Poor Em, she’s waited so patiently. Now in my defense she didn’t exactly make it easy for me, since she makes her own spindles, so not much point to sending her one of mine eh?

I am assembling her package tonight though, and I think I have gotten something nice together for her.

I’ve been a little busy, as you know I submitted an article to Knitty, and it would seem that it is to appear in the Winter Issue which should publish soon. I am very excited about that, because it really is one of my better articles. I’m pretty proud of it.

The month has turned and I also need to choose a new prize winner. And THIS months blog contest looks like this, we had a total of 49 comments from 7 posts for an average of 7 comments per post. I really didn’t post much this month, but the good news is, that we beat the last months average of 4.7 comments per post. THANKS GUYS!!!! It really means a lot to me to hear back from you, and connect with you here on the blog.

So this months winner is:

Comment #45

Michelle

I knew goat milk had that nice, simple, much-easier-to-digest protein but had no idea that sheep milk was constructed the same way. I think I’d rather milk a goat, though. Bigger teats, less fiber….

No I didn’t pick this one because it contained the word “teats” lol. How I choose is I have Dominic pick a number between 1 and 49 in this case. So Congratulations Michelle, you are this months winner!!! And Em will be getting her packet soon, as I am feeling a bit better now.

On to important news. I finished one of the fingertip-less gloves for Christlyn. She is really a dear person, and was VERY excited about the possibility of not freezing her hands on wrecks this January.

So this pair, knitting with 100% alpaca in about a worsted weight, is luscious to say the least. I mean they are a REAL treat on your hands. So soft, silky, almost naughty feeling lol. They feel so good it almost seems like you must be doing something bad, but nope, nothing wrong with wearing luxury gloves. Not the best pictures in the world, but it gets dark so early now…

I have gotten some feedback, they are just a smidge thick for the right hand, which she uses to start IVs, so this one she thinks will work just fine for the left hand. Which in a way was a real bummer, cause I was thinking I could keep this one, and just make one like it for me…

Christmas is coming, of course I have scads of mittens to make before then. Elizabeth and Teresa both need mittens, and they have to be colorful and all. I dyed yarn for two pairs for a friend’s children who happen to be about the same size, coincidence, uh NO. So here is the first one:

So colorful, hand-dyed yarn knitted up into two adorable mittens, does it get better than that? Can I suggest that you all take some scraps and knit a few of these this year and give them to the local homeless shelter, battered ’s home, or other charity that hands out warm things to children in need? These knit up over a movie (well each mitten for me) and they don’t use much yarn. I will be publishing the glove and mitten pattern for all of you to use freely as soon as I can. I also took some pictures so there will be a tutorial too.  I really want to encourage everyone to make a few of these and give them out.

So, happy mitten knitting, and congratulations Michelle.

I really love making mittens. I always just make the thumbs stick out the sides, because well, thumbs just sort of stick out the side, and I find these more comfortable than the strange thumbs out of the palm mittens. I hang my head in shame, but that’s how I feel about it.

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.

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.

I need to complete 7 rows each day to get caught up by a week from Friday. Clue 5 will be released then, so if I can get caught up that would make the whole thing a lot more fun. Of course I got some lovely yarn from my dear friend Heidi in Norway. MAN is this yarn nice, sock yarn. Just when Yarn Harlot solved all my ladder problems. Coincidence? I think not. SO it is possible I could get distracted… I have to say, if you haven’t read her book “Knitting Rules” stop everything, go find a copy right now and read it. You will not be sorry.

On a personal note, William had his very first cupcake. He enjoyed it quite a bit as you can see. He picked up all the frosting off the top first, and crammed that into his mouth. It was a mess to say the least.

The biggest news, is that the girls’ got Popcorn for their Birthdays,

It doesn’t get better than that for a third and fifth birthday. Everyone is thrilled.

The good news is, The chapel veil/shawlette is finished. The bad news is, it will not publish completely until July 15. That is when Issue 2 of Spindle and Wheel will publish.

There has been some minor disagreements on the content of the next issue, maybe you guys can clear it up for us. I wrote an article on how to get a web-based business started, what to do, and not do for the best chances of success. I thought that you readers would find this information helpful for your own sites to sell your handmade products. Beau feels it is off topic. I can see his point, and he can see mine, so we aren’t really sure what to do now. What do you think?

Now for the best part, a picture of the completed shawlette-

I’m sorry I don’t have it modeled, it really looks quite elegant on, but I can’t take a picture of it on me, and so you will have to wait a bit.

This is a perfect first lace project, it only has a few stitches, yarn over, knit and purl, knit two together and slip on knit one passover. There are also a couple of knit three togethers and slip 1 knit two together pass overs.

All in all, it used about 2 ounces at around 60 to 70 yards per ounce (about sport or fingering) and knitted up extremely fast. The pattern never changes, and so once you get that figured out, you can go on auto knitter and do just fine. This is good for me since I can’t count past about 2. At any rate, the full pattern will be published in Issue 2, but if you want to start early, drop me an email, and I’ll send it. allena at spindleandwheel dot com.

So I was bad today, I rode my horse around instead of working on the shawl or tutorials. I did get the pictures finished for the hand carding tutorial, and I did also get more rows done on the shawl. I also have some pictures of it.

Here is a detail of the short rows. The method makes a very nice effect that looks a bit like a dropped stitch garter pattern.

Here it is on the needles, at row 9

I took this one back lit to show the nice pattern, which is not so obvious in the first photos.

So I did manage since yesterday to knit up another 12 rows, but I was hoping to get more than that. I am planning on a horseback vacation with my husband, my horse, and his horse. NO KIDS, YAY! So I told myself I really needed to work with the horse, and get some exercise to prepare. Ain’t rationalization great?

So to make up for not getting so much done, I took it off the needles and sort of blocked it out a bit.

As you can see, the edges are scalloping nicely, and although it is not quite as I envisioned, I am pretty pleased with it. I am now up to row 21 in pattern. It is quite big already, big enough for a chapel veil, but I like mine a little larger. The blocking isn’t that great, and the pattern is consistent, but I couldn’t get it to mind me, so it still looks a little weird, but that will correct itself during the blocking.

This blog is the place to see what we are working on and what’s coming up soon. So far, this is the to do list for me.

• finish dyeing raw fleece tutorial
• finish blending with hand cards tutorial
• finish how to use hand-cards tutorial

Beau is working on a few things too…

• different ways to build spindles with everyday objects
• needle felting appliqué
• needle felting sculpture

Even our 13 year old Son Dominic AKA The Robot Dr is working on an electronic spindle that will automatically wind the yarn on. He’s thrilled, finally something about spinning that involves robots. LOL

Finally, I am working on a pattern for the site. It is a half circle shawl. I wanted to make a Chapel veil for myself, and I like the look of a half circle. So I am going to post the beginnings of the pattern here. It has only been tested once by me, and I don’t knit that well, so there may still be some corrections made. You are more than welcome to knit along with me, and any solutions or problems would be received gladly.

It is designed to be a chapel veil, but can be a shawl. If you increase more rapidly the ends will make a scoop that would drape around the neck quite nicely for a scarf. I used a yarn 50% wool 50% angora, and it was done in two ply at 16 18 wpi. I used size 11 needles, but really needed 12 s.   A little over an ounce of yarn of this size will get you this far, I got about 65 - 72 yards per ounce.  I estimate it will require about 2 ounces for the large chapel veil and three for a shawl.

Half Circle Chapel Veil or Shawl.

Phase One:

To begin cast on 27 stitches. This is to get a number of 21 stitches for the pattern, and three border stitches on either side.

Row 1 Slip one, and knit to the last stitch, turn (without knitting the last stitch. Knit 1 and place a marker.

Row 2 Knit to the last stitch, turn, knit one, place marker.

Row 3 to end of short rows… Knit to the marker, (remove marker) turn, knit one, replace marker.

Continue short rowing until you have three stitches between the markers. Break yarn. 27 stitches, and a nice half circle base to begin on.

With Right side facing, begining with the first stich - Please note that I started back with row one again.

Row 1 - sl 1, knit across.

Row 2 - sl 1, k2, purl to last 3, k3. 27 stitches (repeat this for purl rows until otherwise indicated.)

Row 3 - sl 1, knit to end..

Row 5 - sl1, k2, yo, k1 to last three stitches, k3. 48 stitches (21 stitches were doubled = 42, +6 border sts)

Row 7 - sl 1. k2, p 7, place marker (5 times), p7, k3.

Phase two ( Note that I have restarted the row numbers.)

these are the written out instructions, charts will follow… I have bolded the pattern repeat section for clarity.

All purl rows, unless noted are slip 1, knit 2, purl to last 3, knit 3

skpo is slip one purlwise, knit one, pass slipped stitch over.

Row 1- sl 1, k2, yo ,k1 ,k2 tog, skpo, k1, yo, k1, - repeat this pattern 5 more times, k3

Row 3 - sl 1, k2, yo, k1, yo, k2 tog, skpo, yo, k1, yo, k1, - repeat 5 times, k3. 60 sts, (9 per repeat)54 sts + 6

Row 5 - sl 1, k2, yo, k1, yo, k1, k2 tog, skpo, k1, yo, k1, yo, k1- repeat 5 times, k3 72 sts, (11 per repeat) 66 +6

Row 7 - sl 1, k2, yo, k1, yo, k2, k2 tog, skpo, k2, yo, k1, yo, k1 - repeat 5 times, k3 84 sts (13 per repeat) 78 + 6

Row 9 sl 1, k2, yo, k1, yo, k1, k2 tog, k2 tog, skpo,skpo, k1, yo, k1, yo, k1 - repeat 5 times, k3

That’s all I have finished so far, I have more charts, for the pattern repeat, but I don’t know how many holding rows to put between the pattern / increase rows yet. I am increasing each row by 12, so I think from here on out it will be, increase row, two holding rows, increase row, but I really don’t know to be honest. It is already quite large, and I don’t think it will take long at all to complete. It is already big enough to cover most of my head, and come down to my jaw, with just what I have written thus far. I think for the chapel veil it will need another 9 - 15 patterned rows, but it will be big enough after about 5 more I think. I just like big ones.

Here are the charts for the patterned rows, I don’t think the set up section needs charts, I would appreciate any thoughts on this matter. I also don’t have the above in proper notation, so it’s a little goofy with stuff like yo,k1,yo,k1 instead of yo, k1 twice. I want to keep these the same as the charts for now, so that if I find an error, it will be more apparent to fix in the written section.

So begin the chart when you have completed phase one. Remember to s1, k2, at the beginning, and k3 at the end for the border.

A key, sort of lol

O is yarn over,  the right leaning upside down V  is knit 2 tog, and the other is slip one knitwise, knit one, pass slipped stitch over.  Plain squares are knitted.