Ralph

Ralph, 1989-2010

June 26th, 2010 was a very sad and difficult day for me.    As I write these words I find my throat tightening and tears running down my face.  Ralph came into my life 21 years ago and I will remember him forever.  Our journey together began in Freeman, SD on the dusty gravel parking lot of Ralph's Feed Store.  The feed store was 20 miles away from our little 4 1/2 acre homestead and I needed duck feed.  Who knew as I drove my farm truck down the country road that soon a small gray and white kitten was going to become the newest member of our family.  I pulled into the lot and as I went in to do business, I heard a loud meow and a bundle of fur ran across the lot and clawed his way up my shoulder.  As I carefully pried his little needle-like claws out of my tender flesh, Ralph, the owner, came out and asked what I needed.  He brought out the 50 lb sack of feed, tossed it into the back of the pickup and said I could have the kitten as it was a stray. Now, I dearly wanted to say "yes" but I knew my husband did not care for cats so I reluctantly said "no", placed him back on the ground and drove away.  I made it about halfway home before I told my children I couldn't leave the pretty kitty and turned around.  I drove back into the lot and got out but did not see the kitten.  As I resigned myself to just going home, again I heard a loud meow and suddenly he was back on my shoulder. Ralph came out again and assured me I could have him so off we went to begin our life together.  The kitten turned out to be male and since he adopted me at Ralph's Feed Store, I named him Ralph.  My husband, at this point of the story, swears up and down that after we left, the owner placed another kitten on the lot outside!

Ralph had chosen me and he was my cat.  All his love went to me and it was only in his later years that he did more than tolerate my husband and sons.  I will always remember how Ralph loved to let me hold him in my arms and purring loudly he let me rock him like a baby.  Ralph's health began failing 2 years ago.  He was very arthritic and walked stiff legged like a little old man with a walker, developed cataracts, and kidney disease but he still wanted to be held and rocked.  I rocked him for the last time just before our vet came in and then gently stroked him while she injected the euthanasia solution.  He went so quickly and peacefully that  I wasn't ready.

Tomorrow it will be a month and I still miss him and know that I will always miss him.  Rest in peace faithful friend; you will never know how very happy I am that you chose me.

Knitting is for Men Too!

Last night my husband tried his hand at knitting and the skies did not darken, the earth did not shake, nor did a loud voice come from the heavens intoning "Men Shall Not Knit." It all came about when my husband, the stamp collector, reminded me that I had promised to make him a felted pad to lay his damp watermark revealed stamps upon until they were dry. I had made this rash promise in my new knitter zeal and had actually cast on his project but as I had quickly bypassed straight stockinette scarves in favor of socks and sweaters I had scornfully tossed it aside. I was knitting on my lace scarf when he reminded me of this promise and as I was on a rather tricky part I remarked that "he could learn to knit and make it himself". This comment was met with injured silence whereupon I told him that plenty of men knit and this project was very easy. He was not convinced but when I reminded him that I shared his hobby (stamp collecting) he agreed to give it a try.

Knowing I only had one shot at this, I quickly laid down my lace scarf and rooted through my project baskets until I found the discarded project. Apparently at one time or the other I must have needed the needles because it was laying in the bottom of the basket without needles. Luckily the yarn was a worsted weight corriedale natural wool and the loops were still there waiting for the needle even after 2 years! I slid them onto size 10 bamboo Clovers and began the novel experience of teaching my husband to knit.

Having crocheted for many years, when I learned to knit I naturally held the yarn in my left hand so I knit Continental style. I knit a few stitches to show him how to hold the yarn and needles and handed it over. While he was able to hold the needles and understood the process, he had a little difficulty with the actual process so I showed him the English or throwing style. This method is tricky for me as I don't knit this way but he tried it. After 4 stitches my husband conceded defeat and decided that he didn't like knitting. While this may seem like a futile effort, in fact I am very proud of my husband. He took the time to actually try to learn and has a greater understanding and appreciation for my knitting efforts. He earned brownie points in the "wonderful husband" category and while I didn't promise to quickly knit his pad, I did promise to work a few rows every night before I continue on my fun projects.

You might have noticed the pictures I chose for this post. The first, "The Manly Art of Knitting", is an actual 64 page booklet published in 1972. I have fond memories of the Marlborough Man commercials that appeared on TV when I was a child. While I didn't smoke then or now, I had a secret crush on the cowboy. How wonderful it would have been to see him knitting instead of smoking! The second photo is Cary Grant learning to knit and is a scene from the movie Mr. Lucky. In my opinion there isn't a more suave manly man than Cary Grant unless it was the image of my husband with knitting needles.

An Afternoon with Alpacas

As my husband travels on business a lot, we have got into the habit of trying to find something fun to do on Saturdays leaving our Sundays free for church and relaxation. Yesterday while reading the paper a large ad for the annual TXOLAN show caught my eye and I told my husband I wanted to go to an alpaca show on Saturday afternoon. As we had gone to a fiber expo in Ann Arbor which he hadn't found too tiresome and he loved his hand knit alpaca sweater, he agreed.

The show wasn't anything like the fiber expo. At the expo, there were just a few alpacas and plenty of fiber vendors with lovely luscious skeins of all types of fiber to fondle and buy. At the alpaca show, there were rows after rows of alpacas to look at and just a a handful of skeins for sale on the tables of the breeder pens. Yes, sadly only a handful! I counted them and there were only 23 skeins for sale in the entire building and not enough of any one weight or color to make me do a happy dance and rejoice in my good fortune. There is definitely something to be said about the instant gratification of buying the yarn and immediately casting on versus buying the actual alpaca, shearing, processing the fleece, carding, spinning, and finally knitting the intended project.

Now, don't get me wrong and think I didn't have a wonderful time. I love animals (especially the fiber variety) and these alpacas were some of the gentlest and cutest I had ever seen. I kept going from pen to pen, up one row and down another; ooohing and aahhing, clicking my camera, and letting them snuff my hand. My husband quickly tired of my "oh look at this one" and retreated many times outside with a quick "be back in a minute" or "I'll catch you in the next row"; however, he did make an effort to scout for yarn and showed off his sweater to one of the breeders. I love that he loves his sweater!

I learned more about alpacas than I had ever known before. There were huacaya and suri alpacas in various shades of cream, brown, gray, and black. The huacayas were soft and silky and looked fluffy. The suris were the breed with the fleece that looked liked they were wearing dreadlocks. I think I like the fluffy huacayas better but perhaps that's because they were the ones that let me pet their foreheads and feel how wonderful their fleece feels while it's still being worn by its owner.

What else did I learn? That alpacas don't need a lot of land. Hmmmm. I wonder if my neighbors would notice one in my backyard? Perhaps I could tell them it was a rare South American dog!

Knitting While the Snow Falls

A record snowfall has hit the DFW metroplex resulting in 12.5 inches of sticky white stuff and virtually shutting down the town.

The winter weather started on Tuesday morning when the temperature had dropped overnight after a day of rain resulting in black ice on the roads and overpasses. I tried to make it in to work but they closed the highway ramp and as I had already slipped and slid through two intersections, I just turned around and stayed home for the day. I took this opportunity to KNIT!!! I did not continue knitting on my son's sweater nor on the lace scarf retirement gift, instead I declared it to be a "Knit for Debbie Day". I read project notes and made my list of modifications and cast on the Shalom cardigan. I finished up the yoke before toddling off to bed. Wednesday was a work day but that evening I finished a few rows before bed.

Thursday morning, when the alarm went off, my husband (who was already up) told me he didn't think I would be able to make it in as it had been snowing heavily since 3:00am. After waiting until daylight to see if the roads improved and listening to the forecast of continued heavy snow throughout the day, I made the decision to take a vacation day and stay home and KNIT. (Now, I don't like to think myself a snow weanie; after all I do come from South Dakota, but I have lived in Texas long enough to know Texans can't drive when the roads are slick with rain much less when the roads are slick with scarcely seen snow.) I made good progress all day on my cardigan and finished the evening with 12 rows left to knit and the snow still was falling.

Today, Friday, the snow had stopped but it was again a day to stay home and knit and I was able to finish my cardigan. Other knitters had said this was a quick knit and it was. Not only was a record set for snowfall, but I set a personal speed knitting record of my own.

What's next? Time to get back to knitting on my son's sweater and watching the snow slowly melt. Temperatures are expected to be in the 60's next week so there won't be any more snow/knitting days for awhile.

A Journey in Finding Yarn Across the Pond

My son, when he saw the Balmoral sweater I had made for his Dad, was so impressed that he immediately batted his hazel eyes and said how much he would enjoy a hand knitted sweater. Of course I said "yes"! Then he dropped the the idle words "of course it will have to be all black so I can wear it at the seminary". What?? I've never made anything black as I tend to choose bright vibrant colors that make me happy while knitting. Oh well, I naively thought, how different could knitting black be?

I had some lovely charcoal prime alpaca in my stash that would have knitted up nicely, except for the shedding factor, so we decided on extra fine merino in solid black. One of my LYS was having a sale and was offering a 40% discount on a special day only for ravelery group members ... AND they had the exact yarn we had decided on ... AND they had 22 skeins on hand. What do they say about the best laid plans? I went online about 30 minutes after they had opened and GASP someone had already bought 10 skeins leaving a measly 12 which definitely wasn't enough for an adult size sweater. I did a ravelry and google search and ended up calling Canada as well as most of the upper East Coast yarn shops that carried Sublime extra fine merino. I managed to locate 16 skeins in Massachusetts and placed my order.

Fast forward to casting on. The first pattern we chose was Geoffroy by Norah Gaughan and while he liked it, it wasn't THE SWEATER. I turned him loose with my patterns (selectively chosen of course) and he decided on Ben by Norah Gaughan as he likes cables. I enjoy knitting my sweaters in the round so first I had to modify the cable pattern so it would work and then I had to actually do a gauge swatch to check needle size (something I'm always reluctant to do) as this was a slightly thinner yarn that required but I thought I had enough yarn to make it work. I cast on, placed my markers for the sides, joined in the round and began the Cabled Seminarian by knitting 3 inches of 2x2 ribbing.

Fast forward to the next day where I am sitting close to tears as my eyes cross trying to distinguish between k's and p's on black. The cable pattern is a 13 stitch repeat + 7 so I finally placed markers to identify the 13 stitch sections and I'm happily knitting away. Tips-when knitting black make sure you have bright light level and plenty of markers at hand. (Also helpful to have on hand is an understanding husband who is learning to ignore my mutterings, complaints, and whimpers) As I reached for the 3rd skein to attach I realized that I probably would not have enough yarn after all. Those darn cables were eating up the yarn as fast as I could knit it.

I did another ravelry search because you just never know there might be a fellow raveler with a need to destash that particular yarn (no there wasn't) as well as called up the shop I had originally bought the 16 skeins from. They did not carry black Sublime anymore and the 2 other shops I called did not have the correct dye lot. However, I found a yarn shop in the UK on ebay.uk which did have my dye lot and have now purchased the additional skeins I think (I hope) I will need.

The moral of this story? BUY ALL THE YARN YOU NEED OR THINK YOU WILL NEED AT THE SAME TIME. Now I will have an excuse to buy massive amounts of yarn because I will be able to say " but honey, remember my search for that black yarn?"

Balmoral Sweater

Happy Days!! I finished Rob's sweater... AND it fits... AND he loves it!

This sweater counts double in my completed projects as it is the first completed project of 2010 as well as the first WIP completed since I made my New Year's knitting resolution to complete my WIPs. It is also the first mens sweater that I had attempted which I suppose makes this project the winner of the triple crown of completed projects. One small step towards WIP completion goal and one giant leap for knitting self confidence.

The yarn is super soft prime alpaca that I bought at a fiber expo in Ann Arbor. It came in 650 yd skeins and it was a joy to knit.

The pattern is Sirdar Balmoral DK 9109 and it was the first Sirdar pattern booklet that I have knitted from. The directions are extremely well written and the pattern is easily memorized. The only mods I made to the pattern was to knit it in the round from the bottom up.

What's next? I knitted a few rounds to the mate for my Azure Mock Cable Sock, another WIP that has been languishing in my basket, and I have begun the lace scarf that I plan on giving as a retirement gift. I initially chose Silky Alpaca Lace Scarf by Alice Halbeisen and a lace weight yarn from my stash. My frustration at knitting with yarn that was a scant size larger than sewing thread was too much to bear so I changed both the yarn and the pattern. I am now knitting Checkerboard Lace Scarf by Whitney Van Nes and using sock yarn. It will still be a pretty scarf just perhaps not as lacy as I had originally intended. I am also going to be casting on another sweater. This one will be for my youngest son, the seminarian, which means he wants it solid black. I chose Sublime Extra Fine Merino and the pattern will be Ben by Norah Gaughan.

I think these projects will keep me busy for awhile.

The Knitting Girl

My husband has been traveling for most of the year and I think he spent more time in Detroit than he did at home. However, somehow he found time to visit the local knitting store in Dearborn where he outdid himself in the thoughtful gift buying category and earned himself the coveted "Distinguished Husband of a Knitter" award. Under the tree this year was an Addi click needle set, 3 skeins of sock yarn, handcrafted stitch markers, and a set of magnetic ribbon pattern bookmarks!

All of this bounty forced me to look at my growing stash and WIPs. To this end, I have made my New Year's Resolution early. This coming year, I will finish my WIPs and knit from my stash. Of course, this does not mean I won't be starting new projects or purchasing oodles more irresistible yarn (I mean seriously, why set myself up for failure?) but it does mean that I will finish all my WIPs already on the needles in 2009 by the end of 2010 and look to my stash first when contemplating a new project.

What are my WIPs? I have a sweater for my husband that I'm currently knitting, two sock projects that are lacking their mates, a christening blanket that needs a lot of work, and a sweater that has been languishing away in my work basket underneath my current projects for over a year. I feel most guilty about the sweater as it only lacks sleeves and seaming. I stuffed it under my other projects to muffle its mournful lament and reproachful gazes. I took it out and looked at it about a month ago and I swear I could hear it rejoicing that it was once again being honored with my knitting needles. I reread the lace pattern and as I hurriedly stuffed it and the sweater back in the bottom of the basket, I'm sure I heard a soft sob.

To help motivate, I changed my Ravelry avatar to this lovely painting. "The Knitting Girl" was painted by William-Adolphe Bouguereau in 1869. In my mind, the woman is busy knitting on one of her WIPs and dreaming about visiting the new yarn store she heard was opening in the village down the road. I've also joined a new Ravelry group "2010 - the year of the WIP" which I hope will inspire me to finish my WIPs as I read, rejoice, and commiserate with the other WIP group members.

What projects do I have planned for the upcoming year besides my WIPs? My two sons have each requested sweaters, my husband would like more socks, a lace scarf for a retirement gift, and I want to make myself a sweater and socks. I looked at my stash and I have the yarn for all these projects! All this planning and organizing is hard work. To reward myself I think I will visit the Woolie Ewe in Plano tomorrow and take advantage of their 40% off sale to Ravelry members. After all, 2009 isn't over and if it's on the needles in 2009 it will be a WIP.

Happy Knitting!!