Half A Sheep

Spinning my way to Victory!

Bonjour, mes amis!

I thought it only appropriate to dredge up the residue of my high school French to bid you hello on this, the beginning of the 2008 Tour de Fleece In my quest for le malliot jaune, I have set myself a wonderful challenge.

 Last month, in a rare (cough) fit of fiber acquisition, I purchased 8 ounces of a lovely pencil roving by Louet, called Northern Lights. I would love to post a picture, but, since I am at work, c'est impossible! It is a lovely jumble of colors that should spin up to a complete circus of color frenzy, by the time it is plied! (I promise, I will put up pictures later!). At the same time, I acquired some lovely royal blue corriedale, also by Louet. When I signed up for the Tour de Fleece, these two instantly came to mind! Why?

 Why, to make socks, of course! Which socks? Why Nordic Lights socks, naturally, from Janet Laidman's new book, The Eclectic Sole! The Northern lights roving should make a wonderfully colorful pattern yarn against the background of the royal blue! So, my challenge is: Spin 16 ounces of fiber into "energized" sock yarn, ply it, skein it and set the twist by the end of the Tour. Just in time for the Summer Olympics when I plan to knit them into socks! This, from the girl who has trouble posting because she works too much, has 3 socks already in progress, has at least 3 long term WIP's that have taken up a good part of this year, as well as a couple of skeins of handspun sock yarn that is sitting at the table, just screaming to be knit!

So...check back here occasionally to see if they've hauled me off to the mental hospital yet!

In Which Our Heroine Disappears...and Reappears!

...or "That which does not kill us will make us batshit!"  ~ Halfasheep

I looked on my blog and realized that I haven't posted a single thing since April!  I was honestly shocked!  It seemed like only yesterday that the Firebird kit arrived (and, trust me, it looks like it was only yesterday, as well!).  Now, it is the end of June, and I can feel life spiraling out of control!  Tanasay from Ravelry and I have been talking alot about knitting vortices, this week.  But I think I've fallen into a life vortex...all of my time is being sucked down into a black hole!

April, which is now known as the month of the arthritic(!) hip, was fairly crazy.  I have somehow injured one little spot on my left hip, which sent shooting pain into my groin every 5th step or so.  Please understand that this arthritis(!) developed literally overnight!  Also, understand that I walk constantly at work! So, for about 3 weeks, I walked constantly leaning on one crutch!  Did I take off work?  NO!  One of the surgeons greeted me one morning with "Hi, Crip!" to which I responded "It's Gimp, to you, sir!"  I've never had issues with mobility, ever!  But I can tell you, my heart goes out to anyone with chronic issues like this.  Not only is it painful, but it's completely flippin' annoying!  I couldn't carry anything and negotiate with the crutch, so housework went right out the window!  As did large knitting projects (unless I was home).  No grocery shopping.  No shopping at all (except on-line)!  But all is not lost!  A friend in pain management injected the joint with anesthetic and steriods, and all is improved!  It still hurts if I'm very tired, but not in the let's stick a cattle prod in your left hip socket and see how fast you go down sort of way.  Hip resurfacing will, hopefully, be another 10 years down the road.

While I was incapacitated, I was sucked into a side-vortex of Ravelry...and watched as one after another train-wreck occurred before my very eyes!  Now, I assume that knitterly folk are all fiber-sistahs (and brudders) and would never threaten to poke someone's eyes out with pointy sticks unless their stash was being threatened.  I had my eyes opened, and have been  throroughly transfixed by the war of words between zombies, pseudozombies, sock-puppets, and righteously angry knitters! (Extra credit if you guess which train-wreck of a thread I'm referring to!)  

May might have been a little better, but with many of my co-workers on vacation, work became almost the only thing I had time to do!  I did manage to meet with my peeps in Lancaster, TX, for the Second Saturday on the Square.  The "Over the Wheel Gang" meets in the town square (brick streets, live oaks, etc.) to spin, knit, whatever each 2nd Saturday, weather permitting, right outside the Sassy Spinster, which is a lovely new shop for knitting, spinning and weaving.  I had arrived with my trusty Victoria, and set up my chair next to a woman who was trying to put together a new wheel...the Louet Julia!  The owner of the store was showing her this wheel, and they were unsure of how to assemble the bobbin and flyer.  I was able to help them, as it is almost exactly like the Victoria...and I fell in love!  I've been looking at full sized wheels for about 3 months, as the Victoria is a little low for comfort when spinning at home, but is perfect for a mobile project.  I had looked at the Schacht Matchless, but it was a little pricey.  But this was absolutely perfect!  Tense negotiation began.  This woman didn't know if she wanted it, but wanted to try it out.  "I'll take it if she doesn't!" popped right out of my mouth!

The woman looked at me strangely.  Then I took a second look at her! OMG!  It was Sherry from Brooks Farm Yarn!  My hero!  I groveled obsequiously at her feet for awhile, trying to absorb her sense of color, while, at the same time, trying to nab the wheel!  No such luck, since Sherry knows her wheels!  However, thanks to the good owner of the shop and Louet, orders were placed and a new Julia is now residing in my spinning corner!  As are several skeins of Solo, which I scoredsince Sherry was there!  You'll see it in the Clapotis, if I can ever get the pictures loaded onto the computer!  

June has been devoted to work and to getting DD's ready for summer!  Big DD is off for 6 weeks in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Venia del Mar, Chile.  Little DD is doing her softball thing and whining about being bored.  DH keeps coming up with things that I need to do (because they are too, too difficult for his addled little brain), like charging the iPod he got for Father's Day!  I've had three complete days off in the month of June, so far (it's the 25th!)   I'm buried in laundry, the floors are unbelievable, my printer has died, and I can't find the cord to upload pictures!  My dogs don't recognize me anymore.  The cats have taken to swiping at me as I pass.  And every time I walk in the door, someone has lists of things for me to do! 

Maybe I'll really disappear this time....if I can pack all this yarn!

Mission Maybe 2008

My mission, should I choose to accept it, is to knit all of the things I have listed before December 31st, 2008. If I should fail in this mission, the government, and most of my knitting buddies, will disavow any knowledge of me or my whereabouts. To this end, this blog will self destruct at midnight on New Years Eve 2008. Good luck, Jo!

Another sock, another club!
Despite the Yarn Harlot's attempt to derail all sock clubs by knitting Vintage Socks, the mill finally came through! The yarn was dyed, skeined, packaged and.....SENT!

Say hello to Firebird! You've got to give our lovely Tsarina of Tsocks her props! This pattern is absolutely fabulous! I can't wait to start! Different textures, plus embroidery!?! WTF!?! I have a feeling that this one may take a while!

Whether it takes a month, or a year, the color is fabulous! And check out the lovely little helper book!

And, just to prove that it can be done, a picture!

They don't call her the Tsarina for nothin'!

One more FO!

Yes, the Leafling socks are done! They are indeed a marvel of crazy sock construction, which has been an absolute joy to knit! I'm convinced that Cat Bordhi is not from here. She may not be from anywhere near here, either! Possibly Pluto. But she can sure put sock knitting on its head! To avoid spoilage, pictures are posted after the break...

Cat Bordhi Rulz!

(Or..."How I overcame my fear of weird sock construction!")

My dear blog peeps!
Holy mother of all things fibrous! I'm in the throes of an obsession!

I have a lot of projects that I need to work on, already on my needles. I have several BIG projects that all are screaming at night for small bits of my time, in attempts to become FO's before next winter! There's the lovely Kauni sweater that everyone in Ravelry has commented on (well, not quite everyone!), the Dunadd wrap that I really, really want to wear, and the "I want to be buried in this" Malabrigo lace Feather and Fan shawl. I've got bunches of roving that I'm dying to spin! And Mission Possible 2008 is looming large. So, what do I do?

You guessed it! I cast on another sock!

Pattern: Bevo House Socks (my own)

Yarn: Queensland Collection Rustic Wool

Color: # 13 (for all you Longhorn fans!)

Needles: Size 5 DPN'sd

Maybe I just needed a quick FO. Maybe I felt that my eldest DD needed to wear something on her feet in her apartment (for safety!). Maybe when I was at The Knitting Nest in Austin, I reached out and touched this stuff, and it magically jumped onto the counter (most likely!) Whatever the reason (assuming reason had anything to do with it), I made these in about 3 days. Nothing like instant gratification! Simple construction. Almost no leg! Eye of the partridge heel (I think). Easy peasy!

Then the mail came. The next installment of "As the Socks Rock". Yes, the March edition of BMFA's Rockin' Sock Club. If you haven't gotten yours yet... go no farther! *****SPOILER ALERT***********
The colorway "Lucky" is greens with some gray and is lovely (Although the pattern shows the yarn as completely in shades of green). I started looking at the pattern "Leafling", which has some lovely little leafy looking stitches down the front of the sock. Dang. I've already done a pair of socks almost exactly like these, from the "Gathering of Lace" book by Meg Swanson! Then I saw the gusset! It went DOWN!!!! NOT ACROSS! AND THE HEEL WAS ALL THE WAY INTO THE FOOT!

JC Briar designed the pattern, taking a chapter from and giving credit to Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters. OMG! This was Knitting with a capital K! I had no idea what I was doing, about half of the time! I just followed the directions blindly, trusting the Blue Moon people to have tested this one thoroughly. And, as I knit, I suddenly GOT IT! One of those knitting epiphanies! I'm in serious lurve with the construction of this sock!

Pattern: Leafling by JC Briar

Yarn: Socks That Rock (Mediumweight)

Color: Lucky

Needles: Size 2 DPN's

And just check out this heel!

If you had to choose, which sock would you knit?

Me, too!

Serendipi-done

FO! FO!
Finally!
Serendipity socks are finished! (And before I received the next Rockin' Sock Club kit!) That means I get to check one off on my Mission Possible 2008 list!

Pattern: Serendipity (BMFA Rockin' Sock Club 2008)
Yarn: BMFA Socks that Rock
Colorway: Dragon Tail
Now gifted to my eldest DD for her birthday (next week)! She's turning *gasp* 21!

Much knitting is being done, but not much is being finished. The projects I have going are almost all long-term, which is incredibly frustrating. I'm trying to resist casting on anything little (like socks) until my March/April Sock Club kit gets here! I have a pair of socks on the needles, specifically for a sock class that I'm holding for our fiber group. But I can't finish them, or I won't have anything to teach the toe decreases and Kitchener stitch with!

Pattern: International Socks of Doom
Designer: Julie Gardener
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK

I knit these before, in Knit Picks "Elegance", for the first edition of "Sock Wars". They are a lovely, easy pattern. Perfect for newbie sock knitters, I think. Plus, my blue ones in Rowan "Wool-Cotton" are wearing rather thin! Time for a new pair!

Progress has been made on the Feather and Fan Shawl as well! I'm up to about 888 sts per round now, so each round takes a huge whack of time! If I get three rounds done, I've used up about all of my knitting time for one day! Needless to say, this one may take a while. I'm nothing if not an instant gratification junkie! Still, the Malabrigo laceweight is absolutely heavenly!

And finally, there is the Kauni Cardi! She's been resting for a month or two, since doing the collar/front band. So I picked her up and started the sleeves.

So, I've got all of these projects going. I'm knitting every day. Spinning when I can. And all I can think of is casting on some fabulous new project with this:

Do YOU see a problem here?

Serendipity is the Mother of Obsession!

Several months ago, my eldest DD bought me yarn and needles.
Yes.
She really did.
She bought it for my birthday.
She bought it because she loves me and, unlike others that live with me (who think I have all the yarn and needles in the universe), believes me when I say that what would please me most would be a gift of yarn.
She shuffled off to several LYS's in Austin.
She asked alot of questions.
She talked to my friends to find out what I might like.
And she did a VERY good job!
She bought Addi Turbo Lace needles (which I did not have).
She bought me several skeins of beautiful sock yarns (which I love)
And she bought me....MALABRIGO LACE!

Christmas came.
I asked for more of this yarn, so I could make an actual project!
She managed to find two more skeins, in the same colorway!
The result is my new obsession!

This has to be the most addicting yarn on the planet! The Feather and Fan pattern is fabulously easy, and, even with the tendency of lace to look like the dog's dinner until blocked, when it is spread just a little bit, you can see the loveliness that is Malabrigo!

I owe apologies to Ms. Violet! I thought she was simply being dramatic when she said it cured eczema! Hell, this stuff could cure anything! I'm on row 104 and have just about used up one skein...but it is growing by the row. 600 stitches. I think it grows to about 1400 stitches in the end. But I still great big huggy lurves it!

MISSION POSSIBLE 2008

For those of you that are on Ravelry, get thyself over to the Mission Possible message boards. The idea (and it is a great one) is to commit to finishing 12 things before December 31st, 2008. I announced my list there, and will repeat it here (where it can haunt me I can see it.

1-6. I will finish each Rockin' Sock Club Sock before the next one arrives! (This counts as 6!)

7. I will finish Dunadd! This year! I really love the pattern, and the yarn, but the darned thing is getting too big to haul around with me! I don't get great big whacks of knitting time at home, so I work on things that are less complex, like socks. And the insanity that is Malabrigo has taken up a lot of knitty concentration!

8. Wash, card and spin my alpaca fleeces!

9. Finish the Kauni sweater! (I only have the sleeves left!)

10. Spin one "Sheep to Shoe" kit and knit the sock!

11. Knit the Central Park Hoodie (since I fell down Boom! at the Woolie Ewe's end of the year clearance and bought all the yarn for it!)

12. And of course, finish Feather and Fan (I don't think that will be a problem)

I don't think that this will be a problem, unless the serendipitous DD goes back to the Knitting Nest for my Mother's day present.

Happy New....Uh, What Year is this, Anyway?

It seems that I had a bit of a lie down, then a bit of a knit up, a couple of shopping days and whoops....its a whole new year! For those of you who aren't struck by awful karmic disease that my dear friend Jana has (go read her blog!) "Happy New Year"! I know that it's a new year, because the idiots where I live like to shoot fireworks and guns at midnight to celebrate! They did that last Monday night. (Just so you know, honey, I do pay attention to some of the things going on around me, even if I am knitting!)

Every year, around the holidays, I tend to go into a frenzy. Between Thanksgiving and New Years Day, I have managed to cram in a Birthday (mine), 3 major Holidays, shopping for everyone in the Western Hemisphere (well, maybe not everyone, but I have the far ends of 2 continents covered!), the Major Work Holiday Eat, Drink and get Drunk Fest (usually on the 1st Saturday of December, so as to drastically reduce shopping time), baking (for the aforementioned holidays), decorating of the home/tree, along with cleaning, cooking, washing, etc. that goes along with husband and kids. By January 1, I'm usually sick, exhausted, broke, and very, very crabby. Just in time for Tax Season! Whee!

This year, however, I decided to do it a little differently. First, I signed up to work on Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve. Lest you think I did the former to get out of cooking, let me tell you that the girls insisted on their turkey and green bean casserole on the day after Thanksgiving anyway. So, on my Birthday, I cooked an entire Thanksgiving dinner. Happy Birthday to me. Pumpkin pie AND birthday cake!

Now, I've been through a half-century's worth of Chrismakwanzakah hysteria, and decided to "go semi-green" this year. Not in the environmental sense, necessarily, but in the "I'm-tired-of-buying-you-bunches-of-junk-that-you-don't-appreciate-and-will-break-by-next-week" sense. Hence, I knit hats.

Lots and lots of hats.

I had knit this pattern for my husband, once before, with modifications for knitting it in the round (which I didn't write down and couldn't remember and had to work out all over again). He loves it! He wears it all the time. He actually needs a new one. So, I figured I would do that. Knit. Hat. Oh, smallest DD is always nabbing Daddy's hat. Knit. Hat. *Sparkles*. Eldest DD will want one, since smaller sib and stepfather have one. Knit. Hat. What shall I get for my brother? Knit. Hat. (He lives much further north and will need it). Of course, one cannot leave out SIL, who's tastes run about like littlest DD. Knit. *Sparkles*. Hat. For the boss who has everything (literally). Knit. Manly. Hat. For the DD's boyfriend (who, it turns out, looks alot like Charlie Brown in his). Knit. Hat. Different from DD's. I churned out hats like there was no tomorrow! Yes, there were other gifts (especially since eldest DD sent me a list via e-mail with links provided! I finished it in 30 minutes online!) But, mostly there were HATS!

I didn't bake. I didn't really cook (thank you, Honey Baked!). I Knit. Hats.

Everyone loves them.

I love them, too.

Maybe next year (if I start next month) I could do socks!

You cut your WHAT?!?

Anything worth doing is worth doing in a cold sweat!
-halfasheep

Much work has been accomplished Chez Sheep, as one might surmise by my conspicuous absence from the blogosphere, despite NaBloPoMo. Yes, I faithfully promised. Yes, I utterly failed. That being said, I actually have done some knitterly things!

Work has been, well, WORK! But, again, the benefits of being on call is at least some knitting time. And what does knitting time mean? It means progress!!! Specifically, progress on the Kauni Cardi!

Yes, the body is finished! Yes, you do see small little stitches in pretty golden thread! (I felt that my very first steek deserved some special touches!)
Off we (my Cardi and me) went to my new knitting group.... They had promised to provide me with photo help and moral support for the cutting of my knitting....

They said that I turned really pale. I thought they were kidding, until I saw this picture.

Rather "flu"ish, I'd say. I don't think I took a breath the entire time I was cutting!
But the end result was positively majik!
I couldn't believe it!
(By the way, you will note that I am wearing my "I Swatched Ravelry" shirt! I heart it! Thanks Jess!)

Now that I can breathe again, I'll give you the short version of life here.

Our fiber group (the one we spun with at the Archaeological Fair) has solidified, and we are officially named "Interwoven". (I wasn't really pleased with this, as it is too much like "Interweave", but I was outvoted.) I particularly wanted S.W.A.T (Spun, Warped and Twisted)! We may be somewhat unique, as we are officially under the auspices of the County extension office (yes, the people who deal with Ag Ed!) And because we are associated with the County Extension office, we are also associated with Texas A&M. (My little Longhorn is groaning! Rest assured that I will have no qualms about rooting for Texas in the game on Friday, however!) The plan is to study and provide community education about the fiber arts. Now THAT is very cool! And the diverse areas of expertise represented by these women and man (yep, the husband of one of us!) is AWESOME! Some of these women have llama, alpaca and CASHMERE GOATS!!!!! Now, if you can imagine anyone confessing to a room full of fiber addicts that she has about a hundred POUNDS of cashmere fiber to be processed, and NO ONE HYPERVENTILATED (except me!)!!!! And, if we play our cards right, we will have access to some fiber from prize winning sheep, goats, llama, alpaca (and maybe somewhere, a vicuna???) from the Ag Ed departments of our and neighboring counties! WHEEEE! I'll teach anyone anything that I know for a crack at some fiber! I've already learned so much from our spinners! I'm actually making something from my first handspun, which I will post later so prying little eyes can't peek at it! (Can you spell "Christmas knitting?") And our "guy" member is incredible. He picked up drop spindling in about 10 minutes. When he started having trouble with the bottom whorl spindle, I brought him a top whorl to try. The next Tuesday, he shows up with his own top whorl spindle, made from 2 CD's, a dowel, hook, grommet and washer! Grommet and washer, you say? Yep...that makes it a convertible spindle....top or bottom whorl! He was discussing dissecting a bicycle to make his wife a ten-speed spinning wheel! We heart him lots, too! All in all, a very interesting group!

More posting this weekend, I think! I'm on call for most of the weekend, but...

Vroom.....vroom!

Yes, I said I was going to post daily...but then I was unable to use to computer at work! AARGH! Stupid security settings wouldn't let me upload! However, I will be posting on the days that I am not there for 24 hours at a time!

I did cheat a little, as we went to the Nascar races yesterday at Texas Motor Speedway! Exciting race, if you didn't see it! If you did, I'm sure your heartrate has returned to normal by now!

Knitting on Kauni continued over the weekend. The body should be done before the end of the week...then on to sleeve island and my first steek! I PROMISE pictures!!!!

Have to go work now, the sooner to get home!

NaBloPoMo???

Yes, it is National Blog Posting Month, here chez Sheep! I will make a grand attempt to type something each and every day, during the month of November! Egads! I'm usually lucky to post once a month!

I know I've been fairly absent on the blog, but much has occurred here! First, my trusty PC turned into POO! The latest Windows update managed to delete the driver for my monitor....so when I turned on the computer, I got my normal screen, with a lot of weird snowy bars running up and down, or a bunch of pixellated squares, or funny little garter stitch ribs on the screen! So, in a fit of pique (MS did this to me once before, with Windows update, but it only got the sound card), I went out and ordered a new computer....FROM APPLE! Take that, Bill Gates!!!

This particular strategy does have it's downside. I love the new computer (iMac, 1TB harddrive, 4GB RAM...zoom, zoom!) but I've never worked on a MAC before! Also, I have to figure out how to get all my stuff (especially music) from one computer to the other without having to burn them all to discs! I've managed most of the important things (like where is the on/off switch) and a few of the fun things (making the dashboard widgets dance), but there are many secrets to discover here!

Work on the Kauni continues, above the armholes!!! Hopefully, I will figure out how to attach the camera and download within a week, so you can see pictures! It is truly awesome! And I will try to post video of the steeking! Just for the thrill of it!

I have an actual plied skein of my own yarn from Lorna's Laces roving, that I want to knit into a hat...pictures of that, too, will follow!

For those of you in Central Texas... get yourselves to Austin! Staci has opened an LYS! The Knitting Nest is a lovely little store, with sofas, chairs and tables for knitters, good, reasonably priced yarns, and the most amazing collection of Cascade in the Southwest! Hie thee quickly to Slaughter and I-35, go west till you see the Super Target. The Knitting Nest is across the street from this! Staci has been a blogger for a long while, and it's nice to see one of us coming into her own! Yea, Staci!

I'll see you tomorrow....must download things!