Why Do I Do This?

Chihuly Garden and Glass

Why do I tell myself, One More Row?  Then I am dead tired and can barely write?

Well this will have to be quick because I'm falling asleep at the keyboard.

Today, I finished the heels of my Socks For McGonagall, the Coupling Socks by Deb Barnhell.

I did an Eye of Partridge heel instead of the ribbed one in the pattern.  Or should I say "modified" EoP Heel as I got off on one sock and you can see where I ribbed for 2 rows.  I am not fixing it. 

Since these are toe up, I can try them on and so far they fit beautifully.

I finished one of my Spa Washcloths, using the idea from Liz Marino's Gift Knits Club.  I didn't get a photo of it though since I finished it after dinner, and it was too dark to take a decent photo.  I'm not necessarily using her textured patterns, but am riffing a bit on them.  I plan to make 10 more of these, well 9 more now, for Christmas gifts for Sisters and Sisters in Law.  Also, for the HPKCHC, I proposed those 10 new ones for my BROOM project.  AND, I just remembered.  I am in a group that is doing a group project for the Marauders Mission Thread in Gryffindor.  We have taken on a "Relaxicrafting Mission."  I kid you not.  We will win a shiney badge by crafting something that is relaxing every month.  It needs to be something that is for a class, and these washcloths are super relaxing.  They are not boring because they have some pattern to them, but they are easy and small and I can take them just about anywhere.

Life
was good today.  Not much happening here.  My daughter, Moogie, has taken off with my car on a driving adventure with a college buddy to visit some National Parks in Utah and Arizona.  I hope to post photos from her trip, perhaps with a bit of a guest blog.

My son, Himes, the dancer at U of A, called and sounded great on the phone.

And I bought a new Roomba, from iRobot.

 I splurged for the model that is programmable.  Right now, I have it vacuuming the living room/dining room every morning at 8.  I love it.  It is totally taming the cat hair.  The cats hate it.

Got to get some sleep.  Just want to say that I walked 1 mile today.

Stay safe and well.
Yours,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with a clean rug.

Chihuly Garden and Glass

Triple Dipped Socks

First room at Chihuly Garden and Glass

Hello!

HPKCHC

I have finally made some progress on my socks for September.  I think I posted here that I committed to making 3 pairs of socks for the Fall Term in HPKCHC for my OWL project.  Normally, I make a pair a month anyway, well I did last year, so I should be able to complete this project.

The first pair of socks that I am making are named Coupling  by Deb Barnhill.  She is one of the featured designers for September for Sock Knitters Anonymous.  The "technique" for this month is to knit something in RED.  I  was tempted.  But the challenge for SolidSocks is to knit in either Black, White or Gray.  Definitely not RED.  With all the things I am trying to finish up, as well as plans to head back to Southern Calif in October, I didn't want to try to knit 2 pair of socks this month, so I had to go with a designer and not the technique.  Not a problem though.  She has some very lovely patterns.

I originally started these socks in some Kroy Socks by Paton in Gentry Gray.

  But, Since I was afraid that they would be too tight, they have only 56 stitches each, I added 14 more stitches.  Seven on the instep (the pattern is a 7 stitch repeat) and 7 to the sole.  I also started knitting with size 2 Addi Turbo needles.  The Owl requires that you submit a gauge swatch before the examiners will ok your project.  I don't usually knit gauge swatches for socks.  But I was glad I did because they were huge!

So I frogged them all the way and recast on with a different yarn and the right number of stitches.  These were a bit too big, too, so FROGGED them again and recast them on size 1 Addi Turbos.  Well, I cast on 1 sock.  For the OWL, to gauge swatch for a pair of socks, you cast on one, knit the cuff and 2 inches of the pattern, then measure.  Since these are toe up, I knit the toes and 2 inches of the foot.  This gave me a decent swatch.  Well, third time is a charm, and they seem to be the right size now.

I submitted my OWL, then had to wait a day for the examiners to ok it.  Of course I worked on many other projects, especially the various squares for the 2012BAMCAL.  As most of those have fit the class prompts, I was also finishing classes while I waited.

Once the ok came, I got started knitting.  First I started the 2nd sock, and when the 2 were at the same place, knit them onto one set of circulars.  The 2nd pair was started on a pair of KnitPicks Harmony needles (I love the sharp points on this brand), and as I was knitting them onto the Addis, I broke a tip!

I kept knitting with the broken needle.  It wasn't too bad.  The only hard part were the SSK's where I had to insert the broken needle through the back loops of 2 stitches.  But I persevered, and now the socks are ready to start the gusset increases.

I will be knitting almost monogamously on these for the rest of the month, so I should be able to finish them by Sept 30.  I will have Quidditch and I am still making spa washcloths for Christmas gifts.  These are part of 2 other HPKCHC challenges as well.  But the bulk of my afghan block crocheting is finished.  I still have 1 more 12 in pattern (2 squares), the September filler pattern, to hook, but no pressure if I need to do that next month.

These socks are very easy, and I like the way the pattern is showing up with this yarn.  I should be able to submit them for SolidSocks, SKA, and HPKCHC.

A triple dipped pair!

Where in the world is f1bercat?

I still haven't made it back to the Y and the bike trip, but today I walked around our block the LONG way, so I walked about 1 mile.

Hope to get on the bike on Monday.

Stay safe and well.
Yours,
f1bercat
Shaping the planet with some correctly gauged socks

Chihuly Garden and Glass, First room.

Chihuly and Quidditch

Hello!

Life
Today my daughter, Moogie, and I visited the Chihuly Garden and Glass museum in Seattle, Washington.  If you ask most teenagers around the USA to name a famous contemporary glass artist, I don't know what they would say.  If you ask one in Washington, chances are they will name Dale Chihuly.   His glass art, especially his chandeliers, are seen all around Bellevue and Seattle.  There are some gorgeous ones in Benaroya Hall where the Seattle Symphony performs as well in our own Lincoln Square building in Bellevue.  But the first time I remember seeing Chihuly's work was at the Seattle Aquarium, where they have some wonderful pieces of his Sealife Vessels.  He made some pieces that look like various sea creatures, including starfish, octopus, sea anemones, etc.  Really beautiful.

Anyway, Chihuly is super famous in this area, having been born in Tacoma, WA, and having his glass studio there.  So they tore down our "Fun Forest, " the little amusement park at Seattle Center, and built this Chihuly museum.  And I have to say the glass work in it is gorgeous.  There are rooms of his work, beautifully lit.  Then the museum opens up to a small garden full of more pieces.  The thing is, that it is really expensive!  I mean, the whole thing was great.  And there was a fair amount of Chihuly to see.  But, the museum and garden seemed like a wing of a real museum.  The Los Angeles County Museum of Art LACMA cost $15 for regular patrons.  The Chihuly Garden and Glass cost $19.   LACMA has building after building of all eras of art.  I just don't know.  If you are super into glass art... come see it.  It IS gorgeous.  But really, $19?  Ok, there is a discount of you live in the area, so Moogie and I each paid $15 to enter.

That being said, I plan to show the photos I took of the art sporadically in my blog for a while because it was beautiful, and worth seeing.  Worth $15? maybe once.  Worth $19?  I just don't know.

HPKCHC

Wow, I wish I had been a better blogger and done a short entry every day for this month because this group is making me crazy.

One of the things I like, other than the great people, is that with all of the challenges, you are really encouraged to finish things every month.  Also, there are provisions for longer projects that will take months, so it is not limited to just quick knits.

Before I was sorted, I knew the only requirement is to complete one class each month.  Then I was sorted.  Now I am filled with this competitive frenzy where I want to contribute the maximum to my House, and help us on to glory!  It's so funny, because it's only bragging rights.  It's not like we actually win something.  But I find myself knitting/crocheting until late at night, and then I am too tired to post in this blog. 

 Anyway, I am making a real effort to submit items that I was planning to knit/crochet anyway as much as possible.  You can complete 6 classes each month, although there are more classes than that.  Since I am making squares for the BAMCAL, if I can find a way to have them fit the class prompts, that is 6 items right there.  But now, I have signed on for a longer project, an OWL.  OWLs are designed to be knit over 3 months.

The OWL I am completing is for History of Magic.  The Option I chose asks me to knit/crochet items for 3 different characters from the books.  Since I try to knit a pair of socks a month anyway, I am knitting 3 different pairs of socks, one for Professor McGonagall, one for Lily Potter, and the last for Professor Snape.  Basically, I checked the colors for Solid Socks for Sept, Oct. and Nov, and the designers and challenges for Sock Knitters Anonymous, and found socks in colors that fit those 3 people. 

Then throw in Quidditch.  Quidditch is full of week long challenges.  So far, we cleaned up our stashs or our Ravelry queues.  I chose to organize a spreadsheet for the SolidSocks/SKA challenges, then find possible patterns for each month, put those patterns in my queue and lable them all with Socks and the month they fit.  It was a great challenge.  The first "Game" consisted of crafting something that started with the letter of one of the houses:  S, H, R, G or N (for Not Quite First Year).

Again, I submitted an afghan square that I was making anyway.

I am doing pretty well with not adding on lots of extra projects just to get points.  And I am pushing myself quite a bit to finish things in a timely manner. 

The only thing is, it is already September 13, and I have not made much progress on the socks for this month. I will need to really crank on the to get them finished in time.

Ok, off to propose my B.R.O.O.M.  I plan to make squares that can be used to shore up the castle in case of an attack.  (Really, I want to make more of the Spa Washcloths that I made earlier this summer.)

I need to get to bed so that I can get up and finish my Muggle Studies project.  The prompt asks us to make something that a Muggle could use at school.  My house is pairing up with Slytherins for interhouse unity.  The Slytherin who is paired with me (sentstarr)  very nicely agreed to make a square that I was going to make anyway for my BAMCAL afghans.  We are hooking 2 Crocodile Flower Squares (an absolutely amazing pattern that I will post round photos for soon) and then sewing them together and calling them Book Covers. 

Stay safe and well.
Yours,
f1bercat
Shaping the planet from the Seventh Floor (the Gryffindor Common Room)