A Knit Decision

The Fantasy

2009-02-02T22:55:00.000-08:00

I suppose, like most knitters, I sometimes fantasize about owning a yarn store.

I fantasize, actually, about being wealthy enough to own a yarn store, and not worry about it being profitable or not. Oh, and still buy myself health insurance, because of the diabetes and all.

I have been thinking about this stuff a lot recently. I found the perfect space on North Mississippi Avenue.

I found the perfect name: Ya Ya Yarn.

Then, while I was reading The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg, I heard this sentence: "The sky was a redemptive blue."

"What a great name for a yarn color, " I thought.

So now I have a whole new fantasy about having my own line of yarns. Like the world needs another new line of yarns. Especially with Tina making the perfect yarns right down the road at Scappoose.

But I could name them. Redemptive blue. Joyful yellow. Ocean of forgiveness blue. Acceptance brown. Flattering green. Integrity black. Openness white. Loving red. It's a warm, cayenne red. Essential gray. I could make lots and lots of color names, especially in the blues.

But what to call the line as a whole? Any ideas? Or shall I think on it some more.

And, speaking of dogs,

2008-12-21T20:39:00.000-08:00

My little dog hates the snow. And we have lots of snow right now.

And speaking of dogs, let's show off the sweater that I knit for her this spring. (See, I really was knitting. Knitting, but not blogging.)

Notice the evil cat looking over Bean's shoulder there.

This was an improvised ribbed dog sweater, made with less than 1 skein of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock - Lightweight, colorway Henpecked.

I like how it turned out overall. Beanie can wriggle right out of it, so I may need to add a casing and elastic around the neck, small enough that it won't slip over her collarbone.

The whole thing was improvised so the ribbing worked well, but I learned some things about ribbing that would cause me to do a few things differently. I would have decided which side was the right side & the wrong side, and just added and subtracted stitches from the wrong side ribs, in other words the ribs that show as reverse stockinette stitch on the right side.

I don't so much care for the pooling that happened around the middle of the piece.

I added on the crocheted arm bands.

This is not my favorite colorway from the Depraved Dyer at BMFA, but I have lots of others that are my favorite ( I have about 20 top favorites from BMFA).

When the snow melts, Beanie might deign to be seen in public in it.

Baby Pants

2008-12-07T20:53:00.001-08:00

My first attempt at a soaker did not come out well.

I used a gifted yarn, the lighter color in a subtle tan to green colorway. I found this pattern at glamarama.net (scroll to the bottom). When I was past the ribbing, I realized that the finished item was going to be way too large, and that I would probably run out of the gifted yarn before I could finish. So I frogged it, and went out and bought a green yarn to go with it, for the doubled yarn section. You see the finshed item here. Okay, so I still have to do the seams on the side. But it's still too large. It would probably fit a 12-y-o. And I hope this little baby is out of diapers by that age.

So, 2nd attempt.

I went down in needle size and yarn size. This is a Blue Moon Fiber Arts yarn, I've forgotten which colorway, in Socks That Rock, Lightweight.I'm very happy with the color. In the doubled section, I was knitting from both ends of the ball. The touch of this little item is totally worthy of a brand-new baby. It feels so good.

It's still too big. It's about 11" across at hips. I cannot bring myself to frog it. It's Blue Moon STR!

I need to retry this one, smaller stitch count to begin with.

And then these: Fancy Pants, based on a pattern I found at Ravelry by Annalea.

Very nice, if I do say so myself. My waistband and enclosed elastic is marvelous.

Now, must keep knitting! I'd like to make at least two more soakers and/or baby pants for the beloved baby by Christmas.

And I'm wanting to knit a beanie or hat for a marine, thanks to TheWench and the Selfish Knitters group at Ravelry. Mischievous youngsters.

Oh, and Judy, I arrived at the Barn Sale late, and stayed late. Your was the first face I looked for, so I'm assuming that you arrived early and perhaps left early.

Oh, and thanks to Courtney for the link! She helped me find Stephania. Maybe I am losing my hearing.

I did not plan on buying anything

2008-12-07T14:35:00.000-08:00

I did not plan on buying anything at the BMFA Barn Sale. However, that's not what happened.

But, as they say, what happens at Barn Sale, stays at Barn Sale. I did meet a couple of really nice folks, including D**** who was making her first sock. And this lady. Her photography is fabulous, or, as some would say at BarnSale f****** fabulous. And this lady who began knitting a mythical second sock in my very presence. I met even more really cool ladies, but you know how I completely forget things. I wish I could find Stephania's blog. She was great. I'll have to look harder. I got a few more inches on the Cute Baby Pants. I met Tina and she might even remember me this time, as I was wearing my Harley-Davidson gear.

The 2009 Sock Club opens up for registration on December 15, 2008. BMFA Sock Camp in March 2009. And the Sock Summit in August 2009. I'd ask Santa for help, but I've already made my request.

Photos soon? Perhaps, perhaps.

More knitting.

Must Find Camera

2008-12-01T13:21:00.001-08:00

I find that it is impossible to blog without my digital camera.

At first, when I began blogging, that was inconceivable. Not now.

And I have a fabulous little digital camera, a Sony, in a beautiful felted sleeve, which is recycled from a striped thrift-store sweater. But I cannot find it.

[bad words deleted]

So I cannot show of my projects here or at Ravelry. I cannot show off my stash at Ravelry. While it is small, I believe my stash to be of exquisite quality, and astounding for the amount of Blue Moon Fiber Arts yarn.

And I cannot show off my delightful little baby pants projects for Charlotte, who should be born within the next four weeks or so. Nor reassure her mother that not all of these will be the color of snot. They're not. They're very pretty colors, and I've even started a set of so-called longies, in a turquoise blue to burgundy, turning out very nicely. And I created a great waistband, so it's a new technical skill for me.

BTW, anyone going to the Blue Moon Barn Sale on Saturday? I'm planning on it.

I am knitting!

2008-11-21T14:16:00.000-08:00

They changed my antidepressant meds a few weeks ago, and Becci asked me to knit pants for her new baby daughter, still in the womb.

Well, I have now been introduced into the world of soakers and diapers and omigosh CUTE baby pants.

I am the world's slowest knitter and perhaps the most easily distracted. Baby B is due in January, but Becci is off bedrest even now, so Baby could arrive at any moment.

I started off with this nice 1959 soaker at glamarama.net. I love garter stitch for baby clothes. I'm working the one in the upper right.

I can't find my camera. I had yarn problems, gauge problems, knitting problems, then ripping problems.

I'll post more tonight.

Florida Knitting

2008-02-27T23:49:00.001-08:00

Okay, I have missed you guys. Work's been crazy and knitting's been off and on.

We took a week's vacation to Florida. Yes. Orlando. DisneyWorld. Very much fun. Very much spending.

But in the middle of our vacation, week took a day to just 'ding around' as we like to say. We Googled. We found two knitting stores within driving distance.

This is a sparse knitting environment, in my humble opinion. Considering that, at home, I have about TEN knitting stores within driving distance. Okay, so Florida is hot and perhaps there is less knitting than there would be in a cooler environment. It's also more densely populated. If anyone needs relaxation and knitting, it would be these dear folks.

So, anyhow. We drove up, blindly, trying to find the little community of Longwood. After a panicked call to the proprietor, we found the delightful store Knit! That first picture is me, seated, in front of their selection. You can tell that I'm on vaction. I look so relaxed!

And this is a photo of Marney Gibson, the delightful proprietor:

She's holding the book I bought and ringing up the one skein of sock yarn that called to me. She was very hospitable and gave us lots of good tips for what to do and how to get there. If I get to go back to Florida, I'm calling Marney first and running my plans past her.

She is a good soul. And she runs a knit shop. In Florida. Lucky woman!

My knitting project for the trip was Dave's mythical socks, the ones done on size ZERO needles, with Lorna's Laces in Black Watch.

I did okay, knitting an inch or so on the flights to Florida. Got the marker in for the afterthought heels. And about an inch or so after that. But, on return flight, disaster! I pulled out my project only to discover that one of the tiny bamboo needles had been broken. Woe.

And we arrived home late on Sunday, with no opportunity to replace the size zero circular needles. I visited three of my local yarn stores, and found one replacement needle (Addi Turbos, this time), came home, slipped all the stitches onto the replacement needle, set the project down and leaned over to move something on the couch, and BROKE THE OTHER BAMBOO NEEDLE.

Curses!

And on Tuesday, I had to work, and thus, less freedom to pursue another size zero Addi Turbo needle. Work. So annoying.

It counts, right?

2007-11-15T18:51:00.000-08:00

Shopping can count as knitting, right?

Judy wanted to know what I got at the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Sale

Here it is, all in my large Ikea bag. No, I did not fill the whole bag. But, it's good to be prepared.

Alright, top row, L-R: Loopy, which is mostly mohair. It's in a crazy rainbow dyed pattern. I think it will be a silly scarf. Next, my grab bag. I think it's pink Loopy and a Brach's candy colored sock yarn. Hmm. Perhaps another scarf. The 3 pink skeins are Wensleydale. (You know why I had to buy Wensleydale wool, don't you? I've already tried the Wensleydale cheese.)

Second row: Two skeins of Lil Loops, which was my first ever BMFA yarn. These two-one is a pastel green-to-green colorway, and the other is a pastel green-to-blue colorway-make me very happy. Not sure what they'll be yet.

Then two Feltable medium weight Socks That Rock. Five mill-end medium weight Socks that Rock, and finally four mill-end light weight Socks That Rock.

And five books.

Yarn fumes. I have heard of their powers before, but this was definitely a trip.

And I have to show off my new collection of these:

These are my nine KIP bags, made by Brenda. I LOVE them!! Practical, creative, not overpriced (hope she got a good deal on the fabric).

She uses a variety of fabrics on the bottoms, wool or denim, usually very sturdy. The front row left bag is my favorite. It's got fiery skulls on it! My husband practically grabbed it out of my hands, but the light-colored interior is going to be a problem for him. Most of his stuff has either grease or blood on it.

I bought these all on Ebay. You can see what she's got up for sale here. I'll try to control myself so you can buy some in the next few weeks. I think I'm going to have to limit myself to 3 of these project bags per knitting bag.

Gotta finish some projects.

So much to update you on...

2007-11-13T21:46:00.001-08:00

I have been here. I have been knitting/crafting.

Inspired by Alterknits and Leigh Radford's creativity, I've been collecting woolen sweaters for about six months now. The good people at Goodwill recognize me. Who else would buy XL mens woolen sweaters in June and July.

This is not a true before shot. I believe that these sweaters are felted/fulled, but not yet carved up for bags, coasters, crafts, etc:

We counted, but I forget how many there actually were. This all took place in early September. Since I got a fancy-dancy new washer, I cannot really felt/full items in the washer -read: the easy way- anymore.

So I trudged off to my mom's house. What a good mom!! It's only all the way across the state.

We felted (fulled) all the sweaters in her washer, using zippered pillow covers to help reduce the felted balls from wandering off.

The above photo is Mom, with the sewing machine that once belonged to her mother, sewing the felted sweaters into bags.

And the below is just bonus cuteness:

This is Chico, the tiny little chihuahua who belongs to my macho step-dad. The human is so macho that he doesn't like to clothe the tiny little shivering dog. This drives me NUTSO!! (The dog is cute, is willing to be dressed, and seems cold a lot. His little ears are cold. With such a cuteness opportunity, it seems so wrong to pass it up!!)

So, out of one of the gorgeous sweaters, this one happens to be cashmere, with an understated cable pattern, I made a little doggie sweater out of one sleeve. Chico seems to like it. I did round the corners off a little more after this photo was taken.

I was tempted to turn the rest of the sweater into a little Chico dog bed, but no. It would be too much for the step-dad.

I left the doggie sweater there. Who knows if it's been worn since I left.

Thanks, Mom, for letting me use your washer, and your sewing machine, and your kitchen table, and your deck to spread out all this stuff.

Oh, and I claim to be the FIRST customer to arrive for the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Stash Sale. I was there at 8:30 am, but was not first in line. I waited in my car for a bit. I met three nice ladies from Seattle. I chatted with the delightful Nan, who was very relieved that I did not have brain cancer (long story). I purchased yarn. I purchased books. I want this to be an annual event, please.

Socks for Dumbledore

2007-07-26T21:17:00.000-07:00

I've been on a Harry Potter binge.

I'm re-reading books 1-6, so I can be all fresh and prepped to read Deathly Hallows. (I should explain. When I say 'read', I mean listen to Jim Dale read the books aloud to me on CD or cassette. I adore Jim Dale.) I've just started my second read of Half-Blood Prince, and it seems very fresh and new to me.

So, I've been surprised at all the knitting references in the HP series. Besides the house-elf hats, which I do have plenty of, I love Professor Dumbledore's continued reference to knitting. I'm thinking about knitting a pair of Dumbledore socks, given his comment in The Sorceror's Stone that he sees himself holding a pair of thick woollen socks, and "one can never have enough socks."

I like him. I like knitting.

I did enough knitting during my time with my grandfather, following my grandmother's death, and I have set it down for a few weeks. I will pick it up. I have some in the car, some in the bedroom.

I will knit again. I will knit good socks for Dumbledore, and then I will wear them myself. Perhaps I will get some of his intelligence and insight, some of his eccentricity. I'm still hoping for some of his patience and poise in the face of threats or difficult news.

2007-07-07T10:01:00.000-07:00

My grandmother died, and my grandfather had an episode related to his heart. I've gotten a lot of knitting done. I apologize for not posting as often as I would wish, but, for July at least, I have this good bereavement excuse.

All my current knitting projects are two-by-two. That is, I'm knitting two pieces at once. A pair of toe-up socks for Dr. Parts. A pair of toe-up socks for me. A pair of sleeves for the Tangle denim jacket makeover idea. A pair of leg warmers for one of the nieces.

I gotta tell you, after figuring out how to do the Magic Cast On (sorry Judy I'm not gonna put a link in today-I'm typing this at the communal station at my grandparents retirement community), figuring out how to cast-on and set up a pair of tubes took some concentration. It was very strange to have to think so hard about it. But I managed it. (Heck, at this station, I seem to be unable to put in a title for my blog post. That's a little annoying.)

Again, at the ER and in the hospital room, many visitors and hospital staff expressed amazement at the high skill of knitting. String and sticks. Pull one loop through another. Hooray.

My Fantasies

2007-06-14T19:10:00.001-07:00

I found out today that local yarn store Lint is for sale.

I'm now having Owning-A-Yarn-Store fantasies.

I'm really much too matronly for Lint, though. Too Eddie Bauer and L L Bean, not nearly hip enough. Too fat, not nearly thin enough for Lint. Also, I despise their little knitted toys and the knitted food items. I'm sure I wouldn't be a great match for much of Lint's existing clientele.

I'd also work really hard on the customer service skills of their existing employees. Or just fire them. Too much chatting behind the desk, and often with a negative or gossipy tone. Not always a pleasant store to visit.

But they have great yarn, which I have enjoyed a lot, and I can visit them on my lunch hour, and there is SO MUCH new home & condo construction being nearby, I can see some great potential there. I like their emphasis on natural fibers and organic yarns. And I've had the best class experiences there of any local yarn store that I've ever been to. Their website is excellent, and their on-line class listing is perfection. I LOVE that I can quickly tell which classes are full or over (done), and focus on the ones that are in the future or still have available seats.

I wish Melissa the best of luck with her sale, and in her future life.

Powells wtih the Yarn Harlot

2007-06-11T22:28:00.000-07:00

Will they never learn?

Too many knitters wanted to see Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. She was funny and worth the wait. Other bloggers have reviewed the evening in greater detail than I will attempt. Here is Kathy's entry, and Judy's, and I'm sure I could find others, except my internet connection is being spotty tonight.

(Oh, here's Stephanie's account. I was standing in line behind Jody, who was there on her birthday. She had driven up from Florence and seemed truly horrified when I suggested that we could sing Happy Birthday to her. Horrified. And I could have made it happen. But I refrained.)

I sat near Amanda and got to see her not-enough-superlatives-beautiful three and a half week old son. I find myself little-boy crazy these days.

I sat next to the delightful Christina (whose name I may well have misspelled, please forgive me). She introduced herself as a new knitter. "I only know how to knit and to purl," she says, embarrassed. And she didn't bring any knitting projects.

By this time, I was a little manic, so I was chatting to everyone, and poor Christina just had to withstand it. She was trapped between me and the wall. Christina is a flautist and has recently moved to my beautiful city. She lives with her husband and a black lab, a recent rescue who has devoured at least one set of knitting needles. Dear Christina, she does not know how much she is already one of us. I hope she went home and picked up that blanket project and made knit stitches and purl stitches like mad! I hope I see her around at some of the knit night events. I hope I haven't scared her off forever.

(I do think she was a little impressed by the fact that I can discuss orchestral/classical music, which not everyone can do anymore. I had been thinking about the tonal quality of the flute and whether it was primarily masculine or feminine in nature. When I said that out loud, I think I shocked her. She was also impressed by the fact that we seemed to share a high level of enthusiasm for the upcoming Harry Potter book. And that we're probably both going to read a copy owned by the Multnomah County Library. I must find Christina. We must do lunch.)

After September 2006's event at Powell's Books for Cooks, I thought the Powell's planners would have done better. Well, I suppose they did. They planned for 300 attendees. Well, the room filled up by 6:00 pm for a 7:30 event. So, we all sat there and sweated. Good thing wool is absorbent.

Next time we're going to have to have an auditorium at a local church, university or other meeting venue. Either that, or get a permit for a block party.

....HEY, that might work! Especially if there's beer involved!

YarnHarlot Worship

2007-06-06T11:15:00.001-07:00

I've been reminded that our beloved Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is scheduled to do a book signing in Portland at our beloved Powell's books on Friday, June 8. Am I going? several knitting friends have asked. (I don't know how to punctuate that last sentence correctly, except with quotations, and even that seems wrong.)

I don't know.

I have knit. I have finished the pink socks, except for weaving in the ends, and what fun is that. I have started a new project, leg warmers for the eldest of the World's Cutest Nieces. Photos soon.

As soon as my blasted computer & modem problems are solved.

I think I will plan on attending the Powell's event on Friday. You know how much we adore Stephanie. And I can see some of you that way.

Cool.

I won't however be able to go to the beerfest and knit in public this weekend. Blech. Family obligations. I hope they'll let me knit in public at the family event.

Dave's socks proceed, but sloooowly. I'm trying to decide between trying my first afterthought heel, or doing a standard heel flap, as instructed.

I will blog more in the future. I promise. But it's just too much this week.

Ribbing on Pink Socks

2007-05-20T21:31:00.000-07:00

I've reached the ribbing on the pink socks. I've done two rounds, so I still have a while to go. I kept dropping stitches as I switched over to the ribbing. Strange, how such a simple, and fixable, mistake creeps up on one. Oh well. I was able to fix both of the cases. And I doubt you'll be able to

Sock Sensei Judy, when asked, how much ribbing to put on, replied wisely, "Always a little bit more."

They fit really, really well. What good socks. I can see why they become addicting. I already want to try one with an afterthought heel.

I ordered lots and lots of needles from the KnitPicks ladies. And just a little yarn.

I'll be coming down to Tangle or Lint or Naked Sheep for community knitting soon, I think. It is good for my soul to sit among others like me and knit.

Oh, and... We attended the Opera this week and, as opposed to last time, there was no unpleasant episode in the parking lot with a nasty driver in a car bearing a knitting bumpersticker. I can perhaps regain my belief that all or most knitters are truly nice people. Even when behind the wheel.

Or maybe she moved.

Or maybe she didn't like Opera.

Turned two corners

2007-05-09T22:06:00.000-07:00

Or rather, two heels.

I have turned my third and fourth heel ever! I feel the power!

I was aiming for eye of partridge stitch, and I'm not sure I did it correctly, but nonetheless, the heels are turned. They are also nice and thick and should wear well.

And I did them while riding up to visit relatives, and while visiting relatives, including the World's Cutest Nieces.

Yes, it is an official title. They won it fair and square. They are 10 and 7 and 7. Blond hair, blue eyes, and a set of twins.

These socks fit me very well, and I am excited to finish them and wear them myself.

'Course now, Dr. Parts wants his socks to be finished at the same time, silly goose. Hasn't he ever heard of gauge?

I am psyched about going to the Black Sheep Gathering in June in Eugene, Oregon. I am debating whether I should take any classes. They have openings in the mitten class, in the Design-your-own-sock class, a couple of rug classes, and a few other interesting ones. I should probably take the class on finishing techniques. Or should I go down early Friday morning with my credit card and scour the booths for the Blue Moon booth. I can blow my entire budget there, no doubt. And knit more wonderful socks. And soft scarves.

Ommmmmmm, Blue Moon. I'm working up to a sock trance. Oooommmmmmmm, Blue Moon.

Quiet Needles

2007-04-26T22:23:00.000-07:00

My coworker is on vacation for two weeks. That means I'm trying to do her work and my work, and I'm still only one person.

My knitting lies in its beautiful bag on the floor.

I did receive my 2nd Blue Moon Rockin' Sock Club package today. Hooray! I'm not at the end of the list this month. The yarn is great, but I don't know whether posting a photo would be a spoiler for anyone else. So I'll wait on the photo. I'm liking the pattern, although I didn't look closely at it.

I've gotta say, though, I really don't like the way this particular yarn smells. I'm not sure what it is. And I'm not usually aware of the odor of the yarn. Strange that this one is unpleasant to me.

Perhaps I'll go on down to Tangle on Saturday, where someone can oversee my turning of the heel, for only the third time in my entire life. Socks still make me nervous.

The knitting muses will return to me. I'm thinking about lace now...

Sweaters for Felting

2007-04-13T22:39:00.000-07:00

I was running back to the office, after yet-another medical appointment.

These medical appointments, by the way, are excellent for sock knitting. I thinkI got about half of my sock gusset increases done while waiting for the doc today.

As I was saying, I was on the way back to the office afterwards, when I saw a big sign. Did I say it was big? It was aBIG SIGN saying that there was a THREE DAY GARAGE SALE for some charity. The little car just pulled right over. It practically expelled me from the car.

I've been thinking about Leigh Radford's felted bags, made from second-hand sweaters, since when I first saw her collection when she taught me to cable at a class at Lint. I don't own her first book, Alterknits , which is where the projects are pictured, for those of you not lucky enough to live near enough to see them.

Basically, you buy a good quality knitted WOOL sweater. You felt the **** out of it. And then, a few cuts, a few seams to sew up, and voila! A spiffy re-purposed bag.

So I spent about eight minutes pawing through the sweaters and checking labels. These babies were $1 each. ONE DOLLAR. The folded black & grey one on the right is merino wool. It's tough to see in the big photo, but it's an interesting almost a woven look. I'd swipe it myself, but it's a mens and the sleeves will be way too long. The beige/brown stripe is ribbed all over and may have gotten into the garage sale due to its tendency to felt. It's halfway there. The grey patterned one is very thick and must be very warm.

I passed up a baby-blue cashmere because 1) it was boring and 2) I couldn't remember whether cashmere was a felting or non-felting fiber. Oh well, I did have to leave something for the others. It's only fair.

The beloved is out of town for the weekend - camping with the boys from work - so I may just pop these into the washer right now to see if they'll felt up nicely. Dr. Parts is not so much a fan of the wet wool aroma.

Toast, the cat, is definitely a wool fan. He loves felting projects. Of the four animals in the house, he's the most into knitting. He's on a campaign to convince me that my blue knitting bag is not actually a knitting bag; it's a cat bed. Notice how he has carefully selected the sweater that will flatter him most. Clever cat.

Let's see how these sweaters fare. I have a lousy washer for felting, but we will continue the sweater torture in the dryer!!! More photos soon.

Pink knitting.

2007-04-12T21:35:00.000-07:00

I did the math. I'm working on my pink socks. I've started the gusset increases.

I have the Barbara Walker treasury, volume 2, from my favorite local library. Husband has gone to the woods for the weekend. It's just me, the cats, and the yarn at home until Sunday. Life is good. I should have several more inches on the socks by then.

Oh, and someone asked where I get all my Blue Moon Socks That Rock. I ordered three skeins directly from them. I also have purchased skeins on Ebay.

Perhaps I will set up the ball winder and the swift and wind some skeins into balls. That's fun. Then I can hold them in my hands.

Organizing the Stash

2007-04-02T20:37:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, as part of the grand household Spring Cleaning, I purchased these two organizers from Sterilite.

My stash went from a pile overflowing one large plastic tote, to this nearly organized drawer system. All my hardware is in drawer #3. All of the sock yarn is in #4. The felting yarn is in #2. Funky project yarn is in #1. Oddballs and UFOs are in #5 & 6.

I feel wonderful.

I've done all the math to turn my heels on my socks, but haven't actually started the gusset increase. I kinda want to go back to the Clapotis. But I've found a place to donate the preemie hats, so I should seam those up.

Not all the yarn and paper and books and equipment fits in these six drawers. And they're not sealed. In other words, the evil moths could still make their way in. But they're much better than they were. And Dr. Parts has promised that he'll make a place for this hobby station in our house. Life is good.

And I think that I should keep the stash to this size. This is manageable and generous for me. I love having it organized.

Creeping Socks

2007-03-27T22:55:00.000-07:00

My two pairs of socks are creeping along. Tonight, I did the math so I know how long to make the body of the foot before creating my gusset increases for both pairs.

I had planned to do this in MS Excel, because I can put in formulas and add enough words and reminders to keep myself on track. I don't have this software at home, so I tried to use Google's new documents & spreadsheets feature. Didn't work so well for me. I can't figure out how to put a formula in the stupid cell, so I just used it to record the specifics of my math. It has down my foot measurements, and his foot measurements, and the specifics for each sock of my stitch and row gauge, and the number of stitches per needle. I think I can make a link to it here. If not, and if you want to look, the name of the spreadsheet is SWORDave and SWORLori. (That stands for Socks WithOut Rules, in case you didn't get it, the name of Judy's excellent sock instruction booklet. I sure hope she's looking for a publisher, hint, hint.)

I'm almost ready to start the gusset increases for my socks, the pink ones. Husband's, being smaller gauge will take longer. His feet are about 1 inch longer than mine, but are also larger in diameter. Very interesting.

I'll keep knitting.

My stash of Blue Moon Fiberarts

2007-03-24T18:38:00.000-07:00

Following an interesting discussion among opinionated knitters at Tangle this afternoon, here is a photo of my stash of Blue Moon Socks That Rock yarn.

Clockwise, at the top we have lightweight in the colorway Footzey-Foo. I was thinking that this might be a good almost beige type of color that I could use for husband socks. Not so. More beige-to-green range. And on the yellowy side. Perhaps this one might be up for trade, should the occasion arise.

At the 3 o'clock position, we have another lightweight in the colorway Watermelon Tourmaline. I love it, but it is rather pink. I'd call it an easter-egg colorway.

At the 6 o'clock position you see (lightweight) in the colorway Obsidian. Fabulous. A chocolate to black range. Yummy yummy yummy. Will make terrific socks for husband and I must order more. This was the only 'home run' skein that I got in the order for three skeins that I sent to Blue Moon Fiberarts. I think I ordered in January and got my yarn in middle-February, before the Sock Club box.

At the 9 o'clock position is the Monsoon skein, mediumweight, from the February 2007 Rockin' Sock Club. Terrific, but I'm not ready to knit it up just yet.

I'm still figuring out how to knit socks that I like. The Tofutsie is lovely, very soft, but feels rather thin to me. I don't know if I will enjoy wearing it on my feet. I may have knit the foot too long.

But, this is all one big experiment. You try this yarn, that pattern, these needles. Next time, you try something a little different.

I'll probably order again from Blue Moon Fiberarts, but I won't re-order the Footzey-Foo colorway ever. Probably would re-order the Obsidian. Probably not re-order the Watermelon Tourmaline.

Little Knitting

2007-03-22T22:33:00.000-07:00

I haven't been knitting much. I've been struggling with pain this week, so my evenings have been taken by the Percoset fairy.

Opiates are not conducive to good knitting. Imagine that!

Did a few rows on the socks. I will soon have to do the math to set up the gusset increases for the heel turn. I might have to go to see Judy for that. Better take the pill AFTER we do the math, right?

It's slow going, though. Maybe two pairs of socks on two pairs of needles is too much small gauge knitting all at once. I knit two rounds on each pair tonight.

I'll go sleep now. Knit later.

Socks in progress

2007-03-13T19:48:00.000-07:00

The sock on the left is for me. It is Blue Moon SocksThatRock, although I've forgotten the colorway.

The sock on the right is for Dr. Parts. It's Lorna Laces Shepherd Sock in Black Watch.

The pink is on size 1s. The blue is on size 0s. I'm also trying a 2x1 rib in the foot portion for the green.

Dr. Parts says, "Why isn't mine done yet?"

Does he not realize how many pointy sticks I have in my hands?

I figure they'll be ready by next fall.

Satisfaction

2007-03-07T16:55:00.000-08:00

I got the STR package. Don't want to spoil anything. No photos here. There are plenty of spoilers elsewhere, which I have already seen. I don't mind a small peek ahead.

I've glanced at the sock pattern, and am just so impressed with myself. I am impressed with myself because I understood the pattern. I read it, and I understood most of the terms and how it would work to create a wearable sock.

My knitting education is coming right along. I owe it all to Judy. She only taught me one way to create socks, but she also gave me the confidence to proceed in all circumstances. Knit on!

I am now thinking about short-row toes. It might work. It might not. I could always do the standard toe that Judy taught me (although garterstitch in the round is not something I have attempted). We shall see. I'm probably going to save the RSC skein for socks for my husband and use a purchased STR skein for creating the RSC pattern socks for me.

I'm also thinking about the crochet cast on for those first stitches. You have to go back to them. Hmmm. Isn't there a cast-on where you cast-on around a piece of waste yarn, or, perhaps, around an unused circular needle cable? Then you wouldn't have to move the stitches back onto the circular needle. If you use it. I'll have to poke around (maybe some place like this) and find that one again.

The Ebay people still owe me the Mon Tricot book. Perhaps tomorrow.

I'm much less antsy now. You could get in my way and I wouldn't scream.

You see, I'm working on courtesy and positive emotional environments. It's my little pitch to improve the world.

Tuesday-No Deliveries

2007-03-06T23:27:00.000-08:00

Curses.
Where is my yarn?
Where is my book?
I'm beyond antsy. I'm pouting now.

Postman Beware!

2007-03-06T09:59:00.000-08:00

I am waiting for two knitting related packages, and you should not bother me. I am antsy.

I am waiting for my Rockin'SockClub package. I am very frustrated. They are in Scappoose. I live in Kenton, a nice neighborhood in north Portland. This is a distance of about 18 miles. Yahoo! Maps thinks I could drive it in about 35 minutes.

Others in the Portland metro area have gotten their packages. On the Rockin'SockClub blog, people in Texas have gotten their package. People in Minnesota have gotten theirs. On the club blog, they speculate whether the distribution of packages was alphabetical, geographical or what.

IT'S NOT GEOGRAPHICAL!! (Sure, my zip code starts with '97'. And that's a larger number. But hey, Judy's starts with 97, also.)

I can tell because I don't have my package. I'm thinking it's in order of having joined the club, because I was a later joiner.

Do you think they'd let those of us who are close geographically come up and pitch in when they have to send out their stuff? I am a BlueMoon addict! I live so close and yet I've never met them and I cannot get enough of their product!

I am also waiting for a Mon Tricot stitch dictionary, which I won on Ebay. I searched on "mon tricot (1030, 1100, 1300, 1500, 1800)". I don't know when they last produced these. It seems to be a much more european distribution. Many of these are from Australia or England. I won a 1030 stitch dictionary from the East Coast. I WANT a 1500 or 1800 dictionary. But I don't want to spend $95 for it. That seems high. If I were going to spend that much money all at once on stitch dictionaries, I would go to Schoolhouse Press and order the Barbara Walker Treasury.

And, realistically, sometime in my knitting life, I'm sure I will go to Schoolhouse Press and order them. But not this week.

I don't think I can handle waiting for another delivery. Can I call in sick to work so that I can get my hands on these packages a few hours sooner than otherwise? Yarn fever?

Oh, and about that Cascade Magnum, I have one piece of advice: wind it by hand. The yarn is so massive that it does not work well on the standard size ball winders. It comes in a skein, just take it home and wind it by hand into a giant ball. Your small toddlers will be amazed at the scale . If you take a photo, it will look like you have lost weight. The scarf I knit took one skein, but, at the store, we decided to wind it using a standard ball winder, which meant that it ended up in three balls and I had to manage two joins. Follow my advice, if you're going to make this scarf, or use this yarn; wind it by hand into a giant lumpy ball and avoid unneccessary joins. I got my Cascade Magnum at the LYS Close Knit. That's one big advantage of local yarn stores: no waiting for delivery!!

Two Scarves

2007-03-03T14:04:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm displaying my novice level status at blogging and computer stuff, since I cannot rotate the photos.

I've made two scarves to go with my nice green coat.

The multi-color is BeSweet's Magic Ball yarn, knit on size 15 needles, 24 stitches, straight garter stitch. Or was it 26 stitches?

The green is Cascade Magnum, a wonderful color (9336? they didn't give me the skein band), which I'm not sure shows up well here. It is rich and deep with threads of turquoise and of red to enrich it. I worked it on size 17s, cast on 16 stitches. Then, every row, knit 1, *yo, knit 2 tog, repeat from * until last stitch on needle, knit last stitch and turn your work.

I suppose that's officially lace. Can it be called lace if it's so simple and so big? I love the softness of this yarn and the diagonal pattern that was created. It's reversible, too.

So, here it is, Spring. It's raining in Oregon, and I have two great new scarves, perfect for winter. Oh well, so I knit out of season.

Putting things together

2007-02-18T22:54:00.000-08:00

Last year, early June....

North American Organic Brewers Festival

and WorldWide Knit In Public Day.

They fell on the same day. It was so much fun, but I only saw one other knitter.

Well....there are some folks who make organic yarn. And many knitters enjoy beer. And many beer aficianados enjoy knits.

These things seem as is they would go together. Can I put them together?

I'm going to start making inquiries. Anybody interested? Please let me know. If you can't leave a comment, you can email me at lorirodeATgmailDOTcom.

This year's North American Organic Brewers Festival falls on June 9 and 10, 2007. WorldWide Knit In Public day is June 10, 2007.

I've knit with Blue Sky Organic Cotton Yarn, which is very nice. Any other experiences with organics? Any other leads? Any other producers or retailers I should talk to?

Let's see if we can put it together, at least to the point of getting a group of people to attend the festival on Saturday and knitting in public.

Let me know if you're in!

Almost Socks

2007-02-15T23:53:00.000-08:00

I've been working away on the ribbing at the top of my sock. I am close to actually having a sock. A completed sock.

My tupperware is in, but I haven't called Becci back yet. Gotta do that.

I've been having some insomnia this week. Lots of good knitting time

And look, I sent a scarf to my friend Allison, and she showed a photo of it. (Okay, the best part of her post is, of course, the headline. Go on, go on.) The scarf is two balls of Be Sweet's Magic Ball in, I think, Fire Red. Rather spendy, but lots of fun to knit with. The scarf is garter stitch on size 15 needles, use two balls and stop when you run out of yarn! I got this yarn at Lint in NW Portland. I have purchased more since then.

Must sleep now.... Pictures next time....

Before and After

2007-02-04T20:25:00.000-08:00

BEFORE

Judy's Sock Class at Tangle

AFTER

Judy's Sock Class at Tangle

Actually this is mid-way through the sock class. I have to finish knitting the gusset and be poised to turn the heel in time for class on Tuesday evening. I can't blog. Must knit!

The yarn is ToFutsies, but I've lost the ball band and don't know what color. It's nice yarn but a little splitty. And, to my tastes, rather thin. I may use it again. I may not.

I'm not liking the gusset part of this sock. It's hard for me to keep track of the four sets of knitting if you will:

#1: Sole side with increases.

#2: Instep side, knit straight.

#3: Sole side, knit straight.

#4: Instep side, knit straight.

I think I'm on track, but how would I know if I were off? I will take the socks to Sock Sensei Judy and see what must be done.

Oh, and BTW, Dr. Parts now sees that the socks I am knitting are different from the slippers made from Red Heart acrylic worsted by his dear senior relatives, may they rest in peace. He's interested in maybe having me knit socks for him in the near future. He's not even put off by the spiralling purple & green of the first official socks.

I told him he would have to beg. He asked for clarification as to what begging would entail.

So, yes, it's true. I'm withholding socks from my husband.

To Sock Sensei Judy

2007-01-25T21:44:00.000-08:00

Dear Sensei Judy:

You have taught me the magic cast on. You have helped me to create socks. You rock!

You have taught me the math of socks. I have now made all of the required beginners errors, including forgetting to change balls of yarn when changing socks, and, at the same time, getting both socks on one needle. And I, with knowlege of your confidence in me, have corrected these errors.

My socks, at the end of the toe, were supposed to be 3.75 inches wide. When I measured them, they were 4.0 inches wide. I have taken a deep breath, eaten some chocolate, decreased by only two stitches per sock, and will keep knitting on the body of the sock. I can always give them to my sister-in-law. After all, these are only practice socks, and I am allowed to make mistakes.

If anyone is in the local area, besides receiving my congratulations for being a very, very lucky person, if one wished to learn how to knit socks, toe-up, any needle method, you should take Judy's class at Tangle. It's a great one.

I will keep knitting, Judy. I will come to class on Tuesday.

Unless it snows.

Your humble student,

Lori

Knitting during the snow week

2007-01-20T23:05:00.000-08:00

It snowed this week. This makes my life very hard, as I work for a certain public transit provider. It means that, no matter how hard it is to get to work, nor how little my job has to do with the actual operations of the buses you see on the road, I have to go to work during bad weather events.

I have knitted. I've knitted a lot on my Red Scarf #4, the final red scarf I have planned for the 2007 Red Scarf Project. It's a 3x3 rib, which is boring to knit, but I love the finished product. It's soft (merino), warm, stretchy. The yarn is Berroco Pure Merino, Color 8560, a nice burgundy. It will work well for a male and look fine on a female too. I think I'm about 8-20 inches away from the end of this last scarf.

Then, all that remains is finishing the four scarves...and you know how I feel about finishing. But this project has a DEADLINE, so I think I'll do it.

Then back to Emily's jacket sleeves. Her birthday is soon!

That is, if I don't get distracted by Judy's socks. Sock class is on Tuesday. Hooray, hooray!

Today, we looked for a new car to carry my knitting in. The current car only gets 12 mpg. The one we looked at gets 30-40 mpg. That will greatly increase my radius for what would be considered a local yarn store.

And, I got invited to aTupperware party! What fun! I do want to go, but hope I'm not too distracted by the socks or my several medical appointments or the new car thing.

Too much excitement.

See, I need the six feet of 3x3 rib to calm my spirit.

Socks Cancelled due to...

2007-01-16T11:03:00.000-08:00

SNOW!

It's snowing here. This is unusual for Portland, real powdery snow in the metro area.

More common: wind storms or ice storms.

The socks and Judy's Magic Cast-On must wait. Curses.

Oh well, more time to finish my last Red Scarf for the Red Scarf project and Emily's jacket.

I have lived with the anticipation of socks for so long. What's another week?

On The Eve of Judy's Sock Class

2007-01-15T21:43:00.000-08:00

I get to go to Tangle tomorrow night and take the first class in Judy's sock class.

I'm so excited!

I got a new camera, so let's see if I know anything about posting photos. And yes, some of the photos are still awful. I'm learning about the different fancy stuff the camera can do. I feel like a fool, but hey, learning is what humans do!

This is the pre-class assignment, for learning how to knit small diameter pieces in the round, using two circulars (or magic loop or dpns). It's a pattern by Alice at Tangle. It's a fabulous miniaturized neck-down raglan sweater. And, actually, it's ...drum roll please....my FIRST EVER SWEATER!!

Yes, yes, thank you for the applause. It was done on two USA size 1s, using Lyon brand sock yarn-Magic Stripe. I had to fudge the colors for the sleeves a little (hence the dings of green & white on the left sleeve), but I'm happy with it.

Here's another photo:

It's tiny. It wouldn't even fit a Barbie.

And, just so you know, here's the rest of the knitting progress: Emily's jacket, obscured by interested cat:

The cat is named Toast. The first sleeve is about half done. Emily's first birthday is less than 30 days away. And I still have to knit a sleeve and a half, sew in ends, sew seams, select and sew on buttons. Gosh.

But I'm not giving up Judy's sock class.

Knitting Christmas

2006-12-24T17:10:00.000-08:00

Dr. Parts and I are having a laidback Christmas weekend. We went to Sunday morning service. Youngster Parts and her boyfriend and another friend dropped by for the afternoon. Youngster Parts turns 20 in a few weeks. Dr. Parts whipped up his famous holiday smoked salmon dip. Yum! The kids devoured it.

Tomorrow he'lls make a giant breakfast for the two of us, and we'll eat chips & veggies and dips all day long. I plan to keep my feet up most of the day, either knitting or on the web.

I've finished two red scarves, and am about halfway done on the remaining two I have planned. These two are the boy scarves. One a lovely ribbed burgundy. The other is a reversible ribbed in a chunky camo colored. I'm not liking the yarn, though. I think its bleeding off on both the needles and on my hands. I look like I'm jaundiced. I'll have to wash the scarf before I send it off.

Once I knock these down I'll get back on my clapotis.

Dr. Parts and I ate our mid-day meal today in Tiny's Cafe (on MLK) very hip, too hip for us oldsters and I had a 'Barry Banana-ilow' panini. It had banana and Nutella and was grilled and warm and gooey. Fabuloso!

Merry Christmas. I say that to you with a full and joyous heart because I celebrate Christmas.

I hope that you enjoy the holidays and traditions that you celebrate.

I'm still knitting scarves

2006-12-16T15:19:00.000-08:00

I'm loving the red scarf project. I bought four balls of Be Sweet's magic ball yarn in a great red color called 'fireball' . I used size 15 USA needles and cast on 26 stitches and knit a simple garter stitch scarf. It is cool & fabulous and I almost don't want to send it off. I used two balls for the first scarf. I was getting about 3 stitches per inch. I cast on 180 stitches and am now knitting a long-edge simple garter stitch scarf. I'm not sure which one I'm going to like best. I'm sort of thinking that the traditional one may win out.

Judy sent me an email about her January knitting class, to be held at Tangle. I cannot wait! I'm sorting through my stash, figuring out which delightful yarn I will use.

I have a new notebook computer, which should free me up to blog more often, hooray. My brother will help me set it up properly, but, so far so good.

We had a big wind storm here this week, but not much personal negative effects. Our house is tucked down in a hollow...in a ditch, if I'm feeling negative about it...which does indeed protect it from much of the wind.

I'm enjoying a low-key weekend. Lots of time for knitting.

Clapotis, at last!

2006-12-07T17:15:00.000-08:00

I have spent waaaaay too much money on yarn.

Hey, it's Christmastime. Merry Christmas to me. I'm getting my husband a 37" LCD high definition television for Christmas. He's getting me....wait for it...the wall-mounting, cables, and other accessories for the new tv. Hoooray. Well, I do spend a lot of time in front of the tv, and much of that time, I knit. That's enough justification on that subject.

I have made progress on the sleeves on beloved BabyGirl's sweater. (That would be Emily, also known as Emi-Jean.)

Her father has requested that I make them long enough to tie in the back. Yes, a la 'straitjacket'. He's also requested that I make such a garment in adjustable sizes that she'll be able to wear until she's five or six. Sorry, J, it's not five or six that you really need to worry about; it's fifteen or sixteen. Then we'll see who has how much gray hair. And by then, she'll be choosing her own sweaters.

I have purchased three different types of yarn for the red scarf project for foster kids. Former foster kids. Young adults, really. One scarf is burgundy, for a male, one is red & pink, for a girl, and one is green camo colored, for a male, I think. I'm having fun with stitch patterns on these. I think I'll do the burgundy one in basketweave. It's either that or plain rib.

I also purchased all the Lorna's Laces Lion & Lamb yarn that is needed to knit the famous Clapotis. I've knit about 4 inches in it, so no ladders yet. I love the texture of the yarn. I'm not so sure about the Watercolor colorway that I chose.

I did go to Abundant Yarn & Dyeworks for a drop in Saturday UFO class. You should have seen the looks I got at work after that phone call. "Hello, I want to come to the UFO class on Saturday. Do I need to pay for that in advance?"

Suddenly, people in adjacent cubbies stand up and look at me. Ha, what do they know? UFOs are everywhere. Pat was great, and very helpful. Also, very nice fellow-knitters.

I think that I will like the Clapotis in the Watercolor colorway, it's just a rather bold choice for me. I'm usually so monochromatic.

Judy has promised to notify me for her next socks-on-two-circular-needles-from-the-toe-up-using-Judy's-magic-cast-on class at Tangle. (Minor whine: I do wish Tangle had a better website. I'm so internet dependent, and I love browsing classes & events all over my fair city from my own desk. Can't do it for them. I have to schlep all the way south to that city, go in, and even then, if a sub's behind the desk, you may not get accurate info. Love the store, love the knitters, but the flow of information is less than ideal. It looks like they're making progress on it though!)

I am knitting in the evenings. There is progress. The loops go through loops and the bumps fall either to the front or the back. Life is good.

Red Scarves

2006-11-29T17:04:00.000-08:00

I am very enthused about this project calling for red scarves for older foster children in the USA. The group, the Orphan Foundation of America, supports foster children as they transition into young adulthood.

When I think back to my late teens and early twenties, I remember how much support, financial and emotional, that I got from my parents and my family. I cannot imagine how tough that time might be without strong support and good financial resources.

My mother wrote to me faithfully when I was in college. With each letter, she included a two-dollar bill. To this day, I smile when I see a two-dollar bill, because it reminds me of my mother's faithful love.

The Orphan Foundation of America (hate the name, btw) sends out care packages to the former foster kids in the month of February to remind them that they matter, that they are cared about, and to encourage them to keep going.

Any knitter worth her salt can knit a scarf. Knit a red one and send it to the nice folks who will send it on to these hardworking kids. They've overcome so much already. Help them keep going just a little longer.

Scarves are fun. They're short projects. I found some cool red yarn with pink flecks in it, so I'll knit a scarf for a girl. I went looking for some burgundy, and happened upon some superwash merino. How scrumptious. That will make up into a nice thick ribbed scarf for some young man.

A lot of charity projects leave me cold. But not this one. I wonder if they'll let me send a two-dollar bill with them....

Thanksgiving Knitting

2006-11-21T17:02:00.000-08:00

I'm planning on finishing the arms on Emily's sweater over the Thanksgiving weekend. It's a finish weekend. I'm avoiding cooking, just so I can knit more.

I'll let you know how I do. I'm also being tempted by classes down at Abundant. It's a long way to drive, but, temptation calls. You know how it goes.

When visiting Portland

2006-11-17T08:19:00.000-08:00

Barbara posted a comment that she will be visiting Portland and asked for some advice on things to do / see, etc.

Well, it's hard to give advice without knowing people very well, but here are some things I love about my town. This is based on the assumption that a person is staying in the downtown area.

1. TriMet. I love our local transit system. You can see the town and have a "busman's holiday" (I have done this) just by getting on the TriMet MAX train. It's our light rail system. It will take you east to Gresham and west to Hillsboro and back again, all on the Blue line. This would take about 4 hours for a whole round trip. (You can also catch MAX at PDX and ride into downtown Portland. That's a slick trip.) You can buy a seven-day pass, which will get you anywhere in the system, for $19.50. The website has a Destinations to Discover page. If you want to see the countryside, catch the #31 to Estacada. Ride into Estacada and ride back into Portland. Wowwee!

2. Yarn Stores. The folks at Knit-Purl are delightful. Also, downtown is the Knit-Knot studio, which I've heard good things about, but haven't visited yet. Yarn Garden is not far from downtown and has good coffee. All of the yarn stores that I link to are great places, with charms all their own.

3. Powells. This is our legendary bookstore, at NW 10th Ave and Burnside. It currently occupies more than one city block. Get a map when you go in, and arrange a time and location to meet the rest of your party. The bad thing about Powells: I cannot go in there without spending money that could be spent on yarn. The good thing about Powells: They brought the Yarn Harlot here to Portland for a book signing in September 2006.

4. Beer. Well, I don't love beer, but Dr. Parts does and Portland was recently listed as one of the top 10 Beer cities IN THE WORLD. Only two US cities were listed, and we're the only one listed on the west coast. We have microbreweries galore. If beer's a draw for you, ask around. You cannot go far wrong. I like the Laurelwood. It's owned by the brother of my friend Jenny, who is a knitter. She knits fabulous lace scarves and shawls.

5. Multnomah Falls. If you've got access to a car, drive east on I-84 (affectionately called 'the Banfield' by locals). About 30 miles out of the city, exit on the left to the parking lot. Lock your car and hide the valuables before you reach the lot. Walk up to the lodge and see the falls. If you've got a few hours and are very fit, you can walk up to the top of the falls. This will give you a taste of our fabulous Columbia Gorge. I'm a lucky gal to live so close. We go whizzing past Multnomah Falls whenever we go east without a second thought, but it is a marvelous sight.

The Portland Visitor's Association site is great, and good for events. We were always up in the Seattle area after Thanksgiving, so I'm not up on events that happen around here.

And, as women, we cannot avoid the shopping word. There are two places that are uniquely 'Portland', that I might send you to. One is the Portland Saturday Market. It's between Front and First, underneath Burnside. Yes, underneath. Burnside becomes a bridge at that point, so about half of the market is under cover. Several fun local artistans. Buy a tie-dye T-shirt, with matching panties, even. Great Christmas shopping. And SE Hawthorne Blvd. I like the area from about 25th to 39th (stop at Yarn Garden on SE 14th, first). It's less franchise-y than NW 23rd Blvd, in my humble opinion.

I'm just skipping the restaurants, because there are too many favorites to mention.

Oh, and if you're thinking of moving here, SUSAN, here's a link to local real estate listings.

Enjoy your visit. If you want to look like a local, don't use an umbrella.

And the river that goes through the middle of our city, it's not pronounced Will-uh-METTE, it's pronounced, Wuh-LAM-ette.

I have knit.

2006-11-14T17:01:00.000-08:00

I was on vacation last week, Nov 4-10. It was very nice. We went by train to Klamath Falls, and the Running Y Ranch.

I dutifully packed my knitting, with the minimum required 3 projects. Okay, I had 4. One that only needed finishing (mitts), two that needed working (game bag & Emily's sweater), and one that I could start (another pink EZ Baby Surprise Jacket). You know, you have to take one that requires starting, because there is some magic involved in starting a project. It's special.

I was recovering from the flu and felt AWFUL for the first three days. So I didn't actually knit until the train ride north to Portland. We sat across from another knitter on the train. She was knitting "strips" as she put it, very cute novelty-yarn scarves for her grand-daughters.

I pulled out my red-and-white dishcloth cotton project, which is, in actuality, a giant practice sock, but without the heel. It is going to function as a game-piece bag, with a drawstring. I put in a row of eyelets (yo, k2tog), after first putting in another row entirely that wouldn't create holes and having to tink back. I also bunged up the two-circular needle thing, something that I only thought happened to lesser knitters than I. Can I blame it on the bloody marys that my husband was bringing from the lounge car? I finished the thing, weaving in and making the drawstrings and everything, while still on the train.

So, I have knit. It was stupid knitting, I admit. But, the dry spell is over and, I have completed a project, which has its own separate magic.

Also, on the knitting front, I got my gift for the lovely baby Dorothy to her and her parents this weekend. Becci pretended to be impressed with my giftwrapping (a ziploc back and a manila envelope-do you think she was humoring me?). It seems Dorothy has grown in the two months since her birth-imagine that! Perhaps I shall have to make her a delightful sweater in a 12 mo size. Yum!

And, I called my knitting buddy Susan, from Hawaii, who was in Portland (before vacation) but, who, through a series of mis-communications, I didn't ever meet up with her in person, during her visit. Ah, well. She says she'll be back in six months. We'll still email, right, Susan?

Photos & more progress soon!

I must actually be depressed...

2006-10-18T08:47:00.001-07:00

I haven't knitted in weeks.

I need to sew up my mitts and send them off.

I need to knit the arms for Emily's baby sweater.

I feel blah.

I'm working with my grandparents as they clean out their house in preparation for a move to a retirement community. They have to be out by November 20th. I don't think they're going to make it 100%. They plan on renting a storage space unit. Not the most ideal situation. Their home is about two and a half hours away from me. I went up two weekends ago, and I'm going up again this weekend.

I must pick up my needles.

Maybe I should sign up for that class on knitting socks on two circular needles. That's a project that I know I want to do, and I love the store, and I like the teacher, too.

(And I've already been back on anti-depressant medications for 3 weeks now. Yippee.)

Knitting is good for my mental health. I know it. And yet...

End of summer blues

2006-09-29T16:34:00.000-07:00

I've had the end of summer blues, I think. Work's been a little crazy and I haven't been knitting much.

I need to finish up two gifts: one baby sweater (it only needs buttons-wait, you've heard that before?) and some mitts.

Emily's baby sweater is only waiting for sleeves. I kinda have to focus on that because it requires making two identical (or nearly identical pieces) and, for the Baby Albert Jacket, the sleeves are the only part that have shaping. Specifically decreases. Not hard ones. I can do this, but I do want to pay attention and do them right.

This sweater is beautiful and I like it a lot. It's the yarn, I can tell you. Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted. Soft. Beautiful color - Irving Park. Washable. Wonderful to work with, rarely splits. I'd love to knit all my baby gifts in yarn this satisfying.

I'm still poised on the diving board above the sock pool. I have patterns. I have a plan. I have needles. I have yarn. I haven't cast on.

Maybe I'll start a new scarf. I have one skein of some bubble-gum pink alpaca yarn. Wouldn't that make a yummy scarf to get me through the wet winter here? Oh, but maybe that delightful yarn that Susan sent me from Hawaii. The color is so peaceful.

Well, maybe I'll just lie down and nap first.

Photos of Emily's Sweater

2006-09-11T11:51:00.000-07:00

This is the Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in #205 Irving Park. A delicious plummy color, overall.

This is the progress of the sweater, with the torso band at the bottom, one of the front yokes, and the start of the back yoke still on the needles. I'm loving it. I made a few mistakes on the slip-stitch border, which will show-darnit, but the fabric itself is dense, warm, & soft. I'm slightly nervous about the sleeves, but I'm sure they'll work up well.

I wish that all the babies I know were able to have a beautiful sweater or garment made out of such lovely yarn as Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted.

New Baby Sweater

2006-09-10T13:16:00.000-07:00

I'm at my brother's house on Sunday. Eating waffles and playing with Emily. I'm knitting a new sweater for Emily. It is the Baby Albert Sweater from the Sally Melville book, The Knit Stitch. I'm using Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in colorway #205, Irving Park. It looks great. I've taken a couple of really good photos of it (I know, you don't believe me), but I can't figure out how to put them up, because of his Mac.

I'm still reeling from being mentioned in the Yarn Harlot's entry regarding her Portland visit, and all the bloggers and messages from bloggers about Ms. Pearl-McPhee's visit. It's a great thing to meet other like-minded people.

The sweater's about halfway done. Yum.

I have seen the Harlot

2006-09-07T08:15:00.000-07:00

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee spoke at Powells (on Hawthorne) last night. She was very funny, as one would expect, and quite gracious. Look, there she is in the awful photo, behind the large red vase with sunflowers in it. She signed my book.

I sat with some very cool knitters, including Carrie who blogs, or used to, as Outfoxed Knitting, and Kathy who blogs as Vast Amounts of Spare Time. I think that's a bit of sarcasm, as she is the mother of two small boys. Cheri, of the Naked Sheep Knit Shop, was also there, beautiful and gracious, as always. She had a friend, Kathy, I think, with her, and another friend who blogs at Bipurler Disorder whose real first name I have already misplaced. She's great though, very funny, and helpful. Other bloggers were there too, including Bulldog Knits (she's great, and got some great photos, too), and Chrissy, wearing her MomMA shirt-you gotta support that. (I don't think that I've actually met Katrina yet, though.)

I got done several inches of the Baby Albert Jacket. Because of my painful feet, I arrived very early and planted my butt in the seats. The place filled up, and many latecomers had to stand. When she was done with her very funny speech, Stephanie signed books. I couldn't stand in line, so I waited until the line was down to the very end. This was about 9:30 pm.

The store closed at 9:00. The Powell's employees were obviously not happy about the scheduling and were eager for us to leave. Many knitters there said that they had warned Powells about the small venue and the large number of knitters to be expected. Alas. Perhaps next time all will plan better, both in terms of space and scheduling of time.

The Yarn Harlot is coming today!

2006-09-06T09:17:00.000-07:00

My mother's schedule changed, or perhaps I got it straightened out in my head, so all I have to do today is to sneak out of work early, fight for a parking place in SE, and get a chair for the YH event. I hope I make it. I hope I keep up my 'nice' factor throughout the whole day.

Hawaiian Gifts

2006-09-05T09:46:00.000-07:00

Susan, from Hawaii, is my One Skein Secret Pal Angel. She sent me these cool mitts or wristwarmers. The photo's not great. You can't see the delightful spiral rib. Susan, I hope I got that right. If the pattern has a different name you'll have to let me know.

They are warm and useful. I think I'll be reaching for them for my drive to work in the morning in just a few weeks now.

You'll be happy to know that most of my favorite yarn stores are still in operation and have survived a week without my patronage. I visited Close-Knit, the Naked Sheep Knit Shop, Lint, Knit-Purl, and Tangle. Well, I was at Tangle on Labor Day, where I peered in through the windows. They weren't open. I bought a few needles, but no new yarn. I have lots of yummy yarm to work with now.

I finished the I-cord on the white Baby Surprise Jacket. I still need to weave in ends and sew on four buttons.

I finished the cords for tying the Mason-Dixon Baby Kimono. I cut six-foot sections of yarn, then cut each one of those down to 24". With those three 24" sections, I used a crochet hook to pull the strands through where I wanted them to be attached. I then evened the strands up, and braided the six strands together and tied a knot in the end. I think that worked well. I liked the braids. I liked the way it exactly matched the kimono, rather than the ribbon shown in the Mason-Dixon book.

It's ready to go for Dorothy. I'll probably wrap it in a manila envelope and mail it to Dorothy's family. I didn't spot Dorothy's mom at church this weekend, but no announcement was made.

I've got to finish up my gift for my One-Skein Secret Pal and send it off to her. I just have to count those tiny little ridges and make sure they both have the same number, then bind off, and sew up seams. I love that project and will be sorry to send it off to Kim. But happy to have her have something that fun. I can always knit another set for myself.

The truck, Dr. Parts, and the yarn store

2006-09-01T09:02:00.000-07:00

The vehicle wasn't starting every time. No problem. I'll just take my knitting along and wait until it does start.

Then it wasn't starting at all. Problem. No go.

Dr. Parts moved the disabled vehicle. Dr. Parts drove me to work faithfully. He picked me up after work. He went to the grocery store with me. Dr. Parts replaced the starter in the vehicle last night. It took him about an hour or two. He rocks.

The vehicle starts now. Hoooray.

You know what this means, don't you? It means I can go visit the local yarn store again. It means I can go when the Yarn Harlot visits Portland next week.

Life is good. Dr. Parts is good. He's the best.

New Wrist Warmers

2006-08-30T08:17:00.000-07:00

I need a photo for this post. But I don't have it yet.

I apologize in advance if this post is a little spotty or has typos. I've got some sleep deprivation going on.

Susan, my One-Skein Secret Pal Angel from Hawaii, sent me my finished knitted item. They are fingerless mitts, knit is a lovely vivid blue or teal shade, with a spiral ribbed pattern. I'm not sure if that's right, my description of them, but I love them! She is such a fast knitter, and a dear one to rescue me from my exchange orphan status. I'm hoping that they'll keep my hands nice and warm this winter. I love the sensation of the wool hugging my joints.

We believe that the solar flares have affected both Dr. Parts and my vehicles at the same time. Very odd. Unreliable starts are one thing. Zero starts are another entirely.

I'll get a photo of my new wrist warmers in the next three days.

North Kiddo Knits!

2006-08-29T06:16:00.000-07:00

North Kiddo found her way over to my house. We spent an hour together Monday evening knitting.

She learned the long-tail cast-on and how to form a knit stitch, continental style. Well, semi-continental style. She lets go of the needles and wraps the yarn around the right needle with her left hand. She's not left-handed.

She was not enthused about doing a knitted blob for learning. But she has promised some of her little friends scarves, so at least we've got some good learning projects to work on. A common wish-that one doesn't have to practice and that one's first work will be wearable.

She cast on tighter than English ivy and this makes her knitting hard to work. A common rookie mistake. She popped the entire remaining row off the needles at least twice. Once I rescued the stitches and placed them back on the needle. The second time she did it, and did it perfectly.

She was frustrated by her stitches tendency to twist around the needle, so that the ridge from the cast-on wandered. I showed her how to straighten that back up. I said that she just had to tell the knitting to behave itself. She split the yarn a few times-who hasn't?

She had turned one of the two kit skeins into spaghetti. I've since rolled it into a nice center-pull ball. Her bamboo needles are kid-grimy already. The book had some liquid spilled on it and some of the pages are stuck together. We just tore off the bottom edges-no lost words.

She has probably 20-30 stitches on her needles. She was beginning to understand how the fabric would form. We did just two rows before she needed to do something else. I suggested that she work at least one row per day. She was pretty excited when she left and planned to do another row that evening.

I'd say that was a successful session for a nine-year-old learning knitter and a first-time knitting teacher.

My Sainted Mother Vs. The Yarn Harlot

2006-08-28T16:58:00.000-07:00

I just realized that I have a conflict with the Portland appearance of the Yarn Harlot. My mother and her husband will be arriving in town and staying at our house for a few days. Her first evening is the evening that Stephanie Pearl-McPhee will be appearing at Powells.

I find this conflict particularly troubling as these two women are some of my favorite women in the world. In fact, if you play one of those 'who would you invite to dinner if you could only have dinner with X number of women', I'd invite my Mom and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and then work the list from there.

I may have to go and hide in the closet for a week to decide what to do.

Since I am a westerner, with relatives in Seattle and Tacoma and environs, driving to Seattle, for her Monday, Sept 4 appearance is not out of the question. We westerners tend to drive waaaay too much, and we drive distances that others find astounding.

I could drag Mom along to the event. If I ask her she'll probably push me out the door and tell me to go and enjoy myself. Mom's not a knitter, at least, not much, and hasn't read Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's delightful writing.

I've got to go and lie down in a darkened room now.

Pssst-The Yarn Harlot is coming to Portland!

2006-08-24T16:57:00.000-07:00

Powell's finally has a time for the visit of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee to our own little knitting world! 7:30 pm.

Hmm. How much time do I need to take off work in order to get there and get a seat??

She was impressed by Austin, Texas, and it's slogan of "keep Austin weird." I always thought the middle word in that phrase was 'Portland'. I wonder if Portland will impress her as weird.

I'm not sure what gifts are appropriate for the visit of a knitter and writer who I admire so greatly.

Car Trouble

2006-08-24T15:19:00.000-07:00

My 1992 SUV has developed a problem. It won't start when the engine is hot. That means no more running to the store for every little thing, because one has to allow enough time (hours) for the engine to cool back down before continuing the journey. Dr. Parts is investigating. It may be a problem with the starter, although one website indicated that a hot no-start condition might be related to the fuel pump.

All I can think is, I'll have to make sure I have a knitting project in the car at all times. More knitting time!

North Neighbor has not come to my house this week, so no progress there. She may not want to learn to knit at this point. No problem. Knitting is not required. I do it because I love it. You may love what you wish. You don't have to love what I love.

I have sewn on buttons on three baby surprise jackets. They will be gifted to their recipients early next week. I'm thinking about the general rules for when the baby jacket should be completed by:

Ideal rule: The hand-knitted baby gift should be completed by the time the recipient is born.

2nd rule: The hand-knitted baby gift should be completed before the recipient outgrows it.

3rd rule: The hand-knitted baby gift should be completed by the time her parents get around to getting married.

Of course, that may not apply to close family members (grandchildren, nieces, nephews, etc) where hand-knitted gifts can be given at nearly any point without legal repercussions.

I'm about this close to violating rule #1 for Dorothy. Her mom is ready to deliver, hooray! We'll keep praying for excellent health for all. I've gotta add ties for the Baby Kimono.

I'm about halfway finished with the white BSJ border. The attached I-cord buttonholes are, again, ideal. I may never make another buttonhole in a baby sweater ever again.

I think tonight I may take some skeins of yarn and turn them into balls of yarn. So I can knit more baby jackets. Shall I do another EZ Baby Surprise Jacket? Or shall I do Sally Melville's Baby Albert jacket?

And I need to finish the project for Kim, for the One Skein Secret Pal exchange. I sure hope she likes it.

Yarn from Hawaii!

2006-08-22T07:55:00.000-07:00

Aloha! Here is the yarn that Susan sent me from Hawaii. I know, it's supposed to be a secret, but hey, let's not pretend. It is Knitpicks yarn in a Blueberry shade. Delightful. Susan also sent me a very funny New Yorker cartoon postcard.

I can't wait for her to arrive in Portland so I can get to know her in person. I'm not sure what I'll do with this fabulous wooly yarn. Susan suggests mitts, and I do have an idea for some simple ribbed fingerless mitts. This yarn would be great for that.

The yarn is nestled in the leaves of our Gerbera daisies. They have all made great leaves this year, but only one has put up flowers.

I did sew on the buttons on the Hippy Baby Jacket and the pink & green one. Now I've got to finish the I-cord edging on the white one and sew its buttons on. I finally found my size 6 DPNs, so I can do that. I have to get gift bags and package up the sweaters to give to the victims-ahem, I mean recipients.

And now, since it is August 22, I MUST create a finished project to send to my One-Skein Secret Pal, Kim, who lives in Illinois. She went to Stitches, lucky gal. I'm thinking of the fingerless garter(stitch) mitts. They would be a good gift because they're a Leigh Radford design from the One Skein book. They would also be a good gift because I'm nearly done with them. I do want them for myself, and I'm very happy with the yarn and beads that I chose. What better gift to give than one you want yourself? The project knits up quickly and it would be simple for me to create another pair for myself.

North Kiddo has not yet kept an appointment to spend time with me, so it may get put off until next week. This is one of the features of being nine, if my recollection serves me.

Yarn Packages

2006-08-21T11:11:00.001-07:00

I did sew on one set of buttons on the baby surprise jackets this weekend. I also did the final row of knitting on the white one, so I'm ready to proceed to the I-cord edging. Hooray for me! Progress!

North Kiddo did not make it over on Friday night, but she plans on coming over on Monday evening. The nice ladies at Tangle , where I sat on Sunday afternoon and sewed on buttons, offered some excellent help and advice for teaching kiddo to knit. They suggested that I have her start a learning knitting blob (hey, isn't the yarn harlot also knitting a blob?) and then start a garter stitch scarf as a first project. Cool. We have enough needles for that. Also at Tangle I met Amanda who blogs at Bulldog Knits. Cool again. Her gloves look much better in person then in her photos.

And Dr. Parts reports that I have two packages waiting for me at home, one from Florida and one from Hawaii! They're both yarn packages! One is Lorna Laces sock yarn that I acquired from Ebay. The other is my delightful OSSP angel's stuff. She's in Hawaii, but only until she moves to Portland. I can't wait to go home and see and touch the yarn!

And sew on buttons for the pink & green sweater. And the Hippy Baby Jacket. No, really. I mean it.

Teaching North Neighbor Kiddo to knit

2006-08-18T12:28:00.000-07:00

So, North Neighbor's kid comes over a few times a week, ostensibly to help with her homework, although she prefers to play boardgames. This is supposed to, on my side, limit the amount of unscheduled time she wants to come over to our house by imposing structure on it, and in theory, improve her life, by letting her be exposed to another version of normal, that is, different from the normal life at her household.

North Kiddo hints a lot, which is something I hate, as my mother squelched that habit out of us at a very young age. "Ask or ask not. There is no hint," to paraphrase the Yoda.

Earlier in the year she hinted that I could teach her to knit. I let that comment sail on past, but I did begin collecting knitting supplies and stuff for her birthday in August. I bought a this book & kit from those great folks at Klutz. I acquired a cute kid-sized tote bag, pink & brown, very chic. I bought a little zippered bag at Goodwill. I bought some cheap notions or pulled extras from my knitting bag. I put in some of the free yarn that I won from the Naked Sheep Knit Shop (look, fall class schedules, yippee!).

And I dropped it off around her birthday. She turned nine.

She plans on coming over tonight and we may begin the learning knitting process. I'm scared to death!

She has average to above-average intelligence. She has average to low-average attention span. She loves pink. A pretty normal kid, whatever normal means.

The Klutz kit comes with nice denim blue skeins of yarn (without laundering or content labels-how annoying), which I must make into balls for her. This may involve using the swift which came from her household for a ridiculously low amount of compensation. Yes, I feel guilty.

Math is a challenge for her, when it's math on paper. The knitting may be good for her and her math, since, when we knitters want to create just the right thing, we will do the math required to make our knitting projects come out just so, even though we might not sit down and do a worksheet just for fun. She's a great reader.

I may start out by casting on for her and doing some practice garter stitch pot holders. Or maybe we'll use the free pink yarn and start a practice garter stitch scarf she could wear this winter. Maybe I'll let her be inspired by leafing through the Knit Stitch book.

Gosh, I hope this goes well and that neither of us gets frustrated & gives up.

My Angel

2006-08-16T09:05:00.000-07:00

Just one day after I wrote a whiny, self-pitying post about being an exchange orphan, I get an email from this nice lady in Hawaii. She's my One-Skein Secret Pal exchange Angel. She's really cool, and chatty, and has doggies, and seems to be planning a move to live in Portland.

What fun! I like her a lot already. Gosh, if she only sends me emails, never mind yarn, I think I'm still ahead of the game.

And I still didn't sew on any buttons.

Twig suggested and Judy seconded the bribery method of motivation. Sew on a button: buy more yarn. I may be going with this. At least it's better for my health than the baked goods or ice cream method of motivation.

Exchange Orphan

2006-08-15T08:55:00.000-07:00

So, the One-Skein Secret Pal organizers at Interweave Press recently put out a plea for angels to resuce their ten "orphans" of their One-Skein Secret Pal exchange. I am one such orphan.

Great. They had nearly 400 persons sign up and almost all of them successfully gifted their pal. Mine did not.

Well, I wish her the best. I imagine that terrible and unavoidable complications of life have presented problems to her that have prevented her participation. I'm sure she would have participated and kept her commitment, had she been able to do so.

I'm trying to put the best face on this. To my pal (the one who got fab yarn from me-Lorna's Laces & Blue Moon), I described it as a lesson in 'tis better to give than to receive'. And usually, I'm okay with being the gifter and not the giftee.

But maybe I'm just having a down week. My feet hurt. I have to sew on buttons (dammit). I'm not having a peak knitting experience. I'm nowhere near finishing my gift to my pal, which I should finish and send to her in August. Yuck-only a little time left in August! Maybe I need more meds.

So, if you're out there, and are thinking about being a One-Skein Secret Pal angel, please remember me. I could use a hug this week. A nice wooly sock-yarn hug.

Dratted buttons

2006-08-15T08:33:00.000-07:00

Again, I am stymied by the buttons. I must have a lot of resistance to sewing on the buttons. I can tell, because I haven't done it.

Am I hesitant to give away the baby sweaters? I don't know. I haven't touched the knitting much, because I told myself that the next thing that I should do is to sew on those buttons. I know. I'll feel better once I just sew the stupid things on and get it over with.

And yet, I don't do it.

Human nature.

Little Brown Setbacks

2006-08-07T08:03:00.000-07:00

The cute little doggie chewed off the imperfectly sewn-on buttons from J'meer's baby sweater. They were wooden turtles. The dog decided that they were a threat to the continued existence of the universe and had to be destroyed. She did so efficiently. She is such a good protector. Usually it is the cats who recognize such threats, often veiled in the guise of African Violet plants.

Earlier this week, the dog took out my project for my One-Skein Secret Pal to examine it in greater detail. She took the thing off the needles. Now, I would understand if this were on yummy wooden or bamboo needles. But it's not. It's on vintage green metal needles, the kind that are going shiny at the points and are going to get all scuffed at the shoulder. I bought a set on Ebay to give me a good range of needle sizes to choose from.

This project is from the Mason-Dixon book and is made of linen. (Can you guess, now? Can you?) I find it to be rather difficult, as I cannot see the pattern that I'm supposed to be seeing. I can't even tell how many repeats happen across the project. The Ann & Kay suggest that you mark the borders, but I might do better marking every square.

The dog removed it from its metal needles, which I thought were safe, and chewed up the counter I was using on it. Now, I knew that it was not the best counter for the project. It was one designed to hang off circular needles and was too big for these straights. But still. Why destroy an innocent row counter? I think that I counted correctly. I know I picked up the stitches correctly, eventually. I suppose I'm in the mid-stage of the project, where I hate it, I don't understand it, I doubt my ability to produce it successfully, and wonder why I ever chose this thing. I worked several more rows on Saturday night while sitting on the Zoo lawn, waiting to hear Pink Martini.

A nice young knitter sat next to me. Young, I say. Ha! She was undoubtedly old enough to order her own liquor. She expressed the opinion that she always trusted knitters-see, she is young-and told me about her green beret knitting project. She's having some trouble with tension and tight stitches. She and her girlfriend had the coolest little chairs I've seen in a long time. Not that Dr. Parts and I could rise from such chairs gracefully in public. I was the only one I saw knitting on the lawn, but I did not wander around that much, to spare my feet.

So, now I have to re-acquire buttons for J'meers sweater, and, since I can't find the ones I recall buying, for Audrey's. Darn. I thought plastics were a greater threat to the continued existence of the universe, but they may be safer from the little brown doggy.

Buttons, Bags & Tiles

2006-08-04T11:22:00.000-07:00

I don't like to sew on buttons. I don't think I'm doing it right on my knitted baby sweaters. I'll have to check my reference materials to see if anyone tells me how to do such a simple thing as sewing on a button.

I am going to have to seek Judy's help. I want to learn to do her magic cast-on and do a toe-up sock, knit two-at-a-time on two circular needles. I hang out at her blog (a lot) and have read her instructions on her magic cast on, but so far, have not managed to do it successfully. So, in the meantime, using dishcloth cotton yarn, I'm practicing other styles of toe-up cast-ons, making drawstring bags to use to store dominos and other game parts.

I'm a big fan of having the board game pieces stored in wonderfully appropriate bags. You should see the Scrabble people. They have such rules about the bags for storing the Scrabble tiles. See this link for a fabric bag (look, it's just like a sock toe!) . BTW, I love the Scrabble people. They're a little nutty, but I fit right in. And no, I don't have all the two-letter words memorized.

And, the thing is, the rules work! If the bag prevents you from cheating, you can focus on the game without worrying about whether you saw the tile, 'brailled' the tile, or chose a tile at random appropriately, and you can stop worrying about whether your opponent will either.

So far, my tile bag sucks, I think because I placed my increases randomly around the bag, so I have corners. Corners can hide tiles. Maybe this bag will be for RummiKube or dominos.

I may have to stalk Judy again by hanging out at Tangle and getting her to show me her cast-on on person. Or maybe I can keep practicing and I'll figure it out myself.

I have buttons to sew on, in the meantime.

Four Baby Sweaters

2006-07-31T08:25:00.000-07:00

If the photograph is bad enough, I can claim anything about it. That's kind of a nice principle for the blog.

So here's my claim: This is a photograph of four completed baby sweaters. The only remaining thing for these things is buttons or ties. The top sweater is the blue/purple/grey Baby Surprise Jacket. The right one is the Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono. The one at the left is a pink & green Baby Surprise Jacket. The one in the center is my famous Hippy Baby Surprise Jacket. I sewed seams and edgings and finished these four. Except for the buttons on the BSJs and the ties on the Baby Kimono.

The pink & green and the blue/purple/gray BSJs go to Dr. Parts' employee's babies, J'meer & Audrey. The Hippy BSJ is going to my quadriplegic co-worker. No, it's not for him directly. His caregiver just had her first grandchild. That's close enough to a stranger, and yet a deserving, hardworking stranger, for a recipient of a beautifully crafted hand-knit wool garment. And, even though I think the color is awful, it's probably the best constructed and most technically satisfying of these four garments, to me, the knitter. Also, baby is small enough so it should fit. The Baby Kimono is for Dorothy, whose mom blogs here. (BTW, I spotted Dorothy's mom on Sunday and she looked happy and healthy and still pregnant. Hooray!)

I'm sticking to my deadline rule of no new casting on until these projects are done and given to their intended recipients. I have to sew on the buttons on these three, create and attach the ties for the baby kimono, finish (4 rows) the white BSJ, sew the seams on the white BSJ, do an I-cord edging on it, and sew on buttons.

Dr. Parts drove me to the fabric store and gave helpful input on the button selection. What a great guy. Later, I bought him blue flame bean bag chairs and Ben & Jerry's ice cream. What a lucky guy.

Deadline

2006-07-29T07:57:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is it. This is the weekend for finishing all those baby sweaters. They need to be completed and out of my house. Those youngsters are growing and it's time they got their gifts.

No new projects for you, young lady, until you finish up those sweaters! No casting on. No new needles. No yarn purchases. Nope, not even that.

We'll see how I do on Monday. Hopefully I'll have photos for you.

Photo of me

2006-07-27T09:19:00.000-07:00

This is a photo of me knitting in the wild, taken last Sunday, July 23, 2006. I am working on my One Skein Secret Pal exchange gift, which will go to Kim.

Cooler to my left, yarn to my right. River in front. Life is good!

Thanks, Dr. Parts for taking the photo. And thanks for telling me that I looked beautiful when you took it.

When the knitting gets hot...

2006-07-24T09:06:00.000-07:00

...the tough go out into the woods to knit.

This is the view I had from my camp chair. This is the Salmonberry river, as it flows through Oregon's Tillamook Forest.

Dr. Parts found this place. It's only a few hours from our home. You drive about halfway on normal, standard, civilized highways, with pavement and signs and fast food and convenience stores. Then you head off into the forest and drive the rest of the way on gravel and dirt roads, without signs and without seven eleven stores.

This river is small, by northwest standards, but the location is lovely. It has some delightful pools which I waded into. That mountain chilled water helps cool the body and refresh the spirit. We got there at about 2:30 pm and stayed until about 8 pm.

I knit several rows on my gift project. It's for my One Skein Secret Pal. It's not wool or acrylic, so it was fine to knit on hot summer days. Dr. Parts and Snickers wandered around and explored the nearby rail tracks. (You knew there had to be a railroad connection.)

We also practiced with the firearms. I think my husband was suitably impressed. This was my first time firing a handgun. I must say, my husband owns a very large handgun. I hit the target several times with the .22 rifle, but didn't hit it at all with the very large handgun. He says I got close enough, but I would certainly require more practice with the handgun.

There were nasty biting flies, but we had repellant and protective clothing, so we did okay. The temperature in Portland over the last three days has been exceptionally high, which I find particularly unpleasant. The weather forecast says that the overnight temperatures should return to a more normal range today or tomorrow.

I'm looking forward to it. The knitting fares much better when it's cool.

Old Business: yes, I did offer my North Neighbor a small cash amount for the orange plastic & metal swift she had out in the garage sale junk pile. So I now own a swift. I used it to help wind the ball from which I was knitting out on the Salmonberry River.

Dr. Parts took the photo above, and he also took a photo of my knitting.

I walked, I knit, I made a sock.

2006-07-17T07:57:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning, I went for a four mile training walk with my girlfriends, as I am supposed to be doing this big relay in five weeks. My feet ached for the remainder of the weekend.

I'm not sure if the walk is going to happen for me. I took a chair to the dog park (normally, the owners stand around or stroll). I sat through the songs at the Sunday church service. When you're measuring out how much pain you're in vs. how many steps and how much standing time it requires to prepare your next meal, that's pretty serious. Also, much of the knitting kit and the stash is on floor two of the house, and I was on floor one. When you consider whether you need to make a trip to the second story of your own house to continue to knit, that's bad.

I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing. I consulted my podiatrist earlier this year. I got orthotics. I got new shoes. I'm wearing the orthotics and the new shoes. I iced, I used OTC anti-inflammatory drugs. I'm going to go see my internist on Thursday. Is surgery a good solution for my feet? Blecch. Maybe after August. I am too young to feel this bad.

Anybody out there want to walk a few miles and do a little sleep deprivation with my friends later this summer? Email me at lorirode AT gmail DOT com. I'll knit you some leg warmers, if you'll go get my yarn.

Saturday afternoon, I visited Tangle, a great LYS, which does not have a website, as far as I can tell. (Otherwise I would link to it. They're in Lake Oswego. There is free parking nearby. They carry Blue Moon. They have social knitting on Sunday afternoons, 2-5 pm.) I ran into Judy, who writes a blog that I admire greatly. Her fabulous blog, entitled Persistent Illusion, is here. I felt so pleased with myself for 1) identifying her by the overheard comments (son, music) and sock project in her hand, and 2) introducing myself. They are terrific and pleasant people in the shop. Great teenagers there, too.

I had to buy some yarn for my One Skein Secret Pal's July gift. I was thinking purples, as I have a set of purple stitch markers to send her, and some beautiful post-it notes in purple. I was also thinking Blue Moon's Socks that Rock. I love that yarn. It is a joy to work with and generous amount of yardage per skein. They didn't have a nice solid purple (I think I was remembering 'Star Sapphire'), so I got a colorway entitled 'Mist'. Judy put a photo of it up at her website. I got my OSSP one skein and I got one for myself. I was also tempted by 'Scaponia' but it had orange, and that was similar to the last skein I got for my pal.)

I had started my Class Sock from Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks book. (Thanks for the tip, Stephanie.) I used the free yarn that I had on hand, so my stupid little worsted weight non-wearable sock looks great. I made several errors. That's OK. That's what practice socks are for. I used two circulars. It worked great. My errors were: carrying yarn in front during the heel stitch, so that part looks wonky, and lousy picking up of stitches along the edge of the heel flap for the gusset. One side of the picked up stitches looks great; the other is awful. How does that happen? And why didn't I go back and do it right?

Because it was a flippin' practice sock and it didn't really matter! I know how to pick up stitches. Besides, the color changing yarn made it look worse than it might have. No one's going to wear the thing. I might stuff it and let it become a dog or cat toy. I might add a drawstring and let it become a bag for storing game tiles.

By the time I was at Tangle, I had turned the heel, and decreased for the gusset, but not yet completed the body of the sock or grafted the toes. Judy was there, working on her Lapis socks, which have since been renamed to Tangled Up In Blue. They are so beautiful. Judy was very encouraging to me and explained the pattern for the leg of the sock, which looked so complicated to me, but turns out to be quite simple. She also gave me permission to work the ankle in straight ribbing if I wanted to.

I may do Judy's sock next, as I want to try doing two socks at once, using two circulars. I also want to try her cast-on technique and try a toe-up version. A couple of the Schurch socks are really appealing to me, too, so we'll see.

Oh, and while I was doing my three inches of ribbing for the ankle of my first practice sock, I knew I had been entered by the spirit of Hermione, when I thought to myself, "You know, you could just do a few decreases right here and this would be a lovely little preemie hat."

House-elf hats are everywhere. They get into your blood.

M-D Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono

2006-07-14T08:11:00.000-07:00

Here it is, in Sugar'n Cream, color Violet Veil (white with blue, violet & yellow). How nice. I don't have the ties done. I'm not sure if I'll do Stephanie's twisted cord or I-cord or ribbons. I did a make-one increase, two stitches from the end, which mades a lovely angled edge.

I like it, but I'm not sure I'll make this particular shape again. The wrist openings on this one seem quite narrow. I may not sew the seam quite to the end, to leave a slit. I was thinking this slit would be about 3 stitches long (to the first/last increase/decrease for sleeve length). It's a design feature, right?

Maybe I just haven't hung out with enough babies. They are tiny things, I hear.

I'm planning on giving this one to Becci, who is the mother of Dorothy. I'm still planning on making a more formal Baby Sweater for Dorothy, too.

I want to try the Sally Melville The Knit Stitch Baby Albert jacket next. I have several nice choices of yarns to try it in.

I need to purchase some yarn for my One Skein Secret Pal's July package. I'm thinking deep rich purple. I have a project to knit to send to her in August, but haven't started that one yet.

In my interactions with our North Neighbor, I have a high level of frustration. I like her kid, but don't like kid's behavior all the time. (In other words, I, the childless one, have trouble saying 'no' when it needs to be said.) North Neighbor has been trying to have a garage sale in her driveway for the last few weeks. It looks more like a garage explosion over the front yard, with no order, very junky, no posted prices, she starts the sale at noon, and we live on a dead end street. Not likely to be terribly successful. They've just left the stuff out during the rains of the past few days. I looked at the offerings once and didn't see anything worth talking about. For instance, they're trying to sell DVD sets with the movie disc missing.

So, yesterday, I was walking North Kiddo back to her house, and seeing the stuff, and I spotted a swift in a pile! It looks like it's plastic and metal, and I couldn't really take a look at the thing, but I don't have a swift. I may have to talk with them about it in the next few days. I wonder if it's actually in working order.

And now back to our regularly scheduled house-elf hats.

Oh, BTW, the aforementioned Stephanie has joined a new web-ring, the Knitting Stephanies. I think this is so cool and I am 100% jealous. I'm going to have to find out if I can get a 'Friend of' button. The Knitting Loris just doesn't quite sound the same. And I'm glad to learn that Stephanie likes squirrels. My dog would approve. As long as 'likes' means 'likes to chase and is willing to kill if required'.

Free Yarn

2006-07-13T12:17:00.000-07:00

Here is a Kristin from the Naked Sheep Knit Shop , the closest yarn shop to my house - and they have Bryspuns - with the 10 skeins of yarn that I won in their annual sales raffle. They're 100 gram balls of Universal Yarn's Classic Worsted LP, in a pink/dusty mauve colorway. It's a nice worsted weight blend of wool & acrylic. It's perfect for baby girl sweaters and hats, as it is washable. It may go into the stash, as I really must finish some other projects up first.

Since I mentioned the 2006 weight loss out loud in my previous post, the scale has punished me by informing me that I have re-gained 2 lbs overnight. Ah, yeah, go on. I think it will be strict dieting for the remainder of the weekend.

I'm nearly done with the Mason-Dixon Cute Baby Kimono. I think I have another 8-12 rows to go on the front.

I'm listening to the book Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke, and it's in a format that only works in the house, not the car. The car book is Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham. It makes me have a low opinion of art students, let me tell you. I already had a low opinion of medical students. The library has the movie Of Human Bondage with Bette Davis. Must see that.

So I sit in the Dr. Parts-less house and listen to my book and knit. A very pleasant way to spend the evening. (And, yes, Dr. Parts, we taped your Stephen King show. At least, I think we did.)

My free yarn may work to make the Charlene Schurch class sock from Sensational Knitted Socks. Thanks for the reference, Stephanie!

The Naked Sheep Knit Shop has open knitting tonight. Perhaps I'll go and knit with them. They're good people. They gave me yarn.

Dr. Parts is off to the wilderness

2006-07-12T11:03:00.000-07:00

He's out camping with his buddies for four nights. I have a few 'please record my show' assignments and have to feed the animals in his absence, but other than that, I'm on my own.

I'm undecided whether to pig out or strictly diet all five days. My scale says I'm only 8 lbs from my weight loss goal. Note-my weight loss goal is still 10 lbs higher than the highest 'acceptable' weight for my height on any height-weight chart I've ever seen. But, as a diabetic, any weight loss is helpful in controlling the disease. My weight loss goal for the year 2006 is 25 lbs. And, of course, the secondary goal is to keep the weight off and do it for the next 3-5 years. So, what I do this next five days is unlikely to make or break the whole project. Then again, I have to go to visit the M.D. next Thursday, and she cares what I weigh. It might also help her decide that I may need less medication. Cross your fingers for me.

My friends at The Naked Sheep Knit Shop called to say that I won a bag of yarn in their annual sale raffle. Will I be able to pick it up tonight or will I have to put it off until tomorrow? (Maybe I can get a photo of it in my blog.) I don't recall what kind of yarn it was. I think there were 6 or 8 skeins in the bag, but I have no idea what sort of project it may make.

This weekend, I plan to finish up J'meer's baby jacket, as Dr. Parts swears the kid is on the verge of out-growing it. I'm skeptical. It's wool. It's garter-stitch. It's stretchy. I think it would fit his nieces who have just turned six.

And my One Skein Secret Pal has promised to send me my June and July skeins in this week. Hooray! Bless you, dear one. I hope your summer has gone well. I'll have to take a good photo of the OSSP yarn!

Weekend Recap

2006-07-10T09:59:00.000-07:00

Mom's visit was great, even though we didn't get to go to a movie together. We chose a very popular movie and did not pre-purchase tickets. We decided to skip the 45-minute wait for seats in the next available show. The wait line snaked around the building in the sun, without benches.

I got to show off my collection of baby jacket projects. Mom was suitably impressed. I've got a great mom and we have a good relationship. I am so blessed.

I had a knitting growth moment. I was working along on my Mason-Dixon Baby Kimono and realized that I didn't think the body was long enough. So, I thought to myself, 'I can pull out the cast-on edge and knit some extra rows on the bottom.'

And I did.

I'm so impressed with myself.

It was in cotton, so the un-doing was not too tough. It was a long-tail cast-on, but I put the needle in one loop and pulled on the free end of the yarn and un-did it, stitch by stitch. Then, however, it took a little bit of attention to figure out which way to go and straighten out which stitches to work on the edges. Then I figured out that instead of knitting every row to complete my garter stitch pattern for this extra section, I would have to PURL every row. Go figure. I guess my removal of the cast-on row turned me around a bit. I could have taken out a second row, I think, or started the yarn on the other end to go back to knitting, but I'm pretty happy with my purl stitch. Purling is fine.

So I did. I purled an extra 8 rows or so, and I'm much happier with the length of the body. It was gonna look like a baby shrug, if I didn't.

Dr. Parts is going on a camp-out with his nuts & bolts buddies this weekend. I'll have lots of time to knit.

Mom's On Her Way

2006-07-07T08:01:00.000-07:00

My mom's coming for the weekend. This means that Dr. Parts goes into a cleaning and repair frenzy. All of the messes that I've been looking at and projects requiring his help for the last vague period of time or so must now be done, at Dr. Parts' decree, by the time my mother arrives on the weekend.

Thanks, Mom! Can you be sure to drop by at least four times a year? I'd appreciate it. No, I'm not joking. No you don't hear any sarcasm. Truly. We love to see you, and the house has never looked better.

This does, however, mean less time to knit. I've not finished those last two Baby Surprise Jackets, but have made progress on the Fingerless Garter(stitch) Mitts.

Because Stephanie has made them look so cute, I was attracted to the Baby Kimono from Mason-Dixon Knitting. I went out and bought the book. At my LYS. I read the pattern. I thought to myself, "Well, I think I bought 3 balls of dishcloth cotton the last time I was over at that fabric store in Beaverton. I don't know which brand it is, but Stephanie says that the brand she used took 3 balls, and Ann & Kay say that their brand uses 2 balls to make the adorable baby kimono, so you're OK either way."

So, this morning I was AWAKE at 3:30 am. No particular reason. I could have used those hours to clean and organize, but no. I proceeded to my stash, cleverly stored in a plastic tub on the living room floor, which will be easily moved as the hours for Mom's arrival grows closer. I pulled out the cotton. It's the brand specified in the Mason Dixon book. It's a variegated: white with yellow, purple and blue. I got the needles. I stole away to the upstairs TV room/guest room/train room. I knitted. I have most of the back done and am about halfway through the casting on section for the arms. It is so cute. It is hard to resist. I can always give this one to Dorothy. It's much better than the Hippy Baby Sweater. I promise.

And here is the finished Hippy Baby Sweater:

The yarn goddesses gave us a nice solid blue stripe along the front edge which lays on top. This is, IMHO, very helpful in calming the whole thing down. It needs buttons, but that's all.

Life is good. And I get to see my mom soon. Hooray!

School's out for summer

2006-07-05T11:26:00.000-07:00

I've decided not to take any knitting classes this summer. I want to take a beginning sock class, and a nice one is offered at the Naked Sheep store near my house. I want to learn socks on DPNs, but I will likely switch to using circulars once I understand the technique. I have a couple of patterns for beginning socks, but I really wanted to take a class to have an experienced knitter explain things.

I'm not going to take a class at this time, because I am planning to walk the Portland-To-Coast relay walk on August 25 and 26. My weekends are prime walking time. After I take a nice long walk, 60-90 minutes, and at a good brisk pace, I often require a nap. This will cut into my knitting time, both the walking and the napping. The gals on my team are also requiring that I do several things that seem to be in my job description as Team Captain. Here I am, wondering why I ever agreed to do this, and who are these annoying people on my team?

Don't worry, it usually all works out OK in the end, much like knitting, as long as your technique was good through the project.

I can move the sock class to the autumn schedule, I think. Or, I can, given my propensity to make the project prior to the class, attempt the sock construction on my own, using internet help and tutorials. It's really just an excuse to buy more Socks that Rock from Blue Moon Fiber Art. That is fine yarn.

On Tuesday, I knit for several rows on the second Fingerless Mitt, so that project nears completion. I like these mitts and may be wearing them this winter around the office. Two finished Baby Surprise Jackets, hooray. Minimal progress on the preemie hats.

I do have a nice place to send them now, though, that's good. I plan on sending these to Heavenly Angels in Need. They're headquartered in Oregon, but have chapters all over the place. I may also send them my wedding gown. They use donated wedding gowns to sew burial gowns for infants (all sizes). I'll be able to ask Mary to send my items to Oregon hospitals, although I'm not sure if they'll be sent to Portland metropolitan area hospitals.

So, for the PTC relay walk, we need to drive the course. That's going to be best to do on a weekend.

Oh, and DH has settled on an acceptably nickname. Henceforth, he will be referred to on the blog as Dr. Parts. His initials are DR and he is the parts manager for a local truck and trailer company.

Red Portrait

2006-07-03T08:39:00.000-07:00

This photo is of my DH, who does not yet have a cool blog nickname, and the dog, Snickers, who goes by her real life call name. She also answers to 'doggy', as in 'little brown doggy' and 'duyawanna', as in 'duyawanna go to the park' or 'duyawanna cookie'.

I did knit this weekend. I have two out of four Baby Surprise Jackets finished, well, finished to the point of needing buttons. These are the Hippy version and the pink & green one. I still have to finish up the blue/purple/grey one and the white. I need to knit a fifth sweater for my giving away, (and perhaps a fourth, if I decide not to give the Hippy Baby Jacket to any of these families).

The I-cord border with I-cord border buttonholes is brilliant, both functional and cute.

I started on the second hand of the Leigh Radford Fingerless Garter(stitch) Mitts, and have worked on that piece to the point of having one beaded row done and two of the extra wrap sections done.

I went down to Close-Knit on Saturday morning and participated in their Lawn Chair Knitting. They encourage you to bring your own chair and sit under the awning along the sidewalk in front of their establishment and knit. I met several great folks. I love visiting a variety of LYS. One is not enough. They also have a really cool South African Baby Bootie pattern there, which I must make soon. Maybe I'll take the class they're offering. Whoops, no, inconvenient scheduling, conflicts with my normal practice of worship. Worship comes first, and no, we're not talking about the yarn goddesses.

Still haven't cast on for the Yorick scarf from Knitty. It will be for the aforementioned DH. We could call him 'the Manager', 'Mr. Parts', 'DR', or simply enough 'Sir'. He went fishing with Bro on Saturday. Hey we could call him 'He Who Fishes'. I think they had a nice time (although he swiped my chair, which gave me moments of frustration). On Sunday, he bought a beautiful double purple petunia to hang in the front entry and an interesting salmon lily for the front entry also. Gosh, he's a good guy and I'm a lucky woman. I did get some housework done, believe it or not.

I got some bubble-gum pink yarn and have started on one of TiaJudy's Baby Cable Caps. The yarn is a superwash merino by Lanett. I must say, pink definitely improves the house-elf hat.

Enjoy your fourth of July, whether it is a holiday for you or not. I certainly enjoy the freedoms in my native land, the USA. I would caution folks to remember the difference between patriotism and nationalism. We do not currently plan on enjoying any out-of-home Independence Day celebrations, but rather, relaxing at home.

Cool, that means I can knit.

Friday Bits

2006-06-30T11:09:00.001-07:00

I may post another post, with photos later. I've sent a couple to blogger, but they don't haven't arrived for me to use to post here. I'm not sure why it's not working.

I finished the house-elf hat in the lana grossa sock yarn. It does indeed fit my head. So, for a large child, maybe. It's not so bad, on the head. The stripes are adequate. The hat is lightweight (it is sock yarn, after all). I can envision this for a Saturday hat, in the barely cooling autumn. It may still be given away.

Since I did this as a project to then scale down for preemie sized hats, I suppose it has served its purpose well. That hat's decreases are worked in nine sections, so my preemie hat, knit flat, should be a multiple of nine, plus two (these stitches are for the seaming, I believe). So, using the same needles (size 2 US) I could cast on 56, knit for 3-4 inches, and then work the decreases. This should also improve the striping pattern for this particular yarn, by decreasing the width of the work.

The hat I made is not nearly as pretty as the Sally Melville project pictured in the book. I shall have to try it using a yarn closer to the one she uses. That means bulky and much prettier.

I am about two-thirds complete with the Hippy Baby Sweater. I'm creating buttonholes using the I-cord border. They work VERY WELL, and I'm glad that Judy Wilcox insisted that I try them. Not sure what buttons I'll use, probably calming white ones.

So, for the weekend, projects:
1. Finish existing Baby Surprise Jackets (4 total) -no snickering. It's just a goal, thank you.
2. Finish, meaning sew up, existing house-elf hats.
3. Perhaps start the Yorick scarf for DH.
4. Preemie hats using the delicious koigu KPPPM.

I still have to make a fifth baby gift, this for the beautiful Emily Jean, daughter of Jerry and Andrea. Emily is about 3-4 months old already. I was thinking of a Baby Surprise Jacket, but I may try the Baby Albert Jacket from Sally Melville's book. My co-worker's child, unless he's masquerading or is a jokester from the womb, seems to be a girl, so the white acrylic jacket should work well for her.

I'm still waiting on Dorothy, who we have prayed for so frequently as she grows in her mother's womb, but I think that I would love to create a higher end garment for her. Maybe all Koigu! Ooooooh. With Matching Hat. And Booties. (A girl can't begin to accessorize appropriately too soon.) (I've never made booties.) Praises to God that Dorothy has reached an important milestone in her growth and development. May she be born a happy and healthy baby, several more weeks from now. May she be enormous!

Oh, yes, TiaJudy has updated her beautiful Baby Cable Cap. It is a lovely pattern and everyone should make it. Just my opinion.

Gotta clean the house. Gotta take a long walk. Gotta clean the fridge. Would rather knit.

Skeins, Rings, and Other Things

2006-06-29T13:28:00.000-07:00

I am pouting because I have not yet received my One Skein exchange gift from my One Skein Secret Pal. I remain confident that he/she is up to good things with my gift. I ran home at lunch today, since I'm supposed to receive the first One Skein gift during the month of June and there is but one additional mailing day during the month of June this year, hoping that I would find it waiting for me.

But, alas, no. Just the standard bills. Pouting is not good for me. My mother would not approve.

I have joined a couple of new web rings. The big web ring for knitting blogs remains closed. There is, I hear, a second ring being formed. Shall I be a group two member? Hmmm. Anyhow. See those ring buttons over there on the right side of the screen. No, darlin', your right. There are some fabulous members in the rings. I'm also very happy to be part of the Northwest ring, because I adore living in the Northwest corner of the USA. I like the Knitting Path. They have Knit Heaven, too! The Knitting Kitty ringmaster seems to be behind in approving new members. Any day now. I'm sure.

I am decreasing in the latest house-elf hat with the Lana Grossa sock wool. It looks fine. I may be able to finish it off tonight.

I did go and get myself some color therapy. It is a delightful skein of Koigu KPPPM , dye code/dye lot P212100 (or perhaps B212_100, hard to tell). Sandy offered to wind it for me at the store, but I declined. It looks so lovely in the skein.

I want to hold it in my hands and look at it with my eyes. I shall knit tiny little hats with it. And I shall cable. I shall cable without a cable needle. I shall look at it and see that it is Good.

I'm about halfway done with the I-cord around the Hippy Baby Sweater. It's going surprisingly quickly. Having tiny little DPNs helps. These are only five inches long, Bryspuns. I think I'll plan on finishing the I-cord border on the Hippy Baby Sweater before I wind the Koigu.

Okay, One Skein Secret Pal, come through for me. I believe. I believe. I believe!

Intro to Hat Geometry

2006-06-28T09:05:00.000-07:00

I am afraid that in an earlier post that I made an error in geometry. This would marr the honor of my high school math teacher, Mr. Zimmerman. He was not a man who taught me badly. The error is mine. It is also probably related to the number of years since I sat in Mr. Zimmerman's classes, with the boys, and learned these concepts. No, I'm not saying how many years.

I am often startled at how much math and geometry is used in beautiful and well-crafted knitting. Is it any wonder that it is taught to small children to assist them in learning and practicing these concepts?

Diameter of a hat is the length of a straight line going from one side of the hat to the other. Circumference is a curved or circular line, going around the edge of the hat on the outside. The circumference of a hat should be much larger than the diameter. (The radius is half of the diameter, just in case that word is rattling around your head also.) And, just to remind you, the human head is rarely circular, in the geometrical sense. It is closer to oval, and almost always unique. The diameter ear-to-ear will be different than the diameter forehead-to-nape. Obviously, not a circle.

And just to throw in more confusion, there is hat size, which is completely different. Lifted from this article from our friends at Wikipedia: " A numerical hat size is merely the average diamaeter of the head, determined by measuring the circumference of a person's head about 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) above the ears, dividing by pi (3.1416), and rounding to the nearest centimeter or eighth inch."

For an adult woman's hat, the circumference of the hat should be, roughly, 20-21 inches. For me, just in case you are gift-giving, it should be 22. Yes, I said it. I have a big head. Most off-the-shelf hats, and one-size-fits-all hats do not fit me.

For hand-knitted hats, the circumference of the hat should be slightly smaller than the circumference of the wearer's head. (Berets and other deliberately oversized hats can, of course, be different.) This is because of two main things. 1) Knitted fabric is usually quite stretchy. 2) Knitted hats rely on a little bit of stretch to fit well and to stay on the head. This is one reason for the ubiquitous ribbed watch cap hat. Ribbed fabric is easy for most knitters to produce, and is very stretchy and, thus, makes an excellent hat.

Crochet, being inherently less stretchy than knitting, has its own challenges in creating hats. I think a crocheted hat must be closer to the actual head measurement than does a knit hat.

I found this nice reference about sizing kids hats at the website for Little Lids. (They've got great kids hats!!) Note how quickly a child's head becomes an adult or near adult sized head. This makes for easy gift giving. I also use the size listing for preemature babies at Bev's Country Cottage.

Thankfully, knitted hats are much easier than hats created using felt or buckram or any other method.

That being said, my current house-elf hat, is knit flat, according to Sally Melville's pattern, from p. 54 of The Knit Stitch book. The fabric has a measured length of 18 inches, which means, when I sew it up, the finished hat is likely to have a finished circumference of slightly less than 18 inches. It should fit an older child or small-headed adult. Again, I dislike the yarn, so it may end up as a charity drive gift.

The yarn is not bad, it's a fine german sock yarn (Lana Grossa). It would make a fine sock. But, silly me, I chose to knit it as a hat. It's not the yarn's fault that I didn't listen to it.

Perfect Birthday

2006-06-26T10:45:00.000-07:00

My brother's birthday is the day before mine, June 24. My husband's is June 21. Mine is June 25, the perfect birthday. Why is it perfect? Because it is the opposite of Christmas, making for equally spaced gift-giving opportunities.

I feel like I had a practically perfect birthday this year.

My husband gave me this beautiful gift for my birthday,

available at Abundant Yarn. I love this silver needle gauge. It makes an interesting necklace. And those who know that it is a knitting device immediately know that you are a knitter.

What a good husband I have! He loves to give me jewelry and I love to receive it, especially when it's something that I adore as much as this piece. I'm wearing it now.

I spent some of my Sunday at Knit-Purl, in my final lesson on the Elizabeth Zimmerman Baby Surprise Jacket. I left some supplies there (needles bought at-gasp-another LYS) so I will have to visit them again. Perhaps I will buy yarn when I retrieve my needles. I seamed up the shoulders of the Hippy Baby Sweater and have started on its I-cord border. It's coming along nicely, but I will probably have to donate it away because it is, to my mind, truly hideous. This shoulder seaming practice has given me the confidence to proceed with the other sweaters. We'll have those babies all bundled up by the end of the summer.

My husband got a pair of concert tickets to see Pink Martini at their concert at the Portland Zoo later this summer. He says he loves it. My brother got a variety of stuff, but from us he got a fishing pole. He and Husband have been talking fishing. I hope they get out on the water in the next six weeks or so. My brother has the coolest friends. It was so much fun to spend time with them.

I finished the left-hand Fingerless Garter(stitch) Mitt. I only did 26 rows after the elongated stitch section. Next, I have to re-string another 56 beads and cast on for the right-hand mitt. Hope I've got enough yarn.

I'm trying the garter-stitch hat from Sally Melville's The Knit Stitch book. I didn't swatch and it's turning out to be nearly adult size, although I'm in a fingering weight yarn and size two needles. The pattern calls for size fours and, I think, a DK weight. My hat is going to be nearly 18 inches in diameter. I want to try her method of decreasing, and then size it down for preemie size.

I still haven't gotten my pink or purple yarn to improve my mood, after all the ugly house-elf hats I'm knitting. The Sally Melville hat qualifies as a house-elf hat. What was I thinking when I bought such yarn? I've got blue/brown sock yarn, and grey/brown sock yarn. Yuck. Let's knit it up for charity hats or socks, and open up some stash space. I'm thinking Koigu KPPPM.

More good news: Precious, the mama cat we fostered, was adopted on my birthday. Hooray for her! I believe all three of the kittens were adopted on Saturday. They are undoubtedly getting lots of loving as we speak. June is still Adopt-A-Cat month. You have several more days to get yours.

Hermione and me

2006-06-22T11:37:00.000-07:00

I am enjoying making the tiny baby hats, to donate at some unspecified future point to some hospital in the area, for preemies. It has, however, brought to mind Hermione's knitting of horrible, ugly hats for house elves in the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling. What was that, book 2 and 3, when she was on her house-elf freedom kick? I'm wondering if that theme will show up in book 7. And worse yet, Hermione's hats were unwanted by the recipients. Shudder!

I shall have to find some good pink or purple yarn to improve my outlook. Color therapy.

I am inspired by TiaJudy's pattern and other discussions of short-row sectioned garter stitch hats. I'm trying one in straight garter stitch. I'm trying one with a stockinette stitch band, rather than a cable. That one may work well if worn "inside out" - as if one can tell with garter stitch - and the edge folded up, which is exactly how the stockinette stitch section prefers to lay.

I am liking this better than my earlier ribbed watch hats. Those are perfectly respectable and useful items, but I am liking this option, too.

Speaking of house elves and other hopeless causes, our foster kittens will be returned to the Oregon Humane Society today. The mama cat, Precious, and three smaller kittens, Linus, Lamb, and Love, will be spayed/neutered on Friday and should be available for adoption on Saturday. They are delightful and beautiful cats. I always feel a little fear for them, as I have no further control over their lives. I hope that our fraidy cat, Love, gets a calm and preferably adult home where she can hide out for the next two weeks without being chased down and having a relationship forced on her. I hope that their new families will love them as much as I do. (That's usually what happens.)

One reason why we needed to return the foster cats to OHS is because we're going to take Dad & MaryAnn's cat, Baby, for their long european vacation. Cats are, in general, not big fans of vacation tours. So, the guest cat room belongs to Baby, not to the endless string of OHS guests, at least for the next month.

I am very much like Hermione, I think. We share a love of academics, male student friends who were perhaps not quite as bright as we were, a strong sense of right and wrong, and a sincere affection for following the rules. That, and sometimes non-beautiful hair.

The more you look, the more you see

2006-06-20T14:59:00.000-07:00

The title is a quote from Yann Martel's novel Life of Pi, which is now playing in my vehicle.

Last night I knitted the Baby Cable Cap from TiaJudy. Her site is fabulous and the little cable cap is irresistible. I just grabbed some sock yarn from my stash and knitted it up. This yarn does not show the cabling to best advantage, so if I make it again using magic yarn, I may just skip the cable and do straight garter stitch. I love the way the striping came out. This is a preemie size, measuring about 5 inches wide, when measured flat, and about 4 inches tall. Now I just gotta find the right folks to get it to Legacy Emanuel or OHSU patients, which is where most of the local NICU patients probably end up. Some youngster dad of a newborn boy may just love this hat. I think it's got 'tude.

I think TiaJudy's pattern may have an error in the odd numbered cable rows (rows 3, 7, and 11), as, if one followed them exactly as written, you would start the cable two stitches before you reached the stockinette section. She tells you, in row 2 to purl the cable section, knit 10 and turn the work. Then in row 3, she tells you to knit 8 and then work the cable. I don't think this would work, so I ignored the instructions, knit down to the cable, and turned the cable. I am the boss of my own knitting. And I'm sure she didn't mean it that way.

Next time I do this pattern, I'm going to review the directions for cabling without using a cable needle. That would make it much easier.

Heather, who I met at Knit-Purl (specifically, at their Thursday evening knitting event), has invited me to a knitters potluck tonight. What fun! I think, if one is planning a knitter's potluck that one would have an unwritten rule to avoid finger foods, so the guests could move directly from the meal to the knitting, without having to stop and wash. Would that work? Heather suggests potato salad, so I will be off in search of potato salad. Definitely a fork food.

I'm still working on the Fingerless Garter(stitch) Mitts. They're coming along. Still gotta finish those baby jackets.

Laid Back Weekend

2006-06-19T08:50:00.000-07:00

We had a nice laid back weekend. In other words, Dear Husband did lots of work and I admired it.

DH re-did the front flowerbed and added river rock and pebbles to cover the bed, as opposed to bark dust or another cover dressing. It looks great. We're all hoping that the cats will find this treatment as unappealing as we find it appealing. It has beautiful grey rocks with green ferns and hostas rising above it. It looks almost like one of those dry stream bed features we've seen on TV shows. But it's at our house. Astounding.

I did a personal yarn crawl (Mabel's Cafe and Knittery, Close-Knit, and Abundant Yarn & Dyeworks) and paid someone else to wash Snickers the dog. I acquired short size 3 DPNs to finish the Hippy Baby Sweater.

I, then, did not even touch the Hippy Baby Sweater. I finished knitting the body of the White Baby Surprise Jacket, which I must have finished by Sunday, June 25, for the final class. I did not sew seams or work on trim for either the Blue/Purple BSJ, or the Pink/Green BSJ.

On another positive note, Lenny and LollyPop, our two former foster kittens were adopted out via the Oregon Humane Society on Saturday. They should be adjusting to their new homes soon. I wish them and their new families many good years together. The remaining three kittens should go to OHS later on this week. They're little cuties, too.

We got together with my Dad on Saturday and ate some marvelous Jamaican food. Then we listened to MaryAnn's choir in concert. Delightful. DH got in touch with two out of three dads by phone on father's day. I'm not sure about the card situation. He always chooses terrific cards.

DH wants a really cool nickname for me to use when I refer to him on the web, but we haven't come up with one yet. He's a foamer (meaning a railroad fan, one of those guys who hangs out at the railroad crossings, with camera, foaming at the mouth, hence the term foamer), but I think that the reference is too obscure. In other words, I'd have to explain it over and over again. He's former Army guy, a former trucker, an incredibly hard worker. He can't be The Pants, a la Carrieoke. We'll think about an excellent nickname for him.

2006-06-16T13:08:00.000-07:00

At last, I have purchased and prepared my gift to my One-Skein Secret Pal. Hooray! I'll drop it in the mail today. Alas, I fear that my computer bungling may have revealed my name to her, but I'll pretend that she cannot possibly know that, and send it off anyway. (As if she and I might actually know each other. We're half a continent away from each other! But hey, maybe she's found my blog.)

I have not received my skein from my One Skein Secret Pal. I'm waiting hopefully.

Stephknits recently posted a comment on my One Skein Exchange post from earlier in May. Steph, I don't have your email or your blog, but would love to have that info! I hear there are some great yarn stores in Bend, Oregon, but we haven't gotten over the mountains to visit recently. Have you gotten your package yet?

Two of my foster kittens are available for adoption at the Oregon Humane Society. They also have a great petcam into the kitten room, which sometimes shows glimpses of the mania. Hopefully these little guys will have new homes by Sunday evening.

I knit several more rows on my Fingerless Mitts. This weekend, the main project is to finish one or three Baby Surprise Jackets.

I am currently enthralled with the photo of the persimmon lace shawl on the current issue of Knitter's Magazine (hope I remembered that name right). But lace? Me, knit lace? Am I ready? I shall have to call Jenny.

I'll be seeing my dad on Saturday for Father's Day dinner. Not sure if Dave will be getting together with any of his selection of dads. I sure hope so. We don't see those good fellows enough.

Radford's Fingerless Garter(stitch) Mitts

2006-06-14T08:50:00.000-07:00

Success at ripping back! I have successfully ripped back to the error on my Fingerless Garter(stitch) Mitts from the Leigh Radford book. The above photo is the Interweave Press image from the book. Mine are done in Brown Sheep Wildfoote sock yarn in Brilliant Bouquet. I'm using ruby red beads. I'm liking the effect. I'm on size zero needles (I know, I've complained about them before). I've now completed the extra wrap section and have to knit 30 more ridges of garter stitch to finish my first mitt. No problem. Just give me good light and boring television. Thankfully, these are both in good supply most summers.

This project has four bead rows in total. Just before row four I found that my skein had a join and therefore a knot. Drat! I had to move the fourteen beads beyond the knot and now I have a join at an edge on the top of my project. I was hoping I'd have a project with only two tails to weave in. Not this time. At least the join is on the wrist edge, not the knuckle edge, so there will be plenty of fabric to use to hide the tails.

I knit two swatches before I started. I hope that I have enough yarn to complete the project. I suppose that I can frog my swatches if need be.

This is my first project where I must create two closely identical pieces in order to be successful. In other words, mittens and socks should match and not look like they were knit by two different persons fifteen years apart. Unless of course, one wants them to look that way. But I usually prefer traditional matched or identical pieces.

For my white Baby Surprise Jacket, I think I'm planning on adding a stitch to the shorter front edge and removing a stitch from the longer front edge. Just to throw the whole thing totally out of square. I'll have to find a non-square baby to give it to. I'm also planning on finishing up two or three of the BSJs this weekend. I've gotta start giving them out. Either that or framing and hanging them on the walls.

Testing my abilities to post

2006-06-13T15:32:00.000-07:00

I'm following a tip from Janna to see if I can post a link the way all the other (fabulous) bloggers do. Hey, Janna, it actually works! Such a fine teacher and excellent help.

And, no, to the best of my knowlege our three little white kittens are not deaf. I'm not sure if I've actually tested that, though....

Their mom, named Precious, has two different colored eyes. I'm certain that she, the mama cat, is not deaf. She is a talkative beast who reminds us daily about our deficiencies as being her human servants. She's hoping for a much more attentive family once she finishes this motherhood stint. She must be a direct descendant of the temple cats of Egypt, because she wishes to be in the center of things with much affectionate attention. It is merely her due.

Two of the kittens, named LollyPop and Lenny, are going to the Oregon Humane Society tonight for their neuter operations tomorrow. I have no responsibility for their names, sorry. They should be available for adoption on Thursday or Friday. Hooray!

I'm enthused because while I was upstairs in the stinky foster kitty room last night, I realized that they seem to have destroyed one of the cables for my husband's PlayStation machine. It's just the plug that carries the video image from the PS to the TV-how important can that be??Ooops! I'll have to replace that before next winter. Husband's planning on tearing the carpet out in that room as soon as this set of fosters is back at OHS. It's a small price to pay to continue to be part of the solution to the cat issues locally. I am a big fan of Denise and Allison who do such excellent work as the foster coordinators at OHS.

The remaining three kittens are still under two pounds. Their names are Lamb, Love, and Linus. Again, these were the names on the paperwork I got. They'll stay at our house for another week or so of growth. They have to be two pounds for their spay or neuter operations.

And I didn't work on the knitting on Monday. Perhaps tonight.

Ode to Judy

2006-06-12T09:20:00.000-07:00

Okay, I had my second class with Judy Wilcox, who is billed at Knit-Purl as The Queen of Portland's Technical Knitters. This woman knows her stuff and is well deserving of her title as Queen. She was helpful with all my projects, not just the BSJ. She also patiently worked on the hopelessly tangled yarn of another student, a lowly task that she did without a word of complaint.

I'd not hesitate to ask her help with anything or to sign up for a class with her. I'm thinking of taking a beginning sock class and she's offering one. Perhaps she will see me there. She also teaches a Tips & Tricks class at Knit-Purl. That would be well-worth the time, I'm certain.

So, don't tell her that my nice white (fourth) BSJ has a nasty little problem that I'm off on the stitch counts. One side of the blamed thing is 2 stitches longer than the other. So now I'm considering how to remedy that one. Drat.

Going back to Saturday, then, I went with my brother and my husband to the 2006 North American Organic Brewers Festival. My bro & my husband both enjoy an excellent beer. I think all beer is swill and don't understand why anyone would drink the stuff. Yuck. I'm making 'bitter beer face' just thinking about it. I do like a hard cider (pear or apple) so I was just hoping to accompany the guys and perhaps maybe I'd get a few ounce sample of a hard cider. No such luck, but, even better, the people at Redstone Meadery were there, with their nectar (http://www.redstonemeadery.com/). Nectar is good. I liked 'em both, both the Black Raspberry and the Sunshine (apricot). I got to have four samples, so I was about as far gone as the boys were. (Which is to say, not much. No drunken carousing, sorry.) I also got to taste food from the restaurant Horn of Africa, up on N MLK Blvd. I'm hoping we'll be able to visit their restaurant soon. Great enjerra bread and nice vegan foods. Dave enjoyed their lemon garlic chicken, too.

There, in the middle of the pavillion surrounded by wonderful organic beers in little plastic mugs, was a woman knitting away on socks or anklets. I got to talk with her briefly although I failed to get her name. She was indeed Knitting In Public on the 2006 WorldWide Knit In Public Day! I was deeply ashamed that I had not brought my knitting. So we discussed the possibility that if the 2007 Organic Brewers Festival falls on the same day as the 2007 WorldWide Knit In Public Day that we could again, attend both festivals and knit with Organic Yarns. Perhaps we can get an Organic Yarn sponsor and set up a table. What a cool idea. Bro & Husband would happily volunteer to provide brawn (and get free entrance to the event) and support us 100%. Although I'm not sure that I'm going to be willing to teach persons who have consumed more than four samples how to knit for the first time ever.

I'll work on the knitting on Monday.

White kittens, white knitting.

2006-06-07T14:36:00.000-07:00

Well, I had a lovely post all ready to go, but Blogger experienced a problem and I lost all that brilliance. Alas.

Let me sum up.

We have five foster kittens at our house and their mother, who is named Precious. These are two of them wandering through the empty IKEA cd racks on the living room floor. Three of this litter are white (or nearly all white) males. The other two are tabbys, both female. They are delightful but rapidly approaching the manic phase of kittenhood, which generally lasts from the age of eight weeks to two or three years. They will soon go to the Oregon Humane Society (www.oregonhumane.org - must learn how to do a real link soon) for their spay/neuter operations and be available for adoption.

No really, there are two kittens in the photo. The second one is under the table, facing the camera, and reaching out his little white paw to tap at the one fleeing the paparazzi in the front.

I have cast on the fourth Baby Surprise Jacket. It is a white acrylic, for convenience sake, and I'll decorate it with some yarn I have in my stash. The stash yarn is also white acrylic with little foofy pastel chenille puffs attached. They stripe OK and I'm liking the added flair they give an otherwise plain little piece. This jacket is my official knit-for-class jacket for my BSJ class with one of my favorite LYS, Knit-Purl (www.knit-purl.com). The class is fabulous, and I am adoring the teacher, Judy, who knits quite well. I even got good diabetes advice after the knitting portion of the class.

In the evening, I was working along on my Leigh Radford One Skein Fingerless Garter(stitch) Mitts. I was admiring my work, and noticed a hole in my knitting. Aaarrrrgggh! I examined it more closely. This pattern has elongated stitches, with extra wraps. I thought perhaps it was an unintential yarnover. But no-it's a dreaded dropped stitch! I captured the little loop with a locking stitch holder and have set it aside for the time when I feel capable of repairing this piece. Remember, it's on teeny size ZERO needles, and the yarn is basically a navy. I may need to purchase one of those magnifying lamps that I see clamped to the desks of artisans and persons older than me.

Don't Tell

2006-06-05T09:14:00.000-07:00

I've finished the knitting for the body of the Hippy BSJ. I have not cast off, because I was watching the EZ DVD Knitting Glossary, and they have the I-Cord attached using the live loops of the knitting. So, if you bind-off, you have to pick up stitches to use to attach the I-cord. Why do that? It would seem to be an extra step. I'm such a lazy knitter. With the I-cord, I can bind off, create an edging, and create the buttonholes all at once.

I love the Elizabeth Zimmermann DVD Knitting Glossary. Thank you, Elizabeth, and thank you Meg Swansen of Schoolhouse Press for making this DVD and updating it. My only suggestion for improvement is better sound quality and perhaps captioning (although you'd have to be careful where you placed the captions to avoid obsuring the wonderful knitting demonstrations). My friend Becci, who crochets, has said that she learns best from demonstrations like this, rather than written words or still pictures, so today I'm wishing that I had a source for such a useful DVD of crochet techniques. I shall probably have to purchase this DVD. The copy I was watching belongs to Multnomah County Library, bless them.

So, now I have three finished Baby Surprise Jackets. I have woven in the ends on all three jackets, but have not seamed or edged any of them. My friends are all urging an I-cord border, but I'm not sure. Maybe I'll try a crochet border on one and see what I think.

I also have about half of the second side of my blue-green shell. That is on really big needles, so I could probably finish it up with a few more hours of devoted knitting. I'm hoping it fits me, since I lost a few pounds since I started it, way back when. I'm hoping that I find it flattering. I'm doubting it, since there is little shaping through the body. Also, the garment is designed in stockinette stitch without a lower border, so the bottom edge rolls up. I may look for a coordinating yarn and add a border. Hmm. Or not. The bulky, thick-thin yarn is hand-dyed with a great variance in the coloring. Not all of the skeins are as vivid as others. I know-this is an inherent quality of hand-dyed yarn. One must simply enjoy the yarn as it comes.

I've not worked on the Leigh Radford Garter(stitch) Mitts since the last post. I know that I'll be able to do them, despite the tiny needles and tiny yarn. It's just garter stitch, and some elongated stitches, and some cute little beads, which are easy as pie, once you know the technique. Okay, so most of knitting is like that. Don't tell.

I'm thinking that I need to lay off the needles and do some more reading about healthful eating when one is a diabetic. I have several books to work on, including one from the PCRM (Physicians Committee on Responsible Medicine) entitled Healthy Eating for Life to Prevent and Treat Diabetes. I've also gotta get up off the couch and walk, since I'm planning on walking in the Portland To Coast relay at the end of August. I have my orthotics now, and they have improved my level of foot pain. (My diagnosis is sesamoiditis. Doncha just love those fancy medical terms?) Hooray! Pain-free is the way to be.

Stripes, Lumps, and Bumps

2006-06-01T13:12:00.000-07:00

Here is a (dark) photo of the hippy BSJ. Several people have said that they love it.

I still hate it.

Perhaps I need more therapy.

I hate the way I get nice strong stripes on one side, with the colors lining up for several good rows of, for instance, white. On the other side, however, the colors will not line up and I will get rows of different colors, which leads to those bumps showing in different colors, as if it were the wrong side of the garment.

This colorway has lime green, white, almost navy blue, pink, and red. I was hoping it would be good for an unknown gender baby, but would a boy baby's parents' OK his wearing a funky little sweater like this, with pink and lime green in it? It's almost finished, so I can move right along to a project where I am much more fond of the yarn.

I have started the Fingerless Garter(stitch) Mitts, from Leigh Radford's book One Skein. On Size Zero needles. Gosh sakes. I'm gonna hafta pull out my reading glasses, which I don't generally wear, but for this project, they're a lifesaver. I've got some cool red beads for this one.

Oh, yeah. Speaking of babies, you gotta go to http://www.yarnharlot.ca/ and read Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's post on how to fake a hat. It's on today's date, under number 2 in the post. This is why she is the queen of knitting bloggers. Witty, useful, encouraging. And cute twin photos, too.

Hippy Baby Sweater

2006-06-01T07:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm back from the trip to Seattle. The funeral and gatherings went nicely, at least in my opinion. It's lovely to hear from people who have dear and loving memories of someone you knew too.

The hippy baby sweater is progressing nicely. It's about two-thirds completed. I've received several nice compliments on the yarn, which I think is very ugly.

The other projects were not touched at all, so I didn't have too much or too little knitting.

The dog did not like the trip at all. She's a stay-at-home dog. Snickers behaved very nicely in the hotels, except for some barking at the elevators. They were making threatening noises towards her, and allowed a large group of people to sneak up on her, after all.

Back to work, back to my household tasks, back to laundry.

I've got to complete the Hippy BSJ so that I can start my BSJ class at Knit-Purl on Sunday. Maybe I'll work on assembling the first two so I can give them to their babies.

Do I have enough knitting projects for this trip?

2006-05-28T14:51:00.000-07:00

Well, I finished the green & pink BSJ jacket, the one on which Snickers forced me to change needles unexpectedly. (The dog is just fine.) It is very nice.

I love how the stripes came out, so I will try to post a decent photo of it in the next week or so. Using the Knit-Along Notes from the KnitBabySurprise Group at Yahoo! Groups, I planned a border of 4 ridges (8 rows) green, then a striping of 4 ridges (8 rows) of the variegated yarn plus 1 ridge (2 rows) of the green, and finished with exactly 4 ridges (8 rows) on the other end in the green for a matching border. Quite a switch from the randomized, bold colors in the first one I did.

My only issue is size. This one came out LARGER than the blue & purple striped one. I used needles at least two sizes smaller(size 5 vs. size 8, I think), and I believed this yarn(Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece & Cascade Sierra Quattro) was slightly smaller than the Cascade 220 Superwash. I shall have to put them both down and measure for guage. It's a good thing that even though the sweater is going to be enormous for the baby girl as she is now, that in all likelihood, she'll grow enough in the next 24 months or so, that, at some point, it will fit her. Perhaps it is the stretchiness of the cotton-wool blend yarn.

I love the buttons that I found, for both jackets. Neither is really a classic baby or kid button, but I like them both. I need to sew them both up and get them ready to present to their respective recipients.

I've cast on another one, using Lion Brand Magic Stripe sock yarn, in the 'jellybean' colorway, on size 3 needles. This one is going to be smaller than the earlier ones. I am certain already.

One problem: I hate this colorway. It is striping nicely on the sleeves, but the alternating colors on the garter stitch rows in the back look far too random to me right now. I'm calling it the Hippy Baby Sweater. So, anyone in need of a Hippy baby sweater in about a 3-6 month size, in a nice mostly-wool, definitely washable? (In other words, I think I'm going to hate it so much that I won't be able to give it to anyone I know.)

I received word on Friday that my paternal grandmother had died. Joan had been ill for many years, with dementia of some sort, so the real good-byes had already been said. My aunt, who worked so hard as Joan's primary caregiver for many, many years, put together a nice 90th birthday celebration in February, which we were able to attend. It was a lovely day for all, despite Joan's persistence in trying to figure out who the guests were every two minutes or so. Her death means a three-day trip to Seattle for the service.

So, I have to figure out, do I have enough knitting projects for this trip? Do I have a good variety of projects to take with me? Are my projects small enough to travel with me.

On Saturday, I got to spend a few hours with Becci, who is a blogger in Portland, chronicaling her experiences on bedrest during her pregnancy. She has begun to crochet as part of her defense against the twin demons of boreom and anxiety that all such bedresting moms must fight. Becci showed me a few things about blogging and posting, and I watched her figure out how to edge her beautiful green baby blanket with nice even picots. It is a lovely piece and I hope she posts a photo soon. She's at-see I still don't know how to do this part- http://miraclebabyb.blogspot.com. My prayers are with her and with baby Dorothy, and husband/dad, Dave. Such nice folks.

I'll let you know how I progressed on this funeral roadtrip.

And no, I'm not actually going to knit during the service. Maybe if Joan had been a knitter that would have been OK, but she was more of a sewer and a cook, and one who would sing in the kitchen as she cleaned up.

Bad Dog! Bad Human!

2006-05-25T11:37:00.000-07:00

Here is a photo of our bad dog, Snickers.

Snickers is a bad dog today because, while we were out to dinner last night, she chewed on the needles I was working the current baby surprise jacket on. She likes bamboo. She also likes bamboo that I touch. I am a bad human today, because I did not totally close up the knitting project, with the tempting bamboo needles, safely it its knitting bag, nor did I remove the bag from the couch to a counter or tabletop.

Snickers is a 27-lb mixed-breed dog, who has lived with me since the fall of 2001. She is a good dog, but not a fan of knitting. Knitting means not going for a walk. Knitting means not going to the dog park. Knitting means not driving in the car with the window down. Knitting means not snacking.

I snapped off the damaged part of the needle and sanded it down, so it wouldn't snag the yarn when I worked it off. I had to wait until 9 am for a store to open that had 24" size 5 (US) needles. (Did you hear that? I had to wait until 9 am! Why are there no overnight knitting supply stores? There ought to be, for emergencies like this.)

The project is now moved onto metal, non-tempting needles, and ready for the next row. I also got cute buttons while I was at it.

Tuesdays

2006-05-23T12:32:00.000-07:00

I'm about halfway done on my second EZ BabySurprise Jacket. It's coming along nicely. My only fretting is about how the striping pattern will work through the body of the jacket and the extension for length. I'm still uncertain how I'm going to handle the button & finishing options for this one. I'm using a variegated Cascade Sierra, plus a Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in solid green. It reminds me of a flower garden getting ready to bloom. Perhaps I'll find little flower buttons, although I saw some faceted green ones that might look great on this.

(Sorry-again-about the lousy photo.)

I've got a dental appointment today, yuck. I've got a foot appointment on Thursday. DH is also under the weather. It's raining in Portland. Hmm. It must be a good day to knit. My anxiety level always rises before my dental appointments.

On the bright side, I met with my knitting coach & buddy Nancy over the weekend and that went well. She is a very nice person, with lots of good insights and ideas. Once I get this foot pain under control, perhaps we'll go for a walk.

One BabySurprise complete

2006-05-22T08:35:00.000-07:00

I've finished my first EZ Baby Surprise Jacket. I've cast on and am about one-third complete with my second.

These two garments are for my husband's co-workers. I think I have three more babies to knit for, one church friend, one of my co-workers, and a friend of my brother's.

I'm thinking of making the church friend's and the co-workers in a much smaller size and in a much more practical acrylic yarn. I shall have to think about nice trim, etc.

I'm also thinking that I would like to revive the chunky shell for myself, the one where I've finished one half of the sweater, but quit the second side after finding several flaws in this superbulky, handpainted yarn. Joining this yarn in the middle of a row is problematic for me. I'm not sure I can make the join invisible. So, I'll have to rip it out and re-start the second side of the sweater. The good news is, I'm much more confident in my technique than I was a year ago, so it should go quickly and I'm sure I'll be very happy with the results.

This yarn, for the sweater, is a blue-to-green colorway. It might felt nicely. Perhaps I could make a felted bowl from Leigh Radford's One Skein book. I love that project!

I'm working on more photos for the blog. I promise.

Knitting Coach

2006-05-16T10:04:00.000-07:00

Nancy, my knitting coach and buddy, has solved my problem brilliantly.

Hooray to wiser, more experienced friends who help out. I may be able finish this little sweater in the next few days. Dontchya just love a finished product?

Perhaps I'll be able to post my (awful) picture of my WIP. There it is! The darker stripes are a deep purple and the others are a nice medium gray. The metal flashes on the sides are my stitchholders.

Now I can obsess about the buttons and buttonholes.....

Pick up or pick up and knit?

2006-05-15T12:56:00.000-07:00

I'm proceeding nicely with the boy's Baby Surprise Jacket, by Elizabeth Zimmermann. My target baby was born in February (or March?) but weighed over 10 lbs. DH, who works with baby's father, keeps saying how remarkably large the boy is. I finished the increases & back extension, so the next row I'll knit is the row where one has to pick up the stitches on the side of the extension for the back length of the jacket (otherwise it would be a baby surprise bolero). I have picked up stitches before but am nervous about this one. Mostly I think I'm nervous because it's looking so nice and I am eager to produce a lovely wearable product for this family of whom I am fond.

I have thought ahead enough that I am going to be picking up in purple, so I planned a purple row as the bottom of the back section, and all my stitches on holders are also purple. But I'm troubled by the 'pick up and knit' instruction. Let's see if I can talk about it and show you what I'm worried about (since I cannot yet post photos).

A - - - - - - - - - - B

If that ^little graphic represents the edge of my garment, I'll be picking up from A to B, and the little dashes reprent the 10 stitches I have to pick up.

Now the question: is my complete action to draw the working yarn through the edge of the fabric, creating a working loop to use the next time I knit that row? Or, do I have to draw the working yarn through, creating that loop AND knit into the loop that I created?

If I have to do the 2nd (pick and knit), do I do it one stitch at a time? (Otherwise, I'm thinking that my working yarn will end up at B and I won't be able to work the stitches closer to A. Is that right?)

I'm thinking that the correct answer is the first one: to just pick up the stitches and knit into them the next time I come to them on the needles. I know, from the KnitBabySurprise group at Yahoo! Groups that I should turn the work over and pick up from the right side -to place the bumps on the wrong side. I was just going to try a few stitches and then look at it to see how I liked it.

Any ideas or insights? The last time I had to pick up and knit, it was to turn a rectangular piece of fabric into the bottom of a tote bag, which was to be fulled (felted) after it was knit. So it didn't really matter how it looked.

One Skein Exchange

2006-05-10T14:31:00.000-07:00

I'm SO EXCITED about participating in Interweave's One Skein Secret Pal Exchange. I just got my pal and hopefully the pal who got me will be sending me mail soon. I started this blog mostly for that exchange.

Obvious, isn't it, since I have no idea what I'm doing. But hey, at least I can type with some accuracy.

Here are my get-to-know-me answers!

1. Which yarn is most like your personality? 100% wool. Sometimes scratchy, easy to work with at the beginning, but watch out, she might felt up on you if you're not careful, and then she'll stiffen right up on you.

2. What is your favorite color yarn to knit/crochet with? I like blues and greens, often variegated, in cooler shades, like you'd see in rivers, lakes or the ocean, or a northwest forest.

3. Have you ever used variegated or magic yarns? Yes, I adore variegated yarns. I like them mostly within one color group or two closely related colors (such as blue and green).

4. Do you tend to favor certain fibers when choosing yarns? Yes, I have a decided fondness for soft merino wool. I like cotton and other naturals, too. I hate Red Heart, sorry.

5. Do you prefer center-pull or traditionally wound balls of yarn? I think I like center-pull. I thought someone told me that they were supposed to be pulled from the center. Are there more options?

6. Organic yarns? I've tried Blue Sky Organic Cotton, as shown in the Cable scarfs in the One Skein book. That's a fine yarn and I like it a lot (although I hope it stops shedding sometime in the next year). I'd say I'm neutral on the organic yarn thing. Give me organic strawberries anytime, though.

7. Projects in the last year? I started a bulky sweater, had some yarn problems, have to re-do the back of that one. I've made a scarf & hat for step-dau, using Blue Moon Lil Loops + Socks That Rock. That was a cool project and she liked it!! I'm nearly done with a double-cable scarf in Blue Sky Organic Cotton, started a few weeks ago at a class at Lint lead by Leigh Radford herself (how cool!). I've made a seed stitch hat in soft ivory wool for my Nana (she hated it-I have the hat now-it may be donated for charity). I also made her the Coronet hat (from Knitty.com) in white Caron acrylic (she liked that one pretty well). I've made a few watch caps. I'm now working on the EZ Baby Surprise Jacket in Cascade 220 Superwash. I may make a second EZ Baby Surprise Jacket using Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece-that yarn looks lovely. I've also made a set of mother-daughter scarves using Crystal Palace Waikiki in Code Pink for North Neighbor & North Kiddo. Oooh, yeah, used that same yarn to jazz up a cheap set of flip-flops with a crocheted ruffle.

8. Will you be knitting any gifts this year? I'm not sure...maybe lots and lots of scarves & hats for Christmas gifts. Oh, yeah, and my gift for my One-Skein secret pal-what will it be?? This year I am planning on knitting socks for the first time ever. I've never knit a sweater (including arms, that is), either.

9. What is your favorite One Skein project? From the book, I'm excited about doing the beaded wristlets. Leigh brought some to class and, although they're a smaller scale than I've ever attempted, I'm swatching now to start them! I also want to try the baby hats & bibs, and the felted bowls. I'm loving the double-cable scarf, although I'll admit to using a 2nd skein, a la the example blue scarf at Lint, and practically doubling the length.

10. How much yarn in the stash? Not much. Probably 12 skeins...I have it all in a clear plastic tote sitting in the living room so I can get at it. There is not much stash-dom at our house. I try to buy for projects, and then, to finish the projects. But then, I'm just starting.

11. Do you have a favorite stash yarn, so beloved that you can never use or part with it? No. Yarn is to be used and transformed into beautiful or useful objects, not stashed for the sake of stashing.

12. Do you knit less or differently in the summer? Uuhhh...I'm not sure how to answer. I started knitting again a couple of years ago when DH's mother was diagnosed with ALS. We were spending hours and hours every weekend providing respite care for her husband and I was bored stiff. So I started knitting. I knit several felted bags and was starting on some other felted projects when she died in June 2005. With her death, we had our weekends back again, so I didn't knit much last summer, but I'm not sure what's going to happen this summer. I know for sure I won't want a lapful of wool spread out over my legs in the summer heat. Maybe I'll be trying those cotton yarns again in the summer or those nice little projects out of Rowans Kidsilk Haze.

13. Do you belong to any knitting groups (online or inperson)? No, not officially, not yet. I have joined a couple of Yahoo! Groups with knitting themes, but I usually lurk. I also have knit in public at my LYS, the Naked Sheep in North Portland, once. I'm planning on knitting in public later this month at Knit-Purl, another great LYS, in downtown Portland. I'm thinking about finding out about the kntting guild's Master Knitter's program. Hmm....

Am I in danger of burning out? Too much knitting too soon? I hope not. Small projects. Finish them often. Perfect for One Skein knitting!

Still gotta figure out how to blog well, though.

Another new blogger

2006-05-03T14:30:00.000-07:00

So, who am I and why am I blogging?

I'm Lori. I live in Portland. I'm 40-something. I work. I knit. I serve the animals. I go to church. I have diabetes (type 2). I'm married. No kids. Right now, our household has 3 cats, 1 dog, and 6 guest cats, fosters from the Oregon Humane Society, a mama with 5 month-old kittens. I feel completely unworthy to blog. There are so many fabulous knitting blogs. But hey, why not blog?

I've been knitting for about 4 years now. I taught myself to crochet back in my mid-twenties, during a period of unemployment. I taught myself to knit using Maggie Righetti's marvelous book, Knitting in Plain English. I knit a triangular scarf, using lousy acrylic yarn, to learn the stitch and started on a blue afghan, using Red Heart-yeccch. The scarf disappeared years ago, and I'm going to toss out the blue afghan in the next two weeks.

Then, about a year ago, I took a class from a LYS-Portland has great LYS, btw-where I was breezily informed by my instructor that I was twisting my stitches, and I was going to have to learn to correct that before I could knit a sweater or anything else following a real pattern. How discouraging. It's taken me about a year to re-learn how to knit and purl correctly to get the yarn to lay at the correct angle on the needles.

Today's WIPs:
Pink scarf for my north neighbor. (3x3 rib in Crystal Palace Waikiki color Code Pink) This is a lovely little project and I'm liking it very well.

White Crocheted Nana Hat. I've been producing a series of white and near-white hats for my nana. I'm seeing her this weekend to give her the first two and see how she likes them.

Beaded Wristlets from Leigh Radford's One Skein book. I'm using Wildfoote sock yarn, and still swatching. I had to go from size 1 to size 0! I've never done a project on size zeros or done a project using beads.

Double Cable scarf from Leigh Radford's One Skein book. I took a class at Lint, a great LYS, from Leigh (may I call her Leigh?) and bought a second skein of yarn-oh my. I'm making the double-cable scarf in the Blue Sky Organic Cotton, as specified in the book. She made a scarf using that pattern, but in 10.5 needles, and with 16 cables on each end, making it about 5 feet long. I'm doing that. I'm on the second end of the scarf, have joined the second ball, and have, I think, about 5 more cabling rows to do, then the few inches at the end. It's lovely and my only regret is that it's probably going to be too heavy to wear in the summer months.

I am participating in the Interweave Press One Skein exchange-what fun-and eagerly awaiting the info for the person to whom I get to send skeins & a small project.

I just signed up for a class in the Elizabeth Zimmerman Baby Surprise Sweater, at Knit-Purl, another LYS, fabulous. I chose some Cascade 220 Superwash. That ought to be interesting.

I'll work on posting some photos & links in the next few weeks.