Day 365 - 11 for 11

Well we made our year of 11 for 11.  I spent this last day trying to finish both the NZ sweater and the kimono.  Right now the kimono needs the completed pieces assembled and possibly tried on before I decide how to complete the neckband.  I'm putting it together on the machine and didn't remember that it would be easier to do if I centered the sleeve on the bed first and then the body.  Working on that again.

The NZ sweater is through the shaping on the back yoke.  About another twelve rows and it will be ready for assembly.  I'm concerned that there is enough yarn to knit the edging, but again once it is tried on some decisions can be made.

Looking back at the year what do I have for my 11 minutes a day.  Two Dale of Norway ski sweaters, Nagano and Whistler.  Whistler still needs assembled and some hand work.  Three scarves, five hats, one cowl, two pairs of mittens and two pairs of fingerless mitts, two shawls, a Lopi cardigan, Shaun the Sheep and a ring bearer pillow.  Two NZ sweaters were started but are unfinished, as are a beret, the kimono and a pair of mittens.  Several UFO's were completed, a coat, at least one pair of socks and my oldest UFO, a silk sweater.  So I have a lot to show for the time.

How did you do?

Day 364 - How I Spent My Day Off

Started off the day replacing six damaged needles.  Yes I got the kimono back finished last night.  Tonight I steam blocked it and rehung it on the needles and joined the shoulders and bound off the neck.  I have everything blocked and the sleeves are ready to be joined to the body.  So yes I made my 11.

However the best part of the day has to be the almost four hour lunch that Marjory and I spent at the Olive Garden.  Barb begged off pleading sick and not wanting to share, and she did sound awful.  So we decided that soup and salad were the way to go.  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and spent the time catching up on life in general, family and old acquaintances. 

We both decided that we really hadn't been in the mood to deal with Christmas this year, if not for her husband there would have been no decorations or a tree at her house.  I countered with a Norfolk Island pine with a handful of German paper stars as my tree, the presents that didn't get wrapped and that there were no cookies despite having laid in a large supply of butter, eggs, sugar and flour.  She was in the same boat with the cookies.  Our best guess is that it's simply been too dark and gloomy, hello solstice and the wettest year on record, for either one of us to get in the holiday spirit. 

We agreed that we both needed to exercise more and I suggested that we look into finding an after work program that we could both tolerate and try doing it together.  I know from experience that I'm much more likely to stick with it, if I have someone else to feed off of.  Hopefully we can find something reasonable somewhere between Grandview and Grove City.

I spent what remained of the day paying bills and running errands, still no movement on the part of the insurance company.  I did talk to the doctors office and passed on the information I received last night.  I think my next stop is HR. 

All in all not a bad day off.

Day 363

It dawns on me that in a couple of days the 11 for 11 challenge will be over, and I'm going to have to be more clever with titles.   Oh well.

I was amused earlier this evening realize that I was running around the house with a hank of yarn draped around my body like a bandolier.  Purple alpaca as ammo belt.  hahaha

Successfully cast on the back of the kimono.  DAK will be doing it's thing to control the patterning this evening.  I was surprised to see that I had trashed a needle on the ribber bed while knitting the hem.  Since I don't have to get up for work in the morning, I'm planning on staying with it until it's complete.  Yeah, three day weekend. 

Lunch with Marjory and Barb tomorrow.  It'll be like old times.  It's been about ten years since we all worked together.  And months since we've all been in the same place at the same time.  There will be much laughter to share.

My good news for the day is that I don't have any broken bones in my wrist.  It only took them a week to let me know.  The bad news is that the insurance company is still refusing to authorize the nsaid that was prescribed on the 21st.  This wrist is never going to heal if we can't get the inflammation under control without making me nauseous or trashing my kidneys.  I've expressed my frustration to the insurance company today.  I am severely right handed.  I want this blasted brace off my hand soon.

Saw this on the BBC feed today.  Enjoy.

Day 362

Knitting resumed on the sweater back.  It relaxed me to the point that I almost fell asleep after about 45 minutes of knitting.  Knitting is the new yoga... at least for me.  Looking forward to Friday off work and lunch with a couple of my former co-workers. 

Winter has arrived here and with it my collection of sweaters.  Since I work near the entrance to the store and the overhead doors, I wear ski sweaters almost every day.  My supervisor asked today if I had made my sweater, (Dale of Norway, Salt Lake City).  He wanted to know if I had knit all the little people too.  Now most of the day shift has seen me working on sweaters. I usually bring them in while I'm working on the last bit of handwork or weaving in ends, so it's no secret that I knit.  I was kind of surprised this morning since he's seen me work on two other Dale sweaters since I've been there. 

How was your day?

Day 361 - Not Knitting

Resting my hands after the push the last several weeks.  Spent some time looking at Ravelry but not really tempted.  My Schacht Matchless is now front and center in the living room, and I have to admit I was tempted to try to turn some purple fluff into singles.  But I'm still focused on finished the sweater. 

Frustrating drive home tonight, the weather is turning from endless rain to snow and the truck decides at the light to hesitate and I managed to flood it.  So I sit for a whole cycle of the light, trying to get it to start without draining the battery.  And when it started I decided to bag it, head home and swap out the truck for the car.  No sliding into work on Columbus' unplowed streets in the morning.

Two more days of work then a three day weekend and lunch with Barb and MT.  It'll be almost like old times, and I'm really looking forward to it.

Day 360

The year is winding down, only five days left.  I really did not want to get up for work this morning.  And all week long there will only be two of us on any given day.  One person is on vacation and the rest of us are rotating a day off as paid holiday, aka New Years Day.  I get Friday and a three day weekend. 

I'm trying really hard this evening to make a CD for a friend and the computer keeps telling me there are problems.  It shouldn't be this difficult.  It keeps refusing to acknowledge that there is a blank one in the drive.

I working on Robin's sweater.  About twelve rows into the back yoke.  Garter stitch in sock yarn takes awhile to to knit several inches.  Less pressure than there was on Saturday.  Hoping to have it put together by the weekend. 

Day 358 Christmas Eve

Mom told me on the way home from church tonight that Dad had gone out and bought her Christmas present this morning, but that she had forgotten to get him something. And in fact had forgotten what he said he wanted.  I offered to go online and order him a TSC gift card.

When we got to the house she said something about getting him a new chore coat, and he said he didn't need one and pulled a new Carhardt out of the closet.  Then he pulled me aside and said that Mom had told him that she wanted perfume for Christmas.  He had gone to the drugstore but didn't know which one.  Did I know how to pick perfume?  My advice was smell them and pick one you like.  His solution was to hand me cash so I could pick something out.  This was after 9 tonight.

Now I know that my mom likes Chanel No. 5.  They sell don't that at Walgreens.  And my Dad confessed tonight that he sent home lots of Chanel when he was stationed in France in the 1950's.  He says it was $15 a bottle in France and $50 a bottle in the US at the time, so all the women in the family loved it.  I pointed out that Chanel was a bit more expensive than that these days.

White Diamonds is what she will be getting tomorrow.  His gift card will arrive in the mail.  Me I still need to finish a mitten and wrap everything.  The sweater will be in pieces and on the needles.  Three out of four pieces are complete.

Hope your Christmas Eve is wonderful and Christmas is joyous.  Merry Christmas.

Day 357

The pile of purple alpaca continues to grow.  Two pieces to go and I'm starting worry if there will be enough yarn.  Plan is to knit the back and the see what's left.  I can make it work if the band has to be a different dyelot, although I'm kicking myself, since Barb from Weaver's Loft asked me in September if I was sure I had enough.  She had held a hank in that dyelot back just in case.  Silly me, I told her to sell it.

We'll see.  Yes I made my 11.

Bake quiche for dinner and dug through the stacks of books looking for titles for Marcus and Sandy.  Marc should be busy for a while.  Still looking for a title for Sandy.

Still hoping to get something close to finished on the sweater, so I'm off to knit some more.

Day 356 - 9 Days to Go

There are nine days left in Heather's 11 Minutes for 2011 Challenge.  Nine days of celebrating the joys of fiber related craft and skills.  Have I found it difficult? No, not really I was already pretty firmly addicted to the stuff.  My major challenge has always been documenting it.  I still need to get better about taking pictures of the process rather than just the product.  And I think that's more of an issue of me forcing myself to find some way to make the photos interesting.

Has my writing improved?  You'll have to tell me.  I know that technically I'm a fairly decent writer.  I can actually spell and generally punctuate a sentence correctly.  That doesn't mean that I'm necessarily interesting.  I'm a long time member of the short and sweet club, so I find it somewhat difficult to write volumes on a topic.  I don't talk that way but writing, oh yeah. 

Did I make my 11 today.  Oh yes.  I worked on the sweater yoke at lunch.  And have spent the evening MK a sleeve for the kimono and have started the cast on of it's mate.  Do I think I'll get the Christmas knitting finished in time?  I think it will be tight.  Mittens yes.  Sweater maybe.  Kimono, not assembled before Sunday but probably knit.  3 pieces done, 3 to go.  This employment thing this year has really thrown off my holiday rhythm.  Think about it, I basically have had December pretty wide open for the last several years.  This is a good thing, but I need to adapt.

I hope that your holiday prep is going well.

Comments on the blog.

Day 354 - Mission Accomplished

This is the center point of the front of the sweater.  Shaped and short rowed garter stitch form the yoke.  All of the MK is done.  Only handwork remains.  It will be a challenge, but I think it is possible.

This is slowing everything down.  I am overwhelmingly right handed.  Yes I can knit in it.  No it doesn't hurt.  But everything is slowed because of it.

Day 353 - Late

While I wrote the  Podcasting for Machine Knitters post earlier in the evening and had in the back of my mind that I needed to write this one, I forgot about it until after I had shut down the computer and was ready for sleep.

My evening was spent MK the back of Robin's sweater.  Knitting and ripping and knitting and ripping, replacing dropped stitches and reknitting, before I finally got it off the machine around 11:30.  I was determined to get to bed at a reasonable time.  I did get the front on to a set of circular needles and started to work the garter stitch yoke.  I'm reading Todd McCaffery's Dragongirl while I knit.  Think about it, it's basically mindless garter stitch, I need something to keep me focused so I don't get bored and lose interest.

I have Tuesday off and plan on getting the sleeves knit and set aside and just maybe get some work done on the kimono too. 

Day 352

Spent the morning weaving in ends.  At least 3 FO and one of them a Christmas present.  Went to write the pattern for my sister's sweater only to discover that the computer had somehow ate her size chart.  Off to remeasure her. 

Pattern written and sweater cast on.  Not really sure why I thought full figure shaping was a good idea, but almost to the waist and then back out again.  I want to have this piece off the machine tonight so I can HK the short row garter stitch yoke at lunch tomorrow. 

I did get the balls on the redbud this afternoon.  It may be the only tree that gets decorated this year.

Day 351

Stockings finished blocked and delivered.  Done.  Christmas cards signed, addressed and in the mail.

The original is on the bottom.

Found the yarn for Robin's sweater and have swatched a hank.  Made the mistake of steaming it and the numbers are all over the place.  Back into warm water to reset the yarn.  I should cast on another piece of the kimono while I'm waiting for it to dry.

Yes, I've made my 11.

Day 350

One stocking done, one with duplicate stitch about 25% and blocking and seaming to go.  Have to turn them in tomorrow, but I should have this little bit done before they open.

I picked the Christmas card shot last night, submitted it electronically for printing too.  It was supposed to be done by 11.  When I went in at 6 pm they hadn't started printing it.  What the heck did I pay for?  I think they gave me extra prints as some form of compensation.  Cards to sign, address and post after the stocking delivery tomorrow.

Day 349

The hand was so bad that I called the doctor about noon.  I was shocked to get in almost immediately.  Turns out that today was the day they were switching to a digital system to comply with the new federal regs.   Based on the fun my doctor was having getting my exam/symptoms into the system, it really doesn't work that well.  Diagnosis, tendon damage of some form.  Back in the wrist brace around the clock and much better pain killers for this pass.  If it isn't improving in a week, I get to go back.  Turns out that I was doing every thing right, it just didn't heal.

Before and after.  After needs blocked and seamed as well as a name.  But really close.















I selected and sent off the Christmas card shot for this year.  I should be able to pick them up after work tomorrow. I culled the card list and need to print labels and find stamps and they can go out Saturday morning.  It's been 3 years since I could afford to send out cards.  Hopefully people enjoy the image as much as I did shooting it.

Day 348

Tired after an evening with knitters and food.  We shared projects and our winter potluck.  The stocking is ready to have the ends woven in. 

My right wrist is trashed.  Don't know what's wrong, but a trip to the doctor is in order.  It's getting painfully worse not better.  If it turns out to be broken, I'm going to be so pissed and screwed.

Day 347

HK of stockings finished.  Weaving in ends to resume immediately, followed by embroidery and seaming.  I want these done and gone.

I need to figure out where the aubergine yarn for Robin's sweater went.  I evidently organized it into hiding.

I made my 11 for the day and have plans for tomorrow.

Day 346 - Minimal Fiber Time

A splitting headache that motrin couldn't touch made for a long afternoon.  No knitting time at lunch.  I did manage to get past the gussets and into the instep of the stocking, and that's about it for the day.  I am looking around for the yarn for Robin's sweater.  Looks like my cleaning spree over the weekend may have been too efficient.  sigh...

How was your progress?

Day 345 - Stockings

All stockings, all day.  I started weaving in the ends on the first on and have knit the heel flap and started the gussets on the second one.  I made my 11 and not much else today.

Day 344 - Burning Things

What do you do when you have a collection of unidentified yarn?  First you estimate how much of it you have, and then you burn a piece to sort out what it's made of.

For the first part of the equation, find a McMoran balance. 

 
Cut a small length of the mystery yarn and hang it on the notched arm of the balance.  Cut off wee bits until the arms balance.

Measure the piece and multiple by 100 to get how many yards per pound (YPP).  Then weigh the remainder and do the math.  (I know MATH is a dirty word.)

To get fairly good idea of what the yarn is made of requires burning a piece and observing how it burns, what it looks like, what it smells like and what is left.  See the chart here.  Note do this somewhere you won't catch the house or anything else on fire.  And burning yarn can really stink, so keep that in mind too.

Using these techniques, I managed to get my remaining cones of yarn cataloged and sorted into storage bins to go in the studio. 

I also finished the intarsia and MK on the second stocking and it is ready to have the heel knit.  So I have rocked my 11 today. (And really early too.)

Anyone else have mystery yarn in the stash?