Progress of Too Many Unfinished Projects

I have been playing around with indigo-dyed wool in making Monmouth caps. Eventually, I would like to have a pattern that I can sell. I believe I am really close. Here are three of the latest "test" caps.

I finished the ribbing on top of one of my Noro stockings. Still have the other to finish. Doesn't the cochineal-dyed wool look great on the top? Seems to fit right in on the color scheme.


What is currently keeping me from finishing the Noro stockings is my Baby Cables and Big Ones Too sweater. I have ripped it out three times now because I didn't like what I saw or there were some major mistake. I am afraid that the dark color is going to "suck up" the cables. We'll have to see.

Close Up - see no cables

I started from scratch again this morning. I am up to twenty rounds.

The other project that took up most of my weekend was inventorying all the 1st Virginia Regiment's Quartermaster goods, taking pictures of each item, and starting to add them to the QM's website. Very detailed work with lots of counting tiny little items.

Knitting Socks Ribbing

I have started the ribbing on my Noro socks. I am using some wool that was dyed in a previous cochineal dye bath. I believe it looks good with the other colors of the yarn. But with size 0 needles, the ribbing goes slowly (doing K1R1 ribbing gets boring after just a few rows especially when I really want to be working on my sweater).

We finally downloaded Gwen's Ocean City picture (out front of Ripley's Believe it or Not). Too funny!

Mini-Vacation Ocean City Maryland

We could not have picked a worse weekend to have a min-vacation in Ocean City, Maryland. The weather was not so nice (rain Saturday, cold and very windy on Sunday).

We stayed at the Safari Motel right there on the boardwalk (13th Street). We were the only ones in the entire motel. And the hotels around were all closed up so it turned out to be a very quiet weekend. Our room was very simple and affordable this time of year ($59 per night versus hundreds of dollars). We were surprised to find most of the city boarded up for the season. Hardly anything was open. It would be depressing to live there year round - extremely busy in the summer and a ghost town all other times.

We drove around Assateague Island(Maryland side only) and saw some deer and ponies.

We saw about a dozen very brave souls kitesurfing on the coast.

On Sunday morning we rented some bikes (bikes in a very loose sense compared to the ones we own and commute on) and rode up and down the boardwalk.

I worked some more on my new sweater in the car, Baby Cables and Big Ones Too. Lots and lots of stitch markers to keep track of the different cables and the raglan increases. I am using KnitPicks Elegance Yarn in Raisin. It is an alpaca and silk mix (70/30).

And I started the ribbing around my Noro socks (sorry no picture yet). Since I ran out of yarn, I am using some left-over wool from my last cochineal dye.

Noro Socks

I almost have finished a pair of socks using the Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn that I bought at Stitches on Sunday. I have only the ribbing to do at the top of each sock.

The reason I didn't do it at the time they were on the machine, is because I ran out of yarn. I am going to have to knit the ribbing in another color. I have some cochineal dyed wool that will look great on the top of these socks.

Stitches East 2008

This is a picture of the USS Constellation harbored in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. We had lunch overlooking this ship right after we finished shopping at Stitches East. The weather was wonderful but not nice enough to keep us from spending 4 hours shopping.

I was overwhelmed with the amount of beautiful yarn filled the Baltimore Convention Center. Unfortunately, not a lot of undyed yarn for reenactment stockings. I did buy some yarn for myself though. My favorite is a Kureyon Noro sock yarn in Color 182 from The Mannings booth. The colors are just so beautiful. Can't wait to see what a pair of socks will look like with it. This picture doesn't do the colors justice - they are so much brighter.



I bought Vogue Knitting's The Ultimate Sock Book and Richard Rutt's A History of Hand Knitting because they had additional history of socks. I found a copy of Stepahnie Pearl-McPhee's new book Free Range Knitter. My last book is Shadow Knitting by Vivian HØxbro. And I actually won a book too! Babies and Toddlers A Knitter's Dozen.



Besides the Noro, I also bought 3 skeins of one ply wool from Cottage Craft that I will make into stockings. I believe the non-uniformity of the wool, will give the stockings an even greater look of the 18th century.

Another yarn to add to my stash are 10 skeins of Laines Du Nord silk in a bright red from Webs.

The very last yarn I indulged myself in are 2 skeins of Frog Tree 100% Brushed Suri in natural from Yarn Barn. Read about this lovely yarn at The Yarnery Blog.

Knit a Gogo Glam Knits at The Morrison House

This weekend I attended a design workshop with Stefanie Japel at the Morrison House in Alexandria, Virginia put on by Knit-A-GoGo. What a great weekend. Thanks Danielle for putting the whole weekend together.

Stefanie walked us through the steps to design our own top-down raglan sweater. Very informative. She made the math look really easy. And we cool gifts including Stefanie's latest book - Glam Knits.

I started one today. I took a picture of it but the picture doesn't really show you anything. So, sorry, no picture until later.

I did kinnear Stephanie right after we took a group photo.

Got the back of her head too.

I also got a private shot with her but my blackberry didn't take a really good photo.


To change the subject - I finally downloaded some of my pictures from the Gloucester trip two weeks ago. Here is my dye display table I set up on Saturday. The wind was so bad on Sunday that I wasn't able to set it out.

Robe D'Anglaise

I decided at the Battle of the Hook that I would sew a new dress. I didn't want it too fancy because I want to be able to use it to portray the regiment's laundress.


First, I picked out a Robe d'Anglaise pattern from Collections of J.P. Ryan.


Next I chose the material - a lovely indigo blue linen with a small check for the lining.

Then I made a test bodice to see if I would need to adjust anything.


I ended up making just one adjust on the back.

I started on Friday night and finished it on Sunday. I love it. I can't wait to get an opportunity to wear it.

Rev War Regimental Coat Colors

In the last couple of years I have been doing some natural dying using the materials that were available during the Revolutionary War. You can see many of my "experiments" in my earlier blogs. I have done numerous dye baths of madder and indigo - more madder than indigo. Indigo is much more difficult and requires many more materials.



My latest madder is the deepest that I have done and the color stayed even with a wash and felting. Look at my latest batch of Liberty or Death caps. I am going to try to sell these caps at the Battle of the Hook this coming weekend.




I had gotten pretty close to the madder a while ago but could not figure out what dye would have colored the dark blue wool of Revolutionary Regimental coats. The color is so deep of a blue that I didn't think it was possible to dye it using only indigo.



That is until this weekend. I tried a new recipe for indigo and the color this time is terrific. Just look at how close my blue is to my husband's coat (the color was a little darker until it was washed and dried). I am tickled with the result and can't help but look at the yarn over and over again.

I plan on doing another batch of indigo at the Battle of the Hook. My goal will be to get an even darker blue. Wouldn't a Monmouth cap of blue the same color as the regimental coat look great! Although the men won't admit it, they want to look stylish as well.

Need for Madder Red Wool Yarn

I have decided to have some of my Liberty or Death Caps available for sale at the Battle of the Hook in Gloucester, Virginia 17-19 October 2008. But, as I didn't have any madder red wool available, I needed to do some dying and fast.




I put on a vat of madder red using a recipe from an excellent book, Natural Dyes by Gwen Fereday. I absolutely love her book. Deciding what recipe to use is made easy with her numerous pictures.





I finally finished my "Verdandi" clutch bag. I got the pattern from a Norah Gaughan collection book, Volume 2. I tried to do the crochet border on the ring but as I have never crocheted, I was unable to get it to look right. So, I just covered the ring in the gold yarn. I do not like having the heavy ring on the front and I may remove it and put some other decoration there.





The madder dye pot is done and I will leave the yarn in the pot until tomorrow when I get home from work and yoga. Then it will be rinse, rinse, rinse.

More Pictures

Stuart and Janet just sent me two more 1st Virginia Regiment pictures from the Mt Vernon Craft Faire.




Did you notice that Aaron can march to the beat of a different drummer? That's him in the Hunting Shirt. It's pretty bad when you have to use the musicians to have enough soldiers to fight.

Mt Vernon Craft Faire

I have always enjoyed the Mt. Vernon Craft Faire. But, certainly not for the weather. We can usually expect rain on Friday night while we are setting up, hot temperatures on Saturday and Sunday, and possibly a thunderstorm on Sunday afternoon (usually while we are trying to tear down).

This weekend the weather was just a little different. It barely sprinkled on Friday night but was horrendously hot on Saturday and Sunday with no rain either day to lower the temperatures.

Saturday was in the low 90's and Sunday was expected to get to 97 degrees but only reached 94. With humidity at 60%, those temperatures made for a very uncomfortable faire. I just couldn't drink enough water and eventually had to "run for cover" Sunday afternoon in order to keep myself from over-heating. It is always disappointing when your body is not as strong as you want it to be.

The Laundress at work in the temporary shade.
Trying to start a fire with flint and steel with many opinionated experts and onlookers.

The vendors at Mt Vernon are always exceptional. This year there were many more singers floating through the crowd. I loved that. And a tame rooster that caught many people's attention.

We didn't get a photo of it but they had two of the oxen hooked up to a yoke on Saturday afternoon and had them walking through the crowd. These oxen were so layed back and nothing seemed to phase them, not even the musket firing demonstration on the green.




All in all, a good weekend. Gail, thanks for the lovely photos. Good job 1st Virginia Regiment!

Linen Bags

I started a yoga class and I needed a bag to put my mat in. Well, I looked on line and they wanted way to much for just a bag.


So, I got out my 7/5 Natural Linen (the yarn that smells like fresh hay) from R&M Yarns and knitted a yoga mat carrier. I love it. It is extremely tough yet good looking.


I love it so much in fact that I decided that instead of buying the make-up bag I need for the gym, that I would knit one using the same linen yarn.


I sewed the zipper on this evening. I am so pleased with how both of these things worked out. Simple elegance.




Perhaps they will go in the next dye bath.

Gwen Climbing Stairs

I finally was able to get a video of Gwen climbing our staircase.

Notice how she uses just her feet and alternates them with each step up. I really don't know how she makes it with her short legs. And she doesn't arrive at the top of the stairs out of breath. She is better at this than some of the people at work who only walk down the hall and get winded.

New Clutch Bag

I am so close to finishing one of my latest projects - a "Verdandi" clutch bag.
I got the pattern from a Norah Gaughan collection book, Volume 2.



I actually used the yarns that the pattern called for, just in a different background color.


The only thing left to do is make the enclosure. Unfortunately, I have had a hell of a time finding a three inch flat metal ring that is called for in the pattern. I finally found a non-flat 3" ring on ebay.

I was looking for a clutch bag for months. And when I saw this pattern, I knew it was what I wanted.

Mike's Welcome Home Surprise

While Mike was gone, I took on the project of organizing the garage.

Here is what the garage looked like when he left:


And the video below shows what it looks like now. I wasn't home to see Mike's reaction to his new garage. I can tell you though, that he loves it. Now we need to do the same thing with our basement. I love the traffic light!

The beginning of the video shows my inspiration room. I found the picture on http://www.easyclosets.com/.

Gwen's Pedicure

AOL FTP Inoperable

I normally do not post blogs which trash anyone or anything. But, I go out of form today to post my frustration with AOL.

I have spent many hours trying to get my FTP site to work on AOL for one of my usernames. I finally ended up using AOL's instant tech help site. They proceed to tell me that the FTP is not running correctly since they did an FTP software update last week and that I have to wait for them to fix the problem before I can post files to my FTP site. It has been over a week and it appears that AOL has no intention to fix their FTP program.

What burns me even more is that we are stilling a paying customer of AOL, not a free user. We pay $23 a month and still can't get AOL to fix their FTP issue. AOL should have tested their new FTP program before posting it for use. What were they thinking?

AOL - what do you intent to do? We could become non-paying customers and get the same s*%$^@ we are getting now. That will be next step - become a non-paying customer - if the issue is not resolved within a week.

Vacation Shots

Some clips and shots from our recent Hawaii vacation.

Mauna Loa with Mauna Kea observatory in background

Mauna Loa in the background
Halema'uma'u crater on Kilauea

Bird Watching?

Can this be considered bird watching? Gwen is so cute. People would expect a cat or maybe a dog looking out the window but never a parrot. What would you do if you saw a parrot watching you from a two-story window?

I made 2 pair of stockings for a customer. I tried to rush them - big mistake. If I rush, for some reason, there is always some catastrophic problem and I end up dropping them off the machine and starting over, some 90% of the way done. The stitches are so small on these stockings that it is hard to pick up more than 5 stitches that get dropped. My biggest problem is the yarn gets stuck on the black stripper blades which cause the stitches to drop. Does anyone else that uses a E6000 have this problem?

And finally, a picture I took this morning. Hilo Bike Hub is my favorite bike shop and I have spent many hours there. Thanks Chris, Adam, and Ryan (the best bicycle mechanic that I know). I am looking forward to our next visit! Riding the Big Island is full of hills and the "Hub" keeps us in the best gear.

Their bottles sure do travel!