Knitting, Sci-fi and other stuff...

      I've been quite busy but unfortunately not with knitting.  I have managed to finish my  Always be Brave .  I even got it blocked which flattened out the i-Cord bindoff that wanted to roll.  We've gotten our first major snowfall of the season; the final tally was three feet where I live.  Our second snowstorm is in full blast right now.  I wore this for several days and unfortunately, it's a little too scratchy to wear for any length of time.  If I wear it on my short drive to work, it's okay.  I really enjoyed the pattern though, so I'm on the lookout for softer yarn so I can make another one. I've been wearing my Killer Queen Cowl this week.  When I first made it, I wasn't sure about the style and if I'd like it.  Now that I'm actually using it, I really like it.  It's soft and the neck area is long so I can pull it up to surround the back of my neck or my face if I need to.  I have a few other cowls in my...

     I finished the Boo Knits MKAL on October 30th.  I got it washed and and pinned out later that day.  It lost a ton of dye.  I rinsed it three or four times and it wouldn't stop bleeding, so I just gave up and blocked it.  When it was still wet it looked very splotchy.  It looks better now that its dry.  So here is the big reveal: The kids were nice enough to help me take pictures.  I need to find a better place to take pictures though; our front porch looks as old as I feel most days.      Our new boiler has been installed and is working, however the three circulation pumps that actually make the system function all need to be replaced as well.  My car is having more issues (a flat tire now) so I'll be driving the truck until we can get that hashed out.  I'm very happy we have two vehicles.  I'm also really happy we have a tire warranty that will cover this.      I have to figure out what ...

      I nearly forgot it was Sunday and time for another blog post.  I didn't post last week as all I've been working on is the Boo Halloween MKAL.  I'm finally on the last clue and I hope to make some more progress today.  I have pictures from each clue but they're terribly lit night pictures as that's when I was able to finish each clue.  So I think I'll wait 'til I have it done and blocked before I show off mine.  There are plenty of pictures of other's shawls in the spoiler threads of the Boo Knits group on Rav if anyone really wants to see the Enchantress Halloween MKAL.  Here's a link to the group if anyone wants to take a gander:  Boo Knits .  While I'm at it I'll throw in a plug for Boo Knits.  There is always a KAL of some sort going on and all of Boo's lace designs are beautiful and fun.  Beverly AKA Boo is very active in the group as well, and she answers questions especially when doing MKALs as they are new pat...

     Let's see, what have I done this week?  I finally moved all the totes of china out of the hallway and living room.  I made sure a couple of the totes were secure enough and then re-packed two.  The one tote had fallen when a couple of the cats knocked into it.  Several dinner plates broke along with a bread plate and a couple saucers.  I was quite disappointed by the dinner plates breaking as those are arguably the most important part of the set.  But it was quite a large set to begin with so I still have service for six.  The other tote I repacked is the partial set I retrieved from my grandmother's estate.  I don't know much about the set other than no one else in the family wanted it and my aunt had already claimed some of the larger pieces from it.  I did some rudimentary research on it yesterday from the back stamp.  It's a Howard Laughlin print called Virginia Rose and the vast majority of it was manufactured in...

      Quick update from me.  I've been working on the Boo Knits Halloween MKAL, so no pictures I can share yet.  I'm not quite finished with the first clue yet.  I got sidetracked by a unit project for the Communications class.  I hope to finish clue 1 when I get home from work today.       I returned my defective yarn winder and the new one I ordered arrived yesterday.  I grabbed a couple hanks of yarn I intend to knit soonish to test it out.  The gear is totally enclosed, the yarn guide has two selectable positions but doesn't pivot so there is no possibility of it falling.  The winder itself has more range on its clamp and can clamp quite tightly to whatever table I choose to use.  It wound the two hanks I grabbed with ease, and it was smooth and quiet.  I'm much happier with this one.     That's really it from me.  It was a busy work week and any extra time I've had has been spent on the M...

     In anticipation of the Boo Knits MKAL starting on October 1st I got out my Dye For Yarn so I could wind it with my new yarn winder.  I quickly found that the winder I chose is a piece of crap.  The yarn guide doesn't stay in place and drops while winding which feeds the yarn directly into the open gears.  The spindle base also isn't large enough to accommodate 100 gram skeins.  It is nice and quiet and it didn't roll backward when I had to stop often because the yarn wasn't cooperating with me either.  The hank was extra twisted and crinkly in one spot so it kept getting stuck on itself and needed to be teased apart.  Overall it was a very negative winding experience.  I just went back to Amazon to read the reviews on the winder to see if it was just my winder.  Nope, each review said the same thing.  I'm not sure why I didn't think to read the reviews before I ordered this one, I usually do.  I have a different winde...

      I finished Liara's hat.  I even washed and blocked it.  The dark blue bled a good bit, but it doesn't look like it re-deposited onto the lighter blue.  I looked through my little stash of swap notes and small items and I couldn't find the note from that Dr. Who swap so I have just my memory to go on for these two skeins of yarn.  I'm not overly concerned but it would be nice to know what the yarn is; it was nice to work with.  Liara is happy with how the hat turned out.  I made it a little longer than mine so she can fold up more of the brim.  I also rounded the top just a little. I immediately started Ronon's hat.  He chose two Malabrigo Sock colors.  He says his favorite color is green when I usually ask, and he had a green picked out; but as soon as I showed him the orange, he very empathetically demanded that his hat be made of that yarn.  I've finished the Terracotta side and am working on the Camaleon side now....

     We had a fairly eventful week; some big firsts for our son.  Ronon started preK as I mentioned.  He's been doing great and has adjusted well to being away from home for a few hours each day.  His fourth birthday was September 12th.  In New York children who are under four have to be transported to and from school by parents, so on Thursday he was able to start riding the bus.  He did great and really enjoys the bus as well.  We also cleaned almost all the random stuff out of the spare room and moved him into it and into the big bed that's in there.  We still need to move his dresser to his room and move my desk to our room.  I now have a good five or six totes of China to go through and repack into totes that aren't falling apart.  I had planned to do that this past weekend but I was really tired yesterday.  I did manage to put all of grandma's knitting books up with mine in the "craft closet" and put all the magazine...

    This has been the week of everything breaking.  On Wednesday, when we were taking Ronon to Pre-K, the dash on the Highlander lit up like a Christmas tree.  We immediately assumed mice had gotten into the engine compartment again.  My husband investigated but he saw no evidence of mice, so that's probably a good thing.  We suspect that it's a sensor.  It has to be inspected this month anyway, so it goes to the garage on Monday to be diagnosed.  I finished the hat I was working on; more on that momentarily.  Liara asked me to make her a hat too.  It took her a bit to choose the yarns she wanted.  When I set up my winder to get them caked up, the itty bitty gear inside broke right off.  I bought the winder when I started knitting 14 years ago and it was a cheap one from Amazon.  So, I would say I got my 6 or 7 dollars out of it.  I've ordered another cheapo off of Amazon to replace it.  I hand wound the two skei...

    I wove in alllll the ends, washed and blocked my Killer Queen-Drops of Spring mash up mitts.         There was a bunch of stockinette hat talk in the Malabrigo Junkies group.  A bunch of people are knitting  YAS Hat s.  I liked the idea of a reversible hat so I jumped in with  Double Thick Hat .  Both of these patterns are free.  I thought a fingering weight hat would take awhile, but it's been rather addicting.  I'm already halfway done with the decreases on the first "side" of the hat. Malabrigo Sock in Dewberry The other half of this is going to be Solis.  If there's enough left I may make a YAS hat out of the remainder for my daughter.       That's it on the crafting front.  I've been plugging away slowly at my class.  The normal schedule is so much more subdued.  This communication class is going to push me very far out of my comfort zone, which I'm not too keen on, but...

      My beads and yarn have arrived for the Boo Knits Halloween MKAL.  I'm very impressed with how fast the yarn arrived from Dye for Yarn which is in Germany.  It was shipped on the 19th and I received it yesterday.  I've never knit with Tussah Silk before so I'm excited to try something new. My fancy edited photo of the yarn. Raw photo with Edi supervising.  I believe she approved of the new yarn acquisition.     I decided to use my leftover yarn from Killer Queen Cowl to make some "companion" fingerless mitts.  I used the  Drops of Spring  pattern as my base pattern.  I've used it several times before with Mal Rios, so I knew it worked well.  I designed as I knit, so the mitts don't match each other, but that wasn't my intention anyway.  The cowl pattern is knit flat, and the mitts are in-the-round, so I had to do a little figuring out to make the stitch patterns work out.  Overall, it was fun, so I may ...

     I've made a little more progress on Always Be Brave and I just seamed up two dishcloths.   I'm thinking about starting some fingerless mitts.  I have some leftover yarn from Killer Queen Cowl so I might try to make coordinating mitts to go with that.  The pattern designer has two hat patterns that I think would match well, but I don't think I have enough contrasting color left for the one I prefer out of the the two.      I've decided to do the Boo Knits Halloween MKAL.  I've done KALs before but never a Boo KAL and I've never done a mystery one.  I also decided to splurge and I ordered the yarn suggested for the KAL which is Dye For Yarn Tussah Silk Lace.  I also ordered the beads for the KAL as well.  The Boo Knits Halloween KAL is always a good one and I usually miss out on them so I'm excited to participate this year. I couldn't decide on beads and it's always hard to tell actual colors through a ...