Transitions

Hannah was helping me last night with the scarf for the Red Project--due today. I've been knitting on it all weekend, but every time I measure I still have 10 inches to go--how is that possible?
Hannah had a lot of fun pulling the skein apart and holding onto the strand that I was knitting from.
Kelly (my dear husband--and I really mean that)--had to insist that the transition I made between the Brown Sheep wool yarn from my stash and the yarn I found to finish the scarf at the Recycled Lamb (Ogedifra Fashion Trend--51% wool, 49% acrylic) was obvious. He implied this with raised eyebrows and statements about the colors being different and didn't seem convinced by my argument that I had blended the colors for several rows by alternating the new yarn with the old yarn and that the new yarn had natural color transitions in it. I didn't point out to him that they have different fiber contents--so if it is washed vigoriously one side will shrink while the other will not--as it seemed he didn't need more fuel on his side of the discussion. I think it looks nice and none of the things happened that I was worried about--like the new yarn needing to be knit on different needles or bulging slightly where they joined--it actually is the same size scarf on either side of the transition. And it meant I didn't have to start again from scratch when I realized I wasn't going to have enough yarn to finish the project. Since he is also a perfectionist when it comes to things that matter (like the new garage door he installed a couple weeks ago), I think I'll let it go. After all, the scarf isn't for him and let's hope that the kid who gets it is just pleased with it and happy with the color transition and never washes it (I'll put washing instructions with it--don't worry).

Red Scarf Project

That's Kirk Montgomery behind me--we're at Einstein Bagels right before the filming of a short, live segment on channel 9KUSA earlier today. I was the lucky person selected from Interweave because everyone else who could do it was at TNNA in San Diego, and I live in Denver. Fortunately, I was already planning on going, had asked my MIL and her sister to come with me, and had started a red scarf last week. Only problem was that I was running out of yarn--so today I had to run over to the Recycled Lamb where I tried to tell them about the project, but they didn't seem interested, but they were very helpful in finding a yarn that would work for finishing my scarf. So today was devoted to getting ready for the tv spot--reading the literature, curling my hair (hard to tell, isn't it), putting on make up, finding current copies of our magazines, and trying to make progress on the red scarf. The Red Scarf project is sponsored by the Orphan Foundation of America (http://www.orphan.org/) to create care packages for the 2,000 or so foster youth who are aging out of the program and attending college with a family network to support them. We need to make a lot of scarves. I think 500 have been created so far. They have to be handknitted in red or other unisex colors and 60 inches long. You can drop them off at any Einstein Bagel location before January 31, 2006--a week from today. I'm nearly done with mine. Maybe I'll make two!

The onesie works

I finished the onesie in time for the photo shoot. Yay! Here is Hannah with Grandma Helen (my grandma--Hannah's Great-grandma) at Monday Night Dinner tonight.
I made Lemon Chicken casserole and salad and took it to Grandma's. Dad was in Santa Fe, so didn't come. 

I'm nearly done with Hannah's onesie--good thing, too! Well, because our house is very cold since we turned down the heat because of our eye-popping-Xcel-energy-bill and also because Wednesday and Thursday are our days for the Spin-Off photo shoots and since I'm taking Hannah anyway to the photo shoot to model some booties, I might as well have Joe shoot photos of the onesie while it fits her in case we decide to use it on the web or something.

I go back and forth on this--but I did take good notes while I was making it, even though it is a design-by-the-seat-of-your-onesie kind of design. Okay--so this is what happened--I ran out of green. Pretty obvious, huh. Then, I ordered more--Glacial Green from Louet and spun more--but I also ordered this Fuchsia at the same time and I really liked it. I could have completed the onesie in green, but I was seduced by the Fuchsia (the correct spelling of Fuchsia seems like an obscenity, doesn't it? Especially right after typing seduced....).
Then, I tried the onesie on Hannah and it was a little tight around her thighs--so I decided to add more to the bottom in Fuchsia (this is getting bad--I'm going to be banned from decent blog rings, I know it.). I did it in short rows because it gave nice shaping--but now my simple onesie isn't so simple. It was supposed to be a tube with straps. 

Denver Stock Show

Hannah and Kelly at the Stock Show--visiting the llamas! 

The "is there anything I can do for you" sweater

So--this is the sweater that Stephen's sister gave him for Christmas. He hasn't been able to wear it because it smelled so strongly of lanolin. I think she bought it on a trip to the British Isles. How does it end up in my bathtub? Well--this is a possible result of an open ended offer to help out. How many times have I asked friends who are going through tough times, "Is there anything I can do to help? Is there anything you need?" And how many times have I been let down?--there is nothing for me to do to ease their pain, or to make their lives easier. So when I made my offer to Stephen after he was in a car accident that broke both his shoulders, I was a bit surprised (but pleasantly so) that he mentioned this sweater and maybe I could wash it for him so he could wear it and get warm--he's always cold.
I knew I was committing to a lot of time and work when I lifted the sweater--it was heavy! But this was actually something I could do--so it was great.
When I got home I looked at the sweater closely--it was really well made and beautiful--but spun in the grease--so it was heavy with lanolin and some vegetable matter. It took 2 Sundays to get it clean--the first one took 9 tubs of water for three washes and two rinses each--and I ran out of hot water so had to stop. I let it dry through the week and then returned to washing it the next Sunday when I had time again and finally it smelled good and wasn't sticky with grease. It took another week to dry completely (laid out on the guest bed with towels and underneath that a shower curtain to protect the bed from the moisture. I spun it out in the washer to get all the water out. Stephen was really happy with the sweater and finally I feel like my offer to actually do something meaningful for someone in need was taken seriously!
The other night Liz was leaving work and she sounded like she had a lot to do and I started to offer--is there anything I can do? and then I turned it quickly into a offer to wash her sweaters...it was so funny! 

This was completed in November--so much to catch up on, so little time.
It was a real crunch to finish it in time for the Beadwork photo shoot--the week of Thanksgiving. 

Beaded portrait almost done

This is the portrait on November 21st--the new deadline was November 22--an emergency photo shoot for other items, not just mine. I managed to finish it in time--just by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin. (Actually, just one hair on my chin--it is more like a migrating eyebrow--who called them that? Some comedian. . . such a perfect description.) November was such a long time ago--it is already well into December. Hannah is already 6 months old! How did that happen? In the meantime, I've almost finished her onesie (I just have to add buttons and figure out how finish the leg holes), worked on the heart-shaped pin cushion (see below), thought about my Dad's brown sweater (I even looked at it in the basement for it--I've been working on it every Christmas for about 7 years now), started and finished one Christmas stocking out of beautiful handknit sweaters that I smelted (fulled accidentally) in the washer a long, long time ago but never threw out because I knew I'd use them for something like this eventually. (Note: I must pay homage to my mom, the collector of egg cartons, orange juice cans, empty thread spools, toilet paper rolls, holey socks, underwear, etc. for just such occassions--you'd be amazed at what she can do with these things.) I taught my niece and nephew how to stitch the felted bits together using a button hole stitch. My 6-year-old nephew thought I said butt hole stitch--imagine the fits of laughter. Actually, I think it is what captured and held his attention long enough to finish his heart ornament for his teacher.

SOAR 2005

Hannah and Kelly at SOAR 2005! 

Glacial green silk/Merino calling my name

This is the onesie (the green thing between the bags of fiber from Louet on my wheel) I started knitting for Hannah from yarn I spun last year from a bit of Glacial Green fiber from Louet. I had tried to make a spiral novelty yarn--but it just looks, well, poorly spun. Oh well. It is still soft and a great color of green. I'm knitting Hannah's onesie in a K2P2 ribbing for extra stretchiness for her belly--it is the most kissable belly you can imagine.




I dumped out my spinning basket to "pack for SOAR" (not to spin, no, I'm not looking for my oil bottle, I'm getting ready for SOAR--really).

I'm ignoring the little voice in my head that is saying, "you can't show up to SOAR without something handspun--even a little onesie" so that I can get some work done. Honestly.
Heebeejeebees (my ancient, I-can-get-everything-but-the-important-end-in-the litter-box-cat) needed to sit on all my spindles.

Hannah's newest handspuns from Carol--just in time for pumpkin season! 

Beaded portrait of Hannah

This is the piece that is due November 15th--fortunately I did make some progress on it during a 5-hour meeting last week. It is highly unlikely that I'm going to finish it on time. Highly unlikely. 

Making stitches

What I really need to be working on is the beaded portrait of Hannah--as it is due for photography November 15th for the Beadwork article I wrote--but instead, I have a burning desire to make little stitches on bits fulled cloth. 

Maryland Sheep and Wool Onesie

Hannah finally fits into her Maryland Sheep and Wool Onesie! 

This is the best hat--it was a gift for Hannah from Allison--it is handspun angora and it sits on her head perfectly. She likes it even! 

Hannah and Heebs hanging out on the couch. Heebs is actually trying to sit on top of the baby--he thinks she's warm, I guess. 

See--she likes handwovens!

A new blanket

Hannah's trying out the new blanket from Gisela--I think she likes it!

Happy Baby

Hannah loves the Shetland handspun sweater from Deborah--as well as the blanket behind her--made by Judy.

Isn't she adorable! My happy baby--modeling the booties I made when I didn't know if she was a boy or a girl. I donated these to the Interweave Auction benefitting the American Red Cross--an eBay auction and they raised a bit of money for the hurricane survivors.
It kind of looks like she's playing the air guitar--must have learned that from her daddy.