Would you believe, fortnightly?

I did manage to post every Friday in July, but it's a new month now, isn't it? Just to make up for the lost week I will give you lots of pictures (assuming blogger co-operates).

Here is an awful picture of the ribbon vest. As you may have pickup up, I swim. A lot. See those shoulders and arms. Sweetie, that's mostly muscle. Sigh. Anyway, details.
Pattern: Lots of Options vest from Sally Melville's Knit Stitch.
Ribbon: Lion Brand Incredible yarn, City Lights color way.
9 skeins
Needles: Knitpicks Harmony size 5
Buttons: 10. 5 gold and 5 blue plastic
Modifications: I did a three-needle bind off at the shoulders rather than try to seam them. I also made the v-neck a little less deep. Good thing. As it is the very edge of my bra shows under the arms. This will look great in the fall and winter over a turtleneck. It makes a nice change from the knit polo shirts I usually wear all summer and the waitress at Olive Garden was really impressed that I had made it. She knew I was a knitter because as we were waiting for our friends to arrive I was knitting on these:
Pedicure socks for my friend's birthday. I would love to put a gift certificate for a pedicure in the socks, but it's so close to the end of the summer that the exchequer is a bit thin.
Details:
Pattern: One I made up
Needles: Knitpicks Harmony Double points Size 0
Yarn: Knitpicks Essential sock yarn, Dune color 1 skein
These were the purse knitting for most of the summer. They really didn't take long to knit, we just didn't go anywhere. I had them completely finished and was checking them over before I wove in the ends and I found one lonely little stitch that wasn't really connecting so I had to rip out one whole foot and re-knit it. Sigh. Hope she likes them.
Now that I have finished two things I needed something to start. Where to begin.....
I bagged up a number of projects, Cat Bordhi's learning socks from the new book (child size to practice on), the Wrapped in Tradition Shawl for YSS, Belle Epoque socks from 2-at-a-time Socks, Sleeves in my Pi shawl, the Leaf scarf from Nicky Epstein's new book. And the ones I have started to work on:
Branching Out scarf from Knitty. The pattern calls for lace weight yarn, but I have this lovely cashmere in a chunky weight and it should be a wonderfully warn cuddly thing all winter. I have a fawn colored coat that I wear in the winter so this plum color should look good. Last winter, just after I bought the coat I knit a bee-you-ti-ful scarf from Lion Brand Moonlight. Then I found out that I can't let mohair touch my skin or redness ensues. OK, gave that scarf to a friend. Then I knit a soy/wool mix yarn in Stephanie's scarf pattern. It was soft pink, green, and tan. The yarn felt nice and soft, but still was scratchy on my neck. That scarf went to Youngest Niece (the new knitter, Whoot!) As I have been knitting this one I tuck one end into my collar and leave it there. As I knit for hours every night it should be a pretty good test for itchiness.

Last we have the beginning of the purse knitting. Monkey Socks from Knitty in a wonderful autumn color. Is it just me or do you think CookieA needs to publish a book, too? I forget the yarn but I bought it while I was visiting Youngest Niece. Yes, those are Harmony needles. I really enjoy knitting on the wood and they are so pretty! I need to get started on a few "consignment" projects:Sweater for a friend, prayer shawl for a Bar Mitzvah in October, Wedding canopy for a November wedding, and the ever-present quilt (the quilt of Damocles? or maybe the Guilt Quilt) but there are a few good reasons why I can't start them right now, so I'll just go read my book and knit on the scarf. Care to join me?

Felting On Purpose

I have felted quite a few things over the years, lately three pairs of socks. People ask me how I do this, "Don't you know better than to put wool socks in the washer?" Sure, I do, but I usually knit socks with superwash. Now and then I am seduced by colorful hand dyed yarn and shrinkage ensues. Today I give you felting on purpose: a princess hat. Does this put me ahead in the holiday knitting contest? Though really this is for a January birthday, so it may not count. I will be gifting this hat with The Paper Bag Princess. Now, can anyone reccommend a book for a five-year-old boy about aliens?

In other knitting news, I am still working on the ribbon vest. I have the front and back above the armholes to finish and then 10 buttons to sew on. Maybe by next week. YSS is coming for a visit and we have some events planned for the girls. (Oh, I've gone girly in my old age!

A post or two ago I offered to share my paper organizing method. For what it is worth: Whenever I print out a pattern from the net, I hole punch it and put it in one of three binders (at least one of three knitting binders...there's more than knitting I look up....) Baby Patterns, Adult Patterns, and Information (when Julie writes about color and yarn dying, for example). Every couple of months I sit down and rip apart the general interest magazines I get and file the interesting stuff. Mostly I save things from MS Living and Family Fun. Martha is just fun and FF is great for finding new ways to teach old stuff. I have four of those accordian file holders, one for Sunday School, one for regular school, one for interesting stuff and inspiration (home decorating, "good things", family ideas, etc.) and one with the months of the year for special ideas relating to what you should be doing to keep your house in shape every month and needlework ideas for special holidays (sometimes I find a card that really relates to someone just after their birthday or anniversary and that goes in this file, too). Oh, I forgot, I also have two accordian files for recipes, one for regular cooking and one for Jewish cooking by the holidays.
Mind you, I don't often check these files because there are too many other piles of "stuff" around the house, but it does sometimes come in handy. Cygnet once asked of anyone had the knit Viking Hat becuase she had mislaid the last page in a move. I found it right away and sent it off. Yay, me! She was in luck, that probably won't happen very often.

Thanks to Youngest Niece I am signed up on Ravelry. Look for me under Needletart. I haven't done much yet because it is just to hot to spend hours on the computer. See you next week.

No More Pain!! Whee!!

Warning: medical content ahead. I am not a doctor, read if you are interested, but check with your own doctor before changing meds. If you are not interested, skip to the Red line.
For the last two years or so I have been on medication for acid reflux. Recently I mentioned to my Doctor that the meds she had given me weren't working so well. Naturally, being an American trained doctor she gave me something different and stronger. After a week that hadn't worked either. During that week, however, I read the People's Pharmacy in the Sunday paper. Someone wrote in that for another stomach problem, they had tried ginger candy and it really worked. Now, I had been especially miserable for six weeks or so and the new meds weren't working. The Husband happens to enjoy the taste of ginger so he had some Ginger Chews laying around. I figured I didn't have anything to lose so I ate one. The relief was immediate!! The first day (Sunday) I ate one of the candies whenever I noticed the acid climbing my throat. That was four times. Today (what? Five days later?) I needed one. One I tell you! As I sit here at 11:00 at night there is no acid perceptible and I feel great! Apparently the ginger rebooted my stomach. BTW, I stopped the stomach meds, after calling the Doctor. Don't try to stop these meds without your doctor's advice, from the reading I have done if you are on some of these meds and you stop suddenly the acid rebounds and will make you even more miserable. Keep taking the meds, try the ginger and call your doctor.
This is for Amy, who is having some foot pain. Last week the People's Pharm recommended a natural treatment for plantar faciaitus. May it help you as much as the ginger helped me.
On the knitting front, Youngest Niece has really been hooked by the knitting universe. Last week she sent me a killer present (you'll have to wait until I get organized and use it to see pictures. 'It's awesome!!) and when I called to tell her that I had posted a thank you on her blog, she said, "I don't use that much any more, I'm on Ravelry" the student has outpaced the master. Let's see her knit lace.
I felted my first piece, well, my first on-purpose felting. As soon as I get the fabric finish attached, I will take a picture and post. Otherwise I am knitting away on the ribbon vest. I counted all the slipped stitches to figure out where the buttons will go, now there's just the knitting.
In quilting, I am still working on Eldest Niece's quilt. It has been languishing in the corner for way too long, but I think I've figured out my problem with it. The background for the applique border is just too dark. Today I bought some new background fabric and we'll see if that's the ticket.
In other venues, I organized all the clippings I have piled near the knitting chair and will let you in on my organizing methods when I can load pictures. This evening my friend's children came for dinner. The son (Let's call him Aaron shall we?)is getting ready for his Bar Mitzvah and we chose some fabrics for his prayer shawl. The daughter (hereafter known as Greta) helped me clean out the "water feature" on the back patio. Seems the fish can swim in black water. Who knew the algae would grow that quickly? Good times.
See you next week.

Update

Wow! How did it get to be the end of June so fast? It seems like we just got out of school. Oh. Wait. We had so many snow days (not to mention the metal dectector days) that school wasn't out until June 13. Then a trip to visit The Brother, Youngest Niece and family, then a trip to the south with The Husband. Sheesh, catching up.

Here is the Peacock shawl.

Pattern: Osrtich plumes. The pattern is in the Knitters' Shawls and Scarves

Yarn: Knitpicks Shimmer in Turquoise Splendor

Needles: Options Wooden Size 5

Size: 24" by 85"

Notes: This was a lot of fun to knit. It looks really lacy but is a variation of the Feather and Fan stich, meaning there was really only patterning on every fourth row. Fairly mindless knitting as long as you check your stitch count after the pattern row. The yarn blocked out beautifully and is nice and warm for as lacy as it came out.

The roses are in my front and side yards. They must be some sort of antique rose because they smell delicious even from the kitchen.

Speaking of the kitchen, it's been a while since I added a recipe. This is one I worked out when I had some left over bread. It was really nice artisan french bread. After two days it had turned to styrofoam. I hated to throw it away and thought I would try bread pudding with it. I cut up the bread (well, it sort of shattered when I cut slices) into half inch or so pieces. Then I sprayed a caserole pan and added the bread. I mixed 4 eggs with 2 cups of skim milk and 2 cups of cream (that's what I had in the fridge that was about to out date), 1/3 cup sugar, about a half teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg (if you don't think there's a difference, smell the bottled stuff and then the freshly grated, go ahead, I'll wait.........see.) and 2 teaspoons of vanilla. Pour that over the bread, cover the pan with saran wrap (or the glass lid that came with the casserole) and refrigerate over night. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and bake for about an hour, or until a knife inserted in th middle comes out more or less clean. Elder Son really liked this. Especially when I said it was good for breakfast. After all it has a lot less sugar than he usualy gets from Froot Loopys.

This is a package I got from Knitpicks with a birthday gift certificate from my Out West Friend. (My birthday was in March, but I spent a loooong time choosing the yarns I wanted). As I was taking the picture of the sealed box, The Husband was eating his lunch and squinted at me, then shook his head. Later I was reading Franklin's blog (May I call you Franklin? Thanks, I feel as though we are friends.) and Franklin had a picture of some yarn he had just received in the mail. Said The Husband, "Do you all do this? I wondered why you were taking a picture of yarn, but mine is not to reason why...."

You think he'd have figured it out by now. We are all nuts, in the nicest way possible of course.

This is the yarn and just at the bottom of the picture you can see a corner of one of the books. I got: Desiging your own Aran Sweater, Knitted Critters for Kids, and Nicky Epstein's Scarf book. Now I need more yarn.

In this haul I got some sock yarn, including some for summer socks, enough lace weight for two more shawls (one for YSS, Happy Birthday sweetie!) and the Autumn lace sampler just to play around with.

I thought I might try to get a head start on the Winter knitting and work on the things that will have to be mailed. This is for Great-Niece. I bought The Paper Bag Princess and this will be one of those cone shaped hats worn in the middle ages. I have a wonderful piece of sparkly pink veiling for the very top. I think this is the first thing I have knit that is supposed to be felted. Wish me luck.

The knitting to the right is a ribbon vest from Sally Melville's The Knit Stitch. It is some Lion brand ribbon I found at the local dollar store. Whee! Name brands for cheap cost. Of course, I figured out that I would need 8 balls of yarn, so I bought 9 and half way up this side I had used 4. Which meant that I would only have one ball of ribbon left for the shoulders, front and back. Luckily while I was visiting Youngest Niece, she wanted to learn to knit and was willing to go on a yarn crawl. We found remaindered ribbon at a local craft store. It was the same dye way, but not the same lot. I figured that it would be close enough for a $13 vest.

Whew! Now we are mostly caught up. Do you think I could keep a resolution to post every Friday during the summer? We'll see.....