The Thrifty Knitter

Applique for an upcoming project I’m doing for Craftzine. The project will include this and a handful of other simple woodsy templates. Yip!

I’ve got my Carnaby reknit, my Ripple 4-ounce challenge, and this coat I’m dreaming of. Then I get to play with this:

It’s Kid’s awesome vintage Superman sweater. The restoration is more to preserve its lifespan than it’s aesthetics. The runny sleeves actually look pretty cool, but they’re only going to get worse. There are about 10 small holes in the body–I think I can just darn those. But the sleeves are impossible.

My plan is to remove them entirely and then knit them back into place, spit splicing all the breaks. Kid agreed that he’d be fine with the sleeves getting about an inch narrower overall. I think that will give me enough extra yarn to make up both the distress and to darn the holes in the body.

I think it will be a really fun project, and I want it done in time for any fall/winter touring.

My pre-restoration queue sounds pretty heavy, but it shouldn’t be too bad because 1) Carnaby’s already designed & just needs to be reknit. And it’s a simple enough pattern that it whips right up without much brain power; 2) Ripple is only 4 ounces–how long could that take? Assuming my math is solid and I don’t have to rip it much, that should be a quickie; and 3) the coat is to be made of superbulky, so it will probably be faster than a sweater. So I’ll be patching up Superman in no time!

It’s annoying how my brain really really really really please please please wants to work on new projects when I have critial WIP on the needles. I have 2 ideas it’s KILLING me not to knit. One’s a winter coat and one’s a 4-ounce challenge top. But in a heroic effort to avoid my usual self-sabotage, I’m staying on task.

I can not believe how summer has whipped by! Yarn School and Felt School are like 5 minutes away. It’s bonkers.

This evening, I planned a little nearby mini-vacation for me & Ron. The original plan was to go on a proper week-long National Parks vacation, but we’ve got too many balls in the air, so we’ve decided on a quickie vacation instead. I was toying with Hot Springs, but decided an 8 hour drive for a couple nights was nuts. But in the spirit of run-down mineral springs resort towns, we’re going to Excelsior Springs, MO.

I stayed at the old historic hotel there for a knitting retreat a couple years ago. I wasn’t crazy about the hotel, which I guess had been redone so the rooms have a pretty generic chain hotel vibe. Plus my room didn’t have a tub. I don’t have a tub in real life, so I really really need one at a hotel or I’m resentful.

Instead we’re staying at a nearby inn with a little lake and paddle boats. We’ll probably spend a day doing NOTHIING, a day sniffing around Excelsior Springs, and a couple days doing little odds & ends we’ve meant to do in Kansas City but never got around to. Mostly, doing nothing is key, though. No obligations, no agenda, no chores. Maybe a massage, a couple museums, a couple tasty meals, a drive-in double feature. And the whole thing’s about the same distance as just going to the airport, so minimal hassle en route. I’m psyched. I’m kind of giddy, actually.

We haven’t had a single-purpose, do-nothing vacation since I was still in Austin. Yippee! My folks are going to hold down the fort, so I don’t even have to fret about the animals.

The internet was being a dick last night, so I couldn’t upload pictures for yesterday’s extension agent meeting recap, but I had to share just a few of the doodles illustrating the book Kara lent me:

I bought a used copy (The Sheepman’s Production Handbook is on Amazon for under $15 used).

I also took some pictures of one of yesterday’s mystery weeds. The seedpods aren’t gooey or anything; it’s just rainy today. It’s got ferny foilage, stars out low, dense, and flattish as a seedling and spreads as it grows. The seed pods start as these weird flowery clusters of little green pods that look like teeny snowpods. They gradually redden, then dry out and flatten. They’re kind of papery and rattle when they’re totally dry. The ball of pods is about the size of a nickel.

I just love these weird, exotic X-Files weeds, though I suspect this one will be a pain in my asshole, judging by how it’s springing up in the adjacent newly-hayed pasture.

I’ve also been admonished to get rid of the bind weed and buckbrush NOW, because they’re aggressive.

I have another Extension Adventure in my future, this time with Shawnee County. I’ve got my meeting for the Master Gardener program this evening. Wabunsee’s a small county & doesn’t offer one, but Shawnee lets people from other counties in when they have room. I really wish there was some kind of animal husbandry version of the Master Gardener. Kara did say that K-State does have a Sheep Day every year, so I’m going to try to make it next year.

By the way, you see all that water on those weeds? It’s raining again, and this time, it’s really brought some nice cool temperatures! It’s after 4, normally broiling time, and it’s only 70 degrees! I might have to put on a sweater for my meeting!

Here are my two 4 ounce challenge prototype vests, in commercial yarn.  Isn’t the difference yarn weight/type makes crazy?

The blue sample is a bouncy 2 ply sport from a small mill (about 300 yds/4oz) while the red is a traditional sturdy 4-ply worsted (about 225 yds/4oz). Clearly needs to be sport or lighter. I’ll put the red one to good use in my traditional winter bag lady wardrobe, but it’s too dumb to write up the pattern. I am going to spin some sport/dk Hello Yarn (but which one!?) and write up the pattern. It’s seamless, fun and fast!

But first, I must do my Carnaby reknit for knitty and this cool locker thingy I’m working on for craftzine.

Ooh! I’m also going to apply for interns going forward! My guardian angel Shannon is helping me out (yay, Shannon!).

Until that’s official, heads up: if you’re looking for an internship and want to help hook me up with your school’s program, get in touch! It would be unpaid, but you would get free accommodations in one of The Harveyville Project’s classroom studio/guestrooms. We have a lot of miscellaneous equipment you’d be able to use. I’m looking for interns who want to learn about running a residence and/or workshop facility, a nonprofit rural arts program, a fiber business, general fiber arts, or knitwear design. If you’re into slave labor, fiber, country living & sheep, send me your resume! f

What’s with that commercial with the girl who wanders around her clotheslines and picks one pair of underwear then goes back into her room and drops it in the drawer, and then wanders out and puts one dress on the line? What kind of maniac hangs and puts away their laundry one item at a time? Apparently Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo causes laundry-related dementia. That sounds like a vexing side effect.

Can you tell I’ve been watching a lot of Hulu? I’m working on a big design project, so I’ve had TV shows running in the corner of my screen all day.

I had an excellent visit with our extension agent today! We walked the pasture and identified harmless and problem weeds, pulling the ones she didn’t recognize so we could identify them with the books she brought along.

Then we went paged through Weeds of the Great Plains (which I will be ordering this week), an excellent resource with full page pictures of weed in the environment, plus details of them pulled, botanical illustrations, and macros of special features. Each weed has leaf and flower ID features, growth habits, forage value, poison information, historical/traditional medicine value, etc. (BTW, if you want this book, order it form the Nebraska Department of Agriculture ($25), not Amazon ($50 used). I learned which weeds I should probably spray because they’re super-invasive, which ones I’m required to spray because they’re considered noxious weeds by the State of Kansas, and then we encountered a few mystery weeds she’s going to bring back with her. One of them was very X-Files-like and has taken over a patch near the woods at the northeast corner of the property.

One of the things I really liked about the book, versus trying to ID weeds online (aside from the convenience factor), is that for many (though not all, sadly) of the poisonous weeds, they include info on how much is poisonous. So you know that it’s a pound, or as little as .25% of body weight, or whatever.

She also lent me her copy of the 1970 Sheepman’s Production Handbook, which not only has great information (some of it is a little dated, but lots of stuff–poisonous plants, for instance) just doesn’t change. There’s a 2002 edition I’d love to see, but I can’t swing the $75 price tag just now.

She thought my grass stand was pretty strong, and recommended fertilization and weed control over reseeding. I also need to prune out all the random little trees popping up everywhere. It’s supposed to rain tomorrow, so I’m going to go out to pull what I can. I’d like to avoid spraying as much as possible, though on the Sericea lespedeza, I think I’ll be required to spray. There was very little and it was immature–I would never have recognized it, since the pictures I’ve seen showed mature, bushy specimens, and these were just single upright seedlings–and they hayed around it wherever they encountered it. But you know it’s a hated weed, because she started shaking her head from 20 yards away. Happily, only two of the patches they left actually had it (the others were just western ragweed–I’m guessing you can’t always tell from up on the tractor, and better safe than sorry–or there might have just been other woody weeds they wanted to avoid).

She’s also going to send me Forestry Department info on the best trees for the area.  We want to do some planting for windbreaks and birdies and shade.

I finished my second attempt at a good 4 ounce pattern. It was a weird little vest, too small to be pattern-worthy. I didn’t expect success, because I was using worsted yarn, which I knew meant inadequate yardage, but I needed to see it to believe it. If I were still all petite and dainty, it would have totally worked out. When I try it on, I can tell it would work, were I not plump.

But alas, I am plump, and therefor feel obligated to design patterns that will fit me. I wish I could lose 20 pounds so I could blow off everyone who can’t shop in the Target juniors department (I still can, but it can be a challenge).

Speaking of, I’m sick of being chubby.

I’m also sick of hearing myself complain about it.

I had to do a major office tidy last week when my new computer arrived. My desk and the surrounding real estate were straight out of Hoarders, but once I cleared off my desk and scrubbed down the grottly linoleum top with a Chore Boy, I decided to keep going, and now my whole office area and the shop are completely presentable! My favorite part is the fiber & dyes section. There’s still one random large bin of fiber and supplies I need to sort, but for the most part, the shop’s quite pleasing. Oddly, the order makes me feel kind of antsy and peevish. I guess I’m a little too accustomed to chaos.

Seeing everything all nice and organized has got me itching to dye. I think I’m going to dye up some Polwarth and BFL, and I might even go a little crazy and hit up some of the luxury blends. I’m way too conservative about dyeing, and I want to encourage myself to experiment more.

I’ve been trying to set aside magazine pictures with really striking colors, and I think this week I’m going to try dying up a few to see how successful they are.

You know, my mom pointed out recently how fuckingly annoyingly anal retentive I become on vacation. I’m a drawer and closet despot. The first thing I do is define and enforce all personal areas in a hotel room. I hover over the bathroom counters and tidy everything constantly. It’s an almost military fixation with completley petty and arbitrary order. Anyone who saw me on vacation would really get the wrong idea and would be utterly confused about the giant pile of dishes I’ve been avoiding religiously for the last week.

I think I’m a control freak, but I have the sense to know when my situation is beyond my capabilities, and immediately relinquish my angst over it, knowing I have pretty much no chance of maintaining meaningful relationships if I’m a order nazi full time. And also, my brain would boil and explode. So instead, I relax into a breezy slop. It’s very strange.

Speaking of brains boiling and exploding, we watched Kick-Ass last night & I really liked it! Much darker than I expected, in a good way, and also much funnier!

I realized today I quit documenting my Tour de Fleece progress somewhere at the end of all my green 2-ply, so today I shot and weighed it all in one big mess:

That’s 20 oz of hand-dyed/Succulent 2-ply, a skein of Uncle Honeybunch; a skein of Laura’s Pygora’s natural dyed merino roving as a Navajo-plied sport; a Pygora single made by Laura plyed with a merino single; plus all the extra merino plyed to itself. I think it will become a nice warm lined hat of supercushy cuteness.

The last of the Uncle Honeybunch completed my Cupcake Ranch 2008-2009 yarn, which will probably be some kind of awesome fair isle something or other. I’m guessing vest, since it’s only 12 oz total. Though, I could always do a bigger sweater and just use the handspun for the yoke, since I still have a few extra skeins of Fudgy Lamb Sport I never got around to listing….

One of the skeins of Uncle Honeybunch is way too thin. I hope it doesn’t screw me up. Bah.

Still working on my 4-ounce challenges. I’ll write up the first pattern as soon as I decide what Hello Yarn to spin for it, spin it, and knit the sample. Wow, that sounds more involved when you write it out.

Everyone out back appreciated the little dip down to 97. I knew it was cooler that it had been when I saw them grazing between the hours of 9 am and 7 pm. This was last absurdly hot day for awhile. Next week, it’s high 80s/low 90s all week, hoooorrrrah! And on Tuesday, they’re saying 76! Okay, 76 with thunderstorms, so not a fun 76, but still! 76! As the high! I can’t wait to turn off the AC and open up the windows!

I feel like a total asshole because I told the sheep and the chickens that if they could just hang in through Friday, that it would  be cool on Saturday, and now they’re scheduling hot weather again. Okay, it should be out of the danger zone, but still hot. I’ll still need to run all their fans and check up on them, but I can probably skip hosing down the side of the barn and barnyard.

On the bright side, early this evening, the temperature dropped over 20 degrees in as many minutes as a storm rolled through. We got some glorious rain, the critters got a nice respite, and I got some good Kansas weather pictures and a couple lightning videos.

The lightning was bonkers. Just watching it made me gasp and retreat inside several times. I know that if you can hear it, stay out of its way. But it’s weird how it can seem right on top of you but be completely silent, which I guess is a factor of it reflecting everywhere. I think if it’s within 20 miles, you’ll hear thunder.

When everything went yellow, I was a little alarmed, but the wind was still strong from the west, and there were no tornado watches, so I figure it was just sunset refraction. Out back (on the east side), it was normal light. I swear those green patches didn’t exist a couple hours before.

The little rainbow was amidst MAD lightning and rain.

Then back to the front for more western light and a boiling sky. It looked like a big rolling thunderhead, only it was oddly still.

Everything green has been dry and yellow and withered (which is probably why Uncle Honeybunch ate enough horseweed to make him sick for the better part of three days), but it looked like it had perked right up within half an hour of the rain, so I bet the sheep will be psyched tomorrow.

Speaking of Uncle Honeybunch, he finally seems to be back in the saddle. Tonight, after skipping his grain for three nights, he joined back in as usual. I am very relieved. Thanks to everyone who send him cooling, tummy-soothing wishes.