Constant Knitter

Snow! In October!

2006-10-14T12:49:00.000-04:00

Yes, it snowed here yesterday and the night before. We were lucky not to be in the worst area; we actually received less than an inch or so. Lots of power lines and tree branches were down, though. It was so strange to turn on the news and see all the school closings in the area. In October!

I knew this might be coming, and in fact the weather here has been unseasonably cold according to the locals, so I got busy making myself some cold-weather gear. The beautiful handpainted alpaca that I got at Hemlock just a month ago is now mittens and a headband.

I also made a hat and am working on a pair of matching convertible mittens to wear while I'm out pursuing my newest passion--geocaching! I had been reading bits here and there about geocaching, but when Jerry wrote about it, it sounded so intriguing that I wanted to learn more. I found many good websites, including www.geocaching.com, which is the main site for listing caches--there are thousands out there of varying difficulty--and also has a forum that has answered all my questions. Shortly afterward, I got a GPSr as an early birthday present, and I've been having a blast searching for, and sometimes discovering, caches. CP is not as enamored of tromping around in tall grass and briars and mud and the woods and whatnot, but I've gotten him to go along quite a lot and shown him some scenic spots that he never knew existed, like this one:

On Tuesday we drove to Letchworth State Park and spent the afternoon stopping at all the scenic overlooks and even searching for a cache, which I did not find. This is an unusual and gorgeous state park that we visit each year. I only wish we'd had more time this year, since the fall colors are fantastic. Here's a view of the gorge from the Hogsback overlook.

I must get back to knitting my mittens while it is too miserable and rainy to be out geocaching! I'll post a pic when they are finished.

Unfinished-sock-a-thon

2006-09-23T10:15:00.000-04:00

It has gotten pretty cool here in NY, and I found myself without enough handknitted socks to keep my feet warm, so I dug out both pairs of unfinished socks I’d brought with me, and within the week I completed both pairs and now have much warmer feet!

The first pair, made of Sockotta, I had started back in May, completing one sock and occasionally knitting on the other throughout the summer (Why is it so hard to get that second sock done?) I had gotten up to the ribbing and in one sitting finished it off early in the week. Here is the completed pair. I can’t remember the colorway, and I lost the ball band; I think it was something like “fruit stripe.” They were made toe-up, with yarn-over short-row heels and toes, and 3x3 ribbing at the top.

I also started the second pair back in the spring and completed only one. I began the second one on Tuesday and finished it last night. This is a record for me; cold feet kept me motivated! The pattern is from Nancy Bush’s Knitting on the Road, and it is knitted with Kroy Socks in retro red, whitecap, and shaded spruce. If you look at the picture long enough, you can see that in the second sock I initially forgot which was color was CC1 and which was CC2 and therefore got the twisted part above the ribbing backward. I noticed it fairly early on, but decided it didn’t matter to me, and time was of the essence.

In closing, here are my festival purchases from last weekend. The yarn is a beautiful handpainted alpaca from The Alpaca Yarn Company that I got from the Golden Oak Farm booth.

The Golden Oak Farm is located in Honeoye, NY, and we drove by it while taking the scenic route home from Hemlock. They are having an open house in a couple of weeks, and we plan on driving back down if the weather is nice. It is a beautiful area--here's one last pic of a slice of Honeoye Lake.

Finger Lakes Fiber Festival

2006-09-19T13:36:00.000-04:00

Hello. Long time no blog, I know. I have no excuse other than that I simply lost interest in updating. However, the weather has turned cool, and the lake is churning, so my thoughts are turning to warm things, like the lemon tea I have by my side, and the unfinished wool/cotton socks in my knitting bag.

On Saturday CP and I went to the Finger Lakes Fiber Festival down in Hemlock, NY. We had a great time, in spite of tricky navigation, both by car and by foot, in the ankle-deep mud in the fairgrounds parking lot. One woman drove past just after we parked and yelled out the window at people at the bottom of the slope, "Get out of the way! I don't think I can stop!", but she did just fine. The mud didn't slow anyone down; it takes more than that to turn back fiber nuts!

I made many new friends, mostly of the four-legged, fiber-covered variety. Here's a grinning alpaca with the same haircut that I got last summer. I don't go to that salon anymore, but on her it's pretty cute.

A few Jacob sheep, a breed I'd never heard of but found interesting for their spots (and therefore the lovely tan/brown mix of the processed fiber) and for the fact that they can grow up to six horns.

Here's a close-up of the ewe on the right; she looks a little like she's sporting the Statue of Liberty's crown.

The sole llama I saw. This guy didn't look too friendly, though later I saw some kids petting him with the help of the llama's owner. Maybe he was just hungry.

I really loved this display--several members of the Genesee Valley Hand Spinners Guild were given six ounces of a processed Corriedale fleece, and they had to spin it, ply it, and then make it into something. Look at all the great items!

There was so much to look at; it was truly a knitter's and spinner's paradise. Although I don't spin (yet), I was transfixed by all the beautiful hand spindles, especially those made of exotic woods. In spite of all the beautiful yarns, I only bought one skein of 100% alpaca, hand painted, that I plan to make into mittens. I also got a t-shirt, of course. I'll post pics of those later.

It's good to be back!

Just in time for spring

2006-03-02T08:55:00.000-05:00

Patternworks is my hero this week; they had in stock and have already shipped the skein of cotton fleece that I need to finish the Hourglass sweater.

While I'm waiting, I decided to make a pair of handwarmers from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. Nothing on my list of possible projects from the last entry really appealed to me; after the Hourglass sweater I wanted an instant gratification project. These knit up very quickly on an 8" circular needle, though my hands tend to cramp up knitting in the round on that small a circumference. The yarn is Elann's Peruvian Collection Highland Wool in spiced wine.

Of course, it was 68 degrees yesterday and spring is less than three weeks away. However, I'm sure there'll still be ample opportunity for me to get a lot of use out of the handwarmers this season; just a few years ago we had a massive snowstorm mid-March that pretty much shut down the town.

Medal denied

2006-02-26T12:03:00.000-05:00

There wasn't enough yarn. I'm within a few rows of being finished, though, so I still consider it a success. I tried the sweater on and it is going to fit well and look great when it's done, which makes me very happy. I'm just not letting myself think about how shiny and pretty the gold medal would have looked on the sidebar over there.

So tomorrow I will call Patternworks in hopes of buying another skein in the same dye lot, and in the meantime I'm trying to figure out what is next. I'm actually down to one project at a time lately, which is fine with me. There'll be a new baby in the family in May, so I could make something for her, or I may start another LoTech Sweat--I made one a few years ago, before I fully understood the importance of gauge, so even though I love the design, I don't wear it much.

What I should do is take apart a sweater I designed and knit late last summer and early fall. I thought all my calculations were okay, but the set-in sleeves will just not set in correctly; they look puffy at the top, like those sweaters I wore in high school in the 80's. The rest of the sweater, a chestnut v-neck with mistake-stitch ribbing, looks pretty nice, but the sleeve problem ruins it for me.

I was sad to hear of Don Knotts' death. We are watching all our Andy Griffifth DVDs this afternoon as a tribute. My all-time favorite episode is the one where Barney wants to sing in the choir, and Andy and the choir director try everything to keep him from singing because he is so bad. And the one where Barney buys a motorcycle, and the one where he arrests the whole town, and every single one where he accidentally shoots his gun. He will be missed.

Cue the dramatic music

2006-02-24T09:50:00.000-05:00

I decided to go for the gold and get this sweater finished by the time the flame is extinguished. However, as with many Olympians, my story is fraught with drama; will years and years of practice and mental preparation all go down the drain because of one small mistake? Will I fall on my….triple lutz? It’ll be an entirely mental game from now on, and I won’t know if I can pull it off until the end is almost in sight.

I don't think there's enough yarn.

Yeah. What a disappointment. It may work out okay, but it’ll be very, very close. However, if I can finish the sweater and have enough yarn, and it turns out beautifully in spite of it all, what a great story that’ll be for Bob Costas or Dick Buttons.

Here’s what I’ve got so far. I have no idea what I was thinking when I decided to do the first sleeve back and forth, because when I started the second, after a couple of rounds it went quite easily onto a 16” circular. It must have been cold-induced brain fog. So one sleeve will have a seam, and the other will not, but maybe I’ll be the only one who notices.

Wish me luck.

Go for the gold?

2006-02-23T09:09:00.000-05:00

I joined the Knitting Olympics with the sole intention of making a good start on the Hourglass sweater, never expecting to actually complete it. However, if I really push, I might actually be able to finish! Here is the body up to the point where the sleeves will be attached.

Knitting this the second time was much less painful; by knitting every day I did, as expected, eliminate a lot of those ugly lines. There is one, however, that I didn’t spot until I’d knitted another three or four inches. After I finished the body, I wet it and blocked it a little and am waiting to see if that takes care of the problem. So far, so good.

I didn’t have a 12” circular needle for the sleeves, so I began the sleeves on dpns. After three inches or so of not really liking the resulting knitting (uneven between dpns, etc.), I frogged and decided to knit back and forth and seam up the sleeve when it’s completed. I don’t like seaming either, but it seemed the lesser of two evils in this case. I’m over halfway finished with the first sleeve, and since I am recuperating from a nasty cold, I have the opportunity to knit all afternoon and perhaps get this one done and the second one started.

In other news, last week I visited my grandfather, and while I was waiting for him to come out of the post office, I photographed this across the street. I was trying to find a little beauty in the midst of small-town squalor, and I think this works.

A Marsan watch cap, among other things

2006-01-26T12:47:00.000-05:00

I have admired the Marsan watch cap for a long time, but I never made once since I could never figure out how only 72 stitches on size 7 needles would make a cap for an adult. I finally bit the bullet over the last couple of days and did a little math and a little research (the designer knits loosely! aha!), and I knit my own. This is a very clever pattern, and the twisted knit stitch really pops. I used Knitpicks Wool of the Andes in mist for mine, and it took just a little over one skein. I also cast on 80 stitches instead of 72 and used size 10 needles. The cap fits me snugly, but not uncomfortably so. However, I’ll put this one in the hat stash and give it away sometime.

Like many, many others, I have signed up for the Knitting Olympics. My project will be resurrecting the freshly frogged Hourglass sweater. I’ll be glad to get it back on the needles, and it will also be a great project for hours and hours of Olympics watching. I’m hoping that the fixed time for completion will help me eliminate some of those ugly lines that plagued the first version…this time it won’t sit for weeks at a time without being worked on.

Just this morning I found nonaKnit’s I-Cord Glove pattern, and I love it! Gloves are just about the only commonly knitted item that I have not yet attempted, mostly since I figured all that fiddling around with dpns in tight spaces and on small numbers of stitches would require more patience than I currently possess. However, I’m going to give this a shot…just one finger will be enough to let me know whether or not I’ll stick it out through ten! I have almost a whole skein of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock, in the lakeview colorway, but I’m also thinking about the Trekking XXL; there’s a lot of it left, too, and I love the colors in that. Decisions, decisions.

Greene County watch cap

2006-01-23T11:32:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend I wanted to knit a watch cap, but I wanted something just a little different, so I studied the Barbara Walker’s Treasury of Knitting Patterns and decided on wheat ear rib for the ribbing portion. It’s pretty, and it made me think of a small wheat field I once saw that was surrounded on three sides by woods. And since one thought generally leads to another, I remembered the skein of natural mix Patons Classic Wool that was left over from my Must-Have cardigan and knew it would be the perfect choice.

So, here’s the Greene County Watch Cap. It’s soft and warm and very comfortable. It’d be good for country drives or walks in the woods while the weather is still cold, and once spring arrives, it would hold all the morels you might find while “mushroom huntin’.”

Fits a medium-sized adult head. Adjustments in size may be made by casting on any number of stitches that are a multiple of 5 +2, then increasing or decreasing a couple of stitches for the body of the hat so that the number of stitches is divisible by 6.

Gauge: 5 st=1”

Wheat ear rib (from Barbara Walker’s Treasury of Knitting Patterns)

Row 1 (right side): *P3, insert needle from back to front between 1^st and 2^nd stitches on left-hand needle and knit the 2^nd st, then knit the 1^st st and slip both stitches from the needle together; repeat from *, end p2.

Row 2: *K3, skip 1 stitch and purl the 2^nd st, then purl the skipped st, then sl both stitches from needle together; rep from *, end K2.

Repeat these two rows.

Cast on 97 stitches using a circular needle. Work the wheat ear rib pattern back and forth for 3”. At the end of the last wrong-side row, join the knitting so that you will now be knitting in the round. Be sure the wrong side is facing out, so that when the brim is turned up, the right side will show.

Purl one round, decreasing one stitch in this round for a total of 96 stitches. Knit around until the whole hat is about 8 inches in length. You may adjust this for a tighter or more roomy cap. Though a watch cap is typically supposed to be close-fitting, I like a little more room up at the very top. A length of 7 ½” is probably enough for most people.

Begin decreasing.

*K14, K2tog around*

K around

*K13, K2tog around*

K around

Continue in this manner, switching to double points when needed, until there are 48 stitches. Then decrease every round until there are only 6 stitches left. Break yarn and thread through these stitches, pulling tightly and securing on the wrong side. Sew up seam on brim.

Finished objects

2006-01-21T12:08:00.000-05:00

Finally, some finished objects! I haven’t been knitting much; I usually enter a slump after the holidays and use the time I don’t feel like knitting to organize the stash, plan some future projects, and update all my notes from the previous year’s projects. I don’t worry that the urge to actually knit will never return; it always does.

Here’s a little hat I made the other day. The pattern is from Vogue Knitting’s Caps & Hats Two. It’s very succinctly called “Striped Hat,” and it worked up very quickly. I chose not to add the bobbles at the corners since I had already spent way too much time trying to decipher the finishing instructions—it just wasn’t computing to me. Finally, I figured out how to achieve the look, though the instructions never did make sense to me.

I actually finished the Trekking XXL socks (though I haven’t yet renamed them something more catchy). These turned out very well; I like them better than anything else I’ve made from my own pattern. The yarn is so pretty, and it washes well, too, which is always something I’m nervous about.

In other knitting news, the other day I met a nice woman at the local craft store where I buy Woolease and Sugar ‘n Cream and whatnot. She had the front part of her cart full of Lion Brand Jiffy and various eyelash and other Elmo-like yarns, and she asked me a few questions about needle size and the suitability of her planned purchases for scarves. We had a nice conversation about the soothing effects of knitting, and she said, “Given how compulsive I am about knitting, I’m glad I don’t have a tendency to drink!” My sentiments exactly. However, I neglected to mention my unhealthy attachment to a certain brand of potato chips and comfort myself with the fact that I don’t have a huge stash of them within reach, like I do with yarn. Not yet, anyhow.

Happy New Year!

2006-01-05T07:55:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a nice holiday season and a good start to the new year. We are still hanging onto 2005 here, since the tree is still up in the living room, and I'm loathe to give up the lights strung around the ceiling in the study. I'm almost ready to welcome 2006, though. Maybe tomorrow?

I've done virtually no knitting during the holiday season, save for a few rounds on the Trekking sock and about one-third of a pretty purple dishcloth. I am mulling over whether or not to completely frog the Hourglass sweater, and begin it again when I have time to work on it exclusively, thus perhaps eliminating the pesky "lines." I want it to be as nice as possible, so that may be the answer. I'd rather do that than frog back just so far and pick up all those stitches again.

It's been unseasonably warm here for the past couple of weeks; I even walked yesterday in just a t-shirt and sweatpants--no sweatshirt, no Hayden hat, no convertible mittens! It is supposed to snow later, though the temp won't get down to freezing. I may eat my words soon, but I really wish winter would get here!

The last pair of mittens of this year

2005-12-18T10:48:00.000-05:00

Well, I got the miniature mittens out of my system. The pattern is from Folk Mittens: Techniques and Patterns for Handknitted Mittens by Marcia Lewandowski, and they're made with some scraps of Caron Simply Soft and Woolease. They are cute, but I probably won't make any more with this pattern--worsted weight wool on size 1 needles wasn't too bad until I got to the decreasing, and then it became apparent that this was one of those never-again patterns.

I tried to get Cal to wear them for a photo, but he is only willing to model hats, preferably berets in earth tones.

Since the Christmas knitting is now completed and wrapped and mailed, I got out the languishing Hourglass sweater and did quite a few rounds yesterday while watching Prancer. I really love the way this sweater is turning out and can't wait to be able to wear it. There's no picture today since it looks almost the same as the last picture, only longer. I'm now almost up to the second increase.

I have noticed that in the sweater there are occasional "lines" where I'm guessing the knitting has been on the needles too long. I've had this happen before with wool projects, and the lines have always gone away in blocking. I'm hoping the same will be true for the cotton fleece. If anyone has had the same experience, please let me know if this will disappear, or if I should be frogging back to eliminate the lines. It's not that noticeable, but I'm very picky about my own knitting, and I know it'll drive me nuts.

That's all the knitting news. I hope to be able to work on some new patterns this afternoon. I have a couple of ideas for short scarves that I'd like to get underway, and I'd also like to shake the dust off the second Trekking sock and get that finished soon so I can be wearing them.

Snow Day Mittens

2005-12-15T11:06:00.000-05:00

Here are the Snow Day Mittens. These are a lot of fun to make, and I'm really happy with the way they turned out. Of course, now that I'm well, it's 37 degrees and all the snow is melting. I suppose I neglected to mention that I decided to keep this pair for myself!

These very soft and warm mittens will fit an average-sized woman’s hand. They knit up very quickly and would make a great gift or a welcome addition to your own winter wear.

Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Bulky comes in an amazing array of colors, and it is one of the nicest yarns I’ve ever knit with. It has just enough mohair to make a light ‘halo.’

Size: 8” around, about 9.5” long

Materials: 1 skein of Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Bulky (shown in Ruby)
set of dpns to give you gauge
stitch marker (I use a piece of yarn)
stitch holder (again, I use a piece of yarn)

Gauge: 4 st=1”

Wrist

Cast on 28 stitches, distribute onto 3 dpns. Join.
Rib in K2, P2 for 2.5 inches, or desired length.
next round: *K7, M1* around, to increase total stitches to 32
Knit 2 more rounds.

Begin thumb gusset

next round: K1, M1left, K1, M1right, K around
next round: K around even

K1, M1left, K3, M1right, K around
K around even

K1, M1left, K5, M1right, K around
K around even

K1, M1left, K7, M1right, K around

(At this point you may wish to try the mitten on and see if the thumb gusset is wide and/or long enough. If not, K around even, then complete another increasing round.)

K1, slip 9 (or 11) thumb stitches to a scrap piece of yarn, K around
K1, M1 to close space left by joining sides, K around
K16 stitches, then place a marker, K around

Hand

Knit around for about 2.75”, or just to the top of the little finger.

Decrease round

SSK, K to 3 stitches before marker, K2tog, K1, slip marker, SSK, K to 3 stitches before end of round, K2tog, K1

K 4 rounds even

Decrease as described

K even

Decrease every other round until 12 stitches left. Place 6 stitches each on 2 dpns and graft together using Kitchener stitch.

Thumb

Put stitches from thumb onto 2 dpns, and attach yarn, leaving long tail (to sew up any little holes when you are finished), K around to gap where thumb and hand join. Using 3^rd dpn, pick up 3 stitches (12 total—or 14 if you made the larger gusset), then K around until length just reaches top of thumb.

K2tog around.

K even.

K2tog around again, and break yarn. Thread through live stiches and pull tight. Secure on wrong side.

Make second mitten the same as the first.

Enjoy all your snow days!

Catching up, or trying to

2005-12-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

I spent most of the last few days fighting a virus that left me exhausted and feverish and with a sore throat. I'm much better now, but I'm way behind on Christmas preparations, and that makes me a little frantic. I did manage to get my Christmas cards all done, and I made a kitty dishcloth to go with some other Christmas-present dishcloths I had made earlier. I hope to be able to finish the one project that needs to be mailed sometime today so it can go out tomorrow. Blasted virus.

I did get the bulky mittens all finished and washed and blocked, and I will post the picture and the pattern sometime soon, when I can concentrate on writing it up correctly. I still feel a little foggy this morning, but I'm slowly getting back to my normal routine.

Scott is improving and is going home today, so we are very thankful about that. Thank you to everyone for sending the nice comments and good wishes!

Snowed in

2005-12-09T09:53:00.000-05:00

I guess I won't be sitting on the patio and knitting any time soon. We had over six inches of snow yesterday afternoon and evening, and last night the wind picked up and blew it into big drifts all around the yard.

We aren't really snowed in here, since the snow plowing crew is very competent and quick, but I like to pretend we are. It reminds me of growing up in the country, where we sometimes missed up to a week of school at a time because the roads were too hazardous for the bus to get through. I would mostly lie in bed and reread all the Little House books when this happened, with more-than-occasional trips to the kitchen for peanut butter sandwiches and chips, and leftover fried chicken, and anything else I could find. I'm sure I'm not the only person who gets hungry while reading Farmer Boy and The Long Winter.

The snow has its hazards, of course. Yesterday my 22-year-old cousin Scott, while driving to school, slid onto the highway and was broadsided by a truck. He will be okay, but he has a broken pelvis and femur and his lung was partially collapsed. We've obviously been very worried about him, but last night we heard that when his mother asked him how he was feeling, he answered, "Like I've been hit by a truck," and winked at her. That's Scott.

Instead of reading while the snow fell yesterday afternoon, I worked on the red mittens and finally completed one that I actually like. I plan to finish its mate today; I wish I'd had them both done this morning while I was out shoveling paths in the eleven-degree weather. But now I guess I'll give them as a gift, no matter how tempting it may be to keep them myself!

Bow-tie complete!

2005-12-07T12:51:00.000-05:00

Here's the bow-tie scarf, completed in a couple of sittings. I am really pleased with it, even more so since I had some initial misgivings about whether I would actually wear it when it was finished. However, I put it on yesterday morning before I went Christmas shopping, and not only did it keep me warm in the twelve-degree weather, it provided some cozy psychological comfort against the crowds and the traffic that I always dislike this time of year. It stayed tucked into the top of my coat--no crazy flopping around or sticking out oddly. I very much recommend this pattern. I'm going to make the next one in something brighter and variegated, like Koigu or Kureyon.

I'm working on a pattern for a Christmas gift--I had thought I was done with the little Christmas knitting I did this year, but I had a brainstorm yesterday while out shopping and am in the process of making just one more thing. I can't say what it is, in case the recipient ever actually reads my blog, after having been reminded about its presence again and again, but I will say that I'm going to make it in Knitpicks Merino Style.

Since we have finally gotten winter weather here, I had a chance a few days ago to try out the Hayden hat and mittens, and they worked as well as I'd hoped. I stayed very warm, and when my hands got too warm, I just popped the top of the mittens. I had a nice surprise when the flap stayed back without my having to fiddle around with buttoning it on the run. I kept smelling something odd when I got home, like a wet sheep, and I finally realized it was me, but that's a small price to pay for comfort. It doesn't seem to bother sheep, either.

New projects, progress on old

2005-12-05T11:11:00.000-05:00

I did a lot of knitting yesterday; Sunday is normally my day of "rest," which means fiddling around with new projects and watching movies most of the day. I kept thinking I should do something else, but the weather was gray and ugly, and the high was only around 30, and we had been very busy all day Saturday, so I stayed inside and rested.

I got an order of Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky, in blue flannel and ruby, late last week. I ordered it so I could make Kate Gilbert's Gifted mittens. I tried to make one--boy, is this yarn nice and soft to knit!--but I got to the thumb and didn't like the way the crocheted seam looked, and then it seemed as if the whole thing was going to be too narrow for anyone, so I frogged it. I am writing my own pattern to make the mittens in the round and hope to get the same look as the Gifted mittens, which are really nice looking.

I ran across a discussion on the internet about the neck warmer scarf, which upon further investigation I found is another name for the bow-tie or bow-knot or one-skein or tuck-in scarf. I started to make one last year, in purple, and I got disgusted half way through, thinking purple did not match anything I had, and I would never wear it, and no one else I know really likes purple, so I frogged that one. I started another one in Woolease camel, which matches the lining of one of my coats and also goes with just about anything I would wear. I can also wear it in the house, on those drafty days, and it won't droop down into whatever I'm cooking, etc. Here it is so far, modeled by the photogenic, increasingly ticked-off Wilma:

I also got quite a lot done on the boring but beautiful Hourglass sweater. I am finally finished with the shaping decreases and am ready for increases again. I worked on this while watching Desk Set, starring Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, on AMC yesterday morning. It was a very engaging movie and helped me forget about the going around and around and around that is the Hourglass sweater at this point.

In other news, I see that the new Knitty is up! I pored over all the patterns this morning, marveling at all the talented, creative people out there. Why didn't I think of the real stocking cap? I love that; I think it would look great in sock-monkey sock colors. I hope to start a Danica scarf later today--I spent most of my morning walk contemplating colors for it. And an all-black Tubey would be gorgeous.

With all this in progress and soon-to-be in progress, I'd better get busy. Christmas shopping? Can wait another day.

Let it snow!

2005-11-30T10:54:00.000-05:00

I finished Hayden and the Two-Way Mittens (their new name) yesterday, so I am ready for winter walking now. I'm very happy with how everything turned out.

After living with the first mitten for a while, I noticed a couple of things that I knew eventually would drive me crazy, like the inside ribbing was just a little too tight, and the flap was too short and hitting the top of my middle finger. So for the second mitten I made adjustments and it was so much better that I frogged part of the first to match. Now I am satisfied with them. Please note that they are the same size--the mitten on the right has its flap pulled up a little.

As for Hayden, I made a few small modifications to the pattern to suit my tastes and my knitting preferences. I cast on 100 stitches and used a gauge of 5 stitches to the inch, and I knitted for 6.5 inches before beginning the decreases. I worked out a different set of decreases, and I think it turned out really well; I like the "pouffy-er" look at the top, and it doesn't sit right next to my head but extends upward a little bit. I don't like a head-hugging cap on myself.

Here's how I did my decreases:

In the Hayden hat pattern, end with round 8 when you've reached the desired length of the hat.

next round, decrease 4 stitches evenly (96)
next round (the purl round), *P6, P2tog*
next round, work as written
next round, *work in pattern for 5 stitches, P2tog*
next round, work as written
next round, *P4, P2tog*
next round, work as written
next round, *work in pattern for 3 stitches, P2tog*
next round, work as written
next round, *P2, P2tog*
next round, work as written
next round, *work in pattern for 1 stitch, P2tog*
next round, work as written
next round, *P2tog*
next round, *P2tog*

Break yarn, run through live stitches and pull tight, secure on other side.

This is a great pattern, and thank you to Poor Miss Finch for providing it. I plan to make some more of these as Christmas gifts. I think they would also be cute with a small tassel at the top.

Little things

2005-11-29T08:42:00.000-05:00

This morning, on my walk around the neighborhood, my mp3 player was acting up by shutting itself off in the middle of Alanis Morrissette and refusing to forward to the next song, so I was trying to find a way to make it work and getting more irritated by the minute. It's a long three miles for me without music, and the trouble started before I was even off my own street.

The player and I finally reached a tentative truce--it agreed to work normally as long as I agreed not to touch any of its buttons, so I picked up the pace and continued on.

On the next street over, a boring stretch marked by intermittent speed bumps, I saw something that changed my whole mood. Up the street I saw a man open his front door, look up and down the street, then dash out onto his front walk and down the driveway. He was a tall, husky man, and he was wearing a voluminous striped nightshirt that hit him almost at the ankle, and he was barefoot! It is 39 degrees this morning and spitting snow.

He had such a fast, fluid stride, as if trying to keep his feet from hitting the asphalt. He ran to his newspaper lying near the end of the drive, then scooped it up and ran back inside.

It wasn't funny, but it was so unexpected and such a bizarre sight on an otherwise tedious morning, that it made me very happy. I will never again pass by that rather plain brown split-level house without remembering how in a split second the sight of him changed my mood for the day.

I love little moments like that; they're like snapshots without a camera, little serendipitous bits I can fall back on when I need to lighten my mood.

Besides, I have never before in my life seen a man in a nightshirt like that, and it may be another forty years before I see one again.

Hats and more hats

2005-11-27T11:04:00.000-05:00

I've had severe start-itis this week and wanted projects that could easily be completed in an afternoon or less, since I've also been snowed under with Thanksgiving preparations and some other equally time-consuming projects. I usually get online at 5 a.m. or thereabouts (must make insomnia productive!) and find something I like, then by 7 or so start it and work on it at odd moments throughout the day. First of all, here's Tychus from Knitty.

I made this in Lion Brand Woolease, in Loden and Natural Wheat. I used a provisional cast on so I could finish it with the three-needle bind off. This worked out really well, especially since I don't enjoy sewing seams. I only made four wedges, since four made the hat large enough for everyone in this house. I hope my gauge was off, because I can't imagine the head that would fit five wedges. CP tried on the hat but wouldn't let me take his picture, so here it is on the chess table.

Currently in progress is Poor Miss Finch's Hayden hat. I am really enjoying knitting this, though the slip-stitch pattern makes for slow progress. I plan to knit about 6 1/2" and then use a different decrease that makes the hat longer and less cap-like. I used Wool of the Andes, in Winter Night (matches the mittens!), Chambray, and Cloud. I hope to wear this hat on my walks this winter. So far it seems nice and stretchy and light.

I knew eventually I would have too many projects again. I'm trying to cap it at five at any one time, but if I get an idea for something, I like to start it right away. I was good and made myself finish Tychus before starting Hayden, but I keep thinking about those miniature mitten ornaments and the mini raglans.

I still try to do a round or two each day on my Hourglass sweater, and later today I plan to finish up my second mitten. I must then finish the second Trekking sock. My Artisan's Vest is languishing on the shelf, but someday I will pick it up and finish it up in a marathon session.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had a great time, and the carnivorous ones among us still enjoy eating turkey and dressing every day.

Voila!

2005-11-21T12:41:00.000-05:00

I have a mitten! I found some time over the weekend to write a pattern, and I eventually came up with the mitten below. I wrote down the instructions very carefully (not my normal procedure) and hope I can reproduce its mate in the very near future since snow and freezing rain is forecast for later this week. I used Knitpicks' Wool of the Andes, Winter Night, since I had three skeins of it and really thought I'd need more than one for each mitten. As it turned out, this took less than one 50 gram skein. I may make a matching hat with the rest.

I knitted this at six stitches per inch, which was as tight as I was willing to knit worsted weight yarn. I used Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Without Tears as one resource, and also the Winter 2003 issue of Interweave Knits, which had a nice article on thumb gussets.

I made the flap part of the mitten by casting on half the stitches, then using the same yarn, picking up the rest by pulling the yarn through each stitch on the back of the mitten with a crochet hook. I then distributed the stitches onto three dpns and knit in the round.

I love this color; it matches the trim on both my winter coats almost perfectly. The wool is pretty comfortable, too, and I'm anxious to see how warm it will keep my hands in the cold winter winds. However, I'm willing to wait on that test if it means putting off winter just a little longer.

Here it is with the flap back--I had to take this shot with my left hand, and the shutter release is on the right side of the camera, hence the weird angle and blurriness.

As for other knitting projects, I managed a few rounds on my hourglass sweater yesterday. The finished product will be lovely, but that is some boring knitting going on there!

My new convertible....mittens!

2005-11-17T12:40:00.000-05:00

Well, they're not new yet. I have to design and knit them first, but after my morning walk in 19 degree, windy weather, I now know what I want in mittens for myself. Convertibles!

In 30-40 degree weather, for about the first mile my hands are pretty cold, no matter what gloves or mittens I have on. Then, there is a brief period where I am comfortable and actually not aware of my hands at all and can focus on my walking, and finally, they are too warm, and I have to strip off my gloves or mittens, or fold down my hand warmers so I can cool off. However, below 30 degrees, my hands stay cold for a long time and are just about comfortable by the time I am finished walking. The answer to all these situations seems to be convertible mittens. My requirements are as follows:

They must be done in worsted weight, so I can have that double thickness on my hands and most of my fingers most of the time.

The inside part must be the half-a-mitten sort, and not the glove type where there are actual separate fingers. This will enable me to pull my thumb out and into this space with the rest of the fingers if my hands start to get too warm. It should come up rather high, just under the length of my little finger, I think.

The top has to be easy to pull back and fasten and shouldn't flop around when I use my arms.

They must be knitted in a fairly tight gauge so the wind doesn't whistle through.

They must be done in a color that will not get dingy looking too quickly.

That's my project for the next time I sit down to knit.

I started the Hourglass Sweater and did about seven rounds, just past the purl round. The Cotton Fleece is sort of splitty, but it knits up really well, and I am very pleased so far. I love the coral color.

I'm doing what I want to today

2005-11-16T12:43:00.000-05:00

My yarn orders are finally both here, and I am very pleased with my purchases. Sometimes it's hard to tell exactly what color the yarn will be, based on the catalog or the computer monitor, but this time I mostly got what I expected. First of all, I got an order of Brown Sheep yarns:

I got five skeins of Cotton Fleece in Coral Sunset for the Hourglass Sweater--this is a gorgeous color and not too far off from the photo for a change. I also got some Nature Spun in sportweight, just to have in my stash. The colors are Pink Please, Platte River Blue, Navy Nite, and Meadow Green (a lovely shade).

Below is my Knitpicks stash. I got four skeins of Merino Style, in Dusk and Vanilla, and the rest is Wool of the Andes in Violet, Chestnut, Mist, Cloud, Coal, Winter Night, Chambray, and Grass. Grass and Violet were quite different in person than in the catalog, but I will still be able to put them to good use.

In other news, yesterday most of the state was under a tornado watch for several hours. When I saw that the possibility for tornadoes was quite high, and that the alarm had spread to the national news, I decided not to take my chances here in the house, so I loaded up the cats, and we went over to BJ's. Her apartment complex has a large basement, so I felt safer at her place, and when there was a warning that a tornado was headed for our area at 60 mph, we took the cats and went down there.

Let me tell you, that is a very strange and scary feeling, to be listening to the radio announcer tick off the minutes until a tornado is supposed to be at your back door, and to watch the sky turn from a dark gray-green to a bright white. Streets were deserted, except for one car pulling in at a house across the street and an older couple rushing into what must have been their friends' basement. We sat there in the stifling heat for about half an hour (the cats were so good!), and just after the all-clear, we went back up to BJ's apartment, where I did a couple of minor household repairs for her and wished mightily for some good bourbon.

I decided to stay until CP got there, so he could help me haul the cats home, and yet another line of storms passed, and yet another tornado warning was posted for our county, though out of our immediate location. It was quite a rough day, and neither of us slept very well last night, either.

I'm not surprised at all to see that it's snowing today. The temperature has dropped almost thirty degrees since yesterday. Thank you, cold front! Too bad you can't arrive less spectacularly.

Today I've been pretty useless, but I did buy some material and make a new valance for the kitchen window. It looks pretty nice if you don't look too closely at some of the seams. I really don't like sewing at all; I just like having sewn something. But this was a fairly easy project completed with minimal cursing.

I'm off to start my Hourglass Sweater! I've been waiting on this for days.

Sorghum cookies

2005-11-12T11:02:00.000-05:00

I have no knitting pictures to post today. Instead, here's what I made yesterday:

These are sorghum cookies, and they are my favorite cookies ever. I had never made any of my own before, mostly because I figured that none could ever taste as good as those Mamaw made, and also because sorghum isn't something I have sitting around all the time, and lastly, because if I made my own, there would be a good possibility I'd eat them all at one sitting. However, I had a canning jar of sorghum that was made at the antique show in September, and I had Mamaw's recipe, so yesterday I made them. They are delicious, very much like Mamaw's, though without that something special that having her make them for me would have given them.

We ate several of them, but I was good and froze the rest for Thanksgiving, when there will be more people around to help eat them.

I'm just waiting on the mail now, hoping for my yarn shipments to arrive, because I'm in the mood to start a new project. After all, I only have three things going, and that just isn't enough!

Plodding along

2005-11-10T07:39:00.000-05:00

I've been having some back trouble since the weekend, so I haven't done much except order a lot of yarn with my birthday cash. I see this morning that both orders have now shipped, so I'll soon be up to my knees in worsted and dk and sport weight stash wool, and a good amount of Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Coral Sunset, which I am going to use to make the Hourglass Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I even joined the knit-a-long, even though it's almost a year old now.

I'm within four inches of having the first Trekking sock completed, and it just gets more and more beautiful. I decided to keep working on the Artisan's Vest from Green Mountain Spinnery, though I had my doubts for a while. I like the looks of the vest, but in the dark gray mix I have, it looks kind of masculine. I may crochet around the armholes and the front in burgundy to "girl" it up a little, and I will look for some pretty, feminine buttons for it. Now if I only have enough yarn to complete it!

Storms and socks

2005-11-06T15:43:00.000-05:00

At 4:30 a.m. I awoke to a fierce storm; it was raining so hard that for a long time I thought it was hail, and the wind was blowing small tree limbs down onto the roof right over my head. I turned on the TV and saw that we were under a tornado watch, so I stayed up until the ugly red and green mass on channel 8's radar moved east of here and it got quiet again.

I switched over to CNN and saw that Indiana was on the national news because a tornado had touched down near Evansville and killed several people. This was particularly sad because had the storm come through in the daylight, most of those people could have been saved. As it was, it was 2 a.m., and it's November, for pete's sake, past the normal tornado season here. People were asleep in their beds, and if they had no weather alert radio, then they had no way of knowing what was coming. I've been watching all day as the death toll rises and wondering just what the hell is going on with the weather this year. It's gotten beyond scary.

On a lighter note, by the time it was light here the streets were dry, so I went for a 3-mile walk, then came home and worked on the Trekking sock and continued watching the "What's Happening?" marathon on TVLand.

Isn't this the most gorgeous yarn? I'm pretty happy with how the pattern is turning out, too.

Surprise!

2005-11-05T12:51:00.000-05:00

I love Elizabeth Zimmermann's Baby Surprise Sweater. It's fairly mindless knitting, nice to alternate with a more complex project or two, and when you're done, you take a piece of knitting that looks like this:

Then you make a couple of folds, sew a couple of seams and add some buttons, and you end up with this:

This one was made with TLC Baby, which is a 100% acrylic, sport weight yarn. I made another one of these earlier this fall, in a blue-yellow-green colorway that better shows the mitered sides of the sweater. I thought this one, in "bunny print," would do the same, but instead it made smaller areas of color. It's pretty anyway.

I started a pair of socks today. I wrote a pattern that I am very pleased with so far, and I'm really enjoying working with the Trekking XXL. It's the softest sock yarn I've ever used, and the subtle color changes look great.

I also began a Tomten Sweater in cranberry Woolease. It's coming along well, though I put it aside while finishing up the surprise sweater. I love garter stitch, especially on baby things, but I need a little break. After finishing my black and red ribby cardi, I swore I would never again make something that would need to have a zipper installed, but I couldn't resist the lure of another charming EZ baby sweater. Sigh. I looked at the cardi again today, and the zipper isn't as bad as I remembered, other than not quite reaching the collar of the sweater. I don't think anyone will notice but me.

It's cloudy and a little windy today, but this morning we raked leaves anyhow, and now you can hardly tell. It seems like there are a lot more of them this year, but I don't suppose that's possible.

Short Rows Hat, modeled by Mr. Cal

2005-11-01T16:17:00.000-05:00

I woke up at 5 a.m. again, and while surfing the internet found a nice little hat pattern posted on the Yahoo! group knitbabysurprise. I immediately thought of those Woolease scraps of fuchsia I have been wanting to use up, so I added some purple and colonial blue and worked on this hat in between chores today. The pattern gauge is 4 stitches to the inch, but I can't do that without going up to at least a size 11 needle (which hurts my hands pretty quickly), so my hat is somewhat smaller than the child size it should be and is more appropriate for a baby or toddler. Next time I will just cast on more stitches to make the hat larger. I do like the look of big fat garter stitch, and it is very cushiony and will make a nice winter accessory for someone. I will probably put it in my charity knitting bag.

Here is Calvin, who is a more complacent model if I photograph him before he's fully awake:

I'm still mulling over my future projects. I'm sort of in the hat mood, and there are several nice patterns in Last Minute Knitted Gifts that I'd like to try, like Kim's Hats. I'd like to make a cap with earflaps for my cousin's little boy, who just turned one year old. I also really enjoyed the fat garter stitch of the short rows hat and have always wanted to make EZ's Tomten Sweater, so if my infatuation continues for the next couple of days, I may start one of those.

The baby surprise sweater is nearing completion. I am almost to the section where you knit on the center 90 stitches, and it'll go pretty quickly after that. My white socks are completed, washed, and blocking on the dryer right now. I can't wait to wear them; of course, the weather isn't cooperating and has gone back up into the 60s this week. I'm ready for the next cold snap.

What next?

2005-10-31T10:34:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to decide what to knit next. The white socks and the baby surprise sweater are almost finished, and the vest is resting while I decide whether or not to continue it. I have had a ball of Trekking XXL (color 105) for a few weeks now, just waiting to be made into socks, but I made myself wait until I finished up some of my other projects. I love the fall colors in this, and it's so soft and springy!

I want to make socks that have the ribbing all the way down to the edge of the toe--Mom has a pair like that, and I hadn't seen any like them before. After searching the internet, I found a beautiful pair here (see June 27th entry). I can make my own pattern based on the pictures; I only hope mine turn out as nicely!

Of course, it's time to think about holiday knitting, too. I already have a few things completed, but I really need to decide what else I'm going to do, and then get busy. I always get a few last-minute requests, which I am happy to fill, as long as there's time.

Branching Out, unblocked

2005-10-29T12:55:00.000-05:00

It is a beautiful day here today--blue skies, nice and cool--so of course I am spending the day inside. I woke up at 4:30 a.m. and was unable to go back to sleep, so I watched snippets of horror movies and surfed the web and drank hot green tea instead, and now I'm as zombiefied as some of those creatures I saw in the early hours (though considerably less bloody and slightly more verbal.)

So as not to waste an entire day, I resolved to finish "Branching Out," and here it is, though unblocked. I'm really happy with the way it turned out and am relieved that it's done since I started it over the summer while we were at the lake. It's done in Knit One, Crochet Too's Douceur et Soie, in "dove," I believe. I knit very tightly, so this was done on size 10 1/2 needles. It was slow going, and I was constantly afraid of dropping a stitch or a yo. Next time I do a project like this, I will use some lifelines so I can relax a little more while knitting. This will be a Christmas gift for a relative who doesn't have internet access.

hello

2005-10-28T13:47:00.000-05:00

I'm a constant knitter. I generally have at least six projects going at any one time, and sometimes more. Right now I have a "Branching Out" scarf, a sock, a vest, and an EZ's Baby Surprise Sweater on the needles, so I guess I'm a little behind my average. I just sent half a baby blanket to the frog pond after realizing I don't have enough yarn to finish it, and it's been discontinued.

Here's one of the socks. It's my own design, inspired by a pair I had bought that had subsequently gone holey in the heel. It's made of Paton's Kroy, color "whitecap."

Here's a hat I just finished. It's the double hat from EZ's Knitting Workshop, made from some scrap Woolease. I decided I needed something really warm for walking in the coming cold weather.

Blue side...

White side...