Hatz!

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I finished up the other Flip Flop sock. One more holiday gift done!

I also finished up a hat that's been sadly neglected. It'll go to the reservation as soon as I can put a box together to send. No pattern in particular, CO 80 sts and knit.

Isn't this a good idea? Check out Dinamic Knitting for more information! I think they'd be especially nice for projects on circular needles. Hmmm, I wonder if there is a way to connect them? I like the standard cone shaped point protectors, but keep loosing them....
Aren't these cute? Lavender sheep soap from Lavendersheep!


My quote of the day: "I've just grown tired of this rhetoric that anyone that disagrees with you is un-American or anti-American," Greg Pavlik said.

And Knittin' Mom has a good statement, too: "As we come upon election day, please vote. And please consider voting on the issues rather than the soundbites, or the color of a particular candidate's skin, or the stylishness of their shoes. If you're still undecided, go to each candidate's website and read over their platform. Don't make assumptions. Don't fall for the lines fed to you by the opposing campaign's ads or the special interest groups. Think critically, and vote for the candidate who you think can bring this country through the next 4-8 years. It's not going to be an easy job, and we need someone who can git 'er done. Someone who makes good decisions when under the gun. Someone who plays well with others. Make your voice heard! VOTE!!!"

Hatz, Hatz, and More Hatz

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Now that we're done making Mittnz, we are on to, in addition to Blanketz, Hatz!
I've been making them off and on all summer and thought I had twenty of them finished. Imagine my surprise when I took pictures this morning and discovered I had 22 finished Hatz!

I finally got the second sock for Third Son cast on last night and about half the ribbing done. If live would settle down I could make some progress on it. Maybe this weekend.

How tacky can a US Presidential Candidate be? Does he think Obama has cooties? What a jerk.

Acrylic, Plastics, Hatz and Mittnz

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This is the newest Hat. A newborn size, garter stitch cuff, several rows of Eye of Partridge (Sl 1, K1 across, purl back, repeat) and then some colorwork for fun!

These are Mittnz 55. Baby mitts knit out of an angora blend, Kool-Aide dyed.
Mittnz 56 made from one strand of a wool acrylic blend and one strand of sock yarn.

And this is a group photo of my seventh set of eight handwarmers! All of the muffatees do indeed have either gussets and separately knit thumbs or thumb holes. Cuz you know, someone's gonna ask!

We've been discussing acrylic yarn over at NAS and one of the members stated:

Having worked in the petroleum industry many years ago, I can tell you that the main products from petroleum are the greases that come from it. Truth of the matter is, the gasoline you use and the diesel that the big trucks use used to be dumped because there was no demand for it. It's just waste in the original processing procedure. Kerosene was in demand for a while, but even that's now considered a waste product because they can't make enough money from it to process it properly. Think about that when you purchase your next jug of lamp oil.

Acrylic yarn -- along with plastic bags and all the other plastic products that have become a part of our everyday life are also made from waste products of the refining process.

I take this to mean that we're putting another step between these waste products and the eventual landfills that they will go into. Did you know that plastic bags can be processed and made into acrylic yarn? So can a lot of the soft plastic baby toys that get tossed out all the time because they're worn or too nasty to clean up.

So the things we consume most, gas, and diesel, are waste products, as are plastics. The cost of gas and diesel keep climbing higher and higher. Acrylic yarn hasn't gone up appreciably in a couple years now, toys don't seem to be that much more expensive, and the plastic bags are still being extravagantly given away at stores everywhere.... So could it indeed just be greed that raises our fuel prices? It would be interesting to know if the price of the greases spoken of have escalated as well.

It's suppose to get hot today: Strong high pressure overhead will bring near record heat to southeast Arizona today. Temperatures Saturday afternoon are expected to range around 110 degrees across the Metro Area. It is now 8:30 am, 92 degrees outside and 73 degrees in the house.

Mittnz at the Movies

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Mittnz 54. These are made out of the new yarn I got. I forget sometimes how nice working with wool can be. Working with acrylic is not that bad, it's just that wool can be that good.

Took some personal time yesterday and went to see The Happening. Reviews haven't been good, but I'm a big M. Night Shyamalan fan. I thought it was a great story. For years we have let ourselves believe that destroying this species or that species of life on earth will not effect us. I think we are gravely mistaken. "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man." - Albert Einstein

I did, however, take the opportunity to KIP and finished another single Mittnz. Second one has been CO and will be finished shortly. Youngest Daughter, and granddaughters went to a different movie showing at the same time: Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. As I'd already seen that one, I was happy to go by myself to The Happening. I knit up till the movie started and then while waiting for their movie to finish. We spent some time at the bookstore where I picked up the next book in the new Nora Robert Sign of Seven Series - The Hollow. The first one, Blood Brothers, was very good.

I have two Hatz OTN at this time. The Noro Hat and just a plain hat. Pics of the Noro Hat just don't do it justice, so I'll wait till it's finished and on a head. Right now it just looks like garter stitch.

Speaking of Hatz....Ray has decided to knit 100 hats for Covenant House New Orleans. He'll do the knitting, all he asks is you sponsor him for a hat or two. Great if you don't care to, or don't have the time to knit for a good cause. He's also got two new hat patterns for sale and immediate download.

Disposable Income, Wet Wool, and What We Think of Ourselves

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Stacy posted this today and I like it! Some days, “doing the best we can” may still fall short of what we would like to be able to do, but life isn’t perfect—on any front—and doing what we can with what we have is the most we should expect of ourselves or anyone else. —Mr. Rogers

This is Hatz 17. It's a large baby size. I really had a ginormous amount of fun making this one and even used up some little balls of leftovers.
Then a pair of little tiny baby mitts.

Got several rounds done on the Noro Hat while watching the world's stupidest TV show: The Moment of Truth. Normally, as you can probably guess, I don't watch these kinds of shows. I don't get any enjoyment out of seeing people squirm and hurt the ones they love for money. Just doesn't do it for me. But there was nothing on, and we all were enjoying the fact the cooler finally got fixed....sort of.

I guess the real summer has finally arrived. Several days of 105+ temperatures and it only cooling down to the 70s at night keeps everything hot all the time. Three more months of this.... I'm ready to run away to the library just to sit 'n' knit in AC.

Lolly is sharing pictures of Nova Scotia from a recent holiday there. I would much rather be there than here!
Okay...I don't really understand this.... Let's pay $300 for a device to read-not listen to, but read-a book from, when I can get the same book at the bookstore for anywere between $8-25 OR...OR...OR... from the library for free. Yes, it can store up to 100 books or something like that, but seriously folks, how often do you need to carry 100 books with you? Now if you were a student and could get your textbooks that way, okay...maybe. But just for entertainment reading? This must be one of those places to dispose of disposable income. I don't know for sure cuz it's been a lifetime since I've had disposable income, but..... And we won't even discuss how wonderful it is to cuddle up with a book and disappear into another world with the slight fragrance of the paper and glue....:::sigh::: A close runner up to the perfume of wool socks that are soaking .... (Seriously, I like the smell of clean, wet wool.)

Franklin has some very inspiring words about what we let the world tell us about ourselves. Take the time to read it. You'll be glad you did!

Hatz & Mittnz

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These are Mittnz, Pair 51! After I finished with them I dip dyed them to get the bottoms one color and the tops stayed the original grey. (Note thumb hole!)

This is a hat on CO last night. It's using up little bits and pieces of yarn left over from other projects. Sport weight yarns, two strands of sock yarn. I'm knitting it flat so the color work is easier. It looks to be a good size for a small child. I may not do any decreases in this one and make it like a pseudo-Jester's Hat. Just seam it across the top and add a couple of tassels or pom poms on each corner.

I got several rounds done on the Noro Hat, too. It's not much to look at yet, hence no pictures.

It's still awfully hot during the day, as was forecast. Over 100 during the day and in the 70s at night. It's 84 right now at 7:42 AM.

Mittnz Mission Accomplished...again

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I finished up my 50th pair of Mittnz. Before you ask, "Why point out the thumb hole?" let me explain. The last pic of eight I published I was asked if I remembered to put thumb holes in them! It was a serious question asked by one of the coordinators. I mean really, that was my sixth set of eight Mittnz and she wanted to know if I was smart enough to put thumb holes in the muffatees?? So now I want to make sure she knows I am not suffering from that kind of dementia.

Both Amy and Joansie said I should feel free to CO whatever I wanted to. So what do I do? CO another Hatz and another pair of Mittnz. I'm making the Noro Hat. I've got the first ten rounds done. Instead of purling the four rounds, I just turned my knitting inside out and continued knitting. IOW, I turned and knitted back rather than purling. Just requires a few tight sts at the turning point.

The Mittnz are muffatees again. Using double strand of Cascade 220 SuperWash. Amazingly I remembered to put the thumb holes in this one, too. I think I'll dip dye these as the grey is pretty ho-hum.
Life is pretty much back to normal again. Youngest Daughter is only working one job as the other won't let her come back to work until she has a doctor's note with no restrictions. The job she's missing is only ten hours a week and is our fun money. Which means we're having less fun, but, hey....

The forecast is over 100 degrees for the entire week. Our evaporative cooler broke last Thursday night, and although it was fixed it on Friday, he either put in a smaller motor or turned it to low. It's not moving enough air at all. Will have to call and have it fixed again and the cooler pads changed to see if that helps cool things down. Evaporative cooling should work very well as long as the humidity stays down. Our humidity is 24% and I figure it should be around 75°F in the house at the hottest part of the day. It's that now and it's only 87°F outside...at 8:00 AM.

• At 90°F and 15% relative humidity, air may be cooled to nearly 60°F.
  
• At 90°F and 50% relative humidity, air may be cooled to about 75°F.
• At105°F and 15% relative humidity, air may be cooled to nearly 70°F.

Local Harvest, a compilation of farmers' markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area, has locations for produce, grass-fed meats, and many other goodies, and has yarn. I found some farms and Farmer's Markets in my area that I was unaware of. May have to check them out early in the day.

SockPixie has such beautiful yarn colors! This is the Van Gogh collection.

Hatz, Hatz, and More Hatz

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I finished up two Hatz yesterday and then went searching through my drawer of FOs and found a few more!Here's my Garter Stitch Blanket Corner. Just so cool!


I'm really having ADD right now about knitting. I want to start so many things I see and am having difficulty following up and working on them!

At NAS there was a discussion about the Pocket Book Slippers. Several patterns were tossed about. I like Miss Twiss'. There is Jennifer's cute fake isle tam. Cosetta's Old Shale Smoke Ring. I keep thinking Heidi's Neckwarmer would be a good gift for my son. I love Saartje's Noro Hat. I should work on either the February Sweater, Garter Stitch Blanket, Log Cabin Blanket, my shawl or my grandson's October birthday present.... I probably won't do what I should do and I'll do something else.... Oh well, life's short and should be enjoyed!

This n' That

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I spent most of yesterday working on a surprise present. More info when it's no longer a surprise!

Worked on my Garter Stitch Blanket last night and have completed the first corner. It looks so cool! It tickles me almost as much as the gusset of a sock.See how the knitting just sudden changes direction? All those nice heel rows going back and forth and then all those neat perpendicular rows of knitting just seem to magically appear. Of course, like all magic tricks, when you know how it's done, it looses a bit of it's awe, but still, isn't it neat? The corners of the blanket do that same kind of thing. Just follow the directions and the knitting is now perpendicular.

I have a slipper to finish and I want to work on the February Sweater today. Time to dig out the timer and devote an hour to each so I get the slipper finished. And then maybe I'll discipline myself to finish the second mittnz in pair 50.

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Isn't this just too cute!

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Mariella has been makin' Hatz! I love the pattern she used and will have to explore it!

Hatz and Sweaters

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I finished up Hatz 11 yesterday. Had to frog back to the beginning of the decreases as I'd dropped a stitch.

I gave in to temptation and CO on a February Sweater! It's an EZ pattern in Knitter's Almanac. Here is a pic of one knit by Linda. Isn't it sweet?
Mine is being made from leftover yarn from the Baby Cargo Pants I made last year. I have the first part of the yoke done and a list of people lined up to help me if I run into problems with EZ's very concise cryptic directions.

It was over 100 degrees here yesterday. Look what was going on in Montana! Knitting Iris shares more pictures.

Crazy Aunt Purl has made a Pledge:

So, from right now [May 17th] until December 31, 2008 I am not buying anything inessential AT ALL. There are two exceptions: 1) Presents for other people and 2) I already bought and paid for some office furniture back in April that has yet to arrive, so that doesn't count as new spending but will arrive sometime during the moratorium.

The rest is just the essentials, food and necessities and that's it. Simple. I'm going to do this for the rest of the calender year....And that's when it clicked with me, finally, and I decided to drop out of consumerism entirely for the rest of the year. I'm just done with it.

It's funny, I've lived most of my life like this. Except the new office furniture part. Now, I'm NOT complaining. I went through a period of time wanting lots of stuff. And at one point, I gave into it. I had more rubber stamps than...well...Amelda Marcos had shoes? Really alot. And when I left my husband, I sold the rubber stamps for next to nothing. At that point I realized having it all wasn't all it was cracked up to be. No one cared I had all those stamps, including me.

So since then, I've tried to be careful creating huge stashes of things, whether it's yarn, needles, fabric, clothes. They are just not necessary...for me.

Simple Abundance is a great book to read if you find you are wanting to downscale your life and your attitude. It's not about how to get rid of "stuff" buy why you should and what will come of it. It's amazing how much "stuff" weighs you down. It take discipline to use what you already have and then decide if you can "do without" or replace it in a smaller scale.

Nature abhors a vacuum. Once you start getting rid of "stuff" you'll be surprised at the things (tangible and not) that come in to fill the emptiness.

Hatz and Peeves

I finished up the leftover sock yarn hat. I really love all the colors in it. Although there are equal amounts of purple and pink, it really looks pink!

Obviously I didn't finish the second Mittnz of pair 50. However, I do CO last night and it's about half finished. So will probably be finished tonight. I still want to work on "something else". I've been trying not to CO anything new, as I really have so many projects that need to be finished or frogged. Discipline....

Somedays ya just get tired of the misuse of the English language. I think Ann reached her limit. What do you think? What gets me is that if one, gently or otherwise, points out the error, everyone jumps on one's case insisting that proper use of the English language is not essential to belonging to this list or that list. Obviously...

I'm a big fan of Ghost Hunters. It's just fun to watch and every once and awhile I get to see something that looks spooky. The founders of The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS) are Grant and Jay. Jay does much of the talking, always including his partner. His sentences generally begin with, "Me and Grant...." Drives me nuts! However, enough people must have finally pointed it out to him. I've noticed in the last several new episodes, Jay finally says, "Grant and I". I wonder how long it took him to break that habit. Especially with out Miss Kennedy. And as I continued to read through my blogs: "Me and *bleep* had a bunch of adventures yesterday." And from another, "It was the best thing I ate for days."

Miss Kennedy was my sixth grade teacher. Mike Saukry had his desk moved to right in front of her podium. Her podium was armed with a four foot wooden pointer. Now Mike liked to say, "Ummmm...." before each thought. Mike's head and wooden pointer got to be very good friends. In Miss Kennedy's defense, she never hit him hard-just a tap-she always smiled when she did it, and by the time we finished sixth grade, Mike didn't say, "Ummm...." at all. Of course, today, Miss Kennedy would loose her job for physical abuse of a child. And, in all honesty, I can't say it would be wrong. Somehow, I don't think putting a mark on the board under Mike's name would have the same impact.

These are really cute booties. I know the pattern has been going around the knitting circles, but has anyone made them? Do they stay on the baby's feet?

Home made Oreos! Heaven!

Finished Art School!

Name: Art School Socks
Yarn: Knitivity Down Home Art Yarns SOCK, less than 1 skein
Colorway: Art School
Needles : US 3
CO 56 sts, garter stitch cuff, Dawn Brocco's Round heel
Time: 40 days


I CO another Hatz with leftover sock yarn. Three strands: KnitPicks pink, KnitPicks purple, and the leftover Art School. I love how the colors come together!

Baby Hatz

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I made baby hatz yesterday. The first one is the slip stitch pattern from Knitty.com's Crusoe sock. I CO 56 sts with sport weight yarn, garter stitch cuff and then switched to Crusoe's stitch pattern. The decreases were a bit challenging and the slip stitch pattern gets a bit wonky at top, but only if you're looking for it. That hat took me three or four hours.
Then I switched to crochet and made the following three hats in less time than the one knitted hat took. I used the Baby Cap 2 pattern. These three are all made from sport weight and each one differs in size because the yarns were really different in size. Funny how that is!




Today I want to work on the Art school socks, toe and heel. I am called though, to CO something new... Maybe I'll go through my yarn today and see what I have and what I can make. I really should finish up some projects, rather than start something new. Maybe....

Math and fiber arts....

I want to be able to knit like this when I grow up. This was knit without a pattern. I can do many things like that, but as I've only made a couple sweaters I don't think that's within my power...yet.

It's kinda fun....try it!
The rules:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into the mosaic maker.

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

If nothing else, bookmark the Mosaic Maker. What great fun!

Knittin' and Surfin'

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I worked on something for myself yesterday, just as I promised I would. I finished the leg on my Art School socks and have started the toe decreases! I'm really pleased with how well the color patterning matches on both socks.. Ray did a great dye job on this yarn! I'm not an identical sock person, but I dislike yarns striping/spiraling on one sock and pooling on another.

This is Hatz 6, only about three inches done. It's that same tiger striped yarn I have so much of, mixed with solids. CO an uneven number of sts, st st for several rounds for a rolled brim, then introduce solid color yarn: two sts veriagated, two sts solid. The uneven number of sts moves the coloring around in a spiral.

Had another cold spell here yesterday. Only up to the mid 80s. Even turned the evaporative cooler off for a bit during the day. However it's already up to 76 at 8:00 am so I don't think it'll be "cold" today.

Isn't this a pretty hat? KnitterMan (aka Ray at Knitivity) is making hatz for his favorite charity, Covenant House. I think this is a great use of leftover yarns! I'm pretty sure he's making these on his knitting machine.

Ali, at Skeins Her Way is having a Summer Goals contest. Go over, check it out, sign up, and let me know what your goal is, too. I'm going to knit ten Hatz for Cheyenne River Reservation!

Is this not the cutest way to display yarn? Robin, Knit & Purl Mama, is really quite good with a camera!



f.pea has a cute free pattern for a little girlie thingie. Although she designed it with the frillies, I'm not so sure about them. Or, maybe they'd be okay in the same color... However, I'm sure to be in the minority on that in this household. Eldest Granddaughter would be thrilled with it!


Aren't these cute buttons? Turtlegirl got them with her most recent shipment of the Rockin' Sock Club at Blue Moon Fibers. I think there is a future for knitting bags, coffee cups.... Midnight Star has some really neat lists of famous people that are know to have or it has been theorized due to accounts of their behavior, have Asperger's Syndrome.