I knit socks.

And other items too, like shawls, scarves, sweaters, mittens...but mostly, lately, it's been socks.

In particular, I'm working on a pair for my mother's breast cancer surgeon. She started a tradition of knitting a pair of socks for him almost every time she sees him for a followup visit. I'm not going to count the pairs of socks, just point out that his feet are well covered and warm in either the operating room or in the exam room.

This time, I'm knitting a pair, and I'm working on a design of twisting ribbon stitches on a purled background. The yarn is from a yarn stash, not sure when we bought the yarn or where. It's a soft raspberry pink, but I think any shade of pink would work well, so long as the yarn has a great stitch definition when knit up.

I'm thinking of finding a baby yarn and trying the same design again, as well as playing with undyed sock yarn and seeing if I can either dye them or if the pattern shows up in white-on-white knitting.

So far, I love how the toe and heel stitches are working out, with half being regular stockinette and half reversed...knit one side, purled the other! I'm also playing with other variations in my mind, but I'm sticking with the formula I have so far with this pair, and I'll have to see how well I can write this up for a toe-up sock construction. This design would work quite well for a traditional cuff-to-toe sock construction as well, and I'll have to see how to make notes for this as well...hmm, which heel? which toe?

Let's see how quickly I can finish sock #1 before I play with the reverse engineering...Now where is my camera?

I can also be put into the category of those not afraid to spin in public. Well, sort of. Spinning with a like-minded group of fiber fanatics constitutes as "public" right?

I'm still battling the occaisional rough edges, and one thumb split, but my fingers are in fairly decent spinning condition. A-n-d I've spun quite a bit of wool into yarn or a single that's ready for plying into yarn. I have a backup hank of braided wool in my spinning bag with the spindles, ready for it's turn on the top whorl.

I've also been drooling over my stash of ready to spin fiber, trying to figure out which one to pull out next, or should I use one colorway first, or another coloraway later... Choices, choices!

Most of my fiber has been purchased from my visits to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. I have a few bags of lovely dyed wool from Brush Creek Wool Works. I think they have an etsy shop, but I'm not sure about the weblink to it. I wait for the first weekend in May, then I drool over the colors and pick one out for myself. Inevitably, someone will see the bag, and comment on how it looks like a bag of cotton candy. So I joke to family and friends about putting my bag of "candy" into the car before I continue the fiber senses overload.

I have too many favorites to just look at to list here. I'll be making my wishlist again this year, just like in previous years, but visiting the vendor listing on the MDSW website, and doing my funny little computer magic of list and sorting so I know which building has which vendor. Makes it a little easier to find someone in a specific building or barn if I have my list. Mom has a list too, and most times we put our lists together. Sometimes we go "phooey" and give up on the lists when the crowds get a little too crowdy, we get too tired, or have reached our fiber limit.

Sometimes it is just fun to look at what's new, what's changed, and what has remained the same in fiber, tools, wheels, spindles, knitting books, weaving looms... and then fiber limit hits. It's basically the same as sensory overload. I know I really hit that the first year we went to MDSW. Just too much to take in the first time...but we went back...and back...and only one year have I missed MDSW because of a work schedule.

I have a short wish list of fiber to purchase, and I'll mostly be looking at what there is to see. Of course, we'll do our traditional lunch of barbecue lamb sandwiches and lemonaid. Yummy!

It's also fun to look for someone we've met and become friends with over the years, find out what's happened since the last time, and see what's recommended for this year. That's how we found out where to get the best sandwich ever. When in doubt of the best place to eat, ask a shepherd!

My fingers are almost in "condition" for spinning. Not quite as dry, nor quite as rough. Lots of cocoa butter hand lotion at night, lots of Aveeno during the day, and bandaids on the thumb splits for protection at work seems to be doing the trick.

I'm not pulling out my spinning wheel yet. If I did, it would be the Schacht wheel, which has spinning-in-progress waiting for me to resume. I'll take my drop spindle project, which is hand colored roving being spun and plied into sock weight yarn. I have some plying to finish, and then I can pick up and start spinning the rest of the roving again. Soft, pretty, and fun!

I wonder if I'll be demonstrating my techniques? Or helping explain some basics of spinning to anyone? I have no idea what comparison there is in experience among the spinners in the group. For all I know, I might be the "novice" amongst them!

Mom will be taking her wheel. We plan on pulling it out this week, dusting and oiling and getting it ready for "public" spinning! I think she plans on practicing on it a little too, to get her hand back in and reacquaint herself with her spinning rhythm.

On the knitting front, I've started Beithe again, this time in a soft blue woolen blend, but this version is for Mom. I had it separate on me in a few places when I was winding the skein into a ball, so I have a few mini balls waiting to be spliced back in. I think the staple from the label pinched and broke the yarn, because it is consistently in the same place, and rather a clean break on either one strand or all strands of the yarn. If I don't have enough yardage because of the splicing, I'll either create a different design for a shawlette, or pull out the Landscape Shawl and do the neck scarf version.

The X-spindle and starting fiber was purchased at the Marr Haven booth, along with an instruction sheet listing the steps to start spinning. We also had a short demonstration in the booth of how it worked. We went home, pulled out the instructions and read them thoroughly, then started experimenting. We also purchased a book with pictures that shows how to start spinning on spindles AND spinning wheels. Wow! Spinning wheels!

So, after quite a few months of spinning on the X-spindle, and dropping it, I acquired a couple other spindles (Hatchtown makes very nice wooden ones). Then after dropping any spindle I was working with too frequently, my father grudgely allowed us to bring spinning wheels into the house to live with us.

My first wheel: the Ashford Elizabeth wheel. I bought it in the plain, unfinished wood, and spent the time sanding and rubbing the wood with mineral oil before I assembled it. At that time, spinning wheels only came with single treadles, and after I had it for a couple years, double-treadles started making an appearance. Call me a crazy traditionalist, but I prefer a single treadle.

I used that poor Elizabeth so much that there was a major amount of chatter and rumble every time I spun on it. I tried oiling where the bobbin might be rubbing. Nope. I oiled where the whorl rubbed and spun. Nope. I oiled everything that could possibly be oiled within reason on the mother-of-all. Nothing stopped it from rumbling. Even replacing the whorl didn't stop it for long.

Next try, another wheel. This time, the Schacht Matchless. Again, a single treadle wheel, and before Schacht offered it as a double-treadle wheel. Wheee!! Multiple whorl speeds, it spins quietly, quickly, and hey, look! Hi-speed whorls and bobbins! Just my thing! The Schacht wheel became my go-to wheel and favorite (sorry Elizabeth) for spinning anything. Literally.

The Elizabeth still has fond memories for me. The first wheel I spun alpaca on, the first wheel that I tried navajo-plying on, the first wheel that I discovered how fine I can spin and that yes, I can spin sock-weight yarn on. I still have all the bobbins and the lazy kate for Elizabeth, but they languish with her under a cloth in the living room.

My Schacht wheel is waiting for me to pick up where I left off with a merino roving, in a blend of colors that spins into an interesting blue shade, with hints of red and maybe a wee bit of purple blended into it. Very pretty. I think it has been at least 2 years since I last spun on it. At least I know I can pull it out, clean the dust off, oil the wheel up, and after a few seconds of handling the yarn and the wool, be spinning away again.

I still spin with spindles. I still have my X-spindle, and it has a navajo-plying project still on it. Merino roving my mother dyed for me in many colors, single-spun on my Golding spindle. So actually, it's a two-spindle project, one for the singles (Golding) and one for the plying straight off the other spindle (X-Spindle).

As for the actual spinning, I am a largely self-taught spinner. First from the directions that came with my X-Spindle, then from that first how-to-spin book, and from various other books and magazine articles I have since read. When I was first attempting the actual spinning, YouTube was in its infancy and there were very few videos available either on tape or DVD. (I think DVDs and CD-ROMs were in their early days too...)

When I compare the how-to-spin information available to anyone today to when I was first learning, I am amazed at how our access to spinning information has changed over the years. Websites with videos, YouTube, DVDs and CDs with step-by-step information, and many many more books available in print than I can imagine. Classes and in-person lessons, not to mention folk schools and seminars or spinning retreats that were only in a few areas are becoming more wide spread today.

And now, a local spinning group, Carroll Spinners. I sat in on their recent meeting on March 1, and I plan on attending every meeting that I can. Yippee! A good reason to spin, and talk with others who like to spin (not to mention talk and laugh and have fun!)! If you have access to Ravelry, you can find us there, as well as information about the next meetings.

Grrrr. I really don't like having the cracks and splits in my thumbs or fingertips, nor do I appreciate how my cuticles will split, tear, and bleed from just brushing against something. So, out comes the heavy application of cocoa butter hand lotion at night. And lots of Aveeno hand lotion during the day if I can.

I don't do any spinning when my hands are this dry and rough. I can't get the fiber to flow smoothly, and I don't like lots of snags in stead of spinning. Bleh.

I discovered, by way of my mother, who found out by way of the maintenance man, that there is a spinning group meeting at the senior center on Friday night. Last night, March 1, was the first time for me to sit in. Since Mom doesn't drive at night, I played chauffeur and sat in on the group with her. Lovely ladies, full of life and laughter, and I can't wait for the 15th to come around. I now have a reason for getting rid of those nasty rough fingertips and getting them back in good spinning condition.

Every first and third Friday of the month, the spinning group (now called the Carroll Spinners) meets at the Westminster Senior and Community Center, 6 – 9 pm. I know where I'll be those evenings, as long as my working schedule allows! I admitted to the ladies that I have a Ravelry name, and owning up to 2 spinning wheels. Ashford Elizabeth (single treadle, bought pre-double treadle time period) and a Schacht Matchless with a single treadle. Schacht was just starting to make the double-treadle Matchless, but I wanted a single, and boy, am I glad it's only one treadle! The Elizabeth wheel is quietly snoozing under a cloth in a corner of the living room, next to Mom's Elizabeth wheel. Yes, this is a multi-wheel house! Her Matchless (also single treadled) sits next to mine, and both wheels have spinning-in-progress quietly resting.

I have several drop spindles, and one spinning project is still on 2 spindles, waiting for me to finish plying so I can spin the rest of the roving. I don't know how much yarn I've spun from the roving. It's a merino roving Mom dyed using food coloring and a little kool-aid, in lovely rainbow colors. Wonder if I have a picture or can get a decent one showing the colors? That yarn is earmarked for future socks, if I ever get it finished! The spinning wheel work-in-progress is a blue-ish roving that has only filled half a bobbin, never been plied. I don't really remember the last time I spun on the wheel. Two years? Three??? It needs serious cleaning up and oiling before I can start back up again. I'll need to check the drive band too, see if it is in good condition or needs replacing.

I haven't started a 2013 project list yet. I still need to count out the projects started, finished, and languishing as UFO's or feather castles for 2012. It's more than 2 that I finished! I'll also have to start getting in the habit of taking photos of my finished projects, and maybe a few in-process photos too. Seeing how something looks says more than just talking about it.

My current knitting is the Beithe shawl, and a pair of Imbas socks. Beithe just needs the I-cord finishing, and Imbas sock 2 is near the ribbing and overlay. You have to knit it just to understand it!

I think there's also a scarf or shawlette still on the needles made of a multi-stranded skein of yarn that I purchased at the Maryland Sheep and Wool from Autumn House. I recently rediscovered it in my yarn stash, but I don't know or remember the exact content, just that it may have silk, and I like to knit it. Well, except for when my fingertips are going velcro/sandpaper texture, that is. Then it rests and waits for them to get a little smoother for knitting. It's a variation of a simple triangle shawl, starting at the bottom tip and growing out at the sides gradually every row, with eyelets along the side edges. I'll just knit it until all the yarn is used up, then bind off, work the ends in, and enjoy it. Nice, simple, and great for when I watch TV but need something to occupy my hands.

I hear fireworks outside at night.

Really?

Why does the decibel level of noise inversely equate to IQ levels? I will never fathom that.

My current hot weather knitting: socks (of course), a lace scarf from Knitting Traditions.

For example, I have sock samples to knit so I can write up and finesse sock directions. There is one in particular that didn't work out right, I never finished, and it keeps waving at me from my project bag. I need to either start it over, unknit it to restart the pattern, rework the pattern, or just do a totally different pattern. Sigh.

Another project is a sweater for me, except it's just a cone of white wool. I need to swatch, sample, measure, and design it. Not to mention actually get to the knitting part of it!

However, I have moved a couple items from "to do" to the "done" category of my knitting. A scarf for my mother in sock yarn, scarves for me from a kit that I received for Christmas, and a small sample/shoulder shawlette that I have knit up. Now I need to guesstimate the yardage of yarn and write up my ideas into a set of directions.

Current projects I'm working on, not including the waiting-room projects from earlier? Well, still have to restart that hat, the shawl is a little further along, and I have second sock started on the pair of socks. I'm working on a shawl that was just a set of directions (Christmas gift) and a ball of yarn (repurposed from a prior project), and I'm almost throught the first chart. I love it, it's fun, and since I pulled most of the stitch markers, I'm zooming along! The pattern is easy enough to follow that I only have the center stitches marked. Lyrical Lace from Fiddlesticks. I love their patterns, and I'm finally knitting one! Envision cartoon happy bubbles over the knitting...if you dare!

I still have a pair of boot socks that need the first sock off the needles and second sock started (I have no problems with second socks!), another pair that I'm playing with 2 colors and stitch patterns that is still in first sock and needs to be taken off needles and start second sock...I just realized I have at least 3 pairs of socks in mind for when the needles are naked of stitches, yikes!

There's quite a bit of knitting I haven't listed here yet that's on my list for 2012. Yes, a list, but sadly, no pictures. I have to work that part of my life into a new habit, adding pictures to my words. But, hey, listen to the yarn and needles clamoring for my attention, saying Knit ME! KnitME! 

And this is only February? Gotta get knitting!

I'm a little torn, if I want to cart my laptop with me. For charting up a design I have rough notes on, writing up cohesive information from those notes, searching for a little inspiration, reading email? Not sure. Maybe just a little knitting and reading. And a little more design playing with a shawl/scarf that I started the last time I was waiting.

I think I'll restart a hat I was working on, because I'm just not happy with the way the start of it looks. Ever have one of those projects where you look at it, try to make yourself accept the way the project looks, and decide it just "won't work that way" or that it needs restarting? Well, it will be restarted.

I might carry some extra yarn and knitting needles for playing with an idea that's been floating around in the back of my mind. Not sure how it will work out yet, so it can't hurt to play with it.

Ah, the bliss of playing with yarn. Wonder why it is so hard for people to understand how satisfying knitting can be. I'll let someone else write that book.

Yep. Looks like the sit and knit as I wait worked again. I did get some done on the sock, and started the shawl/scarf/stole. Not sure if it's really going to be a shawl, a scarf, or a stole, it's still growing.

Only one person asked me what I was knitting and watched me for a bit. She was waiting for the shuttle, so she could go to work, and admitted that she was working on a scarf. I hope I encouraged her, telling her that if you can knit a scarf, you can knit anything.

It's true. If you can knit a scarf, you really can knit anything. Once you have the basic mechanics of knitting down, making the loop, pulling the yarn through, making stitches, the world of knitting can be your oyster. Really.

And knitting as you wait makes the time go faster, at least for me it does.

Really, I'm ready to go? Thank you!

So, I packed up my knitting for now, drove off into the rest of my day, helped make a double batch of kruschiki (I probably spelled it wrong) and did my usual daily things on my off day.

I have my laundry list of things the car needs done next (according to their nice inspection checksheet), so now, all I need is another job so I can pay for them. At least I can knit while I wait. Or write down my shawl/scarf/stole and figure out if it needs to be shared with the world for knitting? Hmm, the possibilities are endless!

Why? Repair recall notice on Subaru Forrester, I live in the "salt belt" and in the state of Maryland. I have no idea how long this will take, inspection, possible repair or replacement, coating of corrosion preventative material.

First estimate of how long it takes? 3 hours. Maybe. Maybe longer.

So, first thing, Monday morning, hi, here's my Subaru. I'll wait.

If it takes 5 hours, it takes 5 hours. I'll have plenty of knitting with me as I wait. Socks, a shawl or stole, maybe a hat or two. Plenty of knitting to keep me busy.

I know I'll get the hairy eyeball looks, and the usual (extremely original) questions of: is that a baby hat? (sock) What are you crocheting? (it's knitting) How do you knit on all those sticks? (double point knitting needles in the round)

It'll be interesting to see how many people either avoid me, ask questions (ice breaker for creating conversations), or just "ignore" what I'm doing. The usual pay-no-attention-to-the-crazy-woman-knitting-in-that-chair routine.

Maybe my car will be fixed faster?

Nah!

Now, which yarn will work for that shawl/stole idea growing in the back of my mind, will that pattern stitch work in a sock, and what size needle works best for that hat and yarn? Hmmm! The possibilities, the possibilities! I'll have one fat knitting backpack!

Is there room for my fish crackers?

At least now I know why the Dragons Sang last week.

Anne MacCaffrey, RIP (11/21/2011)

One of the most influential writers I ever met in her books. Between will seem so much colder now.

Nope. Not me.

It's her first baby, and we're all excited!

It also gives some of us an excuse to pull out the knitting needles, books of wee knits, and soft, baby-friendly yarns. As for myself, of course I pull out the needles, baby-soft yarn, and peruse the books of wee-knits, and then think...I'll design something myself.

Yep. Designing a baby blanket. So, for about the last few days, I've been looking at other designs, thinking, noticing how big each blanket is, thinking, the yarns used, thinking, how much time I have until it needs to be done, thinking...

But today, I finally, actually, cast on stitches and started knitting.

The details thus far: size 8 (US) needle, Lion Brand (TM) Pound of Love baby yarn in white, knitting corner-to-corner, and totaly my design. The rest of my details will be posted on Ravelry, and I'm contemplating selling it there too. We'll see how it turns out.

Oh, yeah, another detail: I have to have it finished BEFORE August 28. Why? The Dormouse is having a tea party, and I have to have my sun hat then too. That only give me, hmm, less than 18 days. No problem. Right?

Nope.

Haven't found the word yet. Anyhow, I recently looked up my great-grandmother's immigration listing in the online Ellis Island records again, just to see which year she arrived in the U.S. 1896 according to the website. And I missed the date on record, July 20. Hmm, a few days ago.

However, I'm still working on my sock samples and trying to figure out how on earth I made the original socks, and what works best for putting them into sock-book-pattern world. I have four singles socks done, all in the base yarn and base color of exciting natural white. I don't block socks, or at least I haven't done blocking for them before in my life. I'm still pondering whether to make my own forms from wire coat hangers or not yet. No sample pictures, because my camera died (whimper) and I don't have the funds for purchasing a new one yet. And I'm not hinting to anyone that I need one either. I'll have to play with the cellphone camera, and see how well I can fake pictures from there until I find a replacement for the details I want to capture.

I'd love to take hummingbird pictures. So far, the little buzzers don't sit still long enough for me to even point the cellphone at them. It's two birds so far, and sometimes they take turns visiting the feeder. Buzz in, eat, buzz out. Buzz in, eat, buzz to another port, eat, buzz around to another port, eat, buzz about a little, buzz off. I had one scold me today when I went outside (in the muggy muggy heat) this morning to put some water outside for the cats. Message received, I'm going inside where's its cooler.

The cats agree that today was too hot to do anything. I only saw some activity out of the younglings late this afternoon when I spotted one of them playing with a fresh-caught field mouse. Nice sized one too, good thing it was a cat-snack!

A few weeks ago, they had a crackerjack surprise in their kitten-chow. I scooped it out of the bag, not even looked in the bag, using a small plastic cup that used to hold diced fruit. I shook the kibble down to make it even across the top, took it outside, and started dividing it between the two cups in the food bowl. Surprise! Eety bitty field mouse drops out of the bottom o the cup into the food bowl. One young orange male kitten blinks, sniffs, and snatches the mouse out of the bowl. He was delighted! I had no idea the mouse was in the food bag, nor do I have any idea how long it sat in the bag before it was scooped up. No holes in the bag, and it was sitting inside a bucket. But the best part of all, the mouse disappeared shortly afterwards. One happy kitteh.

Each time I watch the bats after sunset, in that little twilit time before full dark, I smile. They swoop, they flutter around, and I know they are eating nasty mosquitoes. Yippee! Fewer blood suckers! I think I've counted at least five one night, and they are pretty sizable bats too. I hope their numbers increase, and they continue to swoop over our yard every night that we have mosquitoes.

Jumping around...I miss the smell of pinyon pine and juniper trees. This summer has been pretty darned humid and muggy. I miss the dry heat of the southwest, really. And the scent of junipers and pinyon pine...heaven. Nothing like that here so far, all I get is the scent of growing forest or garden lately. Not to be disparaging, but I miss the high desert trips, trying to see something new, find a place I haven't been yet. Until then, I'll settle for what's within a day's driving distance from home.

This past Sunday, I went on a short half-day trip with my brother and mother to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens. First time I visited, and was I surprised. Lots and lots of lotus blooms, cattails, water lily ponds that weren't quite blooming much, and a nice boardwalk. I'd love to go there again, just to see how it changes. It's across the river from the US National Arboretum (also a nice day trip destination). We spent a few hours walking around, then drove to the USNA to see if we could find crepe myrtles blooming there. Yes, we found them, admired them, and came home in time for lunch and a nap. I had to work that night helping transition moves at Job1. Sigh. Life is good.

Originally, I was going to somehow sew the warp threads into the waste rows between first towel and second towel, but my little dilemma was how to keep it from unraveling, stretching, or forming knots where I sewed it? A little sleep, and quite a few weeks later, I think I have a slightly better solution. Unwrap the woven section a little, and carefully wrap under the left edge a little bit of rag or other fabric (maybe an old washcloth) until the warp threads are evenly tensioned when the woven part is tightened back up onto the front beam. Hmm. Need to try it out very soon!

We have hummingbirds visiting us. I just happened to be looking out the front door at the roses blooming in the garden, and noticed, hey! Hummingbird! Buzzing and sipping nectar from the pink roses! Look! I called my mother's attention, and now we have a hummingbird feeder set up between two rosebushes, with daily visits from two different hummingbirds. Sometimes I see them in the early morning vising the crepe myrtle bush in the back yard, but from dawn to dusk they buzz in, buzz out, perch on rose trellises, taste the roses, but there are definitely hummingbirds in our yard!

We also have a juvenile red tail hawk in our neighborhood. He's been scoping out our trees and yard off and on all summer. Sometimes we don't see him for days (assuming it is a male) and then we see him cruising overhead, and then hear his calls. I wonder if he'll have a mate next year?

Twilight and dusk are getting earlier and earlier. Sigh. What happened to our summer days? I'm now seeing my bat friends closer to 7:50 p.m. as they swoop and fly around, eating the early evening insects. It's still comforting to see them as the sky tinges and shades to indigo before full dark comes upon us.

One of our outside cats, one that was never properly named, has the monicker of Noname. Yes, pronounced “no name” for real. And every year, she has at least one litter of kittens. Sometimes they don't all make it beyond a certain age of a few weeks, sometimes at least one kitten makes it to maturity before disappearing. Disappearing as in I assume someone takes a liking to that kitten/grown into cat, since most of her kittens grow up into friendly, people-loving cats. The latest one to reach maturing was called Rosey, an orange tabby male. He really liked people, and I describe him as having pussycat OCD. He kept pulling his fur out until only the tan colored undercoat was left. Solution: put a flea collar on him. Honestly, it worked, his fur grew back out, and he was back to his pretty redish orange stripes. About the time it had all grown back in, poof! He disappeared, there one night, completely gone before breakfast the next morning. My only explanation is that he was picked up by someone who liked him.

Well, this spring, Noname had a litter of kittens, and for no known reason, only one black male survived to about a month old. She moved him from under a bucket (where he was born) to under the back porch steps where he would wobble and toddle about and explore. Then one morning, no kitten. We weren't sure if we'd heard a cat fight the night before he disappeared, but a few nights later I spied a possum drinking from the cat water station. Brash thing, it wasn't afraid of me, which I found unusual.

Eventually, possum did move onto a new neighborhood, and I haven't seen it in months. But poor Noname was looking for the ghost of her kitten for most of the summer, until about a month ago, when she had a new litter of kittens. Three pretty babies, two black and tabby marbled females, and one pink male. They were born under the same bucket, and last week moved under the steps again. I watched them wobble and explore and start to get their sea legs until Friday morning. Horror of horrors, I found the lifeless remains of two marbled kittens, and no sign of the pink kitten at all. Worst case, a dog or pair of dogs came around early that morning, found the kittens, dragged out and killed the two females, left their little corpses for me to find, and I thought had dragged off the pink male to oblivion.

To my complete surprise, the next morning, my brother found the pink male kitten. He had crawled into a tight little spot, and hid there all day the previous day, terrified by whatever nasty creature that had invaded his “home” and only hunger drove him out. Thankfully, he likes people, and comes readily to my voice to explore and get people-attention. I encouraged his mother to re-bond with him, and he currently resides in what I've dubbed the kitten kondo; it's a small plastic animal carrier with a metal door, sitting on the back porch just behind the back door, with a soft rag for him to sleep on, and the metal door braced open so he can toddle in and out as he pleases. This makes his momma Noname happy, it's near her people, near her, and not back under the porch where it apparently still smells like kitten-death to her.

My wedding gift for my cousin is not as complete as I really want it to be. I need to hustle and practice production knitting to get it done soon! Her wedding is October 10, here it is mid September, and barely past halfway knitted. I need 21 points on the lace edge on the sides and the top lace edge knitted on; right now I have 12 points on the sides, which means in the very near future I have to push to knit 9 more points plus the top edge. Yikes! Which also means I can't justify picking up and knitting something else. Like socks. Or designing anything new to knit. Bleh. Phooey.

However, I am still planning what I now call the quest for the perfect black sweater. My work dress code shifts in early October to white or black tops, which means I can't wear the gray sweater I loved to wear the last two winters when I would get cold. White gets very dirty on me very quickly as I work at Job1, so what I really need is a black sweater that will wash often, wash well, wear well, and be comfortable. And not cost an arm and a leg. I could probably and still might check out the men's sweaters in the stores for a cheap quick fix, but I really would prefer something I knit myself. I'd be guaranteed that it's the exact style of neckline, sleeves not too long/short, and that it would fit me. I'm still dithering over yarn type, leaning towards either sock, heavy sock, sport, or double knitting weight.

I'm dithering over the type of yarn, whether to use synthetic yarn, synthetic and cotton blend, synthetic and wool blend, wool blend, or superwash wool. Anything that keeps the black, won't bleed, won't pill heavily, and wears well as I wash it over and over. A new favorite winter work sweater. So, my hunting for a perfect yarn for a perfect sweater continues.

The loom's been sitting in its storage bag for quite a while, and now that my mother's on the mend from her neck surgery, we're keeping our promise to ourselves, to finally make a warp and weave something on the loom.

Right.

Well, we're slightly warped. And also not ready to weave.

One of the lessons learned? If you're warping something that's 20 ends to the inch (epi in weaver-speak) and the heddle you have is 10 dents to the inch, you have to, um, double warp.

Come again?

Yep. Double the thread ends through the openings in the heddle. Except, for a rigid heddle, that actually means using 2 heedles instead of one to make that work. Fine. We double checked against a book in our fiber library that has a nice diagram for threading 2 rigid heddles to get double the density (that's 200% if you want the technical numbers).

Funny progression. We've been watching, and re-watching, and re-watching again a DVD we bought from The Mannings about how to warp a loom. Good thing we can re-watch as often as we like. Clears up a lot of possible confusion (mine mostly) about what to do when and how to do it.

Steps completed? Wound the warp. Check. Warp chained and ready. Check. Threaded through both heddles. Check. Tied on the back apron rod. Check. Tied on the front apron rod. Check.

And now the fun part, starting to weave. Not.

Turns out we have to untie and re-tie the front apron rod. And possibly replace the paper that the back beam where the warp is wound onto the loom. Not very even, a few crossed threads, and we're learning what NOT to do! Le sigh.

One of these days, we'll get four handwoven kitchen towels from that warp. One day.