It is I, Captain Vegetable

Today's post is brought to you by the number 1, as in the number of flashes that are misbehaving, and the letter c, for cowls.  Since the flash is not behaving, and my photoshop skillz are nonexistant, I fear I will be providing no pictures in this post.  I took some, and they are pretty uniformly.... dark seems too light a word, black not descriptive enough of the various shades of not quite color.  I will be working on this.

This weekend was my once a month obligation, and this month it required use of a GPS to get where I was going.  I've decided to name my GPS Sadie, for I'm sure she is a sadist.  On one hand, she gleefully tells me to go on streets in Boston that likely shouldn't ever be tried by car.  On the other, I did get there and back again with most of my nerves intact.  Almost on time even.  Plus, she doesn't tend to sound worried (unlike one that I borrowed a couple of years ago) which is reassuring.

I was not able to work on the knitting for the family members, as I'm not quite smart enough to have memorized the Serious Scarf pattern, and people get really funny about it when you stare at a computer screen saying "uh-huh" and knitting feverishly.  Especially if you're supposed to be remembering things for them and storytelling.  So, that torch gets carried again today.

What I did accomplish was three cowls.  One for me, one for short-stuff, and one for the spousal unit.  Eldest Son already has his.  It was a nice reminder of how fast knitting *can* be.  Three items, knit with alpaca yarn on size 9 needles.  One day.  Viva la accomplishment.

I did finish the first of the stoles for my family, and I'm well into the second.  This weekend will see not much knitting as well, as it looks like my Dad may come over for the last assault on the porch of gusts and sighs.  (gusts of wind, and long sighs of despair... mine)  If it happens, great!  If not, I will certainly not complain.  I started the project late in the year due to earlier time and money constraints.  One way or another, getting as far as we have has been a fantastic and herculean task.  I'm just grateful to have had some expert guidance and help along the way.  Anyhoo, if I'm going to be back on task in the 10 day time frame I need to fix my @#$@ flash. 

Hope your knitting all feels like alpaca..... mmmm alpaca.

all together now

So, as mentioned yesterday, I did get some knitting done.  I'm going to post a bunch of pictures of progress, as well as what they're for. 

The first thing that made knitting difficult was this:

This is him making sure that his turkey dinner doesn't notice he's eating it.  I kid you not.

Cute, isn't he?  Pain in the royal rump, but cute.  Cute enough for me to knit this for him:

Yep, it is a bit big.

That little hat is not done, but he hasn't given it back for the inner liner to be added.  I sure would like to finish it... yep, I sure would.

So I finished the knitting on giant pink blob.  It hasn't been blocked yet, so it looks like this:

test knit of Joie pattern

This is me testing my Joie pattern in the largest size.  I intend to have 3 different sizes, and this is the large size.  My test knit for this one took 600 yards, and I think it's coming in at the size I estimated.  This will be blocked this week.  That yarn?  It's Fleece Artist 2/8 Blue Faced Leicester in petal.  Love!  It smells a bit closer to the sheep than some, but it's just so nice to work with.

Added to that, I worked on this big green blob:

doesn't look like much yet

This is a test knit of my vines and leaves pattern.  I have misplaced skein number 5 on this, so it will wait to be finished until I determine what safe place I tucked it into to protect it from Ninja Boy.

Here's a close up of how the yarn behaves:

Manos Del Uruguay silk blend

This is a 50-50 wool & silk single, DK weight.  It's very similar to one put out by Malabrigo, but I find a whole lot more vegetable matter twisted into the single itself.  So at the moment, it's nice to work with but given the choice between the two I'd chose Malabrigo as it's been more consistent for me.

I've also done this: 

blue leaf cashmere shawlette

It's a simple, small triangle in blue-ish leaf patterns.  Just knit for the joy of the yarn, to be honest.  Needs blocking, but it stretched out well with very little coaxing.

This is another thing I'm working on.  The color in this picture is off, it's a deep evergreen color in real life.

another test knit

This is a test-knit of the pattern for Autumn Glow.  I'm using a nice mink/cashmere yarn from Great Northern Yarns.  If you haven't checked them out, please do.  They are a sustainable mink-fur farm.  What this means, is they raise mink and shave them once a year.  They believe that happy minks make better fibre, and it shows in their product.  Their yarn has been consistent quality, and the mink/cashmere is not something you'll find anywhere else.

The final thing that has been keeping me from writing new patterns is this:

crappy shot

Yep, it's a shell/tank top.  It's my own mix o patterns, and I have a sweater I want to knit for it as well.  But I want to get this finished so I can wear it.  I know it's strange and selfish to want something to wear that I knit.  Don't hold it against me? 

It occurs to me

I think I'm coming across very bitter about the move. I have to admit I am a little, but I am trying hard to be a better person. I want to document some of what we're up against, so that I can look back on it and laugh in the future.

To document, I have unpacked 45 boxes from Saturday night to this evening. This is what is left to be unpacked and put someplace.

The front porch in its entire 35x12 foot space:


This is what the left side of the porch looks like.
It doesn't all fit in a single shot, so I've broken them out.





















Here are the shots of the right side of the porch













































By last count, we're down to 14 bags of cloth-type things, and only about 65 boxes left to deal with.

The only fly in this ointment is, well, this is where the stuff would go:



Or here in the kitchen, which already has 6 boxes and 14 bags of food waiting to be be unpacked and organized somewhere:
























This is my last post about the move/results of the move. The blog will officially be returned to its purpose starting.... now.