Back in the Mother-Land

I'm in San Jose at the moment and having an interesting time :)

My flight out here from Houston was awsome! The weather was beautiful (although a bit turbulant) and I was able to snag a business class seat on a row where I was the only person - so was able to spread out. I had downloaded an audio book to listen to on my iPod (Prayer by Richard Foster) and had my Jaywalker socks on the needles. It was very relaxing :)

When we were just crossing over into California, the pilot announced that San Jose asked that he slow down since they were backed up there. So he circled over Yosemite Park and took us on a guided tour from above. What a glorious place with all the waterfalls and snow. It was really fun!

Since I've been here it has been a non-stop marathon. I drove 7 round trips for my friend yesterday getting people where they needed to be. Things will be better once we figure out long term transportation solutions. But don't feel bad for me - the car I'm driving is a Jaguar S Type Coupe. A big upgrade from my Buick at home .. LOL.

I had a wonderful email from Diann in San Jose inviting me to lunch and to her stitching group on Wednesdays. I hope once things settle down a bit I can get out and meet some of the local knitters. And I *may* still be around for Stitches West later in February. Needles crossed!

Till later ~~ Dene

California Bound

Just a quick note that I'm off to San Jose tomorrow morning and will post when I have time.

Till Later ~~ Dene

Thank you Secret Pal!

Oh WOW~!!

I have this post office mailbox that I check about once a week since most of the mail comes to the house.  It is a left over from when we didn’t have home delivery and I’ve just never closed it.  Anyway, I’ve been delinquent in checking it since I knew I needed to mail off a couple of packages (one to my Secret Pal and one to The-Daughter with the socks I made for The-One-Who-Married-The-Daughter) so I figured I’d kill 2 birds with one stone.  I’ve been putting off mailing the packages waiting for an order to come in to include in one of the boxes.   Anyway – long story LOL – I went today to mail the packages and check the box and guess what?   A PACKAGE was there from *my* secret pal!  It has probably been there a couple of days but I didn’t check – oops!

Anyway, all I can say is WOW and thank you!  There was a definite purple theme this time and I just love purple.  Here is the photo (click for larger image):



In the package were 3 skeins of hand dyed Silk Noil in a wonderful smokey plum color way. It is from Kayten Kraft at Moonacre and my SP bought them at a local festival.  It matches the wool I’m using for my FLAK sweater exactly!  I’m going to have to figure out something to make to go with my sweater from it (scarf? hat???).  It is just lovely!  And there were hand made stitch markers done by my secret pal.  I’ve never owned beaded markers before but I’ve been drooling over ones on the internet.  Now I have my own!   And the cutest card was included that listed the symptoms of O.C.K.D. (Obsessive Compulsive Knitting Disorder).  I have to admit, I checked them all – I’m a long time sufferer.
  

One of the kitties (Andi) decided to explore the haul also and it met with her approval. And yes, those are uneaten candy canes in the background - they age well don't they?   Thank you again Secret Pal – you sure brightened up my day.

In other news, I may be heading out-of-town for a couple of weeks.  I have a friend in California who needs help with transportation because her husband (who is the only licensed driver in the family) has recently been diagnosed with brain cancer.  She is like a sister to me so I’ve been praying a lot for her husband and for her and I keep getting the feeling I am needed out there to ease some of her worry.  If I disappear for a few days, that is where I’m headed.  My main computer is a laptop, though, so I will keep up with the blog.

Till later ~~ Dene

Out of the Shadows

There are days when I venture into my knitting drawer and see what I have on my needles that I’ve been neglecting.  Over the weekend I pulled everything out and made some decisions.

Shadow of Love socks from the 6 Sox Knitalong group in dark/light pink – frogged.  It is a cute pattern but a bit too cute for my 50+ year tastes and I’m sure my daughter would never wear them.  So into the frog pond they went.


Triangular Lace Shawl from NeedleCraft University in Merino Oro – will finish.  I like this yarn and the pattern – it just gets a bit boring after a while.  

Mystery Shawl 2 from the MysteryShawlAlong group in Misti Alpaca – frogged.  I finished through step 3 and didn’t like the results.  I’m going to try Mystery Shawl 3 and see if I like that one better.

Stashbuster Spirals from the 6 Sox Knitalong group in 3 shades of rag cotton/wool – will finish, I think.  I love the way the colors come together on this one, just not real happy with the heel, so I’ve changed it to cuff down with a regular flap heel.  The jury still out on this one.

Jaywalker socks in Koigu – turned heel on second sock. Will finish

Renaissance Rollneck Pullover in Classic Elite Renaissance wool – will finish.  I’m almost to the armholes on the front with the back done.

FLAK Aran sweater in Elann Peruvian Highland Wool – will finish.  We just got the instructions for the back today.

Ribbed cotton socks in Fixation – will finish.  These are my ‘mindless knitting’ socks that can go places with me.

So that is what is in my drawer at the moment.  Now I just need to ignore the stash yarn that keeps calling me to CAST ON something different till these are done.

Till later ~~ Dene

B is for BIRMAN

B is for BIRMAN

From the years of 1997 to 2002, I raised and showed Birman cats. I really enjoy this breed and currently have 4 Birmans that live with us now. The picture above is of 2 of the kittens that I sold (Yohannes and Yoda).


This is Stache who was my stud boy for all my kittens. The picture is of him at 5 months.


This is a picture of Stache's granddaughter. I sent a chocolate boy (Denebir's Yakima) to Canada when I stopped breeding and this is one of his babies. Isn’t she adorable?

Knitting and cats – they seem to go together.

Till Later ~~ Dene

Progress check

It has been a week and it is only Thursday.  I’d be happy it was Friday tomorrow but that is my most stressful day at work so I’m glad when it is over .. LOL.

The-Husband called from Russia a few moments ago and said the baby sweater was a big hit and he may have some order for me.  *WAIT*   ORDERS??  Noooooooooooooooo.  The last thing I want to do is to knit for others that I don’t want to knit for – people I’ll never meet, people I don’t know if they will even appreciate hand knits.  *sigh*

:: catching my breath from that outburst ::

On the knitting front, I have started my saddles for the FLAK.  I haven’t done the measurements yet so I’m not sure how long they will be but I decided to go ahead and get started on them.  I’ll do the measurements soon as I’m at the point now that I need to know when to stop.

I’m using Addi Turbo needles which are not my favorite as they are too slick for my tastes.  I find the stitches slide off of them when I’m doing the crosses and at the end of the rows.  It should be better when I get more than 20 stitches on the needles.

I’m also making progress on my Jaywalkers and I *may* have enough yarn to finish the toes.  If not, I found some purple leftover yarn in my stash – I’m not sure what it is and it won’t match the Koigu exactly in weight or color, but will be fine for toes.

I also found I need a ‘mindless’ project.  You know - the ones where you don’t have to pay attention and count?  I started a pair of ribbed cuffed summer socks in Cascade Fixation and plan on just doing an entire sock of rib with my standard heel and toe.  Should give me hours of mindless knitting.

And the biggest news!  My prize yarn from Wendy arrived and it is just lovely.  I am planning a Pi shawl with this yarn as my Knitting Olympics entry.  (click for better pix)

I’ve joined the lace knitters team and we will be making a ‘holey’ attempt to complete our projects in 16 days.  
Join the fun if you are as suicidal jazzed as I am.

Till later ~~  Dene

A Wonderful Weekend

What a wonderful weekend! First on the agenda was watching the US Figure Skating Championships on television Thursday through Sunday.  I have this thing about ice skating that goes back many years.  I can remember when the skaters were required to actually skate figures!  Anyway, I loved the competition and am glad that Michelle Kwan and Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto will be going to the Olympics this year.  My fav guy was Matt Savoie – his long program was supurb!  I’ll be glued to the TV when the Olympics come around.

I was also productive while watching the competitions.  I finished the socks for The-One-Who-Married-The-Daughter.



They are my own design and although you can’t see it, there are diamond lozenges running down the side of both.  They are done with Mountain Colors Bearfoot in the Granite Peak colorway.  I used size 2 Brittany Birch and once again snapped a needle.  I had done this before and the company had graciously sent me 2 new needles so I still had a set of 5 needles even after I broke the one.  I’ll just have to be more careful in the future.  These socks will be on their way to Virginia once I finish the novel I’m reading that I wanted to send along to The-Daughter to read.

After much resistance, I joined another Internet fad *sigh*.  I had started some socks in Koigu KPPPM back in September during Hurricane Rita.  I was using Maruerite’s More Fun Than Cables sock pattern but the mock cables were just not showing with such dark and busy yarn.  So I frogged back to the ribbing, increased 12 stitches to 84 and started Grumperina’s Jaywalker pattern.  



Since it seems everyone is doing this sock I was not going to follow the crowd but this is such a wonderful pattern, I just couldn’t resist the brainwashing.  I’m very pleased with how it is turning out in the Koigu.   The picture doesn’t show the colors well – they range between black to purples and include a bit of apricot-ish color in there.  I had to make the cuff a bit shorter because of my ski-length large feet and I’m still worried about running out of yarn.  If I do, I’ll finish in some pink yarn I have for the toe.  I guess I’ll have to see about joining the Jaywalker knit-along now.

I also took a trip to a yarn shop that I hadn’t visited before.  I live in the Piney Woods NW of Houston and rarely make it into the city.  Exceptions are for the International Quilt Festival each October and for shops that I really, really like.  Well, I found another I will visit again.  It is Yarns 2 Ewe on Shepherd St. in Houston.  I spent nearly 2 hours there on Saturday morning and my credit card is still smoking.  Although things seemed a little picked over after the holiday season, they still had a very nice selection of yarns for all types of projects.  


I came home with several to swatch and see if I like.  They include Elsebeth Lavold Classic AL in maroon– a lovely 50% baby alpaca, 50% merino wool worsted weight (I think).  I also brought home a skein of Nashua Julia by Kristin Nicholas in a natural shade.  This yarn ins 25% alpaca, 25% mohair and 50% wool.  I’m thinking this would make a lovely Aran sweater. GEMS Topaz superwash wool in red was another I wanted to try to make things for my relatives that don’t understand the term “hand wash”.  I may make one of my baby sweaters out of this for the next time my hubby asks for a hand made ‘something’ for a baby I’ll never meet.  2 skeins of Koigu KPPPM in a variegated blue came home with me also.  I love this yarn for socks.

On the way home, I swung by The Hen House on Louetta in Spring. Although I don't like this shop much (too many novelty yarns) occasionally I will find some yarn that I like. I managed to pick up 9 skeins of Galway Highland Heather in a lovely royal blue at a nice price. It will become a sweater sometime in the future.

I’m off to knit the saddles for the FLAK sweater and make up a package for my secret pal.

Till later ~~ Dene

Got to love the knitting community!

I'm beside myself with excitement - I won some lovely yarn from Wendy at Wendy Knits. It is National De-lurking Week and I was the 22,000th commenter on Wendy's blog. The knitting bloggers are simply the best :)

The Shimmer will make a lovely Pi shawl. I want to do the one on the cover of EZ's Knitter's Almanac. I have started several shawls but haven't finished any of them. I took the trangular lace shawl class from Jackie E-S at Needlecraft University last fall but it is still unfinished. I started the MysteryShawlAlong2 and got to clue 4 and decided I didn't like the shawl so it will be frogged. I'm going to use the yarn (a lovely lace weight wool) for MysteryShawlAlong3.

Wendy posted a picture of Lucy in her blog today. She was so striking in her bride's outfit that Starkitty swooned :)


Now is this any way for a Grand Champion Birman to act? For those that are curious, he is Gr. Ch. Birpatch Upon a Star of Denebir (aka Starkitty).

till later ~~ Dene

Unexpected FO

I love my husband of 30 years but I don't really think he understands my time. Last week he said, "I really don't want to ask but do you by chance have a homemade baby quilt I could give to a friend in Russia?". This was met with my best "You gotta be kidding" stare. Oh sure! I have dozens of quilts made up just ready to gift out to people I don't know - NOT! Nor do I have time to whip one up since he was leaving today to go back overseas.

So, I put on my thinking cap. The husband wants something homemade and I do have some baby socks I had intended to gift to CIC, but that just didn't seem to be enough. Then I rememebered something that I had knit about 6-7 years ago - somewhere in all my craft crap, junk piles stuff upstairs were 2 baby sweaters that I knit and never sewed together. They were made before I discovered the joys of good yarn and are most definately made of cheap acrylic.

So upstairs we go. Now, this is the hard part. When we remodeled the house last year, one of the victims was my craft closet. I had a wonderful 6'x8'closet in my bedroom that housed only my crafting supplies and projects. It was torn out and is now a breezeway between the living room and den. It really opened the house up, but gave me nowhere to put my crap, junk piles stuff. This was all dumped in the unused loft and mixed with all sorts of stuff from other areas of the house. Boxes and boxes of stuff.

Sifting through the boxes I spotted a cable needle I needed for the FLAK - eureka! Then I found my box of crochet hooks that I rescued. My daughter's GS uniform with a patch that needed to be sewn on - wait, she is now 26 yrs old - that can wait..LOL. You get the picture. Nowhere could I find the sweaters till I spotted a familiar yellow canvas bag - there they were.

One solid blue and one variagated pink sweaters emerged from the bag in relatively good shape. The blue one had a few spots on it that I thought would wash out and since the baby was male, I grabbed it to sew up the seams. About an hour later and after a good dunk in some Dawn dish soap, the sweater was out drying.

Nobody told me how long acrylic takes to dry *sigh*. This morning I went out to grab the sweater and wrap it before taking my hubby off to the airport and the thing was still wet. So I dumped it in the dryer. This stuff is indestructable and it came out fine :)



So, my first finished object of 2006 is an old UFO that I knitted 6-7 years ago just so I would have something to pass the time at shows waiting for my cats to be called to the ring. I was hoping it would be somethign glamourous and worthy of much praise, but alas no. But is is a finished object and for that I'm glad.

Now, should I finish the other one?

till later ~~ Dene

Secret Pal 7 Questionnaire

Oh how I hate to fill these out but I love to get pressies so I had better LOL.

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand?
I will admit that I'm a yarn snob. I have knit my fair share of low end yarns but now I have found the joy in knitting wools and other natural fibers and I love them.

2. Do you spin? Crochet?
I do not spin (although I did try to learn) and I do crochet but not very often (hurts hands).

3. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
My double point bamboo/birch needles are all in clear plastic divided tubes that I love. My straights and circulars are in a drawer and I have to search for them when I need them (Hint!).

4. How long have you been knitting? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I learned to knit 45 years ago. My skill level is somewhere between intermediate and advanced although I do love mindless knitting something easy occasionally.

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
I do have an Amazon list here.

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
For candles, I love Yankee Candles in their spiced pear and cinnamon scents. For bath products, I'm not picky.

7. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
Yes and I'm constantly dieting to make up for that sweet tooth. Favorite candy are chocolate and toffee - any and all kinds.

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?
I quilt almost as much as I knit. I recently made curtains but don't sew clothes anymore.

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I love folk and celtic music. I also listen to Josh Groban and Garth Brooks. I have an iPod for my portable music and a CD player for discs.

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?
Favorite colors are blue and tans - earthy colors except for oranges are also my favorites. I don't look good in green or yellow.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I live with my husband of 30 years and an adult son. My married daughter lives in VA. I have 5 cats (4 champion Birmans and a barn cat) and a dog.

12. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Living in Texas, not much use for cold weather gear. I wore ponchos in the 70's but don't think I'd wear one now. I am knitting lace shawls, though.

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?
I love most natural fibers. My favorite sock yarns are Opal and Mountain Colors Bearfoot. I like traditional worsteds and DK yarns like Cascade 220 and Araucauna.

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
Novelty yarns like eyelash and ribbons.

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?
Aran sweaters and lace shawls and stoles.

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Socks! I have a short attention span so socks work well. I also do sweaters and my daughter enjoys my warm things since she lives in a cold climate.

17. What are you knitting right now?
Pullover sweater, lace shawl, socks. Starting the FLAK aran sweater later this month.

18. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Love them!

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?
I don't have a preference - I like either

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
I like bamboo for double points and straights and aluminum for circulars

21. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
I have both

22. How did you learn to knit?
I learned to knit from my mother and grandmother and also as a project in 4H when I was a child.

23. How old is your oldest UFO?
Probably about 10 years old :)

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?
Favorite animal would be the horse. I lost my horse, Sugar, about 4 years ago. I also love my cats. My favorite animated character would be any of the Looney Tune characters.

25. What is your favorite holiday?
Christmas!

26. Is there anything that you collect?
Tacky thimbles from various places around the world. Cat figurines.

27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
Cast-on is the only one I subscribe to.

28. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on?
I would love to try Trekking XXL which is one I've not used before but have heard good things about. I would like to try felted patterns like slippers or bags.

29. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
Felting and Fair Isle stranding.

30. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
Yes :) Large foot - size 11 (eek!!) I usually do 72 stitches on size 1 needles with sock weight yarn.

31. When is your birthday? (mm/dd) 7/15

till later ~~ Dene

Trucking along

A nice Sunday around here today. I enjoyed a morning at church and started a new class on Healing Prayer. Then a nice nap in the afternoon. Then .. well, work. Every 6 weeks or so, I have to work on Sunday afternoon. It is nice that it isn't every week, so I don't mind rotating in occasionally. Luckily, it is a bit slow so I might have a few moments here and there for my own things (like this blog).

Progress on the Renaissance Pullover:



As you can see, it is trucking along nicely. I'm not the fastest knitter so was pleased to get this much done.

I keep seeing new projects that I'd like to start. What is this? January 9th and I'm already seeing weakness in my resolutions to get projects done.. LOL.

Yesterday, I worked on a quilt that I stated about a year ago. It was originally a charity quilt and I got the top pieced but didn't get the border on. Since the remodel took my sewing room out for a long period, I never got back to this quilt. I found out late this week that a dear friend's husband may have cancer. I decided to finish up this quilt in case I needed to send it to him as a Love Quilt. I'm hoping it doesn't come to that.

Oh! West Wing is on!

Till later ~~ Dene

FLAK swatches

Well, the FLAK swatch is done and blocked and I'm pretty happy with the results.


Here is a close up of the Baby Honeycomb showing the difference between using a cable needle and not. The bottom ones made with a cable needle are much crisper.



I had the ball winder out so I decided to wind some of the Elann Peruvian Highland wool so I'd have it when the knit-along started. I was very disappointed in the number of knots. I wound 7 - 50g skeins and ended up with a knot in every single skein except one. 2 skeins had 2 knots each. I ended up with 17 balls of yarn, some very small. I should have expected this when I ran into a knot on the very first skein. I won't be buying this yarn again :(

On the other hand, I would 3 skeins of Classic Elite Renaissance and I only had 1 knot and it was towards the end of one skein. That is the first knot I've come across in the 8 skeins I've used of this yarn. I will be buying this yarn again :)

till later ~~Dene

Renaissance Sweater - Part 1

New Years resolution (yeah right!) - finish projects, finish projects, etc.

First on the list is my Renaissance Rollneck Pullover that I started last fall. Pattern was a freebie on the net and found on the Classic Elite Yarn site. Yarn is their Renaissance 100% wool - lovely stuff in a medium blue. Very soft and scrunchy. It has a looser twist that I'm use to but I've had no problems with splitting. I'm using bamboo straight needles Size 7. In this photo, I've finished the back and just cast on the front. Pretty mindless knitting but you do have to pay attention to the purls in the previous rows to keep from getting off a stitch or two.



I don't have a lot of time to knit as my work keeps me pretty busy. I did manage to work on the SIL socks last night while watching Mr. Holland's Opus and ER on the TV. I love that movie and tend to watch it whenever it comes on TV, but I also have the DVD for times when I just want an escape type chick-flick. American President and Little Women (the one with Wynona Ryder) are also good escapes for me.

BTW - I discovered my avatar from yesterday *isn't* the ugliest. There are people out there with much more twisted minds than mine .. LOL!

till later ~~ Dene

Ugliest Avatar

JenLa started it! Yep, I'm blaming them for my Martha Stewart at a BBQ New Years Party avatar. It was warm enough to do without the poncho or hat this year but I thought they were the ugliest things I could find so of course I included them :)



Now, back to work .. LOL.

till later ~~ Dene

The Scarf has a Name

Thanks to Talitha, I now remember the name of the scarf and can give the pattern author due credit. "My So Called Scarf" is from Sheep in the City's blog. It is a wonderfully fast and easy scarf with visual interest and it doesn't curl like many of the others I've done.

I did make one modification to the pattern. On the knit rows, I used yarn-overs instead of knitting into the back of the slipped stitch. Came out exactly the same but sped up my knitting. The pattern for row1 I used was:

Row 1: K1, Slip 1, K1, YO, PSSO
Row 2 was the same.

I've finished my swatch for the FLAK and it came out nice. Yarn is Peruvian Highland Wool on size 6 Addi Turbo circulars. The first two-thirds of the swatch was done on bamboo straight needles and then I realized I needed circulars for the project. So I switched over and even though the Addi's are 0.25mm smaller, the gauge came out the same. I knit looser on metal needles. The sample is unblocked.



I did notice one thing, on the baby honeycomb cable if I tried to do the crossovers without a cable needle, then they came out muddled and less defined. If I use the cable needle, they are crisper. The top 2 of these cables in the picture were done without the extra needle.

Till later ~~ Dene

A is for Araucania



One of my current favorite yarns. This is a lovely cranberry color with a slight varigation that gives the yarn interest and depth. I have enough for a sweater but not sure of the pattern I want to use yet.

As promised, here is the progress on the One-Who-married-The-Daughter's socks.



The pattern is my own with a cast on of 64 stitches on a size 2 Brittany Birch needles. The yarn is Mountain Color's Bearfoot in Granite Peak colorway. No time line on this pair of socks but I hope to have them done soon.

Today I'm also swatching the cables for the FLAK knit-along. I think I will love this sweater but can't decide if I want a pull-over or a cardigan. Living in Texas, I am leaning towards a cardigan. I'll post a picture tomorrow.

I'm enjoying reading everyone's wrap up of their projects over the past year. I don't think I'll try and count but I know there were quite a few socks in there. 3 pairs were gifted at Christmas and I have a few more in the gift sack that are unclaimed. I've not kept my web site up-to-date and that is on my list of things to do this year.

Also, I need to learn to put buttons on my blog. I tried but couldn't get them to look right on all 3 of the platforms that I use (PC Mozilla, PC IE, Mac Safari). I'll keep diddling with the HTML unless someone can guide me to a source code :)

Till later ~~ Dene

Happy New Year Y'all !!

Things are settling down at the Dene domain and I'm finally able to get back to blogging. The Daughter and The One-that-married-The-Daughter are on their way back to Virginia and we are home from our short trip to Dallas. All that is left are 2 slices of ham and the Christmas decorations :)

The last project of 2005 was completed on the drive home yesterday. Sometime last month I found an easy scarf pattern on someone's blog. It was a simple 2 row repeat and I just jotted down the pattern without remembering whose blog it was on. Of course, now I can't find it and I apologize to the owner of the pattern for not posting credit. If you know whose pattern it is, please leave a comment.



and as modeled by Curly-Dog



The yarn is Noro Silk Garden in the most awful colorway that I have ever seen. I had bought 8 skeins on eBay and started a Clapotis out of it till I realized how much I hated this color. So 4 skeins went into 2 of these scarves which will be gifts for some office workers of my husband's in Sakhalin Russia. The other 4 skeins go back into my stash for a future project.
The first projects of the new year are the FLAK knit-along Aran Sweater and to finish the socks for The-One-who-married-The-Daughter. I'm on the leg of the second sock. Pictures soon!