RAVELRAISERS...You give, you take! RAVATARS!

This is my second post of the day, so to find out what's going on in my normal (?) knitting life, scroll on down to the next one. These photos are gifts to generous RavelRaisers!

Here are some Ravatars which are yours for the taking. All photos were taken by me of my possessions, and you have my permission to use them for your Ravatars. Some are already photoshopped. Others are photos which you may grab and edit for your pleasure. You can take them to ROFLBOT to add text.

Artist's works photographed are by Elizabeth Taggart, Jana Napoli (parrot) and Martin Laborde.

Please enjoy them and thanks for your donations to Ravelry!

Here be Zombies

Finally I was able to take photos of the Zombie Socks! It is a bit sad that Sock Madness closed the first division early because I actually would have finished them in time and perhaps gone through to Round 2, but I'll get over it. Since I like my socks longer and my feet are hardly petite, I am already at a speed knitting disadvantage. Friends made me promise to continue knitting along, but I can do it without pressure while also altering my socks to fit. Not so bad. I've found both patterns that were released so far to be quite attractive, so complements to both the organizers and the designers.

Drumroll.........Here be Zombies!!!!

To better see the color and stitch design, we have this photo:
One of my sons gave me the most lovely Christmas present, a rare orchid every month for a year. This last one looks very Zombie-esque, don't you think?
One of my fiber friends is headed to the island of Crete. It made me think that 35 years ago on a trip to the Greek Isles, I had bought several lovely carved pieces of spinning/weaving tools on the island of Santorini. Amazingly enough, I knew just where one was, living in my umbrella stand, most logically. I took photos of this delightful distaff. Those of you who know how many marriages, relationships, transcontinental moves, thefts, etc. that have occurred over these years must share my astonishment that I still possess this little bit of history. The other spinning utensils and old textiles and rugs have disappeared, sadly but not surprisingly.
This piece is about 3 feet long, and a close-up of the head will show you the lovely carving, almost Celtic in feeling. Oh yes, it was pouring rain when I took the photos. There is a wooden hook on the back of the head to hold the fiber for spinning.
Fun news of the day for fellow fiber fanatics, Ravelry is in the black! Some devoted Ravelers decided to launch a little fundraising drawing for some pretty incredible prizes (like each prize is an entire stash of yarn or fiber or whatever) and they very quickly raised $30,000 and the total is still rising. Jess and Casey were able to pay off their initial investment and buy a new server. They have put together such a wonderful concept, I hope they will also be able to pay their new employee and perhaps buy some new shoes and premium kibble for Bob! It reminded me that I had been meaning to donate again. And once you donate, you can give yourself a cool new Ravatar. I went into ROFLBOT and created these:

All of these were done using paintings of my friend, the Irish painter Elizabeth Taggart. And just for good measure, I made one for Celtic Memory using the most spectacular photo taken by Richard, the bird lover. Perhaps she will make her own, but I couldn't resist.

Now isn't making yourself a cool new Ravatar a good reason to make a donation?

*PLEASE RAVELRAISERS...These are not mine to give away. I have used these copyrighted photos with permission for the blog. But, I PROMISE I will make more for you and post them tonight!*

Feeling a bit better. I was laid low for 48 hours due to either food poisoning or some nasty hospital acquired bug. It hit from one minute to the next while I was at the hospital with my son, who is toughing it out through the latest round of chemo, pretty miserable. I wasn't sure I could make it home, but have survived and things are looking up. I missed knitting night so you know it was pretty bad.

Knitting is sporadical. I tried to work on the second sock of a Christmas pair for a cherished friend. The complex pattern quickly fried my limited brain function these days. I'm so ADD it has ceased to be funny. After botching a repeat, I tucked the sock away for a calmer day and pulled out an old friend, which I re-discovered in a knitting bag that had gotten squashed behind a larger project bag. My Clapotis, my very first one, knitted in Lavold's Silky Tweed. I was thrilled to find it (out of sight, out of mind) as it is just the perfect level of mindlessness for my current situation. Quickly memorized, possible to stop in the middle of a row, just what I needed. Already thinking about making another one in Wollmeise.

It has been quite difficult to finish this post. There is an unbelievable storm going on. The electricity has cut out umpteen times. Just as I save and prepare to shut down the computer, the electricity comes back again so I've managed to finish more or less. I just peaked out into the back garden which is littered with large branches and some broken pots. Think I'll go look out front now. Ooops, there went the electricity again. Fun times.

This and That

Not much posting lately. Just checking in to assure you I'm still alive and kicking. The flowers are blooming, actually, they were blooming 3 days ago and now the heat has withered them. They were beautiful and such a lovely color of yellow/chartreuse with the orange stamens.

The gardener finally arrived today and there are 28 huge bags of leaves and debris sitting on the curb to be hauled off.

Finished my Zombies for Sock Madness 2, unfortunately too late to qualify. But very close. Photos coming. Watching everyone starting Round 2, which they sent a day early...April Fools! That caused quite a stir. Lots of moaning about the 72 stitch cast on. Jo's having a real problem. I've worked socks successfully from 60 to 86 stitches, but perhaps it is my tight knitting.A bit of new Wollmeise laceweight arrived. That's Brombeere, Pfaunage and Spice Market. One is for a gift and there are projects for the other two, to be revealed. Just looking at these beautiful yarns is therapy. Now...serious yarn diet. Serious, serious, serious!
Know what these are? They are the little sample skeins of worsted that the Wollmeise tucks into her shipments. Now those who know me know blues don't work into my color schemes, so...if anyone has some sample skeins in not blues they would like to trade, just let me know. I have an idea how to use them.

Go over to Bea's blog and wish her Happy Birthday. Then take a crack at her fun contest. It has to do with the English bulldogs Abby and Gus and involves a bit of dog psychology. Prizes include her really beautiful yarn. And please mention I sent you, which will give me an extra entry. It's all in the rules.

Now, anyone know WendyKnits middle name?????

Madness is Upon Us, Sock Madness that is

Last year around this time, the first annual Sock Madness Competition was held, basically insanely stressful speed knitting of mystery sock patterns. It was so much fun that I signed up again this year. It is a much bigger group this year and the guidelines have changed a bit, but the enthusiasm is inspiring.

My personal first rule was that everything for the competition had to be knit from my stash. The first sock was sample knit in Jitterbug and I wanted to stay close to their suggestions, so I dug through the stash and here's what I came up with, all Jitterbug.
A few days before the pattern was released, the organizers said the yarn should be "scary". Well, that all depends. Personally, pink or blue would be scary, really scary. Hmmm, after looking at my available colors, I decided on Raphael, the one to the right which is balled up, since it was the color of a terrible bruise, shades of flesh and plum and purple, with dabs of red and blue.
The pattern arrived on Thursday and look, my yarn is the color of the Zombie in their photo. So I dove right in.
Ribbed cuff and drop stitch pattern. My yarn pooled more than I thought it would, but I don't dislike it and I think the stitch pattern is simple enough that it's not a big problem.
Here's a leg, knit a repeat longer than the pattern since I like my socks taller. Definitely not going to be able to get two socks out of a skimpy skein of Jitterbug, so thank goodness I had bought two. A lot of people with smaller feet were running out of yarn. Why oh why does Colinette do such anorexic skeins when it is a reasonably expensive yarn?

Now I'm not going to say how far along I am since you never know about the competition. Suffice it to say I am much further along than this photo shows. Unfortunately for me, I'm in the super speed knitters' division and it is almost full. The other three divisions are still pretty wide open, and I know I would make the cut if I'd been in one of them. In any case, since I'm pretty far behind, I dedided to make a sock I would like, so went ahead and added the extra rows.

Being totally sleep deprived these days, I keep falling asleep on my knitting...two rows-sound asleep. Startle myself awake and hour later to find my knitting needles still poised in mid-air. NOT a good idea to start right in knitting again since you will be lost even though you think you are not and totally screw up the pattern. One eight hour stretch when I knew I would be stuck at the hospital waiting looked very promising for sock progress. I packed it up the night before, making sure I had yarn, pattern, extra needles and a tiny crochet hook in the bag. The bag was placed next to my purse to take with me in the morning. I know you can imagine what happened. Yup, I left the bag right where it was and spent the whole day kicking myself. All that said, I quite like this pattern and will be happy to have this pair of socks.
There is a round which will require two colors of laceweight. This is the only possibility that I found in my stash, baby alpaca, but even held together, two strands make a very skimpy yarn for a sock, I'm talking 00000s. If I don't make it through this round, I may skip the laceweight pair.

As for my son's status, it looks like they have found an acceptable marrow donor. We have fingers tightly crossed for the physical and infectious disease testing. More details on his blog.

A Failed Search for Mindless Knitting

It has been a while since you've heard a peep from me, gentle readers. The reason is that my son was allowed a bit of sanity break after nearly four months of hospital and he came here. For the full story check his blog or his website, I won't go into all of it here. Just that the bone marrow donor we were counting on backed out after first coming in for their blood draw. I wonder if they realize what it means to us? And to say how much I enjoy his company and being able to do something for him. Even waiting on him pretty much in the bed most of the time, exhausted. Even running back to the hospital every other day for transfusions, lots of transfusions. Life is good.

As for knitting content, I am plugging away on those mindless socks, which ended up not being so mindless, typical for me.

Here is a shot of one side.
And here the other. True color is probably closer to this. Look carefully at the patterns. First it was nice double spirals, neatly swirling around the sock. Changed needle size, the spirals zigged/zagged for a bit and then went backwords. Changed needle sizes again at the heel, what do we get, tidy little candy-cane stripes. Isn't it a hoot?
An eye of partridge heel made lovely little houndstooth checks. We shall see if sock the second is even vaguely related. BTW, Wollmeise on size 0's in my tight knitting produces a fabric I can't even stick a needle into. It's as solid as solid can get. Then still searching "mindless knitting", I started another chemo cap in Calmer which was the fiber of preference for my son. I thought I would just do a simple rib pattern in 2X2, but today during the 6 hours at the hospital while waiting for my son's transfusions, I kept looking at the gorgeous Shedir he was wearing and decided I had to do it again. Now the trick is that Shedir flows out of a 1X1 rib and I have here a 2X2. Think I will do a 1/2 inch or so of 1X1, use the current ribbing as a fold-up cuff which he likes, and perhaps do a motif less of the cabling. Hope it works. Perhaps I should run a lifeline?

Speaking of chemo caps, when we go to the Marrow Transplant Center for Steven's transfusions, there is a basket of chemo caps that someone has made. They are in acrylic, the brightest, hideous oranges and greens. Crocheted, stiff as bricks, feel like Brillo pads. I can't even imagine making such a thing for someone who has lost their hair. No one seems to be taking them either.See this? Gorgeous isn't it. That Celtic Memory wanted to cheer me up and she knows me heart and soul. Oh, wow! This is Blue Heron rayon metallic, two skeins of the scrumptious stuff, just begging to be a magnificent stole. Anne Hanson at Knitspot just came up with another lovely pattern, Gale, and I couldn't resist. Thought it might be that perfect mindless knitting project I keep looking for. Anne thought it would be good hospital knitting. We shall see. That woman is the Evil Temptress Extraordinaire. I want to knit almost every design that she comes up with.


Then today Linda, a friend from Sock Camp, sent a totally surprise package of a wonderful book written by a friend of her husband's who survived leukemia and a marrow transplant and wrote about it. He is now the director of the National Marrow Donor Program. This book went straight onto my bed and I plan to start it tonight. Oh yes, Linda also worried I might run out of sock yarn, so she tucked in a skein.
Let's look closely. Hmmmm, I had never heard of this dyer, Pagewood Farm. The yarn is Denali, 450 yards (Yay!) of 80/20 merino/nylon with a very very nice ply. I think I'm really going to enjoy this one. Sock Madness stash? And it's my favorite color, in case someone doesn't know. Yes, I was very cheered, and very touched by Linda's thoughtfulness. I'm really going to miss everyone at Sock Camp this year. BTW, Linda just rode the rode the Stitch ' Ride train from Sacramento to Stitches West. She overheard a knitter say, "I feel like a one-eyed dog in a weenie factory!" I think I love that expression.

Oh my, Sock Madness 2 starts on Thursday and I'm no way prepared. Everyone else I know (especially Celtic Memory and TayaElaine) has swatched and balled their yarns perfectly divided and practiced their Japanese short row toes and heels. The clues are tantalizing. Cousin Mountain Mom submitted a design. I'm so proud of her. I think it is just going to smack me like a snowball (yes, we had snow this week in Texas, crazy huh?). And this is my much loved step-daughter Alexa who came to visit Steven from New Mexico and couldn't resist picking up big Galatoire. She's not that little and he is that big, probably close to the record for a Persian. It was so nice to see her again.

FO Sighting

With all the chaos that seems to surround me at the moment, I still managed to finish up a project or two and as usual start another.

First up is another chemo cap for my son, Shedir:

Shedir is a very nice pattern and was a pleasure to knit in Rowan Calmer. The cotton content of Calmer is soft and absorbent. I would highly recommend this yarn for chemo caps over the synthetics which are often suggested, which I used for the first ones and of which I was not overly enamored. Used US 3s for the ribbing and US4s for the body.

Now tell me this photo isn't hilarious. That skinny skinny little glove that stretches out so much for my hand. OK, OK, so I knit really tightly on sock needles.

And then just in time for the last few days of cooler weather, I finished up my first pair of Serpentine Mitts by Miriam Felton. These were knit in Wollmeise on 2.25mms. The color is Kurbis. I mirrored the cabling and also mirrored the ribbing at the thumb by resituating my stitches to start with P2 for the back of the hand on the left glove. I added 1/2" of ribbing to the cuff and at least another 1/2" to the length of the hand. I definitely still find them too short. I decided to use the Large cast on even though my hand measured for the Small and I'm glad I did. Next time around, I will center the cables better over the back of the hand (should be a problem only for size Large) and lengthen the hand portion of the pattern. And I do like these so much that I foresee more in my future.

Now there are all sorts of UFOs around here that require concentration and calculations, so I decided I needed something completely mindless to knit, like ribs round and round in circles...i.e. socks, but simple socks, very simple socks. Never one to leave well enough alone, I ended up adding a cable and a twist here and there and voilà:

Ann Budd's Cable and Clocks Socks in Wollmeise, color Johannesbeere and Brennesel. See that lovely double spiraling the yarn is doing? Well, just about at that point, I went down a needle size and the whole thing derailed. Will save those photos for the next post. They do sail along as compared to all the cabled things I've been working on lately.

CairoKate is raffling off some gorgeous sock yarns to encourage donations to the Leukemia Lymphoma Society in her brother's name. I encourage you to wander over and support the cause. Since my family is going through the same thing as Kate's, I would suggest you check out the information on the Marrow Transplant website and consider being a marrow donor. It no longer requires actual marrow, but a blood draw, similar to giving platelets. You can save a life.

A Knitting Trip Down Memory Lane

In going through an old cedar chest of my mother's, I turned up some interesting finds. It got me started looking for other old bits of knitting from different times in my life, and I thought it might be interesting, if perhaps embarrassing at times, to share them.

When I was eight or nine, a friend's mother decided it was time her daughter took up knitting and they invited me over for that first lesson. Now the mother pretty much knitted all day long and had a penchant for knitting ugly suits on very small needles. Not very inspiring. But she gave me that one lesson in cast on, knit and purl. When she saw that I seemed to have grasped the concept, she told me to go to the LYS and pick out a pattern and some yarn. Our LYS at that time was anything but exciting, but they had some old stand-bys in Reynolds and Plymouth and such. I chose a pattern with a two color slip-stitch, long set-in sleeves and a turtleneck with some red and white yarn to work it in. I took that pattern, started knitting, and actually finished the sweater in record time without a single mistake (because I tinked back and reknit when I saw one). The only question I asked my teacher was how to knit the turtleneck. No one even questioned that I could or should do it, and therefore I just did. Unfortunately, no record exists of that sweater, but I remember every stitch I put into it.

Once finished, probably the following season when I was nine or ten, I set about knitting sweater number two, the one I found in the cedar chest. I made it for my mother.

Let's see, two color with cables, shaping, turned hems all around, and finished off with tassels. What a sweater! Mother wore it quite a bit and professed to love it. And saved it all those years.
At fourteen, I knit this mohair and wool worsted number, also as a gift for my mother. I saved up babysitting money to buy the yarns and knitted in secret to surprise her for Christmas. Again, I found it tucked away in my mother's cedar chest.
A few years passed and the boys arrived, and I was knitting coordinating sweaters for them. There were multicolor vests and little jumpsuits knit on small needles, and some lovely rugby style sweaters, and these Aran Isle numbers. All the sweaters have disappeared, but there is this one photo with Santa, wearing their little sweaters. Awwwww! That little redhead is now a surgeon and the moptop is the one awaiting a marrow transplant. How time flies.

I remember knitting another sweater or two for me, one allover moss stitch in pink comes to mind. I got so bored with all that moss stitch and then when I put it on, I realized that baby pink just wasn't my color. The LYS in my little college town was woefully lacking in choice. Probably wore it two or three times and who knows to where it vanished. Oh dear, and there was the puce green mohair mutton sleeved ballet mini mini-dress! And I wore it, long skinny legs sticking out all over! Probably with my underpants on view. Thank goodness no pictures. Then in the Seventies in New Orleans, I got on a jag of knitting boat-neck tees. I could whip them out in garter stitch in a few days and wore them to death. There was this natural wool one, a black wool one, the yellow linen one below, and who knows how many more. During this period, there was also a chenille turtleneck design I liked, which I knitted in soft fuschia, mauve, and teal. Somewhere there are photos of them.
I was travelling around the world constantly for my work, knitting wasn't terribly portable, so I took up Bargello and carried my needlepoint with me. The owner of the needlepoint shop in the French Quarter of New Orleans near where I lived was fascinated with my knitting, asked me to teach her and began to order yarns. It is called the Quarter Stitch and is still there today, worth a visit. More yarn than needlepoint these days.

Then came the Eighties. Novelty yarns. Here's where the embarrassment starts. By then I had moved to Paris and was again constantly travelling, so needed airplane suitable work. When I would visit New Orleans every year or two, the Quarter Stitch had started stocking novelty yarns. The owner of the shop convinced me to start making little triangle neck scarves with short needles for the plane and I knit dozens. I would stock up with ten projects at a time to last until my next visit. I wore them and would end up giving them away off my neck, everyone wanted them. Can you imagine?These lovelies are only a few of the multitude I produced. Wonder if I could shave off all that eyelash since I still like the idea and the colors. I've got a couple of drawers of scarves that definitely look like something alien is alive and multiplying in them.And then there was this hairy beauty. The owner of the Quarter Stitch again convinced me it would be fantastic. Wonder what I was smoking that day???? After two fronts were knitted and the back started, I came to my senses and it became a UFO, which believe it or not, I still possess. Think it's time to send it to the Frog Pond. Perhaps I could recuperate the base yarn and use it in a Jane Thornley creation.
And then there were the huge shawls knitted with Wild Stuff. I'm seriously thinking about frogging those for more Jane Thornleys. Perhaps pull out the eyelash threads? I probably have ten more projects worth (eyelash, not Wild Stuff). This is good eyelash (if that's not an oxymoron), not hobby store quality. I need to find a worthy recipient and de-stash the lot of it. In the Nineties, there was the Curse of the Boyfriend Sweater, a glorious cabled affair in tweedy charcoal handspun. The poor guy loved it, but couldn't wear it more than five minutes in the frigid Russian winter without sweating. And it grew, and grew, and grew. And finally, the curse worked, thank goodness. One photo somewhere if only I can find it.

Interesting to note that all this knitting was done as a completely solitary pursuit; I didn't know anyone who knit nor have anyone to inspire me or assist me with questions. I didn't have any books. I didn't know you needed a pattern to make a sweater or a scarf for the most part. The Aran Isle sweaters for the boys were probably found in a woman's magazine sold at the supermarket. It is simply amazing all of the knitting inspiration that is available now.
Now that I have quite embarrassed myself and just so you know I'm still knitting, Shedir is in the decreases. I actually added an extra repeat as had been suggested, but when I tried it on my son, it was too long, so I removed a full repeat of all those cables and started the decreases over again. Should finish it soon.
Thanks to Micki and Bea and Grace for nominating Purls Before Frogs for a You Make My Day Award. I am honored. I have to name all of you on my list, not as a tag back, but because I truly enjoy checking in on our your blogs regularly.

Now to pass the award on, in no particular order:

Celtic Memory Yarns - for Jo's beautiful writing and Richard's glorious photos.

Clementine's Shoes - for a look at Australia through Di's eyes, her lovely design sense, and her really cute baby.

Thing 4 String - for Micki's gorgeous knitting and spinning. We have this symbiotic relationship of starting the same projects at the same time unbeknownst.

Bea-Blacksheep - for her knitting, writing and all those photos of Abby and Gus.

Immer Wieder Socken - just to drool over all her gorgeous socks.

Florence Knitingale - because she makes me hold my sides laughing.

Knitspot - to see what Anne's designing and cooking.

Habetrot - for her wonderful research and photos.

Bookgrump - Grace makes me smile with all her critters, and it is so much fun to tease her.

Techknitting and NonaKnits - a tie for informative and generous technical information.

All of you brighten my day and teach me so much. Thank you.

Friends invited me to dinner tonight. I stopped by their house for a drink first, and the husband took me on a tour of their home. In their beautiful bedroom, I saw several knitting projects by a chair. I couldn't believe we had known each other for so long and we didn't know we were both obsessed knitters. What a delightful surprise. She doesn't use the internet and thought knitting was dying out! That she was one of the last who knew how. We've gotta change that.

And finally, I want to say how sad I was to hear of Gigi Silva's death, way, way too early. I've knit three of her beautiful sock patterns, and they are among my favorites. Her e-mails were always sweet and helpful and she gave her work freely for everyone to enjoy. I was wearing my beloved Brigits when I read the news. Sympathy and best wishes for her young family.