Happy Mardi Gras!

I had a fabulous yoga session tonight. I'm wonderfully relaxed. And now DH and I are going out for pancakes!

Eating pancakes on Fat Tuesday is traditional because they are made up of all the tasty things people (used to) give up for Lent. No one I know, outside my immediate family, has ever heard of this tradition. When I tell people I'm having pancakes for Mardi Gras I get the weirdest looks. But! I've the Wikipedia article to back me up (I swear I didn't write it). So Kerbey Lane here we come!

February Resolutions

I’ve been a bit off lately. Not down, just a bit off. There are different possible causes for this feeling. I’ve recently developed a taste for coffee and, since we acquired a single serve coffeemaker, I’ve begun to indulge my taste by having a cup in the morning. It’s not a lot of caffeine, but I’m instantly awake rather than slowly waking up over a cup of tea. Another possible cause is not going to the gym as often as I should. There are a whole bunch of excuses I could site here, but they aren’t important. I’ve not been in over a week, and haven’t even done any yoga since last Tuesday. Add a few parties, and too much rich food, and I guess it makes sense that I’m a bit off.

To fix this feeling, I’m going to start going to the gym every day after work, except Tuesdays when I’ll be doing yoga. I'll actually do some cardio. (I haven’t done cardio in months.) That should work for the body part. For the mental part I’m going to bring the spinning wheel back into the living room and spin at least once a week. I’ll do go to yoga class once or twice a week. And I’ll continue to focus on my shawl, as well as designing the baby blanket.

Christmas saved - Gingerbread is a go.

Yoga on Monday was wonderful. I found out there is going to be a partner yoga again some time in March. So Monday was not actually the last class, and I'm glad.

Tuesday I saved Christmas when I remembered that bead is another word for button. I'd finished two of my Chevette inspired crocheted chokers (pattern forthcoming, pictures soon), except that I needed to sew the buttons on. There were no buttons. None to be found in the house.  Despite the fact that I know SOMEWHERE I have a bag full, and all this less than an hour before the party where I was planning on giving them away. Enter the beads. Freak out averted. The party was great, and the gifts went over well.

This evening I went and made gingerbread dough with my sister. We argued about discussed how we were going to build this year's gingerbread house. We have the same end goal, but different ideas of how to get there. Eventually we agreed on a new plan and got down to the business of making the dough. I think we are getting better at it - it didn't take nearly as long as it did last time. We stuck the dough in the fridge, it needs to be chilled, and then spent the rest of the evening watching Doctor Who with my dad and DH. Perfect.
I hope your Christmas preparations are going well.

The baby blanket is done!!

Saturday, we went to San Antonio to have a birthday lunch for the MIL. Then back to Austin and back to knitting. I stayed home that night because I’ve been sick, but I kept knitting and that night I finished the blanket! I wet blocked* it and the fleur-de-lis are obviously fleur-de-lis. I couldn’t be happier. Well I could, I can tell I messed up a bit on one or two of them, but it wouldn’t be obvious to anyone else so I’m not changing it.** I’ll post pictures after it is gifted.

Sunday DH had to work; every month or so he has to work a weekend day. I spent the day working on the Christmas crocheting and it’s humming along. After months working on one project, it’s nice to finish a piece in an afternoon. That evening we went to Alamo Drafthouse to watch The Muppets. I’m not as hardcore a fan as DH, but the movie had me laughing till I cried. We ended the evening bouncing into Krispy Kreme and bouncing out with doughnuts. All was right with the world.

And now: Partner Yoga!



*I soaked it in Soak (a non-rinse, wool friendly wash), gently moved it into the salad spinner to get most of the water out. After quite a few spins, I wrapped it in a towel and stepped on it to remove more of the water. Then I laid it out on my blocking board, pulled the edges straight, and left it to dry.

**I reserve the right to go back and fix it if I have time after Christmas and before I send it off. But for now it is done.

Post Turkey-Weekend randomness

First and most important, unless it costs forty-five dollars a skein, buy more yarn than you think you are going to need. I’ve been working on a baby blanket since August. The pattern is blocks of moss stitch*, and blocks of seed stitch** fleur-de-lis on a stockinette*** background. I love the way it feels, but I’m afraid you can’t tell the fleur-de-lis are fleur-de-lis.
So, I decided that I'd do a fleur-de-lis in reverse stockinette stitch in a corner. This means I'm going to have to make one more row of blocks than the pattern calls for. I bought just enough yarn for the pattern. Just enough. I fretted about running out of yarn and had set the project aside. Yesterday, I explained my issue to DH and he suggested calling HCW and asking if they have any of the dyelot left. I did, they did, I now have it in my hot little hands and I’m going to try to have it done by the end of next week. I may be a bit delusional.

Another reason for having leftover yarn from a project is repair work. Here is my favorite sweater:

It's the Central Park Hoodie.

Here is the hole in my favorite sweater:

Aw, darn!

Here is the extra skein of yarn I bought just in case I needed it when knitting the sweater:

Huzzah!

I’m so glad I hung on to it; it will make fixing the sweater much easier. Notice I didn’t say easy, I’ve never darned anything and I’m kind of afraid to. But, I’ve read a bit on fixing socks, and Yarn Harlot has posted about cutting a hole to fix a cable, I should be okay. I’ll let you know once I’ve gotten up the courage to try it.
 

Another thing I've discovered is that when deciding to knit for charity, do not volunteer right before the holidays and the holiday knitting. I’ve got three skeins of yarn that need to be turned into three Jayne hats**** for the Austin Browncoats. I’ve got a little time because they aren’t due until the end of January, but I’d rather be knitting them in May.
 

Finally, for the love of all that is holy, do not try to drive from Austin to Dallas the day before Thanksgiving! It took us six hours; I think it is supposed to take three. The rest of the way to Memphis was easy, although getting in at three thirty in the morning was a bit rough. Also, if you are driving from Memphis to Austin the Sunday after Thanksgiving, it is worth it to get up at five in the morning. It is so much better arriving at home while there is still some daylight, even if you started the journey driving in the dark. 

I hope your Thanksgiving was full of family, fun and good food. And now it is time to get a few more rows on this blanket before partner yoga.

Next time: The other two classes I took at Kid 'N Ewe. Both classes will probably be combined into one post because 1) it was a while ago, and 2) I didn’t take as many pictures because 3) they were both spinning classes. 

*Moss stitch is where you knit two, purl two across a row. The second row you knit your knits and purl your purls. On the third row you knit your purls and purl your knits. That counts as your first row, repeat.
**Seed stitch is where you knit one, purl one across a row. And then you knit your purls and purl your knits on the second row.
*** Stockinette is knit across a row, purl across the back. Reverse stockinette is where you consider the back the front, useful for making stitches pop, cables are usually done with a reverse stockinette background.
**** Watch Firefly. It’s a great show. It was canceled. The fans are called browncoats.

Back at the wheel

This past week my ankle has been feeling better so I've been spinning a bit more. I've taken the blue Corriedale from this:

 to this:

I've misplaced my wraps per inch tool, but I'd say that it's approximately 236 yards of worsted weight/bulky yarn. And that's more than enough for a hat. I think that's what this yarn has decided it wants to be. It's squishy, but not as soft as I would want for a scarf.

I've been knitting like my friend's baby is due any minute, but I've got a couple of months. So I think I may turn my focus more to spinning. All the new fiber I've collected is calling me. Also I'm really looking forward to spinning the purple and silver merino that I got at the same time as the Corriedale. I think that if I start now I can get a little spinning in before we need to go to yoga.

Tonight is the last night in partner yoga and I'm really looking forward to it. I'll miss going on Monday evenings, but that does leave more time for spinning.

Life and fiber goals.

I have life altering* news! DH and I went to partner yoga and I successfully did a headstand. It wasn’t pretty, and it didn’t last very long, but it counts. Two days after the fact and I’m still giddy at the idea. When Yoga Scott said we’d be doing headstands I had that “I’m too heavy and my arms aren’t strong enough” feeling wash over me, again. But yoga is about personal growth!  So, I tried kicking up from the tripod**, no dice. Yoga Scott suggested a different position*** I'd tried before, but hadn't felt very stable. But DH was there and I trusted him to catch me, and if I kicked him by accident he wouldn't care. So I fully committed to kicking my feet in the air and, with a little help, there it was.

In school I had always failed the physical fitness tests. I couldn’t touch my toes; I could never do a pull up; headstands were something other people did, and cartwheels were scary. I still can’t do a pull up, but I am no longer certain I will never do one. Yoga has helped me achieve things I thought my body would never do. Someday I may even attempt a cartwheel.

In other news I pulled out my wheel and finished spinning the green silk-angora-merino-alpaca.

It is soft and fairly even. I’m not sure what to do with it since there’s only about 58 yards of it. I might be able to get away with a hat. I’ll put it aside for now until the right project comes along.

Also, I started spinning up some fiber I’d gotten at Hill Country Weavers recently. Three bags full. The first I opened is a Corriedale fiber dyed a bright blue. I’ve been spinning with merino or a merino blend for a while.**** But I couldn't resist the color, so it followed me home. Wow is it different. The staple length is so much longer; I have to treadle much slower and focus on my drafting. I may end up getting a new whorl so that I can go back to the muscle movements to which I am accustomed. Difficulties aside, I do like the way it is spinning up - much thicker than my usual singles.

It is SO blue.

I did bring home some merino. I know, you're shocked.

I'm still in love with purple.

Is it gray or silver?

I can’t decide if I want to ply the purple and the gray together or separately. I tend to knit with solid colored yarn, but the gray and the purple look so good together.

My shoulder was a bit sore after the extended spinning. But, if I’m careful, I think I can get back on track to spinning myself enough yarn for a sweater. That's a goal for next year. I want to take the rest of this year to get better at the basics before I start on a long project.


*Ok so your life might not be changed, but mine sure is.
**Where your head is on the ground with your hands on the floor and you put your knees on your elbows.
*** Cupping the back of my head with my hands so that my forearms would be on the ground to help support, and then kicking up.
**** DH is sensitive to wool but merino doesn’t bother him. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.