Nana is crafty

While Ironman and I went gallivanting off to London a few weeks ago, my wonderful parents flew down from Boston and babysat the girls. Nana, not willing to be left without something to do (recent rotator cuff surgery not withstanding) asked me for a project. And so I put her to work.

A few months back, I found a great thread in the Cult of Lendrum group on Ravelry about wheel carry bags. There are quite a few out there, some good, some not so good, but one enterprising spinner posted some pictures of a bag she made herself out of a coverlet set she got at the store. Seeing as how Nana just finished a beautiful quilt for us, we had an old grungy coverlet sitting around.

So I favorited the post, gave my Mom my login info, and left, secure in the knowledge that she would sally forth and create something fabulous.

And she did. Behold, my new Lendrum bag:

She also made individual bags for the Kate, flyers, plying head, fast flyer and extra bobbins.

And there's enough extra space in there for a cubic buttload of fiber. Which is good, cause that's what I've got lying around these days.

The only thing I think I might add is a little pocket on the inside for extra brake pegs and drive bands (and maybe a slot for the seldom-used oil bottle). It's fabulous!

I left the wheel resting in it's folded up, newly-bagged glory for a few days and then got back to work, this time on some gorgeous BFL from Nikol. This is the third batch of fiber from Yarn School, and I'm remembering why I like BFL so much - the buttah of the fiber world.

I will be feeding my BFL fix alot in the next few weeks. The next round of the Ply by Night group is some BFL from Briar Rose Fibers. I'm anxiously awaiting it's arrival, but then I'll have to decide how to spin it. The group choose two patterns this time - Primavera Socks for thinner yarn, and the Chickadee Cowl for thicker yarn. Since my default spin is usually pretty thin, I'm kind of leaning towards a thicker yarn, maybe even a single ply for the cowl. Plus, I'm going to need lots of those next winter, right?

All over but the finishing

Which in my case is as difficult as the shouting.

The North

If it's March, it must be time for another round of Project Spectrum.

Lolly has come up with a great theme this time - the four Cardinal Directions, each of which has an associated color, season and element, as well as different materials. For the next two months, Project Spectrum Participants will be focusing on the color green, the season winter, the element earth and incorporating stones, gems and rocks in whatever way appeals to them.

I usually use Project Spectrum to focus on colors, particularly colors that I might not typically use. I went through my stash looking for green-ish yarns, and came up a number of possibilities.

I've got some sage green sock yarn that could be used up,

Some heathery green Wool of the Andes destined for a sweater,

And a bunch of dark green Silky Wool left over from the bag that I cracked open for the Peapod. I've got designs on a vest with this stuff.

But the most pressing project at the moment are the TdF socks. I've lined up test knitters for two of the four pairs, so I'm feeling pretty optimistic about getting them done in the time frame I'd like. This week is dedicated to swatching, and the yarn currently getting a workout is the green Fixation, for the Sprinter's Jersey socks

I'm also going to be working on the King of the Mountains socks, to tie in with the rock/stone theme for this section - I've finished the swatching for that one, but I need to write up the base pattern for the socks and start plugging in the lace charts and (gulp!) doing the math. My favorite part! I'm going to be doing the knitting on this pair, so I can hold off for a bit while I get the other two patterns to the test knitters. But I want to get started!

Hmmm. I thought I wasn't going to have much to do for this round. Looks like I'm going to be very busy!

Boo is two

And boy is she ever.

Dear Boo,

Well sweetie, another year has flown by. And you've gone from a very cute small person wobbling around to a running, jumping, talking (!) person with enough will of her own to push around The Incredible Hulk. Although you'd probably say "Mama, he's scary" right before you marched up and kicked him in the kneecaps.

You are what my great-aunt Hazel would term "pathologically independent". A typical second born, you have no fear, marching in to any new situation with abandon and not a care in the world for anything else. Although occasionally I worry that this tendency is going to give you some problems in the future, it is an amazing thing to watch, and as different from your sister as night and day.

Which is kind of nice, given that you two look like I'm running my own human cloning lab on the side.

You love singing and dancing and looking at books. You have inherited from your wonderful father the sunniest morning personality ever, which occasionally makes me want to stick my head under the pillow at Sparrow's Fart when you engagingly call out "MAMA!" so you can be released from your prison. But the huge smile lighting up your face when I come in the room, and the way you snuggle in to my neck and hug me makes up for it all.

The changes from birth to one are truly incredible to witness. But, having now gone through it twice, I think the changes from one to two are even more astonishing. You haven't grown quite as fast (although you will eat everything not nailed down, and have vaulted past size 2T into 3T), but the incredible changes in your abilities to communicate, to interact with the world around you and to express your personality are awe-inspiring.

I love you so much Boo. Happy Birthday sweetheart!

Love, MAMA! (who has to go finish your kittycat cake)

TdF designing

I've been hard at work on mental designing* over the past year or so. Lots of socks. Some mitts. A lovely square neck pullover. But the actual putting down on paper and in yarn of my mental ideas has been somewhat lacking, since there are only so many hours in the day, and so many patterns out there already (damn Ravelry!). But there's an idea that's been stuck in my head for over a year now that I think is ready to come to frutition, and I'm going to share that process (partly because it helps me figure out what I'm doing and gives me some pressure to make progress, and partly because I have no pictures to show you today).

Four years ago in May, I was somewhat frazzled, extremely underwhelmed with parenthood, and stuck at home on maternity leave. We don't typically watch a lot of TV, but we broke down and got cable, in part so I could watch the Giro d'Italia at home. And then the Tour de France. And then the Vuelta in September, with ample exposure to Phil and Paul during the classics, the Tour of Georgia, etc. It was a cycling-filled few months, and repeated for the next few years until OLN dropped off of basic cable and then switched it's name. That was about the same time that Lance retired and they stopped really televising any cycling in the States.

The current design project is four pairs of cycling socks in honor of the Tour de France. One for each of the main jerseys (Maillot Jaune, King of the Mountains, the Points Jersey) and one for the Lanterne Rouge, who doesn't get a jersey, but probably should, just for sheer persistance. I've been charting out patterns and playing with swatches for a couple of weeks now, and yesterday I fell down and ordered a cubic buttload of Cascade Fixation to do the actual knitting of said socks. I'm hoping to get the patterns done and available by the Prologue, which gives me not very much time**. Five months may seem like a gracious plenty, but this is four pairs of socks to chart, test knit, and write up. Yikes! Not to mention another pattern I want to knit/write up for submission in June, and a pattern already written that I absolutely need to get up on Ravelry this weekend.

Anyone out there want to do some test knitting? Bonus points if your feet are small (6-7) or medium (8-9) as opposed to my large (size 10) clodhoppers. I'll provide pattern and yarn, you knit them and let me know where my arithmatic skills deserted me. Leave me a comment or shoot an email to porpoiseknitsATgmailDOTcom if you're interested. These will be ankle socks, so factor that in to your knitting time estimates, but the first pattern won't be ready for at least a month.

Now everyone be quiet while I go fight with Excel. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.

* For instance, last night I paused my episode of Alias so I could make a sketch of the cabled turtleneck sweater Sydney was wearing, with the absolute goal of writting up a pattern for it. It was gorgeous.
** Appropriately enough for Lance's return, Le Tour starts on July 4th***.
*** And, given that we're going to be in the UK, we seriously might get to go see some of it. Squee!