Posts from — September 2007

None of these projects have been seen on the blog before and maybe that was the beginning of their demise.  All of these have been languishing away upstairs while I cast on according to the whim of the day.  Since I have been on a cleaning mission for Diva Knitting ((Basically the unused bedrooms upstaris look like they were hit by a yarn hurricairne.  Maybe the fantasy of some but I like to see my floors once in a while.)) I decided it might be a good idea to clean up these projects as well.  The blue one was a design project of mine for a cardigan…the back almost compeltely finished.  I’m sure I had notes about the CO and armhole shaping at somepoint but it is nowhere to be found.  The red was a cardigan I was knitting from a free online pattern.  I lost the pattern and spent several hours trying to find it again.  It was very simple pattern from a Canadian magazine but I never did find it.  I probably could have used what I already had for a cardigan back but it was looking a little big anyway.  Finally a panel of the Fabulous Lace Inset Cardigan1 The back is finished and I decided to leave that but since I have no idea where I was in the pattern and I remember “issues” with this front panel anyway…well, might as well frog it too.

Now don’t be hating on me for what I’m about to tell you.  I picked up 4 pounds of alpaca yesterday for FREE.  Yep, free.  Long story shortened:  friend asks Jim what I’ve been up to, Jim says business, spinning, knitting, etc., friend says, “Spinning?  I know someone who raises alpacas and has a whole bunch of wool she doesn’t know what to do with, think Cheryl would want it?”2  Jim says yes3 so yesterday I picked up the fiber.  There is just one small catch…up to this point I have never prepared a fleece.  I’ve always used commerically prepared fiber and I never did buy that carder (although there is a slight chance the place still has it).  So….suggestions?  What is your experience with preparing alpaca?  Something a beginner can easily do?  It also seems like I read somewhere once that alpaca doesn’t need to be washed first since it doesn’t have all the sheepy oil?  It certainly doesn’t look very dirty.  Maybe I should just send it somewhere to have it processed into roving?  If I do that…again, suggestions?  Thanks in advance for the help.  There may be a little blog pause next week while I am away.  I always intend to keep posting but sometimes big fun gets in the way.

1. According to the blog, I started it March 1, 2007.  Sometimes it’s not so great to have  a record of one’s digressions. [↩]
2. Yes he said “wool”…muggle. [↩]
3. Did I train him well or what? [↩]

First the knitting since a) that is ostensibly why you visit and b) it has been sorely lacking from the blog lately. That’s part of the problem with designing…you can’t show the projects on the blog. First I have some great hiking socks for Jim (did I mention he has size 12 feet???) I thought I might submit this pattern to the winter knitty but then I read a comment on a blog about how “everyone and their cousin” is a sock designer lately which made me reconsider. The pattern isn’t quite as “exciting” as I hoped so I think I’ll just finish them up and move on. Oh and my new favorite sock yarn might be Trekking XXL…love it! Next for your enjoyment I have Baudelaire, looking lovely in Lorna’s Laces Baltic Sea colorway. I started these as a plane project and since I have another plane trip coming up I’ll wait to start the second one then. Love the pattern and heel on this one. No fit problems as I had read about in the pattern and elsewhere.

Now for the home improvement. Our garage doors have needed a new coat of paint for a while now. They’re wood (bummer since you can get ones you never have to paint) they’re 20 years old and they had some mildew on the bottom part1. Somehow I always forget I have a blog when I start something like this so I will begin by showing you step two. Step one was completed yesterday with a dobie (Jim always calls them doobies…cracks me up) and some Soilax.2 Today I moved on to scraping old caulk, wood putty3, trip to home depot for paint, sanding and applying new caulk. Big fun here over at Chez Kemp, as always! Tomorrow is the fun part…the paint. Stay tuned…you know you can’t wait4!

1. ah, the joys of life in the Midwest [↩]
2. I may have gotten just a wee bit lazy towards the end…note the bottom of the second door [↩]
3. We shall not discuss how there came to be a need for wood putty. It involved me, a vehicle and no alcohol. Enough said [↩]
4. What do you think of the footnotes? Useful or just plain annoying? I’m thinking they might be good on a day where I seem to want to use tons of parentheses like today [↩]

Yet another non-knitting related post…I know you’re thrilled   Sometimes though these boys are just so stinkin’ cute I can’t stand it. 

Thanks to everyone that keeps asking about Tontine.  Sill no word, but they are beginning to count down the top 15 videos (one per day) until they get to number one.  Being in the top 15 videos doesn’t necessarily mean those people will be cast but it might be a good sign.  The #1 video wins $10,000 for the video contest!  Check out Tontine Nation if you’d like to see the video winners.  They’re posting them there as they are announced.

I thought this was really cute and creative. Enjoy!

Please forgive my lack of posting.  Apparently, I am fighting a bit of a funk at the moment.  It will be over soon.  In the meantime, I owe thanks to several people.  I won a contest a while back at Wendy’s place and yesterday I received a “fabulous prize package chosen especially for me” (this may amuse fellow Cincinnatians if you happen to listen to Gary Burbank).  Just look at my goodies!  Thanks so much Wendy! 

To Mer, Kristin and Leigh…sorry it has taken me so long to acknowledge, but thanks for the “Rockin Girl Blogger” nomination.  I have to admit I was starting to feel a little left out of this prestigious group (teehee).  I would pass along the nomination, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it just about everywhere.  At any rate…if you blog, you rock and you’re a girl…consider yourself tagged by the Diva :wine:

 Nope…still no word on Tontine!  Believe me, y’all will be the first to know when I hear something (as long as I’m not sworn to secrecy or something crazy like that).  You might find the discussions and information on this site entertaining…check out Tontine Nation.  I’m “ck” over there if you want to say hello.

I thought I would post when I was away but it just never happened.  We had a great time in Arizona…kept busy yet relaxed.  I didn’t get much knitting done but we did do a ton of hiking, eating, drinking and floating in the pool which made for a great vacation.  More next week, but for now some eye candy in the tradition of Eye Candy Friday.  If you look closely, you’ll see two of them.

P.S.  Still no word on Tontine.  Waiting to hear is maddening!  Even if you’ve already seen it (the more views the better!!!), please consider visiting my You Tube video again and making a comment and/or rating.  Tell your friends too…it might not be too late to influence the casting director!

P.P.S.  I’ve been thinking about this for a while…any interest out there in a knit blogger retreat…possibly in sunny AZ around beginning of 2008 (when I’m back from Tontine…lol)?  I don’t have the details yet settled in my mind but if I can think of a plausible way to get it organized I think it could be fun to meet some of my virtual friends in person!