Yup that's right finished the Jaakukka shawl, not without some trauma. I had the entire thing cast off and when I went to block....way way too tight. So 3 hours of tinking back, stitch by stitch until I had all of the live stitches picked up. Thanks to some tech help from the knitter gals in the Lace Knitters group on Rav and some live and personal help from my lace Yoda Jae, I was able to finish it and it blocked beautifully. Did I put a lifeline in? You know me....I like to live dangerously. So without further ado...Shawl Pr0n!!
What to work on next? I have no clue, maybe I should finish up the 5 or so UFO's that I have lurking in my knitting basket. Though I never feel quite right unless I have something lacy on the needles.
As for anything new...not much. I have had a busy weekend and I have a busy day ahead of me tomorrow wrapping up all of the X-mas crap. Mr. Larj would like to skip having a tree but I really love having a real tree up. Besides all of the decorations and stuff to set up I have some things to buy for friends. I didn't make anything for anyone this year. I really hate knitting or crafting with a deadline, I just don't do well. Still working on some spinning, I've started going to the Saturday AM spinning circle at Ewenique Knits in Royal Oak. It's a lot of fun and the girls are really great. It's sort of an informal instruct rather than a class. I even was able to help out with a few tips and tricks. Yay!!
I'm sure that I won't be posting anything before the holidays so everyone enjoy and have a safe and happy new year!! Cyber hugs to all!!
Well, I finally got sucked in to the world of spinning thanks to a little enabling from Sonya. I started out with a drop spindle, then moved on to a Trindle and thanks to Mr. Larj I now own an Ashford Kiwi spinning wheel. It's going to take me a little getting used to. I don't claim any sort of proficiency but, I'm getting there. I think having a wheel has actually made me a better spindle spinner. It's all in the "feel" for what's going on with the wool and drafting process. I tried out about ten wheels at The Spinning Loft and settled on the Kiwi. Mr. Larj got lucky on this one since it's one of the more reasonably priced wheels. That doesn't mean that I've abandoned the drop spindle. I think I even managed to salvage my first effort at spinning. It's a single that I did on Schacht spindle. It was totally overspun in spots and well...wonky to say the least. I gave it a good soak and then I dyed it with orange Kool-Aid with a smidge of grape thrown in to tone it down to a pumpkin color. I think it turned out ok, I just hope I can knit it up in to something and that the overspin doesn't come back to haunt me. I weighted the hell out of it when it was drying so hopefully that'll tame it. My second effort was a little more involved. I spun two singles using my trindle and then plied them on the wheel. My first experience with plying was a little hair raising to say the least. I was glad that I had Marilyn at Ewe-nique knits there to lend me a hand and sort things out. I attended the spinning circle that they have on Sat AM's. It's $10 for 3 hours, though not officially a class, more like an informal instruct. The color is a little crazy but I like it. I also went back out to The Spinning Loft to have my wheel tweaked and of course invested in some more roving. Now I'll need 2 stash cabinets!
My friend Jim also offered me a little acerage for a sheep. He said that all I have to do is pay for feed and hay in the winter time. He already has 2 sheep so they wouldn't be an "only". I am seriously thinking about it.
As for knitting? I'm a little vexed that my tendinitis is still hanging around enough to make me back off of my knitting as of late. There are things that I really want to work on but I am also trying to make this pain stop. It's easing up slightly but ever so slightly. I'm a frikkin ' soft tissue nightmare.
I am in the home strretch of the Jaakukka shawl. I am crossing my fingers that I'll have enough yarn to finish. I ran it past a couple of experienced lace knitters and they seem to think I should make it. I think "should" is the key word here ;-) There's one skein up for sell or trade on Ravelry so I should probably just go for it and if I run out at least there's that option.
As for any other news...nothing really. Everything is pretty much status quo. Well...off to do a little spinning ;-)
It's that time of year, the leaves are still on the trees but not for much longer. I feel that dreary rainy cold bleah season breathing down my neck. I've decided that this winter I need to try to find an outdoor "something" to do. After all this is Michigan..you know..."winter wonderland" and all that crap. I was thinking about either cross country skiing or snowshoeing, any thoughts? No down hill for this chicken and snow mobilies don't appeal to me. So what's new? Meh...not much. On the knitting front I have been solely dedicating my time to the Jaakukka shawl. I really wish I could get a good shot of the color. I've yet to really capture the subtlety of the blue and yellow interplay. I think it will be stunning once it's done. I've got about six repeats done so I am almost half way there. I have had some issues with working on this, I've had a flare of my frikkin' tendinitis. It really pisses me off too, now it's in my elbows. I'm a soft tissue nightmare! Personally I think a lot of it relates to my mental state at any given moment, I can't lie I've been in a real funk since my "vacation". I was so looking forward to it and it ended up so fubar.I probably would have been better off not even having gone in the first place. I have been doing a little retail therapy lately, I got some really cute project bags off of Etsy, I found a bag that had the same fabric as my laptop bag so of course I had to have it. This seller also had a really fun little bag with some construction worker hunks and as you all know by my "Mr. Larj" links, I do like some nicely arranged man flesh. ;-)
Today's retail therapy happened at the Fiber Expo in Ann Arbor. It's only about a 40 minute drive from home and this time of year it was really pretty drive with the fall colors in full swing. There were all sorts of vendors and of course alpaca's, sheep and angora rabbits. I got a little crazy with the roving which is sort of funny given the fact tha I've yet to really spin anything other than a couple of little wads of wool. One turned out OK but the other is totally over spun and when I tried to ply them together it wasn't good. I might just set it aside and try some of the new stuff and get back to plying when I feel like I have a handle on where to start with it.
Other than that...nothing really new. Work is work, at least I have been able to work up on the floors where I wan't to be as opposed to working on Inpatient Rehab. I prefer the really sick people ;-) Mr. Larj is still hopelessly addicted to War-crack. I don't see or hear much from him although I did manage to drag him out to dinner tonight. I have to be a little bit nice to him if I plan on trying to wrangle a spinning wheel out of him for X-mas. The folks are about the same. My evil little mom is still her evil little self. As much as I malign her though I do have to appreciate her sense of humor. I was over there the other day and she had the movie Poltergist on. It was towards the end where the characters are about to get sucked in to what looks like...a giant vag. I said "boy ma that thing looks like a giant vag" at which point she started cracking up and said "it sure as hell does!!" ;-) I guess we all know where I get my sense of humor, between her and Harry I'm genetically predisposed to be sick and twisted.
Well, I think I'm gonna go and get a jump start on my week by getting the laundry started and maybe do a litte vacuuming. Bleah....
Ergh......I've always said that travel, even when it's bad is still a learning experience. Some lessons I could really do without.
We planned a trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. For those of you who don't know, our state is divided in to two very separate and distinct parts. The lower peninsula (shaped like a mitten) and the upper part. The two halves are connected by one of the largest suspension bridges in the world. I've traveled to the U.P. but not since I was a kid, I was hoping to catch the fall colors as they were changing , get some great photos and relax.
Mr. Larj and I have never taken a "driving" vacation together, this was to be a first. He wasn't really on board with going to the U.P., he'd been there before and wasn't really thrilled about staying in state for a vacation. The first couple of days went pretty well, however on the third day we hit Munising and went on the Pictured Rock boat tour. The complaining started before we even got on the boat. Mr. Larj informed me that he would get sick if it was windy out there because cold wind always gave him earaches. He had on a hat and fleece hoodie that was pulled tight around his head and basically kept himself hunkered down during the entire 3 hour trip. If it's possible to talk yourself in to getting sick....he did it. By the time we hit Hancock the next day he informed me that he was "getting ill". So any sightseeing that I wanted to do was met with eye rolling and mild resistance. We were in a book store for 10 minutes and I heard about it for the next two hours, you'd have thought I gave him a root canal. After we left Hancock we spent the night in Baraga and then headed up to Copper Harbor. We found a place to stay that Mr. Larj declared "smelled musty" and started in on a list of things he was allergic to, mold being at the top of the list. At least we found a decent place to go to dinner at the Harbor Haus restaurant. It's chef owned and the food is really quite good, they also have a decent wine list. We stayed a couple of nights in Copper Harbor, I scoped out some of the galleries and we squeezed in a 3 hour hike on the ridge behind the harbor. After eating breakfast at the Tamrack inn, (best pancakes ever) Mr. Larj informed me that he'd had enough of looking at trees, little nick knack shops and that he was tired of "spending money just doing nothing". So at that point we headed back. I managed to hit one yarn shop very briefly on the way back and that was it, any and all other stops were canceled and he drove the entire way home, straight through. Not only that, we never saw any fall colors because for whatever reason, they're about two weeks behind in turning.
Great...that's all I can say. I am voting for separate vacations next time. I did take some knitting with me, I didn't get to work on as much as I would have liked to but I started and completed a hat. It's Shazza's Muse hat but I modified it to be more of a snood.
The grande finale to my "vacation" is that when we got home....I got sick, really sick. I've spent the last five days either curled up in my recliner or sleeping on the couch. Nyquil has been my best friend. So I burned up two more days of "smart time" being sick. Back to work tomorrow, my guess is that it won't take me long to get the 1000 yard stare back and be right back to my stressed out self.
....and it's getting colder. Is Fall here already? It sure feels like it in these parts. As for another year older I had my BD last week. It was very nice, I got some great gifts and shared some great company with friends. I forced Mr. Larj to get a birthday cake and sing to me. I told him those were his only two requirements. He also got me the Knitpicks options needles (metal), and two skeins of cobalt blue laceweight. I have yet to break them in but I'm sure it won't be long before the right project will get cast on.
I actually haven't been spending too much time knitting. I have been practicing drop spindle spinning with a fair amount of success. I have two TP rolls wound with wool that I now have to learn to ply. I think it's going to eventually come out as a heavy worsted to chunky weight. I think I am finally getting the hang of it and by the time I finished the last bit of a 4 ounce roving I felt like I had a more consistent spin and thickness. There's something very soothing about spinning as well. Of couse to feed my new obsession, Sonya showed me her new "trindle" and how well it works keeping a spin going. So of course I had to get on to Etsy and get one for myself. I can't wait to try it out!
Non-knitting news: Nothing really exciting. Work is about the same, I never know what I'm going to walk in to on any given day. It's a little crazy. Mr. Larj is attempting to quit smoking.....again. I am very close to giving him the pillow. He's cranky, bitchy, and his favorite pasttime is to follow me around the house critquing absolutely everything that I am doing from loading the dishwasher to putting something in the trash. Smoking might not kill him but if he keeps it up....I might.
Now that the weather is cooling off, I really need to buckle down and do some bench work. I have been sadly neglecting my Etsy store and jewelry making in general. I think this is the laziest summer that I've ever had. When I got home from work or had a decent weekend I made it a point to do as little as possible. I'm sure it'll catch up to me in some capacity.
Well off to get my butt in gear and get what I need to make dinner. I am going to make Hanna's recipe for Finnish salmon stew. Nom!!
It's sad but true, summer is slowly winding down. It's still hot as hell here and we've only run the AC one week all summer. I have to say that this has truly been one of the laziest summers that I've had in recent years. I've really had zero motivation to do anything, walk the dog, garden, you name it. I could care less. All I've wanted to do is sit on my butt, surf the web and knit. Given all of that you'd think that I would have a mound of knitting done but I haven't managed to finish anything in a while. That is until this last week. Ta Da!! The non-indigo ripples skirt is finally finished. I love the way it turned out. The yarn that I used is a little "sheddy" but other than that perfect. I did a few modifications all the specs are on my Ravelry projects page.
I think a large part of my decreased motivation is on account of my job. For the last few months I've been splitting my time between Inpatient Rehab and Acute treatment. I feel like I am going in every day not knowing what's going to hit me. Now towards the end of the summer with everyone wanting to get time off we are really stretched thin and my rehab caseload has been sick, both figuratively and literally. I will be glad if and when we can ever get our staff levels up and everyone is back from their vacations and leaves. I'm tired of being tired. Speaking of time off, Mr. Larj and I have scheduled a bit of vacation time for September. We plan on heading to the upper peninsula of Michigan to see the sites and hopefully some fall colors. I haven't been up there since I was a kid and only to the Soo Locks. I'm hoping to head towards the Marquette, Keweenaw peninsula area.
What's on the knitting needles? I have the Leaf T-shirt started just barely and I have a couple of sock projects going. I also got the yarn in the mail today to start the Jaakukka shawl. I've been working on translating the pattern from Finnish with help from some of the gals from Ulla, the Finnish online knitting mag. I'm going to do mine in red...oh yes...red. ;-)
Also as you can tell by the above photo I've started spinning. That little scamp Sonya gifted me a spindle, roving and a how to spin book. That's what I accomplished the other night. It's a lot harder than it looks but I hope to conquer this new obsession and make it work.
I feel like I'm lurking on my own blog these day. I've been really lame about updating and keeping up with what's going on in my knitting and real life.
As for knitting, I am picking away at the Indigo Ripples skirt. I have finished the stockinette portion and am moving on to the lace section. Of course I had to chart it out for myself. I can't function without a chart. I can't believe that it's already inundated with dog hair. I swear I'm going to shave that dog one of these days. I am also still picking away on the Glynis sock from the Cookie A. book and of course my "at work" socks are an ongoing and never ending project. I really like the pattern that I'm using for the work sock. It's the "River Rapids" sock from Sock Bug. Nice pattern, works up fast and is easily memorized.
Everyday stuff. Nothing really new here. We are having a really lovely summer in these parts. The weather has been just stellar. My flowers are all doing well except my roses look like crap. They just take too darn much maintenance. I'm all about fast and dirty gardening. My tactic this year was to sow some wildflower seed early in the spring and whatever happened happened. I have to say that the result was fantastic. Not only are they oh so pretty but they choke out the weeds. That's right, no weeding! Mr. Larj is still obsessed with playing World of Warcraft. I think its a pathetic waste of time but....I guess whatever floats his boat. At least it keeps him out of my hair. My folks are doing OK. My mom put my Dad in to hospice. Before anyone freaks out...it's basically for his dementia and it gives him a little more TLC from the visiting nurses. In fact I stopped in at their house today and got to meet all of my Dad's caregivers. They all seem really awesome. Personally, I still think that Harry is going to outlive all of us ;-)
Work is work...I am splitting my time between departments which means that I get absolutely nothing done. I keep telling myself that inefficiency = job security. Still it's frustrating to try and give quality treatment when I'm being pulled in two different directions.
Well that's about it....nothing thrilling, no vacation plans, no major changes....is that a good thing?
Now, it's officially finished. Very happy with the way it turned out. I still have enough of the Noro Kureyon sock to make a short cuff pair of socks in the "clown barf" colorway.
The Revontuli shawl is finished. I liked the pattern, still not sure if I did my right and left decreases in the right spot. The pattern had me a little thrown off on account of the chart only going to half of the shawl. I was initially totally lost but thanks to a helpful Raveller, I was able to figure it out and continue on only slightly lost. As it is I have really terrible right and left discrimination.
Now...what to cast on next. I have designs on starting and finshing the "Indigo Ripples" skirt (in black) before my BD in August. Of course there is the never ending queue of socks. I really don't feel satisfied unless I have something lace going. I think I have an addiction.
Since, I've been on here last, my sister and friend Cyndi have come and gone for their summer visits. I had a lot of fun with both of them. Gus is planning another trip here in October around Halloween. So now life is somewhat back to normal. There have been a few changes on my job. I have been indifinitely moved to a different unit at the hospital, inpatient rehab. Anyone who knows me in RL knows that IPR as it's known is one of my least favorite units to work on. The problem is that Medicare requires "medical nesessity" for someone to be on the unit. Bascially this means that they have to be sick enough to need access to a physician 24/7. However when someone is that ill, it's a little unrealistic to expect them to perform 3 (required by Medicare) hours of therapy a day. Consequently, I feel like I am torturing most of my patient by dragging them through treatment. There are some that really benefit and progress nicely, but it seems to be the exception rather than the rule. Other goings on, Mr. Larj has been pretty steady with his fill in position. He was bitching the other day about having to work the weekend and I had to gently remind him about the state of the economy here in Michigan.
Well summer looks to be here so it looks like knitting on the patio is in full swing, hope to have more updates and FO's coming up.
When I went to knit night a few weeks back I saw a couple of the other knitters with these cool table lamps. I have a natural light goose neck next to my chair in the family room but I had never seen anything portable. When I asked about them they told me that they were Ott Lites and that JoAnn fabric sometimes had them on sale. As it happened they had a huge sale for Memorial Day weekend and Ott Lite's were 50% off. I checked last night on line and they were completely sold out. I wasn't even going to bother checking at the store thinking that they would probably be sold out too, but there was that little voice in the back of my head telling me that I had better go. I'm glad I did, they had 3 of the rechargeable one's left on the shelf. Squeeeee!! Not only that, I had another coupon for 10% off of the entire bill, including sale items so I actually got it for 60% off. How cool is that? I think it was probably my first time actually using a coupon. Usually I clip them and find them at the bottom of my bag months after the expiration date. Now of course because I saved so much money...it made perfect sense to me to stimulate the economy with a little Paton's sock yarn. I got several skeins of the "stretch sock", perfect for summer socks. I also picked up a sweater shaver and a couple of clicky row counters. The ugly green acrylic is for some quick crochet pot holders. Mine all seem to have grown legs.
Here's a sneak peek at the beginning of the Revontuli shawl. Yeah...I know the colors ;-) I wanted something bright, in my mind this is how I imagine the Northern Lights to be. Though I have yet to actually see them in person (it's a goal). Lynn's reaction at knitting the other night was a simple "Oh!?" I think that sort of sums it up. I am thoroughly convinced that when it's all said and done it will be gorgeous. I'm using Noro Kureyon sock yarn. I am also using my wonderful Julip lace knitting bag for the first time. Amby is a genius for coming up with the needles on the outside design. No more snagged lace!
Well it's been a beautiful and lazy weekend, I couldn't have asked for a better one. Again, looking forward to my sis and friend Cyndi visiting next weekend. Everyone have a great week!
o the Saturday AM spinning circle at Ewenique Knits in Royal Oak. It's a lot of fun and the girls are really great. It's sort of an informal instruct rather than a class. I even was able to help out with a few tips and tricks. Yay!! 
