A Sweater Story

So my Harvest Moon cardigan is more than a sweater, it's a creation that has happened over many years of my life! Don't get me wrong I didn't knit on it for any longer than it normally takes to knit a sweater. I just managed to stretch the whole process out.
Timeline:
On December 22nd of 2011 I saved the pattern because I thought it was cute. At that time I was working at the League of Kansas Municipalities and I know for a fact I printed the pattern at work. It was on really nice paper, Lawyer paper, not gov't office paper. :-)  I was two months pregnant with Alex and I'm sure I thought it would be a lovely sweater for that winter since it doesn't have buttons up the front. HA! Such a dreamer I am!
Reminder, 12/2011 is just when I saved the pattern. I didn't actually purchase it until June 2012!

So I bought the pattern in 2012, one month  before I had my second son. This makes sense because adding children to a family always makes for more knitting time, right? But wait a sec, in April of 2012 I decided that I wasn't just going to knit this sucker, I was going to spin the fiber to make the yarn to knit it! It must have been those pregnancy hormones that made me think crazy things like that.

So in April of 2012 I buy 5 bumps of Hello Yarn Shetland fiber in the Bristling color way. I would like to educate you on how it works to buy Hello Yarn fiber.
You join a group of people who all desperately want this fiber on the internet, then when someone who has it puts it up for sale all the people who want it try to be the first person to e-mail to say they will buy it. It's pretty crazy and it is worth it because the fiber is THAT GOOD.
So to procure five bumps I believe I got two from someone selling theirs, then I went to my internet group and begged and pleaded until two other people sold me some just to shut me up! I promised them I would spin it into yarn and knit it into a sweater and love my sweater forever! Good thing I never promised when that would all be done!

Ok, have fiber, now I must spin it into yarn. I'm not sure when I started spinning my lovely fiber but I do know the yarn was not done until Sept. 29, 2014! OVER TWO YEARS LATER. My son I was pregnant with when I started this project is now two, I had a different job and even lived in a different house!

At this point you can understand why I laugh when people suggest I knit sweaters because its cheaper or easier than buying them. The fiber alone cost $115, (remember I got the good stuff) and that does not account for my time. Pay heed folks, spinning and knitting sweaters is an addiction. It doesn't make any sense but it feels so good when it's done!

I finally started knitting my Harvest Moon sweater in June of 2015. Again I waited a year to take the next step! After I finally started the knitting the project went quick. I had the goal to have it done to wear to my work's annual conference in October, then to have it done for Thanksgiving in November and finally wanted to have it for Christmas. Turns out it was finished to wear on a Wednesday for work!

So that is the story of this sweater. Four years and one month after I found the pattern I finally have the sweater. I'm no quitter!

Alex and I modeling the sweater I planned to wear pregnant with him!

A Weekend Spin

Because of some unexpected rain The Manor got to host Grandma Rosie! She had a golf tournament on Friday and because it rained in Southwest Kansas she got to stay until Sunday. It is always fun to have her around. Kelly likes it because they like the same restaurants. :-|
Sunday evening I finally got around to plying my "Is this a weed?" fiber. It was my last fiber from Tour De Fleece. The tour ended months ago but I'm glad to finally have my pile of fiber done. Now I need to spin the last of my "Bristling" fiber because I was knitting my sweater and ran out of yarn with one sleeve left to go. Boo! I hope 3.2 ounces is enough to get a whole sleeve worth of yarn. We shall see!

Pile o Fiber in June

Is it a Weed? Colorway in 3 ply

Pile o Yarn in October!

PS-The boys' birthday/Christmas hand-knit sweaters are also looking like the maybe next year/never sweaters. My sons are going to be so disappointed!

PPS- I got Halloween decorations up tonight! We totally missed last year so I'm pretty darn proud of myself!

The Calm Before the Fair

Tomorrow starts my 5th Shawnee County Fair! I don't know if I'm getting the hang of it or forgetting something because right now I'm eerily calm. hmmmmm
I can't think of anything else that needs done before 7am tomorrow so I am just waiting.....
The fair is a lot of fun and I enjoy when it is actually here and happening. Another great thing about the fair is Grandma Rosie comes to help the whole family get through the four days of activities. She will have even more jobs this year because it is Daryl's first year participating as a Clover Bud. He has to have his project judged and then work a shift for his club's cookie sale. It will be a fun time for all of us.
I wanted to show off some new yarns I spun. I had wanted to spin my whole pile of fiber that is pictured but two out of three ain't bad!

Got Daryl all enrolled for school today. It is crazy that the first day of school is two weeks away. He is excited to be in first grade and this year he will be riding the bus. I can tell he has a little anxiety about that but it is something he wants to do. He rode a bus to his day camp this summer so he made a point to tell me he CAN ride the bus to school. I know he will do fine, and I will get to walk to the bus stop with him every day instead of driving him to school. We will still get a few moments of Mommy/Daryl time every morning!

On top of everything else we are doing this month we had one of our trees cut down in front of our house. We have lived in our home for three years now and can't get grass to grow in the front yard. The last thing it could be is our yard was too shady. Well, that won't be a problem anymore!

Sorry the picture is a little dark, I didn't get home till 8:30pm! 

 

I hope everyone had a happy end to July, if you are in the area come say "Hi" to me at the fair!

It's HOT in Topeka!

I'm obligated to put this right here.....(feel free to stop watching at 1:25)


So glad this is the week Alex started swim lessons. He has them four days this week and four days next week. So far he is loving them! I think it will be major progress if we can get him to go under the water.

Last Saturday Kelly and I went to, "Brew at the Zoo" with our friends Ben and Jaime. It was a blast as expected. The food trucks this year were a nice addition. They just needed a dessert food truck, I was ready for some Ice Cream as hot as it was.

Since it is so hot I'm making yarn. Go figure!

I'm Still Here!

I know the blog has been quiet but that was not my fault. I had lined up a guest blogger while I was in Pennsylvania for work but he didn't do anything. I fired him!
Lot to tell about from last week.

Probably the most exciting is Alex is wearing underwear! When I left Kelly potty trained Alex, I don't know what he said but it worked! So far (knock on wood) he has only had one accident. Yay, Alex!! PS-Kelly stop being so awesome, you are making the other dads look bad. Not only did you have two boys by yourself for 8 days without shipping them off to Grandmas you potty trained one. You can stop now! LOL


In other news I did get to tour the North East part of Pennsylvania for work. I met some amazing people and saw some amazing sights. I also admit I was with some pretty great youth!

The only bear I saw in PA. Trust me I was looking! 

Bushkill Falls, they were beautiful. So happy my host family brought me here!

No trip to Philly is complete without a shot of the Liberty Bell! 

While I was traveling I started a sock. I'm using a ball of yarn that Kelly got for me a year ago. I love the colors! I'm knitting the Hermoine Everyday Sock pattern. I almost finished one sock. I hope I don't come down with some second sock syndrome!

I've also started the Tour De Fleece challenge. Tour De Fleece is when you spin every day of the Tour De France race. I've needed some motivation to get my spinning mojo back and this should do it. I've picked three Hello Yarn Fibers I've been wanting to spin. I already have Headbanger (orange and blue) on the wheel right now!

Have a Happy 4th everyone! Try and keep all of your fingers!!

Verbal Cues

On our way to Daryl's first day of day camp yesterday he was babbling on in the back seat of the car.
He was trying to tell me something but it was coming out like this.
Daryl-"Mom you know that thing Red Cross stop sign, Red Cross red sign, Blue Cross blue sign,..."
Me-"Do you mean Blue Cross Blue Shield?"
Daryl-"Ya! Do you know about that place?"
Me-"What about it?"
Daryl-"It's a HUGE place and it is downtown and Owen's mom works there."
Me-"And......"
Daryl-"Oh nothing I was just thinking about how big it is, it is really big."

That was the first time I realized he was nervous about day camp. He has been talking about it for weeks and he knows all the fun stuff they will do. However, when he starts talking about stuff out of the blue really fast, I know he is nervous.

When I picked him up he was all smiles. Although he looked tired and said he wanted to read when he got home. I asked him if he was tired and he was because they played ALL DAY! The report I got was lots of sports, went swimming and rode on the carousel. He is excited to go back today.

I have a feeling the knitting mojo is finally back! 
On vacation I finished my cable hat and started a new knit with some of my handspun yarn. I liked the yarn but I'm wondering if the cardigan is going to be too colorful. I got some outside opinons yesterday and was told if I wear it with black pants it should be fine. :-)
The cable hat was supposed to be for me but even when I knit the largest size it still doesn't fit my pumpkin head. It fits Daryl just fine, he inherited my big head!

Today, marks an almost week of unplugging. I am leaving for 4-H camp at noon and since the internet service is spotty I'm just not even going to try. Also, the youth are not allowed to bring their phones or computers so I don't want them mad at me trying to use mine.
So for now, this is see you later, I hope to have major progress to report on Sunday on my Harvest Moon cardigan!

Just New Yarn

I have been working on this spin for months. I spin so slow it almost makes me think I will drown in fiber. But there are worse ways to go! LOL
This is Wickerwork dyed by Hello Yarn, I spun it as a 3 ply. I separated the braid into light and dark so I can do some color work. It will make a nice sweater for Daryl or Alex.

It was such a great weekend. The weather warmed up and our family took advantage. We went to the zoo, I went for a run, and the boys spent hours playing outside. Hoping this weather stays around for awhile. I've been fighting a cold for about a month so if that could go away I would be happy.

Happy 94th Birthday Grandma!

Last Sunday we braved the wind and the snow for a very special birthday party. Grandma Hazel is celebrating her 94th birthday! We had some sandwiches and birthday cake with her and we got to see her new apartment. It was a very cool party. I did have a little problem with Daryl not listening. He gets around his cousins and Aunts and Uncles and goes bananas. Normally, I can settle him down, but I had a cold and he eventually got to me. I hugged Grandma goodbye but I think that was about it as I hurried to get him into the car. So I needed a few "cute" Daryl stories, maybe you need some too!

Grandma with 8 of her 10 Great Grand kids. Missing our Colorado girls!

On the 29th for Kansas Day, Daryl and his class went on a field trip to the Kansas History Museum. It is a day they open up the museum to all school kids to learn about the state. Kelly went with Daryl and I'm so glad because he brought back this gem.

Four boys come up to a demonstration of ladies spinning on drop spindles.
One Lady:Hi Boys, do you know what this is? (Holding up her spinning)
Daryl: It's fiber.
Lady: I'm impressed, your smart!
Too bad he didn't give me credit for him know all about spinning. :-)

Later when he got home:
Daryl: Guess what I saw at the Museum.
Me:What?
Daryl: A Pee Pee
Me: What?!
Kelly: He saw a Tee  Pee at the Museum.
.
Then my favorite story Saturday morning when Kelly and I talking about our first year with Daryl.
Me:We are lucky we stayed married.
Kelly: We, are we had a lot of stuff going on that year.
Daryl: It's like a fairy tale when the football player married the 4-H player.
Me: Awww I like that.

Finally, here is my latest spin. 8 ounces of some fiber I dyed at Yarn School almost three years ago! It is all washed and ready to be knit. Into what, I'm not sure. :-)

Three Day Weekend

Had a great weekend with Mom and the boys! We have been relaxing at home most of the time. In the three days I only got in one run, but it was my longest in awhile at 6.15 miles.

I did knit a little on the sweater that does not end. I'm almost to eight inches of the 13.5 I have to knit. So that is progress. But the most interesting thing I've been working on is a new spin. I've had this 8 ounces of BFL fiber since I was pregnant with Alex. I dyed it myself at Yarn School. It is spinning like a dream and I think it will make a smooshy three ply. Will hopefully get that done this week as I have A LOT of yarn that needs washed.

Today, Mom got the staples out of her knee. So glad she is starting to make progress. She is getting around better so today we went and got pedicures to celebrate. It was fun!

Sometimes I just like to go through the pictures on Kelly's phone. I don't know what is going on in these two but I thought they deserved to be posted! Happy Monday every one!

New Hard Ware and Soft Wear

Our first week of December was filled with dental work and knitting work. I was away for work for a couple of days and while I was gone Daryl got a silver cap on one of his teeth. He doesn't like getting cavities filled at all but he thinks having this silver tooth makes him a pirate. So he is good with it.
He told Kelly when they were leaving the dentist that he thought he could stretch his cheek to the sun! He was still pretty numb at that point.

While I was away from home I took the opportunity to knit some finger less mitts. I spun the yarn, it is Hello Yarn fiber in the Heirloom Tomatoes colorway. I wasn't sure who I was making them for but I think I'm going to keep them. I made the second one a little smaller so it wouldn't be right to give away two mitts that don't match, right?

Lastly, this week we made our November debt snowball payment. After spending our snowball on baseball in October we got back on track in November. Our payment ended up being $200 more than we budgeted. We could seriously have Kelly's loan paid off with our January snowball. I'm starting to get really excited and am questioning every purchase! I forgot my pillow on my work trip and some ladies were heading to Wal-Mart. I asked them if they could pick me up a pillow and then before they left I changed my mind. I slept horrible with a towel for a pillow for two nights but I wasn't going to do it when we still have one last loan to pay! Beware, the gazelle intensity is starting to rear its ugly head. LOL

Getting up in the morning is hard!

My new yarn and a Guest Blogger!

I was pretty much gone all this week. I've had a busy month with work and I couldn't do the job I love without Kelly holding it down at The Manor! Thank you Kelly!

While away I did get a good start on my last knitted Christmas gift. I plan to not be hastily knitting on Christmas Eve this year, so I did my best at knitting all year on gifts. I think it is going to work out.
So far this project is going smoothly but I don't want to jinx myself.

I've finished my n-ply yarn! It is ready for a bath and to be knit into something fabulous! This was a practice spin more than anything else and I do think I'm getting better at this plying technique. I now want to try this technique with my "wickerwork" Hello Yarn fiber.

And another running update. The weather was so mild yesterday I got to run outside with my friend Kjrsten while at Rock Springs 4-H Camp. We were talking while running and I was wearing out, I asked if we had gone three miles. She laughed and said in my dreams! We ran until we hit 2.8 miles and I had had enough. The road was hilly and we were talking but I figured out why I was so tired when she told me our average pace was 8:40 miles. Uh, what? I normally run ten minute miles, so that is why I was tired! I really enjoyed talking on my run so I need to find some Topeka running buddies. I think I will get faster that way!

When I got home today from my 4-H conference Daryl said he wanted to write a blog. I said what do you want to write about? He said pretty yarn like you do mom. So of course I said I would type for him whatever he wanted to blog. Turns out he did not want to talk about yarn at all!

I want to write about one time there was a big man named Agaga. A fire went on and the big man shouted out ya  ya as long as the fire went. Here comes a little man holding cheeseburgers and they said num num that’s good.  Then here came the hair lady and she brushed everyone’s hair. And then they were like “I don’t like my hair it looks like a girl.” And then the best person was in love with each other and then they finally found out that the evil man was Agaga.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

All Things Yarn

I've dug to the bottom of the stash and found some Hello Yarn Wensleydale fiber that I acquired in January of 2013. I have 8 oz and decided to split the colors apart into three different piles and try to get better at my N ply skills. 
N ply is when you use one single and make it a three ply. That way you can preserve the color of a multi color fiber. I wanted to use this particular fiber because it is a very long fiber and so it shouldn't want to break on me as much as a shorter fiber. 
I love the look of an N ply but so far I've not been very good at it. So I will keep practicing! 
Here is what I have so far.
Original braids of Smells of the Sea:

 Here are the three colors I seperated. The blue is already N plied, the yellow is a single and I just started spinning the brown.
















My N ply is still a little un even but I have two more colors to make it better!

We may be to blame



 We are trying something new in the boys' room to try and induce some better sleep for Alex. Kelly unbunked the beds and they are now side by side. When we did that Kelly and I both agreed to be more consistent with Al's bedtime routine. We had a rock solid routine with Daryl and he is a sleeper. We got lazy with routines with kid #2. We are to blame for our own sleepless nights.

So last Tuesday we started bath, book then bed with both boys. We start at eight o'clock sharp. Alex still cries for a little bit but he is getting better and better. Every morning I make a big deal about him sleeping in his own bed and I tell him he is a big boy! He always responds with a "No."
He can be a big boy in his own bed but he doesn't have to be happy about it!

On Saturday around 7pm we put the boys in their pjs and loaded them and some blankets in the car. If I still lived in Hanston that would mean we were going to the drive-in. In Topeka it means we are going to watch a movie at the Capital. We saw, "Honey I Shrunk The Kids." Alex stayed up for the whole movie and Daryl fell asleep at 8:30 his normal bedtime. That kid is like clockwork with bedtime!






Sunday was wash day and I spent an hour washing newly spun yarn. I ended up with 1180 yards of worsted three ply yarn from 1lb of fiber. Color is Bristling by Hello Yarn. It is a classic! Can't wait to start a cardigan with it. I do need to get some projects off of the needles first. I should be able to skein it up with my new ball winder I want for my birthday. HINT HINT :-)

Stupid Little Toe

So what is now referred to as the tragic toe injury of 2014 will probably side line me from my 25K on Sunday. :-( On Labor Day we took the boys to Going Bonkers here in Topeka. They have one of those huge gym things for the kids to climb on. I don't know what I was thinking but I got into it and started chasing the boys. Well I fell through one of the opening little kids use to climb upwards and hurt my toe that is beside my pinkey toe. I always thought it was funny when athletes would be on the injured list because of a toe injury. Now I understand, that stupid toe has hampered my walking and made running almost impossible for three weeks.
I'm disappointed not to be able to run my race but the farthest I ever got on this training plan was 11.5 miles and I've only run 8 miles the past three weeks. I just don't think its smart to try to do 15 on Sunday. Sigh. I will go pick up my shirt, but I don't plan on wearing it until I run my own 25K!

With morning and evening runs out I've been able to focus on something very important. Spinning a sweater amount of Hello Yarn Fiber! This is a color that came out in October 2011 and I've been collecting it since 2012. Fiber does not keep forever so the time to spin it had come! Plus it is very "fallish" so with the recent cooler weather it just feels right!

I have half of the 20 ounces spun and more singles are ready to ply! Yahoo! I have multiple interests so when one totally lets me down I can just go to another!

Decisions Decisions

The progress on Daryl's sweater had stalled. This is a problem because his birthday is August 20th and this is his birthday sweater. There is a culprit for this. My spinning wheel and the glorious bump of fiber I'm spinning.

The Hello Yarn Shetland that I am spinning is a dream. It is an easy spin without a lot of work on my part to make even singles. And the colors! Oh the glorious colors! I just want to get home at night and spin spin spin! This colorway , Bristling, has been in the stash for many years. It is one of those colors I collected before I was in the Fiber Club. Now that there is a monthly delivery of Hello Yarn being delivered to me it is time to let this fiber free of the fiber closet! I can't wait to show you all the finished yarn.

But, that will have to wait until this sweater is done. I'm on the sleeves, I struggle with sleeves, they are boring to knit....grumble grumble.

Daryl went to Aunt Barb's on Wednesday night and we will go get him tonight. He was very excited about this and didn't really want to tell me goodbye because he was so excited.

Me-Daryl give me a hug before you leave
Daryl-**running around the house grabbing toys to take with him not paying attention**
Kel-Daryl tell your mom goodbye and give her a hug!
Daryl-Goodbye mom! I will always remember you!

Oh dear turns out he didn't think he was ever coming back. And...he wasn't bothered one little bit!!

Daryl's Tee Ball picture!

Happy Easter! (and picture overload!)

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter yesterday and were surrounded with loved ones. It was great weather here to play outside, have an Easter egg hunt and be generally happy.
Daryl got a Minecraft sword from the Easter bunny and Alex got a big bouncy ball. They also both got new socks and some candy. Daryl actually really liked his socks, this mom was thrilled with that reaction. It could be a good plan for new underwear in the Christmas Stocking and new socks in the Easter basket. I think Jesus would want it that way! :-)
Today I took a day off of work to recover from all of the company. It was great! The boys and I slept in and played outside. While Daryl was at preschool I took Alex to his sitter's for a couple of hours and even got in a 5 mile run. What a winner of a day!
Because I'm feeling like an over achiever when Alex got home and took I nap I washed my newly plied yarn. I think that is enough for one day so goodnight everyone! I may just go to bed at 8!

Spring Flowers!

The weather in Kansas has been up and down. But the flowers are still blooming! Last Saturday I was spoiled and got to do my long run outside. It was awesome! Then it got cold and the rest of my runs have been on the treadmill. :(

 I did have a running success this  morning, I was scheduled to do six miles, I hit snooze with the intention of no miles, I got up on the second alarm and ran four. Success 4>0!!!

It has been hard to get up for my morning runs because I have a great spin going on! I have been staying up late to try and get all of my singles done. Last night I did! Then on my lunch break today I started to ply because I just couldn't wait. I think this yarn is already screaming vest!

Have a Happy Easter everyone! The manor is hosting this year so I will be busy the next two days cleaning!! Does anyone want to borrow children for a couple of days?