Yarn Along - It's Basically A Crime Scene At This Point

I could write an epistle on knitting the Renny sweater so far.  Or better yet, NOT knitting the Renny sweater.  Or more accurately UNknitting the Renny sweater.  Over and over and over and over...  I've lost track of how many times I've frogged a basic sleeve.  Or I should say TWO basic sleeves.

I've had gauge issues - too tight and too loose.  I've had knitting with hot hands issues.  I've had two sleeves not matching exactly perfectly issues.  I've had making sloppy turns for magic loop issues.  I've had skeins of handspun yarn not matching exactly issues.  And I now have friends who probably won't answer the phone if I call them one. more. time.

The latest?

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The latest.

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Sigh.

I was going to carry the most recent two sleeve starts to the house Monday night.  I sat them on the stone steps of the Wool House so I wouldn't forget them.  And forgot them.  They spent the entire Tuesday getting blazed by the sun...and then it rained on them.  And my 'looks just like Renny' notions bag.  

One of the last texts kbdoolin sent (before she's probably stopped talking to me) says "That poor sweater."  That was before this happened.  I was going to text her my latest tale of woe last night...and couldn't even find the words.  I just gathered everything up and headed to the house.

I pulled off a bunch of the wettest outer layers of yarn (which is surely to become the next crime - insanely tangled yarn when I try to wind it all back on) and spread them out as best I could.  This morning I carefully moved it all outside.  The yarn feels pretty dry, but the notions bag is still quite wet.  Luckily this is Renny yarn and not some fragile silk/merino blend.  If anyone can survive knitting with me, it's Renny.

I did start one of my sleeves for the last time again last night while actually watching some of the Olympics for the first time.  I knit to the first set of increases and wanted to then start the second sleeve, but even though I had a dry ball of yarn that I think will match the first one, the needles (bamboo) were so wet that I knew I was just asking for yet another gauge issue.  I'm learning.  The hard way.  As usual.

Amanda Owen is another one of my favorite Twitter follows.  Frequently over the years though I've thought, hmmm, maybe a bit too "Hollywood".  A dress out in the field?  You're going to clip all those sheep yourself?  And you just had a baby? A real shepherd stopping to serve daily tea to hikers?   

It only took a few more than 140 characters to convince me otherwise and now I've stuck her in my top five (or two) folks I'd like to meet and places I'd like to see if I ever get on an airplane.  The Yorkshire Shepherdess is one of the most enjoyable books I've ever read.  

She has a new book out now, A Year in the Life of the Yorkshire Shepherdess, and I can't wait to get my hands on it.  In fact, I might just go order that right now...instead of attempting to re-wind all that yarn ;-).  I believe that's spelled p-r-o-c-r-a-s-t-i-n-a-t-i-o-n.  Next week's progress report will. be. better.

Joining in with Ginny...

Yarn Along - A Silver Medal Finish

Technically I did knit a Rebecca Boone "vest".  I just ended up making a miniature one so I could figure out all sorts of stuff that I didn't even know I needed to figure out until they happened.  If you realize something isn't going to work and needs to be ripped back and re-knit, it doesn't hurt as much if you are only talking about 70 stitches rather than rows and rows of 200 ;-).  

Designing patterns is hard work.  When you see that small charge next to a pattern download, pay it happily (and fairly).   Someone has put a ton of work into those three or four sheets of paper you are getting ready to print out.  And if you are thinking about giving it a try yourself, do it!  You'll learn a whole lot and make a cute little sheepy or teddy bear really happy :-D.

"I can't believe someone knit me a handspun sweater!"

And now on to my favorite part - blocking.  See how wonky everything is?

I start with a good soak in some warm water with a little Mrs. Meyer's lavender laundry soap.  I didn't use quite as hot water as I usually do because I was nervous about the Cotswold yarn being more shrinky than a more medium wool.  Not sure if it is, just a fear.  I should do a test of some different swatches sometime and find out.

Pinned out to dry.

Tadaa :-)

A close up of the collar.  I was wanting to do a lock spun yarn from Rebecca Boone's lamb fleece that I still have stashed.  It's so pretty and lots of different colors and darker grays.  It didn't look quite right though with the lighter gray sweater, so I pulled down some of Graham's lamb fleece. 

I'd originally planned to tail spin it around a core the proper way, and I did, but I didn't like the yarn.  I've not found a core spun yarn yet that I really like.  Oh, they're pretty to look at, but I just don't like the feel of it knitted.  Maybe I'll try weaving it sometime.  In the meantime, I just fluffed up his baby locks and spun two small singles and then plied them together.  Worked fine, looked good and knit up just the way I wanted :-).

Here's a better view of the the lace pattern and the attached i-cord edging on the front panels.  The pattern worked out well and was easy to maneuver around because it had so much stockinette stitch involved, but when I do a full size sweater, I'll mirror the patterns on the fronts so they, well, mirror each other.  Lots to learn :-).

Burrnie Update - and his name is going to stay Burrnie.  It just fits him.  He's doing really well, is really sweet, super smart and we're glad he's here :-).
 
I started having some trouble yesterday with Daniel Not-Boone (who's maybe actually more Bossy Boone than we'd have thought ;-).  Poor Daniel.  Chocula doesn't like being separated from the rest of his friends.  "I didn't doooo anything.  Why do I have to be in priiiison over here?..."  If Chocula's upset, his big brother Daniel is upset.  Burrnie was completely behaving himself, but was still getting some retaliatory punches and it looked like it wasn't going to stop.  No one should have to feel scared, especially at night.  I kicked Daniel out of the group :-/.

I went back up before bed to check on everyone and all was quiet.  This morning I found three sleeping spots outside, near the back corner of the barn. I'm guessing that's Chocula and Hershey together on the right and Burrnie on the left.  Daniel had a matching spot just over the fence corner a few feet away.  While I was sad they'd all slept out on the cold ground, at least they'd all slept together.

Oh For Knit's Sake!

"Knit five rows of garter stitch and shut up.  It's the Winter Olympics, not the Whiner Olympics.  Yeesh!"

An Olympic Update

I am standing at the top of the ski jump. Just standing there. And standing. And standing... The yarn has been finished for days now. I've done two samples, still like my stitch pattern choice, am good with my gauge, have measured a nice fitting vest...  I'm ready, but I'm just standing.  Over-thinking which jumps I want to do, how many turns in the air, (actually, I'm probably trying to learn the names of all the jumps and turns ;-).  

Anyway.  I'm not really sure what the hold up is.  I need to just get out of my head and git ta knittin'.  I guess the main hold up excuse is how I want the bottom edge to start.  Which cast on would be best?  Do I need/want a few rows of something straight and stable or will the patterning itself be enough to keep it from rolling?  Hmmm, if I cast on provisionally, I can over-think all this WHILE I'm knitting.  That's today's goal.  Just. Get. Started.

In the meantime, here are some pictures of Rebecca Boone's pretty yarn. 

A few snowflakes added for fun.

I have to say this is some of my favorite yarn I've ever spun.  It's soft and fuzzy, pretty to look at and carry around.  It's exactly what I wanted - a yarn that reflects her curly locks.

Even washed and combed out, the curls shine through.

Spun softly, but definitely not a fragile yarn.  A yarn with character, much like the sheep herself :-).

My Olympic spinning mascot.  

Yarn Along - For The Winter Olympics

It's here!  It's here!  It's finally been FOUR WHOLE YEARS and time for the Winter Olympics! I enjoy the Summer Olympics too, but a whole Olympics devoted to my favorite time of year?  Oh you know it! :-D

It's also time for the Ravellenic Games, formerly known as the Knitting Olympics.  The Olympic folks came after the Ravelry folks for using the word Olympics two years ago.  Same ultimate challenge with a clever new name ;-).

The goal of participating in the Ravellenic Games is to set a fiber art (I don't think it has to be knitting) challenge, start it no earlier than the opening ceremonies, work hard to complete your challenge during the games, watch along if you wish and be finished by the closing ceremonies.

Your challenge can be anything that's a true challenge to you.  Push yourself.  It could be knitting a huge lace shawl or just learning to knit.  Want to spin up an entire fleece or just learn to drop spindle?  Weave something?  I think it all counts.  Or at least it counts on our team :-).

If you'd like to join Team My Favorite Sheep, we have a fun group over on Ravelry.  Just drop in, join the group and let us know what your challenge will be.  If you'd enjoy keeping everyone posted on your progress, we love to hear and see pictures.  We are great cheerleaders and there is a ton of talent there if you crash your sled ;-).  There are also a whole list of other teams and groups and "sports" and on and on and on...

I worked up a fun ravatar for our team.  Originally Maisie's head was a little too big.  When I showed it to Saint Tim his comment was "Well, her head's too big for her britches anyway."  So I fixed that! Also, Boudreaux is a bit over-tall, but since he's spent most of his life being "under-tall" he said he was okay with it ;-).  

Feel free to take and use it as a button if you'd like - just please link it back to this post or to our Ravelry team thread.  And, hey, if you'd like to participate but you aren't on Ravelry (gasp! ;-), just leave your comments here on the blog and enjoy the games! 

Joining in with Ginny's Yarn Along.  My Ravellenic Challenge is to design and knit a Rebecca Boone vest, so the only books I'm reading right now are pattern books ;-). 

The Wool Anniversary

Time flies when you're having fun.  Yesterday marked my 7th blogging anniversary!  Since the 7th anniversary is wool, I used that (and the fact it was warm in the Wool House :-) as motivation to do some sample spinning with Rebecca Boone's pretty Cotswold roving.  I have big plans for her for the upcoming Ravellenic Games (formerly known as the Knitting Olympics).  More on that tomorrow.

"Is this how you want me to pose?"

I have a little over 30 ounces of her 2013 fall roving.  That should be plenty.

I spun a small sample and wound it off on my hand to Andean ply.  This is a neat trick and one I use for drop spindling and for plying small samples off the wheel.

Basically you wind the single strand into a center pull around your hand.  You gather up the front and back end of the yarn, pull your finger out so it slips down onto your wrist and you can safely ply the two ends together without things getting crazy.

It's pretty, but I had a feeling it was too thin for what I wanted.

So I spun up another sample.  This time I had more yardage so I wound the center pull ball on my plastic ball winder. 

I liked this much better.

And then I pulled out a stitch book and sampled three different patterns.  I liked the Eyelet Zigzag lace the best.  The zigzags look a bit like her curly locks.  It's a start!

Jester's Sweater

I knew this wasn't going to be an easy "take a picture with one of your favorite sheep" shoot.  While I know that Jester likes me, he was several years old when we got him and, like most of our Jacobs, has never become very chummy.  Oh, he's gotten to where he'll come up and quickly grab a cookie from you, but let's just say Hug a Sheep Day is not one of his favorite holidays ;-).

We trapped him in the end of the barn and then took the end gate down and built Amy an outside fence so she could get as close to us as she could, but not so close that it would upset him.  I bribed him with cookies and was able to get my hands on him a couple of times.  I love how every time I have to do that - for eye checks, deworming, feet trimming... he always immediately looks up at me.  He's the only sheep we have that does that.  I was hoping Amy could capture that and she did :-).

The sweater turned out great.  Everything blocked out just the way I'd hoped - lots of worry for nothing.  Gotta love wool.

Isn't he cute?  I tried to pick color patterns that reflected his special wide sweeping "jester hat" horns.

And I used a duplicate stitch to add a touch of dark gray to the big areas of light gray.  Fun and easy to do.

Annabelly, getting a closer look at her neckline.  The top two inches of the sweater are actually Annabelly, covering where I ran out of white Jester yarn.  She doesn't have a great fleece and I'd probably not really be interested in making a strictly Annabelly item, but I'm thrilled she's at least a part of something special.  She's a funny sheep and our very first lamb years ago.  She deserves to be included :-).

Thank you Jester.  I love your sweater :-).

Thank you Amy.  I love your pictures :-). 

Field shots coming tomorrow, aka the Graham Lamb show.  Of course.  Sigh.

Meanwhile Back At The Olympic Village...Hey, Where Did Everybody Go?

The Olympics can't be over. I still have hours of unwatched coverage on our DVR! Sigh.



At this point the only thing Olympic about the Jester sweater is that I refuse to give up. To be beaten by knitting smarter than me. Trying to figure out my own patterning that fits into the maths of stitch counts, decreases, length... Sigh.



Then, the sleeves that were supposed to be hemmed picot (like the Crazy Esther cowl) but looked so nice before hemming that I decided to leave them as they are and, boy, wouldn't the bottom look cute like that too? Yep, just because the sleeves didn't roll...well, you know how this sentence ends.

Blocking will only help a little. Or maybe I should say temporarily. I'm wondering if I can pick up some stitches underneath and hide row or two of garter stitch to hold it flat. Any thoughts?



Basically it's a miracle I've gotten this far. I stewed and stewed and read and read and stewed some more and finally said, for Jester's sake, just. put. some. stitches. on. Knit on with confidence... And un-knit when it didn't look good, re-knit, un-knit when the sleeves got too long, re-knit, un-knit, re-knit, un-knit, re-knit...

I like the patterning now and the length isn't too, too long, but one sleeve is slightly tighter than the other one. I'm most likely the only one who'd ever notice, especially after blocking so I'm trying to "let it go."



Because at this point I've put poor Clair Bear to sleep. And we know how much cats hate to sleep all afternoon day ;-).




But spending hours and hours on the porch isn't completely without it's perks. I got those nice hummingbird pictures one day, the butterflies have been fun to watch and those pictures of Comby were nice.



Sadly the pictures of Hank sitting out with his "kids" are just reminiscent of greener pastures. We are toasted brown here again. And still way too hot. And way too sweaty. And the flies are awful and I'm going to shut up now, because I'm putting myself to sleep with all the complaining.

Actually, doesn't a nap sound really good right now ;-).

P.S. I'm ready to start the yoke patterning. Don't be looking for any further updates anytime soon. Sigh.

Siesta

These long hot afternoons... The temperature is down a bit today, but the humidity is way high and just wearing me down. I've been a pretty darn good sport about it all for weeks and weeks and weeks. I can't promise how much longer that will last :-o.

To top it all off, something's wrong with Marcel :-/. Something urinary, but his ultrasound and urine smear showed only minor crystals, no stones. Bladder stones are almost always a death sentence, so that was a bit of good news...except that leaves us with what really is the problem??? We are treating for stones (just in case they are just starting) and a UTI (only other possibility we can come up with). Any thoughts?

So, while it would be nice to be sitting inside in the AC watching the Olympics and knitting on the Jester sweater, I'm sitting out in the sheep shed, watching. At least I'm in good company. Even if they are all asleep ;-).



The Keebster.



The Hankster. There's a funny Twitter picture of him from earlier today.



Lila. She has developed the funniest tuft of hair smack on the top of her head. You might be able to see it if you biggify. Gives her a bit of a Flintstones look. Would it be mean to take a picture of that? Like maybe if we all promised not to laugh? Too loudly?



Marcel, finally laying down to take a nap with his buds. I'm hoping this is a good sign - as opposed to mostly standing up and hiding away by himself. Poor Marcel :-(. Him leaning on my leg as I rub his ears trying to make him feel a little better is breaking my heart. Such a sweet guy.



Keebs, Sherman and B. Willard. Almost like Neapolitan ice cream. This shot is focused on Willard in the back, with my aperture set to blur out the front.



And vice versa.

Which do you like better?



"She's never going to get my sweater finished at this rate."