ZEKs LITE

Blue hat, more yarn tasting

Here's the finished blue hat.  Crunchy bunchy cables.  It's soft.

Z looks cute in it. A little pokey on the top, but hopefully the tassels pull down the little "ears."

I also began some more yarn tasting of Beaverslide Dry Goods yarn, this time with the 65% merino, 35% mohair blend.  It's completely different, a little bit silky.

This yarn is mule-spun, on antique equipment that gives it a very hand-spun feel.  I love it.

I also am proud of myself for figuring out 2x2 ribbing invisible cast-on.  It wasn't hard: Do a 1x1 Italian/tubular caston and switch the order of the stitches on the first row.

Visitors from the south

We got some almost-surprise visitors this weekend. 

Me-Mom and
Pop-Pop were on an unexpected journey, and came by to paint Z's nails and kiss Pete for a few days.

One positive thing about Pete's condition is that he's more sociable, so he took all the extra attention well.

Yarn Tasting

I'm sampling some yarn for a chunky cabled sweater.  This is Beaverslide Dry Goods Mountain Midnight.  It is 90% merino, 10% kid mohair.  It's wonderful.  I'm also going to try some with mohair.

Here's a week-old picture of last Wednesday's snow.

We got barely a dusting, but it was enough to give our dancing solar snowman a reason to wiggle.  I have a feeling it's all the snow we'll see this year.  It's been a warm winter.  I'm not complaining--the walking weather and the sunshine are welcome.

 

Reading our treads

About this time last year I started writing down the miles I walked and jogged.  Turns out I put 1,160 miles on my sneakers.  I showed my worn shoes to the good fellow at the local shoe store and asked him to read my treads.

He had me jog on their treadmill, with the camera behind me and the screen in front of me. I watched the back of my feet jogging along.  I am not symmetrical.  My left foot points out, requiring me to swing my left foot and arm around to the front if I want to run in a straight line.  It accounts for my hippity-hoppity stride that a couple folks have commented on.  It's also why I stand like Mary Poppins.  Ideally, I should have two different kinds of shoes, one for each foot, since they wear differently.  But I'm not going to do that.  I bought one pair.

Spring is a good time to read our treads and get some fresh ones.  I've got a conference-sized table up in the living room, covered with papers to file so I can do taxes.  Going through the past year's numbers is like counting miles, reading our treads.  Not a bad year -- could use a few more vacation and travel receipts, a few less medical bills, but otherwise, pretty OK.

So for the fresh start Spring calls us to, Z and I joined the Montgomery County Road Runners.  We signed ourselves up for the Beginning Women's Running program. By mid-summer we will run a 5K and get a T-shirt. Woo!

Spring things

Mitts in the works.  These are a tester.  They'll be done again in blue.

The bulbs in the potts are poking up.

The orchid is ready to bloom again.

Pete is getting really skinny, as his illness progresses.  We are trying to keep him comfortable and warm.

Look at all my colors

It happens sometimes -- I cave in to the urge to amass a palette.  I don't quite know why I picked Brown Sheep Nature Spun.  It's good for mitts, which I'll make more of for next year's craft fairs, but it's also just in all these tasty colors.

Some of the colors were not in the box because they were on the table, going into mitts.

More things in heaven and earth, Horatio...

The Art Ladies got postponed a week ago when we had some ice.

Not sure whether this demonstrates an understanding of Focal Point and Center of Interest.  I think it might be more like Split Focal Point...if there is such a thing.

It's made from old photos of the Duomo cathedral in Naples, the Dulles Air and Space Museum and some quilted stars.  It's made 3D with the help of sticky foam bits.

14 and 44

Two birthdays this weekend!  E and Z had a pizza dinner. 

More photos of E's hat to come when I take them in the daylight.

Foggy

I've been feeling a little blue and foggy.

Could be the underactive thyroid gland.  That's also why I have half the usual amount of hair, I am told.  But I have reached a certain age, met a new friend "Peri" who my doctor says will be with me for the next 15 years, and now I put stoppers on my half-full bottles of beer because a full one gives me night sweats. 
Red wine is right out.  Damn.

Oh, and Z is soon to turn 14.  I think it was the long weekend where she fretted over her birthday and we didn't go anywhere that brought in the fog.  Note to self:  Plan a life and do it!

I'm glad I don't live in Alaska with the dark winter.  For sure I'd need the treadmill.  That's what's keeping the remaining hairs in my head right now.  My sneakers are worn out, right through the foam.  I was wondering why my feet felt hot -- it was the friction with the treadmill, heat coming through my thinning shoes.

On the lighter side, E has requested a knitted hat.  First he wanted robots on it, but then later the choice was made for Space Invaders motifs.  Here's the chart I'm working from.

The gun turret at the bottom could also be mistaken for the Capitol, which is appropriate. 

Name this stitch

Is it a cable?  Are extra wraps or slip stitches involved?  I wish the photo wasn't so blurry.

I wish I knew what it is called.  I can't find it on Ravelry, though I've found something similar in one of my stitch dictionaries.  If you've seen it before, or projects that include it, please let me know. 

The Netherfield socks pattern is close, but not quite the same (the little flower stitch in these is amazing!).

Time has whizzed by, with some temp work taking up the usually quiet mid-day project time.  That's not a bad thing, but I'm not used to it.

I think the lack of winter might be what makes things keep going as well.  We haven't had an opportunity to get cabin fever.  No ice, no morning walks below 30 degrees,  no commuters getting trapped in their cars for six hours...What kind of winter is this?  A great one! 

But pleasantly we woke up to an inch of snow this morning.