new phone

The 8 year old "retro " phone died Sunday. I got this giant android phone.
Look! I  can post on my   blog from my new phone. I just need to figure out how to upload photos.

Peace,
f1bercat
Shaping the planet in the 21st century

Combinations

Hello:

It looks like this week will be another crazy one, so I wanted to get one more blog post in just in case I am too busy this week to post.

Tomorrow night is the regular meeting for the Eastside Knitters Guild at Crossroads in Bellevue from 6:30 - 8:30.  Susan Gehringer, a local knitwear designer, will be talking about publishing her first book of designs.  I am really looking forward to hearing this talk.

Wednesday and Thursday I will be tutoring students in Math.

Wednesday, also, I will be at the Eastside Stitchers meet-up at Crossroads. 

Saturday morning I am catching a very early flight to So. California to visit with my brother, and I will be flying back on Sunday night.

Whew!  And, on Friday, the Spring Term of the HPKCHC starts!  So I will begin frantically knitting again.

I have not really been doing much knitting this month.  Well, I have been knitting, but other than one knocker for Knitted Knockers, I haven't finished anything.

I have been knitting swatches.  You see, I am planning to do a Herbology OWL this term.  For those readers not in the HPKCHC, an OWL is a project that should take about 3 months to complete.  Since the "classes" for the house cup last only a month, the game favors short projects.  The Advanced Studies projects (NEWT, OWL  and Order of the Phoenix) give students a chance to knit/crochet something bigger that can't be completed in just one month.

The Herbology OWL is either cables or lace.  I am planning on making 3 pair of cabled socks.  I will probably make one of CookieA's complicated patterns, then design the other 2 myself.  I have been swatching cable patterns all month.

I am planning for one of the socks to be a "choose your own adventure" sock with 15 different (yes, 15!) possible cable patterns that all go together.  So you can either roll dice or use a random number generator to decide which cable pattern to use next.

Here is a photo of the long tube I have been knitting to see what my cable charts look like when knitted up.

I think this will be a really fun project.  I just need to figure out what I'm doing on the heels, and the socks will be ready to go.

Then, I need to look at some more cable ideas for the 2nd design.  All this on top of everything else!  But it has been really fun to play with how the cables move across the face of the sock.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with wiggly cables.

PS, JitteryKnitter:  If you are reading this from CA, Puzan did NOT come to knitting on either Wed, or Sunday.  We miss you both!

Wild 'n' Wooly Saturday

Hello:

Baby Alpacas!

Yes, we had baby alpacas on show at the Kelsey Creek Park Wild 'n' Wooly Sheep Shearing Day.

I joined the local Knitters Guild to demonstrate spinning.

There were hundreds of people (at least it seemed like that many) walking through the big white barn

where we were doing our demonstrations.

There was a table set up for people to try out dying fiber,

and another table with one of the things I found fascinating, swatches of different fibers spun and knit up to touch.  These included everything from baby camel to various breeds of dog and even a cat swatch.

The kids were not the only people interested in how fiber is turned into yarn, in fact adults were probably more interested.  I had to explain a few times that my spinning wheel does not have any type of needle, and it is almost impossible to prick your finger on a spinning wheel.

There was this one really fun guy from Bavaria.

He was so interested that he rode his bike back home to get his camera, then had us demonstrate exactly how we spun the yarn.  He kept saying that no one knows how to spin in Germany, that it is a lost craft, and that he wants to learn how to do this.  I tried to tell him that there are many spinners in Germany, it's just that he doesn't know them.

It was fun to see someone so excited by this craft.

Amigirl came by with her son, and ReadnitDream and her daughter also stopped in.

The weather threatened rain, but it held off, and everyone was able to enjoy all of the outdoor activities which included sheep dog demonstrations as well as the shearing.  Such a fun day.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with almost a spool of yarn!

Don't Judge Me

Hello:

I can always tell when I have been bad about posting on my blog because I have all these days of photos of my gorgeous view still in the camera... and not on the blog.

We have been having the most wonderful weather in the Pacific Northwest.  The days are warming up (we hit a high record this week!)  And while it has often rained, it has been pretty sunny.  Add that the days are getting longer and longer, and, well, it is just a beautiful Spring.

I made it to knitting at Crossroads with the Eastside Stitchers last Wednesday, but was so tired when I got home, that I just couldn't post.  I made it to knitting at Crossroads with the Eastside Stitchers THIS Wednesday, but forgot my camera.

So, I am going to try to post the photos from last week.  But, I have no/little idea who was knitting what.

I am hoping that my buddies will pm me on Ravelry, and I will edit this post with the proper names and projects.

How does that sound?  Blogging by committee.

Someone was starting something... Don't know what... Don't know who.  It looks like it is gray.  (how's that for reporting?)  Wait, I think this is NightOrchid.   What was she starting?

I'm pretty sure this square is from Puzan.  We are putting squares together for a special project.  More about that in a later post (probably in June).

BlueBerryMary was deconstructing a sweater from a thrift shop.

 Addie was celebrating the weather with Pig Tails!

This project has got to be JitteryKnitter's Loop.  If I remember correctly, she was binding off?

O dear, I totally don't remember.  This looks like a shawl?  Could this be ReadnitDream?

Pretty sure this is Wajio working on a Knitted Knocker.

This is BlueBerryMary's vest she is knitting for her darling husband from reclaimed yarn.  She brought the finished vest this Wednesday, and it is lovely.

I believe GwenS was starting something beautiful for Addie.

I think this is Colleen.  If I am right, it is most likely a baby blanket for charity.

Here is a photo of my Seahawks Vortex Afghan.  (all but the border)

It's a bit bigger than 5' x 4'.  I'm donating it to BAEOP, my professional organization who is going to raffle it off to raise money for their scholarship fund.  Let me know if you want to buy a ticket.

This Saturday is the Wild 'n' Wooly Festival at Kelsy Creek Farm in Bellevue.  I will be there with Wajio (and possibly BlueWolfWalking).  We will be doing spinning demonstrations all day long.  If any of my local readers show up, I would love to say hello!

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with knitting friends.

Eastside Stitchers Sit in the Middle

Hello:
If you can wear pig tales... well, then, you should wear them!

The big round tables were occupied when JitteryKnitter and Puzan arrived at Crossroads tonight, so they grabbed some tables in the center and discovered that the light was way better there.  When I arrived, one of the big round tables opened up, but we decided to stay at the square tables, which were a  squished together in a long rectangle.

We started off with 2 babies.  Today was just lovely, and I believe a park was involved.  VanesaPolo and the lovely Emma came to knit with us after enjoying the park.  VanesaPolo cast on the 3 stitches for the icord "nipple" on a Knitted Knocker, but didn't get much farther.

Puzan brought a variety of gorgeous shawls to work on.  I think the first one was called Sweet Summer Shawl.

The yarn is Madelinetosh Twist Light, and is jut beautiful.  When Puzan was finished working on that shawl, she knit a few teeth on her Hitchhiker.

Puzan is using Crazy Zauberball, and the long stripes are working beautifully with this pattern.

WireKnitter has been on a blocking binge.  She brought 3 beautiful FO's to share.  And was beginning a new lace shawl.

ReadnitDream was knitting one half of a Bias Before and After Scarf.

After a bit, she too, brought a finished shawl to Show and Tell, Edison, by Lynn Di Cristina.

JitteryKnitter was knitting a colorwork hat.

By the end of the evening, it was off the needles, and on the head!

GwenS is almost finished with her second 3 Color Cashmere Cowl.

Colleen showed up in time to knit with us before the night was over.

She brought a cowl in sock yarn.

After a few days of working on the taxes (not finished yet!), it was wonderful to just hang out and knit with friends.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with pointy sticks.

Passed

Hello:
I didn't make it to Knitting with the Eastside Stitchers on last Wednesday night.  I was going to miss because I was going to the Seattle Knitters Guild Meeting with Puzan and JitteryKnitter, but I had the most horrible stress headache. So I didn't go to that either.

You see, I had to take this big test on Saturday.  Yes, the Saturday before Easter, I had a big test.  I am trying to get my Washington State Teachers Certification to teach grade 6 - 12 Math.  I have a lifetime Texas secondary Math certification, but NO, that's not good enough for Washington State.  So I had to take a test that covered algebra, algebra II (including logs and matrices), trig, geometry (including proofs), statistics, probability, combinations/permutations, set theory, logic, and history of math.

I took a practice test online the weekend before, and well, didn't finish it in time.  The test is 4 hours long.  At 4 hours, I wasn't even half way finished.

It's not that I don't know this stuff.  It's just that I haven't done most of it in about 30 years. And, I'm slow.

So, I studied all Wednesday night, and Thursday night, and Friday night.  I studied during every break at work, and every bit of down time.  I had trouble sleeping at night because my brain kept doing math.

I haven't knit a stitch since I finished my last projects for HPKCHC, ha ha ha and the last few turn ins were crochet squares.

I spun a bit on Friday, and Doc said, "shouldn't you be studying?"

Anyway, I took the text Saturday morning at 10 am.  I wore my "Pi Day of the Century" t-shirt for good luck.  Before the test, I went to the restroom and stood in a power position, and said out loud, "I can do this! I am good at math!"  I did push-ups and ran in place to get my blood moving.  Then I went into the testing center.... and didn't finish the test in time.  I had about 15 questions to go.  Really, I had about 20- 25 questions left (out of 150), when I noticed I had about 5 minutes left and I just started skimming problems and choosing answers.  I was devastated when I drove home.

But, I got the results by email that afternoon, and I PASSED!!!!!

Ok, now I'm doing taxes.  But, once that's finished, it's back to spinning.  I need to get my April skein on the spools.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with mad math skills

look! snow in the Cascades again.

HPKCHC Crunch

Hello:

I've been in a crazy crunch trying to get every project I've been working on finished by midnight tonight so I could earn points for Gryffindor for March.  Most of my stuff has horrible photos because of that.  Well, the crunch is part of the reason for the bad photos, but also, I've been going to the gym after work every day (woot! 7 days in a row!), and by the time I get home, the good light is gone.  Soon, that won't matter as the sun sets pretty late here in the summer.  But for now, I'm taking horrible photos of everything with flash.

Anyway,  I just love the craziness of the Harry Potter Knitting/Crochet House Cup game.  This month alone:

I finished my double knit There and Back Again Story Scarf

12 squares for my Seahawls Vortex Afghan for the BAEOP Raffle:

Don't ask why I made 12.  I was supposed to make 10, but somehow I lost count and made 2 extra.

I knit 2 pair of socks:

I finished 3 Knockers for Knitted Knockers:

I hooked a rather ugly hat for Quidditch (then promptly frogged it.)

And I spun my 3rd skein of yarn for the year, 220 yds.

Over April, the "break" month, I will hook that afghan together and give it a border and plan plan plan what I want to make in the HPKCHC Spring Term!

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with lots of FO's