on the four year plan

I had a trip to Boston last week (for work).

This allowed for plenty of airplane knitting time.

I dug out an old UFO.  

Old, I tell you, OLD!

But I finally finished.  

One ounce of silk caps that I dyed in 2007 and finished spinning in 2008.

It's funny how lace looks all scrunchy before blocking.

After blocking.

Finished size 8' x 6"

And worn!

Montego Bay Scarf from Interweave Knits Summer 2007

MEA October 2011

Last weekend was the MEA school break in Minnesota.

We traveled to DeSoto, IL to meet with Harlan and Coleen.  They live in Georgia.  We tried to find a place in the middle to meet for the long weekend.  We rented a cute log cabin in DeSoto, IL.

We fit in plenty of activities in the long weekend.

We visited several wineries on the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail.

We also visited an orchard.

We ate, drank yummy wines, cooked, played games, launched sky lanterns, shot slingshots, fished and geocached.  (note the icky snake that put an end to our geocaching for the day)

I had lots of time to knit on the 650 mile trip.

I knitted and napped and relaxed.

Perhaps I got a bit too relaxed.

I worked on the second sleeve of Paul's sweater.

Can you see how much larger the right sleeve is, compared to the left?

Yeah, the gauge is a full stitch per inch off.

Well, I hadn't knit any part of his sweater twice yet...

I was able to get most of Bekky's sweater finished.

Just needs weaving in and clasps.

Now this sweater, I've knit almost twice in its entirety.

First it was too big.

Once I got the body size right, the sleeves were too small.

So I've knitted the body twice, and one sleeve twice.

It's worth it.

It looks terrific on her.

Once I get it blocked and clasped, I'll get a picture of her modeling it.

This sweater will be just in time.

Ben and Bekky are moving to Denver very soon!

Girl of the House is almost finished with classroom drivers education.

Paul had her out driving in the yard yesterday.

Permit test soon!

Life keeps moving.

Windmill

Carleton College has a new windmill, easily visible from our deck.

Well, OK, it's not quite as close as it appears.

It's slightly less than a mile away.  

I like the look of it.

Simple pleasures...

Luna Frypan!

Somethings happened at our house.

It requires getting all my baskets up off the floor.

The contents are far too interesting.

(Note the messy green yarn.)

Luna Frypan.

4 months old.

Former Prairie's Edge Humane Society resident.

Lab/Bloodhound cross - but that's really just a guess.

Our big dog is 11, and he's beginning to slow down.

I want to keep a big dog as a running companion.

Luna will be ready in a year or so.

In the meantime, welcome to our zoo!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have basket reorganization to finish.

The kittens are down

The kittens have come to ground.  Mama cat Yasmine has placed them under the steps.  They DO like to come out and nap in the sunshine - much better than being under the cool dark steps!

There was a question of how we knew the kittens were in the tree.  We saw mama cat climbing the tree on a regular basis, so we had to wonder why?

I'd have loved to see her bringing those babies down, wouldn't you?

This year the babies have W names.

This is Willis.

This is Willow.

(Wyoming was too shy for a picture this morning.)

Kittens in a tree

We've got a mama cat that has figured out the safest place for her kittens.

16 feet up.

In an old squirrel nest in a tree hollow.

Three babies safe and warm.

Can't say I've ever seen that before...

Waitin' for the bus

Girl of the House this morning, waiting for the bus.

Isn't it great when you have a really good book?

Starting over

Here's a last look for Bekky:

17 inches of warm Dale goodness.

Turns out, the only way this would fit tiny little Bekky is if she gained more than 50 pounds.  
I think that's too much to ask, don't you?

I did some calculations when I started her sweater, as I needed to replace the Daletta yarn for the Heilo yarn.  They have fairly different gauges.

Yeah, I miscalculated.  Yeah, I knit and knit and knit, and didn't do any measuring.  

Yeah, I was having fun!

Now that I'm ready to start the sleeves, I actually did some measuring.  

40 inches around.  

Never going to work.

Keep telling myself I'm a process knitter.  That's my story and I'm stickin' to it...

A full basket

I've a full knitting basket lately.

Three Dale of Norway sweaters in rotation.

Begun March 9, 2011.

Sapporo 2007

for Bekky

She chose the colors for a lovely grey/green colorway.

A pullover from Dale Book #138

for Ben

Gjende pullover

for Paul

I knit along on each sweater in rotation.  When I come to the end of a ball of yarn, I join on the new ball and move on to the next sweater.  This way I never get tired of any individual sweater.  I stay eager to move on to the next.

And in between, I still get a few small projects completed.  

My most recent carry around project:  springy fingerless mittens for the daughters of a friend.  Just need weaving in ends, then they are ready for the Easter Bunny basket.

Sky lanterns launched!

Ben and Bekky came home for a visit this weekend, and we were able to successfully launch our sky lanterns.

We didn't put on the snowshoes this time.  We just headed out to the widest part of the driveway.  It was much warmer - 24˚ with no wind at all.  Much easier to light the lanterns and definitely friendlier to any exposed body parts!


The lanterns looked amazing as they floated away into the night.

And while he was home, Ben picked up his fingerless mitts and a matching knitted hat.

I think they were a hit.

NaKniMitMo 2011

I took part in National Knit Mittens Month (NaKniMiMo) over on Ravelry this month.

While the hedgehog mittens took me longer than I expected, I did manage to finish two more pair of mittens.

The Winter Wonderland Mittens from Classic Elite.

I used the yarn called for by the pattern - Classic Elite Fresco.  It's a cuddly soft mix of wool, alpaca and angora.  I really enjoyed this yarn, and the mittens are already getting a fuzzy angora halo.

Ben asked for another pair of fingerless mittens.

I used some handspun coopworth/sari silk yarn that has been aging in the stash.

These are so quick and easy - long tubes of ribbing with large button holes for the thumbs. 

I made five pair for my co-workers holiday gifts, all from handspun.

It must be a coyote den

This is the second coyote we saw trotting past the house this morning.

Managed to capture this one on film:

Absolutely beautiful.

As long as we don't have any livestock, that is...

Fail (and a success)

I picked up a long abandoned spindle today and spun for an hour while we listened to "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" on the radio.  The spindle had quite a bit of fiber already on it, but I thought I could add a bit more before winding off.

I was wrong.

The spindle was too heavy for the size of the thread.  It fell to the wood floor, bounced, and repositioned all the fiber.  I tried to make repairs, but finally gave up.  I took it to the ball winder to try to wind it off, but gave up.  I pulled the yarn off the spindle, admired it, frowned a bit, and gave it a toss in the trash.  

It was pretty, though, wasn't it?

Paul and I were able to go out for some snowshoeing.  
(Girl of the House, who spent the past two days at ski meets, declined the opportunity for more outdoor time.)

We found a den in the pasture.  

Coyote?  Fox?  Anyone know the distinguishing characteristics?

I love the indentation in the snow where the critter lay and soaked up the sun.

We'll keep an eye on it and see what we can determine.

And a success!

Hedgehog mittens from a kit by Morehouse Merino.  

Very putzy knitting, but definitely the way to a 15 year old's heart.

New Years Eve

On New Years Eve we headed out into the 6˚  (-12˚ windchill) cold just before midnight.

Crunched out into the pasture on snowshoes with sky lanterns in hand.

(Surprisingly, the long necked lighters don't work in that kind of cold.)

Paul trotted on back into the house to get the kitchen matches, while Girl of the House and I waited.

After a bit of a struggle, we finally got one of the lanterns lit.

We only launched one of the lanterns.  The winds were pretty high and they were hard to handle without tearing.

We'll go out sometime soon on a quiet night and launch the others.

Happy New Year 2011!

Grand Targhee 2010

We had a fabulous time at Grand Targhee over the holidays.

Besides the snowshoeing on Christmas Day, we skied four full days.

Ready to launch on the first day.

We snow tubed after a full day of skiing.

Girl of the House had her 15th birthday.

We had fresh powder.

Just an awesome family time.