Episode 26 Double Bubble or “Mulling it over”

Episode 26 Double Bubble or “Mulling it over”



1. Production Scheduling

a. Production

b. What’s in my Tea Pot?

c. Shipping

d. Material Sourcing

e. After 5

2. Production

a. Christmas Knitting :54 days till Christmas mystery gift is 40% done ornaments complete 1 of 18.

i. I keep havig thoughts of adding to my holiday knitting. Red Heart has a 12 weeks of crafting email that has been coming to my inbox and each week I think “oh I should make that…” I need to sit down and make a realistic list. I think my one project and my ornaments are doable. If I keep things simple I could add a few more hand made gifts but I need to make sure they will be appreciated. Was my SIL serious when she said I should make ruffled scarves for christmas??? I could make a fish hat for the guitar teacher…. Or is it the year of the sweater for the boys? I know I have enough time to transform the Loopy the Appaloosa dishcloth pattern into a raglan sweater for B. But, a large sweater project for Nate may be a bit over committing myself. (Visions of the unfinished gilli suit are haunting me.)

b.Swatching: Since I broke the bank in AA I’ll be stash knitting for a while.My method of stash knitting usually starts with a trip to ravelry to search for patterns that require the weight and yardage I have. I noticed that my stash is running pretty high in sock yarn these days.  But what I really want to cast on is the ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Ruffled and Ruched Scarf By Pam Powers  but I don't have enough yadarge.L I found this pattern while drooling yet again over the Cowgirl Cowl.  The picture of the Ruffled and Ruched scarf make a gorgeous silouette on the dress form.  I’m praying it looks just as gorgeous on me!  Plus the added flower goes on a pin to act as a closure and I could see stealing it to add to other pieces to a bit of panache.

i.The Holden Shawlette By Mindy Wilkes

1.I saw this pattern while browsing through ravelery and queued it.  Then through #knitchat I heard there was a KAL for this through another podcast (who I would mention if I remembered who it was!).  This is a total ME TOO! Knit.

ii.Koolhaas By Jared Flood

1 I have one skein of gorgeously dyed Aran weight Courtesy of Knitting in the Red (Check out Jana on Etsy)  It’s either going to become Koolhause or the Snapdragon Tam by Ysolde Teague.  I’m waffling…  The yarn is has some variegation and Snapdragon has so much going on I think I may prefer a something a bit more solid for that.  Don’t get me wrong though the Koolhaas has plenty going on I just think the more architectural  pattern would lend itself better to varigation than Ysolde’s more organic twists and cables.

iii.The Cowgirl Cowl by Pam Powers

1.I love the tassel.The tassel is the entire draw for me. Now that we got that out of the way I like the buttons to but the pics without the tassel I’m little “meh…”add the tassel and I’m stash diving looking for the perfect yarn.I’m mourning my lack of worsted weight. :P

3.What’s In My tea Pot

a.It’s fall and one of my absolute favorite things about fall is Hot Apple Cider. More importantly Hot Apple Cider the way my Mom Makes it.  I think the original copy of the recipe came from a now closed farmers market on the west side of Cleveland called Danny Boys.I did some searching on the internet and found almost the same recipe online at http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,183,154164-237203,00.html The recipe calls for:

1/2 gallon of apple cider
a 1 inch knob of fresh ginger
1 whole lemon, cut in quarters
1 whole orange, cut in quarters
1 or 2 (2") cinnamon sticks
pinch of allspice (optional)
5 whole cloves

I do not use the ginger. My mom sometimes does not use the lemon. Cooks.com makes their cider on the stove top in a non aluminum pan. In our houses we make it in the crock pot. I put the cloves in the oranges an toss everything into the pot swishing it around a bit to mix in the allspice if I’ve used it that day. I keep it on High until it hot and then turn it down to Keep warm.  I’ll keep the pot going all day until I run out of cider. I do recommend not letting the lemons sit in the pot enire time. When the pot gets low the lemon bitterness of the lemon rind starts to come through. The oranges are sweet enough to leave in. There’s just something about coming in out of the chilly October air to the smell of hot mulled cider (You can even ditch you Airwick!). It’s one of my very favorite things (would be on my Death Row last meal request…) Halloween just isn’t Halloween with out it! (Well really Fall isn’t fall… cause my local orchard is still selling cider…..)

4 Shipping

a.It’s been a while but there’s finally something in shipping. The I Heart Lace Shawl By Inese Andzane is done and blocking as I speak. I had a few foibles on this pattern. They were my own issues.  One was me trying to warch TV and knit at the same time…. The other was pushing to get “just one More row”. It was my standard hour for screw ups… Midnight – 1 AM and I wanted to finish the purl row so I could start fresh on a pattern row the next day. I was talking to Joe and by some freakish slip or spasm the dropped the last 10-15 completed stitched fell off the right hand needle.ACK! I thought I had gotten them back on correctly but alas when I completed the 1^st half of the pattern row I had the wrong number of stitches. I tinked back to make sure it wasn’t a AJ is watching TV and not counting stitches problem to no avail and thus after sleeping on it… tore back to the second lifeline. Which wasn’t so bad as I only lost 4 rows. Things I liked: The Back Seam Detail and the chart was EASY to read. One fiddly thing I wished was there…. I was not having an “Intelligent” day when I started the chart section. It took me a good half an hour to figure out that the entire center section was the lace repeat. Yes I know that was incredible air headed of me. I’m not proud… but we’re all friends here so I will be honest. This pattern is recommended for BEGINNER lace knitters (I checked the Ravelry group….). Knitters who may or may not have been exposed to charts before.  I think a little out line in Red and an * denoting the lace repeat wouldn’t be out of line. Especially if it helps me look less inept. J

5. Material Sourcing

a. I had set a mental goal for myself to finish the Cauldron Knitty and Color Bat by Halloween. Soooo Close! I finished the spinnig on the 30^th and have it half plied. I’m hoping to finish that off ASAP and get it finished and posted as my second entry for the Autumn Jumble SAL. I plan on naming it Toil and Trouble because I always get the Shakespeare quote wrong on think it’s Double Bubble Toil and Trouble when it’s “Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.” I thought that Double Bubble implied pink like bubble fum and not the Witchy Cauldron colors I had… If you’re interested in the full context from Macbeth it’s linke to on the show notes page. http://www.potw.org/archive/potw283.html

b.Sooooo many goodies to spin…. I’m not sure what I’ll grab next Thinking right now It will probably be the one of the balls of coopworth or one of the merino’s from Copperpot Woolies.  Of course there is the angora……

6. After 5

a. So where the heck have I been this week.

i.6th wedding anniversary dinner at the melting pot.

ii. Joe has been home for a long weekend.

iii. Kent Halloween on 10/30

1. 4 Stinking houses?

2. The body suit Lumberjack hat combo.

iv. Real Halloween at my parents on 10:31

1. Skyline Chili

2. B does another 4 houses with Daddy and then Grandma saves the day!

v.Creeping crud?

vi.So busy I forgot about #knitchat!

b. Joe’s knitting Update.

i. Slow progress

ii. He’s somehow splitting the cotton yarn and then increasing by Knitting the split. I’ve fixed this twice

iii. We’re at the point where things are going to get interesting in the pattern stitch.  This is where we find out if he’s really interested in learning or if he bails when it get’s complicated. Cross your fingers!

c. Winner! My Lumberjack Hat for Nate won the Cuyohoga Falls Knit and Hook Group’s Winter Creativity contes. It was up against from still competition from a “Garter” Snake Scarf (Done in garter stitch no less!) Woohoo! I knew I had a hit on my hands when the teenager wore it constantly but it’s always nice to get the thumbs up from your peers.