name that muffler

My busy weekend went swimmingly! I think both things I was in charge of leading on Saturday and Sunday went well. In terms of the spinning workshop on Sunday, well, I've never had such a big class before. Ten eager new spinners left after 3 hours...and I've already heard from one of them. Thanks for all your cheering over here on the blog. (I heard all that moral support--I was nervous, new city and all that, and you helped!)

I did miss our neighborhood grandma's 90th birthday open house, but I'm hoping to drop by and visit with her on a quieter day instead.

Since the weekend, things have still been quite busy. There's been research on fireplaces, a lovely dinner out at a neighborhood bistro, and last night, we went to the movies. I also fit in an hour of skating with a friend--potentially the last of the season, as the rinks are beginning to close for the year. It's warming up--though you wouldn't know it from the snow and slippery weather this AM!

Now, I promised you knitting in my last post. World's slowest sock project will have to wait. I've finished one sock and tried to photograph it by myself. Disaster. Looks bad. So, I'll try to finish sock number 2 and do a second foot photography session. It's really no wonder the photos looked bad the first time. I think that's how every single part of these socks have worked. It is possible I have reknit those things in their entirety two or three times. (As a comparison, last night at the movies, I knit roughly 4-5" inches of a sock cuff on size #2 (2.75mm) dpns. So, it's just these particular slow poke socks that are losers, not all socks that I knit...)

This morning, the professor took me outside to enjoy a bit of the snowflakes and to photograph my new scarf project. The light snowfall made everything look white and sparkly. (even my hair)

This scarf was a riff on the Gator Gaiter
pattern in Knit Green. I've been wearing the white cashmere version of this scarf off and on during the winter. My friends in town here love to say "Hey, isn't that the one that is in your book?!" Why yes, it is. However, it wasn't very thick or warm enough for colder weather, so I wondered how I could make an improvement. I had some Zitron Loft in my stash and two balls later, I had a scarf.

It started out sort of like the Gator Gaiter, but well, I couldn't help it, I changed it. It's different enough so I am thinking perhaps of putting it together as a pattern for sale on my website and Ravelry Store.

It was very fast to knit, and once I got into the 2 row pattern repeat, it zoomed along. It's pretty adjustable in terms of yarn weight and length, too. It's also well designed for a prairie breeze, because it has a hole in one end of the scarf so you can tuck the other end right through.

So, what do you think? Worth spending the time to write up the pattern? What, pray tell, should I call it? I've thought of things like "the deluxe gator" and "the doublewide" and the professor just snorted. If he doesn't think those are appealing names, well, then, I doubt knitters will either. I'm fresh out of clever names.

Please give me your brilliant thoughts and name ideas in the comments. If I pick your fabulous idea for a name--and maybe, if you seem enthusiastic, I manage to write up the pattern sometime soon--you'll get a copy of the pattern for free. I look forward to hearing your suggestions!

(Now I just have to find time to clean for Passover, which is coming soon)

very slowly warped

Well, it's March, so it's time to get a new warp on the loom. Now that I've run out of warp chains that the loom's first owner made that are appropriate, (there is one more left, but that's for another project someday) I have to learn to make my own.

When I set the warping board that came with my loom, I thanked my lucky stars to have this equipment that came with the loom. I remembered, in my long ago past, knowing how to do this. I'd carefully studied books which showed how to use it (note book right next to warping board) and indicated that one person should wind the warp in one day, working continuously, to maintain the right tension. Yeah. Hah. Right. Well, that's not happening here. I am planning to commit the afternoon to this, but the short version is that I see why people might could go out of their mind with boredom while doing this...and I'm not even doing a big warp, as far as I know. That there is not even a third of my warp. Whoa. Long haul ahead.

I am taking the advice of the nice weaving guild ladies, who suggested I do my next rugs at 4 ends per inch, and double, triple or quadruple my warp threads if necessary to get the thickness I wanted. 4 ends to the inch, and 4 strands per end, and ....that's, hands down, a lot of thread. Luckily, my stash is deep, and the cones were there already. I even overheard several of the nice weaving guild ladies suggest that they wound more than one warp at a time, and invited people over to do it with them. My basic ineptitude and the piles of mending (on left side of photo there) and the fact that I'm warping on the patio table (indoors) has kept me from inviting any audience to speak of!

I can just imagine saying hey brand new acquaintances who seem like proper ladies my mom's age... welcome to my house! Whoops! Watch out for those dog toys. Here's a pile of books to dodge. Oh, and over here, next to the patio furniture? Right, just climb up to the second story over here--that's my loom set up. Next to the bedroom, where the dogs are sleeping on the bed. Come on in. Nope, not quite yet...maybe I'll have them over for tea first. Maybe I'll even clean up first.

This handy tool here, on a patio chair, is holding up two cones of yarn and threading that yarn through these eyelets so it feeds easily as I measure the warp. Ingenious! Amazing! I have been waiting for years for something like this for managing cone yarns. I'm so lucky this came with the loom too.

If you're a knitter and your eyes are crossing with all the weaving (I felt this way about weaving myself about 4 months ago, so don't feel embarrassed...) I've just started a scarf design experiment with Zitron Loft yarn I had in my stash. It is roughly based on the Gator Gaiter in Knit Green. It's not the same gauge or yarn weight or even, maybe, exactly the same pattern, but I'll see how it comes out and get back to you. In the meanwhile I am also still working on a stranded sock pattern and a sweater pattern that I'm knitting from an actual pattern. None of this is going along with the speed of light. I seem to be in a very slow- but creative- holding pattern.

One problem with this slowness is that I am spending more time online than I really need to. I'm trying to decrease my email/internet time, as I'm not being all that productive. I am, however, reading every single comment and even responding to them sometimes. I also try to stick to posting here twice a week, too. I enjoy the blog (I hope you do too?) and want to keep it up if I can...but I need to figure out how to hold my internet usage up "to a light" and examine if it's all really worth that much time per day.

Talking about light, I have struggled with catching a photo of my new rugs that were February's project. This is my favorite one, a twill rug woven with Icelandic wool. I'm slowly sewing on the carpet binding and this one is done. I asked the professor how to catch a light colored textile properly with a photo and he said, "Use side light." I was completely mystified...was this piece of equipment someplace in our house? "What's a sidelight?" I asked.

"You know," he says, "light that comes in from the side." Oh, right. We've got more of that now that March is here. It's getting lighter every day. It is bright and shining off the melting snow...and distracting me a little from this warping thing...

the tour goes on

The professor got back to Winnipeg safe and sound and brought home a treat for me. He often goes to collect his moths in an area near Homestead, Florida. He goes to the Robert is Here fruit stand, where they sell all sorts of tropical fruits. Usually, he has himself a keylime milkshake (these milkshakes are top notch!) and he buys me passion fruits, which I really enjoy when he gets home. What is particularly interesting is that technically, bringing fruit from the US to another country can be difficult. (it's one of those questions they ask you on the customs form.) However, there is no real danger of contaminating Winnipeg with passion fruit diseases. One winter's hard freeze will certainly get rid of any tropical fruit diseases we might bring along home in one bag of passion fruits!

The "heat wave" here seems to be passing and we've had a couple of light dustings of snow. The snow doesn't stay around for long and it doesn't amount to much. Supposedly, that will change soon. In the meanwhile, I shot a photo of it so I can remember --we didn't have much snow in November. :)

I'm still really enjoying my time outside. Granted, it hasn't gotten much above about 35F this week, but that is apparently "tropical" for Winnipeg this time of year. I kept meaning to take a photo of the amazing elms that line our street...and then of course, the canopy of greenery turned color and came down. Yet, even now, the trees are majestic skeletons that reach the sky.

In the U.S., the professor and I have been in many small towns where there is some mention of the elms that "used to" line the streets. Sometimes there are replacements--other varieties of trees--and sometimes there are few trees along the streets. That is because Dutch Elm Disease basically wiped out the elms in most of North America. Manitoba has a lot of its elms left...cold weather and an active prevention program have saved many elm trees.

I'd never seen elms "the way they used to look" before moving to Winnipeg, and I find it awesome and inspirational. Every walk under the canopy of these trees finds me thinking about how lucky it is that, so far, these elms have survived.

I can't let the end of November come without mentioning the 95th birthday month of our house. Most people who buy an older home have no idea exactly when it was built. There's a lot we're still wondering about ours, frankly. However, we have this little homemade "plaque" above the entry to our living room. It's a bare spot of plaster that's never been painted. It's framed by molding and signed....click on the image to read it for yourself! (also, if you can figure out that first name at the top, please let me know what you think it says in the comments!) Hopefully, we'll be here for a big bash on November 18, 2014. Seems like 100 years is a good reason to throw a party...maybe an "open house?"

We are celebrating this big birthday by doing lots of home repairs. The professor feels he has a new hobby called "recreational plumbing!" (as in, if you want the toilet to work or that faucet to stop dripping, well, take up plumbing as a serious hobby!) I've also been hanging pictures, cleaning, and trying to take care of other house needs...like frequent radiator bleeds. It's an adventure, owning a house this old, but so far I like the house because of (rather than despite) its age.

Another special part of this house is that the front door opens into a small anteroom. This room has hooks for coats, window seats for putting on boots, and room for dog towels, leashes, and other important winter details. It's also the place where I am able to show you how my knitting is being put to good use!

Many of the knitted samples from my books have been kept pristine, in case anyone should like to see these as a trunk show or at a lecture I give...someday. (the requests aren't exactly rolling in...) That said, my handspun cashmere Gator Gaiter, pictured here from Knit Green, is seeing a lot of use. (project links are available on Ravelry.com) The white hat is the women's or small size of the Icelandic Winter Cap from Fiber Gathering. I love this hat and it is wearing very well!

Both of these projects are quick ones, if you're looking for holiday knitting ideas... I can vouch for them both--at least for me, they are warm, reasonably attractive, and comfortable.

You'll note there are no more pictures of my Icelandic wool spinning--I think I've just finished bobbin seven. It's getting a little monotonous, so no more photos for now...

So, what do you think that first name is on the signed portion of my living room wall? Any guesses?

slowly but surely

Every day, I'm slowly adding a Knit Green design or two over on Ravelry. Here are the couple of the designs from the book that I've posted recently. The scarf is called the Gator Gaiter. (A Gaiter goes around the neck, and this one has pointy ends that remind me of an alligator...hence the name!) What I like best about this scarf design is that:

1) It can be knit with fingering weight yarn, doubled

OR

2) It can be knit with DK weight yarn.

3) It's textured enough to be interesting knitting without being too complicated to figure out. I memorized the pattern quickly and knit away on this.

4) There's a short version for those who like decorative scarves, and a long version for those of us who live in cold climes. (Have I mentioned I now live in Winnipeg? It was 1 degree Celsius this morning. Just above freezing!)

Another design I've posted is called the Cozy Zip-Up Cardigan. This is a unisex design and it comes in multiple sizes from XS (36") to XXL (57"). Sadly, the studly model does not come with the book or pattern! However, this design knits up very quickly and is very cuddly. I tried to imagine my husband, the professor, and his preferences when I designed this. I've knit only 2 sweaters for him, since there aren't many patterns for folks who need a 56" sweater. (That's 52"+4" ease) With #13(9mm) needles, this project will fly by!

I've also taken the plunge on another part of this project. Ravelry has affinity groups and forums for discussion. For months, I've been trying to convince myself to start a group. Every time I considered it, my inner dwarf (Bashful) popped up. I just felt too self-conscious to do it! Well, a friend of mine stepped right in and set it up for me! If you're on this ginormous knitting database already, please, join in!

This "slowly but surely" technique is the way we're tackling the rest of our moving in as well. Every day, something gets hung on the walls, or unpacked, or fixed. We find out something new about the house...or about Winnipeg. Yesterday, we closed storm windows and tried to get into the attic. The storm windows? successful, for the most part. The attic? Well, let's just say we haven't gotten in there yet. No idea if it has sufficient insulation, since we haven't found a way in yet!

The only thing that hasn't been going slowly is our social lives. We've been to two sukkahs to celebrate Sukkot so far. We're going to a third one tonight! We also got to go to a special wine and cheese party where lots of people brought their homemade wines and there was a wine tasting competition! That was the weekend. In comparison? The weekdays look relaxing...!

Have you seen that moon?! Gosh it's full and beautiful...hope you can see it where you are, too.