Midnight Fiber and Fabric Podcast Episode 26: A Delicate Ballet

I finished the Lookin’ Jadey socks, Hermione’s Everyday Socks and the Long Mitt Envy fingerless gloves. I also cast on NEON vanilla socks 

Cable love: Rocky Coast Cardigan by Hannah Fettig, Baroque by Janice Kang, and Zombie ViXen by Susan Claudino.

I set some fiber-y goals for the new year and tried out some new needles over the past several weeks, including HiyaHiya Sharps, Knitter's Pride Nova Platina and Chiaogoo RED.

We've been reading: 

Ellie's Favorites: (age 2) Moo Baa La La La by Sandra Boynton and Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney 

The boys: (ages 7 and 9)  

My Side of theMountain by Jean Craighead George

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl 

SarahPlain and Tall by Patricia McLachlan 

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes

My reading: 

Drums ofAutumn by Diana Gabaldon

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell 

The Pale Horseman by Bernard Cornwell

The History of the Ancient World by Susan Wise Bauer 

I will be heading to Stitches West February 19-22 and would love to meet up with you! 

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Nervous Knitting

Evenings are my knitting time, and lately evenings have been all about baseball.

Kansas City baseball.

In October.

October!!!

And last night found me at the ballpark with my husband, standing most of the night nervously knitting along and hoping to see something amazing from our boys in blue.

Meet the sock of the night- the sock I formerly titled as the "Spare Sock" on Ravelry, but now know it as my World Series Socks. The Blue, the orange... so fitting. I thought before we went that the knitting would sit uselessly in my hands as I watched, but I needed the knitting to alleviate the stress, and by the middle of the 6th inning I was through with this sock and cast on the second.


Now we wait for tonight's game to redeem yesterday's.


Reading this week: Voyager by Diana Gabaldon and Anything by Jennie Allen.

Like a Real Sweater

It's always a wonderful feeling when the item you're knitting starts to actually look like the item you're knitting. I'm almost done working the first sleeve of Braid Hills and it feels real- it's NOT just a blob of knitting in my lap with all these weird bits tied off on spare yarn to hold for later. It feels like a sweater and it's coming to look like one too. I was able to try it on last night to check sleeve length, and I'm so very happy with it at this moment. We'll see how it feels once I get to work on the second sleeve in the next day or two.

At the moment I'm working the cable chart on the sleeves and finding the cables much easier now that I'm working in the round and always on the right side as I knit. Far better than working the chart back and forth! A few more rows on the chart then off to the cuff and second sleeve.


I've been reading a lot of bits of things this week. I'm taking another read through Dragonfly in Amber and listening to Life of Pi on audiobook. I'm trying to keep moving through The Time in Between by Maria Duenas, but it still has not really grabbed me 38 pages in. I'll give it until 50 pages I think, but we'll see how it goes.

Pair #8

We took a little road trip last weekend and I decided to take 2 projects: The Braid Hills Cardigan I cast on about two week ago, and the House Targaryen Socks I've been working on since Stitches Midwest. My guideline for the knitting was to work on the sock whenever I might need to start and stop frequently and to work on the cardigan in blocks of time, probably evenings. The great thing about traveling with a toddler is the fact that we will be done for the day and back in the hotel ready to head to bed no later than 7:30 p.m., guaranteeing me evenings to rest and knit.

The cardigan is my #kiltmenowkal/#countdowntooutlander project and it's going well so far- I put about 3 inches on it over the weekend, and learned a new-to-me buttonhole. I'm at a point where I can knit, knit, knit through the body aside from the little cables and buttonholes, so I'm happily clicking away on it and can now knit on it without bigger blocks of time.


The House Targaryen socks are officially done- well, they're still drying after a wash and block, but counted as complete! I turned the heel of the second sock on the drive down, and worked on it in bits and pieces through the weekend, grafting the toe as we pulled into our neighborhood. LOVE the perfect timing. These are the 8th pair I've completed for myself in 2014, 9th overall. And with that I'm on a sock knitting hiatus until I finish a few other things on my knit list.

I've been reading Outlander on the kindle again to refresh it in my mind before watching the t.v. show. I finished it and moved on to The Best Yes by Lysa Terkeurst. I have so many books just waiting to be read and not enough time to read them!

Regenerate

{Yarning along with Ginny this week. Won't you join us?}

This is the sock I brought with me to Stitches Midwest last weekend. When I left on Thursday it had about 8 rows of cuff on it, and when I pulled into the driveway Sunday night it was about half way down the foot. Not bad for the knitting conference where I didn't really spend my time knitting!


The pattern is House Targaryen Socks by Avalanche Designs and the yarn is Nerd Girl Yarns base Astral on the colorway Regenerate. I love the little bit of sparkle in the yarn.

I finished Written in My Own Heart's Blood by Diana Gabaldon and started immediately back at the beginning of the series on Outlander. I have a few other books going too. I need to dedicate some time to finishing up the stack of half finished books.

What are you knitting and reading this week?

Again with the Socks

More socks.

I know.

This is really strange to me, because until 2014 I *wanted* to knit more socks but didn't. And this is the first year I didn't set a focused on goal on socks, and yet.... socks. Eight pair, so far, seven for in my own drawers, and another two pair on the needles. I don't dare set a goal for the rest of the year, because I've already blown out my previous yearly sock knitting totals by quite a ways.


I finished these vanilla socks Sunday night while watching the first episode of Outlander, and had to cast on for the House Targaryen Socks as soon as I freed up the needles. I'm trying to move away from vanilla socks for a bit and into some patterned things, but nothing too scary yet. I love pattern suggestions!


I'm about 25% from the end of Written in My Own Heart's Blood by Diana Gabaldon on the kindle, and not really sure what I will move on to read once I'm finished with it- I've been reading the series since around the first of the year (with some other books in between), but once I finish this current one (which came out last month) it will likely be 4-5 years before the next one comes out. It's been nice to be invested in a significant series like this, but it always leaves me longing for another series to read.

Yarn Along

{Yarning Along with Ginny this week. Won't you join us?}

I've been spinning like crazy for Tour de Fleece, but I've worked in a little knitting too. The first of my "Bright Lights" socks are almost complete. Just a little more until I'm ready for toe decreases.


I'm reading a few different things at the moment (and have a crazy big stack waiting to be read!) but for the last few days I've been pouring all my attention into An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon since I'm very close to the end.


If you're spinning lately, won't you join us in this space on Fridays for Spin Share? Just post a link to your latest spinning in the comments on Friday's post so we can all come see your spinning progress!

Another Pair

I'm mostly spinning right now because of tour de fleece, but I just can't take my wheel with me most places, so there is still knitting to be done. I finished the Fluormania Socks over the past weekend, and immediately cast on another pair of socks, a dark pair, to contrast the neon I've been staring at for the last two weeks.

I have several books going right now- in fact, I had to make a list the other day and purpose to finish the ones that are closest to their ends so that my brain won't feel so stretched. I don't typically read so many different things at once. So the ones I'm reading most frequently right now are An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon and Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne. The second book is for a book discussion where we are reading and discussing a chapter per week.

What are you knitting and reading this week?

Itchy

These socks would have been done ages ago if I wouldn't have been such a chicken about the toe-up construction. Now that I've gone through it it really wasn't difficult at all- it really is just thinking through the heel shaping in reverse.


I also really got moving on these socks once I started working on them while I walk on the treadmill. My left foot is still dropping part of the time so I'm taking it slow on the treadmill- slow enough that I can knit and walk at the same time. Talk about motivation to walk- now that knitting is involved I'm a little more excited to get on the machine. It's a guaranteed 30-40 minutes of knitting time depending on how my leg is doing! I'm making 2 miles in about 40 minutes right now, but I'm hoping to work down to 30 minutes over the next few weeks.


Just the sewn bind offs left for each sock... and another pair done.

Amazing.

I'm currently reading a strange assortment of books, because of the season. I've tried and tried to think of a classier way to put it, but truthfully, this is "itchy" season. Basically we all want everything to be different than it is right now. We want it to be warmer and cleaner and more organized and more fun... and this season is none of those things. It's cold this last week of March, the house is in need of spring cleaning, but it isn't warm enough to throw wide the windows and make hard work of each room. Everything seems to scream to be re-organized in March and the boys want to spend the day outside when we really need to march forward with school so that we can actually have a break at some point.

We are itchy.

And my current reading list reflects it:

Tales from Shakespeare by Charles Lamb

How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman

The Core by Leigh Bortins

D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths

Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon

The Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler

What Happens When Women Say Yes to God by Lysa TerKeurst

Socks, Toe Up

How are you this fine morning? My crazy socks are  almost complete. I think if I can get another 2-3 hours on them I'll be done, but time is crunched this week, so it may be the weekend before I can finish these off. I'm hoping to sneak a few stitches in today and tomorrow, and if I can make it to knitting group tomorrow night I may get them finished on Friday.

One great thing about working these socks toe up is being able to use every last bit of this yarn. I went a fair distance on the leg of the first sock, and now I need to catch up on sock #2 so that I can evaluate the situation- how much yarn I have left, how high I'd like the socks to go, how much ribbing I'll need at the top... I think that's part of why I'm so enjoying sock knitting right now- the opportunity to make them just what I want them to be is just what I need right now. Once I actually did the heel turn for toe-up it wasn't actually very hard- I think I'll need to do another two or three pairs of toe up socks before the process soaks into my brain, but that's okay. I have sock yarn waiting in stash, and I can always order more!


I'm reading mostly on the kindle these days and I have a few books going at the moment. I'm close to finishing Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's The Amazing Thing About the Way it Goes, Diana Gabaldon's Drums of Autumn, and What Happens When Women Say Yes to God by Lysa Terkeurst. I've been half way through all three of them for over a week now, so I'm making a point to finish up within the next week or so. I have a bunch of reading to do to get ready for next school year as well, so I really need to focus on finishing up my "for fun" reading so I can get to the academic reads soon.

Just Keep Knitting...

{Yarning Along with Ginny. Will you join us?}

This has been a BUSY knitting week!

- On Friday I cast on for the Ravellenic Games. My primary goal is to knit the Wildflower Cardigan by Alana Dakos and my secondary goal is to knit the Wee Wildflower for my daughter, Ellie.

- Over the weekend I knit up 1 adult cardigan sleeve and 1 baby cardigan sleeve for my Ravellenic Goal. I started on the back of the adult cardigan as well.

- On Monday I worked on the back of the adult cardigan and added several inches. I also put up the first Midnight Fiber and Fabric Podcast on Monday. I'd love if you'd give it a listen and let me know what you think. I'm still figuring it out a little bit, and I appreciate helpful suggestions.

- On Monday night I noticed something was wrong and ripped out the back. I still have to undo the sleeves...

- But yesterday I picked myself up, ripped out the two sleeves and got back to knitting on the back piece of the adult cardigan., and now I have:

Not very impressive, but hard-won.


Only 40 gazillion stitches left to go between this cardigan and the baby one until I'm finished.


This week I started reading Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon. I'm about 20% in. This has a very different feel than the previous books in the series, so I'm still trying to get into the rhythm of the book. I'm really invested in the story so I hope I can get better into it quickly- I do want to be able to read through the entire series.

Good Swatchy, Doctor Swatchy*

{Yarning Along with Ginny today. Won't you join us?}

The Ravellenics are coming... and I'm just now swatching.

BUT!

I'm ready to go now. I know what sizes I'm making, I've marked my patterns appropriately, made the project pages on Ravelry, and now I only have to wait for Friday to jump in and get knitting.


I'm still considering how to work this particular challenge. There are 17 days, I work on 8 of those days, but can still put in a little time each day. I have 2 sweaters, one for my almost-2-year-old daughter and one for me- Wee Wildflower cardigan and the Wildflower Cardigan, both by Alana Dakos.


Do I cast on both at the same time? Do I do the little one first to get that "I finished the first one!" rush to lead me into the bigger sweater? Do I work hard at the big sweater hoping to finish with enough time to squeeze out a toddler sweater?


But it all might be crazy and I know I'll be fortunate to finish even one. I *am* able to knit a little faster now even with the change in knitting style, and with frequent breaks I think I can still get more than decent totals on the days I do not work.


I'm finishing Voyager by Diana Gabaldon right now (hopefully tonight) and I have the next book in the series already waiting on the kindle. I am so loving how easy it is to borrow books from my library on the kindle, and I'm definitely reading more because of it.

What are you knitting and reading this week?

*Scrubs reference

Yarn Along

{Yarning Along with Ginny this week and crafting with Frontier Dreams. Will you join us?}

I've been working on several things this week, but in small passes as my hands are able. I really wish I had big progress to show you today, but my left arm just isn't allowing it lately. I have 3 socks in the heel turn region of the knitting process, and I'm working hard this week on hats for Halos of Hope.

The Halos of Hope project I'm working on is part of the Podcaster Throwdown- a challenge issued to several podcasters to encourage them and their listeners to make hats to donate to Halos of Hope with the goal of collecting over 2,000 hats at the Stitches convention being held in California in February. I am knitting on behalf of Team Knitmore. While I listen to several podcasts, the Knitmores were the very first knitting podcast I came across. I still look forward to each episode and listen on Thursday evening while I drive to and from knitting group.


I am about half way through Voyager by Diana Gabaldon (on the kindle) as part of the Knitmore Girls Read Along, but coming up soon on the next book. As much as I love having a physical book in my hands, right now that can be a challenge for me since one of my arms isn't working well and I tend to choose books with well over 400 pages. I love that I don't have to hold the kindle while I read or can do it one handed. I can even knit while reading on the kindle. I love it.

What are you making this week?

Yarn Along: Sweater Edition

{Yarn Along with Ginny today, sharing current knits and reads. Will you join us?}

I finished the Shapely Boyfriend Cardigan! I could practically shout it from the rooftops. I started that Cardigan back in January (!!!) and it is finally complete after a few time-outs and slogging through those sleeves. The button band was done in no time and I ran out and bought buttons for it last week. Now- to put the buttons on, weave in ends and get it blocked so that I can actually wear it... The pattern itself is wonderful and fine- it was my own short-comings (mostly impatience with sleeves) that made this project take 10 months for no good reason.

I also cast on for Ender's Soledad Sweater this week. He is very excited and keeps checking to be sure I am primarily working on his sweater. It starts with the sleeves (getting the hard-for-me part out of the way) so I am carrying sleeve #1 with me everywhere to get the inches on there quickly. 'm knitting the sleeves with magic loop instead of DPNs for the first time, and while I'm still getting used to it, I'm thinking magic loop may be the way to go on sleeves for me for now on. I love my DPNs, but for sleeves it just... well, I need something magical to help me through them.

I have a super crazy goal to get his sweater as far as possible by November 30 (the crazy part is hoping that it is mostly done by then) so that I can cast on for Ezra's Soledad December 1 and have them both completely finished by Christmas. I haven't promised them as Christmas sweaters, but I'm secretly hoping for that.


In reading, the boys and I just finished listening to The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. They really enjoyed it, so much that we are listening to it again. I'm still working slowly through Emma by Jane Austen on the kindle, but mostly because my reading time has all but disappeared lately due to extra stuff in our schedule. It will all clear up by the end of the month and then I'll be able to catch up on things again.


I'm also working through Maggie Casey's Start Spinning again, this time as a new wheel spinner. Did you hear the news? Lola joined our family over the weekend, so creative time is being poured into her as I learn how to use her.

Blocked

{Knitting Along with Ginny, unless she has her sweet baby today- 
and then I'm just sharing my latest knitting and reading. Will you join?}

I knit all of these pieces last year, but they were tucked away waiting for these days when I need a little something around my neck to keep the chill away. I pulled everything out over the weekend to re-block.


Ignore the scattered debris in the background, would ya? I let the toddler run free during this particular blocking session- as long as she wasn't eating crayons or destroying property I was okay with whatever she wanted to do for the 20 minutes I spent blocking. Sometimes a mama *really* needs to block a shawl so that a sort of sour weekend doesn't devolve into despair. Yes. I said it. Blocking a shawl totally restores your perspective on life.

I sort of forget the magic that blocking works on lace until I block (or re-block) a finished piece. One minute it's a blob of yarn that looks fine if you sort of stretch it out with your hands and look at it with your head tilted, and the next minute it's wet and growing and you can really see the pattern that you put all your time and energy and muttered curses into. And love too, of course. It's really just like raising children.

This red was really hard to capture. The background fabric is jet black so you have an idea of how difficult it was to be accurate. It's actually a very rich variegated red sock weight that I really really love.

Blocking with an 18-month-old around is an adventure. She finds t-pins to be a delight. And shockingly, she doesn't poke herself. I never would have let the boys hold a pin at this age, but she's the third child and I might have finally relaxed a bit. What a blessing- to me and to my kids.



I'm reading Emma (Jane Austen!) and the boys and I finished up Farmer Boy yesterday. We have had so many great discussions over this book- I'm a little sad to see it go, though tomorrow we will start Jungle Book. I listened to a wonderful audio recording called Nurturing Competent Communicators from Andrew Pudewa (recommended by the wonderful Sarah at Amongst Lovely Things) and goodness- it certainly put my brain back on track about reading out loud to our boys! It's so easy to think that they don't need us to read to them anymore because they can read to themselves now, and that is simply not the case. We need to keep reading aloud, listening to books on CD, discussing and writing. I especially appreciated the connection he made to the method behind Suzuki violin study, as I am a Suzuki violin teacher myself (and a student since the age of 4). I'm looking forward to listening to more of his recordings.


For those of you waiting for my KCW results, I will get them posted tomorrow. My husband hurt his back over the weekend (he will be fine, but back to physical therapy) and working through that and the accompanying appointments changed everything around. Back to regular posts today, and KCW post tomorrow.

Yarn Along

{Yarn Along with Ginny. Will You join us?}

After an overflowing week, it's been hard to remember when exactly I knit. But I know I did- I have the inches on my Exploding Socks to prove it. I'm done with the foot of #1 and a few rows into the patterning on sock #2. And I know for sure that I did the toe of sock #2 incorrectly and had to rip it back and do it again so those hours have to be somewhere...

Most of my creative time has been going into sewing this week for KCW. I've finished 2 little dresses and started the sleeves on another, but now I need to get pictures of Ellie in them, which is proving quite tricky these days as she is faster and knows what the camera is for. 

In my reading, I finished Wuthering Heights and moved on to Emma by Jane Austen, reading on the kindle. I'm not reading a ton these days unfortunately- by the time I get to bed these days I'm going right to sleep. Allergies have been doing such a number on me this season. Much of my reading lately is with the boys- we picked up a recording of The Jungle Book at the library (read by Jim Weiss!) and as soon as we finish the last CD of Farmer Boy we'll be moving on to Jungle Book.

Little Beginnings

{Won't you join in the Yarn Along with Ginny this week?}

It's been a casting on sort of week since we got home on Sunday. It was warm enough here when we left on our vacation, but now that we're home again it is definitely on its way to truly being autumn. I haven't had to turn on the heat just yet, but the cooler evenings and mornings definitely inspired the casting on of a few fall/winter knits.


The rainbow-y colored ribbing is going to become thumbless mittens for Ellie and also a pair of mittens for Ezra. He picked out this yarn when we visited the Nerd Girl Yarns booth at Maker's Faire back in June and specifically asked them to be made into mittens. The colorway is Fantastical Fastener on a fingering weight- which means I'm knitting mittens on US 2 DPNs.


The white is the beginnings of my first hat for Halos of Hope. The Knitmore Girls are taking part in a friendly competition between podcasters to bring as many hats as possible to Stitches West to benefit Halos of Hope. And as if the contest itself weren't enough, they are offering prizes to people who participate, including some of Jasmin's own handspun. I'm starting now, and aiming to knit as many hats as I can between now and the middle of February.



I'm still reading Wuthering Heights, but failing to see the attraction. I think I would have loved it if I had read it at 16, but now as a married mother of three who rather enjoys a drama-less existence, I'm not such a fan of the drama for silly reasons. The language does make me want to read Austen next though- maybe Emma or Mansfield Park? I have a few things waiting at the library too when I get a chance to pick them up.

sock + coffee

{Yarning Along with Ginny}

I started a new sock for in the mornings. This new routine of sock + coffee before everyone is up is really working out for me. I sometimes even get to catch up on podcasts if I'm up early enough and the whole day just seems to move a bit smoother somehow.

That colorway is called Blue Box Exploding from Nerd Girl Yarns. I couldn't pass up this particular Doctor Who reference to one of my very favorite episodes. Admittedly, her whole nerdy shop is a dangerous one for my budget.

The pattern is for Leyburn Socks and I'm knitting two at a time on DPNs again, one section at a time. I learned a toe-up cast on for this pattern, and feel pretty pleased with myself for that small success. I've attempted the toe-up thing before (bleh) but this time used a figure 8 cast on with very clear directions from a past Knitty.com article with great success. I'm still not sure I like to work toe-up, but that's a decision to make after I've knit a few socks with this method.

Reading just a little the past few days: listening to Trumpet of the Swan on CD with the boys, tripped through another chapter of Gone Girl before putting it aside for good, and picked up Ender's Game again.

Yarn Along: Sneak Sock Attack

{Yarning Along with Ginny}

You might remember that last week I was having a difficult time focusing on one project. I'm happy to say that I spent a little time finishing the hat for my niece, then the rest of my week on just ONE project. I know, you probably fainted just now, but I really did it.


This past weekend we had a 4 day family reunion and I knew some of that time would be a great opportunity for knitting progress. I went back and forth about what to take and ultimately settled on the grey and coral socks I started back in May on our trip. I got through a portion of the leg of sock #1 on that trip and then set the socks aside in favor of a few other projects, but thought it would be a good "brainless" knit while chatting.

I'm knitting these socks two at a time on 2 sets of DPNs, working one section at a time, so I knit the leg on sock #1 then the leg of sock #2, the heel flap of sock #1 then the heel flap of sock #2, etc. During the reunion I finished the leg of sock #1 then made it through the leg of sock #2 and I worked on the heel flaps and turns yesterday. Once I get them each decreased back to 64 stitches I'll probably let these socks rest for a bit as I finish other projects. I'll come back to these as I need more "brainless" knitting.

I'm very close to the end of Chosen by Ted Dekker on the Kindle. I'm not sure that I'll continue the series though. It's focused to a younger reading level than I had originally thought. I'm going to re-read Ender's Game next in preparation for the movie coming out in November. It is probably obvious to you if you're a regular reader that Ender's Game is a favorite book of both mine and my husband's as our oldest son is named after the title character. The movie has been the topic of many conversations at our house lately, as we both are hopeful that they will take good care of the story and not ruin it adding to it or changing the sequence of events.

What are you reading and knitting lately?

Yarn Along: A Little Hat

{Knit Along with Ginny}

Knitting has been slow this week. There's a long story I'd rather not tell, but the short version is that I bruised my left hand in stellar fashion and while I can use it when I need to, it's still really sore. It's a good thing I'm out of the music studio for this month for a scheduled break.


I knit a little purple February Baby Sweater for my newest niece not long ago and it's been sitting finished for a bit, just waiting for a little hat to join it. I finally cast the hat on in the last day or two using the lace pattern from the February Baby Sweater. It doesn't look like much yet, but I'll be able to finish it in the next chunk of time I get and hopefully have a finished set to show next week.

{This has proven to be a difficult color for me to photograph. Any tricks for purples?}

I'm also still working on the Doctor Who Kernel and Ellie's Cardigan, but just not making much progress because of this pesky hand.


I finished the last bit of Ready Player One by Ernest Cline and now I'm hunting for a quick read or two since I've read some bigger things in the last few months. My brain needs something a little lighter. I looked around on my library's website for a long time last night trying to hunt down a new book, but nothing sounded great. Perhaps I'll find something while looking around during the yarn along.