She Was Twisted

It was nice and overcast today, perfect for snapping some photos, so I got some better ones of the blocked Rambling Rose Cardigan back.

MUCH better! It is amazing what a little natural light can do for a photo. (see 2 entries below to see how a flash can zap out the stitches.)

And a closeup. Isn’t it purtee?

I thought I would give you a sneak peek of 3 of the handspun yarns that will be added to the store sometime later this week. (I’m hoping)

Oooh, la la!

(Excuse the horrible photo with a camera flash. It was a yucky day when I took the photo.)

The Rambling Rose back blocked to perfect shape! Yay! It is going to be o.k.! I was really sweating it there. I didn’t think it would ever turn out the right measurements. What was amazing, was how once wet, the back just stretched out to exactly what it was supposed to be. I didn’t really have to tug and pull much at all.

So now I can keep knitting on it. I had stopped for a long time because I wasn’t sure if it was worth it or not. But, alas, we are now moving along.

…but in a good way.

I started knitting these purple cable socks many months ago..o.k. like at least 6 months ago, maybe more. I didn’t account for the cables pulling the sides in when I figured my stitch count, and they were way too tight from the start. So what did I do? Kept knitting!!

I knitted all the way up to the heel, thinking, “they will just be extra snug socks.” But when I began the heel, I realized there was no way I was going to be able to squeeze my ankle through without cutting off my circulation. -As if I didn’t already know that from the start. So in disgust, I tossed the socks to the side and haven’t thought about them since.

Until…

I’ve been catching up on all the Lime n’ Violet podcasts that I haven’t listened to since July. And we all know how much they oogle over sock yarns and sock patterns. This, of course, inspired me to want to knit some socks. Since we are in poor mode, (can’t afford to buy anything unless it is necessary for existing. Ah-hem, yarn does not count.) I pulled out my sorry sock and started reworking my numbers. I added an extra cable and messed with the “in-betweens” a little bit, and got my stitch count to 72 stitches. -Which just happens to be the cast on for Wendy Knits’ Fingerweight Toe-Up Gusset Heel Sock Pattern. Perfect. I’ve never knit a gusset heel before, so it will be fun!

Here is my yarn:

Gorgeous! It is from Fearless Fibers, in the colorway “Midnight Passion.” Love it, love it. The thing I adore about her yarns, is that she does not hand paint them – she rainbow dyes in a pot instead. What this does is eliminate the chance for any pooling or patterning, which is something I really loathe about most hand dyed sock yarns.

So on to the sock.

Here is the new sock. It now has 4 cables instead of 3 – which isn’t quite as visually appealing, but it makes the sock wearable.

So far, it is feeling like a perfect fit!

Now here is the old sock. See how the stretched out the areas are between the cables? It really squeezes and stretches on my foot, almost to the point of being uncomfortable. (Can you believe that I knitted as much of it as I did, knowing in my gut that is was a bad fit?)

That is just me for you. I have a need for self-torture I suppose.

But I am loving knitting socks again. It has become my “knit outside while Evan plays in the backyard” activity. It is simple and easy enough of a knit that I can keep my eye on him while he plays, and since I’m knitting on 2 circs, I an easily put it down when Evan needs me.

In other news, I’ve got the Rambling Rose cardigan blocked out and drying right now. I think it is going to work!! I’ll post pics in my next entry.

Have a fantastic Thanksgiving everyone. Eat LOTS of pumpkin pie!!

Chickens. Yes, chickens. I haven’t really written yet about our move to Arkansas from Atlanta, so let me enlighten you!

In May, the hubby and I decided that we wanted to move to NW Arkansas to get away from the noise, pollution and overcrowding of city life in Atlanta. Why Arkansas? Well we have family and friends here that we just adore, and upon our visits we fell quite smitten with the place. It is small, slow paced, tons of open country land and the people are incredibly friendly. Brian has always dreamed of living on a small hobby farm, so we thought this might be the future.

We began looking for land online to eventually build a house and move the family within the next couple of years. We found a few lots we liked and contacted a realtor to find out more information. He sent us a ton of other property listings, along with one that he knew wasn’t what we were looking for since it was already developed, but the price had just been dropped $30,000 and it was a terrific deal. OH MY was it a good deal.

A 4 bedroom, 2300 sq. ft. house that was only 4 years old, 10 acres of property that was half pasture, half woods, an unfinished guest house/cabin, a brand new metal barn, a stocked pond, and all the quiet, peaceful country life you could ever want only 15 miles from town. Plus the big kicker, it was totally in our price range since houses are so much cheaper in AR than in GA.

Brian drove to AR that weekend and snagged it. Totally unprepared, for me, site unseen, insanely freaked out. The same day the owner accepted our offer, he received 6 more offers. We were quick to the draw, and it was ours. Oh shit, is all I could say.

Since there were other offers, apparently better than ours, we had to drop our contingency clause that we wrote in that said we had 90 days to sell our house before closing. Now, we had to close in 30 DAYS. Yes, you read that correctly. We had to prepare our house for the market, list it, sell it, get a loan, figure how in the hell we were going to move the family across 4 states, and possibly afford to pay 2 mortgages while our house sat on the competitive Atlanta market. Oh wait, but there is more. I will have to quit my dream job of 8 years that I’ve had in ATL and start looking for something else. Brian will have to find a new teaching job in Arkansas too. How will we afford the moving truck? How will we move 3 large dogs and 2 cats, 2 cars, and ourselves with a baby? Am I stressing you out yet?

Somehow we managed to get our house ready to sell in 2 weeks, and put it on the market. It sold in 5 days. Seriously. We got super, super lucky. There was a family 3 houses down, currently living with the wife’s mother, who were looking for a home of their own not too far away from their family support unit. They saw our For Sale sign go up, came by for a showing and made an offer that night. They wanted to close in 3o days. YIKES.

So we moved. Packed the house in 2 weeks, started moving the next, everyone was here by July 4th. After much trial and error of proving that my job could still be done 100% remotely from another state, my employer was gracious enough to let me keep my job, however only part-time and on a contract basis. (a.k.a. Bye-bye benefits, health insurance, 401K and paid vacation.) The hubby, on the other hand, is still struggling with the stupid Arkansas school board that won’t accept his Georgia teaching license unless he pays to take a whole bunch of classes through the AR state – that he has already taken, mind you. So he is subbing at the moment until we figure things out.

We are poor. We are broke. We have no insurance. But darnit, we have a beautiful home, clean fresh air to breath and tons of peace of mind. We don’t regret it for a single moment. Quality of life has gone up at least 5 times.

So if you are still reading this, we come to the chickens.

Brian always joked in Atlanta that he wanted a pet chicken. And I mean, he would bring it up ALL the time. So about month after we settled in here, he decides to order some baby chickens. He does it online after I am in bed, WITHOUT asking me, and orders 25 of the darn things!

25!

O.K. remember I am not a country girl. Raising chickens is not in my “things I’d like to do” list. But Brian did know that I grew up with ducks and a pond in the backyard. So he threw in 4 ducks as a “see honey, I got you something too” compromise. Oh, clever devil.

I have to admit, I did love the ducks – while we had them. Since releasing them to the pond as adults, the neighborhood dogs have killed all but one girl, and I am extremely sad. We hope to fence in our property and the pond soon, and try again. Lots to learn.

So I leave you with tons of pictures. These were taken months ago, which will explain the green summer grass.

The baby chicks when they were only 3 days old.

One of my little duckies that was killed by the stupid dogs down the road. He is about 3 weeks old here.

This is our front yard!! Believe it!

A back view of the house. Sorry, Brian didn’t take a pic of the front and I’m too lazy to go there and take one now.

The big, open and airy kitchen.

And here is what is on the other side – the big, open and airy living room and breakfast area.

Part of the pasture.

Waaaay back, is my future studio and guest house. Behind it is the pond, next to it is a weird pavilion that they had a hot tub on. We are going to turn it into a gazebo.

Inside the studio. Look how big! (that is Brian’s Dad in the photo.) We still have much work to do on it. Insulation, walls, window unit, electrical, etc.

And there you have it. Our move in a nutshell. So much more detail, but I’ve already written the 200-page novel. County life is the best!!

I’m not so sure about this Rambling Rose cardigan. I have the back completed and it looks WAY too small. Even when I stretch it out to what I think it will block to, I’m still left with a knot in my gut. I guess the only way to know is to throw this baby in the tub and block it out for real. I’m scared. What if all this knitting is for nothing and I end up with a 12-year-old sweater that I can’t wear? Oh the horror.

Well let me show what I’ve done. The lace really is pretty. And I just love this yarn. (Debbie Bliss Merino DK) So it does have 2 big points going for it.

This is the back without any bocking or stretching. I just flopped it down and snapped the pic. Next up is the closeup.

It looks really different when it is blocked. Really. Bigger. Yes. Like for an adult. Yes. That is what we will all chant together. Ready?

It is not too small.

It is not too small.

It will work out just fine.

Now go get some ice cream and be done with it.

If you are starting to knit the Rona Lace Shawl from Knit Picks, beware of a pattern typo on line 50. – You won’t discover it is wrong until after you’ve knit the row and are going on to line 51. According to Knit Picks, the correction is (printed in red):

Round 50: *(KB, p1)10 times, KB, k5. Repeat from * to end of round. (26)

And here are the other corrections if you are just now starting.

Round 38: *K5, KP in next yo, KB, P&K in next yo, k6. Repeat from * to end of round. (16) (note, the first yo into which the KP is worked is followed by KB – then work a P&K). If you do not reverse the order, from KP to P&K, the ribbed design will not come out right. Keep on doing so through the 46th round). …
Round 43: S(1)RHN, * yo, k2tog, yo, (KB, p1)6 times, KB, yo, SKP, yo, SK2P. Repeat from * to end of round. (20)…
Round 46: *K1, KP, (KB, p1)8 times, KB, P&K, K2. Repeat from * to end of round. (24)…

Somehow I got by without the other corrections. I wonder if anyone will notice? Naaah.

But while we are on the subject, here is my progress on the shawl. I’m on line 52 now. I wish there was a way to photograph lace on circulars without it looking like a piled-up load of poop. So use your imagination!

And here is a closeup.

All the ribbing and knitting through the back loop is killing me. I had half a mind to change it to normal knit, but then I was convinced there has to be a reason. I HATE knitting rib. It annoys me for some reason. I think if I were a Continental-style knitter and not a thrower, it might not annoy me so bad. -I’ve been trying to learn to knit Continental for awhile now, and I still need lots of practice. One day.

I have progress on the Rambling Rose cardigan as well, but I am out of time.

Happy Sunday everyone!