What Housework?

February, done

Even without Leap Day, I managed to finish my February socks.

They came out okay and are actually comfortable, although they're a bit snug across the instep. Fit problem:

That's quite a stretch across my high arch, and as you can see, the short-row heel sits a bit far back. I have no idea what this yarn is made of (I did dye it but I didn't label it), so maybe they'll shrink lengthwise. The point is I'm done, they feel good, I like the pattern I made up. And, most important, now I can start on my husband's handspun sweater. :-)

It snowed again. Not the 14 inches that was predicted, only a mere 6 or 8. Who keeps track anymore? Storm in progress, as seen from my bedroom:


Outside the bathroom:

Out front:

There's something wonderful about the muffled-sound quality to the air when snow is falling. Even if you're sick of winter, it's still beautiful.

And if you're lucky, the days after the storm clears out are bright and sunny, though often bitterly cold. Then you get this:

(These were taken yesterday; it's -10F this morning.)

Did you know that fiber makes everyone happy? It's true. Even my grumpy old cat. Here he is before:

And here he is later, in the same spot:

I realize that posting the above picture is probably going to hurt sales at A Piece of Vermont, because the BFL you see there is going to be on sale as soon as I get the shop updated; not everyone cares for their merchandise to have cat on it. But I couldn't resist. Here are some cat-free teasers:

Blue-Faced Leicester bump (HOW can you non-spinners not want to learn when you see stuff like this???):

Panda Superwash in a steely charcoal:

Colonial Superwash:

I planned on updating the shop today but it might not be possible because we might not have electricity... There are big doings around here. Last week we put in a new high-efficiency boiler (which supposedly could save us 20 to 30 percent on heating oil) and this week we've had our wiring updated to make it, um, safe. And today we're having a new electrical entrance run from the pole, which means no power for a few hours.

Why all the big spending on invisible stuff? Well, it appears we may be heading toward a Major Renovation here. It's hard to tell with my husband's construction business because a lot depends on his schedule, not to mention what the bank has to say about our finances. But if all goes according to plan, we could be looking at a new living room, kitchen, dining room, and mud room some time in 2008. And now the heating and electrical systems will be up to the task, whenever it happens. When we did our kitchen at the old house, I had less than 48 hours' notice. We called our local bank and they told us to go ahead and get started and they'd draw up the loan papers within a week or so. You can't beat small-town service.

As for the shop update, you'll know when it happens if you are on A Piece of Vermont's mailing list (to sign up, click the link at the bottom of any A.P.O.V. page). Otherwise, check the site. I'll get things posted as soon as possible.

It's almost March. Spring can't be far.

Leap day might come in handy

I said I'd knit one pair of socks per month in 2008 and I don't want to be called a liar.

But I abandoned my February socks when Margene extended her NaSpiMoMo (National Spin More Month) to February. Finally, finally, finally, I finished the spinning for Opus 2007. To refresh your memory, I had a raw brown fleece of mystery breed from fall of 2006, and a white Hampshire or Suffolk fleece from our own sheep J.J. and I spun them into a 2-ply bulky. The final tally was just short of 3 pounds. Phew.

I had already decided I didn't want to use the yarn undyed as it looked a bit busy to my eye. My husband (the future sweater recipient) also didn't care of the dark/light so I overdyed two samples:

He (and all the other men polled) preferred the darker version. I thought it was (a) a bit too dark to show enough variegation and (b) a bit too brilliant a blue. I toned it down with the magical addition of orange (love you, color wheel), which neutralized it a bit. The final result, dried outside today while it's sunny (7 to 14 inches of snow on its way tomorrow):


I am ridiculously pleased with myself over this. I love it. The color is perfect, the yarn is a lot softer than I had expected it to be, and J.J.'s super-sproingy fleece makes a wonderfully bouncy yarn. I can't wait to get started on it.

Then there's this other problem. After finally finishing a dozen skeins of the same thing, I thought I'd be happy to stick to 4-ounce projects for a while, instant gratification being A Good Thing. I spun up the Real Vermonter roving I had predrafted last week. I loved the color changes so much I decided to Navajo-ply, even though I knew it would be a bit thicker than I wanted. The good news is that it came out wonderfully soft and sproingy, not string-like, as it did the last time I (over)spun it. The bad news is that it's bulky. I only got 100 yards!

This is my fault for getting used to very thick yarn (12 skeins' worth); I didn't realize it wasn't nearly fine enough. What's worse, I have been selling 4-ounce bumps of Real Vermonter roving and I forgot that mohair is very dense. My last Real Vermonter fingering weight yarn (60 percent mohair) required 6.2 ounces to get 440 yards, as opposed to a typical 4-ounce skein of superwash. So my next bumps will be heavier. It's a bit late for anyone who bought a 4-ounce bump and got shorted for their project. I hope this didn't happen to anyone!

But that's just one problem.

The other problem, or more correctly "problem," is that I still want to spin a sweater's worth of yarn. It got a bit draggy there for a while, but the final result is so exciting, I can't wait to do it again. I had just started thinking about commercially processed fiber versus raw fleece. Despite the daunting work involved in processing a fleece, I have really started feeling that it's more satisfying and allows you to get in on the whole process with no mysteries about the origin of the fiber or the chemicals used in the processing.

And then the phone rang. A friend who had a few fleeces to sell me for my next Real Vermonter order said she had 3 Romney fleeces, two of them from lambs ("hogget" fleeces, right?). She brought them over, and Milo checked them out:

Then he actually ate a piece:

After I wrestled him for it, and put up the bags, I got a good look at the fiber:

Most of the fleece has a looser, more Romney-like crimp to it, but I just love this. It's sooo soft.

I decided to scour just one pound at a time in the sink, rather than break my back in the bathtub, and the first batch is now ready for picking:

Isn't that yummy? While I am picking and carding this I will have to decide whether to dye it many colors or one solid color, or just leave it natural. I'm leaning toward natural at the moment.

So, it's a good thing we have an extra day in this month because my socks are not finished:

I love the color, but I cast on only 56 inches, and it appears I needed at least 60; they are a bit stretched over the arch. I thought I could compensate by making the foot a bit longer. Now they are not only too tight but also too long. I added a "garter cable" up the sides, but the variegation completely hides it:

If it were a solid yarn, you'd see one stockinette twist and one garter twist going around each other. Bonus points to my husband, who suggested that each sock's cables should wind in opposite directions, for symmetry. They already do, but I'm fascinated that it even occurred to him. I'm rubbing off on him.

So they won't be the best socks ever, but I still like them. I need to get them done because I want to spin the yarn for my March socks (out of 6 ounces of Real Vermonter) and time is flying!

P.S. Look for a shop update, including BFL bumps and Panda Superwash sock yarn, later in the week.

Spun

Margene challenged us to spin and spin in the month of February. So I did.

It snowed and it snowed and I spun and I spun.

By Saturday morning, the sun was shining on my wheel, a good sign.

And yesterday I plied my last bobbin of Opus 2007 Opus 2007-2008, my first sheep-to-sweater project ever. Behold:

That's 2 pounds, 14 ounces of bulky yarn, spun from the fleeces of an unnamed brown sheep and our very own J.J. I had a few ounces left over but they were too bulky or whatever, and I will use them for experimenting with overdyeing. One or two people would like me to keep this yarn as is, but I find it kind of busy. So I'll swatch natural and overdyed and let my husband choose whichever he prefers. It's his sweater, after all.

My final opinion: As weary as I got spinning the same wool for weeks on end, this has been really fun and relaxing and I hate to admit it but I've already started thinking about spinning a sweater's worth for myself. Maybe not starting with raw fleece, but still...

Which brings me to this:

Next, a mere 4 ounces of Real Vermonter roving to be spun for socks. I need to get back to knitting my February socks, but I couldn't resist putting this on the wheel last night. It's soooo gorgeous! Yay, color.

Speaking of color, I painted my stepson's room (aka the spare room, as he's only been home from college 3 times since we moved in 2006). I couldn't take the glossy green and blue paint anymore, so I turned this:



into this:

Photos don't do the transformation justice. I plan on adding a lot of color eventually. (Confession: I bought this paint in June 2007. I don't act fast.)

We had a sweet Valentine's Day. My husband surprised my daughter and me with a nice dinner out, and flowers and balloons waiting for us when we arrived at the restaurant. I made him a video slideshow of family pictures, which I tried to put on a DVD but all of a sudden my computer cannot see its own DVD burner anywhere. Must investigate. He watched it on the computer, at least.

We've had a pileated woodpecker at the black-bear-mauled suet feeder just about every day. The wind gave him a nice mohawk (3rd photo):

February is long and dull and did I mention long? For the shortest month of the year, it drags on. Yesterday we had a major warm front come through, melting the snow and turning everything brown and muddy. Mud season in Vermont is on its way (after a few more snowstorms, of course). Sigh.

A blurry Fudd and Sassy getting a scritching:

Dave heading to bed: 

Boy with toy:

And last, let's play Where's Milo?

Can you see him now?

You might understand what a daredevil he is if you knew there was no upper floor in this barn. He was seriously trying to swipe pigeons as they flew past. That cat is so weird.

Color and whiteness

The color comes from a shop update, below. The whiteness comes from the 14" of snow we received over the past couple of days.

Milo loves snow.

The pathway he made had been shoveled the night before, but we got a lot overnight. It was a two-day storm that blanketed the region in snow (and some sleet and ice) and caused hazardous road conditions and an untold number of car accidents. But it wasn't enough to close schools. Go figure.

View from the dining room

We, like many other parents, kept our daughter home on Wednesday, seeing no point in sending her out in possibly the worst road conditions since the Valentine's Day storm of 2007.

View from the downstairs bathroom

View out the front door. That's the main road.

[Here I have deleted the rant about how the superintendent's office decides when and when not to close schools.] Anyway, the snow was lovely.

I have been knitting on socks and knitting on Ms. Marigold, a top-down tank/vest by Zephyrstyle. I'm down to below the armpits and it's about time to think about waist-shaping, which means I need to take it off the needles, put it on spare yarn, and try it on. I hope it fits.

I have once again been neglecting my spinning, even though I am determined to finish the yarn for my husband's sweater. It is killing me because I've grown bored with spinning a bobbin of natural and then a bobbin of dark brown. I want color!

It's especially painful because I updated the shop yesterday with two varieties of spinning fiber: Real Vermonter "Addison" roving, a blend of local wool, mohair, and alpaca, and Blue-Faced Leicester top. (No yarn yet; it's coming!) I found it very interesting to offer these at the same time, because they are nothing alike.

The Real Vermonter is not as soft as the BFL. I had it made specifically for socks and while the mohair adds durability, it's not as soft to the skin as many other spinning fibers. Here's a sample:

It's a lot closer to the animal (read: has some VM) than most commercially produced fiber and it's quite loose and airy. I am partial to it because I met all the animals who contributed fiber to it. But it's not for everyone. (I have a bump set aside for myself, but all I can do is look at it longingly until I've finished my current project.)

A lot of people love BFL, and I don't blame them. Here's a sample from the shop:

It's sooo soft and easy to spin. The fiber itself is delightful, but the prep is what gets to me. I just find it to be very processed and not that sheepy and it bothers me that I don't even know what country the fiber came from. This is not to say I don't want to roll nekkid in a pile of it, because it's totally luscious. It's just different.

That said, I have to turn away from the colors and go back to my own project, the natural, undyed stuff for now. I feel an affinity to that as I've been with it since it was taken off the sheep. But at this time of year, I want more color!

I leave you with more Milo, as he heads over a snowbank. (Did I mention that on two occasions I have found him curled up sleeping in the snow? The first time I thought he was dead.)

That was then, this is now

Just a month ago, I looked like this:

This was me yesterday morning:

Barn chores.  My husband is out of town for the weekend, so I'm doing the Green Acres thing for a couple of days. I went out early and it was beautiful, though icy.

The barn door was, in fact, stuck in a couple inches of ice, so I had to break in from the upstairs, crawl across some boards over the rafters and get down via a very steep ladder/staircase. Carrying a camera. (Yes, that's a self-timer self-portrait above. The blog must go on, don'tcha know.)

A few gratuitous animal shots:




Here's our newest member of the menagerie:

He's a young rooster who was given to us during the cold snap a couple of weeks ago. After one night, he disappeared for an entire week and was presumed dead. He showed up, totally bedraggled, one afternoon, and has yet to really rebound. He's been staying with the goats and sheep because the hens won't let him in the coop. I hope he perks up soon.

Another young critter, one of this summer's turkeys, is feeling like a man:

Roy and Lars, our two big dudes, were busy fighting in the turkey house, so this guy (who needs a name) took the opportunity to show off without fear of repercussions. I love the way his wing feathers leave trails in the snow:

In knitting news, the second sock is found! Thanks for the suggestions; it came out of a pantleg in a clean load of laundry, unlike its mate, which never left the living room. Go figure.

For the record, that's two pairs of socks for January, so I'm ahead of my pair-a-month schedule. Plus I cast on for these:

The yarn is my own hand-dyed but I have no idea what it is. Merino/tencel, I think. In any case, it's thicker than fingering and knitting up nice and tight on size ones. I'm all over the provisional cast-on, toe-up thing now, as I had hoped I would eventually be, which has given my sock knitting a boost. They're totally portable now, because I don't need instructions anymore.

I recently bought the Harmony Guide to Aran and Cable Stitches (nice enough, but if I recall, Barbara Walker described the qualities of each stitch in terms of stretch, etc., and this has none of that). I think I may use one of the patterns to run a fun cable up each side of the ankles on these.

I've been spinning:

Still not enough for my husband's sweater, but I'm gaining.

Would you trust this cat?

Oh, he's okay sometimes:

And, finally, I have to share the Greatest Humiliation of 2008, so far: Last night I went out to dinner with a family friend, who is spending a couple of weeks with us. We were dining at a local pub. I had two pints of beer with dinner, which for me is more than usual but not enough to put me under the table. Apparently it was more than I should have had.

The couple behind my friend kept looking over at me. This is not unusual, as I write my column in the paper and people are always doing that. In fact, earlier that day a stranger in a parking lot had called out "It's the Shim Sham Shimmy woman!" (see above photo). Also, the last time I was in that pub with my husband, a couple had stopped by our table to introduce themselves and compliment me on the writing.

So, anyway, I figure these people are Fans in Awe, 'cause I'm so fabulous, so I ignore them and keep on talking to my friend.

Eventually, the wife comes over to the table and says she "has to apologize." Oh, an awkward adorer, no problem, I get 'em all the time. What she "apologizes" for is that she's worried that I might be local and that I am talking so loud that she "worries" that I might be sharing more of my personal life in this pub than I should and that she and her husband can hear every word (as can people at another table, I'm sure) and she "is afraid" that I might be letting strangers know me "a little too well."

The problem was that she approached the issue so backward that I didn't understand that she wasn't actually apologizing for anything, she just wanted me to quiet down. The other problem was that I had not said a single thing that I would consider private or embarrassing. I asked for an example (because I still didn't understand she just wanted me to lower my voice) and she said I had said "birth control" and it was a phrase that "made some men uncomfortable." (In context, I had a friend who had informed her husband she wanted a second baby by sending him to the drugstore and telling him to buy either birth control pills or neonatal vitamins and be sure not to decide on the wrong thing. Is that too graphic?)

So there I was, rambling on, apparently quite vocally, about my life, knowing there were people watching me but not concerned because I am so vain I assumed they were just so damn thrilled to be sitting at the next table, and in fact they were mortified by my behavior.

Oh, damn fame. Now I know how Britney Spears feels.