Exciting News

Sometimes my work life overlaps with my fiber life. This is one of those cases. Currently, I live 3 hours away from Robin. In the future, I will be about 30 minutes away from Robin, depending on where I settle. I was offered a great position at a smaller university, not too far from Robin. So, Fall 2006 will see me as an Assistant Professor of Biology! I'm tickled pink. I think the whole job process took about 2.5-3 weeks, from application to job offer. The fastest application process and interview I have encountered.

Robin read the unofficial job offer over my shoulder while I was down visiting her, after the interview. There was much squealing and joy on our parts! I signed the contract yesterday and will mail it tomorrow along with some transcripts. I think I still have to pass a background check, but that shouldn't be a problem. So, moving is in our (husband, cats, etc) future! Wheee!

Hey . . . maybe this will actually be Annette & Robin's blog again! LOL. She's busy, very busy right now. She's acing her classes though! And I might be very busy next semester myself.

Fiber related content -- I finished the first sock. Well, okay, the toes aren't grafted, but I'm still worried about running out of yarn, so they won't be finished until the second sock is finished completely!

Shawl? What shawl? I don't see a shawl. Sorry, no shawl work. Maybe I'll try conquering clue 3 tonight. That one is tough - as in, don't watch TV tough.

That's it from me. Happy fibering!

Three Times the Charm . . .

Well, sigh, I was right about having to redo the toes a few times. The first toe was too short, the second toe too long, the third toe looks just right. Sound like a nursery story, doesn't it? I'm still working on the toe, but this time I think it will be right. Check out the sock below.
What about the shawl? Well, I worked two rows again, while doing laundry. I'm making progress, but it's slow going. I'm still on clue 3.

I forgot to mention part of last weekend's fun. On my trip down south, I stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast, called Kilburnie, the Inn at Craig Farm. If you are looking for a reasonably priced bed and breakfast down south, a peaceful setting, beautiful rooms, and a tasty breakfast, I definitely recommend this one. I had a nice conversation with the owner, and the breakfast was really yummy. I had a strawberry muffin with a whole strawberry in the center, southern pecan peaches (recipe on his website), oven shirred eggs with two types of cheese, two slices of bacon, grapefruit juice, and tea. Yum! I was alone and when my husband heard about this meal, he was pretty jealous.

Oh, I almost forgot. I went to a sewing class this morning over at Sew Unique Sewing Center in Raleigh. I went because I want to learn how to use my new sewing machine better. I had a great time. We played with metallic thread and silk ribbons and made a simple ribbon scarf. As soon as it is dry, I will take a pic of it. Of course I couldn't leave the store without purchasing something, isn't that how it goes? I purchased a small pattern for a jewelry case and an embroidery CD of butterflies (Butterfly 1), from Momo-Dini. I like her work. My father told me about her work when he and my mom went to a quilting show. Yes, that's right, Dad looks at software and new gadgets while Mom oohs and ahhs over fabric and other assorted items. I want to go to one with them one of these days, but I haven't found any to conincide with my visits. Guess I have to plan better in the future. I was planning on buying the CD on the web, since I had no idea the store would have it. I had a birthday last weekend and received some money to spend. I can't wait to play with the butterflies.

That's it. Happy fibering!

Sockpal Progress

Okay, not too much to show this week. I've been a bit busy with professional concerns. I think I may be moving in the future and am excited about the prospect. When I finalize details, I will mention where.

For now, I've got some sock progress. My sockpal's sock and I have been at war. I progress, then I analyze the progress and end up ripping out said sock's progress. Why? Well, first there was the gauge issue. I frogged so many times on that, I can't recall what my last count was. Next came the possibility of running out of yarn. Yep, I got to the foot and was doing great. I had a few inches left until I reexamined the sock ball and the sock left to knit. Hmm, I thought, I think I'm going to run out of yarn. Rather than do that, I frogged and made my cuff an inch or so shorter. Finally, there was a heel problem. The heel was too long and there was too much excess sock under the heel. So, the sock was frogged again. Are you seeing the theme here? Well, finally the sock is looking good. I'm thinking I may have a toe problem later, but we'll see. For now, bask in my sock's progress and beauty.
The color is definitely off here, but the sock is progressing. I'm liking the feel of the yarn much better on the larger needles. The yarn is looking really good, even though the project was frogged so many times. There was one thing I didn't expect with this sock yarn, the pooling. Can you see it? There near the heel, after I picked up the gusset stitches. I guess this yarn would pool badly if I had more stitches. In fact, you can trace the pinks around the sock, in a swirl pattern. The colors in this image look much closer to the true colors in this yarn.
Mystery Shawl? Well, that didn't get worked on much this weekend, at least not mine. I think I knit like two rows and switched to the socks since I was messing up so badly. I was down visiting Robin during our mutual spring breaks and she did get some work done on her shawl. But silly me, I didn't take pictures. She also painted her dining room some lovely green colors. Looks great too! Again, no pictures. Duh!

Clue 4 is out and clue 5 comes out soon on the mystery shawl along 3. Unfortunately I am only on the beginning of clue 3! Oh well, I'm working on it, just not very fast. I'll get there though!

Enough from me right now. Happy fibering all!

I Got Gauge!

Woot! I finally got gauge for the Broadripple pattern. To recap, I was having problems with the gauge for this pattern using my sockpal's STR yarn. I tried the following needle sizes: US 1 (2.25 mm), US 1 (2.5 mm), and US 2 (3.0 mm). The gauge was too tight, then too loose. Did you notice the missing needle size? US 2 (2.75 mm). The conundrum -- I didn't own a pair of circular knitting needles in that size.

I tried a few other things before I was able to find a US 2 (2.75 mm) circular needle. I had dpns, but I didn't want to use those. I tried decreasing the number of stitches in the pattern (altering that first K2 to K1) on the larger needles. Nope, didn't like the look of that ripple. So, I tried using smaller needles and more stockinette stitches (increase K2 to K3), but I didn't like the look of that ripple either. Are you seeing a pattern here? The next step would be to increase the central ripple pattern's stockinette stitch count and drop down needle sizes to US 1 (2.25 mm). The catch, I didn't want to use more yarn, and I didn't like my gauge on those needles, too tight. Check out BNC's website, she did use a smaller needle size and upped her stockinette stitch count in the central ripple to get a great looking pattern.

But, before dropping down to a smaller needle and working with a gauge I thought too tight, I wanted to try to find a needle in that 2.75 mm size. And, after calling three local stores, I finally found a pair at Yarns Etc, a LYS that is a bit further away. They are Crystal Palace bamboo needles. My gauge is perfect on them, but . . . I hate the join on these needles, especially when I use the magic loop method. My loops keep getting stuck at the joins. OH well, I have gauge! Say it with me . . . GAUGE! Yippee!

I'll have pictures soon, I hope. I'm almost up to where I left off before unraveling the first time -- the heel.

Happy fibering!

Sheepy Goodness

I've been having fun with my sewing machine and some sheep. A while back I asked Robin if she would like a sheep like the one that my mom made me and we sewed on my spinning bag. She said she would , but I only just got around to embroidering it this past weekend. The sheep embroidery is a free design, available from Ann the Gran's website. It's one from Margaret Hawkins.

I made two sheep. The first one I tried to make freestanding. That was a flop! It tore apart and the edges fell apart. Perhaps tear-away stabilizer was not a good choice for this piece. The second one was a hit. I used one layer of stabilizer (tear-away) and one layer of white fabric. The sheep came out great! I didn't even have a problem with the wool thread on my machine. When my mom and I did it on her machine we had a lot of breakage with the wool thread. Check the little sheepy out!

After tearing away the stabilizer, I then cut around the sheep until I had about 1/4" of fabric left. I made slits in the sides and then glued the smaller triangular pieces of fabric to the back of the embroidery. Some of the white fabric is visible, but not much. The sheep still needs to be fluffed with velcro. The wool thread is used to make fuzzy sheep. The velcro pulls some of the thread out and fluffs up the piece. My plan is to sew it on Robin's bag first, then she can fluff to her heart's content with a small piece of velcro.

I also finished up those pins I wanted to make out of the JHB buttons I purchased a while back. See, sheepy goodness!

Enough sheep. I also worked on my mystery shawl along 3 and finished up clue 2. Good thing, since clue 3 is out and I need to work on that one next. Here's a pic of just clue 2.

How are the sockpal socks coming along? Well, they aren't right now. I have some things going on at work that are important and have kept me busy. I did however find a pair of US 2 (2.75 mm) knitting needles for the socks. Now, I just need to swatch for them again! Hopefully on this size, the gauge is right.

That's it for me. Happy fibering all!