Hello stranger!

Sorry to drop out for so long - there's been plenty of knitting but nothing very spectacular going on. But you're just in time to see the results of a beating . . .

Remember this vest? 

My Abrazo vest, my Vestuary entry from 2009? Well, we did a little program all about blocking at the April Minnesota Knitters' Guild. My part was to demonstrate the use of a "whapper" - an extra strong and wide yard stick. This involves hitting the wet garment to increase the size somewhat - forcing a larger gauge, perhaps - as part of the blocking.

Since my vest was the only item I had that needed increasing, members visiting my station got to try out the whapper on the vest as well as a few swatches. As a result, the vest lengthened about two inches and widened about an inch and a half. That's all it really needed so I am satisfied. It also seemed to line the stitches up more evenly. And we all got a workout!

Even farther in the past - possibly even pre-blogging - is this felted bag.

It's a Lucy bag from Two Old Bags Knitting. I made this years ago (2006 perhaps?) as prep work for a class on needle felting with Bev Galeskas at Stitches Midwest. 

Recently, I got a request for a donation for a charitable silent auction and I pulled this out my UFO box, perfected the needle felting decorations and then, ta da, it was finally finished!

My real knitting project over the last month has been a new blue sweater for Oldest Daughter. Years ago, I knit her a blue pullover sweater. When I found her sleeping in it (it was a pretty comfy sweater) I retrieved it, unwound it and promised her another one. Now that she WILL BE AN LEGALLY EMPLOYED WOMAN AFTER GRADUATION, she'll need a slightly fancier cardigan. So, I'm planning on using the original sweater's Gale Woods Farm yarn for some warmer projects and using Berroco Vintage for a Top Down Shawl Collar Cardigan. 

Bodywork, ready to go!

I've worked my way through all the waist shapings:

I love the increases!

and now, I'm just waiting for Miss O. Daughter to try it on. Then, there will be sleeves and the collar and off she goes to work!

Whew! Now I just need to get back to another new projects - a pair of Emily's Socks from 2-at-a-Time Socks for Youngest Child. He actually asked for purple socks and so he's getting a pair!

Aha!

If only I wasn't home sick from school - then I wouldn't have to model this hat for my mom . . .

Just a quick little hat - the Montera Slouchy Hat pattern that comes free from Classic Elite Yarns. I used some hand spun yarn made from fiber ('Rick's Red') that I bought at Athena Fibers this summer. I spun it up last fall.  It was fun and easy - but I think it's a little too slouchy so I'll make the amended pattern next time!

Back to blue sweater purgatory . . .

The thinker

Unfortunately, I didn't finish up this in February (as in Miss Kalendar's Finishuary!) but a evening at home, watching "Life with Father" and turning the collar did the trick. 

I pulled Youngest Child over and made him try on his Hans Sweater over his pjs.

The Smiler

He already said he thought it was itchy. That's my verdict as well - I'll just have to get him some turtlenecks for underneath it.

Next week, I'll finally have time to weave in all the ends and take out the row markers. Then, back to the Brown Sweater and Oldest Daughter's Blue Sweater. 

If they don't seem familiar, it's because I'm only referring to items by their dominant colors nowadays. That makes it less likely for someone to exclaim, "Didn't you start that project in 2005?"

Tasty!

Orange sherbert?

Cantaloupe smoothie?

Conan O'Brien's hair?

I still can't find quite the right description of this cute little batt that I made from materials from the MKG picnic last Sunday.   Angela Radzyuk from All for Love of Yarn brought 50 bags of carded fleece and her drum carder and we all dove in and made up little batts from them. I ended up making mine at home because I was helping run the other drum carders but I didn't see a bad combination the whole day. Mine started out as a plain orange roving which I mixed with golden silk and some brown/green angelica. Beautiful! Now, I just need to spin it up . . .

Hello!

On the way home this morning, I ran across this fellow.

My own fence was yarn bombed! With a cute little knitted lion!

I've left it in place for the time being.

My own knitting is getting larger and larger. The Hans sweater is too big carry around any more so I've taken to spreading out over the living room sofa and watching old episodes of Enterprise with Youngest Child. 

I'm working on the first series of yoke designs right now. 

Up close, the little rows of stitch markers are keeping track of all the decreases on the sleeves .

I'm not at all happy knitting sleeves one at a time any one. I've been spoiled by two-at-a-time sock knitting!

Tomorrow, I'll be spending the afternoon discussing knitting and eating goodies at the Minnesota Knitters' Guild's Spring Tea. If you're in town, come join us!

Sunday, Feb.26 at 1-4 p.m. at the Minnesota Textile Center.

Our featured speaker. Angela Radzyuk from All for Love of Yarn will be demonstrating how she blends colors and fibers. This to be a hands on kind of deal - we will have drum carders and fleece samples on hand and with five drum carders, there won’t be long lines … more time for eating and knitting!

One down, four* to go

I finished up Oldest Daughter's Drapey Tam (really called the Simon Tam) - the Berroco Ultra Alpaca and the Rowan Kidsilk Haze made for a wonderfully soft hat.

The ribbing is pretty but - a little odd. You build in new ribs as you increase the stitches (to make the tam shape) but then you quickly begin removing those stitches as you decrease. So there are some wedge shaped sections that I didn't expect.

Unfortunately, I didn't have anyone to try on the hat for me - Youngest Daughter being off at college and all.

So I got Youngest Child out of bed (he wasn't sleeping - just reading!) and bribed him with a glass of water to model for me.

It still didn't work for me. So, back to the drawing board.

My version of Jack McBrayer wearing a tam.

See the amazing resemblance?

Photo http://www.buddytv.com

And finally, making its first appearance since 2010, I actually cut off the extra weft from my Cotton Dish Towel and sewed up the edges to make it actually usable. This has been hanging around my sewing room for ages.

I do not like weaving with cotton - it sucked the moisture out of my hands, even just handling the woven material. Good for a towel, I suppose.

I had a hard time getting the cut yarn tails to stay woven in, though. My favorite part? The reversible pattern.

AND never one to forget the Saturday Seven -

Four sweaters, a wool skirt, a terrible throw pillow and a brain quest set. I really, really tried to find a use for these but nothing worked out. The pillow was no good for sleeping with, the skirt was un-alterable, the sweaters either didn't fit or were quite old and Youngest Child - no longer in second grade. Off it all goes to SJTE's Huge Sale.

* The other four? This is the year of finishing up my darn UFOs - the Turn of the Glass cardigan, the Lopi Challenge Sweater, the Sailor's Delight Socks and the must-finish-before-I-die River Grass Gansey.

So, so true.

This is why I can't even read the emails from Webs, let alone visit the store.

The life we lead

So, last Sunday, we had a babysitter. So we went to the movies. You know what was on last Sunday, right? That big football extravaganza?

Well, we were the only people in our movie theatre.

So I didn't feel the least bit odd putting on my knitting light and really, really knitting at the movies! I did turn out the light once I started getting into the plot of the movie. The knitting? My Sailor's Delight socks.

P.S. The movie was "Haywire" - a fantastic Steven Soderbergh film. This movie, however, was shot by Mr. Daisy on his phone.

Mid week clean-out!

Fern lace mohair shrug

My, oh, my!

I finished this beauty late on Tuesday - just in time to be a January entry into Knittymama's Monthly Apparel group. Yes, I know she is aiming at sewing an item a month but I had to wade through my craft room first to make that happen.

And I worked toward that goal today - by cleaning out my yarn closet. An airing of the stash, almost!

The files in the back remain from when my sewing/guest room was my husband's home office. Someday, he promises that he will remove them. The tubs, bags and rolls of batting are mine. This made it all look much more reasonable!

Until you look more closely and see that I have anywhere from 3 - 12 skeins of any yarn. Sigh. Time to power through all this stash. I did weed out some yarn to take to the Minnesota Knitters' Guild's Great Guild Getaway in March.  There has been a very fun auction/yarn exchange the past few years at this retreat and I'm sure my extra yarn could brighten up someone else's day.

Now, on to finishing up that Turn of the Glass!

Steady as she goes

I've been knitting on and off for the last week on two different, yet enjoyable projects. The first is this green Fern Lace Mohair Shrug from Ewetopia Yarn Shop. It's more of a mohair cocoon. First, you knit a central lace panel -

then, you pick up along the edges and knit two sleeves.

I've finished one sleeve and gotten about  halfway down the other.

It's mohair lace weight on size 13 needles so it has been going along quite quickly. And it feels so warm! I think it will be just the thing for wearing to hockey games.

When I don't want to be covered in fuzzy mohair bits, I'm working on a Lopi sweater for Youngest Child. It's a bit of a competition, you see. A "try something new" competition between friends.

GFMelissa is knitting an Evelyn A. Clark shawl design (the Prairie Rose Lace Shawl) and I am knitting a Lopi sweater.

The Hans sweater was meant to be knit in Monet blue but that color has been discontinued. Luckily, the ladies at Lila and Claudine's were able to help me find a substitute red/burgandy.

Outside of the knitting world, life in MN has been pretty quiet. Although a gang of us did give geo-caching a try last week in Como Park.

We found a fun peanut butter jar sized parcel which we checked out and returned. 

Hail the prize hunting crew!

Big city or small city?

As a belated anniversary present, my husband and I took a quick trip to New York City this past weekend.

We had a lovely time, walking and shopping and eating, visiting museums and seeing a Broadway show (Warhorse!) and even hitting up some yarn shops - Knitty City and The Yarn Company. 

A real highlight was this view from the top of the Empire State Building.

That little blue area? The skating rink at Rockefeller Center!

And then we came back to catch the last game of Youngest Child's outside Mite's hockey tournament.

Mite hockey tournament at Phalen Recreation Center in Saint Paul

It was just such a wonderful juxtaposition of winter experiences. 

I am starting another project that is a juxtaposition of sorts - the Teknika conductive thread glove pattern from Knitty.com. The pattern calls for a solid yarn and a crazy, multi colored yarn and these are my picks:

CascadeYarn's Heritage sock yarn in mustard

Schoppel Wolle's Crazy Zauberball #1701

Yes, I'm still thinking about a Drapey Tam for Oldest Daughter and I really just need to tidy up some finishing on my Turn of the Glass cardigan but this just looks lively and fun! Now, remind me of that in about a month!

I'm also participating in Knittymama's Monthly Apparel project (make something to wear every month!) and the Craftsy.com's Block of the Month quilting project , so it's time to get to work!

One new challenge and a finished object

Last year I read 147 books in Book Chick City's 100 Books in a year Challenge. Well, I can never resist a challenge . . .

Meet 2012's 100+ Books in a Year Challenge!

Check it out here!

(I can just hear my husband groaning in the background . . .)

And meet the year's first finished object.

The Christopher Anderson Cap from Cottage Creations' Scandinavian Caps for the Guys.

Just call this "The Fall of the House of Gingerbread."

This is prior to blocking and the addition of ear flaps.

Not my last knit . . .

I'm getting ready to go out of town - it's just a quick jaunt but I'm bringing two knitting projects! - so I thought I'd leave you a little something to ponder while I was gone. 


This will be on the quiz!

Step away from the knitting and pick up a book!

Last year I participated in the . . .

It was a blast. 

Although I have been part of a book group for many years and read a lot on my own, getting over 100 books took a little time and dedication. I listed and reviewed all my 2011 books over on Shelfari.com's 2011 Book Challenge Group (where I am also Humbledaisy) and got up to 147 books. 

Whew!

What did I learn from all this reading? Some of the best books are "Young Adult" books. Not everyone has the imagination of Jane Austen. Sometimes, the silliest books have the best "morals." Charlaine Harris

 writes the best "small town" tales - no matter how crime-ridden or supernatural. Craig Johnson's western/mysteries are amazing! I never imagined I'd like a western. After reading many historical novels, I am so glad I live in the 21st Century! Antibiotics, vaccines, printed books and the right to vote - woot! Despite all that, I am a definite Anglophile. Knitting books are wonderful. 

My favorite book of 2011? A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. Yes, it's a supernatural/mystery/romance but that lady can write a book! I read it two times in a row and then bought the audio book and loaded it onto my Ipod and I have the CDs at home.

Most surprising read of 2011? Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - Seth Grahame-Smith

. Yes, it's a mash-up of history and horror but oh, so funny and potentially believable. It's been made into a movie that comes out in June and I can't wait.

Here's the list if you are interested in looking up any of them:

January 2011:

Through the Children’s Gate - Adam Gopnik



Turkish Delight and Treasure Hunts - Jane Brocket

Shop class as Soulcraft - Matthew B. Crawford



East of the Sun - Julia Gregson

The Makioka Sisters - Jun’ichiro



Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes - Roald Dahl

It sucks to be me - Kimberly Pauley

 

Troubling a star - Madeline L’Engle



This Book will save your life - A.M. Homes



The dead travel fast - Deanna Rayburn

The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett

Sorcery and Cecelia, or, The Enchanted Chocolate Pot: 
Being the Correspondence of Two Young Ladies of Quality Regarding Various Magical Scandals in London and the Country - Patricia C. Wrede & Caroline Stevermer


Bleeding Violet - Dia Reeves



Silent in the grave - Deanna Raybourn

Silent in the Sanctuary - Deanna Raybourn




Silent on the moor - Deanna Raybourn



February 2011:



The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien





Slice of Cherry - Dia Reeves



The Grand Tour, or, The Purloined Coronation Regalia: Being a Revelation of Matters of High Confidentiality and Greatest Importance, Including Extracts from the Intimate Diary of a Noblewoman and the Sworn Testimony of a Lady of Quality - Patricia C. Wrede, Caroline 



The Random House Book of Ghost Stories - Susan Hill





The Englishwoman’s Wardrobe (Twenty-Five Englishwomen talk about their Clothes) - Angela Huth



The Wee Free Men - Terry Pratchett



A Hat full of sky - Terry Pratchett





Wintersmith - Terry Pratchett





I, Lucifer: Finally, the Other Side of the Story - Glen Duncan



The shooting in the shop - Simon Brett



I shall wear midnight - Terry Pratchett



The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie - C. Alan Bradley





Miss Happiness and Miss Flower - Rumer Goddard



Impunity Jane - Rumer Goddard

The Dolls’ House - Rumer Goddard





China Court - Rumer Goddard



March 2011:



Cowl Girls: The Neck’s Big Thing to Knit - Cathy Carron





The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag - Alan C. Bradley





The Wee Mad Road - Jack Maloney



Little House in the Big Woods - Laura Ingalls Wilder



The forgotten garden - Kate Morton





The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York - Deborah Blum



The distant hours - Kate Morton





Knit Your Own Dog: Easy-to-Follow Patterns for 25 Pedigree Pooches - Sally Muir & Joanna Osborne





The Attenbury Emeralds - Jill Paton Walsh





The House at Riverton or, The Shifting Fog - Kate Morton



April 2011:



Scary Stuff - Sharon Fiffer



Backstage Stuff - Sharon Fiffer



The Knitter’s Guide to Hand-Dyed and Variegated Yarn: Techniques and Projects for Handpainted and Multicolored Yarn - Lorna Miser



The Kitchen Madonna - Rumer Godden



A Red Herring Without Mustard - Alan C. Bradley



Busy Body - M. C. Beaton

The Geography of Bliss - Eric Weiner

Missing Susan - Sharyn McCrumb

The pms outlaw: an Elizabeth MacPherson novel - Sharyn McCrumb 

The Agatha Christie mystery - Derrick Murdoch

May 2011:

Staggerford: A Novel - Jon The Mysteries - Lisa 



The Red Garden - Alice Hoffman





Across the Universe - Beth Revis

The Pillow Friend - Lisa Tuttle



Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War - Drew Gilpin Faust



Dead over heels - Charlaine Harris




Last Scene Alive - Charlaine Harris



Spinning Around: Spinning, Dyeing & Knitting Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Classics - Jeannine Bakriges



Poppy Done to Death - Charlaine Harris



Why We Get Fat And What to Do About It - Gary Taubes



This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War - Drew Gilpin Faust



Meet the Austins - Madeleine L’Engle



The Staggerford Flood - Jon Hassler



Dead Reckoning - Charlaine Harris



My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey - Jill Bolte Taylor

Mother-Daughter Knits: 30 Designs to Flatter and Fit - Sally Melville & Caddy Melville Ledbetter



Warm Knits, Cool Gifts: Celebrate the Love of Knitting and Family with more than 35 Charming Designs - Caddy Melville Ledbetter & Sally Melville



June 2011: 



Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There - David Brooks



Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - Seth Grahame-Smith





Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance - Now With Ultraviolent Mayhem! - Seth Grahame-Smith





Lone Star Stalag: German Prisoners of War at Camp Hearne - Michael R. Waters



Galloway’s Book on Running - Jeff 



Writing Road to Reading 5th Rev Ed: The Spalding Method for Teaching Speech, Spelling, Writing, and Reading - Romalda Bishop Spalding



The New Woman : A Staggerford Novel - Jon Hassler

The Staggerford Murders and Nancy Clancy’s Nephew - Jon Hassler



Mummy Dearest - Joan Hess

The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance- Edmund De Waal





92 Pacific Boulevard - Debbie Macomber



1022 Evergreen Place - Debbier 



Gingerbread Cookie Murder - Joanne Fluke, Laura Levine, Leslie Meier





Queen of Kings - Maria Dahvana Headley

The Alice behind wonderland - by Simon Winchester



The Union Quilters - Jennifer 



Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home - Rhoda Janzen



July 2011: 

About Alice - Calvin Trillin





Side Jobs - Jim Butcher

Hot and Steamy: Tales of Steampunk Romance - edit. Jean Rabe



We Took to the Woods - Louise D. Rich



Little Women and Werewolves - Porter Grand



Here If You Need Me: A True Story - Kate Braestrup





Finger Lickin’ Fifteen - Janet Evanovich





The Pot and How to Use It: The Mystery and Romance of the Rice Cooker - Roger Ebert



A Turn in the Road - Debbie Macomber



The Cold Dish - Craig Johnson



August 2011:

The Gentle Art of Domesticity - Jane 



The Home-Maker - Dorothy Canfield Fisher



Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography - Rob Lowe





The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child - Donalyn Miller

At Mrs Lippincote’s - Elizabeth 



Forever - Pete Hamill



The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love - Kristin Kimball



A discovery of witches - Deborah Harkness



Sizzling Sixteen - Janet Evanovich

Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont - Elizabeth 



What Happened to Goodbye - Sarah Dessen





A Certain Justice - P. D. James

September 2011

A Man Lay Dead - Ngaio Marsh





Kidnapped - Robert Louis Stevenson



The Woman in Black - Susan Hill



Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist - Rachel Cohn





Hell Is Empty - Craig Johnson



October 2011:



Counting My Chickens . . .: And Other Home Thoughts - Susan Hill & Deborah Vivien Freeman-Mitford Cavendish Devonshire



Growing, older : a chronicle of death, life, and vegetables - Joan Dye Gussow

Graveminder - Melissa Marr

 



The Devil’s Diadem - Sara Douglass

Wait for Me! - Memoirs - Deborah Vivien Freeman-Mitford Cavendish Devonshire





Louisa and the Missing Heiress - Anna Maclean





Travels with Alice - Calvin Trillin



November 2011: 







How to Knit a Love Song: A Cypress Hollow Yarn - Rachael Herron



How to Knit a Heart Back Home - Rachael Herron





Silver Borne - Patricia Briggs



The Greyfriar - Susan and Clay Griffith



The Knights of the Cornerstone - James P. Blaylock





No Plot? No Problem! - 
A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days
- Chris Baty





River Marked - Patricia Briggs



Lady Audley’s Secret - Mary Elizabeth Braddon

Her Majesty’s Spymaster: Elizabeth I, Sir Francis Walsingham, and the Birth of Modern Espionage - Stephen Budiansky





Mere Christianity - C. S. Lewis

December 2011:



The Penguin Book of Victorian Women in Crime
 - All the Great Detectives and a Few Great Crooks - Michael Sims





Pride and Prescience (Or A Truth Universally Acknowledged) (Mr. & Mrs. Darcy Mysteries) - Carrie Bebris



Suspense And Sensibility -
Or, First Impressions Revisited - Carrie Bebris



Swallowing Darkness - Laurell K. Hamilton





Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J. K. 

North By Northanger Or, The Shades of Pemberley - Carrie Bebris





The Matters at Mansfield
 Or, The Crawford Affair - Carrie Bebris





I Am Half-Sick of Shadows - Alan C. Bradley



Daughter of Smoke and Bone - Laini Taylor

The Intrigue at Highbury - Or, Emma’s Match
by Carrie Bebris



The Deception at Lyme or, The Peril of Persuasion by Carrie Bebris

What Would Madame Defarge Knit? - Heather  Ordover



That Holiday Feeling (Silver Bells / The Perfect Holiday / Under the Christmas Tree) -Debbie Macomber, Sherryl Woods, Robyn Carr



To paraphrase knitting guru Elizabeth Zimmerman, "Read On!"

Another New Year? Way to go!

Although I love autumn the most - probably because I've always loved starting a new school year - I also enjoy the "start-itis" of New Year's. 

Time to start training for athletic events, time to start new knitting projects and time to start new plans of all sorts. It doesn't even matter if I don't ever get around to doing them - it's the planning that is the fun part!

It's like what Brenda Dayne calls "Imaginary Knitting." That's when you plan out knitting projects (and sometime even assign them yarn!) that you have no intention of starting. Fantastic lace shawls, cabled sweater-coats, complicated socks. I am free to chose any or all of them!

My knitting count for 2011 was a little scanty - only twelve finished items.

My 2011 creations

                                                      Originally uploaded by humbledaisy

I also managed to send a third child to college, volunteer at chess club (even though I can't beat anyone at chess!), start a walking club with friends from my book club, plan twelve different programs for the Minnesota Knitters' Guild, help Youngest Child with his training for the Miracle Kids Triathlon, swim 3,320 yards in an hour and read 147 books. That's enough for me!

On the home front this week, Christmas has been both very, very good . . .

(two knitting kits from Knit Picks as well as yarn, accessories and books!)

and very, very bad.

Wretched Dog Zelda got a hold of Youngest Child's Christmas stocking. It was knitted years ago - long before Ravelry. Time for a new one, I guess.

And on the knitting front - I've knitted Youngest Child's Anderson Cap three times so far! Gauge, gauge and gauge.

It's back to the hat for me and a 

Happy New Year for You!

Last minute knitting!

One down -

A Walk in the Woods Cowl

Another one on the way . . .

An Anderson Cap

Can you say, "Last minute?"

Merry Christmas - again.

A Christmas Card for you!

Merry Christmas!

The Christmas crunch . . .

 Even Father Christmas feels holiday stress -

Did you post early? I know I have a few more for the mail today. 

Just in case the Christmas hammer really comes down and I don't get away to blog - 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!