Cottage46 Knitter

Malabrigo rocks

Because of 2 back-to-back tight turnaround indexes (indices?) there has been very little knitting at Cottage 46.  But what knitting has been done is Malabrigo which is extremely comforting. 

That's 2 Birthday Cowls and an Odessa for Christmas gifts.  I only used 2 hanks and have a little left over.  Still due by Christmas are a February Baby sweater (half knitted) and Norwegian star hat.  My current index is due tomorrow, so after that it's all knitting all the time.  I dying to get back to Oregon. 

We had a nice Thanksgiving/Christmas with my parents.  They are heading for Florida on Monday, so Christmas comes early.  Which is nice because it means yarn money!  Still debating about what to get.  Maybe yarn for Abalone? 

11/4/08

Yes. We. Can.

Barack Obama (Dem)	1,352,356	50%
John McCain (Rep)	1,329,370	49%

Even in Indiana.

I can't believe I live in a blue state!!

A surprising amount of progress

Especially since I don't feel like I've been knitting much at all.  Perhaps I finally have learned to knit in my sleep.  All my spare time seems to spent obsessively checking pollster.com and political blogs.  Election day cannot come soon enough.

I've finished one repeat of the 2nd chart on Oregon.  My Knit Picks #3 circular broke last night as I was spreading stitches out.  (!!!)  Saved by sticky Shetland wool.  The stitches were quickly recovered onto an Addi Turbo 40" needle which is actually working better because the KP was a 32".  It sounds a lot less dramatic than it seemed while it was happening. 

I started a stockinette v-neck cardigan adapted from Ann Budd's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns.  I'm using Stonehedge Shepherd's wool which is deliciously soft.  (Sorry, no links.  I've been editing an index all day and REALLY want to get to knitting.)  Anyway, it's navy blue, it's stockinette, boring but satisfying.

My meeting and webinar project has been this lovely pair of toe-up socks in Online Supersocke cotton.  Since Indiana revamped librarian certification, I've become a slave to LEUs (library education units), hence my attendance at lots of webinars.  I guess a lifetime certification for $1 with no continuing ed requirements was deemed insufficient. 

And I have a pair of 9 to 5 socks ready to start the heel.  These have completely stalled since I have 3 stockinette projects in active rotation and never really feel like concentrating on a heel.  Or even a heel flap. 

Here's Zoey willing the door to open so she can get back in on my chair where she belongs.  Between Zoey and my hormones, I am never cold.

A little Oregon progress

I've gotten through the first chart on Oregon. 

For mindless knitting I started a stockinette v-neck cardigan in navy blue Shepherd's Wool from Stonehedge Fiber Mill.  No photos yet.  Just picture 3 inches of navy blue stockinette.  The yarn is merino and very, very soft and wonderful.  I knit a few rows on Must Have last night.  I thought I was still on the first front side but discovered that I already completed one front side, and I'm actually on the second one.  Glad I discovered that before I started the shaping. 

The weather is cooler this week finally.  I got to wear Rogue out in the wild today when we went to the post office and the vegetable stand for pumpkins, Indian corn, and squash.  The lady at the veggie stand did not comment on my very cool hand knit sweater and I was very disappointed.  ;o)  It's turning out to be a busy fall again as far as indexing.  I had to turn down a project from a publisher that I'd really like to have as a client because I'm booked up.  That's never happened before!

I swatched.

And I love it.

Now I need to do some indexing.

God bless AS for thinking I'm a small!

There's no evidence of it yet, but cold weather is surely coming.  So I knit some mittens. 
Actually I finished mittens that I started in December 2006.  I knit a cuff and then was evidently distracted by a shiny object or something.  When I returned to them I decided my corrugated ribbing could probably be improved so I didn't even use the 2 year old cuff.

Pattern: Nordic Mittens by Beth Brown-Reinsel in Interweave Knits Winter 2004
Yarn: Brown Sheep Nature Spun sport
Needles: US #1
Comments: I love them and they fit perfectly.  My other mittens are a little too long and I feel like I'm wearing flippers.  These are just the right length.

Look what came in the mail today!!!!  Ahem.  My first Hebridean yarn.  All I can say is Wow.  These colors are amazing. 

I mean really amazing.  Anyway, the yarn is wound and swatching will commence this evening.  I'm so excited! 

I'm still working on Must Have cardigan #2.  The back is done and I'm about 1/3 of the way up one side of the the front.  It's good to have cables and colorwork going at the same time. 

I have to give a huge thank you to Lorraine at Sheriff of Knittingham for nominating me for the I Love Your Blog Award.  Totally made my day!

My nominees, in no particular order.  Well, actually alphabetical order by blog name.

Carole at Carole Knits who is a librarian and just today posted a yummy recipe that I'm going to try.

Cindy at Knitting Park who completely rocks at cables.

Karen at Musings of a (mostly) Self-Taught Knitter who was one of my first blog friends and who is raising  awareness of diabetes and money for a cure. 

CarrieK at My Middle Name is Patience who knits lovely projects and loves books and TV as much as I do.  She's also talked me down from at least one knitting-induced panic attack.

Rebekah at Rebekah's Yarn who stopped blogging for a while, but she's back!  I'm glad because I missed her and Abner, Basil, and Django.

Lorraine at Sheriff of Knittingham whose lace projects blow my mind and who may have the coolest blog name in blogland.

Marina at Stranded on Fair Isle whose stranded knitting is gorgeous and has perfect shoulder seams.  An astonishing body of knitted work.

Twig at Twig's (mis)Adventures in Knitting who knits very cool projects and is a doggie lover.

Jessie at What Housework who has the most interesting farm adventures and hand-dyes gorgeous Vermont yarn.

Brigitte at Wrapped Around My Finger who has the most entertaining Little Dudes, knits fantastic projects, and totally calmed me down when I found out my iron was way above normal. 

Thank you, ladies, for brightening my days and providing endless knitting inspiration!

There's a moose on the loose... Finally.

At long last, the Dale of Norway moose sweater is done.  All that was left to do was cut the sleeve steeks, attach sleeves and knit collar.  All accomplished yesterday since I neither showered or ventured outside.  Please pardon the wet towels laid out to dry and any dead plants in the background of the following pictures.

The front:

The back:

I forgot to photograph it, but the diamonds at the shoulder seams match perfectly on one side, but are staggered on the other side.  Not quite sure how that happened. 

Pattern: Dale of Norway #10006 from book 100
Yarn: Dale of Norway Falk
Needles: US 5
Comments:  I'm quite pleased especially for my first stranded sweater.  The recipient loves it and it seems to fit him well.  The sleeves had several purl rows at the top which I didn't really get until I sewed the sleeves in and the purl rows were folded over the ugly cut edge and sewed down.  Ooooohhh, I get it now.  Very tidy. 

Also finished the February Lady sweater, but I fear it's going to be too large.  When will I learn?  Wool stretches.  Duh.  I should have made the 42", but I made the 44", which is now closer to 46". 

Button closeup.  They aren't sewn on yet but I think they are perfect for this sweater.

Pattern: February Lady sweater by Pam Wynne
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers from stash
Needles: US 8

Health update: I didn't really learn much at my last doctor's appointment.  A few potential causes for the iron overload were ruled out.  I'll be retested in 4 weeks to see if there's a change since I've stopped taking the iron supplement.  I found out my blood calcium level is also high too so we need to figure out why.  I was much comforted by this site which makes it clear that the problem is most likely a parathyroid problem and not cancer.  There's almost no cancer in my family history, but there is history of elevated calcium so I'm not freaking out. 

My September knitting goals are to finish the Nordic Mittens I started almost 2 years ago, and finish the Must Have cardigan started earlier this year.  After that I still have Ingeborg and VK's FLAK sweater hanging out in the WIP pile. 

Update

No news on the iron overload front.  My test results weren't available in time for my appointment yesterday.  So I get to wait until Friday.  Whoopee!

Brigid came off the wooly board last night and the collar is definitely too large.  I'm going to pick up stitches and add some ribbing to fill it in. 

And just so we're not pictureless, here's Kiki snoozing in the crook of my legs.  Awwwwwww....

Score!

Finished SB just under the wire with a little less than 30 minutes to spare.  And got to use my new wooly board to boot.
Pattern: St. Brigid by Alice Starmore
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers
Needles: US 5
Mods: Changed the sleeves from drop shoulder (please, I'm schlumpy enough without drop shoulders) to set in, the first time I've attempted such a maneuver.  The collar may be a little large; if it is I'll add some ribbing above the braid.  All in all, I"m quite pleased.

Because I'm a knitting fiend, I'll be getting back to my FLS when I'm done posting this.  Fall projects are swirling in my brain.  Must finish the moose.  I have a few rows of Ingeborg on the needles from before I set her aside to do the moose.  I'd like to knit myself a v-neck FLAK this winter.  Colorwork or cables?  Cables or colorwork?

Thanks for all your good thoughts on the overload of iron in my blood.  I've calmed down considerably.  I'll find out what the deal is tomorrow.

I think I'm going to win a medal!

Almost done!  Both set in sleeves fit perfectly on the first try.  The Ravelympic gods must be smiling on me. 

I have the braid done for one sleeve.  Only about 1000 more miles of braid to go. 

There was a snowy egret hanging out here last week.  We don't see those very often. 

Our wildflowers are finally blooming.  We got them planted late because of the willow tree that we had to cut down and burn.  Glad to see blooms so it doesn't look like weeds.

Short post today.  I'm a little freaked about some blood work I had done this week.  I've taken an iron supplement for several years since I had a bad case of colitis-related anemia.  I questioned my (former) GI about how much I should take and for how long.  He assured me that he had many patients who took much more than I was taking and I should just keep taking it.  A couple of times I've stopped taking it but soon felt fatigued and started the supplement again. 

Well, one of the iron-related blood counts was WAY over where it should be this week.  As in it should be around 15 and mine was around 750.  Fabulous.  So I quickly googled "too much iron" and found that possible problems are numerous.  The two that stood out for me were heart and liver failure.  So I'm going in tomorrow for some more blood work.  Hopefully this will turn out to be no biggie.  Rest assured, I am knitting on through all crises.