Category: Uncategorized

Have you done the latest thing – a Word Cloud?

I thought this was rather cool. The program picks out words from your blog. Go give it a try. On the knitting front, it has become apparent that you can indeed teach an old dog new tricks. Both Chery and Debi couldn’t seem to stand the fact that I wasn’t knitting socks toe up on two circular needles and Chery went a step further and egged me on to doing two socks at once. Behold:

These are out of Wildfoote yarn in the Bluegrass colorway. Chery sent me her excellent directions and Debi’s tutorial (Turkish cast on in her sidebar) made everything abundantly clear. I was rather proud of my accomplishment. That Turkish cast on is simply magic! I’m thinking of doing little sachet bags later in the year when our lavendar blooms. However, the jury remains out on using the two circs and doing two socks at once. I love my wooden dpn’s. They’re soft and polished from so much use and I don’t think I’ll give up on them any time soon.

Just in time for the Super Bowl, we’re hunkering down for a huge storm. On the news they showed a map with a big yellow arrow pointing toward the focal point of the winds and it’s pointing straight toward our island. They’ve predicted wind gusts of 70 mph and extended power outages (probably nothing compared to what Debi went through!). We’re prepared – Bill went out and cleared away some tree limbs, we have our emergency water (when the power goes out we lose water too) and the generator is full of gas. No need to board up windows – we’re protected by trees. That is, until one falls on the house. In our area that’s the biggest danger – trees falling and taking out power lines or houses. At least the storm is coming through the day before the football game, so let’s hope the power’s back on Sunday for all the Seahawks fans! Go Hawks!

Now that school has started again, I’m afraid I will probably be limited to posting about once a week. I love blogging and especially reading all of the knitting blogs, but the irony is that all of that takes away from my actual knitting time. Add in school, work and family time and I have to be careful that I don’t while away my time surfing the net! But I do intend to keep on blogging so that I don’t disappoint my regular readers (all four of them!).

I determined that this week I would work on my languising projects and these are the results:

Two little baby sleeves! The original pattern called for the sleeves to be the same pattern as the body (see previous post). But it quickly became apparent that with color changes on every row there were going to be about ten gazillion ends to weave in. On the body it’s not a problem because they are at the steek and will be cut off. But with the sleeve there’s nothing to do but weave and I just wasn’t up for it. So I took this pattern from another version of the same design and I think it will be cute. Now all that’s to be done is sew and cut the steeks, sew in the sleeves and knit the front bands and neck.

And I worked on Kongsberg. Thanks to Chery, I conquered the two circular method for the sleeve and I think the results are impressive:

On the left is the sleeve started on dpn’s and on the right the two circ. It doesn’t show up as well in the picture, but the two circ sleeve is so much more even. I will frog the other sleeve and start it over. This sleeve will be a lot more slow going than the little baby sleeves. Besides being larger, they are much more complex and tiring to work on. So, in the meantime, I need to think of a simple knit – socks probably. I’ve got some Bearfoot in the stash and following the lead of Debi and Chery am thinking of starting those. Or maybe Lorna’s Laces or maybe Wildfoote. The choices, if not endless, are many.

Ok – New Year’s Resolutions. I always make them. Some I keep, some I don’t, but the eternal optimist in me compels me to at least try. I’m sure you don’t want to hear the usual “eat better” “exercise more” that we all make, so I’ll stick to the knitting ones. The first is to get my projects more organized. Despite the fact that I have a “studio” (formerly known as “sewing room”), I tend to have things strewn all over the place. This year I will try to catalog my books and my projects a little better so I can acutally find them – and not buy the same pattern twice because I already have it but can’t find it. You guys don’t do that, do you? The second is to finish by New Year’s Eve any projects that I have already started. That doesn’t rule out staring anything new, you understand, just finishing what is on the needles now.

To that end, I brought out some unfinished projects to peruse and make plans. Imagine my horror to find this:

M**TH HOLES!!! IN INGEBORG!!! I am heartbroken. I had this sitting in a basket in my sewing room. I have never seen a moth or larvae, but there is the evidence nevertheless. To make matters worse, it was sitting right on top of Kongsberg. However, after close inspection, I can find no holes in Kongsberg. I immediately took Ingeborg and threw it and all of the yarn in the freezer while I made a plan of attack. After searching around on the internet, I did what Stephanie did. I threw it in the microwave. Hopefully any critters have been fried. I’m not usually this ruthless with insects, but we’re talking mega knitting time and a substantial yarn investment here. I am not the Albert Schweitzer of knitters! Now I’m not sure what to do. I’m nervous about just frogging down to the holes and starting over because I fear all of the yarn may be compromised. This one will have to simmer for a while. Any suggestions?

I will, however, share with you another Dale with the body finished. I do have this tendency to start Dales and then bog down on the sleeves, don’t I?

I wasn’t going to post a picture because this is a surprise for Izzy. But then I realized that even though her parents read my blog, she doesn’t. Shhhh guys – don’t tell her! I started on the tiny little sleeves this morning and I have to thank Chery for her suggestion about using two circs for the sleeves. I have resisted two circs for socks because I am terribly attached to my double points, but this suggestion has saved my bacon (and my sanity). Thanks Chery!

And to reward myself for starting to get better (any excuse!), I took a trip off island to my LYS and bought this:

Lorna’s Laces sock yarn. I have heard such wonderful things about this yarn and decided I needed a treat. But I am going to try and be good and wait until our trip to Orlando in March and make this my plane knitting. Maybe.

Well, I may have been sick, but fortunately I wasn’t sick enough to forgo all this found knitting time. I guess one thing about being sick is that it gives you a legitimate excuse for blowing off all the things you don’t want to do as long as you are not too sick to pamper yourself. Behold – two Socks That Rock:

I am quite pleased with these. I used the Sensational Socks book and found that it helped with some of those fiddly things that have bugged me when I’ve knitted socks before. Because the yarn was so busy I just used a simple garter rib. As soon as these were finished I cast on with some Cascade 220 for some CIC socks. One is finished already, but I am following my self-imposed rule of not posting a picture until they are both done.

I also broke out of the starting gate on Kongsberg’s sleeve:

I know why I’ve been putting this off. It’s probably one of the hardest projects I’ve done. It took me about three starts to get it going. I decided not to do the placket – I feel it just adds extra bulk. I probably could have taken a more flattering picture by not showing the jog at the underarm, but I was too tired to play with it. I know there are methods for reducing the jog, but this is hard enough without adding an extra technique.

And introducing my B’s:

This one is easy – my husband Bill and my son Benjamin (posing with one cute little baby). Bill and I have been married for 32 years and he is indeed the love of my life. He is sweet, romantic and really listens when I talk (well, most of the time anyway). Is he perfect? Well, no. He hogs the remote, leaves lights on wherever he goes and constantly leaves drawers open. But did I mention he also cooks, vacuums and does his own laundry? I think we can forgive a few little foibles.

Ben, in case you didn’t know already, is Isobel’s daddy. He is the only child I ever gave birth to, and Bill and I decided that if we only had it to do once, we really did a good job! Ben may not realize this, but he wasn’t the easiest child to raise (like I’d have a basis for comparison?). He is so incredibly smart that his brain just does not work the same way ours does. He was always the kid who would color cows purple and take things apart to see how they work. In sixth grade his teacher got really frustrated with him because he never did math problems the “right” way, but he always came out with the right answer. He is one of the few people I know who not only understands how computers work, but can actually make them do what they are supposed to do (he is a software engineer). And he is a wonderful Daddy to Isobel! Hey, I like this ABC thing – the beginning of the alphabet is a piece of cake. And I’ve even got my X planned out!

Rats! I thought I would dodge the flu bullet this year, but I guess it is not to be (Hey, I even got the shot – how fair is that?). My throat hurts, my joints hurt, my head hurts – even my hair hurts. But mostly my throat. And I blame my husband. Despite the fact that I hang out with germ laden rug rats all day, I got it from him. Was there something in the marriage contract fine print that said we had to share everything? I think not!

So I will distract myself with some mindless (aagh – I must feel bad. I had to type that word four times) knitting – aka socks. I finished the first Sensational Socks That Rock Sock. However, to avoid the dreaded second sock syndrome I have vowed not to post a picture until the second one is done. But as I am on the cuff of the second sock and it is garter rib, I think it qualifies as mindless enough to knit while you’re sick.

This however, does not:

I have joined Junie Ann’s KAL. No, this does not mean I have started something new. This KAL is dedicated to finishing something that you have had on the needles for plus or minus three years and just can’t bring yourself to finish. Kongsberg sadly falls into this category. I really love this sweater, but for some reason just can’t force myself to start on the sleeves. There are some areas that looks as if you need to be pretty creative with your floats and it has me intimidated. Under the terms of the KAL, each week you must do something. Even if it’s casting on, going to the store for buttons or englarging the chart – that counts. I guess you could consider it the small step method. And small steps should eventually translate into a finished sweater. We’ll see. I don’t think, though, that this is a job to tackle when one is feeling puny.

I will, however, introduce you to St. Brigid. She would obviously be progressing at greater speed if I hadn’t gotten sidetracked by lace and socks, but she is lovely nevertheless. Designer – Starmore, Yarn – Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, Neeles – size 5.

And, speaking of lace, I have finished the body of Snowdrop and am now working on the edging.

This, too, does not seem to be a project for the weak of body and fuzzy of head, so it will also have to wait until I feel better. On the positive side, I have absolutely nothing scheduled for this weekend so I can sit on the couch, wrapped in an afghan, drinking tea and knitting on my sock. In fact, I think I’ll go do that right now.

Much of this weekend has been spent doing housecleaning on my computer, but it paid off. Things were really starting to slow down and I wondered if maybe I’d outrgrown this computer. But a few dumped caches and going to a cleaner desktop, plus downloading some Safari enhancers has really given new life to my laptop. We’re speeding along now! Not to say that there hasn’t been knitting going on:

This is Stephanie’s pattern available for download from her site. It would be a great starter lace as the pattern is easily memorized. I used it to teach some lace newbies at our knitting group and I think it was favorably received. Maybe I’ll see some new shawls at our next meeting.

I have also been making progress on my Socks that Rock:

This yarn is pure pleasure to knit with. I can’t wait to get them done and on my feet.

And, I have joined the ABC Along (scroll down to see the button on the sidebar). The aim is to post a picture that means something to you every other week, following the alphabet. A is easy – in fact, two A’s are very special to me:

This is my younger son, Allen. He is a really special kid in many ways. Although 28, he will always be a child, but he is sweet and kind and certainly brings a spark to our lives. Raising him has been difficult, but we know we are better people because of it. He came into our lives when he was six years old and has been a very special part of our lives ever since.

And A is also for Abby:

Abby has only been a part of our lives for less than two years, but we can’t imagine life without her. She is a wonderful wife to our son, Ben, and the best mother you can imagine to little Izzy. Everyone should have such a daughter-in-law!

Happy New Year to all! What a year this has been. One family member departed this life (my husband’s father) and another entered (little Isobel). We traveled to far off places which were quite different – England and Missouri. And my husband completed his first full year of retirement (the verdict – GOOD!). In tallying up my production this year, I was shocked at how many projects I actually completed: 5 shawls, 3 sweaters, 7 scarves, 3 baby hats, 6 baby sweaters, 4 pairs of CIC socks and 5 pairs of adult socks. All but one sweater and one shawl were also started in 2005. Wow! I’m exhausted. All of that is in addition to holding down a job, volunteering at church, going to school part-time (I’m now a senior – WHOO HOO!) and doing enough of my share around the house to keep my husband reasonably content.

My favorite project of the year – Peacock Feathers (gifted to my mother for Christmas):

Cutest project? No contest:

Most repeated pattern? I got stuck on Estonian Scarves and made 5! Here’s a picture of 4:

I must have been doing pretty well – I gave one as a thank you to a friend who had given me her copy of Heirloom Knitting by Sharon Miller. She wore it to Seattle to have a lunch with a friend who admired the knitting and the choice of color. The friend? Evelyn Clarke. The designer!

Last completed project of the year:

More Fun Than Cables Socks – pattern courtesy of Marguerite. Thank you Marguerite for sharing your lovely patterns with us. These really were fun to make. I will definitely do them again. The yarn is Essentials by Knit Picks. Although the yarn was fine to work with, I am not sure I will use it again. After wearing only one day, the toes and instep (where my clogs hit them) are starting to felt a little.

Last yarn purchase of the year:

We went up to Bellingham today and thanks to Li found this great new yarn shop – Marilyn’s. Good selection, good prices and nice people. Well worth the trip, even if we weren’t going for something else. The yarn is “Socks That Rock” in the Azurite colorway. It feels wonderful and reminds me a little of Koigu. I wound the yarn at the shop because I just couldn’t wait to start. But then I reminded myself that I always start a new project on New Year’s Day and decided to wait until tomorrow. I love, love, love this book! I like my library of sock books, but I think this is the one I will use the most. Multiple patterns that you can do in any yarn, any size.

I am thinking over my resolutions for the New Year. I am a big believer in resolutions. Even if you end up breaking most of them, there’s something about the eternal quest to better yourself. The New Year is such a great time to take stock and consider what you really want to do in the coming year. I’ll keep you posted!

The Christmas break is over and it’s back to the grind. It’s tough going back to work when you have a retired husband who gets to stay home! Some day. It was nice to have Christmas on a weekend with the added days off. My sister came up from Seattle and the dogs really enjoyed the extra attention:

In my house we call this “Lap full o’dog”. Despite the fact that Hester looks as if she’s about to fall off, she is actually sleeping. And now that Christmas is over I can show you some surprise gift knitting. Here is Izzy’s first annual Christmas sweater (pattern from “Top Down for Toddlers” by Cabin Fever Knits:

Why, you might ask, is there not a picture of little Isobel modeling her gift from Nana? Because her parents have not yet sent one (hint, hint). We missed so much not having her and her parents here for Christmas, but we would much rather have them save the money for a potential move back here in the spring. But in the meantime, Christmas pictures would be nice (hint, hint).

By the Friday before Christmas I was organized and prepared enough that I had time to play! I had some undyed laceweight yarn from Knit Picks, so I played around with Kool-Aid. My first result (Berry Blue) was a little uneven – nice, but probably too varigated for lace knitting – maybe a feather and fan scarf:

My second attempt (Black Cherry) was more successful. It turned out a very pretty, heathery pink:

It was so pretty, in fact, that I just had to try it out. The pattern is the Snowdrop Shawl from the Yarn Harlot (free on her website). I’m doing a lace workshop for my knitting guild next week and I think this will be a nice pattern for new lace knitters. I had so much fun dyeing that I want to order some more yarn to do some experimenting and get some brighter colors. Since I don’t have a large house and need to use my kitchen, I think I’ll stay with the Kool-Aid dyes since they are non-toxic. I did this in the microwave, but want to try using the crockpot too. Any advice or hints are welcome!

A wonderful surprise came in the mail yesterday:

Lynne sent this to me. Thank you Lynne! I’ve made such wonderful friends in the knit blog community over the past year. In many respects, this keeps me knitting, wanting to have exciting pictures to post. Well, at least knitters find them exciting.

I find it exciting that the last of the Christmas knitting is done with these socks:

Every once in awhile I find myself thinking , “Wait, I have lots of time. I could do this, and this….” And then I get a grip and remind myself that I need to relax and enjoy the season. Each year I wish I had done just a little more in the way of gift giving, decorating, etc. But then I remind myself that this is NOT what this holiday is about. It’s a time to remind ourselves of the great gift that God gave to us in the form of His Son. That gift has nothing at all to do with all the hoopla and decorations that we have invented. That allows me to sit back and think instead of what I can truly give.

In that spirit, I have given cards to at least four people this year letting them know that a pair of hand knitted socks is being donated in their name to CIC. So far the reception has been wonderful. Everyone has been very excited. So, after Christmas a box will be winging its way to CIC with four pairs of little socks and a little sweater.

With no further Christmas projects to finish, I found myself itching to cast on a lace project. I found this pattern, Leda’s Dream via another blog. This was just the project I needed for some pale pink laceweight that has been struggling to find the right home. I have cast on several times with this yarn, but nothing seemed right until this. I think it’s a stunning pattern, and the price was right – only $2.00 to download. You can order it here. Here’s a picture of my progress so far:

I may not get a chance to post again until after Christmas. If I don’t, I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas and that you will have family close to enjoy and love.

What is it with this obsession to knit socks? Was it just a few months ago I commented on this very blog that knitting socks just wasn’t my thing? Once again I am forced to eat my words. It seems that all I want to do is knit socks, ogle sock yarn and wander through all my sock patterns (and I have A LOT!). The sticking point for me is that I have to rewrite them all because I have relatively smallish, skinny feet, as does everyone else I knit socks for. What is it with that? However, once I’ve gotten going, it seems as if I cannot stop. The latest effort:

Don’t they look lovely on the Christmas tree? These are from Knit Picks Dancing yarn in the “I forgot” colorway. This yarn is nice and I think I will make a pair for myself eventually, but I find that I do prefer working with wool rather than this cotton blend yarn. This pair will go in the Christmas stash as will the pair I am currently working on out of Regia self-patterning yarn.

That’s another thing that I’m finding different this year. For the first time I’m feeling “IT” as described by the Yarn Harlot. You know, the desparate feeling that you have to not finish, but actually START new projects for Christmas. All of a sudden I’m feeling that I need to knit something for everyone – a totally unrealistic expectation by the way, so all of you on my gift list reading this blog – Don’t get your hopes up! But I hope some of you will be pleasantly surprised.

Updating my last entry – my birthday weekend was a mixed bag. I so enjoyed my visit to the Acorn Street Yarn Shop, but I do find myself getting a little discouraged by the price of all the yummy yarns out there. I increasingly find myself priced out of the market, so to speak. So far I am quite pleased with Knit Picks and hope they keep adding to their inventory of affordable yarns. After the yarn shop, we went over to Seattle Center to see the new Harry Potter in the Imax Theater. Right after the lights dimmed and before the movie started, an elderly gentlemen a few rows down from us suffered an apparent heart attack. They kept us all in our seats while they did CPR on him for over half an hour, then rightly cancelled the show and ushered us all out. I doubt he made it. It was so distressing – he had his family with him, including his grandchildren, and my heart went out to them as well as all the other children in the audience. What a sad memory of what was supposed to be a memorable outing.

On the positive side – I got my grade back on my final exam essay in my anthropology class. I was stunned to receive a 100!!! I was pretty satisfied with my exam and felt that I worked really, really hard on it, but this was a very pleasant surprise. I am now officially a senior! 30 more credits to go and counting.