Chocolate Sheep v2.0

Well, this is my official first birthday of my blog. Someone mentioned in the comments that they thought I had been blogging longer than that.

That’s sort of true.

A few years ago, upon being threatened with having to go work at Target, I came up with a Master Plan for working from home. I created an entity called Wisconsin Crafter, which would be an e-mail newsletter covering craft-related news and events across the state. My quilting group signed up, and I was off.

I started with events in Portage County and gradually added more areas. I subscribed to every mailing list I could find, and had signup sheets at a couple of relevant shows. By the time it became nearly unmanageable, I had about 150 people on my mailing list. It was a little challenging, but really fun.

Part of my newsletter was what I called “Beth’s Luddite Blog.” I wrote a few lines almost every day about stuff that was happening, and put it at the end of the newsletter in chronological order. I did an “Editor’s Message” too, which was a little longer; I have posted a couple of them on the blog.

The next phase of everything was the great Wisconsin Crafter website. It had an events calendar, forums, private messaging, photo albums, a real blog, book reviews, and all kinds of other goodies. Somehow it just didn’t take off the way the newsletter had, but it was definitely easier to do than the newsletter (thanks to the hard work put in, mostly gratis, by my IT guy, who has my everlasting gratitude — see below).

Phase Three was blogdom! Now we were on to something. Free, quick, easy, fun, all that good stuff. And Wordpress gives you statistics out the wazoo, which is exactly how I like it. That all started a year ago. I left witty comments on other blogs until, voila! I somehow attracted the six loyal readers I have today. Thank you all!

Wisconsin Crafter isn’t dead at all, but the website is being completely redone (cf. IT guy above, still mostly gratis, thankyou thankyou thankyou) to turn it into a more corporate site for the small publishing I plan to do. The first project is big, really big, but I need to just buckle down and get it together during January, then I’ll be all ready to promote it. And I get smaller project ideas all the time, like knitting pattern booklets and coffee table books about quilting. I hope to have a shopping cart there someday, as well as solicitations for manuscripts from outside writers so I can work as an editor and publisher instead of trying to write everything myself.

But that’s just my odd blogging history. If it seems I’ve been doing this for more than a year, there’s a good reason. Maybe as I stagger under self-imposed deadlines next month, I’ll pull a Lynn Johnston (a la For Better or For Worse) and present “vintage” blog entries from time to time. Children were born, knitting was learned, quilts were started and finished. It was a good time.

Thanks for sharing my crafting with me!

Today’s Impossible List: Pack for a weeklong trip, prepare road snacks, clean the house, prepare the knitting for a weeklong trip, take the dog to the kennel, make a fantastic dinner using everything that must be cooked up before we go (pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes, and fancy mushrooms and onions?), and go to Knit Night.

And knit and knit and knit and knit….

Merry Christmas!

It’s that time today — time to wash everything, clean up everything, and bake everything, so that tomorrow we can pack everything and be ready to hit the road in the early morning. Last night I finished the Ravenclaw scarf. I think that’s all the family giftknitting, unless I uncover some long-lost to-do list somewhere. But frankly, I’m not looking very hard for something like that. There are far too many other things to do.

I could have used some knitting this afternoon. I had the brilliant idea that instead of hauling the little ones to the school Christmas concert tonight, I would just take devil child Jack and Tom along with me when I took Colleen in to a dress rehearsal. Of course, what I really needed were EXTRA hands and arms, not fewer.

It was so embarrassing. Jack hollered and howled and said inappropriate things, everyone wiggled all over, nobody lifted a finger to help me. I know the world doesn’t revolve around me and I don’t expect a red carpet under my feet wherever I go. But I was obviously struggling to carry 60 pounds of boys out the door at the end of things, with my purse slipping off my arm and my daughter unable to push the door open. I wish I had a “Mass mentor” to help out with stuff like that. If anything ever happened to Brendan I wouldn’t be able to go to Mass for the next ten years. I’m barely able to attend now.

On the plus side (?), I saw Little Miss do her thing, and all of us who went can stay home and out of everyone’s hair (and sight) during tonight’s Real Thing.

Then we can stuff them all into bed and finish the final presents and wrapping and baking and slicing and bill paying and pre-packing and I don’t know what-all.

Maybe I can get some alpaca sock yarn wound up, too. What do you think of a cuff made from K1, K1b on an odd number of stitches in the round? Would it act like ribbing? Or would it just look pretty as it slid down a calf?

This house is wholly contaminated with finishitis, so if you’re in need of a little mojo just raise your hand.

Yesterday it was the Red Scarf. Once I figured out who I wanted to give it to, it sped along like a banshee. Now it’s done, washed, blocked (it turned out to be just 50% wool but what the hey, it was curling, it was worth a shot), rolled, and stuffed eased into a container and almost ready for giving. Just needs a tag and a bow.

Today it’s the Ravenclaw Scarf. All knitting is essentially done. I just need to bind off the stitches, knot up all the joins, and sew the ends shut. The pattern calls for fringe on each end, but I don’t think that’s essential for boy Ravenclaws, do you?

In addition, I finished the T-shirt quilt on Friday, and it was shipped out to the recipient today. Picture… eventually.

Now I’m cranking on a Secret Project that I’ve had going for a while. I have six skeins of yarn to go, and just switched from Skein One to Skein Two.

And now that I’m thinking about it, I think I only have four projects on the needles right now — the Secret Knitting Project, one acrylic mitten (waiting for me to learn mirrored increases for the thumb gusset), the Packer hat, and Tyrone. I’m not making any predictions, mind you, but it sure would be nice to get each project over the little hump that it’s on, and have everything off the needles by the end of the year.

That still leaves me with three quilts to finish, though, so maybe I’ll need to come up with another plan.

For the new year: Mr. Beth has proclaimed that I am not permitted to cast on for anything that does not start with S-O-C. Loopholes, anyone?

Three cheers please, last night I made it across the second edge of the T-shirt quilt. So, the top and bottom have their bindings sewn down (with some fudge room at the corners where I’m not sure how the final finishing will go). SO, I have to pin down the other two sides and keep cranking, then it’s back to Christmas knitting full time as soon as I get that quilt in the mailstream.

Next month I am putting knitting on hiatus (except for mittens) while I put together an even more important and long-delayed project. However, since I’m one of those poor unfortunates whose soul feels she can cross it off the list as soon as she’s talked about it, I don’t dare talk about it. When it’s done I will be promoting it heavily, so don’t worry, I won’t let it pass you by.

So, hmm, what else is there to talk about? This week has, so far, been about tragic losses. Not mine, but people I am just one link away from in the Kevin Bacon game. A beloved pet, a newborn baby, a classmate from high school. Love and pain are being all mashed together, and that’s not even counting the tragedies I’ve been finding out about on blogs.

I don’t have any answers. I just wish I could knit faster, and I wish that knitting faster could heal the world.

No, it wasn’t the 125 spam I accumulated in the last few days (see interesting one below).

No, it wasn’t my visitors last week.

No, it wasn’t the laundry duties. (Excuse me while I laugh.)

No, it wasn’t Ravelry. But I can see why you might think so.

I think it was… the Christmas knitting.

Some of it is done. Some of it is almost done. Some of it is languishing, almost forgotten, hidden from Certain Peoples’ View (thus explaining why it has been almost forgotten). Some of it is waiting in line to see which project is chosen for this week’s Late Night Knitting at the Sow’s Ear. This is the first scheduled all-night knit but I don’t think I will be staying even close to that long. 11pm is late enough for me!

Maybe the quilt is killing part of it. I’m hand-sewing the binding, and have finished one of the short ends. It’s a squarish quilt, so the short ends aren’t much shorter than the long ends. So while I’m under mental pressure to finish these giftknits and Secret Special Projects and such, ahead of time to allow for shipping in most cases, I also have to remember to crank on this quilt even though it isn’t really enjoyable at this point. At least it’s not difficult. But the only real enjoyment will come with the final stitch. Then I will vacuum the stray hairs off it, pack it lovingly, include a Christmas card, and ship it out.

Then I can get back to the giftknits again…..

And, in the back of my head, a small voice gently whispers, “Socks. Socks. Socks. Socks for you and your husband. Waikiki footies. Chocolate brown Merino socks. Lace socks….”

My mojo is calling, and my phone is busy. It figures.

Spam Post of the Day

I will forward this link to all my friends interested in this subject! Why you so think? On the Internet it is!

Thanks to Mr. Beth who just called to tell me that all he could see on my blog was his guest post with his review of Perilla. When I checked it out, that’s all I could see, too. And when I clicked on Comments to review my spam, it kicked me out to the same ol’ site view.

At last I got into Akismet kind of sideways, deleted the usual stupid but innocuous looking spam comments, and ta dah, site restored.

No clue why. Hope it sticks.

So, as long as I’m here…. all the puppy Tstocking needs is some Kitchener on the paw, and then I’m going to pick up stitches at the top of the Tstocking and knit a white faux mohair cuff in stockinette, which I’ll turn down. (I know I could have done this differently, but I didn’t think of that until after I got started.)

Then I need to hustle on to the rest of the Christmas knits and quilts.

I am stalled on the T-shirt quilt again, but I did wash and dry the backing material. I even got a letter from the woman I’m making the quilt for. She’s probably quite upset at how long this is taking me to do. I started with the best of intentions and should have pushed through and gotten it done in a couple of months. Instead it has dragged on for over 14 months and I am pushing to get it to her before Christmas. She does not know this, because I am afraid to open her letter and I don’t dare call her. I just want to finish the project, now that I have all the materials. (And her mailing address!)

My other work avoidance is the craft store directory. I don’t know how I’ll make the time to work on this, but I simply must. I truly believe it will get a grand reception all across the state, but it is going to be a LOT of work. Now I know why Crazy Aunt Purl kept her bookwriting under wraps. It’s tough to not be getting it done when everyone knows you’re supposed to be working on it. I hope that putting it out there, a little bit, will be creating the kind of pressure I need.

Time to go see what everyone else’s blogs look like. I wonder if they’re all featuring reviews of Perilla? Pretty sneaky, Harold.

Mr. Beth is on a business trip all week long in Las Vegas, and I have Big Plans. In fact, every time he has a long trip like this one, I’m almost as bad as on New Year’s with the Impossible Resolutions.

Allow me to do a little brainstorming about what I consider to be on my plate:

Fix the dining room table.
Clear out the remaining packing boxes.
Dye many many skeins of yarn.
Finish at least two knitting projects.
Practice at the spindle(s) and/or wheel until I can make glorious yarn.
Put a quilt in the frame and get it tied and bound.
Make the house clean enough to be proud to show it to my visiting parents, who arrive Saturday.
Keep the laundry moving.
Keep the kitchen neat and clean.
Get all the clothes put away.
Work on quilts I want to finish by Christmas.
Get box springs for the two twin beds upstairs.
Get the insurance claim started on the ruined roof (now fixed).
Pay the bills.
Optimize my blog photos.
Upload pre-Ravelry pictures to Flickr.
Document my current projects.
Cast on for Yet Another Secret Project.
Toilet train the three-year-old (”The Defiant One”).
Dehair the rest of the llama fiber.
Work on the book I’m planning to self-publish next year.

If I keep this up, I’ll barely have time to replace the CV joint in the minivan, pick up all the maple leaves by hand, and trim the lawn with the nail clippers. Oh yes, keep in mind I have maybe three hours all to myself to work on these things, IF the kids go to sleep as planned.

Does anybody else do this? I am so hoping everyone else does this.

Excuse me, it’s time for a beer.

(Oh yeah, the fast-track project is so close to done I made myself stop knitting on it to prolong it for one more day, and I did more on Red Scarf. Even if Cathy-Cate couldn’t come by to see what I did with her old yarn. So there.)

Spam of the Day

I haven’t done this in a while, but this one made me laugh out loud when I saw it at the top of the Spam Bucket. Carefully edited to (hopefully) avoid attracting more of the same.

hi!
Free @n@l se% with sp@nking story!

Boy, I wouldn’t have believed this, but my new project came out of nowhere and is zooming past everything else on the needles in its urge to be done first. I don’t mind because it’s my brother’s Christmas present and it’s a really fun knit. In fact, it’s just about halfway done and I only started a couple of days ago. A new Knit Speed Record for me!

I’m even keeping on task with my IHS repeats, then switching to giftknit mode and blazing away. Of course I also knit on it during the day when the kids are playing in the Toy Room, and I took it with me last night to have something to do before the first of two parent-teacher conferences.

AND I got a box full of yarn to make something for my mother. I sent her a clipping of yarn I bought at the thrift store, and she took it from one craft store to another until she figured out what it was, and bought three more skeins. Good job Mom! Your detective work will be repaid with handknitting.

The yarn arrived yesterday, along with replacement clamps my dad made for my quilt frame. Yes, it’s time to resume my double-threat status. I have four quilts that come to mind right away as needing to be finished as soon as humanly possible. Of course, none of them will get to stay in this house after they’re done — they are all gifts. But after they get done I can start working on ones that will.

So far, so good, plus I might get a visit from Hither and Yarn author Cathy-Cate in the next couple of days. We’ll just keep our needles crossed, shall we? Maybe I should have her photograph and post all my projects on her blog. Naah, that would be cheating. But it sure would be nice to see another knitter instead of (still) my kids. Remind me again why they don’t have any school today or tomorrow?

Today’s the day, Post #200, and the kickoff of the Chocolate Sheep Oldest UFO contest.

Allow me to begin with a confession. I took the Knitting Daily UFO survey the other day. My answer was “5.” As soon as I left the survey I thought of one more project I should have included. Okay, 6. Not so bad. But last night…. I made an Actual Written List and found the answer was really NINE. How bad that is depends on whether you’re thinking “original answer plus four” or “almost double the original answer.”

Anyway. Here are my UFOs. After you read about mine, tell me about yours, along to a link to a blog post about your oldest UFO. Only link to your oldest, not to each/all, or I can guarantee you will be getting a trip to the Spam Bucket. (See this post for more on the Spam Wars.)

Number Nine: Packer Hat, still a twinkle in my eye
This is a commissioned item that is in the test phase. After I produce one Packer hat in the goof yarn, I need to make the real thing in wool. I already have the wool, and another current project’s success convinced me this one will be easier than I thought.

Number Eight: Luke’s Christmas Present, conceived 10/14/07
I decided to make the Christmas stocking. I cast on 72 stitches so my circ would be full. It’s going to be wicked huge but it’s so much fun. Right now I’m just playing with two-color Fair Isle until I get to the heel flap.

Number Seven: Secret Knitting Project, conceived 10/11/07
Easy knit, just taking a while and I will have to get more yarn.

Number Six: Red Scarf, conceived 9/19/07
Okay, so I’m slow. I’m almost halfway through and I missed the deadline for the Red Scarf Project, so it will go to someone who isn’t an orphan. Or perhaps I’ll wrap it up nicely until the 2008 deadline.

Number Five: Baby Surprise Jacket, reconceived 8/20/07
For the date on this I’m using the most recent time I cast on. I think I will find myself in good company with this one. I had meant to make two, for twins. Well, those babies have been born already so the urgency is passed. It’s sheer stubbornness (and not knowing what to do with yarn that is, well, so magenta) that keeps this sitting on the needles. With no actual knitting, just 160 cast-on stitches.

Number Four: Tyrone sweater, conceived 8/15/07
I got Tyrone up to where the sleeves are attached and the raglan decreases are starting. It needs some think time, as it’s tough to get the needle tips in the right position to knit. More experienced knitters assure me it’s just an awkward phase.

Number Three: Salt & Pepper Sock, conceived 6/19/07
I’m dating this one from the day its mate was cast off. At this point I’m scared to look in the project bag and find out I took the dpns out… because if I truly liberated the needles I might not be able to figure out which size I used. Uh-oh.

Number Two: Irish Hiking Scarf, conceived 3/6/07
I’m still working on this one, I swear! About a repeat every other night. And I like the pattern enough that I’ll probably start another one as soon as this one is done.

And the Number One oldest UFO at my house is….

Elizabeth Zimmermann Moccasin Socks from Knitting Around.
Conceived probably in 2006 but I can’t find an exact date. I got to the heel flap work, couldn’t figure out what the hell she meant, and set them aside. They aren’t even in the Active Knitting basket any more, so became Forgotten About.

That’s it for me, what about you? I will take comment-entries all weekend and announce a winner on Monday. Happy Knitting and shoot down those UFOs!

Finally, a finished object! (Pretend you can see it right here. Isn’t it lovely?)

I still have to weave in the ends, but last night I bound off the Wonder Skein Bias Scarf. And although the handspun I was working with had a bouclé element, and ran from thick and fuzzy to thin and almost wiry, I enjoyed every stitch of it.

For just 178 yards. Sigh. Remind me, if/when I am spinning my own yarn, to make sure I put a little more than that in a finished skein. (Especially if I have the cojones to charge someone nearly $50 for it.) My scarf, which I love dearly, is 3.5 inches (9cm) wide and 52 inches (132cm) long.

So, that brings the current project list to:

• Tyrone. Still stalled, but I took it to Knit Night and dragged it out, and was reassured by much more experienced knitters that bottom-up raglan sweaters just look like that for a bit, and get easier to knit after the first couple of rows following the attaching of the sleeves.
• Red Scarf. Which won’t possibly get done in time for the Red Scarf Project deadline of October 15, so it has probably turned into a Christmas present. (Hooray! I’m ahead of schedule!)
• Irish Hiking Scarf.  Time to resume my one-repeat-per-evening schedule.
• Salt and Pepper Sock. Still haven’t cast on for the mate. Ha, as if that’s going to happen anytime soon.
• Packer hat. While I was at The Sow’s Ear I found washable wool in Packer colors. So I need to work my Intarsia chart on my practice yarn and work out the details of the practice hat.

That reminds me, if you were watching the Packers-Bears game this Sunday, did you see the fellow wearing the green and gold crocheted bucket hat with the stitches worked around panels cut from aluminum beer cans? Very classy. I think the cans were actually from Pabst Blue Ribbon cans, which makes no sense at all.

In family news, Tom’s test came back negative for Celiac disease. Which is a relief of course, but we’re still trying to find the puzzle piece to explain which he’s such a little mite and doesn’t absorb enough iron. If you have any suggestions, drop me an e-mail.