More sock stuff

 I'd tried a couple of times to do the toes and heels different colours but had a few issues along the way.   I watched a video which mentioned a hint on a way to do this, just in passing.  I tried it and poof, success!   Well mainly success.  The socks were supposed to be navy with pink heels and toes.  I'd grabbed both the pink and purple bits from my scrap bin and for some reason wound up the purple instead of the pink.  I didn't really pay attention to it until I was doing the toe of the first sock.  By then, it was navy socks with the purple because I wasn't redoing the sock just to change the colour to pink.   They worked out beautifully though, so I was happy enough with them.    I have more navy for another pair of socks, so no worries there.

Then I knew a friend from out of town was visiting, so I made a pair of socks for her.  However I wanted to make a pair for her kid too, so I changed out the 72 cylinder to the 54 needle cylinder.   This is what I started with and I remember thinking that the 72 was a whole new game when I switched them out the first time.   This time though I had huge issues.   It's like the cylinder is just a smidge bigger than the 72.  It cranks differently and pushing the needles up is stiff and doesn't feel the same.    I did a test tube to check tension and it was fine, but lifting needles and going backwards was definitely different .  It took me 3 tries to get 2 kids socks, but I got the socks done.

Then I tried to make a pair of socks for my daughter who has tiny, skinny feet.   Stitches kept dropping and then the whole machine seized up.   Because I'd changed out the yarn carrier for a pretty, new slotted yarn carrier, it meant that I had several possible issues.   The most likely was that I had a bent needle or two causing the jam though, so I pulled all the needles, and replaced them one at a time cranking several times around for each needle.  I found one which pinged, so I pulled it because it shouldn't ping!   I readjusted  the yarn carrier and tried again. 

 The nice thing about this new slotted yarn carrier is that when there is an issue like this, I can just lift the yarn out, instead of cutting it and having to join the pieces together.   But all my fussing and readjusting didn't stop this from happening, several times.   Now I'm just beyond frustrated since this 54 slot cylinder is still working slightly differently from the 72 slot cylinder and while I've ordered a new, made to order 60 slot cylinder, it won't be here until after Christmas.   I'm hoping to have these socks made for her for a present.  I still have a few days to play with them though, after a big cup of tea!

 

 

Finished the Socks!

 A while back, before the latest Covid lock down, my daughter gave me 7 balls of sock yarn, suggesting that we trade.  She'd give me the yarn and I'd give her back socks.   I don't think I'd have made this trade with anyone else, but since she's my daughter, I didn't mind.

It had been several years since I'd knit socks, so I had to relearn the steps.  It wasn't difficult, but I did have to restart several socks, a couple of times because I'd forgotten how the yarns worked.   Kroy is a sturdy and easy to knit yarn, but it's not as fine as most sock yarns, and I needed to change my stitches and gauge.

The bright unicorn fart yarn wasn't in the original back of yarns.   Instead there was a bright red yarn, but it was wool, rayon and nylon.   I didn't really like the rayon aspect, so I switched it out for the stripey yarn.  At first, I was going to make them for me, but the more I thought about the rayon sock yarn, the more I said nope...just not happening.   So my daughter got the fun striped socks.

I also used this project to experiment with different heels.   I did the German Short Row heel.  Ick.  It didn't fit me at all when I tried it on.   I also had to use markers to keep track of my stitches, which became a royal pain in the butt.   My next heel type was the square heel.   That was one sweet heel to knit.  It was easy to knit, looked fine but also didn't fit me at all.   I ended up doing the round heel that I normally use on the final pair of socks.   It fit me just fine.     Nice to note though, that they all fit my daughter just fine.   

I was doing some rug hooking but having a wool rug on your lap when it's 30C outside and no AC inside, just isn't doable.   If I had a gripper strip hooking frame on a stand, or a Cheticamp style frame,  then hooking could happen.   However I use a small, plastic hoop.  It isn't big enough to be supported and ends up flopping the whole rug on my lap.   It's just too warm right now, with this unseasonably early heat wave!

I have spun and plied some lovely Merino.  It's another skein of white yarn, so I haven't yet photographed it.   I'm beginning to wish I had some dyed roving to play with, just for a change. 

 

Woad plants are happy.   Japanese Indigo is very happy.   I have Weld plants again this year which makes me happy!  Yay!

Random Bits and Pieces

My attempt at something called Flake yarn.  Actually, it is my second attempt.  The first was so ugly that I couldn't in all honestly use it for homework.   I'm limited as to the size of the flakes or tufty bits because of the size of my spinning wheel orifice.   It's pretty yarn though I'm going to have to get creative to figure out some sort of valid use for yarn like this.

I finally finished the toe on this sock and grafted it together yesterday afternoon.  Now to cast on the second sock.  Last hip check up I had, I'd forgotten to bring my knitting bag and had to sit around twiddling my thumbs for a bit until I remembered I had put a game on my phone.  It was my least desired waiting room activity.  I don't think I will forget to bring a project or a book along next time.   My sweetie suggested I just leave a project bag with a pair of socks in the truck, so it is there when I need it, which isn't a bad idea actually.

I spent 45 minutes this morning sanding this simple boot jack.   It was a quickie project that my sweetie made for me last night, out of a scrap of wood.  It isn't horribly pretty, but it works just fine.  With something like a boot jack, function is really what is important.   Many years ago I had a pretty little blue one that my uncle made me when I was a kid, to help me haul off my riding boots.   This one is needed so I can get my new boots off without mucking up the heels too much.

The deal was if I got my hip done, my sweetie would get me new boots.  Love the boots.  They are super comfortable.  A bit ticked off that they cost $100 more in Canada than in the US, but we're used to that.  On the other hand, the service and selection from Keleher's Western Wear was pretty awesome.  Awesome service is hard to come by at a lot of stores these days.

Geranium slips and socks

Every spring I plant a couple of Geraniums.  They come a variety of shades, especially shades of pink and they are readily available.  I found that for years, I would miss the sale where the potting Geraniums are on sale for .58 cents.   I decided one fall, that I was tired of that and took cuttings of the plants which were colours that I liked.  There are always pink Geraniums available, but some years they aren't actually pink!   They can be peachy pink, or pale pink, or stripey pink.  I had the perfect pink Geranium that year.  I loped off a bunch of stem pieces into 3-5 inch lengths.  I snipped off the flowering bit, trimmed off any leaves from the lower half of the stem and stuck them into a little jar of water.   I stuck the jar in a sunny window and about half of them rooted.  I usually put them into the front bathroom window, where it is very sunny but quite cool.  I've found however that I tend to forget to water them, which adversely affects the rooting rate for some reason.

Bright Pink Geraniums

I've found out since then that I get better rooting rates if I just stick the cuttings directly into fresh potting soil.  It's fast and easy.  I don't use rooting compound because I've read that Geraniums don't need it.  The fact that it's not actually easy to find, helps with the not using it either.

Dark Pink/Burgundy Trailing Geraniums

With the temperatures dropping and getting close to first frost, I figured it was time to snip my summer's plants and re-root them.   I got out my secateurs (don't you just love that word) and went to work.   My pink Geraniums cuttings are in a rectangular planter box.  I put one extra cutting into a pot, along with a rooted Geranium which I cut severely back and repotted.  Not only did I trim back about 2/3 of the branches, but I trimmed the roots back a few inches as well.   This is my security plant, in the event that for some strange reason, all my cuttings fail this year.  I also put the pots in a sunny window, in the livingroom, where I'll remember to water them!
I've had this sock yarn in wait for a while. It's bright, it's soft and it's a tad thicker than I normally use.  I had to go up a needle size and use a slightly smaller stitch count.   I'm doing a simple spiral pattern with a single traveling/cable stitch.   It's fast, interesting and unlike cabling with multiple stitches, I don't need a cable needle.   The downside to this yarn is that it was a gift and it had a few moth nibbled breaks in it.  Regardless, it's still sturdy everywhere else, it's bright and an interesting colour that I might not have chosen for myself.

Playing With Colour

 

Playing with making rolags and puni  of different colour and fibre combinations.

 More colours here and elsewhere.  They are starting to pile up.  The big consideration is making enough of one colour combination to actually have enough fibre for more than sampling.  I was surprised at how much time it takes to make good rolags this way.  I've seen some very messy ones which look like they'd be difficult to spin.  These spin so nicely that it's worth the effort.   It adds a nice change and twist to fibre processing.   It's a bit easier to manipulate the colours in a precise way than the drum carder or hackles.

 Playing with new project bag designs.  While I was making these, I was sure I wouldn't like them.  However the moment they were done, I loved them.  The larger one is big enough for a small project, notions and a pattern.  Awesome!  

One sock done and the other is started.  I was hoping to get these done before the end of September but I'll have to actually set aside some time to work on them if I want to meet that goal.  The cuff is a bit fussy, but once I got the grid work pattern worked out, it was super easy and the foot patterning became intuitive.  I love the use of the single cable travelling stitch, which I can do without a cable needle.  It's fast, fun and adds a nice bit of decoration to the sock, without any fuss or muss.

I spent an afternoon washing Alpaca.  It took over 2 days to dry because of the weather and the fact that I let the top and the bottom part of the fibre salad spinner get separated thus couldn't spin out the excess water.  Yay me!

The truck broke down, the day before I was going to head out for a day at Westfield.  It was Saturday morning and that's a dreadful time for getting emergency repair service.  We only have the one vehicle, so not fixing it wasn't an option.    However, we were 3 feet from the repair shop parking lot and they could fit us in but we'd have to wait 10 minutes, was that okay?  So after 3 hours in the waiting room, without my knitting, a book or some handsewing (argh), we had the truck back, with a shiny new alternator.  It wouldn't have been so bad but less than 2 weeks before, we replaced the alternator on my son's car and had to get new tires.   Bad things come in threes?  I hope that's it for a while.

Garlic Harvest and more socks

 I harvested the garlic last week.  It took about 3 days to dig it all up, wash it and start it drying.  Most of the heads of garlic are a normal size, but there are a fair number of absolutely huge ones, with a very few overly small.  In all, it was a really good garlic harvest.   It seems to be one crop that does well, regardless of the weather conditions.  Being cooler and with regular rain seems to be a bonus for the garlic this year though.

After digging it up and rinsing it off with the hose (I did it at the base of the new apple tree, so it was watered in at the same time and I wasn't wasting water), I lay out the garlic on the deck table to start drying.   There is a fair chance of rain in the forecast for the next few days, so I tied it up into bunches and either hung them up or laid them out on the laundry rack to finish drying in the garage.

Not only is there enough to last us the winter, but I'll have lots to give away to my kids as well.  I should weigh the garlic because there is a lot and it's heavy.  Maybe over 5 lbs of it!  The string I used to tie the bunches and hang it up with is handspun rayon leftovers from my Master Spinner level 5 homework.

The potato chip socks I started to take on holidays are done.  The stripes match perfectly; another serendipitous striping sock yarn.   They're rather sedate socks but being made of Kroy, they should be hard wearing, even if that yarn is much lighter than it normally is.  This was some of that yarn which was on sale for super cheap, but even if it's a mill mistake, I think it's nicer than regular Kroy.   I'm trying to figure out what to put on the needles next.  I have yarn for a stranded  colourwork sock project set aside, plus some solids for undecided projects. 

Around the garden - Colours of July

I took the big girl camera camera out to play today, to capture a few of the sights around the garden today.

 Black tomatoes are starting to ripen.  Cherry type tomatoes always come on early here.  There is one large tomato already ripening too.   Since the weather has been cool, I mulched around them with black biodegradeable landscape cloth.  I think it has helped a lot, holding in the heat.

 A goldfinch snacking on weeds.   I leave them for this purpose.  I'm glad I got the photo when I did though because hubby weeded them out the other day.

 I was disappointed last year when my hollyhocks didn't come back, but then I realized they are biennials.  If I want them every year, I'll have to plant more seed so they can come back alternating years.

Bergamot monarda, or bee balm.  I finally got this to bloom in the garden, after trying for a couple of years.  It should be easier but the chickens do tend to dig up my garden beds sometimes.  Once the plants are established, it isn't a problem.  I'd like to get some of the pink or purple ones as well, but the red is gorgeous.

I started these back this past February.  They are finally done, thanks to remembering to drag them out with me when we have campfires.  Once I got to the heel, they practically knit themselves.  I'm glad they're done though.   Next pair of socks on the needles will be potato chip socks - that require no brains to knit, so I can drag them around with me and not have to think about the pattern. 

Victorian (ish) Knee Socks

I need a pair of proper stockings to wear at the heritage village when I'm working there.  It's not that anyone ever sees my stockings but having some of the little costume details, does help me to get the right feeling to start the day on site. I'd been looking for knitted stocking patterns online. I 'd found lots of photos of extant socks and stockings, mainly cotton or silk and machine knit.  Finally, after who knows how long of wandering aimlessly amongst pictures and patterns online,  I found  Digital Resources from the Knitting Reference Library .  Who knew there was  Knitting Reference Library or that it was on line?

There are all sorts of 19th C. downloadable books on knitting, crochet and needlework.    On my first visit there, I found the 1865 edition of Miss E. Ryder's booklet "How to Knit Stockings" : this packet contains general rules for knitting stockings, ladies' ribbed stockings, gentlemen's knickerbocker stockings, boys stockings.    The pages within, give guidelines for knitting socks and stockings.   It does refer to an earlier publication for details, but there was enough information for me to make an attempt.   I did some changes.  The original just calls for decreases down the centre back but I added a cable for interest.  A knee sock is a long sock and that is a lot of knitting.  Adding the cable, also added a bit of extra time, but it added enough interest to get through the plain ribbing from knee to ankle.   The original also states to use a 3 - 1 ribbing pattern, which was easy to do.

On a later visit to the Knitting Reference Library website, I found a copy of the first book, though published at a later date (1870), How to Knit socks:full and simple directions by which persons may teach themselves, also by Miss E. Ryder.  As well, there is The Stocking-Knitters Manual: a handy book for the worktable,  written by Mrs. Geo. Cupples, although I haven't set aside time yet to read this one.

Let me tell you that there sure is a lot of knitting in a knee sock!  It seems like it's taking forever.  I'm finally half done the foot of the first sock.  Phew...  At this rate, I might have them done by next Christmas. 

Sock yarn is Mary Maxim Simply Sock.  It was almost solid, the closest thing to black or brown that they had that wasn't over the top expensive for an experiment.   Hind sight being what it is, I now wish I'd bought a better brand of sock yarn as this has a few unevenly spun areas and just isn't horribly pleasing to knit with.  The finished sock is acceptably nice though, so I guess that's what really matters in the end. 

Serendipity

At least the strips were mainly serendipitous.  I don't usually bother with making matchy matchy striped socks when I use self striping yarn.  There tends to be a lot of waste with the yarn, trying to find matching points.  Smaller bits and pieces of leftover yarn are harder to keep track of.  Then sometimes the balls are wound with the stripes going one way on one ball and the other on the next, or there is a knot in the middle, changing up the pattern and making for more waste.  Once I even found the striping pattern reversing it self part way through the skein and I couldn't find a suitable starting point on the second skein, so matching would be a horror with that one.   Toward the end of the foot on the 1st sock, I hit a knot.  I untied it and just kept knitting because matching wasn't going to be an issue I was worried about.

 When I got to the toe, I grafted off and started the second sock.  I decided to use up the rest of the first ball of yarn because it's easier to keep track of one larger  leftover ball rather than two smaller bits of leftovers.   It sure surprised me when the stripes just started matching of their own accord!   So much at perfectly matching, that I rewound the second skein to get the strips running in the right direction and then forwarded through the yarn to what I'd hoped would be a good matching point to continue on.  Even when I came to the knotted point, I realized that the small ball of yarn I'd wound off was almost a perfect starting point to match up the oversized grey stripe on the toe.  In the end, I used up the entire smaller bit that I'd wound off to finish up and have only the one leftover cake of yarn left.   Not my normal, lazy, everyday sock routine, but they do look nice.

Some of our kids got together and sent us to the big city for a couple of days.  We got a set of train tickets, we were met at the train station, taken out to lunch, and then went back to my son's for a visit.  After the visit, we were ensconced in a  downtown hotel, taken for dinner and then to see Les Miserables!  It was an awesome evening.  The next day we spent more time visiting and then went to the Bata Shoe Museum, which was cool although the modern sneaker exhibit was much less to my liking that the historical shoes.   My sweetie realized afterwards that we could have gone to the Hockey Hall of Fame instead and was a little disappointed at his timing at that thought.  Oh well, next time.

My son lives just a couple of blocks from Romni Wools, which meant I'd had to visit.  I'd not realized it was their Boxing Day Sale, which was 25% off everything.  I found this lovely combo of Merino roving - just standard Louet offerings, but it's so nice to work with.  If' I'd realized it was such a huge sale, I'd have probably bought more but I got what I needed for a project which has been simmering in the back of my mind,  so all is good. 

I'm tired of the bitter cold.  The bird feeder has been emptied every single day until the Crows came back.  They tend to keep some of the Blue Jays and Mourning Doves away.  Considering we've been feeding 8 Blue Jays and over a dozen Mourning Doves, along with dozens of Juncos and dozens of finches, sparrows and wrens, it might not be such a problem.   Before we put the wire fence around the garden space, a small group of Crows would come and clean up the fallen seed, mainly uneaten millet and strut around the yard, following the buried rodent trails I found out later, during the spring melt.   However once the fence went up, they stayed away.  This extreme cold has them back though.  First just one, with 18 of them standing guard.  Now the whole family of 4 or 5 is back, still with the rest of them standing guard.  They are pretty wary but after a couple of days of watching them, I was able to get my camera out and take their photo through the window.   I don't mind them hanging around though because they do clean up what the other birds don't eat, which means much less waste and less weeds in the spring, from the germinating bird seed.

Phew!

a few moments of glorious sunshine washing out the photo

  It was a bit of non-stop weaving yesterday.  Normally I like to take breaks every 20 -30 minutes so that I can stretch, move and get  cup of tea.  Not doing that made it feel like a bit of a marathon, but I figured that was the only way to get it done.   Joining the two halves takes a long time.  It felt like almost as long to run that centre thread along each alternating pick took the same length of time as it did to weave.  Like I said it felt like that, although I'm certain it was not nearly that long.  Urgency as well as fatigue and a desire to finally be done just made each minute feel like it was ticking by at half speed. 

Last night at 9 pm, I was wet finishing the final blanket! I spread it out to dry on my drying rack. This morning, I couldn't tell if it was cold or still slightly damp so I draped it off the back of my spinning chair, in front of the woodstove for a bit.  In no time it was toasty warm and definitely dry.

  That is a nice looking lot of blankets, if I do say so myself.  I hemmed the 3 larger ones.  I was going to fringe the final one, but in my rush, totally forgot to leave the fringe space on the warp,  between the two halves.  Oh well, it's faster to hem than fringe anyway!

Now I'm trying to catch up with my holiday baking and cooking which I let slide due to weaving those blankets. I got the cranberry sauce made this morning, the Christmas cake done last week.  Now for the gingerbread and pumpkin pies.  That will be it for this year though.

I reminded myself why I don't turn heels when I'm tired.  After finishing the heelflap at 10 pm, I decided to whip through the heel turn.. Nope, I got to frog it before I remembered my own advice.  I did get it turned this morning with my morning tea.  It's a plain vanilla sock, but the colours are soft and pretty.  Because of the simple pattern though, it's flying off the needles.  Not a bad thing in the winter and functional socks are a wardrobe staple.

Blanket number 3 is off the loom, joined and hemmed.  I wet finished it in the washer like the others.  However, I was a little looser in my picks per inch, so it got a few more minutes in the washer to allow it to full up a bit more than the others.  This has made it a very soft and cuddly blanket.  The red has a bit more brown in it than the photo shoes and the pink is really more blue, fuchsia rather than just pink.  The colours work together quite nicely in real life.   The 4th blanket warp is half wound off.  I was going to shake things up and change up the pattern.  Then I realized the date.  There is no time to change the weave structure.  That warp needs to be wound off, the loom dressed and ready to go by tomorrow morning, if I want any hope at all of getting blanket number 4 under the tree in time.

Yesterday I had the joy of going to the dentist.  While I waited for the freezing to take hold, I started a new sock.  When they had to go back in to freeze it a second time, I knit some more.  By the 3rd attempt, I had a good start on my sock.  The 4th shot worked, but it was in the wrong place for the place they needed to work on.  So while my tooth didn't get any work done on it, my sock sure did. 

Sock yarn is misfit Kroy from the bargain bin. 
 It's lighter weight than normal Kroy.  It's a joy to work with and I sure wish all Kroy was this thin and nice to work with.  Usually it's much too thick for my liking.  Best yet, it was really, really on sale, for cheap!  





The freezing was finally coming out of my lower jaw, when my dh mentioned that he wondered what he could give his guys at work for Christmas.  Last year I wove scarves for him to give as presents.  Then he added that they needed to be done by tonight.  Yep, come up with handmade Christmas gifts in 24 hours.  Finally he told me that he had thought perhaps Dryer Balls would be a good gift.  Phew, I could do that.  So last night I wound off 6 core balls and felted them.  I hunted down a bunch of suitable rovings for the outer wraps.  First thing this morning, I wrapped the 6 cores and put them through as wash and dry cycle.  I did laundry as well as there is no use wasting the water or power use.  I needed to make sure they were large enough and dry enough before wrapping.   However they are about the size of tennis balls or a tad larger, so they are good to go.  Right now they are in front of the woodstove, drying thoroughly.  The bonus to all this is that absolutely all the laundry is washed!

Done, started and OMG!

The Fall socks are done.  They are beautiful and fun!  I think the pattern is just perfect, though it did take a wee bit of concentration.  By the second sock I was memorizing the pattern, so that halfway through I just had to mark my spot on the pattern when I finished so that I could pick up next time without thinking about it.   The yarn is amazingly soft and cuddly.  Belfast Mini-Mills - you guys rock!

Next pair may actually be knee socks or over the knee socks.   I've been thinking about something to wear over leggings for wearing skirts in the winter.  But I also picked up a huge amount of Kroy at an amazing discount and they work up to be heavy duty, hard wearing and quick to knit socks and those are sometimes advantages for socks, when one is suddenly finding themselves heavily into level 4 homework.  No brainer, easy to knit socks for relaxation aren't a bad thing.

Blanket number 3 is on the loom.  The 4th colour, which I managed to leave out is a dark red.  I was testing two colours here, a green and a grey.  While the green makes a lighter, more fun blanket, it rather overtakes the other colours, so I'll go with the dark grey once again.  The weaving is pretty easy, but the finishing takes the time.   I'm still hopeful that I'll get all 4 done in the next 13 days. 


I've had this bisque ware sitting around for years.  The plates were an experiment in slab work before I had any idea what it really entailed.  Okay, I still don't really know, but I know more than I did.  The bowls are from the pottery day with the girls .   I kept the bowls even though my kiln wasn't hooked up. I packed and dragged them through a move and they sat mournfully on a shelf for years.  My friend Maureen's husband  is a potter.  He does amazing stuff, not much in the way of dishware now but art, with a capital A.  It's very sleek, modern and interesting work.  However, one days Maureen dragged me out to her studio.  I got to play on the potters wheel and they then took my assorted mongrel dishware, glazed and fired it for me. Actually, Maureen mixed the colour up for me right then and there.  It was an interesting process to watch her weigh and mix the bucket of glaze.  She showed me how and I got to wax the bottoms and dip the bowls.   It's a beautiful colour, like an I'm in love type of colour.  With a drizzle of white or grey, I could definitely see this colour as dishes for the table, if I could actually learn to throw that well.    Anyway, hubby even liked  them and he's much harder to please that way.

Happy days, even if it's cold, blustery and stupidly snowing :)

Spinning, threading and cleaning

I started spinning this Blue Faced Leicester sock yarn a while ago.  It was my "fun" project while starting my level 4 homework. I was spinning it on the Mazurka at spinning nights and demos.  However I suddenly had a need to free up bobbins.  This is a 3 ply, so I needed 3 bobbins plus one to ply to.  As of the last spinning night, I was on the 3rd bobbin so it was time to hurry the project along.  I spent the weekend spinning up the rest of the roving and found time to ply it last night. 

It's superwash and has some added nylon for strength.  It's 3 ply worsted and there are unfortunately only 275 yards of it, so I'll have to spin up a bit more for security.  I like my socks with longer cuffs.   I'd weighed and divided the rovings into equal portions before spinning.  It worked a treat as I had only 1 yard left on the second bobbin and only 3 leftover on the 3rd bobbin after plying.  Sometimes my scales are a little off and it doesn't work quite so well at making equal amounts of string on each bobbin with little waste.

I've got a new project on the loom - finally.  This is wool and was quite to wind the warp thanks to finally finding a place to mount my warping board on an unused wall.  A bunch of us have used this yarn in our guild so I was able to query a friend as to the correct sett.  However I'm going to resley and rethread the heddles.  I have a stupid 4 thread float which I don't like.  It's my own fault for not bothering with a draw down, as I usually do.   However this is a blanket and a float that long will just catch and be a nuisance.

My back up sewing machine has been making an awful squealing noise.  The last time I took it in to be serviced, the guy didn't even bother to look at it.  It had the same lint and the same problems that I'd asked to be fixed so I'm a little leary about some of the repair people out there.  Being so far out of warranty, I opened it up and found this huge wad of lint hidden on one of the gears.  I got it back together but it's still making noise.  It's coming from the gear/belt area though.  I am pretty sure I can change the belts but I'm not sure about changing the gear if that's what it needs.

 This old girl makes pretty decent button holes with a minimum of set up and fuss so I hope I can keep her going.  My other machines makes great stitches, but takes so much fussing to make a button hole that even a great button hole is not worth the effort when compared to the back up.

Small November projects

It's starting to feel like I'm making progress on this year's Fall socks.  For some reason I always find that if I actually spend a few minutes here and there actually knitting the socks, they get finished much more quickly than if they sit there in the project bag, ignored.   I love the pink and decided to do the toe in the opposite colour, just to tie the two together.  The blue one will have a pink toe.  Then they will definitely be a pair and not two lost socks finding their way together.

I've respun the cashmere.  I'll have to admit that the results are a bit better this time and I've kept it high enough that Kevin can't get to it.  I still have to wind the sample skeins required for homework and do all the calculations and measurements for the tags.  That's really the part I dislike the most.  I think it takes as much time do the math for count, % blends and even just filling out the darned labels with all the identifying info, like tpi, wpi, fibre, how it was prepped and spun, and what I would actually make with this yarn.   

On to Cotton.  I have always thought that I didn't like spinning cotton.  However all of a sudden, with this exercise, it seems that I don't mind it all that much.   I guess it's just practice coming together making it easier to spin it more efficiently and consistently, not that it's perfect by any means.

Projects on the go - the loom is about to be dressed with a couple of projects, blankets and scarves I think...
I'm also about to start on a new coat for wearing at the bake oven.  The costume department calls it a Sacque coat, but online info suggests that Paletot might be another name for it.  Regardless of the name, I have a nice bit of wool, which is really a tad too lightweight for a coat, but it's in the stash so I don't have to  purchase new yardage for the project.  It will make a nice coat if I line it properly.  It will be perfect for wearing at the bake oven in December.  Last winter I found wearing a cape just too awkward to be actually working in.  Sleeves will make a huge difference in being able to work and keep warm!

In a bit of a pickle

One day last week, I went out early to feed the chooks and realized things had changed.  The light was different.  It was more subdued and the deep summer early morning brightness was gone.  The breeze had changed and instead of that sultry southern warm wind, it was a cool north westerly coming through.  Later in the day, no matter how hard that sun shone, it didn't have that intensity that it seemed to have just a few days before.  That night, the tree frogs were deafening in their near unison chanting.  A couple of days ago, I headed out early and there was a flock of geese laying over in a field of golden winter wheat stubble.  The small stream had an eerie feel with the steam rising off of it.   Yep, it's feeling a lot like fall, sigh, and I'm so not ready for it.

The plane socks are finally done.  They've been sitting around almost there for a couple of weeks, with the second sock just needing the toe to be grafted.  Yesterday I sat down and bit the bullet, and grafted that silly thing together, tucked in the ends and voila!, another pair of socks for the impending winter.

Despite the weather, the cucumbers have given us a decent yield.  So many in fact that I wasn't able to keep up with them for just lunches, snacks and salads.   What to do with lots of cucumbers?  Make pickles of course!  The first batch was garlic dills.  Garlic dill pickles tend to disappear pretty quickly, especially when the boys come home for a visit.  I decided to try chunks this time instead of slicing up the cucumbers into spears.   These have to sit at least a week before eating.


Then I came across a recipe for sweet bread and butter pickles which looked delicious and simple.  So I made up a batch of those as well.   Luckily these only take 48 hours before one can sneak a taste.

The only thing about making pickles is of course the timing.  I never seem to make them in the beginning of the summer.  Combined with canning tomatoes, they are like an exclamation point to the end of summer preserving activities.  

Little Summery Projects

I had a nightmare the day before I left for Olds, that I had been knitting on the plane and dropped one of my double pointed needles and it rolled under a seat where it was unretrievable.  So I dragged my sweetie out to get two short circular needles in the same size as I'd use for socks.  They worked just fine for the plane and there was no possible way I'd drop a needle, so that was a relief as well.  However, I really didn't enjoy knitting the socks on the circs, so the next time I picked up my knitting at home, I switched to my normal dpns.  I got hardly any knitting done on the westward bound trip as not only was I tired, but I had a lovely chat with the lady sitting beside me.  She nicely kept me occupied during the bit of turbulence and the landing, which was  one of those things I'd forgotten about flying.  The eastward bound trip home was another story.  I got to knit from take off to almost landing.  I got most of the leg done, did the heel flap, turned the heel and most of the gusset done as well!  Most productive.   The gal beside me very kindly showed me how to use the television when it was accidentally  turned on.  I had to thank her but say that I didn't actually want it on as we don't watch t.v. at home not did I want to watch it on the plane.  She just looked at me, turned on her own t.v. and plugged in her headphones for the whole trip.  I was happy I had a good solid block of knitting time, without distraction.

I tried starting in on my homework right away but couldn't quite get into the routine yet.  Summer is too fresh and new, so I dug up some roving that I'd dyed at the same time as the above sock yarn.  It looks very summery to me, all fresh with lush greens and sky blues.  This is all there is, not enough of it too make a huge dent in time, but enough to be a more than pleasant diversion.  I'll have to spin up something to ply it with.   I have black and white roving which would be suitable.  I could blend for a grey but I fear that would take away the summer feel, but so would black.  White might be too stark and I'll have to purchase some new acid dyes if I wanted a colour... Oh decisions, decisions!

We've had lovely salads almost every day from the garden since I've gotten home..  Over night the spinach has bolted and gone to seed, but since I'd pretty much stripped every last edible leaf from the plants, it's not like it was unexpected.  I'll rip it out as soon as it dries out a bit and plant mesclun mix and arugula in its place.  The leaf lettuce is going strong.  I also harvested and froze in little ice cubes, a whole whack of basil.  There will be more to harvest again tomorrow or at least on the next sunny day.  The garlic will be ready to harvest in another couple of weeks, the tomatoes have flowers and some are even starting to bear tiny fruit.  Just before I left for Olds, I noticed 2 volunteer zuchinni plants that were doing better than the ones I'd planted.  I weeded around them and left them to grow.  They are flowering and starting to fruit as well!   There are flowers on the blackberries this year!  Soon to be yummyness!!!!!   The biggest issue in the garden right now is will it stop raining for a few days, to allow thing to dry out enough to avoid any blights and mildews. 

Finally!

Rainbow striped socks are finally done!  By some odd accident, the stripes, while starting at slightly different colours at the cuffs, match up by the second repeat and stay matched up until the toes!   They sure are bright and cheerful.   I'm quite tempted to put another pair of socks on the needles, but I think I may wait another week or so.  That way, I'll have them for a travelling project.

The second incarnation of the messenger bag is done.  It's made of a simple khaki cotton twill, with a heavy cotton twill lining that I found stuffed in a box.  The twill was almost a skirt length, but not quite, so I figured I'd not planned anything else for it. I put a front and back pocket in the lining but forgot the two side pockets this time.  Since it's a single piece out and inner, with box pleats, forgetting those two side pockets was pretty easy to do, since they'd be patch pockets, sewn on after the lining was completed.   It is a good deal smaller than the first, about 2 inches smaller in all dimensions.  It makes it a much more comfortable bag to wear.  I think I'll add a closure of some kind to the bag, just to secure the flap.  Next time I'd round the corners of the front flap and at piping to the seams to add some interest.  Still, this one is quite good enough to be my go to bag this summer.