May 31, 2009

Spring Has Finally Sprung!


Spring has finally arrived in northern Iowa. The flowers are beginning to bloom ..... from the top - columbine, clematis, lupine, and blanket flower. Our vegetable garden is growing well .... tomorrow we'll eat our first leaf lettuce.....tomatoes are beginning to bloom, as are the peppers, onions, zucchini, cabbage ...... and even though the rabbits tried to stop them ...... the broccoli and cauliflower were helped when we placed red clay tiles around them. I've made at least three batches of rhubarb sauce with either frozen strawberries or blackberries added after it cooled a little plus a strawberry/rhubarb pie when dd was home for Mother's Day.
I joined the Operation Knitted Gater on Ravelry to provided a 9-inch knitted gater for troops during deployment. They are knit from colorway 275 (actually chosen by the commander of the unit to match one of the uniform colors) in Cascade 220 superwash. The details are available on the group's forum, so check it out if you would like to help provide these. The group was actually started by the wife of a deployed soldier, wanted 155 gaters by Oct. I knitted one that I gave to a df's sil who leaves next week-end for his deployment. My df said that he had mentioned that "neckware" was needed. I gave it to her today since they were going to "the lake" for one last extended family outing before the sil leaves. Now, I'm ordered a bag of 10 from the yarn shop in Washington that suggested on the forum since she will sell a bag of 10 for the price of 9 if used to knit the gaters ... the first two skeins I ordered from a yarn shop here in the midwestjust to get them quickly. Dd and I will probably knit some while at the Estes Park Wool Market in June and they will be good knitting on the flight out to SS2009 in August.
I'm closing in on the end of the gussets on the Sailor Delight Socks that I started earlier this month. They will be my June socks for the SAM KAL. They are an easy knit since the st pattern is easily memorized,
I had decided not to join RSC 2009 because I didn't care for much of the last year's offerings. Well,....dd is still in and I have loved every one so far this year. I went to BMFA and you can still join ....... so pretty soon I will have three of the kits in my mail. I'm also expected the ETL club offering .... I have looked at spoilers, so know I'm going to like both the pattern and yarn...... it's cashmere with beads!
On the school front ..... three more days ...... actually just the semester final tests days. Then I have to pack up the contents of my room for a move to the other end of the building. Luckily, a lot can be packed in a base cupboard that will be moved to the other room by maintenance staff. I'm so ready for summer ...... this has been a very trying year with students that don't want to even try to learn Spanish words ...... but they do want to learn Spanish. Don't understand.
Happy knitting. TLGB

May 16, 2009

Some New WIPs

I decided that I needed to get some more projects started. I didn't even have a pair of socks on the needles, so I co Sailor's Delight socks from Two At A Time Socks. I've knitted my socks two-at-a-time for the past 2-3 years, so ml isn't anything new ..... just liked the look of these socks. They are knit in Regia Design Line in colorway4251 (blue, teal, rose, purple) with Addi #1 on ml.
I wanted to knit a scarf/shawl, so in my stash was the New Shell Scarf from Jamieson's (Scotland). The yarn is Jamieson's Ultra in strawberry crush colorway (a light red heather) and is knit on KPH #5. It was a gift from Hreow (Rav ID) in the first Ravelry Scarf Exchange. I just have never started it .... it's only a two-row repeat, so it easy to remember. The pattern calls for two balls but Hreow sent three, so it will be a bit longer.


Happy knitting! TLGB

May 14, 2009

Finally Leyburns Are Done!


The Leyburn socks for the STR KAL were started shortly after the first of the year. Once again, hand pain limited my knitting. Picked these up last week with the heel flaps at the halfway mark. Thanks to dh driving on a trip to the VA for his hearing aid check and a stop to get my new military dependent's ID, I was able to knit most of the trip. When we returned home, I only have about 5 rows left on the toes. I did mod by tapering the pattern st to a "v" on the instep and knitting the remainder of the foot in stockinette.
Yarn: STR lightweight in Dixie Chicks colorway
Needles: Addis #1 circ for ml
Pattern: Leyburn socks

I joined the Operation Knitted Gator group earlier this month....received the specific yarn requested last week and began knitting. I'm already half finished with the first gator. The group was started by kerlina on Ravelry to send a gator (k2,p2 "turtleneck" scarf) to every soldier in her dh's unit that has been deployed to the middle east. She hopes to have 155 finished to send in October. Since dh is a retiree of the national guard, I decided that it was the least I could do.

May 5, 2009

Pastor's Socks Finally Completed!

These socks were the last of a two-pair commissioned job from a silent auction at church in mid-November. Knowing I had a lot of Christmas knitting to do, I told our associate pastor that I would start the socks after Christmas. I started his wife's on Dec. 31. Then, the hand pain from toooooo much knitting for Christmas hit. I slowed my usual three pair on the needles down to just one pair. Finished that pair the end of February and started these right away. These, however, were for a size 12 wide foot. I still had to take it slow ..... listen to the hand pain. Just finished these earlier this evening ..... May 5th.
Pattern: Gentleman's Socks with st pat modified
Needles: Addi #2 circ both socks at once
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill supersock in Java colorway (Pastor loves a bold coffee, so thought it appropriate.)
Happy knitting! TLGB