I wish I had something interesting to report.

But, I don't.
I'm still washing and carding Goldie's fleece, little by little. I wash three or four batches at a time, defining a 'batch' as about what I can stretch out on a 12x12 wire mesh screen - thick enough to be worthwhile but thin enough to dry in a timely fashion.
I've got enough bumps carded now to fill a good-sized trash bag, and I'm only about halfway through the fleece. Once I start spinning, I know it's going to be agonizing to have to stop and wash and card again, so I'm trying to exercise a little self-discipline and prep the whole fleece. Or at least as much of the fleece as I can bear to put off the spinning for. (It's getting really hard. I had to hide my wheel in another room, to keep from starting the spinning. Hard, I tell ya. Hard.)
I'm picking out heaps and heaps of VM. (All I can say is, Goldie is a very nice sheep, as sheep go, but she's at heart a filthy beast. I don't even want to think about what she spends her time rolling in...) I pull out what I can as I wash it. At first I was telling myself that by doing that, I was saving time later on, but then I realized that pulling out 89 bits of hay was the same amount of effort, whether now or later. 89 bits is 89 bits. Finally, I comforted myself with "Anything I see now is something I don't have to hunt later" and then it all made sense.
Maplewing carries on. A bit larger than the last photo, but one puddle of unblocked lace looks pretty much like another puddle of unblocked lace.
We're eating salad out of the garden, now - the lettuce has started to catch up with the spinach, so there's a little more variety. Radishes and homemade croutons for a little texture, and life is good.
And if I can ever remember to buy new batteries for the camera (just because an item goes on the shopping list is no guarantee that I'll actually find it in the shopping bag when I get home...) I'll try again for some pictures.
At least with an all-text post, you can get in a little extra knitting before you have to nudge the mouse.

My camera and I are having a difference of opinion

I think it should take pictures of things I want to take pictures of. It thinks it doesn't necessarily have to do that.
I think it's in a snit because I forgot to use it at NH S&W.
Or not.
I'm getting a lot of redscreens with "Error saving image" messages.
And it's not helping that my rechargeable batteries are becoming increasingly reluctant to hold a charge.

I went out in the drizzle today, and took many many (many) pictures, and here's all I got...

I wanted a good picture of Goldie, because we think she might actually be with lamb. She's getting that mid-pregnancy "dumpy" look. (I remember it well...)
But I had a hard time getting a shot. If I had a good one lined up, she shifted around before the shutter could go off. Or I got one of those damned redscreens.
I threw some treats on the ground, hoping to distract the younger set - which mostly worked, they being as distractable as you could hope - but Goldie wouldn't turn. (Well, at least not for this one.)
Another time I had a good view, but Merlin popped in at the last minute...

This one was the only other shot that came out - and it sort of shows what I'm talking about.

Yeah, I'd say dumpy.

And as long as I was walking around in the drizzle anyway, I tried for a few shots of the chickens. This is the meat bird's yard - our little RIR hatchlings are back in with them, now that there's so much more room.


These chickens are taking turns having a dust bath. Unfortunately, since it's been raining, it's really a mud bath. They're really not smart enough to know the difference. (The leftmost bird is actively rolling and scratching. The one on the right is pretty muddy. The one in the middle seems to be patiently waiting her turn.)


And, oh yeah, I knit, too. Maplewing is still in progress. At least the rows are going faster now, as the decreases really start to add up.


I'm counting on the magic of blocking...

All Skewed Up

Well, they say third fourth time's the charm. (I didn't even take a picture of the third try at Skew. Ripped.)
Finally, something where you can actually see the magic!

This is Socks that Rock that I won on Cara's blog about a million years ago. I've lost the ball band (go figure) so I don't know the colorway. One of the Rare Gems, I think.
Anyway, I'm happy that I'm getting color runs that are actually long enough to show off the diagonals in this pattern. And that I'm finally far enough along that I have to actually look at the pattern again. (After 3 previous attempts, I pretty well had the beginning memorized. Except for Judy's Magic Cast-on, which I still have to go look at every.single.time...)

But I haven't been neglecting Maplewing. I'm now on the second repeat of section B. Hitting that decrease row where I went from 522 sts to 435 sts made a huuuuuuge difference. Practically flying through the rows, now.


And I'm back to my old wicked ways again. Why be monogamous when you can multi-task?

I needed a portable project for a car trip. Neither Skew nor Maplewing are the kind of thing I can knit without watching closely - and I get car-sick unless I'm looking out the window. So, obviously, I needed to cast on another project...
Simple mind, simple sock.

(Psst... Diane... I really am seaming up the Cabled Coat. Slowly but surely. Srsly.)

(And can anyone figure out what in this post is causing my google ads to all be for Love Spells? Is it the magic cast-on, combined with wicked and monogamous?)

Screamin' Orange Yarn Farts

(The Devil made me do it. Or Carrie.)

Ooops, I pointed the ball of yarn the wrong way...

There, that's better.

Snow Day

Today's blog-worthy activity was cancelled, due to this:



Here's the girls, standing up to their knees in new snow -


and Merlin, doing the same.


Note: I was standing in 6+ inches of fresh snow to take these pictures. And it's still coming down hard.
We'll try again this weekend.

In the meantime, I'm 20 rows into Maplewing. That doesn't sound like much, but at 522 stitches per row, that's a heap of knitting. And there's no easy purl-back rows on this sucker - every row is a pattern row. P3, YO, P10, P2tog, P3, P2togtbl, etc. Yeehaw.
No photos yet, since it looks like a giant yarn fart at this point.

Busted

Am I that transparent?
It was Skew. The actual time elapsed between cast-off and cast-on was about 25 minutes. Five minutes to fill the sink with water and throw the collar in to soak. (I love holding them underwater until the bubbles stop.) (And doesn't that sound sinister?) (I'm wondering what kind of google searches will bring this link up.) (Perhaps it's best not to think about it too much.) Fifteen minutes to wind the ball of sock yarn from my stash. (A prize from Norma, way back in April.) Five minutes to fart around, trying to recall Judy's Magic Cast-on. (Epic fail. I finally went with Turkish cast-on, which was my pre-Judy standard.)
But.
Much as I love this yarn, and I really truly love this yarn (Happy Feet in the best colorway ever), it just wasn't right for Skew.

The magic of Skew is in the strong diagonals, and this beautiful yarn just doesn't show off the pattern. I decided to save it for another project, and cast-on again with some pretty purple.

This yarn came from AnnaMarie, who got so mad at it that she sent it into permanent time-out. At my house. (I didn't ask what the yarn did. Sometimes it's best not to know.)
While this was slightly better for the pattern, it still just isn't cutting it.
Must rethink. It might require a trip to the yarn shop. When I get a car. (Yes, still car-less. Cranky, frustrated, and car-less.)
In the meantime, I'm going to do what I should have done in the first place.



Cast on Maplewing.

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming

Life is good again. The internet connection is stable and I can google at will. No more jonesing for blogs. No more whining for email. And I didn't pull out all my hair...
Ahhhhhhhhh...

The cabled coat's collar piece is still drying. It went from pieces to piece when I grafted the live stitches together in the middle, rather than seaming them as the pattern called for. (There are only 2 reasons to use a seam rather than a graft - a) a seam gives stability, like at the back of a sweater's neck, or b) trying to explain how to kitchener two cabled sections would make both the designer and the knitter crazy. There was no reason for the center of a collar to need stability, so I'm going with option b as the designer's reason for the seam.)
There is a problem lurking, however. The instructions said to knit the collar pieces to a length of 24.5". I started measuring at around 18" and every other row thereafter. (Are we there yet? Are we there yet?) No way did I want to knit those last two pieces even a millimeter longer than I had to. The graft line came at exactly 24.5". Unfortunately, when I blocked it, the length grew and grew to over 26" at the midpoint. I tried pulling it widthwise, but that only scalloped the edges. Looks like I'm going to have to suck it up, and start seaming from opposite ends, then cut and rip back the center part and regraft it to fit. I'm at a standstill while I contemplate this.

So, with a major project off the needles (not complete, but off the needles. That totally counts.) I felt free to cast on something else!
But what?
Maplewing has been making my heart go pitty-pat for months. But there was also this sock pattern that caused sudden lust to overcome me.

What to do first?

Here are your clues:

Maplewing is at the top of my list for I-want-want-want-this-shawl. It has been for months.
I started it last fall, but hated the beige yarn I'd picked. In my heart I wanted orange.
I spun beautiful orange roving to make beautiful orange yarn especially for it.
I had a ball of that orange yarn already wound and ready to go.
The cast-on for Maplewing is 522 stitches.
Skew is a passion of only a few days. (So far. It just came out.)
I did have sock yarn in the stash.
I didn't have any sock yarn wound and ready to go.
I'd have to hunt for sock needles that weren't already occupied by something else.
The cast-on for Skew is 12 stitches.
But I'd need to go online to look up Judy's Magic Cast-On, which I use just often enough to not be able to remember how to do it.
I was having internet connection problems.
I could use Turkish cast-on, instead.

Which do you think I started?

Bonus points for guessing the time interval between binding off the last stitch of the cabled coat and casting on for the new project.

Flighty and unfocused. So what else is new?

Habit-kicking is kicking my ass. I'm so happy to be hearing from former smokers - ya'll are giving me hope that I won't feel this crazy forever...

So, since I'm feeling remarkably random anyway, here's a remarkably random post.

Random 1: An interesting fact we learned over the winter: basil will root from stem-cuttings. I dug up and brought in the last surviving basil plant last fall. It got pretty rangy and leggy over the winter, and I was afraid that I would have to pitch it out (after plucking it of its few leaves. Not enough for pesto, but enough to graze on...) Then we read that basil was rootable. Had to try it!

The plant had three branches - we cut one off, stuck it in water and waited. Sure enough, roots appeared. We potted it up, then amputated the other two branches and popped them into the water.(Note to self: wash kitchen window.)
On the left is the pot containing the original plant (the stem briefly showed signs of growing new leaves, but they dried up before getting more than 1/8 in) In the middle is the first branch we rooted, growing happily in its own pot. On the right in the red vase are the two other branches, rooting away. We'll pot them up shortly and have plants to set out in the garden once all danger of frost is gone. (Which is June, up here. Damn this Zone 3.)
Since we have time, we may even chop up that first plant and start even more plants. We've always had a hard time growing enough basil - we may have stumbled on a system for growing these tender little plants!



Random 2 - I finally finished (I hope) the pattern for the thrummed mittens. I've got it in PDF form, but don't know yet if I can put that up on a photo site (Like Picasa or Flickr). So, in the meantime, anyone who wants it, please leave a comment or email me, and I'll send you a copy. I'm particularly hoping to get some test-knitters who can give me feedback. I'm used to just dashing down a couple of notes on the back of an envelope and winging it from there, so any help you can give me on writing an actual pattern will be deeply appreciated!

Random 3 - still trying, but had a setback yesterday. Had the Customer From Hell at work. He ranted and raved and swore and stomped and was Generally Unpleasant (a euphemism for Total Asshole), and all because he couldn't understand that the "Store Credit Card" (which he didn't have) and the receipt for the Store Credit Card (which he had) weren't the same thing. He expected us to give him a $50 credit with only a receipt, but not the actual plastic card that the money had been scanned on to. When we (the asst manager and I) tried to explain it to him "It's like buying a gift certificate - the gift certificate is redeemable for merchandise, the receipt for the gift certificate is not", he started screaming about what rude f-ing bitches we were being and that he wasn't a f-ing sleazebag and we could cram that f-ing store policy up our asses and this was a f-ed up store with f-ed up merchandise and this f-ed up store must be f-ing proud that rude bitches like us were out there f-ing over the customers, etc, etc, etc. All at the top of his lungs. He finally made his purchase and left, still shouting and throwing things, and generally behaving like a homicidal 5yr-old.
I was so rattled I ended up outside, smoking 1/2 a cigarette, hands shaking and trying not to cry. Really really didn't need that kind of stress when I was feeling particularly vulnerable to stress anyway.

Random 4: There is no Random 4.

Random 5: I'm on row 5 of Maplewing. Step by step, inch by inch...

Still hanging in there

Almost a week, and I'm still getting these huge cravings out of nowhere... One moment I'm fine, and the next it's INEEDNEEDNEEDACIGARETTENOWWWWWWWWWWW, and I would sell my soul for a Camel. Five or ten minutes later, I'm fine again. Until the next time.
At least it isn't that constant craving anymore. It's hard to justify living longer if it involves feeling that bad...

I cast on Maplewing Tuesday. I've started row 3. At this rate, I'm going to be knitting this shawl for months... (A true win in the entertainment per yarn-dollar ratio.) I should pick up speed once I'm a little further along and can read the lace. Right now, there isn't enough to puzzle out where I am, so I'm compulsively counting and recounting each section, and hoping for the best.

Caught in a Whirlwind

So there's been all kinds of activity here, chez Mango, not that you can tell from my posting.

Item 1: I survived my first jury duty. (Two more to go, then my civic duty is over for a while.) It was actually very interesting. I enjoyed all the little courtesies and rituals between attorneys, judge, and jury. (It's pretty cool to have someone call "All rise!" when you walk into the courtroom. I'd thought only judges got that one.) And the case had all kinds of drama, with high-speed car chases, sideswiped police cruisers, finishing with a two-car bang-up ending. Though the drama was a little hard to maintain in the dry tones of the state troopers' testimony... In the end, we deliberated hard - just like the judge told us to - and nitpicked each charge until we were all satisfied with our decision. As a group, we were thoughtful, careful, and conscientious.
And, Norma? I made a point to notice the stenographer - actually, stenographers, since we had a different one each day.

Item 2: Since I needed a knitting project for the downtime in the jury room (and believe me, there was a lot of it. A 9am start time was actually closer to 9:25; a ten minute recess usually lasted 20 minutes.) I cast on Kathleen Taylor's Picot Hem Stranded Snowflake Hat. (Rav link)
Because of course I needed a new project... The Selbuvotter glove was too dangerous looking with all those pointy metal needles, and the thrummed mitten was too messy to try to tote around (all the jurors would have ended up covered in fuzzy fibers. Sorry sorry...) The hat was innocuous-looking enough to make it through security - they might have let the glove through, but I didn't want to take the chance of having it confiscated, leaving me knitting-less for the day.
I got a bit of knitting done, anyway. The other women on the jury lamented not bringing their knitting and crocheting...

Item 3: I got my eggplant plied. (Does that sound odd to anyone else? Try reading it out loud. Maybe it's just me...) Anyway, the original plan was to spin for 10 minutes a day, but I kept getting sucked into the spinning vortex, and next thing I knew I had 300+ yards of 3ply. The best part is, it's an actual worsted weight yarn - which is the first time I've been able to achieve that weight. (My default is fingering - I think it's my innate stinginess trying to coax as many yards as possible out of a hank of fiber.) Laurie is the one to thank for it - she gave me excellent advice on tightening the take-up, and next thing I knew, I had real yarn! She's my hero!


And just in case I get any spare time...

Item 4: I bought Maplewing. And yarn. (I lusted for the red/orange of the original shawl, but knew I would never have anything to wear that color with. So I wimped out and got a neutral sort of tan. Though I may go back to the LYS and get the deep evergreen laceweight they had. Or that dark purple. But since everything I make lately seems to be green or purple, maybe I should stick with the tan just in order to break it up...) I'm trying to resist the urge to cast it on Right Now. Because I have a feeling that if I cast on one more project, my house will explode. Critical mass was reached long ago...

Item 5: Still working on the second thrummed mitten. I'm starting to collect photos for a post for the pattern.



Stay tuned...
.