As promised! Here is what I have done on the QE I stockings so far. Slightly different shaping on the thigh part than before and I just finished the straight knitting for the knee and am now doing the calf shaping. I actually really enjoy knitting on these stockings #1, because they are for a friend and #2, because I can carry them with me almost anywhere and #3, the silk yarn is turning out to be very soft.

Now, I just hope that this version of them will actually fit. I was so shocked when I tried on the part that I had done previously and found that they were tight on my legs. In this version, I have increased 8 stitches to allow for the difference in the size of her leg measurements and mine as well as the fact that the extra stitches will help with the less stretchability of the silk yarn.

The new yarn that I just bought actually feels a bit like the silk in the lack of give department but.... pictures of the new yarn are for another day!! Gotta keep you all coming back for more! heheheheehehhe

Hint: the new yarn is red.

Long post of pictures from the SCA Equestrian event called Rosselsprung. One of the first events to have jousting!

We had such fun and I thought you all might enjoy some of the pictures from the event.

Here is a matching set. Toray riding Blondie wearing matching barding. Yes, even the horses get dressed up for the events!













Here is whiskey in his barding. All of the barding for the rider and the horse were custom sewn and not bought. There are directions for the horse barding in one of the older SCA Equestrian handbooks.








Another way to dress up your horse is to have a long dress that drapes and matches your horse. This is Lady Laura riding her palamino, Bob.








This is Lord Connor riding Dan. Again, matching barding. Dan is the horse I borrow when I am learning these games.









This was one of the most fun games that they played! Participants wore armor and their helmets. On top of the helmet was a crest that was velcroed in place. The object of the game... Snatch the ring and get it to the Crown all while all the other riders are trying to knock your crest off with their boffer, a foam wrapped plastic tube. If you have the ring and have your crest knocked off, the ring goes back to the starting point and the person who lost their crest goes into a 25 second penalty area.... and the game goes on. Lots of laughter and much fun with the audience cheering for more and more.

If you look closely... the crests are shapes. Some were rearing horses while others were PINK Unicorns. We also had a stuffed Lion and a stuffed Rat as crests much to the delight of the audience.

By far, the most popular of the games was the jousting. Long jousting staffs made with a wooden handle, cardboard middle and styrofoam tip. The object was not to unseat your opponent but to break off the tip of their staff.

From the response of the audience, i would say that the boffer tournament and the jousting were, by far, the most popular events of the entire afternoon! Lots of cheering and laughter.

Yes, I'm knitting on the QE I stockings but I thought you all might enjoy the fun of a period type riding event. Most likely, the next pictures will be of my knitting.... honest!

knit knit knit knit knit knit.............

Now, I'm back to working on the Queen Elizabeth I stockings. 130 stitches to start with for the thigh. Not a whole lot of knitting done but it's moving forward again. Hurray!!!

Both the tabbards are done for our equestrian event tomorrow. If there are some good pictures taken ... and I can have access to them, I'll share some with you.

My sun screen is already packed and I'll be putting it on more than once. I'm already peeling from last weekend's sun/wind/sand burn.

New Mexico weather is rather strange. The northern part of the state had 12 inches of snow in several places so I'm hoping that people traveling from the northern part as well as from Colorado, are able to make it here safely tomorrow. Now, I'm just hoping for no wind, no rain, no slow and maybe a temperature between 65 and 70 degrees F. Keep your fingers crossed!!

It's never too warm to knit!

Boy is my face red.... no, I'm not embarrassed... I'm sun and wind burned. The temperature for our Saturday equestrian practice was not bad till we had wind at about 30mph...and drizzling rain toward the end of the day. It was a good practice, though. :)

Sunday was similar but without the clouds but I put on spf 30 sun screen this time. Didn't want to add insult to injury since I already had a burned face and neck.

Thank heavens for Aloe. Great stuff.

On the knitting front.... I have to admit that I didn't do any this weekend. In addition to the two practices, we went to a friend's birthday party. I'm actually rather anxious to get a bunch more done on the stocking again. I'm changing the stitch decreases a bit on the thigh part and hope that it will look a bit, better, too.

No pictures of the Equestrian practice, either as I was actually working and learning my Ground Crew job as it looks like I'm going to be the Deputy Ground Page. All it means is, since the show arena is twice the size of our practice arena, we need the extra person ... me... to help keep track of what the other pages are doing and make sure that they are doing their job and that they don't get hurt.

Hhuumm, let's see. Time management... sew a tabbard for Saturday's event, knit a little, sew the second tabbard then knit however much I want till the next extra project comes up. ehehehhe

No pictures today. I've been working on the QE I stockings... recalculated things and was using negative 15% ease... uh oh... felt way too big... frog frog frog... thankfully, I had only done about 6 rounds.

Now, I've recast on with a negative 20% ease which actually gives me about 8 more stitches overall from the original number that I cast on. I think this number just might work. I cast on 130 stitches to start with which will give me an increase of 8 stitches all the way down the stocking so I'm hoping that will work... it should. ::grin:: ::fingers and toes crossed::

I gave the chemo cap to the co-worker for her friend and it looks like I'll be knitting a few more of them. Unfortunately, for another co-worker who recently underwent a mastecetomy and is going to have to have chemo and radiation. :(:( They knit quickly and definitely are not a hardship to make. I just put a lot of love in each stitch to pass on to the recipient.

Does everyone have a busy weekend planned? I do and I hope to have some pictures to share with all of you when I get home Sunday pm.

Keep those needles moving!

Here is the Chemo cap all done. That Chinchilla yarn is so very soft! Very difficult to see the stitches in, though. I'll be taking it to work with me tomorrow and give it to my co-worker who has the friend who just started Chemo.

For the Queen Elizabeth I stockings, I frogged them and will be re-starting them tonight. I recalculated all of the measurements to 8.5 stitches/inch, 11.5 rows/inch with a negative 15% ease this time. The 100% silk yarn is not as stretchy as wool or other types so I thought I had better change from my usual negative 20% ease that I use for socks.

The weather here has been totally crazy. We had snow flurries last evening mixed in with the rain. Today was just cold, slightly windy and cloudy. Last report I heard was the weather will be warming up to the low 70's by Thursday. I sure hope so since this coming weekend will be our dress rehearsal for our SCA Equestrian Event to be held on the 24th.

I got both muslin patterns made for the two tabbards that I will be making and the fabric has been washed and is currently in the dryer. I know tomorrow will be a long day since we have over 20 cases scheduled so far and who knows what was added over the weekend. I hope to get to working on the actual tabbards soon. Just need to get the seam binding for the edges, though. Tried to get it today but Wal-mart and both the fabric stores were closed today due to Easter. Just something that I will have to pick up on the way home from work sometime this week.

Hope you all had a wonderful knitting week!

The bad news.... I tried on the Queen Elizabeth I stocking as far as I have it made and it feels tight. :( My leg measurements are close to the new owner's and that's why I thought I would try it. I was hoping that she would drop by today so she could try them on, unfortunately, that didn't happen.

The good news... I started a Chemo Cap out of Chinchilla yarn. It's for the friend of a friend but I wanted something sorta mindless to knit for a bit. The yarn is super soft, dry clean only and rather difficult to see the stitches but we'll see how it finally turns out. The color is a bit washed out but it's a very pretty dark teal green.

As for the stockings.... if I don't hear from her soonish, I'll just rip back and start over.... cringe...... I hate that but they won't be comfortable if they are too tight. I would just prefer her trying them on to be absolutely sure that they aren't comfortable for her.

Okay... here's my obglatory WHINE ! ! ! ! Whine !!!

Hurray, I finally got some knitting time in and have about 17 inches of the first of the Queen Elizabeth I stockings done.

It's been raining cats and dogs most of the weekend so it was good knitting weather once I got my errands done.

This actually has been extremely unusual weather for New Mexico. We normally get around 8-9 inches of rain/snow a year where I live. This rain storm that parked over us dropped somewhere around 2.5 inches of rain already. It's rain we badly need so I'm definitely not complaining!

I'm beginning to think I need to add a new section to my blog... or maybe two... one showing my completed projects and the other a way for me to keep track of all the projects that I want to make. :) Now, I just need to find the time...

HHuummm. First I need to get the pattern made for my Equestrian top. I haven't had enough time to practice the event games so I'll probably just work as a Ground Page at this event. That means I need green and red twill to make my top as I'll be the Page for my friend who's horse I borrow and those are his colors. Then I need time to do the sewing...

And the list goes on. At least I never can say that my life is boring or that I have absolutely nothing to do!

How's life treating you?

Wwowoooh, talk about work interfering with knitting! We've been very busy at work and I've been doing as much as 3-4 hours of overtime each day. It won't always be like this... one of the Dr's just got back from vacation and is trying to get caught up with a back log of procedures. Sure hasn't left much in the way of time for knitting, though.

No knitting, no pictures, unfortunately. :( Sorry.

I'm not complaining about the overtime as it's going into my "buy a horse fund." I keep shopping for a horse and now, need to get out and ride some of the ones I have found that sound like they will work out.

April 1 was a blast at work! LOL They spared me from the practical jokes but one of my co-workers took the roller ball out of the mouse on the secretary's computer mouse.... then he had her called to the phone and he had put k-y jelly on the ear part of the phone.... Honest, I really do work with adults..... ehehhe We laughed all day long... even when we finally had a whole 10 minutes to eat lunch.

Well, I have a few bills to pay before heading off to bed... gotta be there by 6:30am.

Hope everyone is doing some happy knitting!