Walking From Hobbiton to Rivendell

No pictures of WIPs yet, I was asleep most of the day, but just wanted to mention that I have decided to join the Hobbiton to Rivendell walking challenge.  Some very dedicated Tolkien fans have figured out that it is 458 miles from Hobbiton to Rivendell and even where you would approximately be after a certain number of miles.  For example, yesterday I walked a little over three miles and that put me over the plank bridge over the water.  I am including general walking and not just planned walks, so haven't figured out where I would be yet today.

2016 Reading Challenge

This year, I have decided to join the 2016 Reading Challenge.  I haven't started yet, because I don't want to reread anything and I don't have any new books to read in the house.  Here is the list and I will hopefully be updating it as I go:

A book based on a fairy tale 
A National Book Award winner 
A YA bestseller 
A book you haven’t read since high school 
A book set in your home state (province) 
A book translated to English 
A romance set in the future 
A book set in Europe 
A book that is under 150 pages 
A New York Times bestsellers 
A book that is becoming a movie this year 
A book recommended by someone you just met 
A self improvement book 
A book you can finish in a day 
A book written by a celebrity 
A political memoir 
A book at least 100 years older than you 
A book that is more than 600 pages (will need to figure out the audiobook equivalent, thinking 45 hours). 
A book from Oprah’s Book Club 
A science fiction novel 
A book recommended by a family member 
A graphic novel 
A book published in 2016 
A book that has a protagonist with your occupation. 
A book that takes place during summer 
A book and its prequel 
A murder mystery 
A book written by a comedian 
A dystopian novel 
A book with a blue cover 
A book of peotry 
The first book you see in a bookstore 
A classic from the 20th century 
An autobiography 
A book about a road trip 
A book about a culture you are unfamiliar with 
A satirical book 
A book that takes place on an island 
A book that is guaranteed to bring you joy

I think the first book will be an audiobook of The Hunger Games, since I can listen to the audiobook on YouTube.  I plan to post again tomorrow of my current knitting WIPs. 

Finishes and Beginnings

Yay, my second pair of socks for 2014 are finished.  If this keeps up and I don't lose my sock knitting mojo, I may actually meet my goal of knitting 12 pairs this year.  Here are my finished Cranberry Biscotti.  I rather like this pattern and may do it again, only more scrappy.  I did end up running out of the pink yarn before finishing the second sock, so I switched to a purple, and I think they look quite good:

So, since I finished that pair, a few days later, I cast on my Valentine Socks (for the record, they are called that for the color and the month, nothing else).  They are going to be based off of Kebnekaise Socks, but with some modifications.  For one, I will be doing them toe-up, using a Fish Lips Kiss Heel for the first time and staying in regular st st instead of knitting the sole in reverse st and with 2x2 ribbing at the top.

In other news, I finally got more hours at my security job!  It turns out that a guard at Direct TV is quitting, so there were several hours available.  I know the site supervisor, having worked that site before, so he had not problem giving me the hours.  I may end up working there full time it they can find someone else to work at Allevard, the site I am at now.  So, I will be working form 16-36 hours making 9.50 an hour.  So, I will only be working at Taco Hell two days a week!

Man, Its Been a Long Time!

I didn't realize how long it has been since I posted anything on here! Close to two years.  Well, to catch up, I am on a hiatus at Marshall University, still working on my BA in History.  Lots of knitting and spinning going, which I will get to later and really beyond that, not too many changes.  I am back living with my grandmother, so expect to see ranting about that from time to time.  So, recent knitting.

I have several projects currently on the go, including a pair of socks, two shawls, and a blankie made from leftover sock yarn.  The socks are Cranberry Biscotti, which uses small amounts of at minimum, three different colors to make a very visually interesting sock pattern.  (Just a warning, most patterns I link to go to Ravelry).  I used three different leftover sock yarns, a Knit Picks Stroll Tonal and two colors of Cascade Heritage Sock Yarn.  I think it looks quite cool:

The upper pic is of the yarn before I started and the lower pic is my current progress; I am halfway through the gusset of the second sock and hope to finish it in a few days.

Another project that I am working on is a Lacy Prairie Shawl.  The cool thing about this shawl is that it is being knit out of my handspun yarn!  I participated in the Tour de Fleece this past year and while I didn't finish my fleece (which was 3.5lbs) but I did make some serious headway into it and now have over a dozen skeins to knit with.  Here is a pic of a day during the tour:

 And a pic of my current progress (it is currently in hibernation, first due to Christmas knitting and now I am on a bit of a sock knitting jag.)

I also have a Haruni being knit from more Cascade Heritage Sock and with added beads.  When I when to MDSW in 2011, a friend I made there gave me several items in a RAK, which included a tube of crystal beads.  I am using them on the border of the shawl, following what someone else did that I saw on Ravelry.  This pic is not up to date, it is actually a bit bigger, but will do for now.

I also have a sock yarn blankie in progress, but don't have any good pictures of it yet.

So, there are my current WIPs.  I also have a few UFOs, but since they are not being worked on right now, will not feature on this post.

I am also trying to participate in the 365 project this year, so hope to post a picture every day.  It will mostly be pictures of either my knitting or my cats, but should still be interesting (I hope).  In fact, my second picture, of the CB socks is my picture for the day.

Maryland Sheep and Wool 2012 prep

   Well, another MDSW has come and gone.  This was a good year.  The weather was great and I had a lot of fun.  I had a bit of drama leading up to it though.  After the 08 festival, I decided that staying in a hotel was cost prohibited if I am going by myself.  All my life I have gone camping with my family and decided to see if that was a viable option.  It turns out that it is very viable and that I am not the first festival goer to think of it.  There is a campground very close to the fairgrounds called Patapsco Valley State Park-Hollofield Area.  In fact, it had its own thread on Ravelry in the MDSW group.  I stayed there last year and had a lot of fun meeting the other knitters and spinners.

   The drama I mentioned involved where I was actually to sleep.  Last year, I borrowed my dad's truck and slept in the bed.  I planned to do the same this year, until the Monday before the festival, the starter on the truck died.  My dad had to take off the old starter, buy a new one and put it one.  So, I ended up using my mom's van instead.  The rear seats fold down, and I slept on them, lying diagonally across them.  As usual, I traveled light, with only enough clothes, some basic food (pb&j, a few corn on the cob and potatoes) plus my knitting.  I saw a lot of friends that I made last year, like Joe and Lucinda from NY and their three Papillons, Bitsy and her two Scotties, Susie Q, and several others.  The festival campers are a very friendly, encouraging group.  After each day at the festival, everyone would do show and tell of what they purchased that day.

   As usual, my prep for the festival didn't take long.  I just packed a few shirts, some jeans and shorts, towels and toiletries meant it didn't take long to pack.  I had been saving money all year in preparation for the festival and after counting it all, I had a budget of about $250.  I spent the night at my grandmothers, since going to get my mom's van then driving back the other direction to go home would be silly and a waste of gas.  I left right around 7:00 on Friday and headed north.  One good thing about the route is that it it is very easy to remember: I-64 to Charleston, then I-79 to Morgantown, then I-68 to I-70, then exit 87.  After a few stops for breakfast and to use the restroom, I arrived at Patapsco at around 2:30, got checked in and found my site.  It was right next to the bathhouse and very close to Bitsy.  I just spent Friday evening hanging out at the campground, meeting new friends and reconnecting with out ones.

To be continued in a few days.

Seedlings

Well, so far I haven't killed anything.  My seeds are now sprouting seedlings.  The garlic is thriving and I will probably transplant it and a few others later this week.  I really need to take pictures to document my progress.  I was planning to possibly plant my cukes earlier than recommended, since we had several days of very high heat.  I'm talking in the mid to uppers 80s.  But Friday it rained and really lowered the temps into the mid 60, with about 40-50 degrees at night.  I can't wait until it is time to plant the other things I am planning to.

I intend to plant bush tomatoes; hopefully Hatcher's will have Tumbler tomatoes, which are specifically developed to grow in containers.  I am considering buying a pole designed to go in the ground to hold plants.  That way they would get plenty of sunlight.  I will also need a trellis for my cukes.  The carrot seeds I bought are for a small variety called fingering, so I think a 12" pot would work just fine.

I went to the local Family Dollar and they sell very nice looking plastic pots for $2.00 apiece.  I plan to put the herbs on the steps of my apartment.  It faces east, so hopefully that will be enough light.  If not, I will move them to the backyard.  My main problem there is that (1 they are not as accessible and (2 the downstairs neighbor might not like it if I use the back stairs, since they go to her apartment.  That is one issue I don't know how to deal with: the backyard is open to both apartment and I hope that she will not take my veggies without asking.  Still, they aren't even planted yet, so I will worry about that if and when it comes up. 

New Hobby (I'm Insane)

So, despite money troubles, working my behind off at two full time jobs and already being obsessed with knitting, I have decided to try a new hobby: container gardening. In container gardening, instead of your plants being in the ground, everything is in pots. I intend to plant veggies and herbs instead of flowers and have already started with six different ones: garlic, sweet basil, oregano, cilantro, chives and parsley. I also intend to plant tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots and peppers later on in the summer, when it is warmer.

One thing that I hope will help is there is a large greenhouse in Ohio, Hatcher's Greenhouse, that recently bought a smaller one that is very close to my apartment. I spoke Saturday with the owner, who is a very nice lady and was very helpful, even though they are not actually open for about two more weeks. She even gave me a huge pot to use for my cucumbers when I plant them and some good advice. They also sell large bags of soil and fertilizer for much less then the local Walmart or Lowe's. Plus the fertilizer is organic.

I planted my herbs last Wednesday, the 14^th and since most are not supposed to sprout for 7 to 14 days, I was not expecting much to happen yet. Well on Saturday, I was delighted to find that one of my garlic cloves was showing a tiny spike above the soil. Yesterday morning, before going to work, it was about an inch tall and the other two (I put three in the same pot and will soon need a bigger one) had emerged as well. There was nothing else visible in the other five pots. I opened the blinds so the sun could get in later (they are on a small dresser in my bedroom, which has an west facing window) and when I got home from work at 4 pm, I was amazed. The first of the garlic to emerge was almost an inch taller, the other two were about an inch each and teeny, tiny furls of green are visible in two of the other pots, the basil and the oregano.

At about 5:30 I decided to walk to a nearby Family Dollar and see if they had any pots and how much they were. They had several and while I don't plan on getting any until Saturday, it is nice to know that they have some and that they are fairly cheap. There were several that were 10” for $2.00 apiece. I will probably head there on Saturday and buy six or seven of them. When I got home, I looked at my pots again, and a new spike had emerged from the Chives. Still nothing in the last two, but hopefully, in the next few days if the weather cooperates and stays sunny. It has been very rainy and cloudy the last few days, which might have something to do with it.

I have never had much luck with plants before, but I discovered something that might help: looking at my tiny, green points and knowing that they are there because I planted and watered them is a lot like the pride I feel when I have finished a knitted item. The sense of “I made this” and also the knowledge that it won't always go right, that I will screw up. But, as with my knitting, there is the possibility of a due over, that I can try again until I get it right. Last week I was working on a sweater and was a good ways up, two inches of ribbing and four inches of the pattern, when I realized that my gauge was wrong and that it was coming out much to big. I ended up frogging and restarting. And it is possible to do that with my plants.

However, whenever I get into a new hobby or interest, I really get obsessed with it and tend to go way overboard, which usually ends up biting me in the rear when I get in over my head. So, I am going to take this very carefully. I am keeping a journal about what I am doing and how my actions affect the plants. That way, if I mess up, I will hopefully have an idea of why or can ask someone what I did wrong. On that note, I think that I will be a frequent visitor at Hatcher's. So here goes. Wish me luck!