tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34187252012-02-16T01:30:39.455-06:00Making the neighbors wonder since 2007. Welcome to my front porch. Lots of knitting and spinning going on, plus the occasional rant. Pour some iced tea and make yourself at home.Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04117566313678365069noreply@blogger.comBlogger161100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3418725.post-79959850632798196212009-11-20T20:16:00.003-06:002009-11-20T20:29:16.654-06:00

There are actually two empty cubes. (Well, one full cube and one half cube.) And in the spirit of honesty, I didn't bring up all the spinning fiber. Since I have two pounds of Shetland roving in its own sizable cardboard box, I'm going to have to get more shelves installed above the existing rack before it can all come upstairs. Still. It's all there. It's all organized. And OMG there's a lot of

Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04117566313678365069noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3418725.post-25184673537315395492009-11-14T18:21:00.003-06:002009-11-14T18:35:25.984-06:00

I'm on "vacation" until next Thursday, thanks to our corporate "Use it or lose it" leave policy. So since it was too windy yesterday to clean up the front planting beds for the winter, I did this instead:That's all the non-In Progress yarn, pulled out of the Stash Closet and somewhat organized. I'm taking inventory on Ravelry as I put it back in the Closet. The box next to the desk with the white

Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04117566313678365069noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3418725.post-58452540139435743202009-11-12T18:08:00.002-06:002009-11-12T18:28:18.910-06:00

Yeah, it shouldn't have been news to me. We've had our first frost, and last night the temps dipped below freezing again. But for some reason, it suddenly occurred to me two nights ago that it's getting cold and I hadn't even started M's fingerless gloves for work.From DWBlogThis is some Plymouth Encore DK I had in the stash closet. I have a sneaking suspicion this was used to knit the previous

Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04117566313678365069noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3418725.post-67519145727060106132009-11-05T12:25:00.004-06:002009-11-05T12:49:44.373-06:00

I had a few minutes of sunlight last Sunday to snap some pictures of the sock Works In Progress, and one Finished Object. Much as I try, I'm not monogamous to my sock projects; these are only the ones that I have in a basket on my desk.First, the Andromeda socks from Knotions online magazine, in Knit Picks Essential Kettle-Dyed sock yarn. I'm enjoying these (although you wouldn't know from the

Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04117566313678365069noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3418725.post-22041928026636531642009-10-31T13:42:00.002-05:002009-10-31T14:04:08.775-05:00

I'm finishing things with a vengeance around here. This morning I finished the first of the four Christmas Stockings (pictures to come after a wet blocking to even out the colorwork). Last Tuesday I finished a pair of bed socks in rose Wool-Ease (pictures later, since this post is already picture-heavy). Yesterday I wound up the last of the Corriedale three-ply off the Fricke spinning wheel. I'll

Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04117566313678365069noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3418725.post-814301551854098032009-09-23T18:07:00.005-05:002009-09-23T18:29:49.653-05:00

As expected, I'm out of yarn for Aeolian. Knit and Caboodle doesn't have this color anymore. Evidently neither do any other stores; Wisdom Yarns Poems Sock color #952 is now mostly purple with some blues. I am trying to scrounge enough yarn to finish the last four rows and cast-off. I found one Ravelry member who just completed a shawl in the same color and PM'd her to ask if she had any

Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04117566313678365069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3418725.post-23500174965921930682009-09-21T18:14:00.003-05:002009-09-21T18:37:27.785-05:00

I started the Pacific Northwest Shawl by Evelyn Clark years ago, too long to remember exactly when. (You'd think an accountant would have better records...sigh). I remember buying the Zephyr wool/silk lace yarn at Myers House in Florissant; I even remember that they just wound off the necessary yardage from a cone. I remember thinking the price was insanely cheap for REAL wool and REAL silk. It

Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04117566313678365069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3418725.post-84165808705497947332009-09-12T17:45:00.002-05:002009-09-12T17:48:03.597-05:00

Knitting lesson #3578:Forget wild optimism. Try on the garment BEFORE you sew in all the ends.On the bright side: Evidently I sewed all the ends in on Mr. Greenjeans really, really well.

Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04117566313678365069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3418725.post-76372076062955239692009-09-11T18:30:00.002-05:002009-09-11T18:48:39.141-05:00

I think I should be worried now:That's the Aeolian Shawl(ette), row 43 of 46. Note the meager pile of yarn. That is not scrap yarn from another project. That is what I have left to knit 3 more rows (at ~525 stitches per row), then bind off with yarn held double.Yeah. I'm not going to make it. So tomorrow I will buy another skein of Wisdom Yarns Poems Sock, to knit the last two rows and the

Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04117566313678365069noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3418725.post-69513979033913498532009-08-12T17:26:00.005-05:002009-08-12T18:04:17.705-05:00

First, a cautionary tale.Charts are good. Lace charts are great. It's quite helpful to have a visual display of just what is going on when you do that K2tog, k1, yo, k3, yo, ssk. So much better than trying to follow written directions for a 24-stitch repeat over a 300+ row shawl. Finish a row, check it off, move up. Finish one chart section, groove on to the next--AFTER you check the written

Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04117566313678365069noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3418725.post-70532658518048505642009-07-19T17:34:00.002-05:002009-07-19T17:57:32.100-05:00

First, my non progress on my TDF goal:I managed to finish the second third of the second third batch of roving. To recap: I split the entire roving into thirds, trying my best to match the color shifts in each third. I spun the first third straight through. Since the original roving is wider than my palm and as thick as my fist (and I have pretty wide hands), the color changes are quite long on

Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04117566313678365069noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3418725.post-21215131601444696202009-06-30T23:34:00.006-05:002009-06-30T23:46:35.539-05:00

Evidently I've gone insane and joined the Tour de Fleece 2009. From July 4th to July 26th while the Tour de France winds its way, I've committed to spinning for 15 minutes a day, every day. My main target is going to be the Blue Moon Sheep to Shoe kit; I'm a little over halfway through the second bobbin of singles, but I'd like to finish it.Not that I'm hating the process; BFMA roving spins like

Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04117566313678365069noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3418725.post-34248627825932952682009-06-27T11:57:00.004-05:002009-06-27T12:27:44.413-05:00

I have a rare unscheduled Saturday morning, which is good for blogging because lunchtime blogging is now impossible. Our corporate Mothership has decreed that we shall have no internet access that isn't 100% business-related. Unfortunately I don't think I can justify Blogger or Ravelry access for my accounting job.My Saturday morning, the way I wish all my mornings were spent:Good coffee from the

Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04117566313678365069noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3418725.post-39621391491178891422009-06-01T12:00:00.004-05:002009-06-01T12:51:08.563-05:00

First, I'd like to introduce my porch companion, Kira.We rescued her a week before Halloween about two years ago. I'm sure she's grateful for the warm, dry house (if not for the other feline resident's existence), but she still loves sitting on the porch with us and getting a little sun. When she sees the harness, she jumps up on the arm of the couch to "get dressed" to go out.Proof that spinning

Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04117566313678365069noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3418725.post-68165684875026933562009-04-30T11:56:00.003-05:002009-04-30T12:08:00.319-05:00

Spin on my front porch, that is. Last weekend we had a blues festival in town. Not really my husband's kind of music, but I like a wide variety of styles. And the Soulard Blues Band are excellent blues musicians. I could clearly hear them from my office with the window open to the fresh afternoon breeze. It took a few minutes to occur to me that I could work on the computer later that night, but

Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04117566313678365069noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3418725.post-8675849848189577732009-04-27T21:48:00.003-05:002009-04-27T22:10:00.815-05:00

That's what I'm doing to this old blog, and what I did to the fingerless gloves I made my husband. He wears these for work in an unheated warehouse. These made it through two winters with a little patching when the finger ribbing wore through or the thumb gusset ripped a bit. Then disaster:Total thumb blowout. And I'm out of scraps of this yarn to patch it with. I dug through the oddball bag and

Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04117566313678365069noreply@blogger.com1