Bad Bug

Okay, we thought the third time would be a charm. HA! Bug still going buggy, so we STILL have not been up to McKittrick Canyon. From what I can understand, the fuel mixture isn't rich enough. Hubby says this is why the car seems a little "gutless." The mechanic said he'll need the car for a few days to fix the problem, so perhaps a rental this weekend? We'll turn over the car when I head out on Monday.

I joined SparkPeople again so I can track what I eat. I forgot they have a journal, too, so this actually added two useful things to what I can do with my iPhone. I dabbled in SparkPeople a little before, but it isn't very useful when you can't get online everyday. When you can, it's great! My ID over there is KNITWALK -- please reference me if you join! And of course there is a group for knitters in the Spark realm, as there is a group for Sparkers in the Ravelry realm...

Knit, Ravelry, Blog... Life

Yes, well, my dear little blog has taken a bit of a backseat with the knitting that must be done as well as my still relatively new relationship with Ravelry. Yes, relationship. For the amount of time I spend there, it should be. We're planning a trip to the Caribbean early spring....

And of course we cannot discount the time spent with continued car troubles (we think it is now fixed -- ha, ha, we think -- bad Bug, bad Bug) and a little bit of bedroom renovation. Yes, we are in an apartment. The couple that lived in the room before us fought -- violently. Supposedly all the splatter marks on the walls were from beer bottles being thrown about. Yes... we may have to repaint a "normal" color when we leave, but for now we will enjoy "Golden Butter" and "Orange Slice" with hints of "Lime Passion." We also put up shelves and a peg board for the knitting, sewing, crafting, etc. that must occur. And there has been walking -- not as much as I would like, but there has been some. The temperature has finally reached something more reasonable here a.k.a. bearable. The nights are cool, but sadly because of the street lights, bus depot, poorly tuned exhausts and booming stereos, we have to shut our windows up tightly at night.

Oh, yes, and there is that other "little" thing... my new phone... new iPhone, that is. Jeff reminded me that seven years ago I said I wanted one device that did it all -- phone, camera, music, PDA -- and here it is! It just blows my mind that I'm holding 8G of memory in my hand -- my first computer was a Mac Classic (see? I have Apple roots) and it had a whopping 40MB memory. Can't believe that was seventeen years ago. Blech. I'm still getting used to the fact that there are things I can say I've been doing for DECADES. Twenty-six years of flute playing -- that's a quarter of a century -- ohmigosh -- grab my orthodics, roll my knee-highs down to my ankles, and I'm off to play bingo...

I'm also gearing up for three trips ("real" ones, requires a plane to get there & back) in the next seven weeks. Praise God we can bring knitting needles on flights.

So that's current life in the Chihuahuan Desert for The Chick. Photos to follow!

BTW, Did I mention I got into Ravelry?

Yes, I'm finally one of the gang. You'll find me as the chickadee under "tayaelaine." Ohhhhh, so that's why blogging has been sparse. Just a little. I really like having my projects listed -- there is just something about seeing the pictures with "wip" in the corner that makes me want to get them finished before casting on the next project. Of course we'll just see how my resolve holds up since I've wound a ball of Solana and rediscovered this Knitty Pattern. Hmmmm, do I dare?

I have an ambitious Socktoberfest goal: finish two pair in progress and complete four. The four are all Christmas gifts, so I do need to get crackin' anyway. Here they are:
I suppose this means I really need to stick with my socks and not start that throw...

Sisters of the Wool Visit

Yippee! I got to knit, dye, and buy with my fellow Sisters! We spent a Saturday at Heritage Arts in Beaumont Ranch dying yarn.
It's a fun setting -- I half expected a fight to break out and a couple of cowboys to fall off one of the second story balconies!
Angeluna was creating a sinister green for her Nagini socks.
The fall decorations were fantastic. I think this one is demonstrating what happens when someone attempts to get between us and our yarn!
Here's some of our beautiful work!
There were a couple of bored teenage girls at the ranch who wanted to try out dying, and they came up with this lovely creation (which magically found it's way home with me!):
I made some mostly red yarn with a little green and navy, which in turn made a little purple. This was my first attempt at dying yarn. It will become a pair of socks for my sis-in-law for Christmas -- trying to decide what pattern to use.
This was my second hank that I dyed -- I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I have no idea what it will become when it grows up. That is real silver glinting through there, with superwash wool and silk.

My camera battery was dead when I showed up to Borders for our Brooks Farm trunk show. So, I can only show my "haul," which includes some Four Play, Solana, and Acero. Three Christmas presents and one unknown project.

I'm a Hooker...

Take it in context, people, take it in context! I took a class at Unravel in Las Cruces and here's my first project completed. I'll finish this one off as a pillow. I've started the next one, but probably won't work on it again until after the first of the year.

Not much computer time over the past few weeks, with a very full visit to the Fort Worth area, and doing a little "home improvement" in our apartment. Posts to follow!

From None to Five...

...or six, wait, is that SEVEN? Darn. I thought I was doing well...

Yes, I must confess to seven if this is full disclosure. At one point in August, I had no WIPs. Here's what I have four weeks later. Clockwise from the socks:

1. Broadripple in Cascade Fixation, midway through gusset on second sock
2. One Skein Wonder in CTH Twister (started last night b/c I didn't have sense enough to go to bed)
3. Daphne Baby Cape, a few ends left, buttons, attach one side of hood and fringe (completed but not pictured)
4. Unmentionable, needs to be stuffed, assembled, & dressed (see Knit 2 Together, Ullman & Clark, p. 66)
5. Danica Scarf for Red Scarf Project, Lion Wool Worsted, about 25% complete
6. Loose Five Braid Cable out of Vanna's Choice, needs fringe to make it a scarf. Done to test yarn and make a cable swatch. Have washed a stockinette swatch twice and I'm not happy with how it is wearing -- looks worn and fuzzy already.
7. Unmentionable, a few ends to weave in and buttons -- cannot find 2" buttons. (see Fitted Knits, Japel, p. 48)

Unmentionables are obviously gifts, but since they are going to non-knitters I've given references for the curious knitters out there. Love the #7, tried it on enough times that hubby asked if I was going to be able to give it away. I reassured him that wouldn't be a problem since I already bought yarn to make one for me.... And #4 should be gifted soon, so I can show pix and describe a couple of minor adjustments I made to the pattern.

Planted some window boxes yesterday with plants from Sierra Vista Growers in La Union, NM. Just love this place. All their plants look full and healthy, and there are plenty of hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees to keep you entertained while shopping. They are also the only place I could find vermiculite to make Mel's Mix for our Square Foot Gardens, and the only place we could find seaweed extract, fish emulsion, and gypsum to keep our plants healthy. We've had quite a learning curve here -- we actually OVER-watered at first. Anyway, here are the boxes:

More Travel + More Knit = Less Blog

The good news is, the silence will be broken with good pictures, because we FINALLY got our new camera! So, let's start with Mr. Picture Purrfect Posing Puss:
Awwww... isn't he a sweetie? And I captured one of the hummingbirds on our patio.
For our anniversary weekend in August we went up toNew Mexico and stayed at the Inn on Broadway. We weren't the only guests.I got a little bit of knitting done, here's the Daphne with two skeins down.We spent Saturday wandering around the town, visiting various shops and galleries. We ate lunch at Vicky's and dinner at Diane's -- highly recommend both places for their spectacular food. On Sunday we drove out to the Gila Cliff Dwellings, which wasn't far as the crow flies, but took several hours on those twisty mountain roads (which is good practice for Ireland next May, according to Jo). Our hike had a little added excitement as we were caught in a downpour, which is spectacular from the cliffs as you can see.

We ate lunch at The Lodge, where they had a few hummingbirdsmost of whom were not camera shy.On the way home we stopped for a quick peek at Lake Roberts.


The following weekend we made our usual escape to Cloudcroft and our favorite coffee shop, Jamocha Bean, to sit in the gardenand visit with Kate.Then we hiked through Lincoln Forest and found this little guy.My first time seeing a horned toad. The birds were uncooperative for photographing as usual. We went back to Jamocha Bean in the afternoon and just hung out because we didn't feel like doing anything else and certainly didn't want to go back to EP just yet. Wait! Who's that posing by the fountain in the garden? Yes, Potomatomus has made an appearance in all her glory.This is certainly a better shot of the colors, but now that I see it on the blog it isn't showing the detail quite as much as I had hoped. More knitting pictures tomorrow, including FOs!

Frog Pond

The good, the bad, and the ugly:

Glasgow Lace from Interweave Knits Fall 2006, but you can't see the curves to the lace pattern because of the striping in the colorway (CTH potluck supersock). And AFTER I got to this point, I found information about shaping the garment here. I also kept asking myself why I wasn't knitting in the round. So, IF I do this sweater, it will be in a solid or nearly solid, and knit in the round with waist shaping. I am left with 840 yards of this CTH potluck. Yes, I could make socks, but I feel like I should use it on something bigger since I have an ample amount of this "one of a kind" colorway. I do think the colorway would be perfect for Nagini, so maybe I'll give in and do that.



I have an unknown amount of laceweight merino -- it is my mom's yarn but she didn't like working with it, so I'm trying to make a scarf out of it for her. I was using US size 5s, but I don't like the way it looks, so I think I'm going to restart with 4s. In some places the yarn is so light it looks like there is a dropped stitch. The question is whether to stay with this leaf lace pattern or look for something else. It came in a little kit with knitting needles and instructions for three different lace patterns including a feather & fan. If this sounds familiar to anyone and you know the yardage, please let me know!

Daphne's Baby Cape

One skein down, two plus to go. I'm using Berroco Comfort in 9810 Nosegay Mix. I picked up the yarn Monday at Unravel in Las Cruces. The store had a nice selection of yarn and books. The pattern (From Knit Two Together) calls for Cascade 220, but I wanted something washable. The Comfort is super soft -- it can be a little splitty if you aren't paying attention. The first skein I used had two knots in it, one about six yards in and the other just a few yards behind it. Haven't found a problem in the second skein -- will wait until the project is complete before I write to Berroco.

Hubby and I have been touring as much of Southern NM as we can before we are relocated next month (insert temper tantrum here). So far we've been to Cloudcroft twice (30 degrees cooler than it is here) and out to Carlsbad Caverns. We may stay local this weekend, but we are looking into B&Bs for our anniversary weekend. Maybe Silver City area so we can see the Gila Cliff Dwellings, or back into the Ruidoso/Cloudcroft area.

And It's been a while since I posted these mugs, so here they are:

Norton just knows the doormat was purchased for him.


Frank considers the entire world his toy.

Emerging from the deep depths of the dark water...

...is Potomatomus! I'll kitchner the second toe tonight & be done with them. The second picture is a little closer to the real colors.
I followed the pattern with the exception of using the Channel Island cast on (found in my page-a-day calender). The yarn is Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Steelhead. Just couldn't resist using a fish-named colorway for a fish-named pattern and maintaining the theme with the island cast-on. These did seem to be "the socks that never end" because of the 1x1 ribbing, but I still love them. Very much looking forward to cold weather, especially since these are the third pair of socks I've completed this summer.

I realize yesterday's posts were rather shortly stated. Part of that is from the attempted to cram in the chronicles of several completed projects. And part of that was just plain feeling cranky. The previous five days were filled with a variety of malfunctions in our apartment (refrigerator, overflowing toilet, loss of electricity) and I'd had enough. We've been told the power will be out again this Friday so they can make permanent repairs. Last night the AC wasn't working all that great, so I'm kind of sluggish today. Hopefully that will be then end of that type of excitement for a whil. Hubby will be home soon and he always makes things better! We've been discussing various vacation options and at first I offered a few options, but now my only request is that it is someplace cold. I want the luxury of shivering a little. Being able to don the comfy handknits will just be a bonus!

Jaywalkers & Vog-ons

Jaywalkers in Regia Silk. I only changed the pattern for the heel:

I used a Strong heel, which allowed me to continue the pattern all the way down the heel. The sock is very tight as others have noted with this pattern. It fits fairly well except for the buckling around the ankle. I'm through using Regia sock yarn. Technichal comment: blech. It has no sproing at all. The colorway is very pretty.

The pattern came out on a Tuesday. I cast-on on Thursday and finished the following Wednesday. My Koigu Vog-ons:

Love the pattern and the yarn. It is a fairly stretchy lace, so I probably didn't have to make the pattern change -- I added some ribbing to the back of the ankle. It makes a nice panel out of the lace. I did the toe-up version, and I think I did thirteen 4-round repeats instead of the ten shown. I have my notes somewhere...Oh yeah, BTW, ignore the dates on the pictures.

W & Flamewalkers

Here's the first in the FO parade in a lame attempt to "catch up" my blog. This is from Knitty. I followed the pattern, and kind of wish I hadn't. Instead of making two separate pieces, I wish I had made a provisional cast on, then instead of knitting the fifth wedge, I'd just knit the third again and make my way around the back. That leaves just the shoulder straps to seam. The garter stitch border looks better in person than it does in the picture. I'm really looking forward to being able to replace this picture because the yarn is gorgeous. It is CTH Twister Potluck in colors that look like Sugar Maple, heavy on the pink. I'm thinking of making a One Skein Wonder in pink Twister to go with it.


CTH Supersock in Maple, Flamewalker pattern. Followed the pattern. I like the finished product. The yarn seems to be pilling a bit, especially where the ankles rub against my shoes. I've heard this is a merino problem. Curious to see how they continue to wear.

Ravelry

I decided not to wait anymore to get into the queue. Here's the result:

Found you!
You signed up on Today
You are #17320 on the list.
11389 people are ahead of you in line.
6 people are behind you in line.
32% of the list has been invited so far

I'm glad I'm not actually standing in line for this one. Although, that would be lots of quality knitting time...

Crawling Out from Under the Rock...

...or at least out of the internet black hole I was in. Six months later, I find myself no longer in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains, but high in the Chiuhuahuan Desert. Yes, I realize it is hot here. Yes, I realize we just moved OUT of Texas six months ago. Yes, I acknowledge that I am not in control, and I am thankful for this. Everything works out so much better than I could ever plan it.

Fortunately we are just here temporarily. However, we may move back to DFW rather than central VA -- definitely keeping the house. Although it has a much more glamorous sound than our actual lifestyle, it will most likely become a summer home and vacation retreat.

The lack of internet access inspired reading, gardening, knitting, and a little cross-stitching. I wasn't exactly having to carry water to the house in a bucket or scrub my clothes on rocks, but day-to-day operations in that old house took some extra doing. And I had fun working as a cashier-jockey and barista in a bagel shop. That was my winter and spring. We did make one trip to the DC area, and visited the CnO Canal, where we first met. (Insert romantic sigh here.)

I have several FOs and WIPs, but our old camera died and the newer one takes really bad pictures. Will update with what I have, and replace the pictures when I can get better ones. Some FOs are still in VA unphotographed. Oh well, I'll just have to add them to the blog later. They include: Anthropologie-Inspired Winter Capelet; Entrelac Shrug; Beechwood Scarf; Mosaic Mitts; Nautical Notes Hat; Mabel's Scarf; Kureyon-Chan; and probably some others I'm forgetting.

I completed the CTH Flamewalker Socks and a pair of Jaywalkers, however Blogger is currently not cooperating with uploading my pictures (it must also acknowledge that the pix are bad). And I made the 'Vog on socks from the new Knitty. The issue came out on the 12th, I cast on the 14th and picot stitch cast-off on the 21st. My first time working with Koigu -- yes, I love it, too.

WIPs include W (Knitty) and Pinwheel Purse (both blocking), and Potomatomus -- I'm on the heel flap of the first sock. Glasgow Lace and a lace scarf I started are on time-out. I have the Trio Tote Bag and another partial sock that are set aside indefinitely. And I cast on a pair of socks for my husband months ago, but there's barely enough done to cover his big toes. It is a dark gray yarn and very hard to see except in daylight. So I guess it adds up to seven knitting WIPs. Note the word "knitting." Some machine sewing will take place this summer as well.