Almost Ready...

I'm about to wrap the last of my Christmas presents, and only have one watch cap left to knit. I can't wait to see Jarek's reaction to the scarf he requested: The cap that Snoopy is wearing is for Larry. The one still in the works will be for Jarek and will more closely resemble the scarf, with blue and red interspersed.

It's December already?

Where did November go? Seems like I just wrote about my first days of retirement, and now my first month is gone! I'm trying to get into some sort of daily routine, but no two days are alike so that is difficult. I have been successful at going to our fitness club every morning (Monday through Friday) and taking either a low-impact aerobics/toning class or something called Body Sculpt. I wasn't sure I would like the group experience (I'm one of those lonely long distance runners) but I'm finding it to be really quite enjoyable. The same people show up at the classes in the morning, and I'm starting to get to know some of them. This past week I even managed to run 3 miles on a treadmill after Body Sculpt.

So far I haven't spent much time during the days knitting or spinning. But I have managed to finish the equilateral vest:



I really like the way it turned out, and have even worn it a couple of times. I thought the i-cord border would take a long time, but it actually went quickly.

I have also finished a couple of scarves, one for me and one that will be a gift to someone at some point. Hobbes has become a useful model, it turns out.

Today we are having the first major winter storm of the season. Started out with 5-6 inches of snow, followed by sleet, freezing rain, back to sleet. Something's still coming down, and the winds are expected to pick up over night.

A New Era Begins...

Well, it's official -- I have retired after a 34 year, 1 month, and 2 day career as a member of the classified and then academic staff at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I had a wild run, and for the last 14 years I believe I had the best job on campus. But it was time to let someone else have all that fun (!) and, besides, my yarn stash has been telling me that it's time to spend time at home.

My colleagues threw a really nice reception one afternoon last week. The program consisted of two colleagues (including my replacement) describing the various "hats" I wear in my job and having me model a corresponding hat. For example, for my space management role, I wore a hard hat. The role of which I am most proud, however, is that of campus knitter (because of my penchant for knitting in meetings). They had decorated a hat with yarn, and gave me huge needles and yarn to hold.

Among the gifts I received was a gift card to my favorite yarn store. I couldn't let that card go unused for long, and yesterday it was put towards a Hanne Falkenberg Ballerina swing coat kit (colorway #13, for those interested). It looks like a challenging project, but I have found a KAL to join where hopefully I will find whatever help I need.

The only problem I am facing, which may prevent me from spending as much time knitting and spinning as I would like, is a constant ache and fairly frequent stabbing pain in my right thumb joint. It's probably arthritis, but I have decided to get it checked out just in case it's actually tendonitis or some other more treatable ailment. I will start with physical therapy and see where that takes me.

Knitting Update: The retro rib socks are done. Now I am working on Pomatomus, using the same yarn (and same colorway) from Shelridge Farms that CookieA used. What a fabulous pattern!

Pictures, Current Projects

Larry's sweater has been measured, blocked and resized, measured again, and was presented to him on his birthday last Thursday. It fits well, and he seems to be pleased with it. It's been too warm here in southern Wisconsin for him to wear it yet, but the weather is 20 degrees cooler today so perhaps I will see it on him sometime this week. At the moment it's sitting on the kitchen table.



I normally would have doubled the number of rows on the neck ribbing, but Larry didn't want it riding any higher on his neck. So this sweater has the briefest neck ribbing I've ever used. Most of the time it will be covered by a shirt collar so hopefully it will work ok.



I am pleased with the shoulder shaping:












I have gone back to work on the Icarus shawl, and am on the 4th repeat of Chart A. I also worked on the Equilateral vest on our trip to Orlando a couple of weeks ago,



finishing the right front.

While in Orlando I also worked on #2 of the Retro Rib sock, finishing the leg, turning the heel, and getting through the heel gusset. Since taking this picture, I have continued on the foot, getting another inch done while attending a symphony concert this past weekend. Yes, I actually knit at the symphony! No one seems to mind, and it keeps me from nodding off.

MS3/Swan Lake Photo

Here's my MS3:

Another Ta Da!

Larry's saddle shoulder pullover is done (except for blocking)! For some reason, the song "Ding dong, the witch is dead" keeps running through my mind tonight. I wonder if there is a connection...

I am not happy with the neckline on this sweater, but Larry says it's fine, so I bound off last night, kitchenered the underarms and wove in ends tonight, and expect to block it tomorrow. Pictures should follow in short order.

Speaking of pictures, I've been trying to take photos of MS3, but I'm not happy with my results. How do you get good pictures of this item? BTW, I'm happy with this shawl, and expect to wear it this winter (already wore it once, to the symphony).

More ripping...

Could you hear the sound of Larry's saddle-shoulder sweater being ripped back again yesterday? You should have, it was pretty loud. I worked on the shoulder decreases all weekend, while watching football and golf on TV, had him try it on before starting the neck ribbing -- and all was fine at that time. So I did an inch of neck ribbing, bound off, and had him try it on one more time. Unfortunately it didn't pass muster -- the neck is too high in front for his liking -- so I ripped back to below the saddles, inserted a couple of shortrows in an attempt to lower the front of the neckline, and am reknitting (for the upteenth time) the saddles. If this doesn't work, I just may throw in the towel. I am so ready to be done with this project!

Ta Da!

Mystery Stole 3/Swan Lake is off the needles and on the blocking wires. It should be dry tomorrow, so I'll try to get some photos uploaded. It looks wonderful, all stretched out, and hopefully it will keep its shape when I take the wires and pins outs. I can't wait to try it on!

I have gone back to work on Larry's saddle-shoulder pullover. I started project last fall, and was close to finishing early summer, but wasn't happy with the neck so I ripped back. Not once, but twice. Hopefully the third time will be the charm. I recently told a few knitting friends that I hate this sweater and will never finish it, but I realized today that I was overreacting to what is hopefully a minor problem. I'm following EZ's directions, so I don't actually have a pattern to tell me exactly what to do, and that's my problem. Her formula isn't working out when it comes to finishing the saddle-shoulder, so I just need to trust my instincts and do what I think will work best.

MS3 Status

I finished the Follow the Leader Faroese shawl a week ago, allowing me to get back to work on MS3. I finished Clue 6 last night (Friday) and worked half of Clue 7 today. Having seen lots of pictures of finished MS3's plus one beautiful one in person (by friend Sue/Suesq), I'm excited about finishing mine. It's a wonderful design (thanks, Melanie!) and I'll wear mine proudly.

However, tomorrow is my son's 22nd birthday, and we're having a family dinner/party for him, which means cleaning the house, grocery shopping, present shopping, and food preparation instead of knitting, all by 3:00 when people should start arriving. I guess it's the least I can do, once a year... He really is a wonderful son!

I need to spend some time photographing some finished items as well as works-in-progress, and uploading the photos to Ravelry. Maybe Monday...

Ravelry!!!

Yeah! I received my invitation to join Ravelry yesterday morning. I chose Knitter106 as my username, so look for me there. It's going to take a long time to get all of my books, stash, projects, etc. entered. And so far I haven't been able to upload photos from Flickr, so there won't be pictures of finished objects for awhile.

I joined four groups right away: MS Knitting Camp, Zimmermania, Sticks & String, and Mystery Stole 3.

Catching Up -- SMW Recap

My goodness, it's September 2nd, and it appears that I entirely missed the month of August, at least as far as blogging is concerned. Guess it's time to fill in some gaps.

I went to Stitches Midwest with friend Linda. We think this was our 10th year in a row going to the event together. Just like last year, we drove to Chicago on Friday morning, spent the afternoon at the marketplace, attended the fashion show and dinner, stayed overnight at the Hyatt, shopped at the marketplace Saturday morning, and then drove home. I had every intention of not buying much yarn at all (after the damage done at camp in July...) and started out pretty well. I bought a couple of patterns, lace needles, and a set of blocking wires. Then I fell in love with some Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy and Silky Wool, both drastically reduced at Web's, and that meant looking for patterns for the Hempathy. I bought two skeins of Sheldridge Farm's 3-ply fingering weight soft touch ultra, for the Pomatamus socks, in the color-way on the website. And I bought one small skein of Zephyr (in color Juniper) which hopefully will be enough for a small shawl or large scarf. Even after those purchases, I was still feeling pretty smug (Linda had spent more at this point, we think). So then we attended the fashion show. Actually, it was waiting in line for the fashion show where the initial damage was done. We happened to be in line right in front of Jonelle and Joe Raffino, the owners of Southwest Trading Company, which brings us Tofutsies sock yarn as well as other interesting fibers. They invited us to stop by their booth in the morning, which we did, and gave us some samples to play with. Then I went in search of some Tofutsies to buy, and found one skein (which is enough for a pair of socks) of one of the limited edition collection.

I was almost home-free at this point, when I suddenly made a mad-dash back to a booth that I had visited and resisted only 30 minutes earlier, and bought the Andrea shawl kit that was featured in the fashion show. It's 100% silk with gold beads. Like I need another shawl of any color, size, or fabric. Right. But what's done is done.

Another successful Stitches Midwest experience. Can't wait until next year!

Knitting Camp Recap

I attended Meg Swansen's Knitting Camp 2 last weekend, and it was as wonderful an experience as Camp 1 was last year. Maybe even better. The attendees were a mixture of last year's Camp 1 graduates, returning Camp 2ers, and first-timers. It was good to see familiar faces and to get to make new friends (including someone who works in my favorite LYS -- hope to see you soon, Dee!). It's hard to describe exactly how wonderful Camp is -- you really need to experience it for yourself! I don't think I will ever grow tired of listening to Meg, Amy, and Joyce talk about various knitting techniques. And the daily show-and-tell by campers is unbelievable. I came home so inspired, and with so many new projects to tackle. It sort of felt like Thanksgiving -- my eyes were bigger than my knitting ability.

Welcome to My Blog

Hi! I'm Eileen, otherwise known as Knitter106. I live in Madison, WI, have been a runner since 1977, and a serious knitter nearly as long (though I've been knitting much longer than that). I actually can't remember learning to knit, but it was probably in the early 1960s. Running and knitting are two important passions -- running keeps me healthy and knitting keeps me sane and somewhat calm under pressure. I worry about how I'll cope if/when I can no longer run or knit.

I have worked for 34 years, and am preparing to retire in November. Preparation this summer included hiring my replacement, taking the entire month of July as vacation, and returning to work 50-60% time on August 1. The vacation is winding down, but has been a perfect way to disconnect from the office and to let my colleagues discover life without me.

So, what's the purpose of this blog? At the current time I'm expecting it to be documentation of my running and knitting. I'm going to keep track of my KIPs and my finished projects, hopefully throwing in numerous pictures. I might even keep track of my every other day runs. But this will be mainly a knitting blog.

So, that's it for now. More later, and keep running with sticks and string!