We have a newcomer in the family.  Meet the Librarian!

It’s a Dell netbook - 10.25” wide, 7” deep and about 1” tall.  It weighs less than 2.5 lbs.  Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh…..

I am absolutely enchanted with this machine.  It all started when I mentioned to Myria that my reader was beginning to show some issues.  It’s a Viewsonic PPC and has been in near constant use for almost 7 years.  Mainly I have used it as a portable book-reader and an appointment keeper and I was beginning to think I should start looking for a new one.

But guess what?  There aren’t a lot of PPCs being made any more; do-everything phones have just about killed that market and what there is that’s still available is very expensive and comes with a lot of features I don’t need and would never use.

Of course my resident computer expert encouraged me to look at the netbooks - the little, tiny laptops that have been springing up everywhere.  They were small, portable, light-weight and cute as the dickens :)  I was reluctant at first because I wanted something small enough to put in my purse and because I doubted that I would be able to manage (what I thought would be) the small keyboard on a netbook.

As it happens, the keys on the Dell are actually bigger than the keys on the Logitech keyboard that I use with my main system.

We researched the possibilities - including looking at exclusive readers like Sony’s and Amazon’s Kindle and while they certainly do a good job, reading books is all they do.  I don’t need Blue Tooth or GPS, but I wanted a little more functionality than that.  Also, for a one-trick-pony, I felt they were a little expensive.  On to the netbooks.

These little things are ubiquitous - or nearly so :)  Everybody makes one (including Gateway which I thought had died the big death years ago) and some manufacturers make several versions.  But the basic package is pretty much the same no matter who you buy it from.  1 gig of RAM, 160 gig hard drive, built in wi-fi.  The cases can vary quite a lot - and you can pay a fair bit extra for a colored case (something other than black) or a “special” edition designer case.  Other extras would include things like more memory, a bigger hard-drive, etc.  After looking around, it seemed that the basic Dell machine would suit my needs well.

Frankly, it’s a better and faster unit than my main system - which is also Dell, but several years old now :)

That’s my reader software.  I was really afraid I would have trouble reading on the small screen.  But actually, the screen isn’t that small and I have no trouble reading at all.  Whee!

So Myria and my father got together an gave me a combined, early Christmas present :)  I dearly love this little machine.  I can do anything with it that I can do with my main system and I can bring it anywhere.

I have a bag I can use to put it in, but I eventually want something I can use both as a purse and a carrier.  I’ll have to look around and see what’s available but there’s a possibility of making one too :)  That might be too much fun not to try!

Finally, from the Try Anything department:

Last weekend I got an urge to make something decorative for fall as we have absolutely nothing.  Christmas decorations we have - Thanksgiving/fall - not so much.  Anyway, I hied me to the webs looking for pumpkin patterns.  Let me tell you, you could drown in all the pumpkin patterns available for free out there.  But in the midst of searching through them, I remembered a pattern for making a ball - a sphere.  It’s here - Judy’s 12 Section Yarnball.  The 12-section is for a large ball.  I used the pattern for the smaller ball towards the bottom of the page.  And I followed the pattern exactly (except for the number of sections) but I crocheted it instead of knitting it.

I admit it was something of a whimsical experiment that happened to come out way better than expected.  The rounder pumpkin has 6 sections; the squattier version has 8 (the stems and vines were improvised).  They took very little time to make and were really quite a bit of fun.  If you want to try this, I used worsted weight yarn and a size H hook - but the pattern should work just as well for any size yarn and the appropriately sized tool to work it with.

Myria loves them! 

I’ve been working on a few projects recently :)  One you already know about and two are new.  Well, new to the blog, anyway…

The Vortex Blanket you have seen before.  I reached a desirable diameter (that is, I got to a point where I felt that another trip around the circumference would render me a blithering idiot!) and decided to start the border.  You may remember me dithering about a border some time ago?  I did try a couple of things - lacy things but they didn’t work for me.  I could work them just fine but somehow they didn’t look right to me.  Then I tried a crochet edging which was even worse.  So the whole thing lay in my work basket for quite a while as I was annoyed with it - well, with myself actually :)

Then a few nights ago I thought about garter stitch, probably because one of the newer projects is in garter, and decided to give that a try.  As you can se in the above photo, it seems to be working out quite well.  My only issue (and it’s a very, minor quibble) is that I’ll need more yarn to work this all the way around the circumference of the blanket.  A lacier stitch might have been satisfied with the yarn I had on hand, but this wants more - at least that’s my belief.  So I picked up a bit more this week at Michaels where the Patons wool I’m using was on sale for about half price!

And, of course, for that kind of savings, I bought more yarn to dye and a bunch of beautiful eggplant purple that I have no idea what to do with yet.  I just couldn’t resist the color :).

The garter stitch project is this:

It’s a very basic shawl/scarf type of thing, similar to the Meanderthal Shawl.  The darker yarn is the one that was dyed here plus some radiant Spunky Eclectic sport-weight that Rob sent me some time back.  It has been ageing in the stash and when I started thinking about this project and what might be interesting to combine with the dyed stuff, this started jumping up and down and yelling “me-me-me-me-mmmME!!”

The idea is that the colors look like (to me, anyway) either sunrise or sunset - depending, I suppose, on whether you’re facing east or west.  The dark parts have stars (randomly placed beads) and even the occasional constellation (not-so-randomly placed beads).  It will end with a lacy pattern around the bottom, meant to represent the suns rays as it either rises or sets.  I have begun the lace, but you can’t see it because it’s all scrunched up on the cable :)  I’d like to think I’ll have this done soon, but Christmas is coming and I have started my holiday projects - which will take precedence for a while, I’m afraid.

Which leads me to the last project :)

...and…

This is intended to be a throw, or a lap blanket.  Of the color arrangements pictured above, I prefer the one with the variegated border.  Of course you have to do it both ways so you can see which one looks better.  I might do three more of the aran colored border square for the corners of the throw.  I haven’t decided yet - and I won’t have to decide for a little while :)  The squares are 11” on a side, so I’m thinking a 4 x 6 grid would make a reasonably sized throw. 

I’m using Red Heart SuperSaver here both for utility’s sake (washer/dryer) and because I fell in love with the colors.  I have, however, noticed a change in the yarn.  It is spun much more loosely than before and while that gives it an interesting “textured” look, I fear that it’s longevity, for any given item into which it’s made, will be impaired.  It’s also quite splitty.  Sigh…  I guess everyone’s feeling the pinch and more and more things are degrading in quality so the price point can remain stable.  Semi-stable…whatever.  This has been such a good, work-horse yarn, for so long, that I’m really saddened to see the change.

Olay - this morning we had the big draw…

Cue hunting shark music from Jaws...DA-dum, DA-dum, DadumDadumDadum…)

And here’s the pick…

And here’s the winner!

Greta, drop me a line letting me know where you’d like me to send the yarn and needles and I’ll get them out to you, pronto :)

Thanks everyone for your sweet and kind comments.  I so wish we could all meet at a coffee shop,  sit down for a day and just knit and get to know one another.  That would be so much fun!

Despite what it says over there under Monthly Archives, I have been blogging since October of 2003 - 6 years!  I can’t quite believe it.  I honestly thought I’d get bored with it after a year or so and I grant you, I haven’t always been the most diligent poster in the world :)  But, I hadn’t counted on meeting all you exceptional folks and making such dear friends along the way.  You all have immeasurably enriched my life and for that, I am profoundly grateful.

Therefore, it seems a little recognition is called for!

I would like to offer these two skeins of bulky wool.  I dyed them yesterday and Myria whimsically dubbed the color Emma’s Teal.  The specs (per each) are:

Content: 100% Peruvian Highland Wool
Weight: Bulky Weight
Gauge: 3 - 3.75 sts = 1” on #10 - 11 needles (6.0mm-8.0mm)
Quantity: 137 yards/100 gram hank
Care: Hand Wash/Dry Flat

I am also including a pair of old-style Brittany black walnut needles, size 10.5 US (6.5 mm).  These are 14” long so they’ll handle quite a few stitches and they’re the perfect size with which to work this yarn. 

All you have to do is leave a comment to this post and I will randomly select a name next Thursday morning (November 5th) and post the winner. 

Thank-you all for your kindness, friendship and support over the last six years.  Let’s hope for another six!

This post may be a bit lengthy and I apologize for that.  It’s in two parts which have some bearing upon each other.

Part One - To Dye For

Quite some time ago, Myria presented me with her beloved mitts.  They had become a bit tattered over the course of three years of semi-heavy duty usage.  This was actually not a problem for her, but I wanted to see if I could repair them so I found the original ball of yarn - what was left of it - and proceeded to fix things (minor holes) as best I could. 

While I was working on the mending, it occurred to me that Myria really should have new mitts for this winter and toward that end, I ordered some yarn - Kntipicks Bare, fingering weight, 70% wool, 30% silk.  The originals had been made out of pure merino and I’m hoping that the silk content in the new yarn will improve strength and wear.  Merino is lovely stuff, soft and kind to the skin, but it isn’t especially sturdy.

The yarn came in about a week later and I started to set things up to dye it (she wanted the same style and color as before) when I noticed a dark grey substance across one end of the hank.  It looked as though the hank had been brushed against some sort of thick liquid which had then dried on the yarn.  I ceased dyeing preparations and called Knitpicks,.

To sat they were helpful would be understating things considerably.  They not only didn’t want me to send this skein back, they immediately shipped a replacement for me which I received in another few days.  It was pristine and perfect so the dyeing commenced using the same formula I had used for the original merino: Tea Rose.

Eventually, it occurred to me that I still had the first skein that was sent, the dirtied one, and I might as well try washing and/or dyeing it.  I first tried cleaning it.  Whatever the stuff was, it seemed to have solified to the point where it had become part of the yarn. It looked a little like tar, though it didn’t have that characteristic odor - and it didn’t show any signs of softening, loosening or anything else in the hot water.  Figuring I had nothing to lose, I dumped it into the dyepot with some grass green tablets and let it go.  This was the result…

What I wound up with was a hank of pale, spring green yarn with some bright and disconcerting red areas!  Now I knew what the “dirty” stuff had been, though it hadn’t looked red at all.  I suppoe it could have been anopther substance entirely, one that acted as a mordant on the green dye in those areas where it adhered to the fabric.  That gets further out into speculation than I want to go so suffice it to say I got a mostly green hank with some assertive red spots.

Fugly - about the fugliest yarn I’ve ever dyed.  After it had been washed and dried, it went into the cupboard.  Out of sight, out of mind :)

And then, a couple of weeks ago, I ran into it again.  How?  The usual way :)  I was scrounging around for something else and suddenly found myself with a handful of hideousity.  And I stood there staring at it and wondering.  The green was very pale.  Surely a strong enough dose of some other color would dumb it into submission - wouldn’t it? 

Back into the dye pot it went, this time with enough red and purple dye for a platoon of prom dresses.  I figured even if it came out totally mud-colored, it would be no great loss; I sure wasn’t going to use it as it was anyway.

This is what happened and believe me, that was quite a bit better than I had expected.  A sort of deep/dull magenta with some greenish-greyish notes.  Even if it wasn’t spectacular, it was at least useable.  I watched it in the kitchen as it dried over the next couple of days and couldn’t help thinking that some blue on top of that might yield interesting results.  Myria advised me to leave well enough alone but the notion wouldn’t go away.  So yesterday…

Now this I’m really pleased with.  This is not only useable but desireable - all muted tones of purple, magenta and teal.  Whee, what fun!  I have a couple of things in mind to use it for but that will have to wait until it’s entirely dry.

Part Two - Old and New

I completed Myria’s new mitts a couple of nights ago.  I got through the first one in no time and the second one seemed to take months.  The new ones, as the old ones, are the Dana Victoria mitts pattern with a couple of slight variations.  The new mitts are longer so as to extend further up the arm for (hopefully) added warmth.  They also have additional bobbles around the tops at the ends of the leaf/vine motifs - just because :)

Here they are just prior to finishing and…

...in comparison to the older mitts.

It was interesting to note the felting of the leaf motifs up near the top of the old mitts, where they would have been in almost constant contact with the thumb and fingers.
And I know my Myria - she’ll wear the old ones until they’re utter strings and rags before she switches over to the new ones.  And I guess that doesn’t bother me too much.  They’re her mitts, after all, so she’s the one who gets to decide how and when they’re used.

I don’t know how you all feel about such things, but I am thrilled right down to my toes to see an item that I’ve knit that well worn and loved. 

Makes me feel like I done good :)

I just loved that extended paw propped up on the CD storage tower.  Even after I disturbed her (How dare you pet me when I’m basking!!), Jade put her paw right back up there.  She amuses me no end :)

I managed to finish two things over the past few days.  The first is a blanket for my father.

I had started this quite a while back to use up the mohair that was left over from making my own Lace Blanket.  Originally it was intended to be back-up for me but I had a better idea.  Dad, being old, has trouble keeping warm and since mohair is about the most insulating and warming thing I know of, it occurred to me that he might enjoy having a mohair blanket too.  I asked him one day if this was something he might find useful and he allowed that it was.  So I got down to the business of finishing it for him.

You can refer to the above link for the procedure for making this but I can tell you about it in a few sentences.

1.  Make 5 or 6 scarves in your choice of fiber and color.
2.  Sew or crochet them together along their long sides.
3.  Do an edging of some sort - simple, complex - it’s all up to you.

Ta-dah!

This is plain stockinette for the most part.  However, when I so bored with that I was practically sleeping with the needles in my hands, I threw in a row or two of eyelets - just for something different to do for a few minutes :)

I had pretty much decided that my crocheting days were behind me at this point.  Crochet seems to require finer motor control than knitting and the numbness in my fingers doesn’t allow for much of that.  I had tried it a couple of times and found that when I wasn’t dropping the crochet hook, I was having a tough time getting the stitches right.  However, when it came to assembling the blanket, I felt that crochet was my best bet in terms of looks and solidity - so I decided to try it again.  And I discovered that - somehow - my hands had figured out how to do it without constantly losing the hook (I only dropped it once).  Got the stitches right too!  I was very pleased and not a little relieved.  I could certainly live if I never crocheted again, but it’s nice I don’t have to worry about that any more - well for the time being :)

I also finished the scarf for my oncologist and am pleased with how it came out.

I still have to run in the ends, but that will only take a few moments.  I do need to get it done this evening though, because tomorrow is the last time I’ll see him.

This is the Open Cable Scarf pattern.  Despite the fact that there are cable crossings on every right-side row, this is really simple to work.  You don’t even need to look at the pattern after the first couple of repeats.

Since I have sometimes complained bitterly about the conditions and service in supermarkets, I feel compelled to share this as well.  A week or so ago, I went to the deli for half a pound of liverwurst and asked the young man behind the counter how fresh it was.  He held up the end of a stick. 

“I can probably get half a pound out of this,” he said, “But I can open a new one if you’d like.”
“Would that be okay,” I asked, “You won’t get in trouble?”
“Nah!” He smiled and proceeded to fill my request from a fresh stick.

When I got up to the check-out, I asked the cashier to pass along to the management how pleasant and helpful I had found the store’s deli personnel to be.

“That’s what we like to hear.”  Then she gave me an impish smile. “And how about the cashiers?”

I had to laugh.  “Absolutely!”