Well, so Issue four is shaping up, but my camera is dead as a doornail.  So I’m going to do the best I can, and hope for the best.

I got my thank You packet sent FINALLY and I also got Nikki’s prize sent, sorry Nikki!  I put in some extras to make up for it.

So I’ve caught up a little, at least on mailing.

So issue 4 is coming along, but day before yesterday my camera broke.  I have a “Protection Plan” which basicly means, “We will fix or replace it, but only in a couple three weeks or so.”  Of course when you BUY the plan it sounds a lot more like “Oh if it breaks we will fix or replace it immediately.”  I don’t think I will be buying a camera from anywhere but a small shop in the future.  Anyway the pictures are just what I had around, and are relevant or not, but fun to look at.

So I have two scarves done, don’t need to explain the lack of pictures do I?  I am working on the design for a Fair Isle Beret, toasty toes, knitted puppets (Dominic’s design, cool huh) and a bunch of 0ther stuff I probably won’t be able to finish on time.  Dominic finished his hat, and it is adorable, but again, you know why there isn’t a picture, stupid camera people.

I STILL haven’t heard from Knitty, I had been warned, but you would think they would know three months later if they wanted it or not.  It only bugs me, because it is a REALLY good article, and I would LOVE to publish it.  ARRRG!

ok, this post is getting boring, here;s a doily pattern from Issue 4.

This was knit in fingering weight and came out quite large, about 24 inches in diameter.  It is very lovely.  I still have to figure out the chart, it is based off an old public domain pattern.

  This is Francis.

On a personal note, (going to be a long and probably boring story about colic and breast feeding)  I am pregnant with baby #5, so right now we are trudging through morning sickness and moodiness.  Here’s the deal.  Once the baby is born, I go on a VERY restricted diet.  No eggs, no milk, no soy, and no peanuts.  Milk AND eggs AND soy is rough, however, with Baby one, and two they screamed for hours a day, The Boy screamed only for about 4 hours.  The Girl screamed for over 10 hours a day and ended up on medication for irritable bowel.  So Baby 3 came and I learned that eggs and peanuts could trigger colic in breastfed babies.  (I knew about milk and tried that with baby2)  That baby was happy, with hardly any colic, as long as I didn’t eat any of that stuff.  OH look, a chicken…

Ok, so then William came along, and again, very little stomach problems or screaming on the diet.  SO where am I going with this?  It stinks on ice to live on that diet, and I hate it.  First of all the only condiment you can have is fake butter, ketchup, mustard and bbq.  Not so great with some things, like uh tuna.  No dessert pretty much, as practically all baked goods have milk or eggs in them.  (I can make a pie, but it’s not as good as usual)  In my previous pregnancies I was always on this diet for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Anyway, enough of me being whiny about it, I think I “may” have a solution out there in the yard.  I’ve been reading about sheep’s milk.  Sheep’s milk is a premeir milk used for cheeses, but it is also good for drinking and cooking.  Most importantly the type of protein in sheep milk is very easy to digest.  It is much less likely to cause upset stomach or gas, because the protien chains are very short and simple.  So maybe I could use sheep milk???  We’re going to find out it would seem.  This is my little “Flour Girl”.

This piece is called, Le Grande Menage, flour on hardwood and throw rug, by Teresa Jackson

Beau also got into Ravelry, his username is WBJ and I have been on there for some time as SpindleAndWheel I didn’t think about it, or I could have been spindle, and he could have been wheel.  Aint that cute?  hee hee.  ah well.

So that’s whats going on, heres the short version:  busted camera, puking editor, Beau on ravelry, want to milk the sheep, knitty won’t email me, got two scarves done and my packages mailed.  Oh yeah and the sheep seem to be starting to get down to business.  One had quite the tail end hairdo the other morning.  So, 4 down, 5 to go.  Excuse me, oh wait you didn’t hear that, oh well, I’m pregnant, and I can’t help it.

Off I go to enjoy my nausea.

I have been offline for a week, now I am recovering from my near death experience, and I need to thank Beau for spending no less than probably 10 to 12 hours on the phone with tech support.  sheesh.

So, I have designed a second scarf, and I am working on getting it knitted, I don’t have time, so I will let someone else do it.  I have some space dyed yarn here, uh anybody want the pattern to knit it? I am giving this yarn with the pattern to a friend, but if anyone else wanted to give it a go…  It’s, I forget what it looks like, but it;s really cool.

So now Dominic has completed his hat for William, and it is adorable, picture soon.

Oh and I found out I’m pregnant with baby number 5.  All that in one week, pretty productive really.

I have figured out a great wrist distaff, and will publish that in Issue 4.  I also have some other cool stuff to finish.  I need as many entries as I can come up with, so if you have any small fun projects on blogs out there folks, send me a link, probably we would love to publish it.  I want lots of neat little things that can be made fairly quickly, with little or no fuss.

I have to go eat now, I can’t just skip meals for the next 9 months.

Well, so I’ve sat on my big fat rear for two days and accomplishing practically NOTHING.

Mostly I have been running outside to see if any of the sheep are procreating. Now, I’m not weird or anything, it’s just that sheep gestate for almost exactly 145 days. So if you can document the um beginnings, then you know when to expect the babies. So I have t check on them every hour or so to see if anyone is feeling romantic.

Somehow, this is NOT conducive to productive thought, work ethics or even housework, which we all know I just say I can’t manage to get done, because really I don’t want to do it. If I were wealthier, I would just buy everyone a new package of socks every 12 days, and be done with it. I do buy the kids all ONE kind of sock, because matching different pairs is just more than my poor little brain can take. So I’ve been pretending to work, when really I’m reading a book, or blogs, telling myself that I em educating myself. (One book is a very good spiritual book) and the blogs, ok you caught me, I’m just wasting my time.

So I did start a pair of knee socks, I was going to put them on the Nov issue, if I can get some completed in time. I have a few other things to begin too.

Today out of the blue, Beau must be feeling sorry for me, because he is coming home early to drive me up to the yarn store. So either he is trying to brighten my day, or one of the little kids is constipated. (They ALWAYS go in the yarn store, all three of them.) SO this afternoon I get to go to a yarn/spinning store and I’m looking forward to that a lot.

Beau finished his dishcloth, and now has mastered the art of perling. It’s all coasting from here honey, well at least until you start on double point, or complicated lace patterns. But really, he probably will just do a scarf or hat or something so he should have smooth sailing for a while.

Dominic has gotten several inches done on his hat, and he’s getting tired of it I think. Well, he needs to learn to keep at something, little brat knits fast for only having knitted like 16 rows or something. I mean really, he can darned near keep up with me.

It’s kind of funny really, on one hand I have a student knitter (Beau) who’s all crabby because it’s so hard. And on the other hand I have a kid, who’s bored because it’s too easy.

So next item to be cast on will be a pretty little neck warmer, scarfish thing for people who have to bend over, thus have scarf issues. It also is great for people who urgently dash into the house to go to the bathroom, and accidentally dip the end of their scarf in the toilet. Hey, I know that person ok? Cause it’s me! I don’t do overalls or dresses with ties either.

opps! Gotta go, chicken on the porch.

I will not post it here, but if you send me an email, I will send you a copy of the pattern.  You MAY NOT publish it anywhere however, nor share any part of it.  My email is allena at spindleandwheel dot com.

I wasted Friday, digging potatoes, and then fishing with the kids.  I should have worked, but we caught 4 big catfish for supper, so I guess that’s ok.  The girls would get SOOOO excited when we would catch one, especially a big one.

Dominic is busy on his hat, he has gotten about an inch and half done.

You can see that the yarn Beth spun is very beautiful, and Dominic is making good progress.  He knitts a few rows everyday.  When he drops a stitch, he brings it to me, and I fix it, and I usually do a row for him.  He’s only done it twice so far, and he goes along at a pretty good clip considering that he’s only knitted 12 rows.  10 if you don’t count mine.  A child Protoge!

Look how cute he is, lucky for me he doesn’t read my blog, so I can say that without suffering for it.  On the other man front:

Beau is making a basket weave dishcloth.  He got some purls where the knits went, and vice versa, his face says it all.

So I pulled out a crochet hook, and changed all of them back, it wasn’t that bad, but he sure was cross about it.  He pouted too.  He doesn’t like having to struggle, because he’s used to everything coming to him easily.  But he keeps on going, if slowly.  After I fixed it though, he seemed a little more happy about it.

And because Michelle asked, here is a picture of me:

Beau took this picture, and it’s a very nice one, but I don’t usually look like that.  Only on rare occasions when Beau begs me to look presentable, for his sake LOL.  I am way too lazy for makeup and stuff everyday.  I had wanted to show a picture he took of me making a really funny face, but I can’t find it.  Oh well, you’ll have to wait for a “real” picture.

So I finished the spindles I was working on, and I am still putting Nikki’s packet together.  I am also finishing Beth’s thank you package.  And on top of all that, we got fence built, and the breeding group arranged.  You can read about that here

So, slowly I am catching up, and beginning some new patterns.  Don’t forget to comment, and enter yourself in the drawing for next month’s prize!

Wowzers, did it go fast I got this done, A in less than 4 days, and I had to design the patterns, make a million swatches and argue with myself and tear it out a hundred times before I was happy.

I estimate this one will take about 4 - 8 hours to complete for a medium speed knitter. I really enjoyed making it.  Maybe I can talk Beau into trying one when he finishes his dish cloth, since EVERYONE who saw it made a point to be sure I knew that they would really really like to have that for Christmas…

It was sent off with the Mother In Law, who was THRILLED with it. I didn’t have much notice we were getting a visitor, so I haven’t done much of anything, except make this scarf.

So a few reminders, first of all, remember that each time you comment, you are entered in the contest to win a nice prize at the end of the month.

Secondly, I haven’t posted the prize, because I am still working on it, but it will be soon! I’m sorry I got distracted with a scarf, I don’t know how these things happen, but there you go. I was working on the prize, and suddenly for no reason, was knitting a scarf and forgot all about the prize and my promise to post a picture of it. Scarves are wily that way, I suggest going ahead and casting one on now, that way it won’t sneak up and blind side you. This is the first completed pattern in our Panic Attack Christmas Special Issue. Oh, and it used practically NO yarn. I dyed up about 350 yards, and I didn’t even make a good sized hole in the ball. Now what am I going to do with all that blazing red alpaca yarn???? Space dye it with purple of course for the next project.

On other knitting news, our son Dominic who is recently turned 14, shot his big teen age mouth off yesterday.

Me: “You have $20 for your birthday, you should buy a sack of socks, you need some.” (of course I know he won’t, I’m just teasing, sort of like how I tell him we are having squid-liquid for dinner when he asks)

Him: “well, I like wearing the same socks”

Me:”Thats gross! You need more socks.”

Him:” Well, you should just knit all my socks.”

Me: “I have lots of knitting to do for the site, I can’t knit you a dozen socks.”

Him: “Well maybe you should teach me to knit socks, then I could knit my own socks.”( giggle giggle, snicker snicker )

Me: “Ok, smarty pants, I WILL teach you to knit socks. Guess what, you just added a non core class to the ciriculum, knitting.” (remember we home school, how else can a kid in the US learn to knit in school?)

Him: “uh…” (deciding if this is good or horrible, since now he’s in for the long haul)

Me: “One hour, everyday, until you can knit socks for yourself, and everyone else in the family because I don’t have time.” (laughing then silence….)

Him (thinking) “does she really mean that???”

So Dominic learned to knit today, and he did a very good job. I should have taken some pictures, but I didn’t think too. He looked so pleased with himself. He is knitting a hat for William with some lovely yarn given to me by Beth, from the Fiber Frenzy swap. He just really liked it, so I let him have it. sigh, my stash is getting pilliaged in whole new way lately. I’m ok, I can share. Besides, this means I need to shop for more yarn right? I mean it makes sense that I need more since people are depleting it.

So back to Dominic, he learned the long Tail Cast on. It took him about 3 minutes, then he could do it perfectly, although a little tightly. So I then had him transfer the stiches onto a smaller needle, cautioning him to be careful and not loose any. He lost the last two, the beginning ones, so I took it off, and re cast on for him, since he looked sick at having to cast on 60 stitches again.

He knit one row, I had to show him how, twice or maybe 5 times. No struggling, no tense, desperate jabbing with the needle, desperately trying to get it into the front of the stitch.

Him:”Can I stop for a while? My hands hurt.”

Me: “Ok, that’s normal, your hands are doing something new, they will get used to it.”

Him: “It sure is going to take forever to knit this hat.” (glancing sideways, will Mom take the bait?)

Me: “I’ll help you, I’ll knit a few rows for you, here and there, and it will be done in no time.”

So starts his journey into knitting. He seems very pleased that I would teach him. No I admit that he’s asked a couple of times for me to show him, but didn’t seem very serious, so I didn’t think much of it. What started out as joking and teasing each other, turned into a nice Mother - Son interaction, that will continue until he can knit socks LOL. It’s written in the school books, now he has to do it, which is handy considering he may hate knitting tomorrow.
It kind of reminds me of when he learned to read. (He was in a Montessori school then). He came home and started reading the newspaper aloud. We were shocked, and dumbfounded, he’de only been in school for a few weeks. Finally Beau stuttered out “When did you learn to read???” He said “Oh I’ve always known how..” I do believe the little brat ahem, I mean sweet little angel will knit better than us sooner than we think. He’s so good at stuff it amazes me. You know what’s REALLY cool, he does Math fast, and in his head. So soon in the future I can say

Me:”Dominic, I have 7.75 stiches per inch, and I need to have a 34 inch width, oh, and my pattern repeat should be 18 stitches plus two, how many stitches should I cast on?” And the answer will just fall into my lap, and I can forget about figuring all that junk for myself HEE HEE HEE HA HA HA…. And best of all, I can write it in the book, and it counts as school work.  I’m liking this Boy who knits for school work, think of the possibilities.. I could assign him my grafting and sewing on of borders.   Or hey, I could have him cast on and off for me, since I have trouble counting things.  I could let him do the 15 inches of plain stockinette stitch.  I could even let him knit the second sock that I don’t want to do myself.  This idea has some real possibilities LOL.  Actually, I will probably not really do any of these things, but it sure is fun to think about, and it takes my mind off the fact that now there will be another pair of hands in my stash.

On the major plus side, if the light hearted attitude continues, maybe he’ll get interested in spinning again.  He lost interest after the sheep/mineral oil incident of 06.  This might just get him back to spinning, and playing with the sheep.