Classes have started so there is not much time to write but I wanted to post some more photos.


New Years Eve Gifts for the little ones.


Dinosaur Helmet

3 Little Felted Mittens

Some were not well recived.

Everyone had to try on the House Elf Hat. (look at the cool inside)



All knit from my stash. All knit out of wool. Mostly KP Merino Style.

African Inspired Sweaters

For the past 3 years I've knit a ethnic sweater from some spot on the globe for the little people in my life. This years theme is Africa and I knit dashikis for everybody. 3 came from my own head. 1 is the Orphan for Orphans pattern modified quiet a bit and the last is haiku from knitty modified not at all.

Snow Flakes

I was in a winter secret pal swap with my online knitting group. I got a nice package of yarny goodness.

It was all so much more than I can exspress in words so I'll just let the photos do it.






I got 4 balls of really yummy Frog Tree alpaca to knit some color work mittens
1 pair of color work mittens in case i never knit my own
1 organic chocolate bar
1 pair of cat toy mittens



Sumi-e could smell the cat toys and had to help






Thank You

Old and the New

For the most part I don’t reflect too much over the old year or make resolutions for the new. But a few things of happened this year that are worth noting.

Joey: a year ago I called a halt to his cancer treatment after 2 rounds of chemo didn’t eradicate it. He had been on the chemo drugs for 6 month and I felt that putting him though any more would be cruel. The next step was amputation of his back leg and radiation. I stopped all drugs, all treatment, and expected him to last another 3 month. He is still with me today and feeling much better than he did during treatment. The tumor is still there and is still growing but I have hope that he will make it another year.

School: That has gone better than I ever could have hoped. For the new year I want the same success and for it to pay off. A job would be nice. Finishing off the program instead would be nice too. With my being satisfied with either option it should make it easer to be happy with my choices this time next year.

Self Image: I’ve been told a few times in the last year that I’m looking good. That was very nice and they are right. But looking in the mirror I wish I had arm muscles. Strong arms capable of doing anything, especially wearing sleeveless tops. That’s the motivation; the reaction is I’m looking for a yoga or aerobics class to join. I realize that for what I want I would be best served by lifting weights. I've already found and discarded classes for that. I’m full of contradictions that way.

Knitting: I was able to knit 5 sweaters this fall and 3 of them fit great. Really, really great. I am very pleased with myself and my hope in the New Year is to rival those successes. Right now I’m in a slump. Oh, I’ve started and finished a pair of socks in 2008 all ready but I don’t have any passion* about starting any new projects. I suspect that I’ll keep knitting socks until something grabs me. And as much as I need new socks I hope it doesn’t take long.


*In the time between writting and posting I've cast on for a sweater. The slump didn't last long.

2007 Down the Drain

I came home from my New Year Eve party to this.

Sumi-e must have had some strong thoughts about 2007.

Pay it Forward

I saw this on Needlefinger's blog.

Thought I would play along.

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise!

The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

I won't go so far as to demand you be a blogging reader, I know the premise is to make it visible in blogdom. But there are ways blogless readers can pay it forward. They are connected through knit groups and friends. It would be easy for them to continue the movement without a blog.

So, who's game?

Fini

Photos of the finished sweaters...

Cobblestone

Handspun Sweater, I did weave the ends in last night.

Briggs & Little

Lopi

Tree Jackett

Knitting on Cabblestone is Finished

I finished the knitting on Cobblestone last night and tried it on. I love it. Big and comfy but not too big. Pink but not too pink. Waist shaping would make it better but even so it's a good sweater. Maybe even a great sweater. Tonight I'll graft the underarms and tuck in the ends and it will be done. I can wear it on Thursday since I don't think we will be painting in Color Theory class.

Today I am wearing the other sweater I cast on and finished in November. I bought 4 skeins of Briggs & Little on sale and was so excited that I started swatching that night. 6 days later I had a finished sweater. And this time I was smart. I took out my favorite sweater of all time, a cotton sweater bought at Penny's a few years ago. I measured everything. The width, the armhole depth, the waist shaping and drew a schematic before I started. Then using knitting Without Tears I did an EZ percentage system saddle shoulder sweater with wast shaping and a panel of lace and cables down the front. It matches my schematics exactly and yet the hip shaping is a bit too abrupt and the waist shaping too high. Goes to show that measurements from a freshly washed cotton sweater don't transfer over well to wool. But overall this sweater is a succes. And the minor problems it does have can be fixed with a steam block. I'm wearing it right now.

I want to post photos but next week is the last week of school. That means 3 final projects, a paper, and portfolio review. I have very little motivation and have squandered my morning online. Having typed that I might be motivated to start working for the day.

Anyway, no photos this week or next. Maybe photos the week after. I have so much to show. It seems that I've been buying some yarn.

Sherri

Just checking in

I haven't been blogging because my knitting is gotten in the way. I can't put it down long enough to download the photos. But I've finished the Tree Jacket, the Spartan Pullover, the Lopi Sweater, a Sweater of my Own Design out of Briggs & Little, and am 90% done on Cobblestone that I started since posting last.

Take that NaKniSweMo.

Tag

I've been Tagged. I'm of two minds about this. First was Whoohoo someone does read this blog. Love you Needlefingers. The other was dang I now have to do this.

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night? I didn't laugh last night. I was knitting. Fun but not funny.

2. What were you doing at 0800? Stopping at the store to buy cinnamon rolls for class. Mondays where I haven't finished my homework needs a little something extra.

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? Playing around online.

4. What happened to you in 2006? Nothing good.

5. What was the last thing you said out loud? No, I did not bake the cinnamon rolls.

6. How many beverages did you have today? Just my coffee. I'd better go find some water.

7. What color is your hairbrush? Don't know, don't care. But my toothbrush is pink.

8. What was the last thing you paid for? Cinamon rolls.

9. Where were you last night? Knitting while listening to Kim by Kipling. I love books on tape.

10. What color is your front door? Gray.

11. Where do you keep your change? In a coffee mug, a bowl, another bowl, a carved wooden box, and the pockets of my coat.

12. What’s the weather like today? Dark, windy, and warm.

13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor? Rocky Road.

14. What excites you? Buying yarn, learning new things, and having people over.

15. Do you want to cut your hair? Yes, it needs a trim.

16. Are you over the age of 25? Yes.

17. Do you talk a lot? When I have someone to talk to I'm a chatterbox but I can go all week without talking to anybody.

18. Do you watch the O.C.? No, it's not still on, is it?

19. Do you know anyone named Steven? Steven and Stephen and if there is another spelling I know him too.
20. Do you make up your own words? All the time.

21. Are you a jealous person? No, I don't think so.
22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’. Anna

23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’. Needlefingers

24. Who’s the first person on your received call list? Is that on my phone? I try to leave my phone alone. We are all happier that way.

25. What does the last text message you received say? See above. I like to leave my phone alone. If it rings I answer it. That's all a phone should do.

26. Do you chew on your straw? Yes.

27. Do you have curly hair? No, it's limp and thin. It could use a little curl.

28. Where’s the next place you’re going to? I haven't decided. Maybe Half Priced Books to turn a few of my books into cash.

29. Who’s the rudest person in your life? I can't think of anyone. I usually don't dwell on such things.

30. What was the last thing you ate? Cinamon rolls, already.

31. Will you get married in the future? I think not.
32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks? I haven't watched a movie since, what did I go see this summer?... Right! Spiderman 3 sometime in July. I don't care that much about movies.

33. Is there anyone you like right now? All my friends, but my family is giving me pains.

34. When was the last time you did the dishes? By hand? I think not. I ran the dishwasher yesterday.

35. Are you currently depressed? No, thankfully. That doesn't happen until mid winter.

36. Did you cry today? No, why would I?

37. Why did you answer and post this? Because it's my very first tag.

38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey. No, I think not. Let it die here.

33%

I knit the sleeves up. Since the body of the sweater was so big I may have knit the sleeves a bit big too. Maybe by an inch, maybe even two inches. But when I was happy with them I did the math and I was right at 33% of 190. I used this as an excuse to do nothing to the body. It must be fate. Or me twisting the information to be what I wanted not what it really is. But is there a difference? So I’ll have another oversized sweater to add to my closet.

It could be pointed out that I don’t wear either of my 2 other oversized sweater and I rationalized this way. Both of them are 44” around this one is only 42” I’m sure those 2 inches will make all the difference. Also I’m going to knit 2 or 3 more inches to the body so it’s a long oversized sweater. I’ve learned my lesson that a 44” really short sweater never gets worn because it makes me look stumpy and heavy. The other one is long but I don’t wear it either. The ribbing flares out at the bottom after felting it a little bit in the machine to make it smaller. I am ignoring that it went into the machine because I wasn’t wearing it.

I’m just sure that the 2 inches will make all the difference.

No really, it will.

At the Crossroads

Ok, there are a few ways I can deal with this.

Pull it all out and start over

Pull it out to the color work band, decide where around my hips it should rest, measure and map the inches to my waist, decrease away 30 stitches, the do the same and increase back up to the bust to 175 stitches or so.

The second is more complicated and much more prone to error and of course is the one I’m leaning toward. And do I want 160 stitches at the waist or more? Do I want my original 160 at the bust or do I now think that would be too snug? I’m pretty sure it would be too snug. Would 175 be better? Tinkerbelle was a Luster Longwool/Romney cross. Not soft at all, but surprisingly, not scratchy either and the yarn is shiny and smooth and a little crunchy with almost no drape. I’m now thinking 160 wouldn’t have been what I wanted either. All ready I’m scribbling out equations and feeling all sorts of unsure of myself.

I do know I want to make the saddle shoulder sweater from EZ No More Tears. So for now I’m putting the body aside and I’m knitting a sleeve to fit. EZ says the sleeve should be 33% of the body for this sweater so when I have the sleeve I can then figure out the bust size I want.

I really should just knit the sleeves first. I did that with the lopi sweater and it seems that I didn’t learn my lesson that ripping out and reknitting a sleeve is much nicer than doing that to the body of the sweater. I think I was too absorbed with the fact I had to rip out the sleeve. Now I know.

Ugh

Some days I hate my brain. Oh, usually it works well enough. It gets me by in regular life. It has even garnered me an invitation to join Mensa. But in some ways, It. Just. Does. Not. Work.

I was knitting along on the Spartan sweater having a grand time listening to The Fellowship of the Ring and then The Two Towers on tape and at an inch an hour had finally almost finished the body. Well, the tape measure said the body was almost long enough but it sure looked a bit stubby to me. But who can tell all bunched up on circular needles. I kept on knitting. 2 inches later it was for sure long enough and the stubby look was still there.

With growing dread I pulled the knitting off the needle and beheld an incredibly wide sweater and not the slim sweater I had cast on. Hmmm, gauge problem? I had been checking my gauge all along and it was spot on. I check it again. Nope, it’s still fine.

I measure it, I try it on, I push it and stretch it. Nothing comes to me. I count my stitches 3 times. It is the perfect 190 stitches. Somehow it is still too big.

I finally pull out my calculation card with all the scribbled and crossed out and erased math bits. And right there. Right in the center. With a big circle drawn around it and little stars marking it was my cast on number.

160.

Damn.

Handspun sweater

We are going to avert our eyes from the fact that I have 2 almost finished sweaters on the needles and I will show the new sweater I cast on. We will also ignore the elephant in the room that I don’t have anything close to gauge and that I may not have enough yarn. We will refrain from speaking of the amount of math I will need to do to make this one come out ok. Instead we will talk about the lushness of the handspun and the shinny happy joy of casting on a new sweater.

I bring you Spartan Pullover in IK Fall 2006.

The white yarn is handspun wool from the sheep Tinkerbelle and the brown yarn is handspun Shetland Llama blend. The soft hairiness of the brown yarn against the silk like shine of the white yarn gives me chills.

Lopi Sweater

With all of the talk about the Tree Jacket my Lopi sweater has fallen by the way side. But I still pick it up from time to time and am now almost done with the yoke.

But look at the yarn I have left. I bought the recommended amount for size M but I'm knitting the size S. I should have more than plenty. I'm almost done with the white part of the sweater and have barely used half of the first of the 2 balls it calls for. I guess if I was knitting the M I might have needed 2 feet or so from the second ball, maybe. But that is being generous I can't imagine even in the size M using more than one ball of white.

That is my last ball of blue. It's half gone and I still have plenty of knitting left. Now I'll have to knit faster so I can finish the sweater before the yarn runs out. I would have been in big trouble if I had actually knitted the size M. I seriously think sweater patterns designers just take wild guesses when saying how many balls of yarn a sweater will take. I will ignore the fact that my sweater is actually 3 to 4 inches bigger than the size S should be so my running loose with my gauge is what is causing this yarn shortage and not bad record keeping by the designer.

Ok, it’s time to graft the tree jacket back together. I’m not sure about the arm shaping. The red circle shows were the first decrease is but the arrow is where I now think the first decrease should be. And the funny shape that the increases made (pointed to with the green arrows) I have a bad feeling about those. But I just can’t tell until I put the sweater on and I can’t do that until the sweater is all back together.

The 2 pieces of the tree jacket waiting to be grafted.

Grafting the first stitch.

Tangles happen all the time.

A few inches in, so far so good.

Woot! Two hours later and only a few inches left.

It’s all done and surgery scar shows. I hope that a good washing will relaxes the grafting edge. But it may not relax enough. My tension varied wildly as I grafted the two pieces back together and the extra knit row before the eyelets starts shows more than I hoped. I thought of that before I started but decided I wasn’t ready to learn to graft garter stitch together. I’m going to see if I can get used to it and if I can’t I bet I can cover it up with a bit of beading or embroidery or maybe a ribbon.
But look at the funny edge from increasing at the bust. It looks just like my Photoshop drawing said it would but I had sort of thought it wouldn’t be that drastic. I hope it falls better when I’m wearing it.

Good it does. The grafting scar still shows but the fit is just right.

Oops, not the arm. I need to give that another try.

Taking apart the Tree Jacket

The first step of reducing the bulk of the underarm on the tree jacket is to take the perfect body off of the very imperfect yoke. I started with snipping one stitch right above the body and pulling one row of stitches out. The live body stitches are put onto a circular needle and DP needles are used to tease the yarn out of its row. Doing this isn’t complicated but it does take care and with a clingy, furry, white yarn is a very slow process.


The first few inches are done.


With my fingers to see it better.



Look how well it is going.


Finally it’s done.



Sumi-e approves.


The next step is to unravel the Tree Jacket back to the safety pin that marks were the armhole should be. Then to join the body there and keep increasing at the underarms to bring the body stitch count back to the right number of stitches for re-joining and to knit new smaller sleeves. Once the sweater looks something like the Photoshop image I will try to graft the body back onto the yoke of the sweater.


I considered putting the increases in as bust darts for a more elegant fit rather than just increasing in the underarms. But I decided against it for all sort of reasons I can’t think of now. But it boiled down to keeping the raglan line going and that I wouldn’t have to think to do it this way. I won’t know for sure how it works out until I get the body back on.

Tree Jacket

I finished spinning the alpaca yarn and have spent the last 2 weeks knitting it into the Tree Jacket pattern by Zephyr Styles.

It looks pretty good strait on with my arms to my sides.

I love the fit of the shoulders and the body but the armhole is too big around causing it to look sloppy and not feel very nice either. I like this sweater enough that I want to fix it. After 7 years of knitting I am a bit disappointed that only one of the 10 sweaters I’ve knit fit better than a sweater bought off the rack at the mall.



I’ve decided that if I want to change my average not only do I need to take more care in my knitting I need to go back and change things I’m not happy with. So right now when I try on my knitting I think “Would I pay $10 for this at Old Navy?” If the answer is “No” then I try to fix it. After all I’ll buy almost anything for $10 at Old Navy it’s not like I’m compairing it to $30 at JC Penny’s or $80 at Macy’s and as we all know the yarn cost a whole bunch more than $10 so I think it’s a fair test.

So now I just need to decide the best way to fix this. The neck is pretty good, the shoulders are just right, and the body is perfection. It’s I just need to remove about 2 inches of increases at the arms while keeping them at the body. More to come later.

This is what I want it to look like when I'm done. I want a size extra small armhole on the medium body without reknitting the whole thing.

Now to see if it will work.

Spinning Alpaca

This weekend was a good one. My first set of modular classes are done. My second ones are just starting and had very little homework this weekend so I was able to put it off. I was lucky enough to have friends come to visit and we went to the Renaissance Festival. It’s been 5 years since I last went and I am happy to say my favorite shows are mostly the same. I find it comforting that the performers change very little from year to year and that I can watch the same shows I watched back in 1998.

I did lots and lots of good cooking. All of it on the food stamp budget. I did have to save up all month to pull it off but I did. I should have taken photos since much of it was pretty. The Cherry Crepes with Kiwi and Pomegranate especially so.

Sunday morning once I had the house to myself again I sat down and spun this. It’s from a white alpaca fleece I bought at an alpaca farm. The alpacas were so cute and the price was right. I’m working on spinning enough for a small sweater. I think I’m half way there. Really, I should spin the whole fleece so I have a bit of room in my closet but a small sweater is a good place to start. I have a pattern picked out that calls for heavy worsted. I spun some yarn swatches and washed them and picked the one closest to heavy worsted to match but I didn’t bother knitting and checking drape or gauge with any of the yarn swatches. Yes, I realize that only doing half of the preparation work will likely give me the same bad results as doing none but I was ready to just start spinning. So cross your fingers for me.

Lopi Sweater

Tamara is knitting the Einstein Coat and after she mentioned that she liked the Lopi I pulled mine out of the stash to give it a try. Right away I had a problem. The Icelandic yoked sweaters come in a very few sizes. I had the choice of too small and too big. What to do? After all too big can still be worn and even if it’s sloppy looking it’s still warm. Too small is just too small. Negative ease looks good but there is a point it’s not going over the head. Would the smaller size still fit? Would I wear the bigger size? I started to swatch.


While swatching I had concerns about the color. I picked it online and I didn’t realize the tweed flecks were about the size of Tic Tac mints. I think it detracts for the color work. But I don’t have enough of the tweed to make a solid colored sweater so there was no choice but to go on. I picked a size and started on a sleeve. And while I still wish the blue wasn’t a tweed I think it’s ok.




But look at this.



That is my upper arm. I went with too big. There is no way I will ever wear a sweater this big. I’ll have to rip it out and start over on the smaller size. I think I’ll use larger needles to bump the spi down a bit so it will be small but not tiny.

How fast do you knit?

Yarn Harlot has asked on her blog how fast do we knit? I went home and gave it a try.

First I knit on the fixation socks on size 1 bamboo needles. I don’t much like these needles and I very much don’t like these socks. I got 28 stitches a min.




I then knit on my trekking socks on size 000 turbo circs and I got 34 spm.




But I thought I knit faster than that. I haven’t ever measured it but after 7 years of practice I’ve noticed I’m at the faster end of the knitters I know. Having read the comments I already knew most knit in the high 20s to the low 40s. Also most said they were knitting cold as I was and that they got faster as they got warmed up.

I decided to test that. I pulled out my wood dp size 0 needles. The needles that after years of use have just the right bent to fit my hand perfectly. My favorite needles. I dug out onLine sock yarn that I know knits with no splitting and cast on. In ribbing right out of the gate I got 34spi. After the ribbing I timed myself again. 40spi. That is more like it. I timed my self a few more times for longer durations and got 40 spm every time.




After tiring of that I picked up the trekking on 2 circs again and got 40spi. Ok good. Back to the fixation, 40 spm there too. Now that was gratifying. Warming up made a huge difference there.

This morning I started out cold again and still got 40 spm on my favorite needles and a bit surprising on the circs that I got 40spm there too, but was back down to the 28 with the fixation on bamboo.

So there it is. I knit socks at 40spm with whatever I use. Either right away or a after a bit of knitting. I knit at 40spm while relaxed over 10 min and while tense going as fast as I can for 2. It seems to be a constant.

I could be faster since I change dp needles with a bit of a flourish and a yarn flip that eats up 2 seconds each time. But I liked watching my hands doing it.

Moby Dick

I have friends visiting in September for a long weekend. I can't wait and with the varied diets that we all need I'm planning now for the food. I love company. I love cooking for them. Cooking just for myself is dull, cooking for others is fun. So I'm going to cook fancy. To do that yesterday I went grocery shopping with last week and this week money and was able to put over 40 meals in the freezer. No recipes to post since it's nothing you haven't already seen here. My basic staples. But I also bought the ingredients for granola. I'll put that up when I make it in the next few weeks. Now that I'm set for me for a good long time I can start buying the things I need for that grand weekend. Wild Oats here I come.

The library didn't have The Tale of Two Cities. I was looking around and almost picked up The Great Gatsby which I have read several times. But I found Moby Dick. On Morning Addition every saturday Leann asks a person what they are reading. At the end of the segment she asks "what would you read if you have all the time in the world" My answer has been Moby Dick.

When I was in college I transferred from the biology department to the art department after my third year in school. And before you think that a bad choice since my biology degree was almost done, let me point out from flunking the math and chemistry and upper level biology courses and taking them twice, and a for a few 3 times, to pass I was barely past the freshman biology courses. It was high time I left that college since it was obvious to everyone but me from the beginning that I was never going to get through any chemistry classes and unlikely any of the upper level biology ones.

So I hit the art department with all of my electives done and only art classes left. Taking more than 2 art classes a semester just wasn't possible while working full time like I did. But I needed to take at least 9 credit hours to be a college student and keep my job. So I took every literature class taught by Mr. Gillespie.

Literature classes had a fairly light load of only meeting 3 hours a week and reading one book every other week with only a paper for each book as homework and a term paper for the final. So writing a paper every other week, a paper about my own observations, was a breezes against the right and wrong of chemistry or the full out long hours that had to be putting into painting. It's not that writing papers is easy for me. It's actually a struggle and I knew that I needed to read each book twice to understand it but Literature taught by Mr. Gillespie was something I looked forward to. Even after all of his years teaching he still had passion.

When taking American Lit from him we read some short stories by Herman Melville then moved on to Emily's poems. Mr. Gillespie was sad that Moby Dick was too long to read in class and even sadder that such a good book was not being read at all. That maybe pretty soon nobody would read it and it would be lost along the way. Exstict as a book. That stuck with me and I picked it up from time to time but never made it past the first page. But it was always the book I would read if I had all the time in the world.

Well with books on tape I do have all of the time in the world. I listen to something all day long anyway. Why not a book instead of the TV or the radio? There is nothing nicer than knitting to a good story. And Moby Dick is good. And funny. I would never have guessed. I'm laughing along with (and sometime at) this book more than any of Douglas Adams'. I thought I would make it through the first few chapters then put it aside after giving it a god try but I'm loving it. Already I'm thinking to the next time I'll 'read' it.

After all I was working on homework and concentrating and missed the why of the mystery men in the hold. Herman talks so much I was sure they would be explained again later so I didn't rewind. Well instead I have had harpoons explained to me 3 different ways, the ways to draw whales explained twice, the weather in china, the way to eat whale steak, what whales eat, how to name them, how to fall asleep while on watch, but not why these extra mystery people are in the hold. Hilarious!

I'm now well past that part and am waiting eagerly for them to pop up again. But I am sad of the foreshadowing in this book. Not subtle Herman. It's sad to know who is a goner by the end of the first disk. And did you say? Is Mr. Starbuck single? Not many hansom quakers in this part.

Ernest Hemingway is next and he will bring shorter clearer posts.

First Week of School

Lookie at that. I have been linked to. Thanks Needlefingers.

This is the first day of the first full week of class and I'm feeling good. You know that feeling when the whole semester is full of promise. When each class is just the teacher reading aloud the syllabus and letting us loose with the class supply list. When the homework is only reading 2 chapters. The best week of school. Give it two weeks and I will be gasping under the work load, I'm sure.

I have been knitting on a baby sweater of my own design. Since it's a gift I can't post photos but I'm surprised how hard this easy sweater has been to knit. I do think it's turning out well.

I have been sadly neglecting that sock I promised months ago. That sock that has been knit so many times I'm just done with the whole idea of knitting it. I still have to finish the pair since I traded for it. It goes to figure that after going through all I have with this sock I lost the ball of yarn for the second sock. And that right there sums up the whole fug this pair has given me.

The books on tape have turned out very well. After the Hobbit I listened to Sense and Sensibility and and am now listening to The Skies of Pern. I have to say that the classics are so much nicer to listen to than read. I'm thinking about a Tale of Two Cities next. You know, for the knitting in it. I tied to read it twice for fun back in high school but got bogged down in the writing style. I've found Jane has so much more flow when read aloud so I'm hoping for the the same with Charles. Doesn't it just sound wrong referring to them by there first names. They are much to proper for that, so it makes me giggle.

Off to buy a pica ruler.

Golden Chicken

After a summer of taking photography I don’t feel like taking photos. First, because I gave my life over to that class for 9 weeks and I am burned out on photos. Second, there is no way that the crappy digital photos I take with my little cheap camera can compare to those black and white photos. I’m mighty proud of them and I would show them to you except that it’s not worth the bother of scanning them all in. But so you know I’m showing everyone one I meet. Strangers even. But that ended over 2 almost 3 weeks ago so I expect to be over it all soon.

While I haven’t been posting I am still living the food stamp challenge. I was listening with half and ear but it sounded like that went to be voted on last week. I never went to check. But for myself I have learned if all you want to eat is natural yogurt, trail mix with M&Ms, fruit juice popsicles, and frozen burritos that $21 of food lasts 2 weeks. So I succeeded in 2 of my objectives this summer; not going over budget and not cooking anymore than I wanted to. I think it can be agreed that eating healthy didn’t make it.

Most of it isn’t worth commenting on but I did do 2 note worthy things in the last month. First, in July there was a meat sale at Price Copper and I went and picked up a whole bunch of meat after class one day. It appears that when I am working on 4 hours of sleep that I am completely unable to do basic math in my head. I added it up 3 times coming to $19, then $21, then $19 again. So I thought it was good. Once I get the same number twice I figure I’m probably right. I wasn’t. It came to $25 at the check out. Since I didn’t spend the full $21 the week before or the week after it was ok, but really that whole thing left a sour taste in my mouth. And I now have pounds and pounds of meat I have to cook. I’m not much looking forward to that. But I’m set for when I have company over.

And having company over brings me to my next story. Last week. No, maybe 2 weeks ago now. I invited my game playing friends over for supper and some games. 5 people if you count the baby. I went shopping that day and spent $25. See a trend there? $25 seems to be a recurring theme. Anyway that $25 bought a bag of onions, 10 lbs of potatoes, 10 lbs of chicken, 4 lbs of carrots, 6 cans of Cambles Golden Mushroom soup, and just because, a dozen eggs.

I go home and put everything but the eggs in my electric roster. That is 25lbs of food for those of you that are counting. 25 lbs of food for 5 people (one is a baby) and that’s when my Pickett gene kicked in. I looked at that 25lbs of food. I thought of the 5 people (one is a baby) and decided it wasn’t going to be enough. So I walked back to the store to buy snacks. $12 more for grapes, celery, gram crackers, and the fixings for pineapple gram cracker dip.

After all of that, one person was a no show so after 3 people and a baby ate all we could I had 30 meals to put in the freezer and all the gram crackers and dip I could eat the next few days. So I didn’t even bother getting more food the next week.

Golden Chicken
10 lbs chicken
10 lbs potatoes cut in fourths
4 lbs carrots cut in 3rds
4 lbs onions cut in fourths
6 cans cambles golden mushroom soup

Place all in roaster and cook until done.

So you are wondering at what temp to set the roaster aren’t you? So am I. I cooked it for 4 hours and in that time I set it for everything from 250 slow cooker temp so it wouldn’t burn (but would it be done in time? Would it ever be done? Would I die of food poisoning from the cold chicken?) to 400 roasting temp (but what about the poor potatoes? They will burn to a crisp). For most of the time it was set at 325 and I think that worked well.

I haven’t posted much about knitting lately. Well, this summer while taking 2 classes I didn’t knit much. I didn’t have much time, but more importantly than that since we can always make time for knitting. I had already used up all of my creativity with photography. I just didn’t have a need to make anything else. I was satisfied with that and with the design work I was doing in Intro to Graphic Design. So I spent whatever free time I had reading. I did knit one sock 3 times to get it right. That too added to my not wanting to knit much. And when I say ‘to get it right’ I don’t mean fiddly little stuff but so it would actually fit a human foot.

And I have read Harry Potter! A friend loaned me his copy. Isn’t he a sweetie? Because of that I know longer have to avoid spoilers for a year. And we all know how successful that would have been. In just the 2 week since the book had come out I was already quickly closing browser windows on knitting blogs and sticking my fingers in my ears and saying lalalala while listening to NPR Saturday shows. That last part burns me a bit. If you can’t even listen to public radio without running into spoilers who can you trust in this world?

When I was loaned the book I was getting ready to spend the weekend with my family. I knew I wasn’t going to have time to read it there. I decided to not read it until I got back on Monday. I picked the book up from Ted at noon on Friday. I stuck to my guns until 5pm. I started reading it then and finished at 4am. About 1am I realized that even trying to wait had been silly and that I should have started reading as soon as I got it and that I might have gotten at least a little sleep that way.

But back to the knitting. The last 2 weeks during break I started a few sweaters but none of them were holding my attention. I did do a lot of spinning. I spun while listening to 5 of Douglas Adams books. But after all of that I hadn’t made a dent in the fiber and only had about half of what I needed and I sort of wound down on that too.

Then while listening to the Hobbit I knitted mittens. I am almost done with mitten number 4. I had thought to knit mittens until this cone of yarn was gone but I with mitten 3 it started to loose its charm and besides the book was over. Maybe with my next book I can pick it up again.
I had been reading about books on tape on spinning blogs for a while now and they are fantastic. The trick is getting one with good readers but that is a crap shoot.

Oh, and while listening to the Douglas Adams Hitchhikers series I also knitted 3 felted bags between spinning 8 ounces of alpaca and 2 ounces of silk. See? 2 hard weeks of work and I’m still only half done, if that. But I’m spinning the silk at work night and that is fun. I should finish up with the other 2 ounces in the next 2 or 3 weeks. Then it’s back to doing finishing work there.

I really dislike the finishing work but just a few days ago I noticed I only had 5 things that needed the ends tucked in and buttons sewn on left in my FO drawer. That is amazing and it’s because of work night. Although, I feel sorry for everyone else there since I have to announce at least 3 time a night I hate finishing work and wish I had brought my spinning wheel instead.

I don’t think I will be ready for TGIF this Friday with the camera but I’ll try for next week since I do have quite a bit to show.

School starts tomorrow. Two days after summer classes finished I was burning to get back. Now after two weeks off I’m dreading it.