Less than an inch to go

...until I get to the heel flap. That's not bad in my book. I estimated that I knit 7-8 inches on each stocking over the weekend. If I knit some tonight I will easily be at the heel flap.

I looked at some silk yarn for stockings last evening. I'm considering the Halcyon Pearl Silk 2/5 in natural (it only comes in natural) for two silk stockings that I was asked about over the weekend. It's a sport weight so I could probably get the proper gauge for the pattern on 1's or 2's. I'm not sure if I would need one large cone for each pair, or if one large cone would complete both. Still need to contimplate that. I'm hoping to view some samples on Wednesday.

Teaching weekend

Turkey day was good. Drove to Chippewa falls and served meals with the Salvation Army at my mom's church with her and my dad. We served over 100 meals, which was great. When we were done I grabbed a package of lefse and hit the road back to MN to arrive just in time for another Turkey Day meal at C&C's. The turkey was succulant and we ate and then I watched some of the folks play video games and then we all (well those who stayed awake) watched Kung Fu Hustle. Dessert was a pear amaretto crumble concoction with vanilla ice cream. OMG! Wow!

Friday morning Isabella and I hit the road for Madison at 9:30. We got there around 1:30 and had a late lunch/early dinner at Noodles. We then went to the site, got changed, checked in and I got my classroom ready to go for my class at 6 pm. I sat in Melissant's class on ruffs/ starching and was deservidly chastised for being sassy. LOL! (damn that girl has nice hand sewing, wow!) My class on pattens was standing room only and I was very surprised. It seemed that people enjoyed it, even though it was focused on Northern Europe and Medieval English pattens. I was provided with a couple more sources for other countries so I am looking forward to exploring them at some time. I had a lot of people tell me that they were encouraged to try to make pattens for themself. Yay.

Friday night was the social/ meet and greet. I re-introduced myself to Drea, who was looking stylish in her German, not surprising. Friday night at R&A's we were treated to The Vikings and a rather interesting movie The Groove Tube. Enough said.

Saturday morning we were back at site shortly after 9. I taught my second session of Pattens and went to several other classes and the Key note: From Bills to Wills. Wonderful!!!! Wow! I put the completed stockings in the A&S display with G2's silk garters, which were gorgeous! I got third in the bean count, which was just lovely. Ivan got the most beans for his stunning embroidery and G2 received the next number down for her goldwork and blackwork. It was wonderful to present the finished stockings to her Majesty at the end of the day. If she suspected anything, she didn't let on. I also received some lovely compliments from Melisant and Drea so I'm going to touch base with both once I find some suitable silk for 2 more pairs. HH has expressed interest in some Turkish socks and I have been wanted to make a pair, so that will be fun.

I knit several inches over the weekend on stocking pair #2 and am only a few inches from the heel. Once they are done my official participation in the Evil Plan (tm) will be complete, but I may have a hard time not knitting more. It's a fun knit and fairly painless. Knitting them in silk will be a nice change.

I do need to finish M's baby sweater and the knitted clogs for dad. I should make something for the Quill raffle, maybe it will have to be a promissory for a knitted item or banner. I also need to finish 2 shade flys this winter.

That and find a new job.

Knitting for Babies

I think Yarn Harlot has tapped into some unseen power.

"Knit it and they will come"

A friend told me that upon completing a baby sweater, the recipient gave birth. Another friend has been trying to conceive and was told to "knit yourself a baby sweater", she just discovered that she is pregnant.

I think this is a disturbing trend, but it seemed to be a baby sweater related phenomena, until the following happened.

Saturday morning I was furiously knitting to finish the gifts for my friend's baby shower taking place at 3 that day. I finished the knitting at 1, got ready, and arrived at the party around 3:30. Upon my arrival I was informed that the guest of honor was in labor. Baby Jacob was born around 9pm. The items I made were a hat, booties and a knitted bear; no sweaters. Jacob wasn't due until December 28th.

I'm actually afraid to start on the sleeves of the Baby Dale sweater in case my completion will hasten the birth...although yesterday I started baby socks. I didn't know that yarn had this much power.

Baby shower recap

It was a lovely time. Wonderful food, dancing, lots of fun. One problem, the guest (s) of honor were unable to come. One was in labor and one was being born. ;^)

Jacob Daniel 5lbs 1 oz, 19" long, 8:54 pm

Happy and healthy boy and mom.

I guess she will get to open presents later. Those who came to the shower opened presents for her and re-wrapped.











The pattern for the felted booties I downloaded from the Winter 2006 issue of Interweave Knits. The bear pattern is from Knitty.

I finished the hat Saturday morning before the shower. I made up the pattern myself. I used size 5 needles and Patons Merino wool. I cast on 72 stitches and knit 1 inch of 2x2 ribbing. I then knit stockinette until the piece measured 3". To decrease I knit 10 stitches and then knit two together and repeat until the end of the row (6 stitches decreased). Next row knit. Decrease 6 stitches every other row until 6 stitches remain. Cut yarn and take string and thread through remaining stitches and pull tight. I made a small tassel and added it to the top.

Finished the grey socks

Kitchnered the toe on the second one this morning. Now to purchase something nice for P's mom, bake some cookies and ship it off for the holidays.

Tonight I am either participating in a demo, or I'm going shopping for yarn and baby shower gifts. Shower this Saturday for Misty. Hafla style baby! I'm planning to knit up something special for the baby to be. I'm also going to get some girly pampering things just for her since she has plenty of baby stuff from her other showers. I need to get something in the mail for my apprentice for her birthday on Sunday. ::plotting::

Last night I assisted in sewing with the college students. Brought the Singer that P bought on E-bay. I replaced the belt, oiled it and got it working several months ago and thought it should be utilized. Worked great! They were working on Japanese clothing, which I know zero about so I was not much help. There was one person who was working on a tunic and despite some issues with her pattern pieces we managed to complete it without much incident.

Just say NO to broadcloth! It's just wrong and icky.

The yarn for the Evil Plan (tm) is in!

FO's for the week

The most important FO is the handout for my class on pattens that I will be teaching at the Known World Costume Symposium on November 24th and 25th. I needed to have my handout complete and to the proceedings coordinator today and it was sent just after midnight this morning. That's a huge relief and I am relatively pleased with it. I just hope it is not too image heavy. I did stick to my 4 page or under.

I need to contact the class coordinator and explain that I am bringing MY LAPTOP (yay) and if I can use a projector that would be great. If not people can just crowd around the screen. I need to print out the Walk Through History sheets as well since I am in charge of that this year.

Onto knitting!



The stockings are done, washed, blocked and dry! I think they look wonderful and I am very pleased. Of course I won't be able to wait until Boar's Head and may just give them to the recipient at Clothiers. Either that or I'll wait until 12th night. The first photo is very yellow. My camera does not do well with low light for some reason. The detail of the clock shows the true color of the yarn, more cream. They are soft and fine and fit for a queen. ::grin::


These are not fo's, yet. They may be tonight. They will be heading off to Ohio for P's dad for a gift, along with some tea, tea cup and some home made cookies for his mom.



This is an FO to come, but I just wound the balls last night (thanks again Angie) and I am already in love with the color. It just shimmers. This will be made into an Icarus shawl for my godmother. The yarn is from Knit Picks, Alpaca Cloud in Stream. I think I may actually have time to finish all my holiday knitting this year, especially once my class is over. I need to focus on wood and leather projects for the next couple of weeks.

I also need to finish a certain person's baby sweater.

Some thoughts the night before the mid-term election

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with inherent and inalienable rights; that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.--

Declaration of Independence as originally written by Thomas Jefferson, 1776. ME 1:29, Papers 1:315
http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/quotes/jefferson.htm

Stocking #1

The first pair are finished and I am very pleased with the result.

I used the pattern for Stockings with Clocks out of Nancy Bush's Folk Socks. I used Louet Gems Opal in Natural. The stocking falls just above the knee and is meant to be held in place with woven garters. The 100% Merino wool is just beautiful. I used size zero needles and knit both stockings at the same time using 2 circular needles. A bit tricky to get the hang of, but not that difficult.

The yarn for the other 9 pairs of stockings are ordered and I will start once my holiday knitting is complete.

The inspiration for the stockings comes from the tale of Queen Elizabeth 1, who supposedly received knitted silk stockings as a gift.

Happy New Year!!!

or Happy Halloween as some call it.

Halloween was much more relaxed this year as we did not do our massive haunted house. This was a bitter sweet decision. With Halloween falling on Tuesday it would require too much missed work for us and our fellow volunteers to do the haunt justice. Tim made an executive decision and decided to nix it. We still had people show up last night expecting it, but with nothing set up in the yard and cars parked in the driveway it was pretty evident that it was not happening.

We had close to 100 Trick or Treaters, with most in costume. I really dislike the teenagers who make no attempt. They get 1 small piece whereas the others in costume get a couple and a small toy. We hand out small stuffed toys to the really young children, who shouldn't be eating a ton of chocolate anyway. We had lots of superheros (Batman, Spiderman, Ice Princess?), pirates, princesses, soldiers, fairies, witches, devils, mermaids, the ocassional classic ghoul, ghost and zombie. It was pretty cold last night so many kids were wearing their jackets and a mask.

Tim removed the screen door and curtained off the entrance. He then ran a fogger into the space and lit it with red lights. When the doorbell rang we shot the space full of fog and opened the door. The kids were greeted with a figure standing in a glowing red mist... pretty effective. I scared a number of kids back to the end of the sidewalk a couple of times. Especially since I was wearing this.

I made this costume almost 15 years ago and it still fits. It is the worst constructed costume that I have ever made (I think I used lining fabric... just say NO!). It has been retired (ripped to shreads and stuffed in the garbage) and I'll make another one, with proper construction and fabric.

This was especially entertaining since we were watching the Addams Family (TV) season 1 DVD that I bought Tim for his birthday.

Almost all the groups asked about the haunted maze and expressed that they were sad that we were not doing it this year cause they really enjoyed it. That was very gratifying.

Because we did not do the maze we kept the decorating to a minimum, we didn't even carve pumpkins, which was very sad. I did set up my village.

Hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday!