Gestalt Knitting:
Focusing on the overall
not the bits.
Focusing on the overall
not the bits.
for the gift-along
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Saturday November 29, 2003 Yarns and gifts and things So I think that the Traveling Willbury Socks on my gift along list are going to morph into Traveling Willbury Gloves, especially if I can find a glove pattern on line. I decided I could use my Joslin's Sock Club Sheep's Gift yarn, which is in the Ancient Mariner colorway, because the person I'm making them for sails. (logic, really!) I just couldn't settle my mind on whether he would actually like, much less use socks. Gloves I think he will use. The next question is should the fingers go all the way? Does it make more sense to keep his fingers warm (he is way way thin, no body fat to keep him warm), or to have some traction? I got the camera and took pictures of all my various yarns that were in easy reach. Not my stash mind you, which is mostly in bins and a trunk. This is just recently gotten stuff, or stuff that's out because I wanna do something with it. So I'll put some pictures up now, and then do more as I get a chance, today or tomorrow, or something.  Tajmahal yarn, middle one was in my LYS discount bin, then I had to find and pay full price for the other two to put with it. Sigh. This set is to make a Matthew Sheppard Seaman's scarf, (or more actually probably a Matt scarf) for my OSO. (I'm safe to write about that here because he doesn't do computers. My spouse on the other hand reads this blog, so his gifts will remain unidentified.) I've also got some in bright red that I may make the other scarf shown for myself out of. My OSO has a lot happening in his life, we're trying to get him labeled, oops, I mean diagnosed as mentally ill, and he's pending for being officially disabled. With luck all this would mean someone besides me would be his support system! He has difficulty handling money (burns a hole in his pocket and then some) has been dealing with extreme depression for years, has recently been diagnosed as having attention deficit disorder -- and more. It's a lot going on. He's finally getting in to The System, and it seems to be working reasonably well, for now, so I have great hopes. Anyway, the scarf probably won't be done or possibly even started in time for the holidays, but eventually it will keep him cozy.  Soft, fuzzy, silky, cozy, Sapphire and Loden from Elann (Austerman Angora Wolle) These are my splurge from Elann.com. And then I ordered some more too. I'm hoping I can get a pair of gloves or mittens out of two balls. And I want to use some for a hooded scarf, just because it sounds so cozy to wrap up in.  Mom's gift Necks Best Thing, with Threadbear's Indulgence This is another yarn I really want a lot of. Unfortunately it's pretty hard to find in this lovely red now. Because it's so pretty and soft and discontinued. Threadbear still has other colors. I'm thinking of trying to get enough together to make a lacy sweater in two colors. It is amazing to knit with. I like it way more while knitting then I did in the skein. I wish I'd started sooner so I could have gotten more of this color. The Neck's Best Thing is on hold until more yarn comes from Threadbear. The pattern picture shows a solid yarn alternating with a variegated one. So I've ordered some Kiogu Kersti from the Threadbears to use with it, and I'll be pairing that with a strand of mousy grey Rowan Kid Silk Haze. I made the neck a little bit big when I started this, and I'm wondering how it will turn out. I wanted to be sure it would go over the head well. I guess if it seems too huge I'll pick up stitches and add a little more something in, with some decreasing. But I'll wait until it's done and I can try it on to see. Leave a Comment! [0] A picture! Okay, it's two. But they're of the same thing. I finally found the camera last night, after dark of course. Where? In my knitting bag. Where I'd already looked. Sigh. So here is the first Bumblebee Lace Sock, modeled on the leg of my OSO, who is the only one with small enough feet to try it on. Mine and Spouses are both bigger than the sock recipients, and I didn't want to stretch it.  Bumble Bee Lace Sock  and here is a closer up of the lace I'll try, again, to get pictures of the Elann yarn that I got in the mail this week. While it's day light, and I know where the camera is. It's reasonably warm (50's F, um, 12 C) and pouring down rain. Not actually heavy, but loud and with big drops. I like the rain, although it does make for a lot of mud coming in to the house. I'm forcing myself to wipe the dogs feet, which is a pain, because the big moose lies down when I try, always on top of a couple of his feet. I'm beginning to think that a future dog will have to be on the smaller side. Which isn't hard since what I've got now is a 75 lb dog. I keep wanting to start projects that I don't have the yarn for. Or work on ones that don't need to be done in time for holiday gifts. It's hard to stay on track. And I keep adding more gifts I'd like to make, or people who I'd like to make *something* for. The three who I ate Thursday dinner with, for example: a hat with a brim, a couple sets of gloves, and a scarf or some slippers maybe. Sure. In my free time. I broke down and bought more of the Elann angora wool yarn. I think I'll try some gloves, or maybe fingerless gloves from it. And I want to try a scarf to the same style as my mom made, a long time ago. I'll take a picture of it too, when I'm taking them. :-) Peace folks. Have a good Saturday. Stay warm and dry, mostly, unless you've got snow to play in. Leave a Comment! [0] Friday November 28, 2003 Buy Nothing Day So it's the day after the US thanksgiving, what am I doing? Having thanksgiving dinner, of course. :-) We went to a friends house yesterday, which was fun, and are cooking our own traditional foods today. And purposely staying home and not joining the shopping herds! You can read about the Buy Nothing Day campaign, or event, or whatever it is by following this Link. I figured there had to be something on the web about it, and there's a lot. I'm happy to have an extra excuse not to go shopping, but I don't like the whole fuss and stress of it to begin with. I will have some holiday shopping to do, but I enjoy it less as each year passes. And I'm enjoying making gifts quite a bit this year. I've finished the first Bumble Bee Lace sock. I need to take a picture to post, but first I've got to find the camera. I took it with me Wednesday to try to get pics of yarn, and failed. But now I don't know where I put the silly thing. I also finally mailed the box with my cousin's chemo hat and matching scarf today. The box, half packed, got lost while we were moving. Oops. My spouse found it for me this morning, so I stuffed in the last item, wrote a quick note and zipped out to the post office. I had great hopes that a box from the Threadbears would be in, or the one with the angora scarf kits for my mother-in-law. No luck. Sigh. It's not like I'm short of projects, I just want those to show up so I can wallow in more yarn. I'd better quit typing and go do things with bread to turn it in to stuffing, or dressing, or whatever it is. And then there are mushrooms to do things with. And sweet potatoes. And white potatoes. Food, food, food. But first a certain three year old person has announced my foot is dirty and needs to be washed. Some days it's easier to go along than to argue. :-) Happy buy nothing day. I hope everyone is getting to knit a bit. Pictures later today if I can manage it. Leave a Comment! [2] Yes, and? [Sat 10:15] Sandy email ~ site Eh....seems to me, you can have dirty feet on your own personal thanksgiving celebration if you want! you don't eat with your feet, do you??? haha! the pillows on our new couch are not fixed. That was one thing that I was not sure that I would like. I hope I don't regret this decision! Are your fixed? I can't wait to get it! we always had our Thanksgiving on the day after too. Except for this year. I felt lost on friday with nothing to do! haha! Have a great meal! I hope your Threadbear package comes!!! Sandy ......
[Sat 13:53] Stonering email ~ site I really liked doing thanksgiving foods a day after other people. It was fun.
Tuesday November 25, 2003 Yarn! Before yarn, I hate those mornings that I'm awake but my brain isn't functioning! I type my posts in msword. And it took me ages to open the template I use this morning. I kept staring at the file list wondering why I didn't see the right file name. "Oh yeah, which folder. . . how did I have these things sorted anyway, now what was that name I was looking for. . ." Ack! I got a great box from Elann. My daughter opened the angora wool and exclaimed "not pokey", and then "Blue, so blue". She's right on both counts. Four balls of Sapphire (four? I thought I ordered two, but maybe I was thinking I'd better have some for my little lone.) Two of Loden. Sigh. Heaven. I want all the rest they have now. I can't afford to buy it. But I want it none the less. It also had yarn enough for three sweaters . Two in Peruvian Highland Wool, and one in Peruvian Sierra. Now if I just had time to knit them. After the holidays. I keep telling myself, after the holidays. I turned the heel on the first of the bumble bee lace socks last night. Now I ignore the lace pattern and just do stockinet round and round to the toe. Both for speed and because I don't expect the foot to be seen as much as the leg, since I'm making them in wool. And I'm not sure how lace would feel under sneakers/boots/etc. Pictures soon. It's hard to wallow in yarn when someone is glaring at you, so I didn't even try to open the packets up to take pictures. Sigh. Leave a Comment! [3] Yes, and? [Tue 18:39] Emma email ~ site Quit the glaring chicklet.We need pictures ! :0) ......
[Wed 08:07] Stonering email ~ site Maybe today. Maybe I'll just take the yarn with me to our morning activity and see if I can get pics while kid is busy. (Spouse will be at work.) What a week!
[Thu 05:13] Sandy email ~ site
Saturday November 22, 2003 Interchangeable Needles: Okay, I need opinions from people. I like wooden knitting needles. I like wood in general. I do not like metal needles. I can use but don't choose first the Tupperware type of plastic needles. My mom sent me a check on my birthday. I spent most of it on yarn. But I keep thinking about those interchangeable knitting needle sets. But what kind to get? I'll have to add some of my own money, which is no big deal. But I want to choose right. I know a lot of people like the Denise sets. I'm considering them. But I've also seen that one, or maybe even two, bamboo interchangeable sets are available. So what have you folks used? Do you have a favorite? Do you have a set that you got and now don't like for particular reasons? I need other folks experience here! The bamboo sets are more pricy then the Denise, but I don't really want to spend the money and get a set that I won't use either. Leave a Comment! [4] Yes, and? [Mon 07:53] Bron email ~ site I never thought I'd like my Denise set, but turns out they're my fav needles. I think because of the flexible cables. And the needles are just so easy to manipulate - especially when doing complicated cabling & such. I have two Boye sets & use those for sticky yarn. I've never tried bamboo interchangeables - I'd be interested to hear a review. ......
[Mon 11:15] LoriO email ~ site
[Tue 05:54] Em email ~ site And no, it's not to late to join in the exchange! It's not until Feb. so name drawing won't happen for a while. Yay!
[Tue 10:13] Stonering email ~ site So, Thanks Bron, LoriO and Em. I think I need to find out more about the bamboo sets. Maybe my snooty LYS has a set hidden under their counter I could look at and feel. Of course I'd rather buy from the Threadbears, which sends me bouncing back toward Denise. Humm. Thank you Em, I'll look forward to the Cupid Exchange. If I can help any with organizing I'd be happy to. Of course I've been pretty scatterbrained recently. But I'd like to help. :-) LoriO, your mom had an origional Denise? Wow. I think I'm getting my mom a set for the holidays - because she remembers her mother's interchangables. But I doubt those were Denise. :-) And my mom uses pretty different needles from what I choose. You'd never know we were related by some of our fiber and knitting choices..
Thursday November 20, 2003 Hair of the dog? So is it possible to get a chocolate chip cookie hang over? And if that explains my headache this morning, will more chocolate chip cookies make it go away? I may just have to try and find out. I got out some of my Gedefra Cordilla yarn, to swatch for a sweater for myself. I've got six balls each of two colors, and two of a third color. It should be enough for a basic top down raglan. Just in case I didn't have enough to do right now. :-) I haven't worked on the lacy bumblebee socks for a few days, although I've made some progress on the diagonal scarf and the fluffy scarf for my daughter. And I've decided to try a Brioche stitch scarf for my cousin, after reading about how much, um. . . where was I reading that? Daily Fiber Therapy I think. So reading about how much Tipper liked it. So now I want to start that too. I'm a little unsure about the two colors of yarn I got together, but they are what I have, or I can use just two skeins of one color. How much will I need for a different scarf? I don't know. I've been happily reading more blogs again, and managing to comment on a few of them. Cause I was home yesterday I guess. Actually getting time to do things on the computer. Now if I could do it all without the half sick kid part of it. Or the two cars in the shop part. Leave a Comment! [2] Yes, and? [Thu 20:13] alison email ~ site You reminded me of something I miss from home: store-bought chocolate chip cookie dough! (Or homemade, of course, but those Pilsbury tubes are so convenient!) Why bake cookies when you can eat dough with a spoon? Thanks for the Noro suggestions. It'll take me a while to talk myself into spending all that money, so I'm not rushing into any colour decisions. :) ......
[Thu 21:06] Stonering email ~ site Good luck with the Noro. I also can't decide , but I'm not rushing to make the sweater, either.
Wednesday November 19, 2003 Do de dee do, dee do, Makin' Cookies. . . Okay, so it probably only works when you're hearing the Feelin' Groovy song in your head. But my little girl and I made cookies quite successfully this afternoon. She mixed. She helped put cookies on the cookie sheets, take them off the sheets (hot too), and I didn't once feel the need to stuff her in to the oven with them. :-) And the cookies taste good. Organic flour. Organic dairy free chocolate chips (well, the good ones are dairy free anyway. Dark chocolate is the only way to go!), eggs from our hens. . . good stuff. Aside from that I've been working on dish cloths today, mostly because I can walk off and come back again without major disasters. Family members who don't own dishwashers should enjoy them, I'm happy making them. It's a success all around. I want to be knitting sweaters. About six of them. Not even fussy or fancy ones. Just ones that would fit me. But I really need to get these holiday gift things done first. And, no, the dish cloths aren't even on my list of gifts to make. They were just a bright idea. We've had rain all day. I saw Jerry had snow way up north of me. The weather reports say it is moving south, so we might see some tonight. They don't seem to expect it to stick around, but it would be fun to have a little. Leave a Comment! [0] Tuesday November 18, 2003 What I've been knitting on, pt 2 And here are two more of the projects in progress. They look a lot brighter here then they do in my knitting bag. I'm lugging them all around with me, and some days making a little progress on knitting them.  fluffy & cuddly scarf for my short person  Diagonal scarf in Silk Garden Monday I actually worked mostly on the bright and ugly hat. It's looking a little long for an earflap hat, unless you have a pile of hair up under it. But I think I'll still do the ear flaps and then try it on. I really like the pattern overall, except that I can't try it on in progress. We managed to spend the entire day in and out of the pediatrician's office, getting the kid her annual checkup, and continuing on the process of deciding if she has Asthma. It sounds like not only does she have a mild form, but Spouse and I may as well. It's pretty interesting to me, after having always had upper repertory problems. I just figured it was because I lived with parents who smoked. For Tuesday, it's everyone out early in one car again. With luck on Weds I'll get a vehicle back, if I'm lucky. I keep telling myself it's good because that's nearly two hours of knitting time I get while riding as Spouse drives to work. Right now I'd trade it for a few days of rest and sleep. I'm at the sick and tired of being sick and tired point. Allergy testing comes in one week for me. We'll see if that tells me anything useful. I wonder if I can knit while it's going on. Leave a Comment! [2] Yes, and? [Thu 19:35] Stonering email ~ site Are my comments working? ......
[Sat 18:41] lee email ~ site
Monday November 17, 2003 What I've been knitting on: Okay, this will be quick. But I finally took pictures, so here are two of my four "in progress" items.  gift along bumblebee lace sock  Bright and Ugly hat for Darinsan I'll put more up later, or tomorrow, or something. When I get a chance to resize and post the pictures anyway. Have a happy Monday! Leave a Comment! [0] Friday November 14, 2003 Here a yarn, there a yarn. This unpacking and settling in stuff is really cutting in to my knitting time. Sigh. And there are yarns I know I have, but can't locate at the moment. Unfortunately they aren't on the top of the list of things to find either. There's another box or two of winter clothes, and the box of CD's, so we can listen to someone besides Warren Zevon, as much as I love his music. I keep trying to figure out what yarn to use for my mom's Neck's Best Thing. She lives in a warm climate, and she's not real excited by wool, so I figure a cotton, cotton blend, or one of the fancy soft fibers that she probably wouldn't buy for herself to knit with. I've got that Indulgence from Threadbear. I think it's in a trunk full of yarn at the moment, under a stack of clothing waiting to be put away or boxed up or something. There's some Success I just got, but I got it with something for myself and something for a cousin in mind. The colors don't really look like my mother to me, although I think she'd like the fiber. There's some fancy fine cotton, but I think it's too light weight, and also not her colors. And then there are other projects I'd like to be working. I have approximately nothing to spend on yarn at the moment. So I looked at Elann to see what they had, and they've got some Peruvian wool that I like the look of. It would work for a sweater for my spouse, and I could make the colors work for a rainbow sweater for me, or a nice solid color one. So lets see, 10 skeins or so four a spouse sweater, ten, or maybe fourteen (following the ROY G BIV rainbow scheme) to be safe, two of each color, and then another ten in a single color for something else for me. . . even at Elann's prices that's $75 or more. Sigh. And it's not as if there's any shortage of yarn here, it's just this other stuff that I don't have that I want. You know what I mean? I've been working on the simple diagonal scarf in the Silk Garden for a couple of days, or on the Bumblebee sock when my patience allowed. Today I just got fed up with the Silk Garden. Through no fault of the yarn's I'm pretty sure. I think it's just me hitting funky moods. I ended up switching back to the Bright and Ugly hat, and really enjoying the simple little color changes. What I've worked on with great delight is a brown and orange grid. Three and a bit rows of two stitches brown, two stitches orange, etc, then reversing it on the next row. I keep wanting to take pictures and not managing to do it. Soon. Really Leave a Comment! [1] Yes, and? [Sat 07:13] greta email ~ FINALLY!! YAY! I can open your blog. Happy day to me.... I sent an arrangement almost exactly like the sunflowers pictures above for my Daddy...sigh. burst into tears first thing this morning. It's going to be a ROUGH one. Gotta let the grief pour out and keep going...so glad your site is back up! ......
Thursday November 13, 2003 Oooooh! Look at alison's new button! It's got blue sheep. I love it! And she has a holiday gift-along going. I'm joining. I need a better list of what I need to get made, I keep having to check my projects list here to see what I need to work on! Leave a Comment! [2] Yes, and? [Fri 07:20] alison email ~ site Hey there! Glad you like the new button. I'm happy to see it making it's way onto people's link lists. What a great project list you've got here. Best way to keep track of all that you have to make. Hope the gift-along helps you get those holiday gifties done!
[Fri 07:50] Stonering email ~ site The project list was set up for me by the guy who fixes my blog. It lets me edit the lists or add new ones just like I do to post. I don't update it as often as I'd like, but I do like having it a lot. Your blue sheep button makes me smile every time I look at it. :-)
Wednesday November 12, 2003 Blog Moving! (again) Okay, I am now at GestaltKnitting.com! Whee! So please reset your blogroll lists, your bookmarks, um, your brains. This means you. Yes you. Both of you who read me. Take note of the new address, please. :-) I've actually made decent progress on the sock, not like as far as the heel or anything that exciting, but with a six row lace pattern repeat, getting through one repeat does advance me a bit. I'll get a picture of it to post soon. Having the camera and the sock together has seemed too complicated recently! I looked up info on mold allergies, and found one of the symptoms was forgetfulness. Kind of odd. But it fits. And I have to make an appointment with an allergy doctor (My "gp" is my midwife, who thought I should see someone who knew more about allergies than, um, her specialty. :-) ) (No, I'm not preggers, but I worked for midwifes for years before having the kid, and prefer this one's judgment to any MD's I found.) to get specifics, beyond taking Actifed. My other project that's getting attention is the diagonal garter stitch scarf. I finally checked in with the LYS on Monday. I'd had the right idea starting like the multidirectional scarf, and the right idea doing the increase at one end decrease at the other end diagonal scarf. What I missed was that I should have done *both* of them, not one or the other. It's moving along nicely now, with a fine diagonal slant. I got several things at the LYS on Monday. There was some marked down silk/cashmere/wool yarn, and some marked down Success (cotton & alpaca) and then some hand dyed silk that was $6.50 a skein. Now I have more than I can knit. Well, I did before too. But I want to use it all right now, and I can't because my list of holiday gifts to knit is going to keep me busy until about February. My car remains in the shop, getting fixed to the point where I can put a for sale sign on it. Sigh. I miss my car! I'm driving a creaky Toyota van, that has held up well, but is showing it's age and evidence of it's life as a work vehicle. It's, um, thirteen or fourteen years old now. A '88 I think, probably bought at the end of '87. Today is a knitting day, while the kid plays with a bunch of similar sized kids. If I'm lucky. Leave a Comment! [0] Saturday November 8, 2003 Oh-ho what I want to know-oh is Where does my time go? Where does my energy go? Where does my yarn go?  Yarn? What yarn?  Oh, you mean this? Where does my chair go?  Just a cat nap. For four hours.  I didn't wake him, Honest! I keep having various Dead songs playing in my head, so I figured I'd make use of this one. Here I am on a quiet Saturday. My little Pumpkin child is napping, Spouse is being productive. House kitten is attacking things that dangle down from the fish tank. Or alternately sitting in my lap as I try to knit, so she can try to eat my yarn. I got out sock yarns yesterday to consider what I wanted to use for a project. The next thing I know one of them is being carried away by the retrieving kitten. She has a habit of picking up whatever she's playing with and moving it to where she wants it to be. I hadn't realized it extended to yarn. I may have to bait her with another skein of sock yarn and see if I can get a picture. I've made two starts on a garter stitch scarf. I want the garter ridges to be diagonal, like one I saw at my LYS. I'll have to go back and ask her about the pattern I guess. Neither one has behaved the way I'd like it to. I'm making it with Silk Garden, which I love the color of. I pulled several pieces of something prickly and synthetic looking out of it already. :-( Which has me again wondering why I'm paying lots of money for a single ply with a good dye job. One of my all time favorite yarns is another of these, also from Noro. It's tucked away at the moment, I'll have to go dig it out and see what name it has. It had bunny in it, and was pretty wonderfully soft. But, again, it's a single ply. A local knitter with a fiber business told Spouse and me that if we were selling garments out of hand spun we'd do single ply (as she does) because it's just so much quicker, and people will pay for it even though it's not as durable, stable (etc) as multi ply yarn. I despise that attitude. And I wonder if I'm encouraging the same thing by buying Noro single ply yarns. At least the sock I did start is going nicely. Although it's quite a change to knit in sock yarn after the chunky yarns I've played with recently. And after a few Fuzzy Feet. It seems so tiny! Leave a Comment! [4] Yes, and? [Sun 00:55] ruzz ~ stoney, im back now, i hope to get things straightened away tomorrow or monday. please forgive my shabby-ness of late.
[Sun 10:56] stonering email ~ site Ruzz is back! Yay! That means my blog moves to gestaltknitting.com sometime soon. :-) Ruzz, will you leave a pointer here to tell folks were to go? Please? :-)
[Sun 14:03] ruzz ~
[Tue 16:10] ruzz ~ yea! im on to chocolate now..
Saturday. The post below was more like Monday than yesterday. I got distracted and never finished it somehow. I've also finished the scarf for the cousin. And the multidirectional scarf that I was working on just to see how I liked Noro's Silk Garden and that pattern. And a hat. It's been a good knitting week, because my car broke down. So for three days the kid and I loaded up and headed off to work with Spouse, giving me an hour of knitting time in the back of the car. (Car is so old there is no passenger airbag.) And then I got another hour on the way home. The rest of the day of course was long and tiring, as usual. The broken car? Well, it's had this same problem three times now. And I've kept up on maintenance, oil changes, etc. So either it's this particular car or something about my driving doesn't agree with it. I think I'm going to sell it for what I can get and see about finding another one. It's a Volvo. Any knit-blogging car tinkerers who want an '89 Volvo with issues? Anyone got one to sell without issues? At a price I can afford. On the entertaining side of things, a friend and I went in to the city one day, and went in to check out the next step up in car seats for our kids. The front of the store was full of cribs. My daughter spent quite a while carrying a "baby" around (the store's doll for testing out slings and things) and looking for a place to tuck her in to sleep, never realizing that the cribs were intended for babies to sleep in. Family bed strikes again. Leave a Comment! [0] Crack of daylight. So if the kid has got to wake up at first light of day, why couldn't she be doing it when I'm in between sleep cycles instead of in the middle of one? It's been the same every day for days and days now. :-( I wake up so much more easily when I'm not deeply asleep! I finished the Ruzzy Feet and got them in the mail yesterday. I hadn't been sure I was going to like knitting with the blue or grey yarn, but I actually found it relzxing. Something to keep in mind I guess. Maybe I just don't know what colors I like. :-) Actually I like most colors. I'm pretty happy so long as the color changes some every so often.  Finished Ruzzy Feet Leave a Comment! [0] |
