How The West Was Spun

Who the Hell Pissed Off Tláloc??

If it's you, I want you to quit it.  Tláloc does NOT appear to be happy.

Don't get me wrong, rain and green grass are much nicer than wildfires and evacuations, but honestly!  Could we get a bit of a break here?

Friday a.m., we woke up to thunderstorms and rain.  I don't know what on earth our hay delivery guy was thinking, but he drove up from Santa Fe in an open flatbed trailer without a tarp or other covering, and seemed surprised when I told him to just turn around and drive that soaking wet hay back down the hill, because I wasn't going to feed it to the horses.  We were down to a total of 6 bales of hay for the guys, which isn't even a week's worth, so we told the hay guy we'd plan on coming down to Santa Fe with our horse trailer on Sunday, since it's obviously covered, but it means we could only get 55 or so bales, and not the 120 we ordered. The skies cleared up enough by mid-afternoon, when I was done with work that Bhen and I went out and trotted a quick 7 miles or so.

Saturday a.m., having finally gotten my new saddle, D and spent a couple of hours working on adjustments for it.  Pesky little things like the length of the stirrup leathers.  D is 6 feet tall.  I am 5'4".  Do you think there's an issue when HE can't reach the stirrups, even when they are shortened as far as they will go?  We wound up having to drill a bunch of extra holes in the leather, and then cut off over a foot of excess before I could use them.  Anyway, we finally got that squared away, and dashed off to the horse park so I could try the saddle on Bhen and actually ride in it.  We did a tour of the round pen, at the walk and the trot, and made a few more adjustments and I decided I would head out for a quick ride to try it out further, but realized how quickly the black clouds had started to build, and noticed - eek - lightning, so we turned around and headed back to the lot and I got him untacked and back in the barn before the worst of the downpour started.

Sunday, it was raining when we got up.  It had started to clear by about 8:00, so we took a chance, got the trailer, and headed down to Santa Fe.  The weather held for the trip down and back, but as we unloaded the last of the bales into storage at the horse park, the first drops of rain started.  We initially thought it would clear up, and I had plans to .... you guessed it.... ride again..... but the sky started to look like this:

And within a few minutes, there was a downpour so heavy, the gutters were having trouble managing the amount of water.  And then the hail started, first pea-sized, and then grape-sized.  It was enough to leave the front yard looking like winter in July.

 

I was really happy I was at home, and not out on the mesa-top on Bhen, trying to navigate thru all that and not get drenched and/or electrocuted.

He and I are supposed to head out to Ft. Stanton to ride in another 2 weeks.  So could whoever is sacrificing chickens or virgins or whatever is causing all this rain please cease and desist?  Please?

All for now...

WIP Wednesday - July 1, 2009

Project #1:  Pippa Cardi

Closing in on the finish line, I got both sleeves knit up thru the necessary increases and length, before starting decreases on sleeve #1 for the sleeve cap.  I'm at about the halfway point of decreases for the cap.

 

Goal:  Finish up the sleeves and get these sewn in.  If possible, I'd love to have the bands completed as well.  My mum arrives next Tuesday, so I'm going to shoot for that, but at least the body of the sweater will be done!

Project #2:  (New!) Zebra Socks

This is a KAL from the Knitter's Brewing Company, which Christina and I are knitting together here, locally. You had your choice of 4 colorways, and I picked the electric blue, which goes with all of Bhen's racing colors (not that he will wear these, or even care, but......). The sock has a garter-stitch toe and heel, knit toe-up.  The zebra stripes are worked by ingenious use of short row techniques, where you work part of the sock on the knit side and part on the purl side.  I haven't gotten much done on these, and they are my planned travel project, or to pick up as I have time.

 

Goal: Nothing specific.  I'll just work on these as the spirit moves me.

I am still working the Aphrodite shawl, but it is at the stage I am really tied to a flat surface, where I can concentrate on the charts, plus my open cannister of beads, so slow going on that.  I am, however, up to about row 66 on the charts, with about 1-1/2 of the longer repeat to go.

All for now....

FO: Lothlorien Socks

I finished up my Lothlorien socks last night.  These are my final contribution towards the PS4 East cardinal direction (featuring both yellow and wood).

 

Why, yes!  Those are kitty-helper whiskers and a toe in the background!

PROJECT SPECS:

Pattern: Lothlorien Socks by Janel Laidman.  These are available as a stand-alone download, but will also be in her new book (which looks to have a lot of nice patterns in it as well) called The Enchanted Sole.  This is currently only available as a pre-order, but you can buy a Ravelry download of the pattern here. The design theme is taking from Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, the "golden forest" of the Elves.
Yarn:  Kim's The Woolen Rabbit sock yarn, Harmony, in the colorway "Oakmoss".  I wasn't sure I would love the colorway, it being yellow, but I gotta say, I do!  This perhaps is one of my newest favorites.  The yarn itself was a treat to work with, and held up nicely for the cable work in the treetops.  I sometimes find sock yarns with nylon in them to be scratchy, but this one is not at all!
Needles:  US size 1.5 DPNs.  (Note:  The pattern calls for size 2's, but the gauge was too loose for my tastes on this size.)
Modifications/Notes:  I didn't really make any modifications, but some things you should know.  On my version, a couple of chart symbols were missing.  You can easily find these online, or in most stitch pattern books, but just be sure to check for those before you get started.  The leaf pattern on the toes is created using M1's, but the designer doesn't indicate which of the many M1 techniques you should use.  A M1L and M1R seemed to be the best choice, IMHO, to create a more embossed look and have the lines for the curve of the leaf flow more smoothly than a backward-loop M1.  Finally, while the foot and heel and about half of the leg chart are easy to work, you are going to want some quiet time to finish all the cables, yarn over and corresponding bind-offs for the final half of the trees on the leg.

 

More kitty toes in the background!

And finally, a closeup of the leaf motif on the top of the foot.

 

All for now......

WIP Wednesday

Project #1: Pippa Cardigan

I'm making progress on the sleeves, but I warned y'all it was gonna be a slow slog.  I have knit up to the 12" mark on both of the sleeves.  I have to reach 18" before starting the sleeve cap decreases.  Egads.

 

Goal:  I'm going to try to get these done to the point where the sleeve decreases start, and if I really get cranked up, I will try to finish the sleeves completely, but I suspect that's a bit optimistic.

Project #2: Lothlorien Socks

I had my Remicade this week, and one of the nurses kept taking phone calls on her cell (which she had set to the "annihilate eardrums" level on her phone).  While I normally sleep thru most of the 4 hours I'm at the hospital, I kept... ahem... being woken up, so I actually knit on these quite a bit.  I finished the foot, the gusset and just started on the heel-turn.

 

Goal:  Finish turning the heel and work half of the leg chart rows. I'd like to have these off the needles by the end of the month, as I'm doing a sock KAL in July!

All for now....

Knitting Aphrodite

I am greatly enjoying knitting this pattern, and not just because it ain't a sweater, although I'm sure that helps.

This is through row 60:

 

Row-wise, this is about the halfway point on the body of the shawl.  (There is a wide edging at the bottom.)  However, since each right-side row adds an extra 6 stitches each time, it's nowhere near the halfway mark.  The shawl has an interesting, almost square shape to the shoulder portion, so it sits nicely around your shoulders and drapes all the way to the front.  You can sort of see that beginning to take shape in the above photo.

Here's a (slightly blurry) shot of the main lace panel motif:

 

And one of the seam lace:

 

All for now.....