B-I-N-G-O

Hello:

Life
If you weren't watching football last night, you might not know that we had a huge thunder/lightning storm last night.  I had gone out to pick up pizza, too busy to stop to cook, and when I got home it was directly overhead.  As, I started to get out of the car with the pizza, I saw the flash and heard the CRACK simultaneously.  I pretty much dove back into the car.  A few weeks ago, I posted about how a guy riding a motorcycle on the 5 fwy here was struck by lightning.  I didn't want to get hit.  Of course, we have these super tall trees in our yard, so if lightning did strike in my yard, it would probably hit a tree, not me.  But, then, I thought, I could get hit by a falling branch or something.  Best to just wait a bit.  When I got inside, the Doc and number 1 son were both upstairs.  Why aren't you watching the Seahawks Game?  I asked.  Well, duh!  the game was paused because of the lightning.  When they resumed an hour later, the Seahawks dominated the San Francisco 49ers.  And, the Seahawk fans set a Guinness Book of Records record for noise.  Go Hawks!

I was busy with so many fun things this weekend.  On Saturday night, I went with a neighborhood group to see the musical, Xanadu, at the Village Theatre in Issaquah.  It was really fun.  A bit of name dropping here... I had a friend from high school who was in the original movie.  The movie was horrible.  The Broadway Musical is wonderful.  They took the movie, and redid it but with their tongues firmly in their cheeks.  It is a silly poke at the disco culture of the 1980's, roller skating and all. 

My neighbor friends and I went to dinner first at Fins Bistro which is right next door to the theater.  Fins also has this cool thing where you can order something for intermission before the show, so when you come running for the 15 min. intermission, there is your dessert and coffee waiting at a table.  I had the Steak Salad, and split a banana split at intermission.

What a fun night out.

Stitching
This weekend, I both finished and started projects.  I don't want to just do a rundown of everything I was working on, so I will focus on 2 things.

I finished the fingerless mitts I was making as companions to the Roscoe Village Hat I made for my daughter, Moogie.

The texture pattern for the top part of the hat is the same as the one from the Hermione's Everyday Socks Pattern.  It's a really attractive texture.  I used that for the hand part of my fingerless mitts, and the brim stitch pattern for the thumbs and thumb gussets. 

I started with some 1x1 ribbing, and finished with the same ribbing.  I love how these look.

Part of it is the Malabrigo yarn, of course.  It is tough to have anything knit in such gorgeous yarn be anything but gorgeous.

Anyway, I told Moogie that I am just going to send them out.  I am not going to keep anything for Christmas, they will just get stuff as I finish it.  She will need these when the weather gets cold.

One of the other things I worked on this weekend, and today, was not really stitching, but stitch related. 

I have said that I am a Pride Leader in the Harry Potter Knitting/Crochet House Cup (HPKCHC) for the Gryffindor House.  One of the things I really want to do is encourage all members of my pride, Acid Pops, to turn in at least one project every month.  I have been making stitch markers to send out to people as they complete their first class. 

One of the ways my house, Gryffindor, encourages maximum project turn ins, as well as just general participation, is Gryffindor BINGO.

We have this BINGO card that we can download that has activities and classes in each square.  As you complete things, you can mark it off on your card.  Your name gets put in a hat for every row and column you complete.  People in the house donate prizes which are given out at the end of term.

At first, I was going to make these little cards that said something like "First Class Complete!  Pop On!"  or something equally lame, and send those with 2 stitch markers.  Then, I got the great idea to print out the BINGO cards, and put the stitch markers on as BINGO markers.

They are pretty simple, just the printed out cards glued (rubber cemented) to cardstock that is Gryffindor colors with the Rav Names on top.  Then I sewed (from behind) the stitchmarkers on as the BINGO markers.  About half of the Pride has sent me their addresses.  I need to get on the rest of the group so I can send their cards out, too.

Pop! Pop! Pop! ON!  Acid Pops!

f1bercat
shaping the planet with BINGO

Growing our knitting at Fiber Friday

Hello!

CathiC and I met early at Crossroads for Fiber Friday because her yoga class time has changed.

We had such a nice time catching up from last Wednesday, when she had come to Crossroads to knit, and I totally left her out of the blog.  Even though she sat right next to me.

She brought her beautiful Racing Raindrops scarf by Churchmouse Yarn and Teas.  She has reached the HALF-WAY MARK!!

The removable marker shows the center row.  The knitting is all downhill (or decreasing) from here.

The first photo shows a more true color.  Both photos were taking without a flash.  How odd that they should be so completely different.

Constance49 brought her Zuzu's Petals cowl. 

She also brought the Namaste bag that she won in the Fiber Gallery's Summer Mystery Shawl KAL.  When one Eastside Stitcher wins a prize, I feel that we ALL have won. 

BlueBerryMary brought two scarf WIP's.  She has managed to grow them both.

I love the pooling on the second scarf.

And, JulieMustKnit brought her husband (hi!), haha, he joined us at lunch time.  Really she brought the Union Square Cowl she is knitting in Madelinetosh Vintage.

We had some fun chat about camping.  Camping for me involves a cabin with a bathroom.  We also talked about fun hikes in the Pacific Northwest.

And, of course, we talked about yarn.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with Fiber Friday buddies.

Little Lies and Funny Texts

6:30 am

Hello:

Little Lies
First, I have to confess that I lied on my post of Tuesday, September 10, when I said the bags I was making were for a bag exchange.  One is for a reward for playing Quidditch for the Pride Challenge in the Harry Potter Knitting/Crochet House Cup Group.  The idea is that if you are in my pride, Acid Pops, and you score (turn in a project) in Quidditch, your name will be put in a hat for every 50 Quidditch points.  You can win one of four different prizes, and one of the project bags I made is a prize.  What is the Pride Challenge?  Well, in Gryffindor, we are so Quidditch Crazy, that not only are we competing with the three other houses, but we are competing within our own house.  Each Gryffindor Pride (the way we divide up into groups) is trying to score the most Quidditch points for the house.  Since I am a Pride Leader this term, I decided to give my Pride a bit of incentive to turn in those Quidditch projects.

The other bag I made (they are identical except for the pockets) was a surprise birthday gift for Skeinherder.  I didn't want her to know I had made her a bag, so I pretended it was for an exchange.  Happy Birthday, Skeinherder.  She has started a new job, and can't make it to Fiber Fridays any more, which makes me really sad.  I mean I am happy she found a good job, but well...

Anyway, I thought she needed a new project bag just for fun.  This is what the two bags look like:

Each has a black skeleton side, and a purple cat side.  I love how they came out.  I have more of the fabric, so I think I will make one for me, too. 

Funny Texts
My kids don't always call me, they usually text.   I don't think they are reading my blog regularly (if at all), so I think I am safe to copy some of their texts here.

From Moogie at NYU:

"My Econ prof has been telling us for 30 minutes about the different ways to buy the textbook."

"It's drizzling, and everyone has umbrellas."

"My Econ prof just recommended that everyone watch Animal House."

"I answered a question wrong.  Embarassingggggggggggg"

"I'M LIVING IN NEW YORK CITY!"

From Pookie at Princeton:

"I'm getting books today.  I'll tell you how much they cost so you can cry." "Books were $300, hahaha."
(just saying that Moogie's book total was $1000, I am not kidding.)

"It's drizzling, and everyone has umbrellas."

"I'm in a room where Einstein used to teach right now."

"The writing says, 'The spirit of Dr. Einstein remains within 302."

"Milk for every meal isn't bad for you, right?"

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet while reading texts.

8:30 am

Eastside Stitchers, Deja Vu

Hello:

Weird morning fog again, burning off to a bright sunny day. The temperature got to 89 F, making for a hot day.  It was really nice to head out to Crossroads to hang out with the Eastside Stitchers this evening.

VanesaPolo was there, looking beautiful in a dress she sewed herself.  She didn't stay over long and, unfortunately, I was unable to get a photo of the pretty shawl she was knitting.  She is making the free  Serial Knitter's pattern, Ripples,  from the 2013 North Puget Sound LYS Tour.

Skeinherder was working on one of her beautiful baby sweaters.  So nice to have her come stitch with us.  We are all happy about the new job, but, stitching is important, too.

GwenS was looking beautiful, also.  She was knitting a fish. 

Ok, it wasn't this fish, but it could have been.

JulieMustKnit came again.  She brought her beautiful Union Square cowl.

The Eastside Stitchers who hadn't seen this beautiful piece of knitting were quite impressed.  It is a perfect union of the right yarn with the right pattern.

Tara1682 brought her latest Linen Stitch Scarf.  She is taking a break from knitting baby booties with this third scarf.

Chockelet was our other member who joined us at the table.  She brought her Churchmouse "Ombre Infinity Scarf Addendum to adapt your Churchmouse Bias Before and After Scarf."  Whew!  That has to be the longest pattern name, ever.  She has been super busy these last few weeks and it hasn't grown much, but, it is awfully pretty.

I brought the fingerless mitts I am making for Moogie, to go with the Roscoe Village hat.  By the time I left (when they were throwing us out), it had cooled off a bit.  I feel like I am giving the weather report lately, but our weather has gotten strange, and I am hoping it will not stay this way.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet without a camera
hahahaha can you tell why it's deja vu?  I forgot to bring my camera, and had to use photos from past meet ups.  Thank goodness no one ever finishes a project.  Just kidding. 

Spiders

Hello:

We are starting our mornings with fog.  This is pretty strange for us, but, since it is supposed to be hot, this morning fog is keeping our temperatures really nice.

I spent the day sewing.  I knit 6 rows on my Hidden Hearts socks to bring them to the heel section, then, headed downstairs to our sub-basement, "The Cave" where I have my sewing machine set up.  This is not the perfect place.  I don't mind that there are no windows.  The sub-basement is no deeper than the regular basement, but, since our house is on a very steep hill, this part of the basement is completely in the hill.  Unless we wanted to dig out windows and cut into the foundation, it is completely walled in.  When we bought our house, this room was the only part that wasn't finished.  The Doc had it finished a few years ago as an office/sewing/craft room for me.  But, the sewing desk is too high and too small.  It's my own fault.  I hadn't realized how much space I really needed for sewing.  I used to sew at the dining room table where there is plenty of space for a wide piece.  But, the cave mostly works.  Especially as I was sewing project bags.

I don't know why I am so slow at this, but, when 3 pm happened, I still had the top stitching to do on the two bags I worked on.  I had to stop because I was meeting VanesaPolo for pedicures.  (We missed you, Skeinherder!!)  This is somewhat of an indulgence for me, but I love it.

When I got home, I made dinner for the Doc, and after, I finished the two bags.  I am happy with how they came out.  I think I have mastered this pattern.  Of course, now I am thinking of ways to change it.  I don't have any photos, though, because as we head towards Fall, our days are getting shorter, and there wasn't enough light to take decent photos.  I need to set up a light box.

After I finished, I worked on an afghan square.  There is a new Quidditch Challenge this term in the Harry Potter Knitting Crochet House Cup (HPKCHC).  Normally, the Quidditch games are rather short, like 2 weeks.  This term, the first challenge is called, "Explore the Quidditch Positions."  The challenge will run the 3 months of the Fall Term.  You can choose one of the positions to "explore:"  Beater, Chaser, Keeper or Seeker.  Each position is defined in the challenge by a yardage length.  For instance, if you area exploring Beater, you would craft things 50 yds or more in length.  For every project 50 yds or more that you turn in before the deadline, your house gets 10 points.  You can turn in a maximum of 15 items.

I am doing the Chaser position, by crafting up to six items that are 150 yds or more.  Once you turn something in, you can't change positions.  I had thought of doing Beater, but many of the afghan squares I hook are over 100 yds.  So, I thought I would try making six squares that are 18 in. wide.  My math tells me that I need 82 g of Caron One Pound to be 150 yds.

I am hooking a square and weighing it.  My idea is that I will make a lap-ghan.  I am thinking of donating it to our local high school for their auction.  If I use 4 large squares and twelve 6 in. (or 4 12 in.), it could be about 3' x 4' before the border and any between square rows (using my cool hdc method).  I'm not sure that is a good size.  I think that would be.  I'm thinking of a size that you would want to take to a football game and put over your legs.  Anyway, more on this as it comes together.

Spiders
Fall is spider season. 

In the fall, there are a gazillion spiders all around our house.  Often, there are a gazillion spiders INSIDE our house, in the fall, too. 

They are looking for a good place to lay their egg sacks.  In the mornings, when I walk to my car which I park under the Fuji Cherry Tree, I have to hold something up above my head, and a bit in front of me to break webs. 

Once I didn't do this, and I walked through a web that was strung all of the way across the side yard, and a GIANT spider fell on my shoulder.  EEEEEK!  Horror.  They aren't poisonous, but EEEEEEEEK!

All of the above photos are of different spiders I found around the house this afternoon.  All of them outside, thank goodness.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with a cat on my lap making it tough to type.

I hoped to get to the heel

Hello:

I have reached the part of the sock where time is flying and knitting is standing still.

I am knitting Hidden Hearts by Jeannie Cartmel in SweetGeorgia Tough Love Sock in the Boysenberry colorway.

I have a habit of making my socks just a tiny bit short.  I always get excited as I near the heel (or the toe in top-down socks), and I stop the foot about 1/2 in too short every time.  Ok, not every time, but often. 

These socks say to knit to 2 in. before the heel.  My foot is 10 in long, and since I usually put negative ease into the length of my socks of about 90%, this means if I multiply the 10 in length by 90% (which is .9), I need a sock with a length of 9 inches.  For some reason, stopping at 7 in. never works.  Today, I told myself I would knit to 7.5 in.  When I finished the 3rd repeat of the lace pattern, I was at 7 in.  UGH.  I stopped knitting because I had other things to do, but I am going to make myself knit 6 more rows of the pattern and measure again.

The whole last repeat, I kept stopping and measuring, and the foot never seemed to get longer. 

I need to finish the heels this week to stay on track to finish these this month.

I cut out a bunch of project bags this evening.  I used the Grab Bag pattern from AllPeopleQuilt.  I have made 2 bags from this pattern,


but given them both away.  I plan on keeping at least one of these!  I can't show you the material, though, because they will be used for an exchange on Ravelry.  I wish we were doing another bag exchange with Eastside Stitchers.  We did one last year, and it was really fun.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with a too short sock.

le

I have been busy

Hello:

It's a bit after 11 am, and wow still foggy.  It seems like summer has ended early.  We had the warmest/least rainy summer in 2 generations.  The weatherman on KUOW keeps saying that we are going to have more nice days, but then... we get this fog.

It is the beginning of the Fall Term for the Harry Potter Knitting Crochet House Cup (HPKCHC) on Ravelry.  This happens every 4 months.  The "terms" are 3 months long with a month break in between.  You can turn in one finished WIP each month of the term, but all other points are for projects started and finished during the term.  This always makes the break month a bit of a stitching downer.  Or, a needed rest...

For detention (this month it is called "Leaky Cauldron"), I made a hat, the Turn a Square Hat by Jared Flood.

Other than "detention" - the finished WIP's, there are 5 different types of projects you can do for the game.

The class prompts are short term projects.  Every month, on the first day of the month.  Eight different class threads are opened with a bit of a story and a prompt for a project.  These prompts have different options, and always include all the possible crafts (knitting, crochet, spinning, dyeing). While at first they seem specific, they are very open and you can almost always figure out a way to "sell" a project you wanted to make to any class.  The projects must be completed, and by completed I mean completed - blocked and all ends woven in, and the turn in posted by the last day of the month.

This term, the classes are a bit different, at least for September.  We are exploring the shops in Diagon Alley.  So, rather than having Flying Class, we have a prompt for Quality Quidditch Supplies.  The prompt has to do with the balls used in playing Quidditch.  If you are learning about the Snitch, you might craft something to help catch or contain a snitch (for example, gloves/mitts/bags).  If you choose the Bludger option, since these are rather dangerous, you might craft something you are afraid of, something you have tried and failed at before, been nervous to start, or a new technique.  The last option for this class is the Quaffle.  Since these are the only non-magic balls used in quidditch, you must craft something a muggle might use to clean up messes.  This is an opportunity for people who love to craft washcloths, etc.

This type of game is so perfect for me.  There is a bit of role-playing, a bit of trivia and learning more about the Harry Potter world, a lot of Harry Potter, and a lot of crafting.

For Quality Quidditch Supplies, I made some fingerless mitts.  They fulfill option 1, and will help my son, Pookie, "catch snitches" at his school this fall.

Another class I have finished is Ollivander's Wand Shop.  You might remember from the books, that Mr. Ollivander is always saying that the wand chooses the wizard.  So for this class, there is only one prompt, "craft something that chose you - explain how it chose you."

I have been working on a new afghan square design, Twisted Rose, having it tested, and getting it ready to publish.  So, for this class, I made up one of my new squares in Gryffindor colors.  I haven't turned it in yet, but the write up will be something about the design being my own, and something I just can't get out of my head, and of course Gryffindor colors are a natural since being sorted into Gryffindor for the 4th term.

I have started a pair of socks.  These will be turned in for Flourish & Blotts.  This is the bookstore in Diagon Alley.  The prompt focuses on a book of hexes and jinxes, Curses and Counter-Curses: Bewitch your Friends and Befuddle your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue-Tying and much, much more. 

The prompts are to either craft something to protect your legs from the Jelly-Legs curse (socks/leg warmers) or to craft something really ugly and for bonus points, give it to someone.

I am doing option 1.  I am making Hidden Hearts by Jeannie Cartmel.  She is one of the featured designers for Sock Knitters Anonymous, SKA, this month.  I am using some beautiful SweetGeorgia Yarns Tough Love Sock in Boysenberry.  SolidSocks challenge for September is Purple, so these socks will fit that group, too.

I am finding these a bit of a slow go.  The pattern is not difficult, but it is not necessarily social knitting.  I brought them to Crossroads last Wed, and made very slow progress.  Then, I tried to knit them while watching Notre Dame lose to Michigan last night, and that was even worse.  The Doc does not like too much light on while watching TV, and these need a lot of light.  I ended up putting them down and working on my OWL, instead.

The long term projects in the House Cup are:  NEWTs, OWLs, and BROOMs.

NEWTs are meant to be a 4 month long project.  You have to have successfully completed 4 OWLs before you are "allowed" to do a NEWT.  I am currently on my fourth OWL.

The OWLs should take 6 - 8 weeks and involve 60 - 80 hours of crafting.  This is pretty subjective, as they want it to be your time, not what it would take an expert speed knitter, or spinner, etc.

For my other OWLs I made, 3 pairs of socks (History of Magic), an Afghan (Transfiguration), and two lace baby blankets (Charms).  For this OWL (Arithmancy), I am making another afghan, but not the entire thing.  The prompt is to make 12 of something.  You can make 12 hats.  They don't have to be the same pattern or yarn.  So I will make 12 12 in. afghan squares, and 10 6 in squares.  I need 20 of the 12 in squares to make a decent size afghan, so the other eight will be made for various classes or Quidditch.

So far I have completed two of the 12 in.:

Four 12 in Shell Stitch Granny Square Variations  by Pricilla Hewitt

The Harriett Square by Carolyn Christmas,

and, the Vintage Lace Square (6 in. square) by Carol Alexander.

As soon as I figure out how I want to arrange the squares for the afghan, I will start hooking them together.  That is my fail safe recipe for finishing an afghan quickly.  Hook as you go!

I haven't proposed a BROOM yet this term, but I plan on proposing 2 pair of socks.  I plan to make the socks anyway, for SKA, and possibly solid socks, so I might as well get BROOM points for my house.

The last way to win points, and submit projects for prizes, is through Quidditch.  Quidditch projects are usually short 1 week projects that span the three months.  This term, there is actually one long three month Quidditch Game, and 4 short games.  I will talk about the long game later, but the first short game is a one week Get to Know Your New Nimbus challenge.  Since the Nimbus 2000 was the top-of-the-line broom when it was released, this challenge is to craft something using top-of-the-line materials.  This means top of the line TO YOU.  If you only have acrylic, and always use acrylic, you just have to say why acrylic is top of the line (wears well, washable, no allergies, etc.)

For this challenge, I made a hat in Malabrigo Worsted.  I had started this hat during Mal March, but never got much past the cast on.  I frogged it, went down a needle size to size 4 (I am such a lose knitter!), and it knit up in 2 days.

The pattern is Roscoe Village Hat by Breean Elyse Miller.

I plan to make a pair of matching fingerless mitts using something of the same stitch patterns, and give both to Moogie as a Have Fun in New York gift.

Whew!  that was a lot of explaining.  I really need to get back to my socks.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet on a HP high

Almost 1 pm and look, there is the sun.  It will be a beautiful day, after all.