Mission Possible 2013

Mission Possible 2013 has begun.  My list is made and a few things are already in progress or completed.
The list

1. 12 hats for MT25
2. Silk top for me
3. Socks for Elmer
4. Monster
5. 3 pair of mittens
6. Baby Blanket
7. Monster
8. Handspun cardigan
9. Mother Bear 2/21/2013
10. Hexagon Blanket
11. Mother Bear
12. 6 pr of fingerless mitts

 I have four of the 12 hats complete and several more that only need the seaming done.  The socks for Elmer are on the needles and the first sock is done and the second is over half complete.  As you can see I've finished one of the bears for Mother Bear.I've cast on a sweater for myself, although it isn't the handspun one yet.  That one will be a cardigan for the fall.  (I know it will take me until it's too warm for it here to finish it.)  I can't help but wonder if the hexagon blanket will ever be finished.  I seem to have lost the love for working on it at the moment.

I also have goals on paper for my spinning and weaving.
I'm in the process of weaving simple curtains for our spare bedroom and I want to make a set (two sets actually) for my kitchen.  I also have some lovely cotton for napkins. I want to spin a fingering weight yarn and I'd like to spin 400 yards from a four ounce braid.  I've not made it to that amount yet although I have gotten to over 300 yards so maybe I will get that one accomplished in the near future.

I want to move at least 5 pounds of yarn out of my stash this year. I have a good start since I’ve been working on the hats since the 3rd and have over 30 ounces out already.

I'm planning to update at least monthly for the amount of yarn used and the progress on the list.  Now I'm off to work on the second Mother Bear which is actually the twelfth one I've made for them.

Posting is my nemesis

I can't believe that I haven't written in over five months.  My life has been busy.  I have a new grand baby on the way.  I've spent time knitting, spinning, gardening, and visiting family and friends.My local yarn store recently got sold.  I haven't been in since the store changed owners and names but I did some damage when they thought they were closing for good.  Elmer went with me and told me to fill my basket (repeatedly).

  I got yarn for sweaters for me, yarn to make hats for MT25 for the next couple of years, and yarn for monsters for my daughter's class.

I read a story (Annie and the Swiss Cheese Scarf) to the kindergarten class that my daughter teaches, went on field trips with the daughter that home schools her children, and visited friends at my favorite not so local yarn store Knitting Today.

I've started the plants for this years garden.  I'm going to have broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, tomatoes, asparagus, bell peppers, cucumbers, onions, garlic, strawberries, lettuce, spinach, beans, squash, zucchini, and eggplant.  Hopefully, my peach and apple trees will produce this year, but it's still early for them so I'm not holding my breath. I only planted them last year.

I recently started a new sweater for myself. I'm knitting it from Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool. I'm looking forward to a nice spring sweater.



I hope it fits like I expect.  I guess we will see in a few weeks.







I also plan to knit a cardigan or two for the fall weather.

I'm still spinning on my Ladybug and loving it.  I need to start using some of my handspun.  Soon I hope.
Maybe I can manage at least one post a month this year from here on out.  We will see.

Stash Dash 2012

So, I'm doing StashDash with the Knitgirllls again this year.  The set-up is a little different this year since we are going by grams instead of yardage.  My first goal was 907 grams.  I blew that one out of the water.  I spun this yarn for 113 grams

along with knitting two more bears for Mother Bear, spinning this Colinette Merino

and two more of the Frog Tree Meriboo rovings (brown and gray), knit a pair of socks, finished my February Lady, some knitted cupcakes for Carin,dishcloths, some hexagons, and a hat from my handspun.  I am officially at 1592.3 grams.  That's not where I actually am though because I have some things that will go into Checkpoint 5 when the thread opens. (I also found something that I listed in a post, but didn't add the weight, oops) I haven't added four dishcloths or the brown Meriboo roving.  That's not all though.  I have another pair of socks on the needles, am currently working on my ten stitch blanket that will be a really cute baby blanket when finished, and am still making hexagons.
I upped my goal to 2000 grams.  I think I will make that and have some to spare.  It's been really productive for me to have a goal and work toward it.
I did "compete" in the Tour de Fleece and got to know my wheel.  That was my goal and I've enjoyed it.  I'm on a team for the Ravellinic games, but I'm only WIP Wrestling on that blanket.  Nothing exciting.
I was going to add more pictures, but blogger and I are arguing right now.  More later.

Tour de Fleece progress

I haven't made much progress in my knitting lately, but I have been having fun with my new Ladybug wheel and the fiber that I'm spinning for Tour de Fleece.  I've completed a few things and bought some more to play with while on vacation during the first days of the tour.

Mountain Colors Roving

The Colinette is finished and I'm really happy with it.  I worked on part of it sitting in the back of our van while my husband was driving while we were on vacation.  He even got a short video of me spinning while we were at a rest area.
I had a really fun time shopping at The Woolery while we were on vacation.  After that we headed down and I got to shop at Smoky Mountain Spinnery too.
I wasn't sure that I would love spinning on the wheel even though I was fascinated by the idea of it.  I was wrong.  I have been having tons of fun spinning and can't wait to do more knitting with my own handspun.  I even bought a pound of Potluck Roving so that I would have more than my usual four ounces to play with.
I am still working on my February Lady sweater and hoping to finish it sometime in the next week.  I have a pair of socks on the needles for the husband, but other than that I'm not sure what my next project will be.  I need to finish my ten stitch blanket that is going to end up being somewhere around crib size instead of a bigger one simply because I want it finished. 
I haven't made a hexipuff in ages and guess I really need to get back to those too.  I have decided not to stuff most of them and may go back and take the stuffing out of the ones I've made that I did stuff.  I can always use the stuffing for Mother Bear bears or Monsters.  I've completed a couple of those lately too. Pictures to follow. 

A little of this and a little of that

Wow, I really shouldn't wait so long between making entries on the blog.  Blogger has changed things and now I get to see if I can figure it out.  I just got a new Ladybug spinning wheel this month.  I am loving it.  I made this yarn from some Frog Tree Yarns Meriboo Roving, which is 70% Merino  wool and 30% Bamboo Viscose.  This is about 222 yards from the 4 ounces I spun.

I've also been knitting.  This is one of the Mother Bear bears I have finished recently.

I've finished two and have another one on the needles.  I've also completed Gabby the Garden Monster recently too.  I'm participating in StashDash  again this year.  I set my goal at 907 grams or about 2 pounds.  I think I'm going to exceed that easily.  I'm at 743 grams now and I haven't counted the yarn that's going into my February Lady sweater. (I'm only going to count the 350 grams that I'm in the process of using since Stash Dash started.) That's going to put me over without doing any spinning for the Tour de Fleece or any knitting for the Ravellenic games and I hope to participate in both.
There is also gardening going on here.  I'm getting plenty of tomatoes, some bell peppers, some zuchini and carrots.  The birds are enjoying my blueberries before I can get them, but there will be more next year and maybe even enough for all of us to have some.
We are still working on the new property and it's coming along slowly.  It's just too hot and humid at the moment to spend and length of time outside.
Off to have some lunch and do some knitting.  I have a bear with no arms and a sock that needs a gusset finished.

Total Slacker

Okay, I am apparently a total slacker. I didn't realize how long it had been since I posted to my blog until today. I wonder if I should just take it down and give it up or if I just need more discipline in my writing.
I have been knitting. I finished my Hey Teach and love it.

I haven't had a chance to wear it yet, but maybe on Sunday for church I can. It's been too warm really for a sweater for the last week or so and when it was cool enough I was climbing around under the house and it just didn't seem like a good place for it.
I also finished my Demeter's Shawlette.

I have proceeded to rip back the edging and add some rows to the shawl to make full use of my handspun. I'm ready to put the edging back on. This is my first beaded project and I enjoyed the whole process from the knitting to picking out the beads I wanted to use.
Then I added two more bears to the collection before they went off to Mother Bear.

Added to that I am still working on my 10 stitch blanket and the Beekeepers Quilt and I started a baby sweater or two.
I'm still considering what my next weaving project will be and thinking about my next monster and sweater for myself and I started spinning some Mountain Colors BFL top in the Peppergrass colorway.
Other than the fiber stuff, I have been getting out garden ready for the spring. I have two tiny little peaches on one of the peach trees we planted earlier this year. I had blossoms on one of the apple trees, but the deer ate them. Oops. The blueberries and the huckleberries are blooming and the strawberries are coming on. The broccoli won't give up so I am still cutting broccoli on a regular basis. I have tomatoes and peppers inching their way up to transplant size to go outside and we are discussing adding more beds to the garden. If we keep going I will have to learn to can some of these veggies. I also need to figure out a trellis for the wild grapes on the property and I'm watching the blackberries bloom. Those blooms make me think of blackberry cobbler and that makes me start drooling.
I'm back on my exercise regimen and hoping to make some progress on that front as the weather warms.

One Month In

Today is the last day of the first month of the new year and it's time to check on what I've done so far this year.
On the knitting front, I have completed a total of four bears for The Mother Bear Project.

I've added almost a full round to my 10 stitch afghan (that top left hand corner is where I started the year),

added about half a dozen puffs to my collection for the Beekeeper's Quilt, (I looked back and only had a dozen in September.)

and I'm working on the first sleeve of my Hey Teach.

That's not bad progress so far.
In the gardening part of my life I'm also making some progress. We added two beds to our garden area this month.

The strawberries are starting to bloom.

I have a blossom on one of my peach trees. (I tried to tell it that it's still too early, but it didn't listen.)

The huckleberry is getting it's new leaves too.

Everything else is starting to show buds, but hasn't done more than pop out a couple of leaves. There are quite a few patches of a little white flower that I am trying to figure out. I have no clue what it is.

I also got a picture of a tiny bit of the creek that runs through part of our property. The creek gets high with the rain, but almost disappears when it gets dry around here.

We've been feeding the birds and the deer (and rabbits, squirrels and other assorted wildlife that hits the deer corn.)
I'm also preparing for my daughter's wedding. I finally found what I'll wear and if I could magically lose 20 to 30 pounds before the wedding I would be jumping up and down. I put on weight while nursing my husband last year and I'm just beginning the process of taking it back off. It will be a slow process and I don't think that it will be complete by April.
Not much more going on around here at the moment. I've spent some quality "baby time" in the past few weeks and enjoyed it. I'm also enjoying being able to give them back.

A Look in Both Directions (Behind and Ahead)

I just counted the number of completed projects on my Ravelry page and there were 32 listed projects. I know for sure that I completed 43 because one of those projects is actually a group of projects. I'm pretty happy with that since I am pretty sure that there were some things completed that never got the love of a Rav project page.
This year, so far, I have completed two bears for the Mother Bear Project. That is already one thing completed on my Mission Possible 2012 list.
The list is
1. Ten Stitch Afghan
2. Two woven scarves for granddaughters
3. Something with handspun
Those are the carryovers from last year and then:
4. Hey Teach sweater (started already)
5. February Lady sweater
6. Twelve hats for MT25
7. Dot the Dress UP Box Monster
8. Gabby the Garden Monster
9. Mother Bear Project Bear


10. Hermione's Everyday Socks
11. Spin 4 oz braid
12. Beekeeper's Quilt
13.Dishcloth
14. Hat
15. To Be Decided
I know that there are fifteen things on the list, but since three of them are carryovers I decided to add three to the list so that I would have twelve new projects to aim for too.

Just before Christmas I became a great-grandmother and just after New year's I became a great-aunt. That means we have two new people for me to knit for. That will be fun. I picked up the yarn to do at least two sweaters that are not on the list above. I only have thirteen of the fourteen items to go so surely I can fit two more little sweaters in there. (Why yes, there is a small chance that I am delusional about the amount of knitting I can accomplish. Why do you ask?)

We are planning to expand our garden this year and have started that process by planting two apple trees, two peach trees, and two pecan trees. I'm considering an asparagus bed, but I'm not sure it's worth the effort since there are only two of us in my family that will eat it. Of course, I could make that a reason to have a smaller bed of asparagus. I'll have to think about it.

I have already begun Hey Teach and it's about halfway complete. My gauge was different and my yarn was different and I'm making a size that is two sizes too big according to the pattern, but should work with my gauge. It looks right and the size is still what I was expecting so that's good news so far. I already have the yarn for the February Lady Sweater and am trying to patiently finish something already on the needles before beginning something new. I have spinning on the go, two hats on the needles, the Hey Teach, and a hat on the machine. I've been deciding on yarn for my next woven project and bought beads to do Demeter's Shawlette with my handspun.

I hope to post more frequently this year. I guess we will see how many of my goals for the year I manage in my life.

What day is it?

So today is, I think, the 16th of November. Holy cow, where did the first half of the month go. I guess it went where the rest of my months have lately. It flew by while I was trying to get things done after the move and while my husband has been out of work on disability.
The garden is growing well. There will be broccoli to eat soon and cabbage too.

The onions and the garlic are showing off nicely. The two whole lemons that my poor transplanted tree produced are almost ready to come off the tree and become lemonade or a lemon meringue pie. There are also peas and carrots growing and in a little pop up greenhouse there are bell peppers and tomatoes. We will see how those fare through the winter.
I've also been knitting. I finished the hat and booties to go with the sweater that I had finished at the beginning of the month. (Why yes, the sweater does have buttons.)

I've also completed my first Baldwin monster,

started a second one for my daughter's school raffle basket, made a February Baby sweater,

added a few hexagons to the collection,

and finished the gloves to go with my granddaughter's tam that I think was finished at the beginning of the month.
Those were my very first gloves ever. I am impressed with myself. It won't last long, but I'm going to enjoy the feeling of accomplishment for now. I expected them to be harder. They were fiddly, but not really hard.
Currently, I have a scarf on the Cricket loom. (Okay, it's half on. I haven't finished sleying the reed yet and tying on, but it's all wound on the back beam.) Did I mention that I made a spa cloth on that loom. That was fun. It was also fiddly. Apparently, I enjoy the fiddly aspect of things.
The office/ craft room needs to be cleared out and organized. I think that will wait til husband goes back to work. There are things in here that don't belong in here and I have to figure out where they should go. I'm also trying to use up some stash so that there is more room in here. Oddly, I had room for it all before I turned the room back into a bedroom for my youngest daughter. I've used and given away a lot of yarn and craft items since then and yet there seems to be less room. Of course, when I look around, I see an old computer taking up space in the closet and there are two new looms since those days and I noticed a minute ago that there are some of said daughter's things still in the closet. Hmm. Need to see what is there and if she wants it. If not, it needs to go away.
Time for some lunch. Then it's time to work on a monster, some fingerless mitts, a scarf, a hat, or one of the two afghan projects that are in the works.

Wow, where did October go? It was a busy month around here and I did accomplish some things. My garden is growing. We've added cauliflower to the mix as well as garlic. I transplanted three pepper plants and three small volunteer tomatoes into a garden bed with a pop-up greenhouse over it. I hope that they make it through the winter and we get some more peppers from the plants.
We are making steady progress at getting the huge pile of deadwood taken care of so that I can put a couple of pecan trees in the yard in January or February.
I've also been knitting. I've finished the Mairi Tam

and Bobble Gloves

from Wendy D. Johnson's book Wendy Knits Lace. They were both enjoyable and I am planning to make at least two more of the tams for two more granddaughters.
I also finished the sweater for the new great grandbaby who is due at the beginning of January.

I have booties and a bonnet to finish before the shower, but they are to the seaming and blocking point so they are moving right along. The pattern for the set is called Perfectly Pink and comes from the Leisure Arts Sweet Layettes to Knit booklet which has four layettes in it.
There is also a finished woven scarf that came off the Cricket Loom finally.

I have also almost finished a monster from The Big Book of Knitted Monsters by Rebecca Danger. They are so cute and the one I've been working on is easy. I see more monsters in my future.
In case anyone is wondering the photos were taken out at the garden. There are peas and carrots growing with the scarf, broccoli growing with the tam and gloves and cabbage under the baby sweater.
I did finish my secret knitting. The recipient hasn't gotten it yet so I still can't post a picture. If they post one, I will direct you to it then.
Let's get the needles going for Christmas everyone.

Autumn update

I've been knitting. I hope that's not news to anyone who might read this. I have been working on several things lately. I've made some progress on a baby sweater that is for my great granddaughter who is due in January.


I've also done some work on my 10 stitch blanket since the end of Stash Dash and made a little progress. (The stitch marker on the left side is where I left off at the end of Stash Dash and the needles are where I am now.)


I got sucked in to the Beekeepers Quilt and have about a dozen little hexagons made and gathering in a bag. I finished another one today who didn't make it into the photo op.


I've been working on a project that I can't show pictures of and have been having a time with that one and gauge. I have restarted different parts of this project two or three times each. Some of it was just that the parts of the project are small enough to be swatches themselves so I haven't been swatching. That means I have been ripping back and starting over. I'm really good at that part.
I finished the Monkey Mitts for my granddaughter. Word is that she loves them. I certainly hope so.


We got 17 3/4" of rain during Lee. My back yard was a lake. It's not a lake at the moment. The hawk sat on the start of a burn pile and scoped out breakfast. There are several bunnies that live around our property. I didn't see one become breakfast, but the hawk was awe inspiring.

The pile below is from when our property was cleared. We are taking care of it a little at a time. I wanted to use a chipper on most of it, but that isn't feasible. In our area they cost about $450 to rent for a weekend and that pile is taller than I am and part of it is too thick to go into a chipper anyway so part is getting burnt and we are thinking of buying a chipper in the future.

We have been building new raised garden beds and planting in them. We have onions, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, carrots, and sugar snap peas in the beds now.

I'm getting ready to transplant the strawberries to a different bed so that I can put plastic under all the beds. When we moved out here we did a quick job of moving our beds from the other place and it is time to start organizing the garden and getting it ready for a big year next spring. Although we are getting peppers from the garden I think this year was a fail in that regard. Peppers and cantaloupes are all we've gotten.

My citrus trees survived being put into the ground and the two lemons that I had on one of the trees are starting to turn. Looking forward to more citrus next year.

Rain, rain, go away

We are geared up for the busiest time of the Hurricane season here. Historically, September is the height of the season and we have a depression sitting in the gulf that isn't moving at the moment. It seems that unless something changes that it will be a rainmaker more than anything. If that's the case I can't help wishing that it would go in to Texas where the whole state is in a serious drought. Here in my little corner of the world we could use the rain, but not 10 to 20 inches in 72 hours. It cannot soak in or drain that fast and will cause flash floods. That's not good for anyone.
I feel so badly for those in the northeast who have had to deal with Irene and the aftermath of that storm. I know how they feel.
I have been knitting and crocheting since my last post. I've made a pair of Monkey Mitts for one of my granddaughters and am crocheting some simple scarves for the granddaughters too.
I also got caught on the slippery slope that is the Beekeepers Quilt by Tiny Owl Knits. I looked at it and thought that it was pretty and interesting and that I should turn around and walk away immediately. Then I wondered if I could figure out how to make those tiny little hexagons and if I was as crazy as I thought I was since I had already played that game with the Sock Yarn Blankie by Shelley Kang. So I did. I walked away. No, really, I did. What got me was wondering if I could figure it out without the pattern. Now I think the pattern is lovely and if it was in my budget I would have bought it, tucked it away, and left it be for the foreseeable future. Now although I am not scrounging pennies for gas and milk (been there, done that), since my husband is currently on disability until he recovers from surgery, I do not have the cash for patterns. Especially patterns that I have no intention of making. But to use my mind to see if I can figure it out on my own is a worthy challenge. I now have two and a half of those lovely little hexagons in a bag in my craft room. They don't take a lot of yarn and they are a change from the Ten Stitch Blanket by Frankie Brown that I am also working on a little at a time.
Like I said, slippery slope.
On the home front I will be battling Morning Glory vines. They are along the side of our property and have found their way to my roses and my raised garden beds. There will be much pulling of vines so they don't take over. They are pretty, but I don't want the yard filled with them.
I also found some Cypress Vines that the butterflies love and something that I'm not sure what it is that the bees love.

The rain has started and it's coming down steady. I will update later with how much we have. It's now time for a cup of coffee.

I really did it

I actually got through 5K of knitting and spinning for the Stash Dash. I was surprised to say the least. I finished a baby sweater, two pair of socks for the husband, a shawlette, a pi shawl, 6 bunnies, my first Clapotis, a Josephine cloche, and about 800 yards of spinning. I feel lucky that Tour De Fleece and the Stash Dash overlapped.



I have been working in the yard too and learned how to take the mower deck off the Deere and put it back on. Not a big deal unless you have never done it before.
There is actually a pomegranate on my bush. I was amazed. I just wasn't sure if it would produce or not. My yard is beginning to come together. We heard the other day that the sewer system is getting ready to come through our area. We knew it was coming, but had been told that it would be anywhere from two to seven years. The county health department wanted us to put in a $10,000 septic system instead of the $5,000 one that we did put in. Now they say that they will start hookups in November of this year. I would have been seriously upset if we had paid $10,000 for a system we would use for less than a year. They have mandated that if you live in this area you have to be hooked up to the system. The only surprise for me has been that they said there will be no hook up fee if you let them do the hook up when they come through with it.

Elmer had surgery again on Monday and we are hoping that they fixed the problem this time. I am tired of spending time in the hospital and I'm sure he is too.

I'm also teaching my granddaughter to knit on my Bond knitting machine. So far she loves it. She is eleven and I'm not sure how long her fascination will last, but it will be a skill she can come back to later if she wants. As for me, I'm still hand knitting almost exclusively lately. It's just so much more portable than my machines are. I'm still spinning on my spindle and I have a couple of scarves in the planning stages for my weaving looms. I just can't seem to get motivated to spend any time in front of my knitting machines. Ah well, it will come back. It always does.