Am I a Hoarder?

 Wow!! It has been an eon since I updated here.  So long ago that all the stuff that I had out of the bedrooms when the new rugs were laid was still on the long dining room counter and all over the floor (hence the title, which I'm keeping even though the stuff is all sorted, downsized and filed away)--I figure the title is attention-getting.
I thought that if I start a draft for a post and just add key words, it would help me to remember what things might need updating, and since it's started, might help me post more frequently.  Not so on the latter assumption.  So now the updates, following the list:

Addilyn:  The baby is now 9 months old, a beauty, and advanced even if I say so myself.  Since 7 months she has been walking around furniture.  This week she discovered toilet paper and the water cooler.  The first photo is of her in a dress I crocheted 32 years ago for my baby (her mom).

This sweater (how perfect is a leaf-yoke sweater for playing in the leaves?) was also made by me many years ago.

Her big brother Goofy, her sidekick, will be her chauffeur when she is finished with the educational toy.

The greenhouses are covered with new plastic.  When we used to do this ourselves, we pulled the 48x100'  sheets of heavy plastic along the roof ridge, with a rope.  This year we decided to hire the job out.  These boys walked along 3/4" pipes, one on each side and had it from one end to the other in no time.

 The greenhouses are all cleaned, the trays are all washed, the plant orders are in, some seeds are ordered, the soil has been delivered, only pots and remaining seeds to order.  February will be here soon enough.

The new flooring was installed and except for one room of crown moulding and one room of baseboards, the renos are finished.  We do plan to re-do the bathroom (new tub, high toilet and new sinks) after Christmas or next summer, but will hire it out--helps to have a son-in-law who is a plumber.

My experience with having sweaters published and my work on the Master Knitter Program have led me in a new direction.  I've been tech-editing patterns for other designers.  I prefer that over test knitting, because I get a preview of their patterns, and don't have to knit all these projects.  I appreciate all projects for their creativity and how stitch patterns are used/chosen, but not all the designs are to my liking for personal use, so tech-editing gives me the benefit without the work.

I had some custom orders for baby blankets.  The customer provided RH Super Saver in the Black Lights colorway, and wanted a black border.  My first attempt was this:  smaller rectangles with black strips between.  She didn't like it, so I made a new one in the Grandma's Dishcloth Pattern (no photo) and she liked that one.

 She also provided me with the concept of the photo with baby, and sent me colors of the nursery, and the lower chevron blanket is the result.  (Baby photo from a Ravelry Pattern page)

Oops, the photo of the nursery came out sideways.

For the Master Knitter Program (they are not compulsory, but helpful), and just for the fun of it, I bought five of the Barbara G. Walker books.  They are mostly awesome, but the 4th one (green) is not so useful for my purposes

For the theatre's spring show of Arcadia, I made this Spencer jacket and added the trim to a shawl for which knitted yard goods had been provided, and  to that I added the trim in Kid mohair.

The jacket was made of one strand of fingering yarn from Ancient Arts Fibre and one strand of kid mohair, the sleeve trim, collar and lace inserts in sleeves being only the mohair.

Also from Ancient Arts Fibre, I made a cowl using Planned Pooling, in the Flame Point Siamese colorway.  This involved planning carefully so the color sequence made a planned color pattern instead of random as space-dyed yarn can do.

 Our well, which was at the west edge of the garden, failed this spring.  So we had a new one drilled--turns out that galvanized cribbing has a life of about 20 years (it can rust out), and we were nearly at 30 years.  We had a great water supply, so the driller tried to drill fairly close to the old well, but at 30 feet down, it caved in, in spite of using hydraulic pressure to prevent that--we have a deep layer of very fine sand.  So that well was closed up, and the new spot chosen was at the south-east corner of the garden--which meant the rig had to park on the garden, severely compacting the soil. The rototiller couldn't break through.  It will take time and  a lot of busy earthworms to fix that situation.  So because of that compaction and a summer with no rain, and my not getting the sprinkler out soon enough, the garden wasn't very good this year.

 We had good tomatoes, and a good crop of small onions besides what we ate during the summer, and the garden was cleaned, and next year's garlic planted under straw (see black arrow to find garlic patch).  I planted lovely red/purple garlic.

 From purchased cabbage, I made sauerkraut for the first time:  28 lbs cabbage bought, 22 lbs (after cleaning and shredding) salted, and yielding 13 quarts of sauerkraut.  It's very good.

I also picked five 5-gal pails of apples so have been putting lots of apple goodies in the freezer and dehydrating lots of apples for winter snacks.

And lots of baking (muffins above) from the last big zucchini.

During the spring and summer I altered dresses for weddings: for a June wedding, 5 bridesmaids and the bride's dress, then for a Sept. wedding, one bridesmaid and the bride.  Now I have a teenager from a neighboring farm coming for sewing lessons.  She is a horsewoman and is sewing herself a long black cape to wear in parades.  She is so keen and a quick study.

We have had our first snowfall, but it quickly melted, and now we are enjoying a lovely, warm, long fall.

Our 15-year old Dazey passed away this summer (she is the black dog).  We were worried that Sparky, her "twin" sister (from same litter) would pine for her, but Sparky is very bonded with several of our 15+ farm cats, so she has been fine.  But she is also old, so we have to prepare ourselves for the inevitable.

Addilyn's daddy ordered a Yoda hat before she was born, and I had planned a Baby Yeti hoodie, which was a perfect little Yoda robe.  Here she is, all decked out for Halloween.

Now on the agenda is her Tinkerbell blanket, which I am creating starting with this coloring book page:

And her Eeyore (crocheted from a Leisure Arts pattern) is in progress.  Also more baby blankets for clients, and one more lap afghan (I made one along with the neon baby blanket, but have no photo--it was a grey/black chevron crochet pattern).

Notice my Knit-Meter in the column on the right--my knitting/crochet yarn use is over 20 000 m so far this year ☺

Well, my typing fingers are getting tired, so I'll leave you with this thought, but instead of "Wise Men", please read "Wise Men and Women"

Liberation

I first introduced you to this project on November 2, 2014.  Right after the long cabbage roll directions.
In October 2014 I took on a commission for a theater to design a 1940's style sweater to be worn for a play set during the Liberation of Holland by the Allies.

I asked the designer, Cory Sincennes, same designer for whom I knit the chain mail for Spamalot (in spring of 2013) if I could have the rights to publish the pattern, to which he heartily agreed.
In October of the same year I submitted the idea to Knit Now magazine, a British publication.  It has now been published, so photos can be revealed.  When Cory shared his vision of the sweater, I found this picture/pattern on Ravelry.  It was made of bulky yarn, but it was a jumping-off point.

This is my interpretation:

And now it is in this magazine; this is the Ravelry pattern page.

There it is, top right corner.
It's been quite a journey.

Part of the Circle of Life

I just finished this Christening gown.  Last year I altered the Mom's wedding dress, this year I made the Christening gown, incorporating the lace fabric from the wedding gown.  The pieces salvaged from the wedding dress weren't long enough for the long skirt, so I pieced it at the top ribbon.  The space between the top and bottom ribbon separating the lace trim, looked unproportional, so I added another wide and two narrow ribbons to break up the space.  I'm sure she will be pleased.  This is my baby gift for our neighbour's daughter.

Hi, I'm Alive and Well--Gotta Run

Yikes,  it's way too long since I posted.  If you read the title really fast, that's exactly how life is around here. I'm determined to bring the yard under control (not succeeding), there is still lots of work in the greenhouse--cleaning, repairing, and new plastic over them. The cleaning is my job (not getting there quickly because we've had a heat wave, and the greenhouse is even hotter), the repairing is DH's job--he's doing well,because he is a morning person who works when I'm still sleeping. The covering is being hired out, but there is prep work to do.
 After a few days of rain which left the garden too wet to walk into,  but the weeds grew like crazy, I'm  finally about 3/4 finished weeding the garden.
Add to that some knitting deadlines, a soon-to-be-published-in-a-magazine knitting pattern to re-edit, a wedding party of dresses to alter (5 bridesmaids and the bride).
I know exactly where my time has gone.
But I must confess, I sneak in to the computer too often to check on E-mails, Ravelry and Facebook.  Not a long time when I peek, but it adds up over the day.  So I have to go on a diet in that regard.

My immediate to-do list besides whatever outdoor work the weather allows is:
Finish a shawl for a gift
Finish a color-pooling test with no deadline, but a patient yarn dyer.
Finish a baby blanket that I'm hating working on--client chose the yarn, I'm not charging a lot since she is a friend of my daughter's.
Finish (priority 1!!) sewing a Christening gown (with lace from the mom's wedding dress) for a neighbor.
And DH needs a whole slew of hand-knit socks, since the commercial ones are too tight when his feet swell up with the heat.

Then I get to get back to my Master Knitter Level 3 and some knitting for Baby Addilyn (now 6 months old).  I'm not feeling so bad now that I didn't get tons of knitting done for her before, since she has grown so much.

In Memory of Dad

Our dad passed away around this time in 1989.  He had a tough life right from childhood.  This is the eulogy I wrote for him:

To our Dad:

As I sadly sift through your meager earthly possessions, I think:  “Is that ALL there is, after a lifetime?”

So I look at your photo and by your eyes I remember that you were a dreamer.  What grand and wonderful dreams were your goals!  Often impossible, but they carried you on.

Then I reach for your collection of stamps and I recall your taste for adventure.  You took your family to distant shores to better their lives, and you enjoyed the bleak beauty of the Arctic and made it part of your soul.

As I work, I look at my hands, so like your own, and reflect on my father, the worker.  As translator or bookkeeper, lumber mill worker or theater projectionist, painter or educator, you provided for us.

The family plaque on the wall speaks to me of the artist in you.  Throughout your life, whatever you undertook, you did with a flair for beauty, whether it was painting a wall, designing needlework, or hand-writing a birthday message.

Row upon row of books stand respectfully for you, the scholar.  Your hunger to learn was amazing.  We are so proud of your honors achievement in your advanced studies during your last months.

Your diplomas certify your late entry into the honorable teaching profession.  You taught students, but were a teacher in a more universal sense.  How many lives you touched!

Your MLA sent you a birthday message and a commemorative pin.  It arrived on the day you died and you never saw it.  I LAUGHED when I saw it, for you sure gave those politicians a run for their money.  That was our dad, the fighter.  You fought in a major war and you waged many a personal battle, but in the end, I think you were at peace.

And now I look around at ourselves, your children and grandchildren and there I recognize the dream of the dreamer, I see the adventurer and the worker; the artist, the scholar and the teacher, and my heart rejoices in the realization that we, not material goods, but WE are your legacy.

January Journal Part 2: SHE'S HERE!!

Meet our new granddaughter.  She has not told her parents what her name should be, since the one that they had chosen doesn't fit.

The third photo is our previously-youngest granddaughter holding the now-youngest granddaughter.

We are blessed.  Praise the Lord.

January Journal Part 1

Updating some 2014 stuff:  The prayer blanket is finished, and well-received.  The crocheting goes fast, but the weaving takes a lot of time.  I got the colors right on for their color scheme.  The recipient is always cold due to his illness--the family really appreciate the prayers and blessings that were showered upon this blanket.

I had a design accepted to a British knitting magazine to be published in spring.  I got the acceptance news at end of Nov. The submission deadline was January 6.  That means the pattern has to be written precisely and for 7 sizes (XS to 3XL), the charts and schematics have to be created, and the sample sweater knit and sent to arrive in England by the deadline--the first fiasco happened when my yarn was sent to Germany by mistake, and had to be forwarded--it arrived on Dec. 22.  Due to the holidays, I would have had to have the sweater mailed by Dec 19 to meet the deadline.  The written work is submitted electronically--but I couldn't finalize the pattern without the yarn, since a swatch would be needed to see if the yarn supplied (DK) would match gauge with the prototype (light worsted).  Everything worked fine.  I e-mailed the written work 1 day late, and mailed the sweater on the 8th of Jan, it arrived on the 14th.  Everything is safe and sound in their hands.  I just hope I refined the pattern enough to squeeze under their maximum text limits.  No revealing till the mag is out.

I just packed up a submission proposal for the 2015 issue of Jane Austen Knits (the link goes to an earlier issue).  I won't hear about that for about 6 weeks.

That will give me time to finish a White Buffalo Sweater that I am reproducing for someone from a tattered family heirloom

I had requests for earwarmers and a beanie for the Granddaughters, but didn't have time for those, so they will have to go on the 2015 To-Do list and be "no reason at all" gifts instead of Christmas gifts.

While on the subject of 2015, I've decided :  NO MORE RESOLUTIONS.   I will make To-Do lists instead because these are specific and you can cross them off.  Resolutions seem more global and involve life style changes, so how do you know you've achieved it enough.  I like To Do lists better.

Peanut is due in 3 weeks.  This pair are Peanut's parents:

While I really respect the parents' choice not to find out the gender, knitting would be so much easier.  Gender specificity is not just a matter of colors, and even though the traditional baby colors aren't so "hip" any more, the styles--if not feminine, do lean towards the masculine.  So I finished a new Rainbow blanket and a very cute, gender-neutral kimono sweater and a wee little hat (are they really that small?)  I made the hat 3 month size, but it looks tiny.

 And an Eeyore toy is being crocheted--no photo yet.

I went out and bought some new couches.  That was a process. Kubota Man is hard on couches, and we both need firm and as high seats as possible to make getting up easier.  So I went a few weeks ago to pre-select some candidates.  I had two lined up, thinking that he would come along later and try them out.  Now one of the styles--when I saw it it was ♥♥♥ at first sight--and it fit the comfort, durability criteria.  The second one was a couch with reclining seats.  Nice enough, but I wasn't in love.  He didn't feel like going, so I had to go back and make the selection.  I am being totally honest when I say I had an open mind.  I went to the recliner style first--I did like it, but it was hard to get out of, and Kubota Man said he wasn't keen about a recliner, even a power-operated one.  So I went to visit the William.  My heart went pitter patter--it was firm, and the hand-rubbed leather with tooled edges--"sigh"--so I bought 2 couches and an ottoman.  I didn't need a new couch.  I'm hot hard on couches.  So some charity will receive a nice,comfy overstuffed couch when the new ones arrive.  It will take 3-5 months since they are made to order.

I almost forgot that the last GST report for 2014 is due by the end of the month--#1 on the To Do list.

And I have to finally sh#*t or get off the pot

 about the floor coverings.  So I am picking up samples this week.  I love the idea of new floor coverings--I don't like the idea of choosing, weighing the pros + cons of different products, and least of all, emptying the stuff out of the rooms to have the installation done.  But I think having new floors before the new couches come would be a treat.

Greenhouse:  The seeds are in, the plants are ordered to arrive on schedule, the pots and dirt are all here.  Almost all ready for February 22nd.  We are starting a week later this year, so I have some revision to do on the planting schedules.

I went on a wonderful retreat on Saturday--focused on Pope Francis and his view of the changes that need to happen in the church.  He has good ideas, just hope he has the health and a long enough life to make it happen.

And there is a To Do list to make.

till next time:  happiness is a choice we make, not something that happens to us.