The Scottish Lamb

Go Ahead... Make My Day

I'm not supposed to be here right now.  I'm supposed to be in Queens visiting Elann friend, Theresa.  This is our third failed meeting.  It's nuts.  First we didn't find each other at Rhinebeck, then I was supposed to go a few weeks ago but a snow storm and school closing got in the way.  Today I was going.  I didn't care that the weather man said there was an ice storm coming.  He didn't sound *that* sure that it was going to hit here.   He said it'd be rain in the city so I figured that as long as I was going South I'd be fine.  Right?  Wrong.  I got about ten miles out on to the skating rink Palisades Parkway and knew I'd made a really big mistake.  After fishtailing a few times at 25 mph I called T to give her the bad news.  I had to turn around.  It had just started when I left the house but by the time I got home this is what I saw (don't look at the ugly housing... really... who came up with that orange color?  Thank God ours is in the ugly blue):

That's not snow.  It's ice.  Crazy.  And what looks like water on my car... ice:

I did get some dyeing done yesterday:

It was the first time I played around with hot pour dyeing and it was a lot of fun. 

And finally.... It felt really good to be told that I make someone's day.  Not just "someone" but people that I really admire.  That means something to me.  So thanks for making *my* day Kim, Luni and Norma .

First I have to say this is really tough.  I really fear missing someone and hurting their feelings.  There are so many out there but here are the ones that make me smile or inspire me the most both in knitting and in life.  I don't comment a lot on blogs (I know.  I'm sorry.  I'm barely getting posts on my blog) so some of them might be surprised to even find out that I read them.

Woolen Rabbit:  Really, it's no wonder Kim's on my list.  Besides our love of Cavaliers, Kim and I have so many other things in common.  There's the knitting, the spinning, the felting, the dyeing, the soap making, the basket making, New Hampshire...  and she's just a really cool person who's really turned out to be someone I could turn to be it a question about my dogs or to talk about stuff that only a mom of another grown son would know.

Wool Winder:   Always doing for others.  She's inspired me a few times to knit and sew for others.  She's always posting those pictures of Texas that make me homesick.  I can not wait to meet Tracy in person.  It's funny how you can really feel like you know someone that you met on the other side of that planet through a knitting blog.  I'm sure that she'll be as genuine in person as she is on her blog.

Zeneedle:  Really.  Is anyone surprised?  Margene has probably made just about everyone's list.  She's sort of become the Yoda of our knitting world.  She always has something inspiring and intelligent to say.  Most notably, "It's the process." which is probably the most quoted quote in Knitting Blogland. 

Norma:  Norma cracks me up.  But there's a lot more to her than being a smart alec.   What I love most about her is that she's not afraid to say it like it is.   One thing that I've learned about her is that she's a lot softer than she comes off.  I think everyone else has realized this too... everyone except Norma.  Here's a little secret.  As I'm typing out a post I always think of Norma and this post of hers.  The smart ass in me wants to use "just sayin", "stick a fork in it" and "really." several times in one post just to see if she'll take the bait.  As I re-read this for corrections I see that I used "really" several times.  Sorry, Norma.  :-)

Major Knitter:  I got to meet Jennifer a couple of months ago at Morehouse Merino's store (which I just read is CLOSED?!  What's up with that?  I just finally moved here!) and we hit it off immediately.  She's very down to earth and I love that she shares all of her knitting classes with us.

Sandy:  Sandy's was one of the first blogs I read.  She always has something interesting to say and strikes me as one of the nicest knitters in blogland even though I haven't gotten to meet her in person.

Sweet Georgia: Felicia's talent with color amazes me.  Amazes me.  It's that simple.

JenLa:  The gut-wrenching laughter alone makes it worth reading the Knotty Girls.  The knitting just makes them that much cooler.

Smatterings:  I've been reading Judy's blog for what seems like forever.  Color.  I love all the color.  The pictures are addictive and she throws a lot of tidbits and lessons in here and there.  Lots of woolly inspiration there.

And now I'm gonna cheat.  Last but definitely not least is all my Elann girls, most of whom have blogs but I keep up with them on the Elann chat site.  Though I disappear a lot for months at a time I always feel welcomed back and I've never met any of them in person  (Soon, T, soon).  I think it's time for a great big party!

You Spin Me Right Round, Baby...

Thank you all for all the kind words about my new little cousin's sweater.  I finally got it in the mail yesterday with instructions to put it on him quick and take a picture before he outgrows it.  I've decided I'm going to knit another one that he can wear next year.

I dusted of my wheel yesterday and spun up the wool from Stefania that Norma gave me when we met at Eveready a few weeks ago.  What beautiful stuff.   I drafted it out twice into a huge cloud of puff next to me and it spun like butta'.

I only have one bobbin for my Woolee Winder so when I don't ply Andean or from a ball, I wind off the singles onto my Majacraft bobbins with my bobbin winder.  I got this tip from Felicia who got it from June.  I bought the winder from Donald Walker on Ebay and it works beautifully.  Much cheaper than the big brands and much cheaper than buying more Woolee Winder bobbins.  I was smart about it and had a Babe's Electric Spinner made at the same time so that my Woolee Winder would fit both my Rose and my Electric Spinner.  Smart ain't I?  I know.  I amaze myself sometimes. :-)

So anyway, here's what the set up looks like while I'm transferring the singles from the wheel to the Majacraft bobbin.  It takes less than two minutes for a whole bobbin and I'm a rookie so I go slow.

You can almost see the sparkle from the Angelina in this next picture.  I'm telling you, this stuff is gorgeous.  I can not capture it in a photo.  It doesn't help that there's no light in this house.

The finished product.  It's a little darker in person.  One end of the drafted pile was a little lighter than the other end but it blended beautifully.  You can see the single on the photo above is the darker strand.  Gorgeous stuff.  Trust me. 

Sew + Snip + Join = Sweater

tiny zig-zag instead of straight stitch because of the slippery factor in the acrylic. Twice for security.

Moment of truth... the cut.  Ugh.

So far, so good.  Heavy sigh of relief.

Happy, happy, joy, joy!

Part of the hem.  He's named after my cousin's dad (uh.. yea... I guess that would be my uncle) and they are going to call him by his middle name (Nels short for Nelson).  It's on the hem along with a couple of hearts but I couldn't figure out how to photo the whole hem at once.

You can download the graphs and pattern here.

Now Comes the Hard Part

Knitting is finis

Now it's time to cut the steeks

Who has the valium?

A little Haiku for Sandy.

There it is.  Knitting finished.  Now comes the part I dread.  I've done steeks a bunch of times but it always takes shots of vodka a strong will to cut something you've knit.  Especially when you knit it in acrylic - GASP! Because acrylic doesn't stick together like wool does.  Dan's Hardangervidda has been a royal pain.  It was knit in super-wash wool and the yarn is slicker than snot.  Every time he wears it I have to repair something.

I'm a wool snob but I love my cousin.  She has four girls age eight and under and now the baby.  I think she'd appreciate not having to worry about felting wool.  Still... now that I think about it I wish that I had gone with the wool because she's going to have to hand wash it anyway and seriously, he's probably going to get to wear it like twice.  I need to get it in the mail in the next couple of days because if he weighed this on January 1st....

... chances are that he may have already outgrown it.   We're going up to New Hampshire for a visit in February but I'm afraid to wait that long.  Usually it takes me at least a week to work myself up to cut but I don't have the time with this one.

Thanks for all the kind words about Lucky aka Sir Cha Ching.  He was pretty out of it all day yesterday.   Aggie was very gentle with him and sort of hovered over him all day like she knew.  She's usually jumping on him and tugging him around by an ear or a lip or whatever she can grab with her teeth.  Not yesterday.  She sniffed all the parts that hurt and stayed by his side.  It was so sweet.

Cha Ching

Lucky has yet another nickname.  Lucky, I now knight you Sir Cha Ching.  No.  That's not Oriental.  It's in reference to the money this sweet, sweet little guy has cost us thus far.  After the initial adoption fee and the gas to drive to Indiana to pick him up he's had a few medical issues.  A few weeks ago he had a skin infection.  While at the vet it was discovered that his teeth are rotting right out of his head due to the lack of nutrition all those years at the mill.  We took care of the skin infection and he had his dental appointment today.  Holy Shnikies.  You know it's bad when you walk in to pick up your dog and the vet says, "I'm warning you... it's not pretty.  The boy is adorable but he's a train wreck.  We had to pull seven teeth instead  of three, he has a ear infection and an anal gland infection."  then she turned the bill so I could see it.  Let's just say it was over $900 and less than a grand.  Did I say Holy Shnikies already?  My first thought was that Dan was going to have my head.  My husband is the sweetest guy there is but he grew up on a ranch.  He loves the dogs but he sees them as dogs.  I see them as kids.  I decided to take the bull by the horns and call him from the vet to let him know.  He said a couple of things and then said, "Well... it had to be done.  Hopefully he'll be okay from now on."   He loves our dogs more than he'll admit.  You only have to see him with them when he thinks no one is looking.

• rescue fee: $350
• gas and hotel $500
• vet bills $1400
• This face:

Priceless.  He's worth every cent and we'd do it all over again.  Just know that if you take in a rescue you better be ready for vet bills.  Lucky was worse off than a lot of rescues are but just take it into consideration....

Haiku for Sandy:

Sweetest little dog

He's learning to enjoy life

One day at a time

A Few Good Links

The Norwegian Baby Sweater is coming along.  Almost  finished with the second sleeve.  I've completely reinvented the wheel with this one so I'll post my pattern when I'm done so you won't have to do the same thing.

Meanwhile, here are some links to checkout.  One knitting, one blogging and one just for giggles:

Fabulous Knitting Journal sheets to download (Have I really been out of the loop this much?  This is awesome).  Check out the rest of her site while you're there.  I just don't get how this one has escaped me.

When Norma and I met the other day we were talking about blogging and what if Typepad crashed or sold out....  one of the biggest reasons that I haven't given in to the many bouts of, "should I or shouldn't I stop blogging..." is because it's my history.  I love going back and reading early posts.  It's like a diary.  I'd hate to lose all that.  Anyway... not everyone knows that you can backup your blog.  There's an excellent tutorial for Typepad bloggers here.  Blogger bloggers (ha - that's funny) can go here.

And just for fun.....  Check out this video.  Don't torture yourself and watch the whole thing though.  He says the same thing over and over again which is funny because he ends up saying nothing at all.  All I can say is that I pray that TC is driving by if I ever get in an accident because no one... and I mean *no one* will be able to help me but him.   Wow.  I don't know how he got that turtle neck over that HUGE head of his.  Wowee-wow-wow.... WOW!  Tommy, it's okay.  Go on a vacation.  I'll watch things until you get back....  I think you really need it.

And just because I can't post without a picture... This is Briscoe.  Our neighbors adopted him the weekend before Christmas.  He's a year old and was from an Amish mill in Ohio.  Unlike Lucky, he's in excellent health.  He was filthy and most of his coat was stained yellow from urine but that's an easy fix.  He's just a year old and sweet as can be.  Aggie and Lucky love him.  Lucky actually whines a little when they have to part:

Wintery Knitting

Here's a work-in-progress post for Kim.  This is the little Norwegian sweater I cast on for my cousin's mountain man baby.  Good thing it's a quick knit or he'll outgrow it before I even get it done.  Good incentive.   I totally screwed up my math so when I got to the patterning I had to completely change it and come up with my own.  I pulled out the graph paper and started fiddling.  I learned something.  Norwegian patterns are much easier to do on and odd number of stitches.  Of course I had an even number.  Grrr.   I'll share the chart I did in a future post.  You can just make out the column of green on the upper left that will serve as my stitching line when it comes time to cut.

I was supposed to meet an Elann friend for lunch yesterday but they closed the roads down on post and the boys got yet another snow day home from school.  I would really have liked to go meet T but I have to admit... our backyard is beautiful as a winter wonderland.  You can't even see the houses behind us.

Yesterday was a perfect morning for fresh warm muffins.  These blueberry muffins are FABULOUS!  I just beat the butter and sugar by hand instead of pulling out the Kitchen Aid and they were light and airy and perfect.  I happen to have the book and love it.  It's chock full of excellent recipes.  You can also find the recipe here.

Meet Me at the Eveready

Living in New York has been vera vera good to me as far as getting to meet other bloggers in person.   

Back in June, when we were still living in the hotel waiting for housing, I saw an episode on Food Network about a diner in Hyde Park called the Eveready.  It looked so awesome that we took the 45 min. drive that night to eat there.  Awesome food, lots of it and a great, fun atmosphere.  I didn't realize then how close it was to Rhinebeck and Morehouse Merino.  That location makes it a perfect spot to meet other knitters.  I got to introduce Jennifer to the eatery in September and yesterday I got to meet Norma there!  Yeah!   Who knew a diner in a little town in the Hudson Valley would be the source of knitterly fun?!

Norma volunteered to drive 1 1/2 hours out of her way to meet me there.  Don't tell Norman I said this, but I think she used me as an excuse because she's addicted to the place.  We had so much fun talking the waitress must have come to our table four times to take our order before we were actually ready and we were only ready then for fear she wouldn't come back again.

You think you know someone by their blog but there's still that little anxiety when you go to meet them in person for the first time.  I've been lucky so far.  No phsyco-killer maniacs yet.  Norma was exactly what I expected... I knew she'd be fun (have you *read* her blog?  the woman is a hoot for cryin' out loud) except nicer.  She's a great conversationalist and there wasn't a boring moment during the whole two hours we were there.  I hope we can meet up again.

Not only did Norma drive all that extra mileage, she gifted me with some gorgeous roving from Handspun by Stefania.  Hard to catch the colors on camera but it's naturally dyed with indigo and osage with a little Angelina to give it sparkle.  Softer than a baby's bottom. 

My cousin, after four girls, finally had her toddler baby boy on New Year's Day. They got a ride home from the hospital in a Limo because he was the first baby of the New Year.  I think she deserved the ride home because... are you sitting down???.... he was 11lbs 12 oz and 24 inches!!  I cast on a Norwegian pullover from EZ's Knitting Around .  This should be a quickie with all the playoff games going on this weekend (Go Cowboys!).

Be sure to check out the new post on Lucky's progress.  There's a cute video of him barking. He doesn't do that very often so it's a great sound to us.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year from our family to yours!

Two Little Red Mittens

After Norma's post the other day I used our TV time this weekend (which was a lot due to the storms that blew through) to knit a couple pairs of mittens for The Soaring Eagle's Project.  I had some Gjestal Naturgarn in a beautiful bright red left over from this sweater I knit for Joe.  Funny... for Joseph's sweater I toned down the color with some brown dye but it was a perfect bright red for mittens.  They'll be winging their way to Rachel later today if the ice melts a bit.  I used the patterns from Ann Budd's Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns. After knitting the larger pair I knew it was going to be close to get another pair out of the skein so I cast on a small pair.  Here's what I had left:

Also started pulling out old UFO's.  This is the back and one front part of Chick Knits Ribby Cardi in Elann's Highland Wool.  Pretty boring picture in gray but, for Kim, there it is.

Due to the ice, the boys have another day off of school today.  Joseph, however, will be spending the day doing a book report that was supposed to be due today.   He never brought the book home so we made him pick out one he finished recently so that he had something to turn in when they go back to school tomorrow (hopefully!).  Trust me, he's only smiling because he knows I was taking his picture.  Hoping to nip procrastination in the butt by Junior High.

Jeremy is supposed to fly here on Thursday.   I'm a little worried because it looks like another big storm is going to hit Indiana that day.  Ugh.  We'll all be SO disappointed if he doesn't make that flight.  We're all dying to get our arms around him and have him home for a couple of weeks.