So much fiber, so little time

Cornering

Here's a corner of the blanket blob. There really is a pattern in the outside border, but the crowding of the stitches makes it hard to see. I'm about two thirds of the way through this section, and everything will move to the 150 cm needle shortly.

I'm withholding a decision on the edging pattern until I know how many stitches are on the needle when I finish the border. If I can't finagle the math in a simple manner, I might have to design my own. But, hey, I've already done for this section ...

To make up for the recent lack of pictures, here's another, which is one of the best pictures of Huey I've ever taken, back-lit black cat not withstanding. And yes, he is missing the tip of his right ear. Our local SPCA has a wonderful feral/semi-feral cat neutering program, and Huey was "tutored" in a mass capture at the barn. Their right ear tips are cut off to mark them as neutered animals, although how much the participating vets take is variable. Huey's uncle and sister lost much less ear than Huey did.

The other group deserving kudos (and bucks) is Shelter Outreach Services. They have worked hard to raise money for mobile units to provide spay/neuter and vet services to underfunded rural communities in our region.

Blob, blob, blobbin' along

I'm halfway through the outer band of the blanket blob. Yippee! Of course, I had to wash two more skeins of Keesmere to make sure I'll have enough to finish the band and (at least) get the edging started.

Today's weirdness

This morning, the power company came to make the new electrical service permanent, which meant shutting off the power for about 10 minutes. When the power came on and they had gone, I found that my phone line was completely dead. So I called Verizon and got the talking computer and a service appointment for Monday. Ack, no DSL until then?

But an hour or so later, a Verizon service tech was on the doorstep. And it turned out to be a bigger job than I (or they) had expected. Tech #1 called for help, and he and Tech #2 ran a completely new line from the main pole across the street, to the pole on my side, and then to the house. I have a new network interface, including a lightning surge suppressor.

Blob knitting

Still slogging away at the blanket, but there's nothing interesting to show.  I've knitted a bunch of plain stockinette border and have just started the pattern (which is the center vertical band rotated to the horizontal). It's slow going, since there are more than 1600 stitches on the needle. Fortunately, the longer circular arrived today. I'll move to that whenever overcrowding becomes a problem.

The other major time consumer this week was the end of most of the eBay auctions, so I've been packing and shipping for days. I smiled when I realized Carolyn was one of the buyers. (PS: Here's a hint for anyone with the Spring 1999 issue of Knitter's: if you're willing to part with it, sell! I'm gobsmacked at the price it brought. It was even higher than that of the out of print book by She Who Must Not Be Named.)

Blanket blob

Well, a blob is what the blanket looks like right now. I've picked up all the stitches around the edges, and lots of the little devils gathered on a 100 cm needle forms a gray fuzzy ball in the middle. A 150 cm needle is on order, although the stitches aren't overcrowded (yet).

A frog-hair spinner's lament

I managed to get all the Piecework magazines photographed and uploaded to eBay this morning before the power was turned off. One trend I noticed while describing umpteen magazine issues was the alarming dumbing-down of textile work over the years, particularly in the case of Knitter's, IK, and Piecework. The "hip" trend in Handwoven and Spin-Off (I'll bet bookies could lay odds on when Hip To Weave and Hip to Spin appear in print) is incredibly nauseating, but I'm hoping the inherent nature of spinning and weaving may save both magazines from devolving to total paint-by-number examples.

(Sigh! My inner math geek doesn't really want to know [yeah, I do have an Official Degree in math], because otherwise I'd need to seek large doses of mood altering drugs.)

Round One

The first part of the electrical upgrade went surprisingly well and, fingers crossed, seems to have solved the voltage fluctuations. (Amazing what a proper ground can do!) Tomorrow, Pete the electrician will be back to run three new isolated circuits: one for the sump pump, one for a window air conditioner, and one for the computer. That's a long way from the Rube Goldberg setup I had this morning.

Fiber hobbies are great for long power outages. It took about three hours to move the wiring from the old panel box to the new one, so naturally the power was shut off for that time. I just plugged my iPod into its speakers, listened to music, and knitted away at the Keesmere blanket. The center panel is just a few repeats of Mrs. Montague's lace from being finished.

Even more sales

Whew! I've spent way too much time the last two days putting back issues of magazines up on eBay. So far, I've listed all the Weaver's, Interweave Knits, and Knitter's, but I still need to sort and photograph all of Piecework. That can wait until tomorrow as something to do while the electricians are here to rewire the house that Rube Goldberg built. Right now, I'd rather work on the Keesmere blanket, which has been sorely neglected.

(If you're interested in any of the magazines, this link should take you to them.)

Sale day

I've spent a good part of today listing items for sale (money getting tight? why would you think that?) with various online places. My best bet is with an out-of-print book by She Who Must Not Be Named - but nobody's getting my very OOP Tessa Lorant books.

I've also put up two extra copies of Handwoven (if they print your tip, they send you a copy, hence the surplus), and I think I'll list all my back issues of Weaver's, Knitter's, Piecework and Interweave Knits. The latter two date from the premiere issues. 20 years plus of Spin-Offs and Handwoven are staying put, as will about 15 years of Väv. I doubt anyone wants back issues of Shuttle, Spindle and Crackpot, though. Pity - I've got a fair number of them.

The new blanket is much longer now. I think there are two more central motif repeats and the matching border before it's time to pick up stitches for the edging. It's odd, though, that someone who hates hot weather as much as I do can cope with large woolly projects in my lap throughout the summer.

New blanket

I've been making good progress on the next Keeshond auction item. This is the center of a blanket, where Mrs. Montague's lace surrounds a central vertical panel. Once this rectangular section is done, I'll pick up stitches around the edges and knit (several?) horizontal borders and finally an edging.

To make something that won't require heavy-duty blocking, I'm working on 3.5mm needles. Anyone who gets this blanket will just need to wash it and smooth it flat by hand.

Oh, and if you don't use Safari as your Mac browser, drag new uncompressed Dashboard widgets to <hard disk name here>/Library/Widgets for them to be always available to you. I do love that package tracking widget!