Over the river...

Friday, Kaylee and I got our first taste of four-wheeling. (No, I didn't get another cat; Kaylee is the name of my Jeep).

It was such a nice day, the b/f & I decided to go target shooting. After an hour's drive (I made a good deal of progress on my sock), we discovered that everyone else had the same idea, so we headed back home. Somewhere along the way, the b/f got the bright idea to see if he could get to an area along the Missouri river that he had been to by boat a few years ago. He found a little dirt track leading off the highway, so he started following it. It parallelled the highway for a while, then angled towards the river. We went down a couple of steep drops that didn't faze Kaylee one little bit, and through a couple of puddles (we've gotten a lot of rain lately). Then we came upon a monster puddle: it was as wide as the road, a good 8 feet long at the narrow side, and I swear the water would have nearly come up to my knees if I had been foolish enough to try to wade through it, and, of course, at the bottom of it was thick, clayey, Missouri mud. Now, I wouldn't do something as silly as wade through that; but the b/f was quite willing to drive through it. He went plowing into it, and about midway Kaylee started going sideways a little, but then she found something to grab onto, straightened out, and made it to the other side. Whew! I was really quite proud of her; she is a very able little vehicle.

We had a nice little traipse along the river, then back the same way; Kaylee sluiced through the monster puddle again, but got us safely back to the highway and home. Boy, was she dirty! You can't really tell from the pic, but mud was splashed even on the rooftop. The b/f, who really is wonderful, gave her a bath and a fresh coat of wax, since the adventure was his idea.

So, I learned that Kaylee can handle steep drops and climbs without any trouble at all. And I learned that I am going to stay away from deep mud puddles, because getting through that took both Kaylee's abilities and the b/f's skill. I am certain sure that, if I had been driving, Kaylee would have gotten well and truly stuck. And I wouldn't want her to have to endure that.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're hosting Thanksgiving this year, but there's only three of us: the b/f, his father, and me. I'm making the stuffing and the sweet potatoes; the b/f and his father are responsible for the rest. Our little turkey is in the oven, with what little stuffing would fit inside. The rest of the stuffing is in the fridge, waiting to go into the oven when it's closer to dinner time. The sweet potatoes are all cut up and ready to put on the stove at the same time. I've cleared most of my knitting from the living room, and we're ready for our guest.

Since the end of the month is almost here, and the end of the latest CIC knitting challenge, I took a moment to pack up what I have ready to send this time. Here we have two vests; the one on the left is made with Briggs & Little (I think it's the Heritage 2-ply), and one with some yarn I scored on eBay ages ago (double-stranded, since it's about sock weight).

I'm also sending 5 pairs of socks. Four are made with Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool (dyed with Koolaid); the fifth is more of the double-stranded eBay yarn.

Since the box was a little under two pounds, I had room to add a little stuffed toy, and three toothbrushes from my dentist.


I have several more pairs of socks made with the tapestry wool from Carla, but I'm going to wait until I'm finished knitting it all up. I want to take a pic of all the socks together. I'll be working on one pair this weekend, and I have enough yarn to do one more.

So far, I've avoided starting anything with the Lang Jawoll I got on eBay. Ruth asked what I plan to make; I know it'll be a pair of socks for me, but I haven't decided on a pattern yet. I may go with plain stockinette, or I may incorporate some simple pattern. Nothing intricate, since I think it would be lost in the dark color.

Next up: Christmas knitting! Which will actually be more CIC knitting; I plan to make donations to CIC in the name of a couple people on my gift list.

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

Blankie Milestone

That purple square the big arrow is pointing to is the last row of the Princess Blankie. That's Yitzhak inspecting my work; making sure it is suitable for Princess Daisy, I guess.


I also knocked out another pair of CIC socks, made with the tapestry wool given to me by Carla. I'm really into red toes right now.


I have been progressing slowly on my cuffed socks; just turned the heel. My new rule is I must complete at least two rows each day before I switch to another project (generally one with thicker wool & bigger needles). This is also my carry-around project, so I work on them when I have thumb-twiddling time at work (I love knitting when I'm on the clock). But I have a new temptation in the house:


I scored this yarn on eBay last week. It's so soft and skooshy, and I love the color: dark blue and black. I'm dying to cast on, but I'm really trying to hold out until I finish at least one pair of socks in progress. I have another pair of alpaca/wool socks I really should finish first, but I seriously doubt that I'll be that strong.

Almost a hat

Well, I ran out of yarn for the hat after only 4 sections:

Since it's garter stitch, it stretches, but not enough. It fits nicely over a candle holder I keep on my coffee table:

But the candle holder is only about 15" around--about the size of a newborn's head. And I think this hat is a wee bit deep for a newborn, so I figure I'll just keep it and annoy the cats by trying to get them to wear it.

I do like the way the short rows make a swirly pattern on top:

I weighed the finished hat (2 oz), and calculated that meant about 250 yards of sock yarn; since I worked the hat with the yarn doubled, about 125 yards of worsted weight should get me the same amount of hat. Since I would like the hat to be 50% bigger, about 200 yards should be right.

Terrific! I just happen to have 2 skeins, 109 yards each, of some hand dyed Lite-Lopi that should make a fine hat. Just the ticket.

Here's the hat, waiting to be sewn up. One skein Lite-Lopi=six sections, just what I wanted, with half the yarn I thought. Go figure.