I Should Be Packing

Xmas Knitting

          We are off for a short holiday that will involve quite a bit of driving, and when we return it will be the eve of our annual Guy Fawkes Night party, so I should be cleaning, and then packing. But I will linger here a while and then get on with it.
          Speaking of Getting On, the third series of this excellent show is on, and I watched the second episode last night. What a wonderful, understated, funny thing this is! I heartily recommend it to everyone. Jo Brand is an amazingly versatile human being.
         Yesterday I closed in the greenhouse, and brought in to the house some plants that I feared might be frosted while we are away. I also planted the fastigiate oak seeds in one of the vegetable beds, in hopes that some of them sprout before I have to plant vegetables there next year!! I will pot the successful ones up in the spring. There are a few strawberries on the plants inside and out, in numbers more suited to decoration than actual eating, but still! Strawberries in October! I am thrilled.
       We have been exceedingly lucky with the weather so far, and many things are still blooming and lovely. I gathered some cuttings from the Osteospermum and potted them up, in hopes of having some survive the winter and be around next year. I also searched for some way of growing "Yakon" - actually, Smallanthus sonchifolius, which was discussed recently on GQT. It's available from a source in Oregon, I think, for $7 per plant. I am going to look further into it, as opinion on the 'net is a bit mixed - one site suggesting that it can't be grown anywhere under Zone 10. But it's from the Andes - I bet it gets chilly up there! The product itself - or rather, Yakon syrup - seems to be rather more readily available.  I am also determined to grow quinoa next year, the seeds being much more readily available than the Yakon (which has to be grown from rhizomes). You can plant the quinoa seeds you buy to eat! How great is that?
     Because it's been a bit chilly, I have been getting into knitting again, producing Xmas presents of mittens, gloves and neckwear in DK weight, which just fly along in comparison to those socks in teeny fingering-weight. However. I must prepare for driving-knitting, getting out the dull greys and browns and planning a couple of sock projects for the men on the list. Ho hum! and Ho Ho Ho.  The mittens above are Patons DK Superwash (off-white) and Belfast Mini Mills BFL (Rose). And unlike the ones I made in sock yarn earlier, these I can actually put on.

Hang a shining star upon the highest bough...

I've got to say, that carol is not one of my faves, but I do like this phrase...there's a picture in it, even though I don't think of the growing tip of the trunk as a bough. Too much a gardener, I suppose.
Weather and woes at work have conspired to make this not the most organized of holidays for me - however, I did look out the drawer full of stashed knitting and I was pleasantly surprised at what I found there. There will be knitted items for some!
One of my failures was a bad felting experience recently - I had made three of those short-row socks - huge ones - of Soy Wool stripes and solids, and then felted them, along with a pair of clogs and a bag (I was going great guns at that time).
So, what went wrong: I checked the clogs and the bag several times during the cycle, thinking that the other slippers would be felting at the same rate, but no! They felted much faster, and as a result they have come out too tiny for anyone on *my* Christmas list. The clogs were knit double, so they took longer to felt, I suppose, and the bag was made of white yarn, which is notoriously hard to get to felt. So, anyone know people with size 4 and size 6 feet? I don't!
Our weather has been unseasonably warm for the past week or so - with rather a lot of rain and wind - so I actually harvested the last of the carrots just two days ago. It's a great crop. I fully expect to make carrots for Christmas dinner, carrot Christmas pudding, and carrot soup for Boxing Day! There should be plenty for general eating as well. As we don't have any reliable root storage, we have to get most of them gone by the new year, as they will freeze in the unheated garage, where they are now (covered with a discarded down comforter. What luxury!).
Our local Co-op store had many, many bags of spring bulbs at the end of the season, and was selling them for $1 a bag! So I got some for forcing (crocus, hyacinths) and some for planting (alliums and daffodils). Got them all potted up at last. I have several of the hyacinths in glass because I rather ran out of pots. They are in the living room, trying their best. I let them cool off in the garage for a couple of weeks - it probably wasn't enough. Oh well. Some of the real potted ones are starting to sprout out there in the garage now. Don't think they'll bloom for Christmas, but they should cheer up those winter days to come.

Travel Planning

We've purchased tickets for Glasgow and Ireland in April. Still have many details to work out, but fixed points on the itinerary are spending a week or so with Emily and Jeremy, first in Glasgow and then travelling to Ireland for Easter Week. (They are actually in Ireland now, having travelled over by train and ferry and are staying with Jeremy's school friend in Dublin.)
So, we may not spend much time in Dublin when we are with them, but somewhere south of Dublin - Waterford, Kilkenny, or Cork for my preference. Looking for a cottage (self-catering, they call it) in those areas. I'm looking for free broadband. Fred wants free heat and electricity. Priorities!
Then, on the 16th and 17th there's a dance workshop weekend with Pat Murphy in Ballinasloe - by all reports a bit of a hole - so we want to get a cottage for a week somewhere not TOO far away but more interesting, music- and dance-wise. Friends are joining us there for the week, and attending the dance workshop too.
On the knitting front, I've joined the "10 shawls in 2010" group on Ravelry - and am already bogged down, as I am knitting "Bitterroot" from the Winter 09 edition of Knitty - the large size - in Knit Picks Gloss Lace. It's lovely, and the pattern is easy (which, for me, means that I end up at the middle or the end of the row with the correct number of stitches, so I haven't messed up anywhere on the row.) It's a bit dull, though, as the pattern alternates between segments of "ssk k1 k2tog" and "yo k1 yo" all over (although the lace edge is more interesting). I'm going to start adding beads soon, so that should perk up the interest level quite a bit.
Ironically, just before I joined this group I started a "Traveling Woman" shawl, but as it was begun before January 1st, it couldn't count as one of the 10. So, 11 shawls finished in 2010. Two of the shawls have to be big ones (500 m. or more) and the rest should be 250 m. or more. This lets out any one-skein Kidsilk ones for sure, and many of the mini or shawlette patterns I've collected. I have also decided to knit all 10 from stash, and I have a chart with 17 patterns and 17+ yarns - haven't made any definite matches yet (besides Bitterroot).
I am also considering junking my "Meandering Vines" shawl, because I just discovered (almost at the end of the second half) that I have been doing eight repeats...but I did nine on the first half, AND I HAVE TO GRAFT THEM TOGETHER. Even a poor mathematician could see that this is not going to work. The alternative to total junking is to work the second half again. This would not count as one of my 10 shawls in 2010 either. Curses.

It Has Snowed, It Has Been Snowing, It's Here!

Now that winter is officially here - first real snow is much more significant than mere dates on the calendar - I'm all about knitting - or, as I knit all the time anyway, I'm all about finishing old projects and starting new ones. Today I spent a lot of time looking at cowl patterns on Ravelry, and I think everyone should get one from me for Christmas. However, they all seem to be made of very, very soft luxury fibres, so I am going to go through my stash, with particular reference to that bag of stuff from Belfast Mini Mills, and get at casting something on! They all look so lovely and easy and quick.

Ravelry and Knitting

Spent the weekend adding some of my projects to Ravelry, and working on the second pair of Nancy Bush's Huron Mountain socks, (both destined for Christmas presents). I have just decided to remove the ribbing on the Jellyfish shrug and do it again, as it is too big and floppy. Pictures to come. However I love the pattern so will probably make it again, it is so quick, and looks so different in different yarns.
Saturday was a wild weather day so I knit and baked, many different pumpkin things (I am de-stashing the freezer for THIS year's produce). including muffins, cake and waffles.