And Still There's More...

...of Kansas.  I am not quite finished.  Close, but not quite.

To answer DSis, we did ride a train of sorts.  It was more of a small cart behind a very noisy mini-engine.  Very. Noisy.  But fun.  For our ride, there was only...us.  For a full ride, there would only have been maybe 6 more!  Like I said, fun.  And very green.

One evening bore a walk to the cemetary to see what might be afforded in photo opportunities.

Rural cemetaries are in such pastoral settings. (Clicky for biggy!  The birdy is a fun one!)

Trees were blooming.

Important events are memorialized.  Sidenote: These people are not buried here, only the manner of their demise noted.

And some fancy pants artsy efforts...

To end the week with.

Have a good weekend, and keep a good thought for my lilacs.  We are in for a few chilly nights.

And, Pray Tell, Where?

Anywhere.

And everywhere.

Just about, anyway.

In ‘my chair’ in front of the TV. In the car going from here to there. On the patio under the pergola. Sitting on the front porch watching the neighborhood go by. Around my kitchen table with my former co-worker knitterly peeps.

At a restaurant waiting for food. While drinking coffee at a coffee shop.

And in waiting rooms whiling away the time before an appointment.

While visiting with friends. During lunch. On trips. Especially while flying.

I do need decent light, since my eyes are sort getting on the old side. So outside knitting (au naturel?) works grandly.

And I have not figured out how to walk and knit, nor how to ride my stationary bike and knit. I cannot read and knit, nor can I work on the computer and knit. I am sadly limited by only 2 hands, and alas, my multi-tasking skills have fallen dramatically with age.

Which is okay. Really it is.

I also do not knit during meetings, or job interviews. Really, really poor form.

Or weddings and funerals. I try to have a sense of decorum.

However, during these times? I have been known to be fidgety, foot wiggly, seat shifty, and finger tappy.

Or worse? Giggly. (Knitting can rein me in, behavior-wise.)

A New Challenge

Breaking it down into baby steps, small bites, first things first…that’s how I tend to go about things. How I try to go about things. I try to avoid grandiose and lofty resolutions at New Year’s, opting rather for a set of achievable goals I feel compelled to complete.

So this year, knit-wise, it was more socks (and short rows toes and heels) and grown up sweaters.

(And dyeing. And new spinning skills, but this is about knitting.)

Anyway. I struggled through several iterations of short-row heels and toes, and was not pleased with the results. That little goal has come to rest under the heading of ‘Tried REALLY hard, but now think the other kind is just fine after all’.

And. I have knit one sweater that I have worn several times. I have almost completed a second. I have a third started. All cardigans. Next up are pull-overs.

Also. I am very pleased with the progress I have made in my sock knitting, with gauge and measuring to fit, and in general, you know, making sure they are wearable once they are finished.

So. That’s all good.

But. What might I look forward to learning? Because. I am all about the learning!

I am thinking maybe steeks. Maybe. Maybe next year. Who knows.

Really? Right now I have much to work on. The techniques and skills I am developing with what I am doing need finessing. And with ‘this year’s list of goals’, I am feeling pretty good right where I am.

(And that crazyhead colorwork stuff is no where near the list, that’s for sure!)

Last We Saw Of...

Kansas...

I know, I know.  DSis tells me I am blathering.  Not in so many words, but I know what she means.  But see, I have this KnitCroBlogWeek thing, AND some reeeeely awesome pix from the trip.

One might say that the photos will wait, and well they may.

But...I have iris coming on!

So.  In Kansas.  Not only were there lilacs, but there were dogwoods.  Oh I do miss dogwoods, but dogwoods are a tree of my adulthood.  Lilacs are from my childhood.  So...different there.

( I made my father-in-law stop the car for these. He was a pretty good sport.  I think.)

The honeysuckle was blooming.

So were dandylions. I heard on NatGeo TV last night that dandylions were brought here from Europe. (I am a wealth of trivial knowledge.  Seriously, if we ever play trivial pursuit, pick me as a partner.  I win alot.  Or use to.)

And then.  I heard a wren's song, and chanced to see one fly into this birdhouse.  So I grabbed the camera and the telephoto and just sat on the step of the back porch.  I saw her (him?) fly out, away, and back, about 3 times.

It was awesome.

Great Knitting

I really enjoy reading two of the Big! Knitter’s Blogs, Mason-Dixon Knitting, and the Yarn Harlot. Enjoyable writing, down-to-earth knitting yet with a challenge, and honestly? sometimes a bit beyond me, but oh the writing! And the opinions! Real life! I think I could share a glass of wine with these women. Maybe not, but I think I could, and that’s the trick.

I appreciate the knitting of my sisters. A lot. With their interest in knitting, they politely indulge my interest in knitting. My sisters know the appropriate times for the correct oohing and ahhing, and all other proper exclamatory sounds. They are very good at what they do. I can believe they truly appreciate and value my over-the-top pursuits of the fiber arts. DSis blogs here. Wisest Sister proclaims her wiseness by not blogging.

And there are three knitterly/bloggerly/Ravelry types that I will also commend for various and sundry reasons. It has been my privilege to meet Liz, ~Wunx, and Mary through blogging, and then, in person. All knit, and all have their own individual style.

Liz lives in state, and we found each other shortly after we each started blogging. And spinning. We run into each other at wooly-type events (which abound in our fair state) and occasionally make other efforts to see other. We spin, knit socks, work on sweaters, talk about our adult daughters, and see our own progress in each other’s.

I found ~Wunx through a gardening blogger, and met them both with DSis when I visited my new Grandbebe Bean. As we ate breakfast, drank coffee, and chatted...time just flew by! I am amazed how ~Wunx goes after her knitting. She figures it out. She reverse engineers it! She breaks it down and conquers it! Me…I follow someone’s directions. ~Wunx? Pah! She don’t need no stinkin’ directions! And now, ~Wunx is teaching Middle Daughter how to knit. Is that not just crazy how those dots are connected?

I met Mary on a trip back east. She met DSis and me at the Brooklyn General Store, and living in NYC, she has access to…much. The classes she has available to her makes me very jealous indeed. Again, we met. We shopped. We drank coffee. We talked. And talked. And talked some more. I think Precious Niece and Eldest Daughter were just a little weirded out by ‘meeting a blogger?’

Really. Where is their sense of adventure?

Now I will admit. I set up these meet-ups, suggesting ‘hey I am going to be in the area, we should get together, blah blah blah…’ and all gets planned. Then I start to freak just a little. I am just a little on the shy and timid side. Or rather, I am painfully ill at ease meeting the unknown. But I have pushed forward (because I have DSis in tow and she is extraordinarily brave!). And I have been mightily rewarded in these newfound friendships.

I often marvel about how knitting, Ravelry, and blogging has broaden my horizons, widened my world, and brought people into my life I never would have known existed. Why, just checking out the locations of my readers over the past few days boggles my mind.

(Also, these are only three of the regular type knitterly/bloggers I read on a regular basis. I could not mention them all, but I assure you, I am grateful for all the friendships.)

Inspiration

Branching out from flat square things (where is a totally appropriate starting point, by the way) is not so hard for me. Momma’s dishclothes used short rows, so I had a foot up when it came to shaping pieces.

And with access to the internet, and the onset of Ravelry, which sounds like a disease, (and in a way, it sort of is) there is given to me so many sources of guidance, patterns (free and otherwise), advice, direction, and demonstration.

And opportunity. My life changed, upheaved, and slowed down over the last 9 years. All for good, but suddenly, I was finding myself thinking…I could be doing something instead of just sitting here watching TV.

I have been good at challenging myself to learn new techniques, when it comes to knitting, at least, and with #1 above, I had a good foundation. With #2, I had excellent resources, and with #3, I find the time.

I was motivated to learn to knit in the round, and when I did, I knit hats. And learned about gauge as we are a big-headed bunch, and all of the first hats I knit were donated to charity because they were too small for my family and gave us headaches.

I learned about socks. And when I did, I learned more about gauge, and making socks to fit individuals. Also the satisfaction in getting better and better at a particular concept, but finding the challenge in varying the pattern or the design or the…whatever it is one varies in sock knitting.

I have met the challenge of cardigans. First babies. Now adults. And while socks are very wearable…people see sweaters!

For me, my inspiration comes in learning and in perfecting a new technique or skill.

(Maybe someday, that crazyhead colorwork will make it to my list of things to learn!)

Starting Out

Well, I sort of blew the proscribed topic for the Knit/Crochet Blog Week yesterday, so I am doubling down today with two.

So how did I start out with this knitting thing? My mother taught me way back when. I have written some about her knitting here. DSis and I have estimated that we were taught when we were somewhere around 5 (her) and 7 (me) years of age.

If I am remembering correctly (and that is a mighty big ‘if’), DSis was required to act as a grandmotherly type for a kindergarten play, rocking and knitting, and Mother thought it should be…authentic. And what one of us did, generally both did. Sometimes this was a good thing. Sometimes not so good.

But I digress.

At this time in our lives, we lived in a small town in western Kansas, and Mom taught knitting to the locals. (A bit more about Mom's knitting here.) I remember a lot of size 8 needles and acrylic yarn and ‘oohs and ahs’ over the new fangled variegated types. We were easily impressed in the early ‘60’s.

I was taught to knit and purl, and to increase and decrease. I knitted a lot of flat, square things that were uneven, and gappy. Then I knit a lot of thick, acrylic, fringed things…all stockinette, because I could. In high school and college, I knit sweaters. I remember three, that I seamed, but did not swatch. The two sweaters I knit for me fit, and I wore. The one I knit for the X…well…he would have needed a pin head, and Neanderthal arms. (I will not comment further here.)

Only minor knitting of dishclothes occurred over the intervening years. I learned to quilt. I had babies. I sewed Easter dresses. I went back to school. Blah blah blah…

Then when Mother went into assisted living, and her short term memory was going, I decided I need to make sure someone knew how to knit ‘her dishclothes’. That experience brought some dormant need bubbling back up. The ties to my childhood? Part of my mother’s legacy? The need to buy cotton yarn in mass quantities?

Probably all of the above.

I have progressed beyond flat, rectangular items, but it’s all just knitting, purling…increasing and decreasing.

(Well. Except for that crazy head colorworking.)

Home Again Home Again (Again) (Once Again)

We went to Kansas (where I saw this hankie quilt, quite well done.  The tag mentioned that all the hankies were 'significant' to the quilter.  Or to the person the quilt was gifted to.  Or something.) It was a quick trip and I am not sure what all went on.

Also?  In Kansas?  The lilacs were In FULL!  And Glorious! Bloom!  Bushes and bushes (bushels of bushes!) typically line yards and farms in this part of the country, and I was wont to shout "stop the car"on seeing them initially!  But there was no need, because there were plenty to inhale all around the yard of my in-laws.

Of all colors...

The big doin's around town was the 20th Annual (and final) Victorian Day. Certain townfolk were dressed in tyme appropriate regalia, high tea was available, train rides, a tour of Victorian homes in town, the quilt show, and so on.  High tymes for a town of 600!

Also on display a vintage caboose...with intriguing wood. ( I did not choose to photograph the latrine...)

I had ample opportunity to practice my picture takin'.  This old part of an old building in an old town caught my old eye.

So anyhoo.  I would have probably blown off posting tonight but there is this little challenge going on with The Blog Hub group on Ravelry.  I think we are posting every day this week.  I will refamiliarize myself with the details once I am unpacked, but I am pretty sure I was supposed to get a post up today...it might have been yesterday, but being without internet yesterday, I am doing the best I can!

So done!

(As always, clicky on the pix makes them rilly big, and the lilacs may just give off a whiff if you try...)

Oh. My.

I first saw the bud just YESterday!

Today it is rainy and overcast, and as there was NO color showing, I just knew I wouldn't have an open bloom when I got home from work.

Well.  Surprise! Isn't it just the cutest most perfect little thing? Not more than 6 inches high!

End of April and I have my first tee tiny iris open!

DSis...what is the name?  And for some perspective on size...See here.

And for something completely different...Wonderful Guy, Only Step Son, and I are headed to Kansas.  I am not sure, but don't believe there are any internet cafes where we are going.  And as I have not been thoughtful enough to plan my posts ahead...well, there may not be any Needles of Iron updates for a few days.

But I am sure I will have some smashing good stories and fun photos of fun and frivolity in Small Town, Kansas on my return.

How about...

a study in...

pink? purples? shades of...them?

And cake.

Well.  See.  It's like this.  I have been practicing some photography thingies.

Like the lighting thing.  The Christmas cactus and the pear blossom are all front lit (or is it back lit? No. It's front lit!).  The crocus and phlox are side-lit.

Also the depth of field thing.  Sometimes I use it, and sometimes I don't.  On purpose even!

And sometimes I take photos of stuff that isn't flowers.  Or fibery.  Like cake.

Then.  I learned to put it all together in a little mosaic AND to load it up here.  Very much new stuff going on.

The cake?  I had only 8 photos of pinkish purpley flowery current growing things.  I needed a 9th photo.  It was getting late and I saw pink (raspberry, Jan!) icing.

I think a clicky will make the photo big.  Probably ginormous, really.  Some of the photos are really kinda' kewl...I think....and maybe worth a close-up look.

And really?  No photoshopping.  Honest.

On the Needles

Peasy (Hiedi Kirrmaier) in Aarlen Cashmere (Thanks, Martha! It is like buttah to knit!) I'm about halfway home, I think.

February Lady (FlintKnits) in Falkland Shetland for the Eldest

And a couple pair of socks.

We are heading to E. Kansas to visit the Guy's dad and step-mother EOW. These projects should keep me out of trouble.  I think...

At the wheel.

Alpaca, spinning up pretty thin.

I have this...

And this...

that looks like this as singles and plied...

My plan is to ply it all together and see how much I get!

Next up is the Jacob I scoured. It's all carded (by color/shade).  And weighed in at 1 lb., 1 3/8 oz. (down from 2 lbs. pre-scouring!)

In the pot

I have been 'practicing' some more at handpainting, and combining/blending colors.

Resulting in this...

And this...

which may end up as Navajo plying practice, or more coats for soap!  I used more of the white wool top seconds, so this is only practice stuff and really serves as nothing more.

Through the hackle

This!  I made a diz using a juice lid, and it has held up better than the cardboard or thinner plastic ones I attempted blending with the homemade DIY hairpick hackle.  I actually sort of got the hang of it.. I think.  This is 3 colors of merino I blended together.  I am anxious to see what it looks like spun up, but I am a monogamous type of girl, and also have only four bobbins, so will need to finish the alpaca first.

If it works, if I see that I have this blending thing going, I have a bit of cashmere, a wee bit of paco vicuna, and some silk that I thought I would try making, you know, a real luxury blend...of about 2 1/2 oz.!

And that is all for now.

(I know.  I am teetering on the edge...)

Spring Cleaning, the Yard

Being a glorious and splendid day on Sunday, I spent just a wee bit of time after the birthday barbeque in the yard. I could not help myself. I know. I KNOW! It's early. A full four weeks before the last average frost! I do know all that, but I just couldn't not do it. Just one corner. And maybe a bit more.

Then just a bit more on Monday. (Fortunately, Tuesday we were all involved with car-dealing or more would have been cleared...)

What could it hurt....

Nothing this week.  It's has been All. Spring! All The Time.  Stuff is growing by leaps and bounds.

Last week.

This week!

Last week...

This week!

(from seeds an old friend brought to me from Alaska...)

More...

And more...

It's heady stuff, and it's easy for me to be overcome with the whiff of fresh earth and chlorophyll.We might just have lilacs this year...(fingers crossed!)

Addendum and Additional News

First: Thanks for all the encouragements toward my dyeing efforts. I am very pleased with the Crimson.  (It still hasn't been placed away!) I want to keep looking at it...thinking 'I made that!') And I do think once I overdyed the yellow to green, it turned out very passable. (Lynne, it might end up in Atomic Sisters.  There is 275yds, 6 oz, of 2-ply at 12-14 wpi.) It is trial and error, however.  So much so, that I called the yarn garage sale person to see if she had sold the rest of her dyes. She had, but not to be outdone, DSis and I hunted down clearance Easter Egg dye.

Oh yeah.  I am good for some more trial and error-ing.  And we both love us some bargain shopping!

Second: The soap felting FO's are pictured in the post.  They are used just like that, for wash clothes/scrubbies/latherer-uppers.  I tried one out in the shower, and with 'soaping up' action between the hands, quite a bit of lather was produced.  AND! I do believe the wool must have some ex-foliating qualities.  So sorry if the last post was disconnected and unclear.

See.  We've been on the run.  Saturday the agenda included The. Auto. Show! in Denver where many things were seen and experienced.

This creepy, scary snowman...

And this.  I am still trying to understand this last...Is Fox News being...funny?  Or making fun of themselves?

(What?  You were expecting photos of cars maybe?)

For lunch we went here!  Be still, my heart.  This is my favorite place ever to have lunch in Kansas City.  It it THE PLACE for lunches with sisters and daughters and nieces.  It is a signature place at a singular location with outstanding dishes.  And desserts to die for.

And there is also one in Denver.  It is not quite the same, a bit more...western...in its approach.  And yet.  There is a bit of the same ambiance and way of doing things and a familiarity that feels very good.

And. Desserts to die for.

After lunch, we stopped here. Wonderful Guy takes me to yarn shops.  I go to fish stores. (And apparently Auto Shows...)

There were some other stops on the way north that involved looking at automobiles.  A new one may be in our immediate future, you see, and shopping for these things take time.  Or at least for us, it does. (Update: a new one came to live with us Wednesday evening...)

On Sunday, we spent some time with the Grandbebe Girls and their parents for the 'official' birthday party.  Her peers around so the party girl was all involved with her party peeps, and had little time for old people.  I did get a photo or two, though.

Brushing off the buns after sliding into the dirt!

I think she loves her grandmama!

So busy as bees and trying to keep up with it all!

Just Because I Can

I had soap.

I had wool.

I know felting theory. (technical term...)

So I put coats on my soap.

1. Obtain soap.

2. Obtain wool.  I used some wool top.

3. Pull off pieces sized to wrap around soap lengthwise and widewise. Both wise, in other words.  Not too thick, not too thin.  Lay contrasty colors on top layer.

4. Slightly wet the wooly 'envelope' and start massaging gently. Gently, and not too wet, or the wool will get all askew and boy, there will be starting overs!

5. Continue to massage.  Foamy lather will...foam and lather up. The wool will shrinky dink. Wet more.  Rinse hands.  Check progress.  Continue until satified.  Not rocket science.

6.  First use won't show alot of suds, but after that it's all good.  Or so my resources report...As the soap is used at the sink, in the shower, or in the tub, the wool is supposed to continue to felt and shrink.  We will see!

And that is what I did with my Friday evening.

Not Yet

I don’t have the hang of it just. quite. yet.

I was all stoked by my second attempt at handpainting.

I had 12 oz of blue faced Leicester that I finished as 2-ply. While updating my stash, I was clued in to ‘shades of the same color’, and I thought..why, I can ‘paint’ with different dilutions of the same color!

So I did. Of Crimson. And it turned very spiffy indeed. I have weighed the two skeins (about 5 1/2 oz ea), and figured the wpi (about 14-ish), and stored it properly.

Then got it back out so I could look at it some more.

Because it’s so pretty!

The six ounces of Corriedale was next in line, and I thought, ooh Spring! Daffodils! Finches! Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy…

So shades of yellow I set about diluting.

Well. Yellow is different than crimson, methinks. I will use less…much less…. next time in my solutions, and I do believe I will have to overdye the retina-burning-brilliant solar-pineapple-yellow-mostly-of-one-color that was the result!

Yeah…not so much with the shades of pretty soft yellow thing going on with it.

So then, I got to learn about color mixing. Checking my resources, I found that it was down pretty much to my best guess.

So...some immersion dyeing with a bit of....teal.

Interesting that the 'shades' seemed to show up in the overdyeing.

Still learning. Don’t know it all just yet.

Except about the lessons of humility...and not getting too darned cocky too quickly.