Some exciting news!!! [UPDATED]
First of all, an amazing cusp has been reached. DD (7) has been knitting ON HER OWN!!!
The story goes:
DD: Mom, you promised to make me a poncho.
Me: Yes, but you decided on the Tomato red hoodie sweater, which I made you last year.
DD: But you promised me a poncho!
Me: Yes, but now Grandpa Charlie asked for a sweater and you got a sweater last year.
DD: You promised!
Me: Sorry, honey, but Grandpa Charlie's sweater has to come first. I only make one sweater a year and he's next.
[think, think, think]
Me: I bet YOU can make a poncho. [Mom goes outside to get the "The Knit Stitch"]
Me: This poncho is just two rectangles you can do that.
DD: Yes, I can!
Me: And you could wear it and tell everyone you made it yourself!
DD: That would be so cool.
And so $44 and 12 hours later, DD has knitted 5 rows ALL BY HERSELF!!
Myself, I got my Rogue out to set it up for vacation knitting. I can't start my FIL sweater until I get the measurements so I know how much yarn to buy. I'll be there on Monday so I can measure for myself. So, yeah, I suppose I could have made the darn poncho. But it seems like a good thing to get the girl knitting! I have told her that I will knit on it some while she's sleeping, but she might say she doesn't want me to do any of it. We shall see. I'm going to try to finish the kangaroo pouch before I pack Rogue up in the suitcase, so I can get those straight needles out of it.
Other vacation knitting will be (sorry, evil mitred blankie, but you take three bags of yarn balls so I can choose on a whim) finishing socks-in-progress, woo-hoo.
Which leads right into Scout's meme, Just How Many UFO's do you Have?
I started these two years ago (at least) for mindless knitting at the park:
These are from some handspun that I carded when I first got my drumcarder:
These are my Bearfoot Jaywalkers:
I also have socks that have been living in my purse out of Knitpicks Parade (discontinued) and my mom's socks that need a new heel (that's first).
If I can finish all of these, I will have more than enough socks not to wear any commercial socks this winter, which is my goal.
[UPDATE] Then, not socks, I have a log cabinish shawl out of handspun. I'm still spinning the yarn for the end panels (combination drafting wool and silk). Maybe for next year's fair, but the colors are quite raucous, like the blankie. We'll see.
I also started the Mystery Stole #1 last year and lost my motivation very early on. Lace, it turns out, is not really my thing. I will eventually frog this and recycle the yarn. Maybe I need to do lace on fingering weight...hmmm...
I also started, a very long time ago, a beaded scarf for a prototype for a yarn shop that just turned out to be too far away to teach at. This may stay where it is forever, I don't know. I'm certainly not frogging all that beading, but whether I will get to finishing I doubt. I did learn about the Bead Spinner for this project and I cannot recommend it highly enough for stringing beads for knitting. It's a bowl with a spindle in the middle. You spin the bowl and lower a curved wire down into it and the beads literally jump up onto the wire. It's AMAZING! They usually have them for sale at the L.A. County Fair, if you're interested.
My last piece of good news is I'm coming into some Alpaca fleece. The last library show of the summer was yesterday and it was a traveling petting zoo from Parties Fantastic. They had bunnies, chickens, ducks, pygmy goats and 2 alpacas, one of whom had just recently been sheared. So I asked my usual, excuse me but what do you do with the fleeces?
Well, she said, "Would you like them?"
And the rest, as they say, is history. So after I get back from vacation, Star and I will be having much fun with raw alpaca, yay! One is a Suri, brown and white. They are both very soft and filled with VM, but that falls out when you process. Alpacas love to roll in the dirt!
So it's all good today. Now off to clean the house, do laundry, pack for our trip.
Have a lovely day!
The story goes:
DD: Mom, you promised to make me a poncho.
Me: Yes, but you decided on the Tomato red hoodie sweater, which I made you last year.
DD: But you promised me a poncho!
Me: Yes, but now Grandpa Charlie asked for a sweater and you got a sweater last year.
DD: You promised!
Me: Sorry, honey, but Grandpa Charlie's sweater has to come first. I only make one sweater a year and he's next.
[think, think, think]
Me: I bet YOU can make a poncho. [Mom goes outside to get the "The Knit Stitch"]
Me: This poncho is just two rectangles you can do that.
DD: Yes, I can!
Me: And you could wear it and tell everyone you made it yourself!
DD: That would be so cool.
And so $44 and 12 hours later, DD has knitted 5 rows ALL BY HERSELF!!
Myself, I got my Rogue out to set it up for vacation knitting. I can't start my FIL sweater until I get the measurements so I know how much yarn to buy. I'll be there on Monday so I can measure for myself. So, yeah, I suppose I could have made the darn poncho. But it seems like a good thing to get the girl knitting! I have told her that I will knit on it some while she's sleeping, but she might say she doesn't want me to do any of it. We shall see. I'm going to try to finish the kangaroo pouch before I pack Rogue up in the suitcase, so I can get those straight needles out of it.
Other vacation knitting will be (sorry, evil mitred blankie, but you take three bags of yarn balls so I can choose on a whim) finishing socks-in-progress, woo-hoo.
Which leads right into Scout's meme, Just How Many UFO's do you Have?
I started these two years ago (at least) for mindless knitting at the park:
These are from some handspun that I carded when I first got my drumcarder:
These are my Bearfoot Jaywalkers:
I also have socks that have been living in my purse out of Knitpicks Parade (discontinued) and my mom's socks that need a new heel (that's first).
If I can finish all of these, I will have more than enough socks not to wear any commercial socks this winter, which is my goal.
[UPDATE] Then, not socks, I have a log cabinish shawl out of handspun. I'm still spinning the yarn for the end panels (combination drafting wool and silk). Maybe for next year's fair, but the colors are quite raucous, like the blankie. We'll see.
I also started the Mystery Stole #1 last year and lost my motivation very early on. Lace, it turns out, is not really my thing. I will eventually frog this and recycle the yarn. Maybe I need to do lace on fingering weight...hmmm...
I also started, a very long time ago, a beaded scarf for a prototype for a yarn shop that just turned out to be too far away to teach at. This may stay where it is forever, I don't know. I'm certainly not frogging all that beading, but whether I will get to finishing I doubt. I did learn about the Bead Spinner for this project and I cannot recommend it highly enough for stringing beads for knitting. It's a bowl with a spindle in the middle. You spin the bowl and lower a curved wire down into it and the beads literally jump up onto the wire. It's AMAZING! They usually have them for sale at the L.A. County Fair, if you're interested.
My last piece of good news is I'm coming into some Alpaca fleece. The last library show of the summer was yesterday and it was a traveling petting zoo from Parties Fantastic. They had bunnies, chickens, ducks, pygmy goats and 2 alpacas, one of whom had just recently been sheared. So I asked my usual, excuse me but what do you do with the fleeces?
Well, she said, "Would you like them?"
And the rest, as they say, is history. So after I get back from vacation, Star and I will be having much fun with raw alpaca, yay! One is a Suri, brown and white. They are both very soft and filled with VM, but that falls out when you process. Alpacas love to roll in the dirt!
So it's all good today. Now off to clean the house, do laundry, pack for our trip.
Have a lovely day!
posted by Wendy Stackhouse at 7:54 AM
9 Comments:
Thanks, we will! Just heard that my in-laws' pool will be up again, yay!
I read about your alpaca find on star's blog. I am sooo jealous!!! I wish I could come "play" with you two.
Have a GREAT vacation and enjoy the pool :)
I would be happy to pass some along, Weaver!
Your daughter will thank you (maybe not now, but eventually). Such lovely WIP's. And, YAY! Alpaca fleece. How exciting. Have a great vacation.
There's something so fantastic about seeing a young girl knitting. You get to literally see the tradition passed down. That plus she's really cute working the needles.
I'm really intrigued by the bead spinner! I've had spinning with beads on my list of things to try for a while but I haven't gotten the motivation to string all the beads. I had no idea there was another way. This is going to be such a great year for the fair!
The bead spinner is way cool! And, yeah, I can hardly wait for the fair, so fun!
M knitted some more on her poncho and I did a bit overnight to make for more progress. I bet we finish it while we're gone, yipee!
Wendy's daughter is a cutie - when I asked her about her poncho (the night before they bought the yarn) she said 'Oh yes, I am going to do it. Maybe when I am done with it, I can make one for YOU!'. She is such a sweet child like that! Very generous and caring.
I hope she comes home from vacation with a whole rectangle done! I will be SO impressed!
Will you still post to this blog when you are away? I hope so... I am going to miss you, especially when I get back from my trip in a week (we leave tomorrow but will have internet access at least thru Wednesday, if not the whole time...)
Maybe I will have spun some lumpy yarn by the time you get home... perhaps lump can be my specialty... heh heh.
Picked up both my girl and Jill's from GS camp today - it has been deemed FANTASTIC! They learned about 30 songs... they sang most of them for me on the way home! They were only a tiny bit dusty and the girl only had a few snarls in her hair - no hair cutting needed! HOoray!
Kisses and safe trip.
Your sock pupil, your spinning novitiate, your co leader and your loving pal,
Joy
Socks should only count as 1/2 of a UFO (yes, that means that I too have several unfinished pairs of socks). Congrats on the alpaca find. Your daughter looks so adorable knitting. I'm glad that there are younger people interested inlearning fiber arts. Two of my three have started projects, but they became bored and the projects are long forgotten. I don't push them though because I figure someday when they're ready they'll pick it up again. Have a great trip.
Joy, yes, I'll be posting, but without pictures, while I'm gone. My mom doesn't like it when I put software on her computer, silly! (Just kidding). But nothing till the 15th, as I don't really have access till I get to NJ.
Glad to hear camp was fun. Apparently Zoe's horses were PREGNANT! (you heard that a hundred times, I'm sure)
M is all filled with the fact that she can knit at the airport, on the plane, in the car, to stave off boredom, plus to do mommy's second favorite thing with mommy, yay! (first favorite being playing together). I'm hoping we finish BOTH rectangles before we get home!
Heide, it's hard to believe you're reading blogs. How is the packing? We always need more space than we originally think (we have a LOT of stuff, don't we, Joy?)
I'm hoping that Girl Scouts keeps their crafting desire alive long enough for them to actually learn something thoroughly. And if they can't sew on a button by the end of the year, I'll eat my hat! I really hate that they've gotten rid of badges with very useful skills because of lack of interest. We can make them interested (we're doing sock puppets this year with buttons for features), the skills are VALUABLE and getting LOST!!
I'm not going to push her with the knittng, just remind her it is there when she's bored and has forgotten it. We're also bringing chapter books, hoping that she gets it that she doesn't have to be bored EVER if she's prepared. Her dad and I are both very easily bored so she's got a double dose!
I probably won't make it back here after dinner tonight for a week or so, so have a great week!
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