Knitting Lately

It seems that I've been knitting for everyone else and not myself. Of course, that's not totally true, but the sentiment speaks to the feelings I've had about a recent project or two. It could also be a convenient way to say I wish I had more time to knit for myself...which leads to the Why Can't I Be More Organized? conversation that my self and I regularly have.

This photo shows a recently finished piece that was a collaborative effort. It was a 6 month long project filled with stress - both good and bad kinds - and requiring much diplomatic management. The finished object has been passed back to the lovely lady who donated all the yarn and who wishes to raffle it off as a fundraising project. Unfortunately, the Province of Ontario says my group and the intended recipient organization of the fundraising monies are not allowed to have a raffle. This has not pleased the Lovely Lady. So the blanket sits in limbo for a bit as I attempt to move forward through official (legal) channels and the Lovely Lady does what she likes. (Don't ask don't tell, right?)

The blanket also marks the end of my leadership of the local knitting group. I fully expect the group to carry on. Hopefully a new volunteer who can lend some leadership and direction to the group will surface. It was hard for me to step away from my little knitting group. Although, unless cloning myself became an option, I'm not sure how I would have continued... I was not enjoying the group as much as I could have since I was increasingly being asked to teach and fix problems, leaving little time to work on my own projects. 

In September I took my mom to a fibre festival. Being around all sorts of wonderful yarn inspired her to pick out a project while I attended a class. I've just finished knitting up a lovely pink tussah silk scarf for her. I have a pic of it in its bath, but it dried and was packed off nicely before I remembered that a finished project picture would have been nice...

The last Project-For-Others is on very big needles right now. It is a Cowichan style sweater that my sister has commissioned me to knit. It will be a Christmas gift for her husband. Of course, all began simply and straightforward but soon I discovered alterations would be necessary. New skills to learn, math, re-designing graphics, the blending of two patterns:

I'm pretty excited to knit this up. I hope it turns out as nice as it looks in my mind. I must remember what a quick knit this project will be because it is on such big needles and uses 5 strands of pencil roving instead of spun yarn (Briggs & Little County Roving for those who are interested). 

I've decided not to knit for Christmas this year. Instead, I have Winter Kitting ideas percolating in my head. I'll get to them after Christmas, I'm sure. In the meantime, I am avoiding stash tossing and pattern surfing so I don't get distracted from the last of my projects for others. 

Signing off but hoping to be back soon,

<3  Mrs. A.

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Adventures in Knitting

It's here! My Cyber Monday Sale Knitpicks.com order! I'm a little excited.

I ordered on Cyber Monday (that was November 26) and my box of goodies arrived at its final destination on the 30th (that was last Friday). I didn't dash out to the depot to get it as we are waiting on another package. Not yarn, but important nonetheless.

Yesterday (Monday...a whole WEEK after I ordered!) my mom stopped by to visit (very uncharacteristic of her) and during our conversation, I learned she was headed to the UPS depot where my box of yarny goodness was languishing. So, details in hand, off she went to pick up both her packages and mine.

Hours and hours later, mom arrived at my knit night to deliver my Knitpicks box. It seems that most of northern New York State and a everyone in south eastern Ontario has had packages shipped to this particular UPS depot. The lineup to get your package is two hours long. People were wrapped around the building into the parking lot. In the rain. And according to the UPS employee, the lineup looks the same at 7am as it does at 10am as it does at 4pm. Mom, with my sister, waited in this two hour long lineup for four packages. They were damp and hungry when they got back.

At knit night is the best time to open a big box of awesome. Yarn was passed around the table and squished and fawned over. I may have converted a new knitter or two in the process. We'll see.

Just in case you're interested (and even if you're not) here's what I got. (Pretend it's an Eye Spy game...)

• Set of Sunstruck Interchangeable needles for The Girl Child for Christmas
• 3 Harmony (purple!!) circular needles so I can finally get going on my Rams & Yowes
• Chroma Fingering in Grey and Midwinter for Deep In The Woods mittens
• 2 Stroll Tonal in Thunderhead (grey) which will be 2 pair of socks at some point
• 1 special buy Stonewashed (also Stroll tonal)
• 2 Shimmer Lace in the colour 'Spice' which will hopefully be Holden Shawlettes by the 24th
• 7 Shadow Lace in Garnet Heather with a skein of Shimmer in 'Sherry' for the Classic Lines Cardigan. For me. For Christmas. So I can't play with it yet.

I'm all motivated to knit. First up is the Holden Shawlette (more like a scarf). Mr. A and I wound the first ball of Shimmer lace last night and as I cast on, I realized I've never knit a triangle lace thing yet. I hope it works out...

After the Christmas knitting will be Rams & Yowes and a pair of the grey socks for The Girl Child once she chooses a pattern. The mittens and my socks will wait.

There is talk of a spring Knitpicks sale on the Ravelry forums. Why did I not know of this? A sale is a very motivating force. I will hope to knit up a good portion of this newly arrived box by spring. I might definitely will need sock yarn by the spring...don't you think?

♥Mrs. A.

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Homeschoolers' Street Faire Preparations



Later this week the kids and I will head out to our day of homeschooling activities. Part of the day will include a Street Faire. A Street Faire is a new idea for our homeschooling group. A hall has been rented and tables have been booked. Some people are crafting, some people are selling services and some are hoping to sell their used books and supplies. Buskers have been scheduled - any homeschooler can have a 20minute block of time to entertain any way they please.

I'm encouraging my kids to take part and the process has been not unlike molasses so far. I suggested we make Christmas ornaments to sell. It's something we do every year for family (except we don't charge family members for the Christmas ornaments they receive from us, of course) so it wasn't a big leap to start a bit early this year and have a load of ornaments ready for the Street Faire. We thought of a few ideas and talked around costs for materials. We planned the set up for our table and agreed that presentation and a 'nice looking table' was important. We got our materials and I suggested a schedule so our supplies would be ready in time.

I encouraged the kids to think of something they liked or enjoyed to share at the Street Faire. The Boy will be selling cups of warm apple cider. Cider was a hit at the homeschoolers' Thanksgiving Pot-Luck so he is hoping that is a sign that it will be popular at the Street Faire. The Girl thought about baking her gingersnap Christmas cookies but then decided against it. I've been knitting up wee gnomes in spare moments to go with our 'ornaments' theme. Not sure if they'll sell or not, but some of the homeschooling mamas that have seen them in progress seem pretty excited about them.

Knitted Gnomes



The ornaments we decided to make are a crafty Gingerbread man and snowflakes. In the photo are the puzzle piece ornaments I made for family in 2007. The ones we're making this year are a tiny bit different and I haven't come across them on Pinterest yet. I think I'll keep them hidden for another couple of days. I don't have a good photo of them yet as their 'icing' is freshly finished and still drying.

Ornaments in Progress

I'm very pleased with the snowflakes we've made. They're made of hot glue then sparkle-ified to be festive. I got a little worried that the 'suggested schedule' was not inspiring enough motivation for the kids, so I spent the weekend exhausting my hot glue sticks. The kids popped in and out, helping with Modge Podge and sparkles and string.

Finished Sparkly Snowflakes

We now have a full inventory of Sparkly Snowflakes (71.5 snowflakes and two numb fingertips can be had for three small packages of Dollar Store glue sticks) and Puzzle Piece Gingerbread Men (42 of these little guys as that's how many of the little head pieces I could afford to buy at Home Depot).

The kids and I are still disagreeing about the selling price of the ornaments. I say $0.50 and they say a full $1. The Knitted Gnomes are to be priced for more, perhaps $3 each or 2 for $5. I'm discovering that I'm not very good at asking for money for our crafts. I'm feeling a bit of stress. Even though the event planned is expected to be a place where money will be exchanged. I suppose we'll get it all sorted out one way or the other. Mr. A will be very upset with me, though, if I give these things away for free!

Check back at the end of the week and hopefully I'll have happy stories to tell about our very first Homeschoolers' Street Faire!

♥ Mrs. A.

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Of Sheep & Swords

Rams & Yowes by Kate Davis

Look what's arrived! I'm very excited about this 'gift' my husband bought me.

You see, no sooner had I hit 'publish' after deciding to knit from stash this entire calendar year then I found Rams & Yowes. I thought the Universe was being incredibly unfair testing my resolve so soon. Seriously seconds after I made the deal with myself, bragged to Mr. A about how my knitting wasn't going to cost him a cent this year and blogged about it, Rams & Yowes was prominently displayed on Ravelry's Top 10 Patterns page. To add insult to injury, we've recently painted our main living area - where I usually spend most of my 18 waking hours - a lovely grey colour. It's called White Rabbit and there's a darker wall of Urban Grey. I've not let anyone hang anything on the walls or buy any household accessory unless it meets the strict decorating standards I've set. And guess what?! Rams & Yowes qualifies!!

Mr. A, being the upstanding kinda guy that he is, jumped in and spent his own money on the pattern. We printed it. We spent a Saturday morning in the basement filling printer colour cartridges with toner. We printed the pattern again. It was my bedtime reading for a couple of days. The fact that Rams & Yowes is a small lapblanket (3'x3'), contains stranded colourwork, a giant steek (in which you take a pair of scissors to your lovely knitting and cut the finished product straight up the middle) and a border in which you have to pick up close to 1000 stitches on one needle (most knitters have trouble counting to 8) I'm still going to do it.

Shortly after I was stalking the yarn the pattern called for at a lovely Scottish shop where they work very hard to preserve the traditional yarn making process. The pattern is written to be knit with Shetland yarn from sheep that run about on the very islands they were named after. It is undyed yarn gathered from sheep that are various shades of brown, grey, black and white. In fact, they come in 9 various shades. All of which appear in the blanket. For a short time, I considered picking out some KnitPicks.com yarn so that I could tweak the colour scheme to include a purplish tone that would match the warm tones of the hardwood floor and the leather couches.  Mr. A said that was a stupid idea. The pattern should obviously be knit with the yarn that it called for especially since the Shetland yarn was in the same ballpark price-range of the KnitPicks yarn (about a $16CDN difference). So I was enlisted to load up an online shopping cart at Jamieson & Smith or risk Mr. A doing it himself. And 11 days later, a lovely squishy package arrived for me. I'm calling it an early birthday present.

I'm a little scared to start knitting it as I'm woefully inexperienced with stranded colourwork. So my February stash-busting project is a pair of stranded colourwork mittens I started last November. That knitting should give me enough practice to be up to the job of the blanket. In the meantime, my Shetland yarn sits in its basket at the end of my bed. Well away from the Skittish White Dog who, apparently, would like to eat Shetland Sheep. Or at least snuffle them to death.

In other, more exciting news, The Girl Child has been up to something new since September. On Saturday, she had the opportunity to attend her first tournament. Three local girls who are all learning the same sword (sabre, in particular, which is one of 3 swords that are used in fencing) went to this tournament. The group of 19 competitors were women aged 12 to 34. Many were university students and just my Girl Child and another of the local girls we travelled up with were rookies. The 3rd girl of our group has been fencing for 4 years. She placed  5th in the Under17 group and 3rd in the Under15. Not that she mentioned it, I had to look up the results this morning!

It was a day of ups and downs for The Girl Child. In her own words, she placed 'dead last'. But I keep reminding her that she didn't go to win. It's all her coach had been telling her for weeks. I think she's proud of herself. At least she's saying that she's happy she went. As she's not wanted to be involved in group sports before, this is really huge for her. To be willing to put herself out there to be scored and evaluated is quite a big deal for her perfectionist, self-conscience tendencies. I'm looking forward to her continuing to develop as a fencer as I think it will really help to boost her confidence and self image much better than anything I could say.

Onward to a new week! Up this week is schoolwork and more schoolwork. There's fencing and art class for The Girl and soccer and hockey for The Boy. Both have a drama clinc all day Friday - they're preforming in a homeschoolers' production of A Midsummer's Night Dream in May - and then we'll wrap up the week with a birthday party for me on Saturday.

♥Mrs. A.

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In 2012 I Resolve To Knit

Being so easily influenced, it's no surprise I succumbed to the pressure and found myself scrambling for a knitting related New Year's Resolution. I briefly thought about not having a resolution, but then I thought that a little focus never hurt anyone.

Of course I started by aiming high into the stratosphere by considering taking on a new-to-me venture like the Rockin' Sock Club. As a new personal expense is not in the budget for 2012, that was a short lived consideration. I started to think more realistically. I thought about what I had resolved last year and how successful I was. I thought about what I found I actually wanted to be knitting throughout 2011. There was something about committing to a "12 Pair of Socks in 2012" that was appealing. Many such groups crop up this time of year on Ravelry. After browsing for a while, nothing seemed to be a perfect fit. And that's a lot of sock knitting for me.

I was reading that many people resolve to knit from the stash and not buy any yarn. That was appealing and right in line with our family resolution to curtail much of our discretionary spending for 2012. But could I do this and still have fun and enjoy my knitting year? Stephanie made it fun in 2010. I'm sure I could at least make a go it...for part of the year. If only I had enough sock yarn. And zippy bags. (Please forgive the vernacular. It's one of the few leftovers from when I had cute toddlers running about.)

So off I went to my yarn hide-y holes collecting all my yarn and I dumped it all onto the couch. Now, understand that we have a small house. It's full of all kinds of stuff but not an abundance of any one particular kind of stuff. Including yarn. At least I was not in danger of being overwhelmed. I definitely didn't have enough sock yarn to knit a pair per month, and I quickly decided I didn't want to buy more yarn. But I was pleasantly surprised.

After the first few minutes of delegating each yarn to its own zippy bag, I had 6 solid projects. Half a year of dedicated knitting. Then I collected the bits and bobs of sock yarn balls. Definitely more than a month's worth of knitting - probably enough to make a couple of pair of patchwork socks...or a Sock Yarn Blanket! Into another bag went all my dishcloth cotton. A couple of WIPs were granted the privilege of their own bags. And a final bag was made after a somewhat panicked search-and-rescue mission that I conducted once I confirmed with The Girl Child the actual - not imaginary - purchase of a skein of Alpaca Silk Lace. At final count there are 15 project bags. Definitely more than enough to keep my busy all year!

I spent the morning tracking down the patterns I needed for each of the projects I had in mind. There were a few hairy moments when I was convinced that I needed to buy a couple of patterns. But I rallied, taking on the challenge of making this an entirely 'free' year of knitting. I'm now fairly convinced that if one takes the time and has a creative moment or two, one can find a free pattern for just about anything. Now all my yarn has a pattern friend.

Leftover is an additional canvas tote of odds and ends: yarn and needles. I set The Girl Child off on a mission to come up with a charity project we could use some of it for. Hopefully that will work out.

I suppose the best fit for my New Year of Knitting finally turned out to be a Surmount The Stash resolution. It's a small stash, but very much a full year of knitting goodness that I'm quite motivated to get to. Lots of variety: easy mindless things, things to finish, new skills to learn, long term things.

I was terribly impressed with myself. My finishing point was eons more economically viable than my starting point. (However my Sock Club research has only been shelved for a later date, not abandoned, by any means!) I was quick to point out to Mr. A. all the time and angst I had saved myself this year by planning ahead. I described a year of calmly grabbing my on-the-needles pre-planned project and perhaps another zippy as I head out the door to knitting group. No more frantic reprinting of a misplaced pattern 5 minutes after I was supposed to leave for where ever I needed to be so that I could have some knitting to occupy me. And FREE! That's glossing over the fact that of course the yarn was bought at some point and that January's project contains a purchased pattern...but since I bought it last October, 2012 is all set up to be the Year I Knit For Free. Somewhat sobering was packing all 15 zippy bags into one overflowing canvas tote bag. But I suppose pre-knitted mittens and socks don't really take up that much room.

My resolution was set and my knitting organized. The last thing I did was check Ravelry one last time for the day. I had set two projects aside to which I will add patterns later - one will be socks and one will be two small table runners. (Clever planning on my part so that I have a good reason to be trawling through the Rav database rather than the not-so-good reason of 'coveting patterns'.) And I found the new pattern Rams and Yowes. (Rav pattern page)

And quicker than I created it, my focus wavered and I found myself so easily influenced by the draw of a beautiful project. Typical. I will stick to my Resolution to Surmount My Stash in 2012...but I will also take on the challenge of somehow getting Rams and Yowes on my needles in 2012...for free.

~Mrs. A.

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A Selection of Stitches From 2011

 I certainly haven't churned out very much knitting in relation to the amount of time I thought I spent knitting this past year! I've been enjoying a community knitting group I set up. It's held at the local library twice a month. Each month I prepare a free washcloth pattern as well as a monthly newsletter, so I suppose that's a lot of time thinking about knitting but not really making any knitted progress.

I didn't really have any hard and fast knitting goals last year...I thought I would do a Mystery a month, but that didn't really jive with my perfectionist tendencies. There was just somehting about diving in and tackling a project without knowing if I would use or like the finished product. I did manage to get two done, though.

I aimed for a sock per month. I got three full pair of socks, a cheater pair of 'socks' that were really little flip-flop thong socks (look for them on Ravelry: Flippant) and a lonely owl sock.

The other knitting related thing I enjoyed this year was watching my daughter knit up a storm. She has a 3-foot stack of hats teetering on her desk along with an impressive collection of knitted monsters and other stuffed toys. She knit her brother a fish hat. She knit baby gifts and she tried out a few clothing items for herself. She had a prolific year!

As I was poking through pictures on the computer, I thought I would collect some of my nicer projects this year in a post. I'm hoping it will add to my knitting motivation for 2012.

-Mrs. A.

Housewarming gift for the community coordinator at the library who made the knitting group I set up possible. She moved on to bigger library pastures.

  

My Mexico Sweater - a mostly impulsive knit whipped up in Nov/Dec before a family trip. I was on a deadline so couldn't be terribly upset about the less-than-perfect shaping of the front. A neat construction from Knitty.com called Mythos (FirstFall2010) and made out of Misty Alpaca.

Pride Mittens made as a Christmas gift for my brother and sister-in-law. Made with Knit Picks yarn, which I had never bought before. I think I have enough left to make myslef a pair!

Owlie Socks that might be just a bit tight for my foot. Great patten for plain yarn, though! First sock is hibernating for now until I'm motivated enough to ge tthe second sock under way.

Scylla Socks. I wear these all the time. It has a counterpart pattern that I will knit this year.



My first Mystery 220yds project. Very wearable scarf that I lost at a local resturant. Hopefully someone likes it! It was my first official foray into lace and charts.



Striped Scarf built from Jared Flood's Noro Striped scarf pattern. I'm not a Noro fan, so I used something called King Cole's Riot. 2 balls - one rainbow, one a grey-to-black neutral - made for a really long scarf.

Another Knitty.com creation: Wild Stripes. I knit most of this in 2010, but finished it in 2011. It is backed in flanellette and I chose to leave off the embroidery the pattern calls for. I did run a couple of lines of invisible stitching across a few of the stripes to make sure the two layers stuck together. This was a well received gift for a special baby girl who arrived in Feb.2011.

My version of a Snowman Christmas ornament.

My last Mystery 220 project. It turned out great and I get many compliments on this little bag. I use it as a project bag. It fits a couple of balls of sock yarn and all the bits required to make a pair of socks.

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Off and On My Needles

All year (2010) I had a plan. In the fall, I would make a kabajillion little knitted Christmas ornaments. I had my supplies collected and stashed in a bag ready to go. Fall came. I began knitting fiddly little hat and sweaters for corks. Trust me, the finished product is Waldorf-y and cute.

I was so proud of myself for being so organized and prepared. It was very unlike myself.

Then the beginning of December dawned. I came across the cutest knitted snowman ever. I didn't even pause to try to talk myself into saving this new-found cuteness for the next Christmas season, reasoning that I had a perfectly adequate project on the go. No, I dropped everything and set my sights on knitting an army of snowmen.

I created a pattern as I went and was happy with the results. I happened to be at my knitting club when I finished the first snow-manny. I sent it home with the mom of a four-year-old. Feedback was positive. Said four-year-old moved Snow-Manny to the primary cuddly sleep spot in his bed. Two weeks later, Snow-Manny had created a number of angst induced 'incidents' when he went rolling off on his own, becoming very difficult to find. While Mom of Four-Year-Old attended the last knitting club meeting of 2010, Dad of Four-Year-Old was building a little house for Snow-Manny to live in when he was not in hand, thus preventing any lost Snow-Manny angst ridden Christmas holiday nights.

Throughout the Christmas season, I managed to make a small army of Snow-Mannies. I was reminded of Calvin's snowmen when I lined them all up. Something about the arms, I think. The army was split up and sent their various ways as gift toppers and tree ornaments for family and friends.

Snowmen are officially off my needles, although I will be knitting another soon so as to write down the pattern as I go.


On Christmas Eve, I opened a package and found two balls of variegated Riot sock yarn. As soon as gift opening obligations were over, I cast on a Noro Striped Scarf (Ravelry link). It's a simple, mindless pattern, but I am so looking forward to the colour shifting effect in the finished product. This is a perfect project to take along to knitting club as it's a mindless knit - more brain power to devote to chatting!

So that is the extent of my latest knitting. Instead of actually knitting, I have been spending much of my knitting energy in careful contemplation of my Knitting Year Resolutions. I'm getting quite a list: I will be making a monthly knitting newsletter for my previously mentioned knitting club. I want to read two knitting related books to include in the monthly newsletter (see how I inserted some accountability there?!) I will be leading a monthly knitted dishcloth for the group as well. Personally, I am going to participate in a year-long Christmas ornament knit-a-long. And just for me, perhaps a self imposed sock club. I just need to decide if I will attempt a pair of socks a month, or just one sock per month. I'm looking forward to all of this, I just hope I can follow through!

Off to finish January's first kniterary selection,

~Mrs. A

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~May~

May's calendar page is sitting on my computer desk waiting to be blogged. It's sitting there quite innocently, right where I put it. But it's kind of glowering, too. Glaring it's blogging want.

May wasn't anything spectacular. I'm sure it was sort of indicative if the way things usually are around here. I sifted and coasted and drifted through the days, sometimes wishing I could keep my head in the game more consistently. I suppose I would feel better if I were able to concentrate on the wonderfulness of my kids and the happiness of the dogs and the simple luxury I live in every day. I'll have to remember that.

I started May with a clean house and a new haircut. I had a really nice Mother's Day.

Treats!

I helped my mom out by going to work for her for a day. That was interesting. One working momma meant two sets of packed lunches, a baby-sitter, a puppy-sitter, packed up school work, a morning rush, a late dinner and an early bedtime. Totally not something I would do every day on purpose. I suppose it was a jarring experience just because we've not lived that way in a long, long time.

The skittish white dog got an eye infection. And Mr. A, bless his poor, oblivious heart, learned the ins and outs of dealing with the vet. I think he debriefed for a week.

Niece!

My new knitting group seems to have taken off quite nicely. As I had hoped, a good crowd of diversity has shown up and they all seem to be happy with a relaxed, social atmosphere. I find myself looking forward to spending a couple of hours planning and preparing for the meetings. So, every other week at the local library, we knit. The other attendees have taken it upon themselves to carve out some space at the local pub to knit on the off weeks. Hilarious. And awesome.

New Kittens!

On the home school front, we're picking our way through the final bits of work for the year. Much of the language arts we did was finished in May. We're a little behind my schedule in our history studies and the kids made a plan to finish their math by June 4. Running club finished early so the coach could take some of the kids and groom them to join the local private school's track team. We had a social picnic-park play after a museum program to kick off the good weather. I'll have to remember to have another at the end of this month. We took in the local multicultural fair as well. Always a good time. It always surprises me how much the kids enjoy themselves there even though it's loud and crowded and they are scared to try the different food. They eat cotton candy and apple crisp while the rest of us are sampling Indian, Jamaican, Turkish, Irish and Chinese food.

"Science" With Mr. A!

The Blue Eyed Bandit grew so much over May! She's impressing everyone at obedience even though we didn't practice a whole lot. She's very smart. She's such a happy, peaceful puppy. And ever since I moved her crate to my bedroom, she's slept through the night. That only took me three months to figure out.

Bad Dog!

I was reminded throughout May that I have 'Me' opportunities popping up all over the place. It's a little exciting after focusing solely on the kids for so many years. I'm part of a book club that I love. The knitting group, getting out a couple of times a week for a walk/run, puppy classes. We even had a couple over twice in May. I don't want to call them Couple Friends...Mr. A is shy, you know...but I think there's potential!

June is shaping up: We still have to get the boats out so we can get out on the River with the kids. And the car is having major surgery to the tune of the cost of a week long family vacation to somewhere a plane ride away. The next round of puppy classes will start. The Boy will be playing soccer and I will be convening his age group. Exciting times, I say!

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Knitting News

There's news on the knitting front.

I've started a community knitting group. Today I got the good-news go-ahead. The first Kniterary Night is planned to begin the second Tuesday in May.

Gah! There, I said it; so now it is real.

I had the idea flitting around in my head for months. Then I shared the idea with my mom. Then my mom brought it up when my sister was listening. Mom and Sister shared my thoughts with some people they know. See how it's snowballing? I don't know how comfortable I am with the whole idea. It's been a long time since I was a confident leader of anything.

So, under a little bit of duress, I approached the community outreach coordinator at the local library. Living in a small town has many benefits. It also has a few gaps. One of the local deficiencies is that we don't have a community center of any sort. The last year or so though, the local library has really started to step up and fill that gap. Armed with a brilliant plan for the perfect community knitting group I pitched my idea and volunteered my leadership to the nice lady at the library. (Can I call her a 'lady' if she's younger than me? This whole mid-30s thing is taking some getting used to.)

I'm kind of proud of myself for venturing forth to make a program that fills a need for ME. One of the reasons I did this was to be a good example for the kids. I think it's important for them to see that Mom is more than Chief Chef and Leader of the Laundry. That I have interests and activities that are just as important as theirs are.

I even used programming and management skills I learned in college a past life. It was a careful balance putting a proposal together. I didn't want to have to pay for meeting space. I wanted to have a hand in the purpose and direction of the group. I wanted an easy out just in case the relationship between the library and the knitting group wasn't working out very well. After some thought and discussion with Sister, we came up a really great proposal that was ideal for what we wanted. We just hoped that the community-minded library would feel the same way.

And it seems they do!

With most of the leg work already done, the details hammered out and control in my hands, there is little to do but wait for the 11th. I should spend the time knitting up various things as a planned portion of Knitterary Night is the Show & Tell. Since only I know the structure and schedule of the evening, I may want to be prepared to avoid awkward, empty silences. Now, that's a motivating thought....

Off to knit!

♥Mrs. A.

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This and That

It's been a busy week.I'll recap quickly.

We added a four-legged beastie to the family last Saturday. She sleeps well as long as I'm sleeping on the couch beside her. Crate training is coming along nicely in bits. The Skittish White Dog - surprisingly - likes her. She's in need of a blogging name. Perhaps we'll make that next week's project.

My blogging is in need of a predictable potty schedule.

I celebrated a birthday on Thursday the 11th. Both kids and Mr. A got right into it. It was awesome. Now the five-year countdown to the big 'four oh' is on. I'm not worked up like some get about 40. This last year was a tough one for me and I'm just glad it's over and done. Onward and upward, right?

There's a baby puppy in my house. She's very cute.

Knitting enthusiasts: I signed up for the Knitting Olympics over at http://www.yarnharlot.com/. I'm not brave enough to jump into the Ravelympics yet. I'm making Hattie's Rose Garden Scarf seen here knitted up by Monika. Hopefully mine might turn out half as nicely as hers.

The kids and I were watching the Olympic opening. They went to bed just as the fiddlers started. I think that's my favourite part yet.

Question of the day: When the husky puppy gets upset and starts yowling and yipping ('cause they don't really bark), why does the big husky dog feel the need to join in?! Please send patience and earplugs.

♥Mrs. A who is looking forward to another night on the couch....not really.

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A Basket of Tricks

This is my basket of newness. New stuff, new skills, a new adventure. It's become uncovered since my recent purge and I'm very excited to get into it. I'm excited, which gives me some degree of motivation, but my perfectionist tendencies are slowing me down a bit.

Last Spring, while on a field trip with the local homeschoolers, I bought a pound of pygora fleece. It was very dirty, so over the summer, I made a project out of washing a measly pound of fiber. It was a huge ordeal because the smell of this fleece was enough to knock you over and I really didn't want it in my washing machine. I really didn't think it could be salvaged. I definitely learned a thing or two throughout the process. I'm left with a trimmed (or 'skirted' for you fiber-type people), less smelly, definitely usable chunk of fiber.

Accompanying my fleecy fiber are a cheap pair of slicker brushes that I will use to card the fleece when I work up enough gumption to do so. I was so impressed with the success Miranda and her kids enjoyed throughout their Fiber Adventures, that I am very encouraged to have a go at my own Adventure. I serendipitously came across the spinning book at my library's used book sale. Hopefully with the very informative, pre-Internet book, Ravelry, YouTube and Google, I'll be able to make do. Just this week I was able to get my hands on a drop spindle with which to complete the final step of processing my pygora. Happily, the spindle came with a couple of ounces of prepared fiber that I can learn with. Pygora spins up into a beautiful, silky yarn, but it doesn't do so easily. Or so I read.


While in the yarn shop handling spindles, a skein of yarn leaped off the shelf and landed in my shopping bag. I hear that's a risk you take when shopping in a yarn shop. It's a hand-dyed wool/angora/nylon blend called 'Rainbow' by Infiknit from their One Of A Kind line. I'm excited to see what it becomes.

I'm so glad I was able to dig through the clutter to unearth a small basket of potential. It's so much easier to keep your eye on the goal when there are only carefully chosen elements in your basket. I think there are a few areas of my life that could use a little de-cluttering and re-focusing. One thing at a time, though. This is a great place to start.

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What Mess Is This?!

It's funny how I've acquired such a pile of knitting supplies. It seems you mention to one person that you've taken up a bit of knitting and things start showing up on your doorstep.

The most memorable of my acquisitions was gifted to me by a retiring knitter. It bridged the crochet-to-knitting gap for me as I hadn't really become a knitter yet. A large supply of needles landed on my doorstep one day. Upon inspection I discovered I had many long needles in many sizes, double pointed needles - long and short - also in the most popular sizes, and a full compliment of circular needles.

Along with the needles came a big lot of yarn. I learned very quickly that knitters tend to be particular about the yarn they prefer. 100% acrylic all the time is not my preference. Being a new knitter, I wasn't sure what my preference was, but it certainly wasn't this. After a few years of sitting in my basement with the odd experiment inflicted upon it, much of this yarn was destined to the local Red Cross knitters.

Just this past weekend, I finally weeded my knitting needles. I've kept a set of crochet hooks, and one set of each size in the long, double-pointed and circular knitting needle styles. I also pared my stash (see...I'm a knitter now because I'm using all the right lingo). It was brutal. I am left with a small shopping bag of carefully selected fiber.

Ready to be re-gifted to other aspiring knitters is a collection of needles and yarn - a large garbage bag full of it. It is in my basement, waiting patiently for said knitters to turn up.

Hopefully they will not turn up in my basement. Hopefully, some might turn up at a local meeting of knitters. Since there is not such a group in my area, I began to think about what it would take to organize such a group. I said as much to my sister, who spoke to her friend, who also has a friend. Sister also said something to her mother-in-law who, as it turns out, also has a friend. I mentioned something to my mom, who, wouldn't you know it, has a friend. All of these people are interested in a semi-regular knitting gathering.

My sister and I are working toward organizing a free meeting location and a schedule. I'm looking forward to seeing what sort of people we're going to pull out of the woodwork. I'm sure I can 'gift' knitting newbies with a set of needles and a ball of yarn. That would be welcoming, no? I think it would be only fitting that I help others in their acquisition of knitting supplies since others were so generous to me.

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The Ugliest Sock In Creation

I cast this sock on as a learning experience. I learned a number of things so the process was a success! I don't like the two-tone colour scheme with this particular heel. I need to make it smaller so that it will fit just so. I don't think socks classify as mindless tv knitting. I can handle instructions and a simple pattern with no problem. I easily see mistakes and can fix them.

On a more positive note, I'm looking forward to get started on take #2. I'll just use the variegated yarn (On Your Toes Bamboo in Iris Print) instead of adding a second colour. I will also make two socks. I'm going to try a different heel and perhaps a different pattern. Wish me luck!

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