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!

Holiday bling!

We like a flashy Christmas. 

I've asked for plain white lights for a while but, apparently, that isn't traditional in our family. 

I've been pushing St. Lucia Day (December 13) as a tradition for some time. Now that Youngest Child is the only one left, though, we had to mix our metaphors.

Meet Star Boy & Lucia!

I decided to extend the season by making some beaded pins. I used this artwork (from Lucia, Child of Light: The History And Traditions of Sweden's Lucia Celebration by 

Florence Ekstrand) as my inspiration.

I sketched it to be just larger than a pin back.

Maybe not so many beads?

My first pin - light blue felt front and red backing. 

I decided to embroider the greens on the the wreath and bead only the candles, flames and berries. 

After I beaded the design, I sewed the pin back to the backing felt piece, then glued them together. I added a bit of embroidery around the edges and Ta-Da!

Pin #2.  This one looked a bit like an advent wreath.

I ended up with three different designs.

There has been some knitting going on as well - but those are presents!

Happy Holidays!

Which one?

Which one of these excerpts represents how I spent this past week?

1) "It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents--except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness."

2) Attach sts of left front to sts at top of sleeve cap using short rows as follows:
Row 1 [WS]: Work in pattern to 1 st before first marker; p2tog, removing marker and replacing it on left needle after p2tog is worked; turn work.
Row 2 [RS]: Work in pattern to end.
Repeat these 2 rows 3 times more.

Next Row [WS]: Work in pattern to 1 st before first marker; p2tog, removing marker; p to next marker, slip marker. Proceed to Row 1 of next section. 5 sts remain for left sleeve cap.

3) 'With a leap that startled Lucy and almost pulled her off her feet, Penny dashed forward the last few yards and began to bark ferociously. The pile seemed to shiver for a moment – and then something small and brown jumped up. Frozen, it stood hissing at them with small dark eyes that glittered and a mouth almost too full of sharp teeth.  Whatever animal it was, it was quite large – Lucy thought it seemed almost Penny’s height – and it seemed to clutching the bundle of rags. Almost as if it was gnawing the collection of greasy rags and tattered clothes . . . Penny’s barking ratcheted up even louder and she lunged to the end of her leash. In the confines of the alley, the sound echoed off the brick pavement and walls and seemed to sound like two or three large dogs.

For a moment, Lucy stared straight into an oddly bare face full of teeth and hate and then the animal – what was it? – turned and dashed halfway down the alley, jumped the low wall and escaped through the backyards down the block.

“Hey, who’s out here?” A voice called from above. “Hello?”'

Okay - the answer is both 2) & 3). Two is a section of the Turn of the Glass cardigan. The section where I went wrong. Yes, I was knitting in church and I got caught up and by the time I got home, I discovered a serious problem. The good thing about this? If you contact the pattern's author, Kathleen Dames, she emails you back with some help!

Three is from my first entry into NaMoWrimo! That's where you write a 50,000 novel in a month. Now, I hit that word count on Sunday but in order to finish my story, I was writing until 1:15 a.m. this morning. It's not the best story - but then, I was only "In it, to Finish It!" Basically, you write, write, write and don't bother to edit because you are forcing yourself to get 50,000 words.

This writing challenge was developed by The Office of Letters and Light and their motto is "Thirty Days and Nights of Literary Abandon." Yes, I am lucky in that Mr. Daisy enjoys cooking the Thanksgiving turkey because I spent most of the holiday weekend writing.

I haven't been writing much since graduate school and it was fun, albeit tiring, month!

Now, it's time to finally catch up with my Christmas movie viewing (I've been saving the ones from the Hallmark Channel since before Thanksgiving!) and my other knitting projects - perhaps a few Christmas presents?

(#1 is, of course, the opening lines of Edward George Bulwer-Lytton's 1830 novel, Paul Clifford. Its distinctive awfulness is what inspired the The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. Their motto is "Where “WWW” means “Wretched Writers Welcome” and I recommend their site!)

A new friend or . . .

a tasty reminder of our trip to New Orleans?

Phil's got some attitude.
“My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die.”

This  young pup has come to live at our house, courtesy of my son's third grade teacher. As a Red Swamp Crayfish, he doesn't do much and I'm the one having to clean his tank and feed him. Yet, every day when Youngest Child comes home from school, he runs to say hello to "Phil Falafel."

What I found disturbing was that right in the middle of my Thanksgiving food photos were these:

They almost look like we are raising him until he's big enough for some of this:

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year's pies were coconut cream and cherry. Both were delicious.

It made up for having to go out tomorrow to shop.

Yes, I have to exchange yarn at Lila & Claudine's Yarn and Gifts because a daughter someone has decided to start knitting a gift for a person that I was going to make a gift for out of lovely yarn.

So, it's off to exchange it for another color so that I can make this cute pattern for someone else. 

Fun times, out on the roads on Black Friday.

On my needles, I've been doing a bit more knitting on the Turn of the Glass cardigan.

I still love the seed stitch edging!

I've just been fiddling around with this sweater since last spring and I'm really looking forward to being done

Hope your weekend is peaceful and full of delicious things!

The Full Elvis

So, I'm working away at home. Mr. Daisy comes home for lunch (yes, if his office was any closer, it would be in my living room) and starts making some bacon. He looks at my sad little peanut butter and banana sandwich and says, "That looks like it needs some bacon."  And, surprisingly, it did!

We called it, "The Full Elvis."

It was delicious!

I will just tell myself it was in honor of my blogaversary. Yes, I started writing about knitting six years ago just prior to Thanksgiving. Bit by bit, I've added in spinning, weaving, cooking, sewing, etc., etc. 

Thanks for hanging in there!

I'm not knitting baby sweaters very much anymore but I'll tell you one embarrassing fact: I still have the blue sweater that I was knitting for my daughter. I knit it. Ripped it out. Swatched for another sweater. Tried another pattern. Ripped it out. I'm hoping to finally finish this project before she graduates from college. Keep your fingers crossed.

As for knitting, I'm currently ripping apart an unfortunate-looking hat (it was supposed to be Elizabeth Zimmerman's Snail Hat) to turn it into a Star Tam from Homespun, Handknit.

Long ago, the ripped apart hat was originally some of my own hand-spun yarn.

I think I bought the fiber at a Weavers' Guild Holiday sale but I know I didn't start spinning it until summer 2009. After about two skeins, I got bored. Well, I finally unearthed the rest of the fiber and it turns out, I need a winter hat. It's currently 20 degrees F. outside.

This is why the shoemaker's children have no shoes!

Add this to the fact that I'm doing NaNoWrimo this year and Thanksgiving is next week and I'm really suffering from a lack of sleep!

Back to those sandwiches . . .

See the pumpkin . . .

eat the pumpkin!

Traditionally, I've made my kids eat a "real meal" prior to going out to make the rounds. This year - vegetable pot pie with cheese biscuit crust - in the shape of pumpkins. Very yummy!

As a former theatre costume shop manager, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays.  This year, I was fighting off a cold all weekend until Youngest Child told me that he wouldn't be able to go trick or treating because I hadn't finished his costume. Well, that made me break out the liquid cold medicine and get stitching.

This looks like a particularly busty knight but it just comes from trying to fit a "Youngest Child" sized costume on a "me" sized dress form.

Sir Knight right before he hit the road

with the rest of the neighborhood gang. 

Zombies, ninjas and angels - oh, my!

It was a beautiful evening for trick or treating so they had a long night of it.

But, what about the knitting,  you say. Knitting? Well . . . maybe tomorrow.