WiP Wednesday!

Hi there! Last week, I didn’t have anything decent to show you. I was between socks in the pair-in-progress and hadn’t touched my Swirl. But there has been progress in the last week. Yay, progress!

I finally picked up my Swirl again.


I’m on my 30th welt and increasing along for the sleeves. It’s good to be chugging along on this again. After seeing my friend Dianne’s finished Swirl, I now want my own sweater finished post-haste.

But it’s a little … gigantic … to work on just anywhere. So socks are always the answer!


First sock finished. Second sock well on its way. I love STR-M. It makes for a very fast pair of socks and it’s just wonderful to work with.

And, in the biggest news around here, I’ve been weaving!


The bit of fabric that is disappearing over the front beam is the third placemat of the set, then the hems and the start of the fourth and final placemat. At the top of the shot, you can see the knots tying the warp to the back beam, so the end is near.

The minute this warp is finished, I’ll take the front and back beam and all eight harnesses off the loom, tie down things that might move, and I’ll try to shoehorn the loom into the front room. Please cross your fingers that plan works. Because if it doesn’t, then I’ll have to almost completely dismantle the loom to get it in there. And while it’s good to know your loom that well, it would kind of really suck to have to do that.

In other news, my primary freelance gig kind of went up in smoke a few weeks ago, but a former employer has brought be back on staff to do some feature writing for them. If you’re interested, I’ll be posting links to the stuff I’m writing HERE, on my work blog.

Sun Devil Socks

Welcome to the FO (“finished object”) post for my 2011 Softball Socks. The 2011 NCAA Champions were the Arizona State Sun Devils. I really enjoyed the student-athlete I spoke with for my ASU feature story, and a good friend of mine was taking her swan song with the Sun Devils before heading back to her hometown (gee, I don’t know anyone else who has done that!)


Once again, trying to knit outside in Oklahoma in June is a nearly impossible task. It’s hot. Very hot. And humid. So I got started during the WCWS, but didn’t really hit my stride on these socks until a few days later. On the floor at TNNA.


Toe pic!
The first sock of this pair was knit almost exclusively while walking around the marketplace at TNNA in Columbus. We did a lot of walking around and a plain vanilla sock was just the ticket.


New Pathways heel, as per usual
The first sock was finished on June 13, just over a week after it was cast on. The leg on that first sock is a bit tight. All of my 3.0mm needles have taken a walk, so I didn’t have them handy to keep my sock leg on the loose side. Oops.


Turtle Daddy sock blockers!

Once I finally got to the leg of the second sock, I focused on keeping things nice and loose. The second sock is perfect. I’m still reserving the right to rip and re-knit that first leg, but I think it’s fine aside from a bit of extra work to put the sock on.


Another success for both New Pathways and Socks that Rock Mediumweight. Win!

Softball Socks 2011

Pattern: Riverbed Master by Cat Bordhi, New Pathways for Sock Knitters
Yarn: Socks that Rock Mediumweight
Colorway: Boobie 2
Needles: US 2/2.75mm (2-16” HiyaHiyas)
Started: 5 June 2011
Finished: 7 September 2011
Mods: None!

WiP Wednesday

My previous pair of socks finished up at the end of last week. Everything you see below is on a semi-commission pair of socks (for a friend of the family) and it has been zipping right along. I think I started to focus on this on Friday night.



Do they look super long and super narrow? They are. But so are the recipient’s feet, so it’s OK. For reference, this is a 7” midfoot measurement and a 48-stitch sock.

I’m still neglecting my swirl. But I’m in git ‘er done mode on stuff around the house and things on my must-finish list. So I’m working on that. If I can get a few things finished around here, I’ll give you a full tour of the newly-renovated house!

Sunset: 13 September 2011

Last night of the year at VBP. I didn't think we were going to have a sunset at all, but we got a little bit of color.






And a few seconds later, the sun disappeared behind a cloud. Then I climbed in my car and came back to Pittsburgh. Until we meet again in 2012...

Sunset: 12 September 2011

WiP Wednesday

I must admit that I haven’t been doing a whole lot of knitting. The knitting that has actually been happening has been socks, and after a couple hours, my wrist starts to hurt, so I put it down and do something else.

I need to pick up my Swirl again. Maybe using a US 8/5mm needle instead of a 2.75mm sock needle will help with the problem? Meanwhile…


My primary socks-in-progress are about half an inch away from finished. There is a decent chance that I’ll have to rip and re-knit the leg of the first sock, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. Possibly tonight at Hurricane Knitters.

Last Thursday night, we had a packed store with lots of people who needed help and since I was working alone, things got crazy in a hurry. When Sairy (who was visiting from New Jersey. YAY!) and I left the store to go to dinner, I couldn’t find the above socks. After dinner, we stopped at the store again so I could take a quick second look. No dice.

It turned out that somehow my GoKnit bag had hopped onto a shelf with yarn in the sale section of the store? Yes, that is how crazy things got that night. And since I had a bunch of friends headed for my house on Friday night and I knew margaritas would be involved, I obviously had to start another pair of plain vanilla socks:


More Socks that Rock Mediumweight. I need to take a look at stitch counts and see if Holidazed will work for these bad boys, since the recipient has insanely narrow feet. They are a semi-commission pair for a family friend.

You may have noticed that these socks are attached to some ChiaoGoo red lace needles. Obviously, I’m early in the sock knitting process, but so far I’d give them an A+.

And now, it’s off to cross a few more things off of my list. Yes, I’m planning on a final “house tour” soon, but I’m not quite ready to show things off yet. Gotta get that 30” loom through the 29” door for its new house first!

WiP Wednesday

Hi! So I really didn’t do any knitting on vacation. And since we’ve been home, I’ve been busy clearing out the future-weaving-room and doing other stuff around the house. No knitting.

But since the last time I WiP’d you, here’s what I’ve gotten done.


Sock is un-jacked-up and the heel is turned. I’m now decreasing away on the flap.

The Swirl sweater is partially bound off. I’ve started working on the sleeves and bodice, but I’ve hardly started on that portion of the program.


And, since you know I’ve been doing some serious cleaning, that’s going to include a pretty good-sized destash. This is what I pulled yesterday. I have a list with prices. Lemme know if you want it.


All of it is on Ravelry, but none of it has been tagged for sale/trade yet. Figured I'd give folks I "know" first crack at it. I just have toooooo much yarn.

Sunset: 24 August 2011

I took a walk earlier today and the lake was so high that there was very little glass. Here's my haul for the last couple days:


Sunset was pretty mild tonight, but again. The lake was very high and there was hardly any beach today. Sunset!




And then I nearly stepped on this guy on my way back up to the house.


And that's it for vacation 2011, possibly for the year. I may try to scoot up here once more come September, but this could be it. Hope you've enjoyed this year's sunset pictures!

Sunset: 23 August 2011

Sunset: 22 August 2011

An almost-chilly day here at VBP, but a pretty good sunset to top it off ...

Sunset: 21 August 2011

A long day of epic storms ended with a pretty decent sunset. Happy start to vacation!

WiP Wednesday

Once again, the bulk of my knitting time has gone to the Swirl sweater. I’m on my last full welt, so I have just a few short rounds left before I start binding off and starting on the sleeves and bodice.


My streak of reading comprehension FAILs continued. I was excited and in a hurry to cast this on, so I just looked at the chart and didn’t READ the instructions. As a result, I’ve been knitting this thing “backwards” from the get-go. If I’d been thinking, I could easily have fixed the problem seven rows in when I did my first set of decreases, but the good news is that I’m pretty sure I know how I can rectify my mistake seamlessly. Hooray!

Moral of the story? Pay attention when you read directions.

In other news, I made a point of getting both of my smaller projects back on track. I ripped out about an inch of my socks-in-progress a week ago, put in my increases markers at the proper point and have been off to the races ever since.


So basically, the V between the markers is everything I’ve knit since last week. Yay, small project that can take a few stitches here and there!

And, last night, I got a few rounds in on my Bagstopper. Inching ever-closer to the top border. Hooray!


We start vacation on Saturday night, so it remains to be seen whether I’ll be doing more knitting or reading next week. For whatever reason, reading usually wins when I’m on vacation.

Oakland Shawl

I’ve had another finished project lurking around this house. I’m finally getting around to blogging it!


I first saw this shawl in a booth at TNNA in 2010. I fell in love instantly, and had a friend who was vacationing in Massachusetts pick up the required two skeins of Kauni at WEBS. It was another year before I cast on.


The reason I finally made time to pick up this project is that my LYS, Bloomin' Yarns, will be carrying Kauni in the very near future. I have another sample I need to knit, but until then, this shawl is living at the store.


This is a very simple pattern. All garter stitch. I made some incredibly minor adjustments to fit my personal taste. I am anti-yarn over, so I used KFB increases. And I wanted the center spine to match the outer border, so I increased it from one stitch to three stitches. Beyond that, it was all garter stitch all the time. Perfect for the chunk of total exhaustion that followed my ridiculous June.


The Kauni did all of the work, I just alternated between the rainbow skein and the black and white skein. I did wind up picking up a second skein of the EC (black and white) in order to use the entire skein of the EQ (rainbow). I can guarantee I will have more Kauni projects in my knitting future. I truly enjoyed knitting this shawl!

Oakland Shawl

Pattern: Oakland Shawl by Sally Brandl (available on Ravelry)
Yarn: Kauni EQ and EC
Quantity: One skein of EQ, about 1.2 skeins of EC, although all three skeins were marked as 150g
Needles: US 5/3.75mm KnitPicks Options
Started: 14 June 2011
Finished: 16 July 2011
Mods: Replaced yarn overs with a KFB increase.
Changed center spine from a single stitch to three stitches.

WiP Wednesday

It’s still project monogamy around here. And it’s just about all swirl knitting. It still looks like a big amorphous blob, but my rows are certainly getting shorter and I’m over halfway through the outer ovals, headed towards binding off and working the sleeves and bodice.


I still love both yarns I’m using, which is a good thing. There’s a lot of knitting still to come on this sweater.


I’m hoping to fix my socks tonight, then I can get moving on that once again. Meanwhile, I am off to continue picking up my basement and possibly organizing a bit of the upstairs yarn. Off to the races again!

So Close, And Yet So Far Away …

Sorry for the radio silence. I’ve been neck-deep in the mess in the basement and running around trying to keep up with this and that. But I figured it was at least time for a renovation update.

We’re down to a long list of small things that still need to be finished. But let me show you what’s been done since I blogged about it last!


Once our limestone actually made it here from Indiana, our fantastic stone mason got rolling. Bits of stone all over the place, but as the pillars went up, they look wonderful and really make the deck look like it’s integrated to the house … and always has been.


And, in case you were curious, stonework makes a massive mess. Our driveway started out black. Fortunately, it finished looking black again, after meticulous powerwashing.

So here are some peeks at the finished stone work:

A stone frame was put in around the sliding glass door. It makes it look like it’s always been there.

(The dark line going down the stone to the right of the door? That’s from the caulking they used to seal the enclosed back porch. The caulk is gone, but it stained the stone. Fortunately, it’s less noticeable IRL.)

Each of the three finished pillars will have a light fixture on the underside of the deck.


And the pillar at the bottom of the stairs will have one light fixture on the interior, and one on the exterior.

All in all, the stone work looks great.


Really, the only remaining exterior work is a little bit of electrical work (covering one of the outlets, installing the exterior lights, turning the last circuit on), one piece of molding under the roof and the downspout for the roof. Hooray!

The next huge milestone was seeing the dumpster go bye-bye.


When a Dumpster is parked in one spot for months (!!!) it collects a lot of water. And when it’s time for the dumpster to move, it pees lots of disgusting black water out the back door. But it’s gone! And that’s HUGE!

There is more stuff to do inside the house. The carpet came out on Friday.


And when it did, it revealed a swath of the linoleum of my childhood, which is obviously still under the floating “wood” floor of the kitchen.

Original hardwood floors in former dining room above, kitchen floor below.

And, finally, the built-in custom entertainment center.


This bad boy takes up the whole wall. The thing in the center just below the plugs on the white wall is the second drawer for the left-hand side of the unit. The thing on the floor will span the distance between the shelving units, above the TV.

This has been one of the bigger hold-ups, since Jim ran out of stain and had to order more from Pella. Which took for.ev.er. Doors, shelves, and panel behind the TV are expected tomorrow, along with the electrician. We’re starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel.