Finally doing a post!

Haven't posted in a while but I have been knitting alot! I've found with blogging, ravelry, facebook, etc. it's just too much to keep up with. I would rather be making something than spend all day on the puter. I even deleted my facebook page. Never posted to it anyway.
Now about my knitting! I bought a digital scale from Amazon so I could weigh my left over cones. It took 2 days but I got them all weighed and labeled. Then I made a spreadsheet with all of my yarn and how much I had. It really is nice to look at the list and in a few minutes I can see exactly what I have instead of looking thru closets. I also made a spreadsheet of all my gauge swatches. I have a lot of machine knitting mags that are old and the yarns used in them are no longer available. With the spreadsheet I can look at my gauges and see if I have a yarn that is close in gauge to what the pattern calls for.
I've also been making a bunch of short sets for the summer. I used up some 10/2 cotton and made a top in thread lace with matching shorts. I've also made several tops in different tuck patterns. I'm really liking the tuck patterns!
Right now I'm working on a housecoat pattern in 2/20 in tuck. I saved this pattern a long time ago when I first got my machine as something I wanted to make. It called for a 4 ply angora look yarn that is no longer made. I tried the 2/20 doubled up but decided that was too thick for the weather here. I wanted something light. I also found a site that has old machine knit mags and this pattern was actually in it! I've got the back, 1 front finished so far. Each piece is 798 rows but it goes pretty fast. I had some problems on one of my tops in thread lace when I had to rip out a row so I'm not knitting too quickly. It's a real pain to rip out the tuck stitch and get everything back in line. That's where I messed up last time, I got the card on the wrong row or something.
When I put up my winter sweaters I went thru my clothes and decided to rip out some sweaters I made last year. I messed up on one and it's too short and the sleeves are too long. I had the wrong measurements in Knitware. :( Another sweater is just too short. I love the colors so I want to reuse the yarn. One is a dark green the the other a dk turquoise.
I also made a bunch of stuff at Christmas for family. Mostly just hats, scarves. Oh yeah I also learned to hand knit! I even managed to knit a lace scarf at Christmas that came out really nice. It was made with some MK yarn that was like a brushed acrylic that was a green/grey marl. Really nice yarn, wish I had more of it!
Since the weather has gotten warmer I've been working in the yard every day all day long. My lillies are doing great! My lilacs bloomed like crazy this year too! First time. I don't know if they just weren't old enough or if it was the extra water but they smelled soo good! They are the dwarf Miss Kim variety. If we can get thru this weekend hopefully the weather will settle down. We have what we call the 'Memorial Day curse'. Not matter how nice the weather is we always have cold/crappy weather on Memorial Day weekend. My lillies are so big I don't have anything large enough to cove them. Hopefully it won't get too cold. Later..

Thrift store finds!

Boy did I get lucky today! I went to the local thrift store and found a bunch of knitting books, some purse handles, some tiny crocheted buttons, and a lot of rick rack all for $11! Woo hoo! The best part is I got a book by Michele Rose Orne called 'Inspired to Knit' and it is full of gorgeous knits! Retail is $24.95! :) and I got a book called 'Needlepoint in Miniature' by Nancy Noland Kurten.

Today has been a bad day

Let's see, where to start, hmm at the beginning I guess. Several weeks ago my hubby found a heater that was 95% efficient. Ours is 15 years old and not going to last much longer. The more efficient ones have no pilot light, I think they are electronic. Anyway, he called a local installer and set up an appointment. The man assured us it would fit in our manufactured home. The day before the appointment, they called and said they had overbooked and couldn't make it. (overbooked?!) So we set up another appointment, which was today. Guy came out took some measurements, called the boss, he came out, and guess what? It won't fit without making a lot of changes which would include a carpenter moving walls etc. or not being able to get to the washer. He has another unit that is only 90% efficient that he knows will fit but will cost him $2000 and then there's labor and parts, so that ain't happening. We were both really bummed out about it so I decided since the weather was reasonably nice I would go pull some weeds. While I was pulling weeds next to the grape that is climbing on the patio I noticed a big hole in the gravel next to the 4x4. I thought it was a mouse hole but when I started digging around I realized the bottom of the 4x4 was rotten completely thru! I went and checked another one and it was rotten too! Shit! These 4x4's, 6 in all hold lattice work that covers the patio with the appropriate stringers for support. So now we have to figure out how to disassemble the thing and take it down without someone getting hurt. It's been there for 15 years so the screws are probably not going to be easy to get out. I still don't understand why the wood rotted, it was supposed to be redwood which shouldn't have rotted. The guy that put it in also did our front and back steps, now I'm wondering if all of the posts are rotten! I tried to call him to have him come over and look at it but he didn't bother to call back.  I just hope we don't get a bad windstorm and the whole thing comes crashing down into the house. Now every time I walk under it I get the heebie geebies. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.
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Nice day and yard work!

Let's see, haven't posted in several days. Saturday had a get together with K at my house this time. She was the teacher and she brought over a knit pattern for us to work on together. It's called the Fertility Blanket but we are doing a scarf. It's called fertility because it looks like female genitals. LOL And it really does! It is a wavy pattern in the vertical with a bobble in the appropriate place! So far so good on the pattern. I've done about 3 or 4 repeats and it's looking like the pattern. I had a couple problems with some of the rows but I think I fixed them.

A while back K and I went to a thrift store and I found a neat cross stitch pattern of wild Mustangs. It's done in all one color. I decided to make it for my living room to go over the wall above the windows. I was thinking today of painting the frame on the wall or maybe getting some material and putting it up there. Not sure what I'm going to do yet. I may try out a couple ideas in Paint Shop Pro to see how they look together. I don't want the background to overwhelm the picture.

Had a really nice day today. It was cool with a little breeze but perfect for digging in the yard. Got the side beds turned over and put some more manure in. The sand is finally starting to smell like dirt! Hopefully next year it will be more soil and less sand. It seems to take about 3 years to get everything broken down and built up. I planted Cleomes, French Marigolds, put down some Alpine Strawberry seeds. I did that last year by our grape and it came up last year and made it thru the winter. Maybe I'll put down some more to make it a bigger patch. Those berries are so good! I also planted some more Nightstocks. A few have come back from seed but I really want to keep them coming back. They don't open until the evening and they have a wonderful scent. I also put down some more Hollyhock seed and put some of the French Marigolds and borage in the front bed. The old Hollyhocks seem to be coming back but I put down more seed to make sure I get some, in case they get frosted. They really block the wind. Everything looks really good this year. The French Tarrogon is coming on and the Columbines look really nice. Must be all that bird poop! LOL The bed for the Columbines is under the Honeysuckle where the birds hang out.
Oh yeah, tried the food color dyeing in the microwave! The yarn dyed! I didn't put enough color in the water so it's just a regular green, was supposed to be Teal. Will have to try again. I also found some more color mixing recipes on the net. I have some Mary Lue's wool that is WW but not sure I need socks that thick. I like the regular sock yarn. They sell undyed yarn at Knit Picks so may do that. It was fun tho'!


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Pics of summer top

 This is the finished top I was experimenting on. Considering I changed things up it came out pretty well! The main part was knit circular so there are no side seams.

 This is the bottom edging done in a picot, cabled rib. I really like it! The straps came out well too I think. It's hard to see the detail but it has an eyelet row on the edges and a doubled stitch running down the middle. The left side of the strap is the front, the right is the back. Knit in Bramwell Savannah 100% cotton.

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A night of observing!

Got my telescope out last night! The sky was so pretty and clear and it's been quite a while since I've done any observing, really enjoyed it. The last couple of years we've had a lot of cloudy days, which is kind of odd for this part of the country. In fact today it was cloudy and misty all day. Supposed to be more of the same for the next few days. They are even calling for snow in the mountains and valleys. Snow in April out here is just downright strange! 
The last few days I've been working in the yard getting it cleaned up and compost put down then last night observing I think I've overdone it! It was kinda nice that today was cloudy and rainy as I couldn't go outside and work in the yard! After cleaning house today I was just too pooped out to do anything else so I just laid down on the couch and listened to the wind  and just relaxed.


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Copper King Lily pic

I remembered taking a pic of that lily so I went searching for it. This is from 2009 but still shows it well. Could've  sworn I took one last year tho'!

I like taking pics of my yard so I can see how things have grown. The bed is full now with the lily, creaping carnations in the back and mexican primroses in the front. The lily has a half circle concrete border on it too. Their natural habitat is Africa in the flood plains. When the the spring rains come the plains flood and then the lilies come up and they stay in the lakes until the water dries up and then they go dormant. For some reason this one has done really well. I had two other ones I planted on either side that never came back. Go figure.

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yard work and summer top

Haven't posted in a few days. The weather has gotten a little nicer and I've been working in the yard the last two days. Have almost all my spring yard work done. Roses, hollyhocks, alpine strawberries, which have little blossoms on them, butterfly bush, lilacs, which have green leaves, and french tarragon. I was digging around in one of my flower beds and found a lily  and accidentily knocked off a bud! Ouch! I planted it back and made a wish for it to grow! We'll see. I was going to move it but it had so many buds on it I think I will leave it alone! It's the 'Black Dragon' strain and they are lovely lillies! My Copper King is coming on like gangbusters! It was sooo beautiful last year. It got almost 6 feet tall and large copper colored blooms all over it. I guess it likes where it's at!  I just love getting out in my yard and digging around! Sometimes I hate to come inside when it's nice. Speaking of nice, I better enjoy it, in a couple days we are supposed to have 25 mph winds. Geesh!
Now for my knitting! I got the top finished that I was doing circular. I didn't take a gauge swatch in circular, shame on me, but I didn't think about it until I was already knitting it. I couldn't figure out why the knitter was so hard to push. Tried oiling it, spraying the yarn, no luck. Then I got to thinking about the directions in my book and it had the ribber at 6, knitter at 7, so I thought 'that must be it, I've got them on the same tension'. I changed the knitter to a looser number and that worked better. Luckily for me the top is only a little uneven. Thank goodness for boobs!! LOL The long side will be the front! haha The picot, cabled rib came out really nice too! I'll have to take a pic and post it. Hope it doesn't shrink up so much it doesn't look good. I put elastic in the top part but I'm still going to put straps on it. I found a strap I like in one of my books that I think looks good with the ribbing. It uses five stitches, and you transfer 2 over by one and leave the empty needle in work, k 1 row and transfer on the other side. It makes an eyelet row on the outside with a raised stitch down the middle. Started the strap this morning waiting for it to warm up enough to go work in the yard, then I was too tired to work on it this evening. Maybe in a day or two I'll get pics up.
Oh yeah saw a baby lizard today! He was so pale from being dormant, poor thing! I'm sure it's been a long winter for them too! Go eat some cut worms and get fat! LOL

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AllFreeCrochet giveaway!

AllFreeCrochet is doing a nice giveaway! They are giving away one set of three skeins of SERENITY Chunky Weight yarn to one lucky winner.


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New top for me!

Finished K's socks, will drop them off tomorrow when we go to town. Can't wait to see them dyed up! I was thinking, I have some natural wool and some Ukrainian egg dye. Wonder if they would work? They are good quality dyes.

Decided to start on a summer top for me. I'm using Bramwell 'Savannah' cotton. It's a sea green, nice color. I went through some of the books I bought from Marge years ago that have edges and trims in it and picked out one that is a picot edge with cables. I tried the 2x2 cables but even with some needles out of work it still pulled on the needles too much. The bad part about cotton. I cast on some yarn and started playing around and decided to do a xxxxoxxxxo design but I'm only going to do a 1x1 cable in the in work needles. I think it looks nice. The out of work needles will be latched up on every other ladder to create the picot edge.
Then I started getting all kinds of ideas in my head about making the rest of the top. I wondered if I could do the rest in circular so I tested it out on a swatch and it worked. It will be tricky hanging stitches back on the ribber, but hey I'm in no hurry! Then I wondered if I could do a folded hem doing the slip stitch on every other needle technique. Tried that on the swatch too! It worked! It may be a little tricky but doable. I'll just have to take my time. I'll have to drop the ribber one notch and use the hook for catching the thread when threading the ribber up. Don't know what they call that little tool but I like it! It looks like the latch tool but the end is 'L' shaped and no latch. Sometimes I use it to pick up a dropped stitch when I'm ribbing too. Grabs that little loop and I don't have to worry about catching the latch on anything.
Can't start on it till Thursday. Got a lot of running around to do tomorrow and I get to go to thrift stores! Yeah! Hope I find something good! LOL
Had some really nice weather today too so maybe spring is really here!

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Portuguese Knitting

When I was at K's this weekend she told me that the way I had been hand knitting I was twisting my knitted stitches so I got out my DVD on Portuguese knitting and practiced on that technique. The item I took to her house was a pair of pants that I had put hand ribbing on. On one leg I had used straight needles, on the other I used a circular needle. I was wondering why the circular ribbing had a lean to it then it dawned on me it was probably because I was twisting my knit stitch. I practiced all day Sunday and part of today and I think I'm pretty comfortable with this technique. The problem I was having before was on the tension of the yarn but I think I've got it. I still have a little trouble when I switch from one row of knit to the next row of purl but I guess that will just take practice.
If you're not familiar with the Portuguese technique they use a pin with an open hook that is attached to your clothing up on the left shoulder and the stitches are worked with the yarn to the front. The knit stitch has the yarn over the needle and the purl stitch has the yarn under the needle. So it goes from the left hand, over the hook, then to the right hand, on to the yarn ball. The yarn is put over the second finger on the right hand for tension control. I was knitting it way too tight to begin with but finally got to where I'm a little looser. I like the bind off they do too. You don't have to pick up a stitch and try to slip it over another stitch. You basically knit one stitch, put it back on the left needle, then knit 2 together, or something like that, going from memory here! I practiced the yarn overs too and they came out ok. I think I will try to stick with this technique for now. I've done the throwing method, continental, half of the eastern Europe method where they work into the back of the stitch, and now this technique. I like the eastern European method for knitting but the purl stitch is kinda funky to do. 
Well I was almost finished with this post and the power went out, again! Just long enough to muck up all the clocks. I swear I don't know what's going on with our power lately. This is the 3rd time in 10 days we've lost power. The first two were brown outs and now this one. Thank goodness I didn't lose my post!


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Whole Day Knitting!!

K and I had set up a time to get together for some knitting. I had some 3 ply that needed to be put in a skein so she let me use her swift to wind it up. Then I can wash it and get the crinkles out from the frogging. Then we snacked on some cheese, meat, crackers, and some great dip she made! After that we talked about knitting, hand and machine. Next I showed her how to make socks on her Bond, made her a pattern with the Magic Formula and gave her some tips on using it. She was surprised how fast we got it done. ( I knew she would be surprised as she is a hand knitter!). We only made an anklet but even with going over the directions and teaching her short rowing it still went pretty fast! Then we ate some more, drank some tea, and knit some more! It was so much fun being able to share knitting with someone else! Then we started playing with yarn just making cables, eyelet transfers, and tried some bobbles. We made another date for next month and she's going to come over and teach me hand knitting. I'm doing my knit stitches twisted because of the way I'm knitting. She has picked out an easy scarf pattern that we are going to do. I crammed her head with stuff this time and she gets to do it to me next time! LOL Oh yeah, she has some natural sock yarn she bought for dyeing and I brought home a skein to make socks for her on my standard gauge. A really nice knitting day!
 
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Black Sleeveless UFO Not!

When I was cleaning up my knitting room I came across a top that I had made with Knitware that didn't fit right. I made it sleeveless and the armholes were too big so I  stitched the shoulder seams together to pull up the armholes. I had never finished it. I tried it on and it fit rather nicely so I decided to put some trim on it. I crocheted a filet type border on the neck, and made up a design for the armholes, and found an edge I liked in one of my crochet edgings book for the bottom. Here are pics.

This is the bottom.

 This is the full top.

 This is the neckline.

 This is the armhole trim that I made up.

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March snowstorm

This is what we woke up to on the 21st of March! When I finally got up and got outside it had already started melting but I still measured 5 1/2". It's almost all melted off of the ground now but the mountains closest to us to the south are still all white. Supposed to have another storm thru to the weekend. Looks like another late year on the garden!

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Snow?!

It's March 21st at 12:17 am PST. It's been raining most of the day. When it got dark it started snowing! Just went and checked and we have a good 7" and it's still coming down. That's a big storm for us here in the high desert! Southern CA has large power outages due to snow, ice, wind. I really feel sorry for all these people around here that have to go to work in the morning. It will probably melt tomorrow so there's a good chance some places might have flooding, especially in Reno. This is some crazy weather!
Spent the whole day working in my knitting room. Going thru things I made a long time ago that didn't work out and didn't want to throw them way. I ripped out those items and rewound the yarn to be used again. Put little labels on the balls and weighed them. Also went thru all my bits and pieces and rewound them up and labeled them. Just a few more items to rip out and rewind and I'll be done. Found a couple of shrugs I made that are basically finished, one needs some ends woven in and I need to put buttons on another one. One of them was too tight so it will get recycled. I was hoping I could find enough of one color to make a hoodie pattern I saw online but no luck there. I have a couple ideas on how to make it with different colors but will have to play around with that idea. It has cables up the front near the bands and around the hood. One idea is to make the hood in a fair isle but not sure how that will look. All in all a good productive day!

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Bramwell Yarns not trading anymore?!

 First this;

Within the next few months, Pisgah Yarn & Dyeing will effectively shut down its operations in Old Fort.

Jack Lonon Jr., president of the family-owned company, told The McDowell News on Thursday that the company’s assets will be sold to Spinrite Yarns of Canada. The sale will become final on Feb. 25. After that, the future of the business will be uncertain."

Was going through my email and saw one from a few weeks ago that I forgot to read and this is what it was!They are in the UK, so don't know if it applied to the US or not.  

and now this.

Click Here to View Combed Cotton

We have just been advised that Bramwell Yarns are not trading anymore.  I have updated our stocks in our Ebay Shop, once this stock has gone we will not be able to replace it.  May we suggest you stock up while you can.  We have now introduced the Yeoman 4ply Yarn to replace the Bramwells 4ply.

  Should we receive any updates on Bramwells we will let you know.

Thank you for your continued suppport

Best Regards Caroline BSK Ltd

Click Here to View Remainder Of Bramwell Yarns

Click Here to View Yeoman 4ply Yarn

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Kelley's Mitten Class - Introduction

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Knit It Now pleated pocket video

 I got this in my email today and decided to try it out. It's for a pleated pocket on a knitting machine. Not too tricky, I got it right the first time and I've never done a pocket before. Here's pics of my samples.

I put a little decorative edge on it as I'm going to sew it to a sweat shirt so I have a pocket. The color doesn't show it so well because it's variegated  but it matches my shirt.


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Large Cotton Doily

I made a large doily on my standard gauge machine out of #10 cotton thread. It came out okay but I did find some mistakes in it. I was going to give it as a gift but since it has mistakes in it I'm going to keep it for myself. I have a small table that we use out on our patio so I'm going to put it out there for the summer. I know the birds will get it dirty but it's cotton so will wash up nicely.
Here's some pics of it.

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50" doily

After making the small doily on the LK  150 in yarn I decided to make a large one out of a big ball of size 10 crochet cotton  that I've had for ages. This one is on the standard gauge. Took a while to get the thread  rewound but hubby helped me with that! He's such a sweetie! I've got 5 sections made, which is halfway. I've figured it takes about an hour and 10 mins to make one section. I could probably go faster since half the rows are just putting 3 ndls in/out of hold but when I did that on the yarn one I missed a row and had to rip it back so I'm taking my time. Had one little mistake today on an eyelet row but somehow got it fixed. I wasn't sure I'd be able to relatch from 2 rows down but it looks ok! I probably won't get a lot done on it tomorrow since it's house cleaning day but I shouldn't beat myself up about it since I got quite a lot done today. Sometimes I get myself worked up thinking I have to hurry and get it done and I either don't finish or make mistakes. I don't work so there's no hurry! I am feeling bad about neglecting my crochenit vest though. It keeps staring at me every time I walk by it! I only have to finish the back and the ribbing just haven't felt like sitting on the couch and working on it. I keep telling myself 'I will finish it!' I've also got an afghan I started last year that I haven't worked on at all this winter. It's not for anyone but a pretty pattern. It is crocheted and every round is a different color and different stitch. Maybe next winter I'll work on it. Can't work on it in the summer, just too hot.

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