starting with this, only in a nice brown. This book is adorable, I'm sure he will be getting other knitting goodness out of it.



Continuing, for the moment along the pig thread, the Duke and I have this print hanging our our wall. It is called Kohler's Pig by Michael Sowa and at our house we like to think that it is pig heaven, where pigs come when they die. It is here that they can fly.

Why do I like pigs you ask? It has to do with the legend of Carcassone

In 760, Pippin the Younger, king of the Franks and father of Charlemagne, had recaptured most of Southern France from the Saracens. But the impregnable fortress of Carcassonne resisted. According to legend, a Saracen princess named Carcas devised a ruse to save the city. After a long siege, she used the last sacks of grain to fatten up a pig, and then threw it over the ramparts. Seeing such a well-fed pig, the assailants gave up, thinking the city had enough food not to surrender for a long time. Carcas rang the bells to celebrate, and the city was named Carcas sonne (Carcas rings).
(http://www.bootsnall.com)

The Duke told me this story at a difficult time in my life. Now, when I am having a hard time, I think of Carcas and her pig who together saved the city. I realize this didn't end so well for the pig, that is why we have the painting in our house where pigs come to live in peace and happiness after they die.

Anywho, moving on. I listened to The Story of Dr. Doolittle by Hugh Lofting. It was sweet and while not the most enthralling of literature, was enjoyable. It has a baby pig name Gub-Gub in it.

So, in honor of the Chinese New Year, which I love because it's like another chance at the fresh start that I always somehow miss in early Jan., I thought I would pull out my various WIPs.


Sebastion- on the needles since Nov. I will get this done soon, I swear.


The Duke's Aran Sweater- considering I've had to do "cable surgery" on it three times now, it's moving along, slowly, but surly.


My Eco Sweater is DONE! YIPEE- it just needs a closure of some sort, I'm undecided as to what it should be.


Green Socks (done in my own hand dyed yarn.)


The Shadow Scarf


My scarf which if I hadn't made myself insane enough knitting endless rows of garter stitch, then I decided it needed a crochet edging. Slowly, yes, but coming.


Here is a simple raglan that I cast on for last night. The Queen Mother Knitter sent me the yarn and the pattern as a b-day gift, and I needed some mindless knitting last night, it was perfect.


Last by not least, here is my nearly finished tote for the International Tote Exchange III. It just needed the bottom ribbon and handles. I hope my exchangee likes it.


And to finish off with some more randomness, this is my latest hand spun, 2 ply, 12 wraps per inch, spun from a Corriedale Grafton Fiber Batt. So nice.





And here are some adorable pictures of my two little beasts. Click here to visit my latest photo set of my cutie pie pups!

Outsmarting the Andean Ply

I really like the idea of Andean plying. I like it for the same reasons that I like Navajo plying, no waste, one bobbin, ect. ect. What I don't like about it is having to wrap the singles around my hand, as it somehow always seems to get tighter and tighter until I think my middle finger is going to break off. Yes, I realize that this is normally a technique used with spindles, not wheels, and that doing it with the amount of yarn you spin onto a bobbin poses problems. Well, never let it be said that things as small as tradition and logic ever discouraged me.

If you have never Andean plyed, go here for an excellent tutorial.

Now, onto the problem solving. (Or a shout out to girl camp where I learned to lash sticks together for more survival type purposes.)



Here is my Andean plying jigamado. It is made of four size US 15 DP needles lashed together as you see.



I wrap the singles onto the jigamado just as you would wrap it onto your hand and wrist. The upper part of the vertical needle acts as my middle finger. The single horizontal needle acts as my nuckles. The double horizontal needles act as the bottom part of my hand, and the lower part of the vertical needle acts as my wrist.



The cocoon builds, I found that I could get about a half an oz. of singles on there with no problems later on. Now, how do I get that off. . . ah the clever tricks.



I slide the single and the double horizontal needled together, near the top of the vertical needle.
Sorry that some of the photos are a little blurry, my camera and I were arguing about how close I could get to this.



This is what it looks like from the back



Slide the loop created at the top of the vertical needle off of the jigamado, being careful not to let it slip off the bottom.



Insert your fingers into the loop or braclet this creates and pull the loop of singles off of the jigamado.



Now. . .



Slip the braclet of singles onto your wrist (right if your right handed, left if your left handed) and proceed to ply from both ends, as you normally would.

Sometime the singles will stick together a little bit. If you have wrapped the singles on the jigamado correctly, you should be able to give them a tug and they will continue to unravel. DO NOT ever take the braclet off of your wrist.

And you will end up with a lovely bit of 2-ply yarn.

'07 Was a Very Good Year

Some birthdays are good, some are bad, and some are just plain outstanding! This was one of those birthdays. I didn't request my birthday off, but it just worked out that I didn't work the entire weekend. We celebrated Sat. because the Duke did have to work. After a very nice day of relaxing at home, the official celebration got kicked of with a crashing good time. Now, normally I would not be happy about being woken up early on a Sat. by a demolition crew, but this was no ordinary demolition crew. . .



Yes, that is the abandoned, dilapidated, nasty, awful, building next to our house being torn down at long last HURRAY! A GREAT birthday present.

The pups (and the humans) got a nice morning walk and then off to breakfast, but not before stopping off at the post office to pick up the package I missed yesterday.







My SP is Awesome. I have never seen this yarn before, but I adore it. It's called Malabrigo, kettle dyed pure merino. It looks a little like Manos, only much softer and more yardage (216.) She also sent a couple of bottles of her favorite salad dressing/marinade. I looks delicious, we will be using it Sunday night. And she sent some tart valentine candy, my favorite.

Then off to breakfast (our tradition) at a restaurant we had never been too. Oh we will be going back, it was sooooooo good. The best french toast I have ever had (sorry Mom.)

Then, a little shopping on Queen Anne Hill in the best weather I have ever been treated to on my birthday. (High 50's and sun in Seattle in Feb. - love it!)

Later we had cake- yes I made it, and happily so as the Duke cleaned the kitchen and cooked dinner. I love angle food cake and my lil sister told me how to make our traditional frosting with cool whip instead of cream. It's not as good, but better than not being able to eat it at all.



Tzarina and Miles joined us and Tzarina and I knit while Miles and the Duke played Scrabble (thank goodness Miles likes it too, as Tzarina and I both detest the game.) I got one sleeve set in, and the underarm is perfect! Not too low, as is often the case. I will share my secrets when I get the sweater done.

In addition to all of this, An Ordinary Mom and another blogless friend brought me flowers, Lucy and Daddy Shark called to sing a lovely Happy B-Day duet to me, My parents and grandparents called on speaker to all sing together for me (and remind me that I am not getting any younger and they want grand kids ASAP- such love!)

It really was a great birthday, the best I can remember.



Last but not least, here is the finished lace weight single from the Wensleydale Grafton Fibers batt I have been spinning. You would not believe the shine on this, it's so pretty. It will be set aside for some very special lace knitting.

Happy is our Desert Isle

I discovered a wonderful new site. LibriVox:

"LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain and release the audio files back onto the net. Our goal is to make all public domain books available as free audio books. We are a totally volunteer, open source, free content, public domain project."

It's the greatest thing for knitters since Magic Loop!

I just finished listening to The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Davis Wyss. It is a classic for all the reasons that I love. Lots of detail, a continuous story, but not emotionally draining, great characters with depth, an unpredictable ending, and (I know not all good books have this, but it's important to me) and happy and resolved ending. Also, it was read entirely by one reader; thank you Mark E. Smith. It is an excellent presentation, he has a very expressive voice.

I also listened to the short story "The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs, read by "Rainer," also recommended, if you like kind of creepy short stories, which sometimes I do, and Alice in Wonderland, which I didn't make it very far through, as there were many readers and some of them were not very good.

I will continue to use LibriVox, and let you know which I like and which I don't.

The Swiss Family Robinson proclaim that "happy is our desert isle." One of the many things that I liked about the book is that the father (I don't think he ever mentions his own name, as he is the narrator) builds his wife, Elizabeth, a spinning wheel and a loom on which she spins and weaves with with much enthusiasm, a woman after my own heart.

If I were stranded on a desert island, my first order of business. . .



And what would I be searching and longing for?



Some of this, maybe.



This.



A little of this.

Why yes, there was a sale at Hilltop today, how did you know? Don't worry, it's not all mine.



I probably wouldn't be needing any of these, though, and I really like socks (especially newly finished ones) so hope I don't end up on a desert island.

BTW- Thank you to all of you who wished Princess P. and her new baby well, and sent condolances to my Duke and his family.

The Shadow Knows (and so does Vivian!)

The Duke lost his scarf, and he needs a new one. You wouldn't think this would be a problem for someone living within the boarders of Yarnnation. HA! Nothing is ever that easy.

Here is the problem: Most men (including the Duke) like plain boring scarves, maybe a stripe or two, but nothing more, just plain and boring. Most Knitters (including the Duchess) do not have any desire to knit miles and miles of garter st or ribbing (just shoot me now!)

Oh, but compromise is the the essence of any good relationship.



So how did it come to be that this acceptable scarf has continuous stripes, and further more, what are those two stitch markers doing in a simple stst scarf?

Ah, this scarf holds secrets. . .



Now do you see?


How about now?



From this angel?



It isn't a pattern out of Shadow Knitting by Vivian Hoxbro, but her very cool book did inspire it. Isn't it cool? After all, who can resist a good hidden secret, and a knit one, all the better.

And my other secret? Here it is, just needs sleeves (did I really say "just" and "sleeves" in the same sentence?)



A close up of the stitch pattern which I really love. I can't wait to wear this.

Beginnings and Ends

The news is out!
I got this in the mail today from Princess P. and Prince Bertram.


OK, I don't squee very often, but let me just say. . .
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I can't believe my little sister is going to be a mommy!


Of course as soon as I knew (which was not today, just so there are no illusions of super speed knitting) I started knitting. They don't know the gender yet, but I think this would look very smart on either a little princess or a little prince.


Look at those little buttons, is there anything sweeter than than a teeny tiny button on a teeny tiny sweater vest?


So I am preparing a little congratulations and general happiness and take care of the new mommy package. Princess P. is a knitter, so naturally, some fun hand spun yarn is in order. Princes P. picked out the sparkely stuff when she was up here last month. I combined it with orange merino. It makes it softer and I think it spun up very nice. BTW Princess, that stuff was awful to spin, if you weren't my little sister there would be no way I would have finished it, but it did turn out lovely, didn't it?


And this has nothing to do with the new baby, but here is the finished product of the fabric that I showed you all in the last post. It is my design. It is for sale at Hilltop. You can call the shop and have them mail it to you if you just must make one (206-282-1332.) I am also hoping that it will be in the next Storybook Publishing's 101 MORE One Skein Wonders. We'll see.




You will notice that the title of the post is beginnings and ends. With every beginning there is an end. Yesterday as we celebrated the empending arrival of the next bundle of joy, we also mourned the loss of another loved one. The Duke's Grandma Great passed away. That is what her great grand children, which includes my 29 year old Duke, called this wonderful woman. I never really knew her at her full capacity, but the Duke loved her and so I loved her. Any woman who can bring a proud red headed man to tears must have been something special.

The Duke and I have been touched by the power of people who are not even on this earth. The joy a little one not yet arrived can bring, and the longing for and rememberance of someone departed, we must never underestimate how interconected we are. We need to cherish and honor each other as the powerful forces we are in one another's lives.

Thank you Grandma Great and Little Baby P. for impacting mine and the Duke's lives, for giving us the opportunity to acknowledge you and your lives, and at the same time helping us to remember to cherish one another more.