Update

Yesterday we found out that Logan had cancer in his nose.  No one was expecting this, even the vets (they were assuming it was an auto immune disease).  Due to the speed that things were going from bad to worse and his age, we decided not to attempt radiation therapy.  Yesterday evening Logan passed away.  He was an amazingly kind and patient dog.  His sweetness and gentleness was noticed by everyone who met him.  He was a wonderful cat brother and both Maximus and Mr. Noodle were lucky to have such a doggy (even if they didn't always agree).  I just found out recently that when I would take him to the vet to get his nails trimmed they would use him to teach the new vet techs who were still getting the hang of it.  He was so patient and good that he would sit still for a complete stranger who wasn't completely confident in what they were doing.

Our family is still reeling from his loss and processing what happened.  Caleb is away at college, but he has memories of a healthy dog.  When he left at the end of August, there were no outward symptoms that anything was going on.  Mr. Noodle doesn't understand where his brother is and I think he's looking for him and asking about him.  We are all the better for knowing and loving Logan.

He was a very good dog.

Socks and Logan

I've finished my first Mermaid Avenue sock and I'm working on the second one.  This stitch pattern has a lot of lengthwise stretch so when it's relaxed, it looks short and wide.  The finished sock almost looks like a child's sock to me, but it does fit!  You can see how I chose to handle the pattern on the instep - I just worked it in a narrowing triangle down the foot.  This isn't in the directions, but it wasn't too hard to figure out.

Here's a close up of the pattern and the yarn.  I love the subtle color variations in this yarn.  (It's Dream in Color Smooshy in Milky Spite.)  I don't know what the technical term is for this dye style, but I really like it.  

In other news, Logan is having some health issues.  He turned 11 in June, and for a Golden Retriever that means he's getting up there age-wise.  We don't have exact answers yet but are hoping to get some test results later today.  I've been knitting on these socks and sitting with him and it reminds me of when he first came to us.  He was five months old and he knew he was supposed to go potty outside, but he wasn't sure how to tell us and we weren't sure what his "gotta go" cues were.  So I followed him around and knit socks and watched him.  We soon figured out how to communicate with each other despite the fact that we're different species.  He is our Sweet Marshmallow of Love.  He could use some prayers right now.

Thank you.

Let's Try This Again, Shall We?

Somehow it's been almost three weeks since my last blog post!  We're all still here and I'm still knitting, but it's been a bit crazy.  Back at the first of this month Logan had his teeth cleaned and a few things removed.  (Older Goldens get bumps - skin tags and moles and things, the majority of which are benign.)  Not major surgery in any sense of the word.  The problem is that one of the things was removed from his foot.  Dogs do not stay off their feet when they are healing.  They do not elevate the foot regularly.  This means it takes a long, long time to heal the foot.  That is what has been going on around here.  I won't get into the gory details but suffice it to say that we are approaching four weeks in the cone of shame (Newton tried to climb inside it with him the first few days, but he's too big to fit in the cone with Logan's head at this age).  We go to the vet's office twice a week to check Logan's progress, and he is healing, we are getting there, it's just not happening quickly.  So any knitting has to happen in the short breaks of time between doing foot healing things, washing dog towels, medicating him, and all the regular things that still have to happen around here.

I did finish a cardigan though!  This is the Letho Cardigan knit in Squoosh Fiber Arts Ultra Worsted in the color way Event Horizon with Malabrigo Rios in Lettuce and Gris.  

I loved knitting this and I'm thrilled with the finished sweater.  It's knit from the sleeve cuff to the center  on each half and then you work lower ribbing and neck edging.  It has brioche, welts, stranded knitting, and mosaic happening, but it's still a pretty simple sweater design wise.  (A lot of the time I feel like super involved feats of knitting, while beautiful to look at, are usually way too over designed for me to wear comfortably.  I tend to prefer simpler lines.)

Despite all this, the directions and pattern are very well written and I had no trouble following along and knitting it.  I will admit that I think I used more needles in various sizes as well as cables (used for stitch holders) in this project than I've ever used in a single project before.

This is my third and final project for the ESK Q1 KAL, Mosaic Knitting and I'll be submitting everything later this morning.  On Thursday the second quarter KAL begins - fingering weight socks!  I'm hoping to finish the socks I have on the needles right now but I'm looking forward to knitting lots of socks!

Another Block, Unblocked

All I have to show for today is the ninth block in Caleb's Sherlock blanket, Queen Anne Way.  For some reason, while this block wasn't difficult to knit, it felt like it took forever - black hole knitting, where you knit and knit and get nowhere.  I guess it's been a while since I've had black hole knitting, so I was probably due for some, but it was just weird. 

In kitten news, Newton is treating Logan the same way he treats us, by walking all over him.  Max never walked on Logan so he's really not sure what's going on.  It makes him (Logan) really nervous, but I think there's probably a good chance that if Newton is walking on Logan, he might curl up with him and cuddle.  They're both being super sweet to each other, but we are always right with them and watching closely when they're together (which is why we don't have a lot of pictures of them yet) because while Logan would never purposely hurt Newton, he could easily do it accidentally because of his size.  Poor little Logan just has no clue how big he is.  If you asked him, I'm pretty sure he would say he was smaller than Newton.  Silly sweet marshmallow dog!

Have a good weekend and stay safe!

Once Upon A Time

A couple of weeks ago I decided to make a blanket.  I picked out my colors and ordered them.  While I was waiting for them to come in the mail, I played around with the pattern using some stash yarn, just to make sure I understood it.  The pattern I chose is the Virus Blanket, and while I haven't found a chart for it (I really like using charts to double check my understanding of crochet directions), the pattern has a link to a very helpful video that cleared up some confusing parts.  I used some Malabrigo Mecha in English Rose for the "test drive" of the pattern.

Once the official yarn got here I was ready to wind it and start crocheting.  I used Malabrigo Rios in Sand Bank and Aguas with Squoosh Ultra Worsted in Mocha. 

My finished blanket is about 33 inches square.

Why would I make such a small blanket?  For our newest family member!

We've gotten a new kitten.  He's another Tonkinese, this time a Natural Mink color (for those of you keeping score, Ramius was a Champagne Mink and Maximus was a Platinum Point). 

We're still working on his name but will hopefully have one for him soon.  At the moment he's responding to Kitty Boy and Massive Beast (he weighs in at a whopping four pounds).

He's super loving and sweet, has mad ninja skills, and has everyone in the house in love with him.  Even Logan.  They've touched noses and sniffed butts (as you do), but he's spent most of his Logan time tackling Logan's tail.  Logan can't stop wagging and it's just too tempting for the little kitten.  Never mind that Logan's tail is bigger than Kitty Boy, he's going to eat the dog from the tail up.  It's got to help that Logan is 10 years old and super mellow.  He's also had enough experience with Max to know that kitties are pointy and sharp, even if they are fun to play with.  He definitely respects the kitty!

So now you know what's going on here at Chez Pink Lemon!  I'm obviously not getting a lot of knitting done, although he has seen knitting and was more interested in the bag than the actual knitting itself.

He seems to like having his picture taken, so he'll definitely be back here on the blog in the future.  I'll also let you know when we figure out his name!  In the meantime, stay safe and stay healthy!

Just In Case You Wanted To Know...

...what a Golden Retriever looks like under 2,730 yards of yarn - here you go!

I finished plying the Fireworks singles and I've washed the yarn.  I ended up with 2,565 yards of three ply and a small 165 yard skein of chain plied fingering weight yarn.  I plan on knitting another Ambiente pullover with this and I've got plenty to do that.  Unfortunately for my knitting right now, I am making seriously stupid mistakes and messing things up so I won't be casting on anything new right now.  I'm figuring it's stress related.

What I can do however, is spin.  I've already started another spinning project.  This is just a single braid (about 4 ounces) of Malabrigo Nube in English Rose.  Nube is 100% Merino.

I'm just spinning this to be a three ply fingering weight yarn.  I have a lot of patterns for fingering weight yarn and it works well in this climate.  I thought about chain plying it, but then I decided just to do a regular three ply and let the colors fall where they may.  I loved spinning the Fireworks fiber, but I have to admit that I'm so much happier spinning a smooth single.  I embraced the texture of the Fireworks, but spinning evenly is where my heart is happiest.

When I finish this spin, I will do another small spinning project before I start another big one.  I thought I'd let the blog pick the next small project.  I'll show you the choices and you can vote by leaving a comment.  I'll give each one a number to make voting simple.  I won't add up the votes until I'm ready to begin the spin!

This fiber (above) is from Bluefoot Market in the Celestial Colorway.  It's Merino, Rose, and Stellina.  I've never spun rose fiber but I'm guessing it's similar to Tencel.  We'll call this Fiber 1.

This is from Jakira Farms and it's BFL.  It's a blend of white and black BFL so even though it's a single fiber type, the colors take the dyes differently and make it more interesting.  This can be Fiber 2.

This is also from Jakira Farms and its a Merino, brown Alpaca, Camel, and Mulberry Silk blend.  Soft doesn't really even begin to describe how this feels - like the belly fluff of a baby bunny.  Fiber 3 seems like a good name for this one for voting purposes!  (I bet you never saw that coming)

So just leave a comment and tell me which one you'd like me spin next and when I finish the English Rose I'll total the votes!

In the meantime, stay safe, wash your hands, and keep a safe distance from your neighbors.  Here's one more shot of Logan for you.  He'll be back on the blog more now.  He had to take a break from his blog modeling career because a certain little Tonkinese who hated having his own picture taken, had no problem staying just out of camera frame and taunting Logan shamelessly.  It's super hard to sit still and wear your mom's lace knitting while Max was doing the arched back sideways hop at you.  Max never got tired of taunting Logan!

Have a nice weekend!

Back and Forth and Back Again

 

I've worked another section on my Meandering Shawl and it's getting bigger!  I'm also getting faster with the brioche stitches and things are making more sense to me.  There's still a lot to go, and until I get to the lower edging, it's just a lot of back and forth on the center spine (so I'm sorry if it makes for boring blogging, but I'm learning a new stitch).

Here's a shot of the other side, the light side.

Also, on an unrelated note, this is what it looks like when you sew with a big dog.  Particularly if the big dog thinks he's teacup sized.  Have a great weekend!  Hopefully I'll have some finished sewing projects to show next week!

A Thursday Surprise!

 

Today, I give you Frog Dog!  He was stretching and grumpling this morning, flopped over his bed, and one of his favorite stretches is Frog Dog.  This pose always cracks me up, so I thought I'd share it with the blog today!

Happy Thursday!

Loopy Academy, Knitting Version, Project Three

 

The parade of finished projects stops today!  This is the start of my third project for this semester's Loopy Academy, Knitting Edition:  Twisted Stitches.  This project is also a sock.  This is Essential to Perfection (it's part of an ebook based on quotes from vintage etiquette guides), and I'm knitting them in Fable Fibers Story in Ruby.  It's a more involved sock than I've done in a while, but it's moving along nicely.

When I ordered this yarn, I think I was planning a scarf or shawl because I don't usually knit socks from Merino/Cashmere/Nylon blends.  In between ordering and casting on, I decided to make these socks.  I almost un-decided against socks when I wound the yarn and realized there was cashmere in it, but my swift and winder are in the sewing room and I have another couple of pajama pants waiting for me to sew sitting right there.  This yarn happens to match the Christmas pajamas I'm making (soon), so those pajamas will have matching socks!

Also, doesn't Logan's meaty drumstick make a lovely backdrop?

Look What I Found!

 

I didn't actually lose it, I just haven't worked on it in ages.  I completed my eighth row of squares over the weekend, and I've already gotten the ends woven in!

For those of you who don't remember, this is my Meditative blanket, worked in medium to light toned, cool colored, fingering weight, superwash wools.  Each row is 24 squares long (slightly longer than Logan) and I honestly haven't decided if that will be the length or the width of the blanket.  I'll decide that later.  I do plan on adding borders, but I haven't decided what colors to use.  Since most of these yarns are Loopy Ewe Solids, I can always order more when I get there.

It had been so long since I worked on this project, that I had to look up the directions!  Once I had worked my first block, it came back to me pretty quickly.  Max immediately remembered what it was and started climbing underneath it.  I guess it's more than big enough for him.

Loopy Academy, Semester 3, Texture

 

I finished my Glace Bay shawl over the weekend and got it blocked!  I decided I needed something along the top edge to keep it from rolling, so I added a few rows of garter stitch after finishing the “pleated” edging.  Depending on your yarn, this might not be necessary, but mine was a high twist, tightly spun yarn, that probably made the natural roll of knitting worse.  The shawl photographed in the pattern doesn’t have anything added to the top edge, and it isn’t rolling, so my guess is that the roll was primarily due to my yarn choice.

I knit this in Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Heavyweight in the Big Brain Blue color way.  I used all but about two yards of the first skein on the body of the shawl, so I used the second skein on the edgings.  Both skeins looked identical, and even when they were knit up, I still can’t tell that there were two skeins used.  I was counting on any differences being camouflaged in the textural differences between the body of the shawl and the edgings, but I don’t think that was actually necessary in this case.

After I finished knitting it, I soaked the shawl and after squeezing as much water out as possible, just spread it out over some towels to dry under the ceiling fan.  I didn’t use pins or blocking wires, I just made sure it was spread out smoothly.  The finished shawl is 71 wide by 21 deep, so definitely big enough to snuggle into!

I Have Yarn!

I have yarn for my mommy!  I’m not sure that I’m supposed to have this yarn, so I’m being very careful not to snarfle it and put it in my mouth and all the other things I really, really want to do with this yarn.  In fact, I’m completely avoiding eye contact with it because I don’t want to startle the yarn and make it run off.

Mommy told me that this yarn is for one of her Loopy Academy projects.  She says it’s for the Texture project and it’s Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Heavyweight in Big Brain Blue.  She hasn’t told me what she’s knitting with it yet, but she seems to know.  She did say she was going to wind it and start knitting today, so maybe she’ll tell all of us later this week.

Mommy said she got most of her Loopy Academy stuff yesterday so she’s ready to start making things!  I don’t know what Loopy Academy is.  I probably wouldn’t want to make eye contact with it.  I don’t make eye contact with my kitty, Max, and so far, he hasn’t killed me in my sleep.  Kitties are sharp and pointy, but Mommy says I’m a big, cuddly marshmallow.

A Fun, Fast Project

Last Saturday, I got the book Love at First Stitch from Amazon.  Sunday, I traced the pattern for the Margot Pajama pants, and by Monday, I had a finished pair of pajama pants!  I had bought this fabric years ago, before Caleb was born and it had just sat in my stash.  I thought it was pretty and I loved the 3-D realism look to it, but to be honest, it’s just too busy for me to wear and I use red in small doses in the house, so it was too much for a quilt.  It sat in the stash, moved from house to house with us, but finally, when I saw these pajama pants, I knew this fabric had a purpose!

I slept in them Monday night and they’re cute and comfortable, but I will be making an adjustment later today.  You see, Maximus sleeps under the covers, usually beside my legs, but sometimes as low as my feet.  Sometime in the night between Monday and Tuesday, I was woken up when my pants got attacked.  I was asleep, so I’ll take Max’s word for it that the pants started it, but there was mayhem and craziness under the covers and I finally ended up stuffing the drawstring ribbons down the front of the pants.  I didn’t have time to deal with them yesterday, so I slept in some pajamas Max is more comfortable with (that he doesn’t attack in the middle of the night).  Today, I will be removing the drawstring ribbons, replacing them with elastic, and tacking a tiny bow over the buttonholes I made for the ribbons.  I’m also going to be checking my fabric stash for anything else that might need to be pajama bottoms!

As to the book, it’s geared for beginners, and while I’m more of an intermediate sewist (I hate the word sewer, that’s where toilets go, not a person who sews), at least when it comes to garments, there are still things that I need to work on.  The book is wonderful, walking you through one (super cute) project at a time, building your skills as you go with great tutorials and lots of photos.  Here is a link to all the patterns in the book.  You’ll definitely be seeing more projects from this book!

Crochet!

 

The fourth row is finished!  It’s getting wider and Max is having more luck climbing underneath it while I work.  It’s time to weave in ends and then I’m on to the fifth row!  (Logan toes included for scale, and because he wanted to be in the picture.)

The Third Row

 

I’ve completed the third row of my blanket!  I obviously haven’t woven in the ends yet.  (I’ll get those all woven in before I start the fourth row.)  Also Logan wanted to have his leg in the photo, so you get to see a furry doggy leg complete with his fuzzy muppet foot.

The funny thing about this row is that Maximus has figured out at this point that it’s going to be a blanket.  Now that he knows this, he wants to sit under it while I crochet.  Unfortunately, it’s still a little narrow, so just as soon as he climbs under, he pops out the other side.  He can’t figure out how to stay under the blanket, but being a cat, he’s determined to get it to work.  I think once I get the fourth and fifth rows on, it will work much better for him.

Happy New Year!

I hope that each of you has a wonderful 2015!  We’re starting off the year with freezing rain here.

I got my Skye Boat Shawl and my Romy Cardigan finished before the end of the year, and I’ve started some new projects for this new year.  I have started adding the year to my tags on my Ravelry projects, starting with the project I began last night, so from 2015 on, I’l be able to pull up all the projects in a single year with its tag.  Or at least I think that will work.  I need caffeine.

Here is the finished Skye Boat Shawl.  I could have gone a little bigger, but I was afraid of running out of yarn on the final border if I kept going.  I think I have enough to make a small pair of matching mitts.  The shawl blocked out at 78 inches across the top edge and 28 inches from the top to the point, so it’s a nice, big, snuggly shawl and I’ve been getting a lot of wear out of it already.  Here is the project page if you want more details.

I finished the knitting on my Romy Cardigan, but I decided to block it before adding buttons.  It should be dry by now, so I’ll be sewing on the buttons later today and will show it tomorrow!

Something New

 

I’ve started a new cardigan, and instead of the light, fingering weight cardigan I was going to knit, I’ve started a heavier, worsted weight one instead.  I can knit the fingering weight one later.  This is the Romy cardigan and this will be the first time I’ve knit contiguous sleeves.  I think it’s basically a way to knit from the top down and you start the fronts back and sleeves all in a single piece (kind of like a raglan, top down cardigan), but instead of raglan sleeves, you knit set in sleeves instead.  I think.  I’ll let you know when I get farther along.  I’ve just barely started the sleeves.

I’m working this in some Peace Fleece worsted that I used in a previous sweater that I frogged because it was way too big and unflattering.  I can’t remember the name of the color, but it might have been violet something.  I haven’t picked out buttons yet, but just eyeballing the size of the buttonholes, I think I’ve got several options upstairs in the button stash.

On a non sweater related topic, yesterday I looked at the Christmas tree and saw this:

I’m still getting lights on it, so I haven’t started with ornaments yet, but when I last left it, the tree skirt was laying smooth and flat.  Someone decided to make a nest under it and take a nap.  Of course he got goosed by a cold Golden Retriever nose, but he still hung out under the tree skirt for a good part of yesterday afternoon.  Silly cat!

Caring Means Sharing

 

Clearly Max hasn’t gotten that memo because this was yesterday afternoon at our house.  Yes, the bed is technically Logan’s but Max isn’t one to worry about details.  Thankfully, Logan is much better at sharing and doesn’t mind that his bed smells like kitty too much.

In knitting news, I finished the knitting portion of my Ombre Ravello!  Now I have a few ends to weave in.  (The photo shows it wrong side out, so you can really get a feel for the number of ends I’ll be dealing with over the next few days.)  I usually weave in the ends on each section as I go, but this time I was so concerned about having enough yarn, I just kept on knitting.  Now it’s time clean things up.

Mine!

 

Max has decided that with all the chaos around here, he’s going to take over Logan’s bed.  When we first got this bed (for Logan), Max had to check it out and the first couple of weeks he slept in it during the day and Logan used it at night.  Logan didn’t mind sharing so we didn’t worry about Max using it.  After a few weeks, the novelty wore off and Max went back to his cat beds and our bed.  For the last couple of years, except for occasionally playing with his soccer ball in it, Max has stayed out and Logan has been the only one using his bed.  We bought the bed for Logan, it fits him perfectly (he likes to sleep curled up like a cat), and he likes it.

Fast forward a couple of years, we are in the middle of the big brick switch and all of a sudden Max is back in the dog bed!  He’s not just exploring and sniffing either.  He’s playing, he’s bringing toys into the bed, he’s taking naps there, and he’s sitting in it like he owns it.  Fortunately, he’s getting out of it at night (when Logan wants it) and he will move if Logan wants him out of it during the day. (Logan can snarfle him with a big, wet, nose and that will get him moving.)  We’ve discussed getting a smaller bed in the exact same fabric for Max (they make them for smaller dogs too), but we’re not sure he would use it. We’re afraid he would give it to Logan and take the big one (and we don’t really have floor space for a second big bed).  For now at least, we’re going to leave things as they are because he may get out of the bed as suddenly as he got in, once this rebuilding is over.  Until then, it’s a good thing Logan shares so well!

Sewing!

I’ve been doing a little sewing in the afternoons and yesterday I finished a few projects!  First up are five pairs of shoe bags for travel.

Shoe bags are a super easy project and since they don’t really take much wear, you don’t have to line them or make them heavy duty.  Their whole purpose is to protect the things in your suitcase from your shoes (and vice versa), so you can use just about any fabric.  I used quilting cottons, and with the exception of Mickael’s fabric, they were from stash.  I didn’t use an official pattern for this.  I came up with measurements for mine and Mickael’s bags by measuring actual shoes (mine will hold one running shoe per bag, or a complete pair of ballet flats, Mickael doesn’t usually wear ballet flats, so his fit one shoe per bag).  When I was cutting fabric for Caleb’s bags, I made them as close to Mickael’s size as I could (I didn’t have quite as much of those fabrics).  His feet are bigger than mine and since shoe bags last forever, I’d like them to be usable for a long time.  As far as the sewing, I didn’t use a specific pattern or tutorial, I just winged it (drawstring bags are pretty easy).  I used shoestrings for the drawstrings (except for one pair with ribbons, but they had lemons on them).

These are my bags, lemons (obviously) and tropical birds.  They were having their final inspection by The Nose.  Fun note:  the bird fabric was directional but if the birds were right side up, the orchids were upside down.  Daddy raises orchids so after growing up around them, I notice things like this.  (I don’t raise orchids.  I kill orchids.  I wonder if that’s a marketable skill?  Orchid Assassin!)  Oh, and I went with right side up birds.  Sorry orchids!

Caleb has turtles and Vikings.  I’m pretty sure Ragnar has a pair of the Viking ones.  You don’t want your shoes getting scuffed as you pack up to go raiding England.

Mickael has ninjas!  I ordered this fabric from Spoonflower back when I got the Sherlock fabric.  Mickael has two more pairs of shoe bags waiting to be made, but they need a different thread color so I’ll be doing them later.  (I used black thread on these first five pairs of bags.)  Just thought I’d mention that Mickael will be getting more bags, seeing as he travels way more than Caleb and I do.

After I finished the shoe bags yesterday, I cut fabric for another bag, and then I actually got it all finished (except drawstrings) last night!  (Please notice that I’m using the Restoration Hardware Catalog Collection as a background to the bag.  I figure if Restoration Hardware is going to UPS their catalogs to people who spent $4.00 in their store three years ago, then I’ll use them.  If we get a wasp or a fly in the house this summer, I fully plan on rolling one of these up and bashing it over the head.  I’m not going to let these bad boys go to waste!)  This is from the Sock Sack in Three Sizes pattern.  It’s meant for knitting two socks at once (which I don’t do), but I thought I could keep yarn on one side and the project itself on the other.  The three sizes are Small for socks, Medium for shawls, and Large for sweaters.

I made the medium size which should be perfect for a shawl.  I love the zipper pouch as the center divider.  This bag also has yarn guides (the little tabs with buttons) to keep your yarn from getting wonky in the bag.  The yarn guides snap closed, I just used a button on the back side of the tab snap to reinforce it.  The casing at the top of the bag (where the drawstrings would be if I had any) isn’t supposed to be on the bias, but I wanted to have the stripes on the casing run a different direction than the body of the bag, and after mis-cutting one piece, I didn’t have enough fabric left to do the casing stripes perpendicular to the body stripes, but I could do them on the bias.  So I did.  The directions on this pattern are really well written, with lots of pictures.  Once I saw how the bag went together and how the center divider worked, I understood it, and the actual construction was pretty easy to do.  The size is perfect and I’m really happy with the finished bag.  It doesn’t have a wrist loop (you could use the drawstrings), but that’s easy to add.  I will definitely be making more of these bags!