Happy March!

Happy March!

   February has just slipped away. It always seems like a short month  because it ends on day 28 and is filled with several holidays and events (i.e. Lincoln’s birthday, Valentine’s, President’s Day, etc.). It was Heart Health and Dental Health month.

  So here we are in March, aka “Green Month” and also National Nutrition Month.   This month has inspired me to decorate my house.  Since I am spending very little time elsewhere other than my home and my job, I wanted to make something beautiful to keep me happy. I found a few Green and gold things at Michaels Crafts that made me happy.  Yes, they really are green and gold, not black and blue…..it seems color has been in the news lately.  I still don’t understand why people see color differently unless they are color blind.

   

  I also just finished my Beige socks, which came out so soft and nice. I still have some yarn left from the $2.00 skein of super fine Woolike Yarn from Loops and Threads. Perhaps I may be able to make some baby socks or save the leftovers for a rainy day when I can make some striped socks.I need to wash and block my finished socks. The ribbing seems a little loose but it fits my foot. Whether they stay up is something I will need to find out. I casted on 80 stitches with these socks. The next pair I make, I will try 72 stitches.

     I started a Knit Picks Rainbow Miteredblanket a time ago. It is made with Rainbow colors of Knit Picks Brava SportYarn on Size 5 Bamboo needles.  Four panels of 5 x 5 squares are knit, picking up stitches with each square to reduce the sewing together. I am working on my third panel of blues and greens.

     I am in love with color. Perhaps I’ll start to knit something green this month…..

Searching for Peace

       I am getting my knitting mojo back. Knitting seems to be one of the things that can bring my anxious feelings under control and give me some peace. Peace is my goal for this year….”For the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace……”.  Life seems to give one ups and downs.  We can choose to feel out of control or strive to find peace in the chaos of life. It takes a lot of effort for me to deal with the disappointments of life but God leads me to find Peace through my knitting.  One must be still and concentrate on what one is knitting.

        I have taken up the challenge of knitting socks again. One day as I went on a long walk around my small town of D….., I decided to stop at a local place to have some breakfast and rest.  The day was sunny and cool in the 60s. A slight breeze was blowing…..it was a perfect day to appreciate God’s gift to us…his world. As I finished eating my meal, my thoughts were absorbed in my finished knitting projects and yearning for something new. My favorite craft store, Michaels’ was just a 15 minute walk further, so I decided to see what new things Michael had to inspire me in a new project.

       Lo and behold, I was excited when I found ALL the yarn was on sale. The one thing I did not need was more yarn. I had promised myself to knit up all the yarn I still had at home, but temptation got the better of me when I found a very soft ball of “Woolike” yarn in assorted colors for $2.00 a skein. It had over 600 yds and was super fine, but OH! So soft.  It was 85% Acrylic and 15% nylon.  Perhaps it was time I tried to knit a pair of socks again. I couldn’t help myself. I bought 10 skeins of different colors. This should make a pair of socks from each ball.

        I wasn’t sure how this yarn would behave on my needles so I knit a swatch in Size 2 needles as was recommended on the label and Size 1. The size 1 swatch looked better for socks.  I found a Generic Sock Pattern by Kate Giberton Ravelry and I did a 2 x 2 ribbing for the cuff, but it seemed a little loose. Nevertheless, I pushed on.  With the new yarn I decided to do a “Vanilla (plain) Sock Pattern”, to see how it behaved.

     It was glorious. I love it’s softness. I couldn’t stop. I kept finding myself wanting to knit it every spare moment I had. The fine stitches nearly left me blind and at times I resorted to working under a magnifying glass. As I worked down the sock, it became easier to knit. The yarn held together nicely without splitting. It has a fuzzy halo which contributes to its softness.  I’ve just about finished with the first sock and can’t wait to get going with the 2^nd sock.
         My next project will be to knit with a Burgandy color which may pose a challenge in seeing the stiches, but I will persevere in my continued search for peace.

Big Socks

I recently blogged about how I was following a blog, “A Couple of Sojourners” about a friend’s son and his wife, Scott and Ashlee Burt’s adventures as US Peace Corps Volunteers in Mongolia.


Lo and behold, and very surprisingly I received a comment on the blog from Scott himself. Now, I didn’t even know he knew about me or even knew that his parents and I were old friends that very seldom see each other. I had no idea how he would be lead to find my blog. Another miracle was that he actually read my blog and about my plans to send he and Ashlee some knit goods along with knitting needles and yarn to learn how to knit. He shared he was just talking to Ashlee about learning to knit. Is this a miracle or God working in mysterious ways? What a coincidence!


A few days ago Scott added to their Wish list for a pair of wool socks (the thickest you can find) for Size 13 feet. What an interesting challenge I thought! I imagined this to be a hard to find size in Mongolia. I don’t believe there are many 6 foot tall Mongolians around with big feet. With the –50 below weather they are enduring, this seemed like a priority.


This reminds me of a time in my younger days when W and I went backpacking with another couple over a Thanksgiving weekend on Mt San Gorgorneo in the San Bernardino Mountains in California. Little did we know it would start to snow. I remember trying to walk in 3 ft of fresh snow for 3 miles back to our car carrying 25- 30 lbs backpacks. It was a miracle we found and stayed on the trail as it was nothing but untrampled white snow. I remember the cold feet we experienced and it is a memory that is very clear today. I can certainly understand the need for thick wool boot socks. No one wants to chance frostbite and the pain it can cause as your feet thaw.


I looked through my stash and found 3 balls of bulky weight wool. This is very thick wool. As I knit them with Size 8 needles to make a dense fabric, I see they are going to be very thick. I just hope they can fit in his boots. If not, he can wear them as slippers in his house on cold winter nights. No chance will he get cold feet with these. The bulky weight yarn made the project go very fast and it looks like I will be finishing in just 2-3 days. The socks certainly are big, almost the size of Christmas Stockings. Well, there’s a back up plan for them if they don’t work well as socks for feet!. Just decorate them and hang them for Santa Claus to pack some goodies in them.


Thanks, Scott and Ashlee, for allowing me to be of some small service to you in Mongolia by knitting some socks. You inspire me with your courage and your adventures. It gives us hope that there are still young people willing to put themselves forward in uncomfortable circumstances and climates to serve and be beacons of light to the world.


Season Greetings! Time to Deck the Halls!!

Spinning Hope & Coming Home

My husband is coming home today from Hospitalization #5 this year. He started a new treatment called photopheresis, which I can only described as a sort of dialysis with UV light. It is aimed to kill the cancer cells in the blood and return it back to his body. He is feeling better in general but he is looking forward to coming home. A week and a half in the hospital is a little too much.

With much time on my hands watching him recuperate, I have been able to work on my Elizabeth Zimmerman Yoke sweater. I am now putting together the sleeves and body and working toward the yoke where I will be doing a Fair Isle pattern close to the neck. I am planning to use some of my Handspun yarn for the color. I really need to find ways to use this yarn, as it seems to be accumulating quite fast.

When I tire and get bored with the sweater, I have been making some toe up socks with a rainbow colored Trekking XX sock yarn. I am using a pattern in the new August issue of Cast On, a Knitting Magazine. This issue is amazing, with lots of instruction and wonderful patterns. I was so impressed by this issue, I drafted a comment for the editor…..

Dear Editor of Cast On,

I don’t often send comments about knitting magazines, as many only seem to be fashion shows of designs made for the fashion model types.. However, your new August-October issue of Cast-On is something to behold from cover to cover.

I love everything about this issue. The sock lessons and designs, and the variety of techniques described in easy to understand detail, are so great. I want to knit all of the sock patterns listed. I’m usually not a sock knitter, but this issue has definitely motivated me to pick up the Size 2’s again and find a beautiful yarn to create the wonderful sock patterns in Cast-On. I love how you included additional patterns to extend the learning techniques of the socks. I absolutely love the Christmas stocking and the left-over mitten patterns, reminding us it is never too early to get a head start on Christmas knitting.

I like very much the focus on “instruction” in this issue. After all, TKGA, is an organization that promotes the education of knitting. I think you have hit a winning strategy in this issue, with something to teach everyone. It is likely to become a favorite knitting resource, one that knitters come back to time again.. Congratulations on a well designed issue. Keep them coming.

Happy Knitting!

Diana Hilton
Duarte, CA

In spinning I have been working on the Corriedale fleece I purchased at Black Sheep Gathering in July. The fleece is beautifully clean and fluffy. I has a little lanolin ( a greasy feel) to it, so I washed it with one soak with Dawn dishwashing liquid and rinsed it once. I pulled off locks and lined them up side by side in laudry bags. I also tried to use tulle netting closed with safety pin and this worked well too. Normally, I have to soak it 2-3 times to get all the dirt out. However, with so little dirt, once was enough. I soaked the locks and used a ShamWOW or towel to absorb the water, and laid them out to air dry.

When dried, they looked like this……

Once spun into a single ply yarn it looked this on the bobbin. See how white and clean it looked.

It was so easy to spin.
It made a lovely two-ply yarn…
I still haven’t dyed my newly spun Corriedale. I keep thinking I should accumulate enough yarn for a sweater, but I’m not sure I have enough. A four-ounce bobbin only gets me about 70-80 yard skeins per bobbin. One adult sweater takes from 1000 to 1500 yds. I have perhaps enough for a child’s sweater, but I fear making a wool sweater and giving it to someone who will not take the time to wash it properly, will resulting in a felted shrunken mess when naively washing in warm water with agitation. The thought is just horrifying to the long hard work I will put in it. It is better to make it for someone who know how to care for wool.