2 Weeks Work

Ok, so there was a LOT of other stuff going on these 2 weeks.

Here ya go...



From left to right,

440yds LW / Light Fingering 2-ply Superwash Merino in Agate from Zen String.
220yds DK 3-ply Superwash Merino in Splendour from Zen String.
475yds LW / Light Fingering 2-ply Superwash Merino / Tencel in Autumn Sunset from Spinning Bunny.

Goodies In, Goodies Out

First up are the incoming goodies. My bestest SP ever sent me a big box of goodies. Half a pound each of white and black churro roving. Yay!!!! I have yet to decide whether it wants to be a zebra 2-ply or spun separately into 3-ply and have a colorwork party. I'm leaning towards the colorwork. Also in the box, in the baggie, is some buffalo down. A little hairy and veggie, but very interesting. Be forewarned though -- do not dehair your buffalo down inside your carpeted house. The guard hairs are auburn, short, and curly, and they get everywhere. Mr. Robincat said I looked like I was involved in illicit activities when I came in the house covered in guard hairs yesterday. Yikes!



Goodies out are the annual socks for my dad and brother's birthdays. Dad's are the peacock blue ones in Cascade 220 Superwash. Jason is (gasp!!) allergic to wool and gets the brown ones, done in Lion Brand Cotton-Ease. They were both knit on US 6 dpns.

Happy Birthday Jason!!

I have to give my brother a little happy birthday shout since I gave my dad one on Saturday.

Jason is 33 today and still as hilarious as ever. Brilliant, too, I might add.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Yup, that's me in that picture. And no, I have no idea what he was eating.

Ok, he'll probably never see this because he lacks the interwebs and he really, really does not like computers, but I can't let his 58th birthday pass without a little tribute.

My dad is probably the best dad ever. Yeah, I know everyone says that about their dad, but it's really true. He's got the most strict ethics of anyone I've ever met, but he doesn't judge others if they don't live to the same standards. He worked as a Wildlife Biologist for the State of Louisiana since before I was born and just retired a couple of years ago from the same job. Even though he and my mom divorced when I was 4, they've never been bitter and have been great friends since... well, since forever.

My son Richard is named after my dad, and the three of us (me, my son, and my dad) are three peas in a pod when it comes to a sense of humor. The more slapstick, the better. I was raised on Bugs Bunny-filled Saturday mornings and Three Stooges on VHS.

But for the most part, the best part about my dad is his absolute kindness. He'll go very far out of his way to help a stranger, and even farther for friends and family. I've worked in a soup kitchen with him on Thanksgiving Day, and that was probably the happiest I've ever seen him.

What I Lack of Protestant Work-Ethic

I make up for with an Irish temper.

I made the mistake Friday of whining to a friend about my playscape's lack of a roof. Bad move. I got repeat advice from the beginning of summer. "Pay someone $200 to put it together and quit worrying about it." Well... I'm a bit stubborn. And a bit pissed at myself for whinging on about it. Just a little. And I forgot just how much of a thrill I get from heights.

So, Mr. Robincat agreed to watch the kids today after he finished a project of his, and I got a little crazy on the roofing. It was a LOT of fun. About as much legal fun as a married woman can have. I told him this, and he doesn't believe me. I really do love working outside, and especially heights. What could be more fun than roofing?





Some of you may notice that there's a couple of boards missing on the eastern side. Well... It started raining a little and I didn't want to bring out the big metal ladder in the rain. Mr. Robincat has promised to help me finish those out and install the roof runners (just 2 boards) tomorrow before knitting.

Now for Q and A:

Q: What do you mean, you didn't want to bring out the ladder. Of course you were using a ladder to do all that roofing, right?

A: Actually, I was standing on a pair of 1x4s laid across the width of the railing boards (except when I was sitting on the monkey bars). Mr. Robincat thought I was crazy and refused to watch.

Edited to add: Apparently, I blew out my knee (not a rarity for me) as I was coming down the ladder for the last time. ;) At least it was after I finished!

Mediterranean Lace Shawl

Wow. This is going to be one big shawl. I must really love my mother. I'm knitting it from white Zephyr lace-weight. I ordered it in the 600yd mini-cone put-up, but am washing it and re-winding it into balls to knit from. I'm aware that no one else in the world minds knitting from Zephyr cones, but it drives me crazy. They keep falling over.

I'm one repeat away from the beginning of the decreases -- for the first third. That doesn't include the wide lace border knitted on size zeros. Fortunately, it's going at a pretty good clip now that I've pretty much memorized the rose lattice lace pattern.

On the Knitting Front

I've gotten a lot done in the past week or so since I finished my husband's sweater.

I'm almost done with the back of the Braids & Leaves Sweater in Bouton D'Or Merinosoie. I'd have a lot more progress, though, if I didn't keep losing the pattern. I've heard it's visiting at my friend Ana's house right now.

Also, significant progress on the Mediterranean Lace Shawl. I'm only one repeat away from the midpoint of the first section. Yeah, I know it doesn't sound like much, but this is one huge bugger of a shawl. A friend's daughter asked me the other day if I would be done that day. Heh. I wish. It's going to be a couple more months, I think.

Pictures will happen at some point. My kids have just been on a cranky, high-energy tear recently.

It's DONE! ... AGAIN!!! and Sniff-o-rama

The Jamie Jumper is finally finished for the second time. That makes a Robincat Record (tm) of 2.5weeks for a self-designed, hand-knitted, 48" chest aran sweater. Kind of impressive, huh?

He doesn't want pictures until it's dry, which makes sense, considering what happened last time.

On another (base)note, Mary, Mary (that's just one person... really!) and I went to Neiman-Marcus for a sniff-o-rama. See, we're scent-hounds. We love perfume. Love it. And we're snobs. Snobs with completely and utterly different tastes. But that's ok, cause I love Mary, Mary and she tolerates my kiddos, even when they're not. having. fun. in the fancy-schmancy department store. They were astoundingly good, though. Sarah even permitted the make-up lady to give her a makeover. Yes, she's learning the girly ways at a very young age. Well, at least she's learning them -- I'm just learning them now at 30.

So, here's the results of the Sniff-o-rama. I love Guerlain. Guerlain and I go together like kittens and milk. Mary, on the other hand, has been sucked in by Creed, which I must admit, has some fabulous "green" scents -- one of the very few houses that do not equate "green" with "bug spray."

The favorites of the day in my book were Mitsouko EDP, which I have already in the Eau de Toilette formulation. Just my opinion, but the EDP is much richer and nicer. Oh, yum. Next on the buy list is Champs Elysees. It doesn't do a whole lot for my nose, but Mr. Robincat likes it enough to offer to pay for it, so he must LOVE it. Hehe. Another love of mine is Imperiale, which I pretty much guessed already. I'm a neroli fiend. FIEND, I tell you. I have a bottle of orange blossom water in my fridge just to sniff whenever I get in a bad mood. Yup, I'm weird like that. The only problem I found with the Imperiale is that the dry-down is fast. Like, didn't even last through lunch. Le Sigh.

Disappointments: L'Heure Bleue. I thought I would love it, but the floral is just a bit heavy and comes off a bit too "precious" for me. Jicky. I adore the smell of Jicky. I just can't wear it myself -- a bit too manly. Well, it is a unisex fragrance, so not too surprising. Now... if only I could get Mr. Robincat to wear it, I'd be in heaven.

I'll let Mary blog about her own opinions, but I do have to say that one of her favorites, Green Irish Tweed, is something I'd definitely buy for Mr. Robincat. Tabarome, another men's scent by Creed, is just lovely. Mmmm.

Raise Your Hand

If you think I'm insane.

Because I felted my dear husband's nordic jumper, I've begun "Jamie Jumper Redux." He doesn't know about it because he's in Ireland for 2 weeks. I have 10 days left to finish this, but no worries. I only started it 4 days ago and I'm already 15 rows shy of the underarm. There have been some major design alterations, too, because although he was incredibly happy with it, there were some fit issues.





First, though the welting on the original looked great, it was really heavy and caused the whole sweater to lengthen, which isn't very complimentary to man of smaller stature. So, I've put in 2x2 ribbing to create a "sweater bra" to hold up the yarn weight.

Second, all the twisted stitches are now plain knits between cable elements. The twists were fine until I had to separate the front and back, and then purling through the back loop just wasn't fun anymore. I don't want to do that again.

Third, the twisted rope cable has been replaced by a simple 3x3 twist. I felt that the twisted rope didn't quite mesh with the nordic central panel and zig-zag figure eights.

Fourth, the sleeves are going to be different. Not sure how yet, but I wasn't a huge fan of the original ones. I'll probably use the central or zigzags, depending on how many stitches I have available. The dragon heads were cute in theory, but very distracting from the intricate body of the jumper.

Ladybird Yarn

Ok, I finally got the POUND of yarn finished and it kinda makes up for the felted sweater.





Yarn on a swingset. Don't you just love it?

It's coming up as 10-11wpi, so I'll say it's aran-weight. The wpi charts all say bulky, so I'll swatch with 8s and 10s and see what it likes best.

Good Timing

I just got a big ole box of wine in the mail.

Apparently, the UPS man knew about the sweater disaster.

On a Happier Note

We got a new camera.

Here's a normal picture...



Here's the same subject, under intense scrutiny...



On the bobbin is hand-dyed Tussah Silk from Franquemont Fibers.

I felted it.

Yes, the Jamie Jumper.

Yes, I'm still crying.

After initial blocking, it was about a foot too long for Mr. Robincat. So, I thought.. hrm... front load washer + handwash cycle = success. I forgot one factor.

Patons Merino felts like a motherf*cker. (Sorry, G'mamom, there was really no other word for this.)

I'll post pics after I quit beating my head against the wall and finish stretching it out to Mrs. Robincat size.

I need chocolate... or valium... or a stiff drink... or a good... nevermind. I need a frackin' time machine.

Okay.. I'm ready to do some "after" pictures. I think it's salvageable, but I may have to cut off the sleeves and call it a vest. I'm having trouble with the left arm, but everything else is actually stretching to his size (and not shrinking back when I turn my head). Of course, the cabling is much subdued now, but he kinda likes that look.

The Jamie Jumper is DONE!

This is a sweater I've been working on since last November for Mr. Robincat. He's very picky when it comes to clothing, so he got a custom designed aran where he got to pick out the yarn, cables, shoulder-shaping, collar, etc. The yarn is Patons Merino Classic in Natural Marl. It's 48", so that should tell you how much I love my husband.

It's been a royal pain in the ass, but the jumper is finished! I did the little dragon heads this morning. It's still wet and I know the pictures leave much to be desired, but I wasn't waiting for it to dry.

If you want the pattern, you're going to be out of luck. Sorry, but we did a quite a bit of "try it on and knit a little" the whole way through. Also, the center panel is straight out of an Elsebeth Lavold book and I'm not sure how much trouble I'd get in if I published that chart.

The underarm gussets are out of Knitting Ganseys, by Beth Brown-Reinsel, and the shoulder-shaping is hybrid raglan, a la Elizabeth Zimmerman. The 1x1 rib polo collar is of my own devising. Not sure how well it's going to work until he wears it a bit, so I might end up ripping it out and inserting a crew neck (or just grafting it together in the center and sewing it down on the inside).

I'm perfectly aware that the proportions look way wonky, but I swear, it actually does fit him like a glove. Maybe I should start designing for the big & tall men's crowd.....

My Fingers Are Confused

I'm currently working on a 3-fiber cabled 3-ply yarn and my fingers are starting to get confused. The first two singles (z) are done and plied together into a semi-spiraled Blue-Faced Leicester and silk combo (s). Now, I'm working on the third single (s). I'll be plying this single (Falklands) with the aforementioned combo.

Yes, I know there are other ways of making a 3-ply yarn. I've done Navajo. I've done strict 3-ply. I'm not looking for an alternate solution. I'm aiming for the yarn that I'm making. I'm just saying that my fingers are very, very confused with their first attempt at making an s-twist single. We're managing it, but it does get a little odd when I have to untwist a slub.

Fortunately, though, my feet are stupid little sheep and just do as they're told. :)

Since it stopped raining for a few moments, here's some pictures of what I have so far....







The Rio (purple) Falklands is from Pippi Knee Socks, the Bluebell (indigo) Tussah Silk is from Franquemont Fibers, and the Blue Topaz BFL is from The Fiber Denn.

Consoling Myself with Yarn

So, wouldn't you know it, the lid of my teapot broke this morning. Apparently, the teapot doesn't like the new cosy.

I hope my even older teapot fits into the cosy. Where my blue one was fat and short, the older one is white, tall, and skinny. We'll see when I get it washed. It's been on a shelf over the stove for years.. urgh.

Anyway, I needed to console myself and there was a post on Knittyboard that The Loopy Ewe had Wollmeise in stock. I went to go see and they had a beautiful green and blue colorway, Wellensittichvogelfeder, which is German for "budgie feather." Perfect for some sockems for Mr. Robincat. I spent $30 that I probably shouldn't have, but I feel better... and that's what really counts.

My Tea Kept Getting Cold...

So I knitted a tea cosy....




This is probably the ugliest tea cosy ever, but my tea kept getting cold. The yarn is hand dyed (with Adams food coloring), hand spun Targhee wool.

And as requested... an up close and personal shot....

What the Teleknitter sent me...

And what I spun from it....






(I know it's got my tags on it, but it's personal stash.. :) )

Apparently, I'm a....

What Kind of Knitter Are You?

You appear to be a Knitting Purist. You are an accomplished knitter producing beautiful pieces with a classic feel. You sometimes lament losing half of your local yarn shop to garish novelty yarns. Perhaps you consider fun fur scarves the bane of knitting society and prefer to steer new knitters towards the wool and cotton blends. Some might call you a bit of an elitist but you know that you've been doing this craft long enough to respect the history behind it and honor it with beautiful piece that can last a lifetime. http://marniemaclean.com
Take this quiz!








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Good Day

Somehow, today is turning out just peachy.

I got mosquito repellent thingies for the back yard.

I moved 4 barrows 10 barrows of chipped wood to the back yard.

I got a can of Fix-A-Flat for the wheelbarrow (see above).

I got friends lined up to help me raise the roof on the kids' fort (last thing to do) on Monday.

And I persuaded Mr. Robincat that getting lawn service was much more cost efficient than buying a riding lawn mower! Which means the lawn is MOWN!!!! Like for real!!!