Happy Spring

I just love my weekends, hubby is home and there is a world of things out there to do, especially in the spring time when the weather gets warmer.  But sometimes the week in between the weekends is especially busy and fruitful, and this past week was one of those.  Monday morning was busy with getting laundry done and things put away from the Conference we'd attended over the weekend, but I took time from all that and went to meet some of the lovely ladies that I attended conference with (see my last blog post) at an exhibition of Titanic Era clothing put on in cooperation with the Shippensburg University Fashion Archives Museum, and the Hanover (PA) area Historic Society at the Warehime-Myers Mansion.  It was a private showing of the exhibition and showcased the fashions of the era (1912) as well as the wonderful home and some other colectible items pertaining to White Star Line and the Titanic that were on display. Please feel free to google either the SUFAM work or the Hanover Historical society for more information.  The exhibition is open through the end of April if you want to view it, check the Werehime-Myers website for hours that they're open.

After the exhibition, I left the Mansion and headed to one of my favorite antique malls in Hanover where I purchased a few small display cases to house my antique comb collection.  I also found a couple of broken combs for 99cents that went into the collection because they are examples of types that I didn't already have.  The one at the left is most likely tortoise, and I didn't have any metal combs in my collection, though I think this one is relatively recent. 

Since I hadn't really looked at my combs in a while and had bought the cases to house them, I took each one out, looked it over, catalogued each in a database that I built, and put them into a case.  Unfortunatly I found a couple that had the celluloid virus that will end up turning them to dust eventually.  I'm very sad about that as I very much like both of the combs that are infected, and the larger one is one of my favorites.

This one has the virus starting to eat away the comb on the left side (your right).  I'm really upset about this because when I put it away after purchasing it I didn't notice that it was having any problems at all.  I had to take the two infected combs out of my collection and make sure they are stored separately so their virus won't spread to the others.  I found this reference on a bulletin board about hair combs, written by "Heidi W" and though I don't know Heidi, I want to say thank you for the information on what the "virus" is: 

One thing to know about any celluloid combs:"they do have a tendency to get what is termed the "disease" sometimes referred to as the "virus." When purchasing a newly acquired celluloid comb, it's important to quarantine the comb for maybe as long as a month, I would suggest. This is for collectors in particular of celluloid combs: real celluloid was made with camphor which outgasses. The outgassing is how other celluloid combs can become infected. Today's plastics do not contain camphor and it's generally believed that these later plastics wouldn't be so infected. Same is true for real organic combs derived of horn, bone, shell, and so on (they can get other things sometimes).

What to look for - how to tell, you ask?


Typically a circular like area will be a high yellow color, in stark contrast to the rest of the color of celluloid (which is typically a brownish color although celluloids were dyed differing colors, and I have yet to see one with the "disease" that is a colored or dyed comb, such as red, for example. It may well exist: I just haven't seen it yet and can't be sure how that would appear.) The other accompanying detail to this high hue of yellow is that inside it appears as though there's a crackling effect, but isolated to that yellow zone. It appears splintery.
In time, some combs completely break down and even disintegrate in that spot; often, though, they just break. Combs that have this can be dipped to stall the progress. Sometimes it never progresses, but one never knows the future. Sometimes a comb with this is still worth keeping yet separated from a collection (unless it's all over your house as mine is becoming) because the design of the top piece can be unique. (Sometimes it can be worth it to buy 'damaged' goods.)
We have people who are watching their diseased combs to check on progress, just to see how it all works since little is understood and little is written on the subject.
But this disease can spread (the name disease or virus is derived from the concept that it can spread from celluloid to celluloid although not to humans or animals). This is important to know if you have two or more."

So, after putting all my combs away, I moved on to the next project, studying for my Physical Science final which was coming up on Saturday.  (It's now 2 days post final...it took me about 7 hours to do the final exam, and I got an 88.6% on it...I needed only a low "C" to get an "A" In the class so I'm happy, but I digress.)  I also flew to Denver and back for work, and cut out and sew up a sun dress for myself this week.  Oh, and I also had to completely rearrange my office/sewing room to move my study table to the other side of the room and put up my cutting table so that I could actually cut out some patterns.  The cat children were particularly happy about that as they've missed having their cat bed on the cutting table in the sun streaming in from the window.  It was quite a week.


Belle and Rose enjoying the sun in their bed


We have a wedding, or more accurately, a renewal of vows of our son and daughter-in-law to go to in Hawaii in April so I thought it would be nice to have a sun dress for the occasion, especially since little that I own fits anymore.  The fabric is actually a civil war era reproduction but I didn't think it was light enough to be festive for a wedding so I decided to go stash-diving again.  I found some linen that I liked, so I cut out and started to sew another sun dress using the same pattern that will be lighter colored and hopefully more festive for the wedding.  Over the weekend I found a light lace short sleeve sweater to wear with both dresses if it's a little chilly in air conditioning so as soon as I get the other sun dress finished I'll post the picture of that as well.  Along with sewing and studying, I also finished another Noro hat for the pile to go to the kids and grandkids. I have just a few more to finish up and then I'll be able to get started on some other knitting projects that I've been wanting to work on.  These hats are so easy because I nearly don't even have to look at what I'm knitting, and I'm really proud of myself for getting them done without putting them aside and never getting back to them.  Being an ADHD knitter and sewer means that I have tons of unfinished projects everywhere all over the house.  I have another one on the needles that is just about ready to start the decreases at the top of the hat.  But of course, I do have to work this week.

So back to the final, since I got it finished on Saturday, we had Sunday to go and explore and enjoy the beautiful weather.  We went antiquing and went through three or four large antique mall type stores (various vendors have stalls inside).  We even found a couple of places in New Oxford, PA that we didn't know existed, because they were behind the main street through town.  We love looking at the old things even if we don't buy a thing, it's just one of the things that we love to share together.  Sure, there are a few things that we collect such as "Kitchen Cats" from the 1950's, hair combs as I mentioned above, a certain china pattern that is hard to find and is called "Hawaiian Flowers" which is self explanatory,

and I especially love looking at all of the period and vintage sewing accessories.  I didn't think we were going to find anything new when I happened to see this sitting in a very poorly lit and very full display case in one of the antique stores, this comb.  I have a similarly colored one that is more angularly shaped, but this one was really affordable (everything I collect tends to be really cheap!) so it got to come home with me.  Not bad for all the hours we spent looking around and enjoying each other's company.  I figure that the entertainment value was definitely worth the price of the comb.  And now I have a nice new item for my collection.  And we stopped and got my dear husband some clothes for work...and then had dinner at one of our favorite places.  All in all it was a wonderful day after a busy but productive week.

On a Noro Kick

I've been on a knitting kick lately, thanks to the visit of my dear friend, Loraine. I always thought Noro yarn was pretty but had no idea what I would be able to "do" with it so after I bought a few skeins years ago, they sat ignored in my stash while I was knitting all kinds of socks and such.  While Loraine was visiting recently, we went to three different yarn stores and looked at all the pretty Noro.  She wanted to find some of the Silk Garden Lite to make some easy hats for gifts.

     This whole Noro kick I'm on right now, actually started a year or so ago when Loraine sent me two skeins of a Brown/Grey/Black Silk Garden Noro yarn. The yarn was really pretty, but I couldn't think of what I was going to make from it as they really weren't my colors and I thought they were way too dark.  She suggested that I pair those two skeins of yarn with some yarn I had in my stash that was pink/blue/purple Noro Silk Garden Thaw, I think, and gave me the site to find the pattern. (It's called Brooklyn Tweed).  It's available on Ravelry as Striped Noro Scarf, or feel free to look at my projects on Ravelry, my Ravelry name is "Gator".  It's basically K1P1 all the way across using two rows of each yarn alternating.  As you can see it makes for a very pretty scarf, and it's really soft.  I did 3 rows of the first color and then started the second color on the side opposite of where the first color's row ended to make a very nice edge.  After the first row, you do 2 rows of each color, alternating.  That's it!  All I had to do, since the colors ended on opposite sides, was to wrap the working yarn around the tail of the other color and keep on with the pattern, no slipping stitches required.  The edges came out really well, very consistent, and very soft.  I love this scarf, it's become my favorite go to scarf for the winter.  Even though I'm allergic to wool, especially scratchy wool, I enjoy using this soft and warm scarf.

     As I said, when Loraine was here, she was on the hunt for Noro Silk Garden Lite yarn.  We went to the local yarn store that is about 5 minutes from my house looking for some the first day when she got in town, while we were driving, she told me about the simple pattern she uses to make hats for lots of friends.  The pattern is "Snowflakes on Mulberries Hat" and it's by Amy Klimt.  The pattern is free on Ravelry and there is a Silk Garden Lite version as well as one for the slightly thicker Noro Silk Garden.  It is really easy and quick to knit.  This one is the first one I made.
     Since my son went in the hospital and was there for 6 days, I took my knitting with me and just sat with him and talked to Loraine, my son, my husband and my son's girlfriend while knitting in the hospital.  When this one was finished, I decided that it was long enough for one of my grandsons, but for an adult, I'd add more to the body of the hat in order to make an area large enough to flip up into a brim.  This smaller one had the 5 inches before the decreases started as per the pattern.  Loraine is making one of these for my son...she's been his "other mom" for years and had promised him one of the hats.  She's also making him a cowl. 

     This pastel colored one has about 5.75 inches of body prior to the pattern.  I had enough yarn to finish the hat, and even some left over.  This one has such pretty colors, it might end up being for me.  But never fear, I have a few more skeins of the same yarn in different colorways, and I know where to get more.  We went to another fairly close yarn store that I hadn't been to in 20 years, and there was a good selection of the Silk Garden, and Noro Sock yarn (beautiful colors, but I have so much sock yarn I didn't buy any THIS time).  It was less expensive than the first shop that we went to so I was happy, and they offered a punch card for anything bought in the store, and they were very nice and helpful, unlike when I was there 20 years ago.  I got a book called "Weekend Hats" there which has a bunch of really fun looking patterns for me to work on in the future.  I also got "Knit your own Cat" which is hilarious and I might just knit up a cat that looks like one of the "kids".  Anyway, this one was finished in combination of time knitting at the hospital and time knitting while watching TVat home after leaving the hospital in the evenings so my son could sleep.  The time when he was in the hospital and during his surgery was rather stressful, so I was happy to have my knitting as a de-stressing tool.
    

A couple of days later, my son was to be released from the hospital.  We knew that it was going to be a waiting game for him to be discharged, so Loraine and I loaded the food we'd cooked for him the day before and took it to where he lives via another yarn store that was kind of on the way.  Ok, it was in the same state.  This time we hit the mother lode of Silk Garden Lite, and it was another 50 cents cheaper than the second shop, a full dollar cheaper than the first one.  I bought three skeins of this darker blue with green and burgundy yarn...but if you're not familiar with striped yarn like this, you can't really tell completely how the yarn is going to look when you knit it up, and the pattern you use will really change the look fo the yarn.  Anyway, I digress.  The first thing I did with my three skeins was to make up a hat for myself from it.  I have to wear a navy blue coat to work so I thought these colors would look nice with that.  I somehow messed up counting so the hat ended up being 4 stitches short and I had to fudge the decreases.  It's a little tight, but it still fits me fine.  I made this one with nearly 6 inches of  body prior to the decreases so it makes a nice brim.  I had enough yarn to finish, but I don't think it would have been enough if I hadn't had 4 stitches less than the usual 120 for the body of the hat.  I'd say that 5.75 inches of body is probably a good point to stop doing the body of the hat and switch to the decrease pattern.

This is a cowl pattern that I found for free on Ravelry.  It's called "Stacked Eyelet Cowl".  I did it on Size 6 needles, though the pattern calls for 7's.  It's CO 120, then P the first row, the second row is YO, K2tog, the third row is all P, then 10 rows knit.  I used a cable cast on and bind off with size 8 needles, but I would use the same size needles in the future as for the knitting since the CO and BO edges were too big, enough so that the edges roll.  I did the cowl with 2 skeins, and is long enough to pull up over my ears and head if I forget my hat.  I wore it the other morning and it's really  nice and warm and soft.  It's the same colorway as the hat above it.  Sorry about the lighting in the pictures, though.

So now, my son is back to work, he's much better since they took his gall bladder out, and hopefully he won't have any more episodes of abdominal pain in the future. Loraine is back where she lives, and I have another hat on the needles.  It feels good to get back to knitting and since I have a lot (A LOT!) of unfinished projects on needles all over the house, I hope I can sustain my enthusiasm in order to finish some or most of them.  I'd really like to make a sweater, but I want to get some of the numerous knitting bags I have out with projects in them put away before I start anything else.  And of course, there is always schoolwork, housework, and the job to contend with. :)