A new leaf

It's been a long time.  I don't know if anyone still reads this, but I'm plunging into the blog again.  But with a new focus this time.

I've changed the layout and look of the blog to something simpler, cleaner, less cluttered.  I plan on focusing more on knitting, crocheting, spinning and fiber arts than personal topics.

I'm starting the Master Knitting Certificate from The Knitting Guild Association, along with a small group of local knitters.  We'll be meeting monthly to compare notes and encourage each other, and I'll be posting on here about my personal progress through this program.  I expect this will take at least a couple of years, so I should have lots of fodder for the blog.

You'll get some of my personal knitting details as well, like this one; Greensleeves, my personal take on Mr. Greenjeans.

It's knit in Cascade Soft Spun, in Deep Forest, on my Knitter's Pride interchangable needles.  I used a US 8 for the body but switched to US 7 for the sleeve cuffs.  I used Mr. Greenjeans as a starting point for a top-down raglan, making a few modifications to personalize it.  I liked the 3/4 sleeves, but wanted a longer length, so I added 4 inches to the body after dividing for the sleeves.  I didn't think the cable ribbing around my middle would be particularly flattering so I knit in stockinette, only using 6 repeats of the cable ribbing on the bottom, which is the same amount I did on the sleeves. 

I blocked the body before adding the button band.  I find a light blocking makes picking up stitches easier.   I also made 5 buttonholes on the right front, rather than the single in the original.  I like the deep v-neck, but do wish I'd added a couple more buttonholes.  Of course, if I had done that, I wouldn't have been able to use the vintage leather ones from my stash since I only had 5.

I wore it for the first time yesterday, all day at work, and found it very comfortable, but maybe a little too warm for the office.  At the end of the day, I looked down and saw this:

Yes, two purl stitches in a stockinette rib.  The sleeves are knit top down, so a fix would be easy; I could tink out the bindoff, drop down to those two stitches, fix them and pick back up for the bindoff.  So far, they're not driving me crazy, so I may just let them be.  A non-knitter will never notice them, and knitters who see them will know the sweater was hand-made.  And isn't that the point, anyway?

Yooo Hooo! Any body here?

Yes, I realize I've been silent for a LOOOOONG time.   I've meant to get back to the blog, and this week a couple of friends sent nudging emails so here I am.  I'll try to give the long story short to get everything caught up. 

Last fall, our son and his wife separated.  You may remember that our son discovered he had a daughter from a relationship before he met his wife.  The pull of a relationship with his daughter, now 15, after missing so many years was too strong for him to resist, so he moved to Texas to be near her.

Since then, we've had the opportunity to "meet" our granddaughter via Skype, email, phone calls, and FaceBook.  It's wonderful to be able to see her, hear her voice, and keep in close touch with her.  Not nearly as wonderful as it would be to grab her and give her a giant hug, but close!

I'm not even going to try catching up on what I've knit in the last several months; frankly, I can't remember!  But my first original pattern was released to the world last fall!  Knitters, I present to you Haberdasher which was included in Beyond Toes: Knitting Adventures with Judy's Magic Cast-On by Judy Becker.  I've done 3 or 4 book signings and will do another one later this month.  The pattern seems very well recieved; everyone seems to like the design; but so far, no one except the test knitter has posted a project in Ravelry.  I'm dying to see more of them and how they turn out.  I'm also REALLY dreading that first "Dear Designer" letter telling me how badly I screwed up the directions!

More recently, I've been fortunate enough to recieve yarn support from Tactile Fiber Arts for more of my own designs.  I met with Maia in February to discuss some ideas and she was a wealth of information and encouragement.  She gave me some luscious yarns to work with, including a skein of her Occidental DK in Pomegrante.  From that first conversation came these:

Office Assistant Mitts, a free pattern on Ravelry.  The pattern has been up only a three days and it's been downloaded over 90 times!  I'm hoping Maia sells a ton of yarn for these; they only take a single skein and the Occidental DK makes them warm and luxurious.  They have a twisted edge that's worked flat before joining and knitting the rest of the mitts in the round.  Do you see that lovely little thumb gusset?  That little do-dah gave me a few headaches, let me tell you.  They're knit all in one piece without breaking the yarn, so only two ends to weave in.  If you knit a pair, please post them on Ravelry and let me know how you like the pattern.

I've still got a couple of skeins of yarn from Maia, and several patterns rolling around in my head, so there will be more to come.

Last, but certainly not least, we said goodbye to Andy Rooney at the end of March.  It was the hardest thing ToolMan and I have ever done, and I'm not sure we're over it yet.  Andy was a loving companion from the day we brought him home at 5 weeks old.  He ate with us, slept with us, traveled with us (although not well), made us laugh, aggravated us, and made us cry at the end.  Old age, diabetes, and Cushings' Disease finally caught up with him and his bad days outnumbered the good days.  It took weeks for us to make the decision and we second-guessed ourselves until the last minute.  And often still do.  Finally, we made the decision based on what was best for him, not the easy decision based on what we wanted. 

Good night, sweet boy.  We love you still.



The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Hang onto your hats, this is a pretty disjointed post because I'm trying to catch up to everything that's happened since OFFF.  First, the good:

I gave a demo of chain plying at OFFF.  This is the skein that resulted, which was just skeined and washed up today.  If it looks familiar, that's because it's the leftover of The Big Blue Thing.  I won't knit more turquoise lace, but I will knit turquoise worsted.

One of my co-workers is married to one of the county judges; they went to England, Wales and Scotland in August and brought me back some yarn!  WhooHoo; souvenir yarn from across the pond!  There's some lovely Rowan tweeds and kid silk in there, which are beautiful yarns and certainly nothing to turn up one's nose at.  And a fabulous skein of Noro in a colorway I hadn't seen before (My co-worker picked it because she loved the colors, so she may be getting that back in the form of a holiday present.)  But the ones that really stole my heart are the ones from Wales; hand spun and natural dyed by an indie dyer!  There's purple camel (Do you realize how rare Welsh camels are?) dyed with indigo and cochineal; some blue dyed with indigo, and a cream, blue, green variegated dyed with indigo, Welsh heathers and moss.  Be still my heart!  And some natural undyed as well.  I don't know whether to knit with these or enshrine them behind glass.

Here's some fabulous fiber from OFFF.  I was determined not to buy anything and I didn't.  Well, except for some antique knitting needles which I'll show you later.  I was happily spinning from my stash and chatting with friends when dear Karen walked up an put this in my lap.  Isn't it gorgeous?  It's black alpaca and merino over dyed in a dark eggplant purple. It's pin-drafted so it should spin up like butter!

And while I wasn't shopping, darling Bethany came by with a huge bump of this: white CVM and lilac angora.  The seller wouldn't split the 8 ounce bump but Bethany couldn't walk away from it.  Of course, she knew I'd be more than happy to take half of it off her hands.  This picture doesn't even begin to show how gorgeous this is.

Oh, another "good" but no picture:  ToolMan had a stress test a couple weeks ago that showed a blockage.  He had an angiogram on Thursday which came out clean as a whistle; it was a false positive on the stress test.

Onto the "bad": I went ass-over-teakettle up the courthouse steps Wednesday afternoon.  Yes, I fell UP the stairs.  Outside.  In the rain.  No serious damage except 3 broken fingernails and my pride.  I did get checked out at Urgent Care, just to be sure and get some pain meds.  I'm still really, really sore and the bruises are spectacular colors of blue, purple and green.  I'll spare you pictures since most of them are on places no one wants to see.

The "ugly" is this sweater.  No, not mine; one of my young attorneys was wearing this on Friday, with the unraveling pocket being held on with a safety pin, fer cryin' out loud!  I made her turn it over and told her she'd get it back on Monday after I repaired it.  I can't stand to see an unrepaired knit, even if it is a store-bought cotton sweater.

Not sure where this fits in the scheme I started here, but I have been knitting, slowly and seldom with my bruised and sore left arm.  On the needles currently is yet another pair of EZ's Sideways Socks for ToolMan.  Hey, they're on those antique needles I mentioned a few minutes ago.  

I bought 5 pairs of them; each size is a different color.  The tips are super pointy steel for about 3 inches, then the remaining 7 inches are enameled.  They're great for traveling knitting; the tips are super slick but the body is much grabbier.  And the sizes are funny:  each pair has two sizes on the end cape.  These have "2" on one side and "2 3/4" on the other side.  There's a set with "3" and "3 1/4"; one with "3" and "3 3/4"; etc.  I showed them around to my friends but no one knew what brand they are.  Anybody out there have a clue?

Weekend To Do List

ToolMan and I are looking forward to the long weekend; we've got lots of things to get done.  Here's our To Do List for tomorrow:

Shopping at Costco (the $200 dollar store)

Groceries at Winco

Get the laundry done

Vacuum and dust the living room

Make a fruit salad for the family get together on Sunday

Go to Urban Fiber Arts to deliver shawl pins (and for the Refresh Your Stash Sale)

Sew up latest pair of sideways socks for ToolMan

ToolMan needs to finish a couple more shawl pins

and after take-out Chinese for dinner tonight, we added one more thing:



Buy lottery tickets.

More Heads and Toes and Some Ears

I used up some of my hand spun odd balls to knit myself a little bag to carry around my mp3 player and while I was at it, I covered my ear buds in I-cord.  I thought this would be ideal for listening to audio books from the library, and it would be if my mp3 player was compatible with Windows 7 and hadn't reached its "end of life" according to the manufacturer, who is not providing upgrades or support any longer for this model.  Really, it's only about 4 years old!

At least the ear buds are long enough that I can listen to them on my laptop.

Remember the orange hat from last week?  That's it on the bottom right.  The others were handed to me at last Wednesday's Knit Night.  As I said, if you need to keep some little kids' heads warm, just ask some knitters and crocheters.  You'll be up to your eyeballs in hats before you know it.

As soon as I finished the orange hat, I cast on for another pair of sideways socks for ToolMan.  I feel a little guilty about not making more knitted things for him and he loves hand knit socks, so I'm trying to knit several pair for him this year.

It's a good thing this pattern is so fast and easy; I'm doing this one completely from memory.  ToolMan picked out this yarn; it's "Forest Fog" from Wildfoot.  I certainly hope it softens up when washed; right now, it's pretty scratchy.  And boringly gray to knit.  I tried to talk ToolMan into letting me do the mosaic pattern suggested by EZ, but he nixed that idea. 

If you need me, I'll be over here in the corner, knitting these gray socks and rocking, trying to find my "happy place".

From Head to Toes

Remember when I said that I was enchanted with the new Elizabeth Zimmerman book, Knit One Knit All?  That link to the book is for Amazon, but if you're going to buy it, please try to buy it from a bookstore; if we want to keep them around, then we have to shop at them.  Or get it from your local yarn shop, they'll appreciate it.

These are the garter stitch sideways socks from Knit One Knit All.  ToolMan loves handknit socks, and I like to knit so it works out pretty good.  He likes them not too tight, but not loose enough to be deemed "floppy"; taller than crew socks but not as high as knee socks; no pattern on the foot and very little on the leg; and he prefers a wool/bamboo blend.  But he's not picky or anything.

I've knit him several pairs of socks which he liked at first, but after they'd been washed a few times were either too short, too snug, or the dreaded "floppy".  So far, he seems pretty happy with these because they're stretchy but the garter stitch snuggs up well without ribbing.  And he gave a big thumbs up for this yarn; it's 70% merino, 30% bamboo from Frog Creek Fibers in their "Cinnamon Toast" colorway.

And they were a pretty fast knit; I finished the pair in less than a week.  After doing the first one, I didn't even need the pattern for the second sock.  Time will tell if this pattern becomes my go-to for man socks. 

This is what's currently on the needles: a sideways garter stitch hat.

I seem to have a thing for garter stich recently; I think it's from hanging out with Elizabeth Zimmerman books.  And that's not the real color; it more "hunter's orange" than the picture, but I didn't want to burn your eyes.  You can thank me later.

One of my friends, Maryanne, is in a church group that has committed to making sure every kid in Lincoln Street Elementary has a coat for this winter.  Lincoln Street Elementary is one of the poorest schools in the district; most of the kids are recent immigrants from Central America,  don't speak English, and a great many are undocumented.  

You know what goes great with coats?  Hand knitted hats!  And that, I know how to make.  Moreover, I know other people who also know how to make them, too.  I put out one post on Ravelry for hat knitters and yarn donations last Monday.  By Wednesday knit night, I had a big bag of donated yarn and at least 3 other knitters.   If you want to keep little kids warm, all you really have to do is tell a knitter.

 

Re-entry

As hard as re-entry to the regular world was after the first Sock Summit, it felt harder this time.  Maybe it's because I spent so much more time in the market and out amongst the knitters.  I know it's not possible, but what I really want to do is live there.  I'd be perfectly happy; living in a convention center full of knitters and spinners.  I bet I'm not the only one; I bet a you'd jump at the chance to do that, too!

Since we can't live there, let's fondle the stash enhancement acquired.  From the top clockwise:  The Sock Summit 2011 bag, a braid of Polwarth Rare Gems from Blue Moon, a self-striping no repeat cake of yarn from Sophie's Toes, a fiber sampler pack from Woolgatherings, a skein of sock yarn from Mountain Colors in Red Tailed Hawk; and a monster skein of over a pound of yarn from Newton's.

Details:  The bag is great; nice heavy canvas, sturdy straps, and front pockets.  I got one of these at SS09 and love it.  The braid from Blue Moon is one of Tina's "Rare Gems", meaning it's something that won't be repeated; at 9 ounces, it's definitely enough for a project.  The cake of yarn from Sophie's Toes is something I hadn't seen before: a self-striping, no repeat.  That's right: self-striping and NO REPEAT.  This colorway is "Cosmopolitan" and I think it might become a cowl for moi.  The fiber pack from Woolgatherings is 10 ounces; one ounce of 9 different breeds.  Since the colors are black to grey, browns, creams and white, I'm thinking this will become either a shaded shawl or the color work yoke on a sweater.  Hmm, I have that black merino top from OFFF last year; maybe I'll combine them for a sweater?  The Mountain Colors sock yarn is for ToolMan's socks; I thought he'd like the Red Tailed Hawk colorway and I wasn't wrong.

Remember when I had to pack up the wheel and all it's parts for Fleece to Foot?  One of the things I had to do was finish up the singles I had on my bobbins.  The fiber was a couple of buns from Barbara that had been lounging in my stash.  I spun them fine, plied them with a silk thread for a nice lace weight yarn.  Even though it looks brown, there is a lot of rose pink in this and just a touch of sparkle.  It should be a pretty cowl.

I didn't take any knitting with me to Sock Summit.  I know from experience that I don't get any knitting done, no matter how simple and straightforward the pattern is.  After working on the Big Blue Thing, I was in the mood for big yarn, big needles, and a fast project.  Harmonia's Rings to the rescue!

Sivia Harding is a genius with this pattern; it goes fast, it's just challenging enough to be interesting without being too difficult, and it knits up fast.  I finished this one in 4 days.  It's soaking in the sink right now.  But I have to decide whether to keep it or put it in the Christmas Present box.  Well, maybe I could wear it just once or twice.

Ooops! I did it again!

No, I'm not going all Brittany Spears on you, I'm just referring to my neglect of this poor blog!  We've had lots of things going on, most of which I can't blog about. 

DS has returned from visiting his daughter, gone back there, then back here, and is now back there.   Things are still in a bit of a turmoil on that front.

Barbara will be coming to visit for Sock Summit II in July, which means I've got to get the guest room cleaned up.  Unfortunately, there is a LOT of organizing that needs to happen in there.

I have been wearing the Tangle Yoke Sweater several times a week and I LOVE it.  It's definitely my first choice for spring warmth.  Our weather has been chilly and cold; perfect sweater weather.  Until yesterday, when it hit 80+ degrees.

Andy Rooney was sick, very sick, a few weeks ago.  Sick enough that we thought we might lose him.  He eventually pulled out of it and is pretty much back to his old self.  He was 14 years old in January, so we know we won't have him too much longer. 

ToolMan and I continue to love this house; we are sooooo comfortable here.  We enjoy having all the big windows and views of the neighborhood and watching all the little kiddos playing up and down the street.  We'd like a few things to make it more comfortable: front porch chairs (we'll be the two neighborhood old fogies in rockers), a dresser for the master bedroom, and stash storage in the guest room. 

Not much spinning has been going on; I have several bobbins that need to be plied.  Knitting has been happening, although without a great deal of progress.  I'm still working on the Big Blue Thing.  I was out to the border, but had to rip out 13 rows and start it over.  Now I'm finally back to where I started the border.  Next time, pictures.  I promise!

The $.25 Tour

Well, we've been in the new house 3 weeks and we're mostly unpacked and settled in.

The living room is done; a few more pictures and some accessories to be added from the last boxes to be unpacked.

The dining room finally came together today.  I desperately want to be rid of the mini-blinds; they are beyond ugly.

The kitchen is finally organized enough that we can mostly find what we're looking for.  We love the utility room; it has a pantry closet and back door to the yard.

The new hutch has been filled with our dishes.  Our everyday stoneware looks so classy in there!

We can finally see the floor in the master bedroom.  There are lots of things we love about this house:  the cathedral ceilings, the floor plan, the architectural details.  The french doors in the master with it's own patio is definitely a plus.  The pink verticals, however, definitely have to go.  Whoever invented these things should be shot.

Another thing we love is the master bath with the big shower; walk in, double size, two seats, two massaging shower heads, trackless doors, and a heat lamp.  It's perfect for loosing up stiff joints and steaming out sore muscles.

The guest bath  done.  In fact, DIL has used it the last couple of weekends while DS is in Texas.  He should be home next week; we can't wait to hear all about his trip.  Hopefully, he'll have some pictures of the newly found granddaughter to share!

One of the bedrooms will become ToolMan's office.  He picked out and assembled a new computer desk.  We've still got some unpacking to do in here and pictures to hang and more mini blinds to be banished.  I may leave my spinning wheel in here; the light is really good for spinning.

The guestroom was cleared out just enough for DIL to use.  I've been using the bed for piling up pictures and artwork that needs to be hung.  Most of my knitting and spinning things have made their way in here, 

including most of the stash.  Some stash wound up in the garage, and the holiday decorations in here somehow.  I'll get sorted eventually into some organization.  And I'm getting rid of those damned verticals, if it's the last thing I do.

Oh, the best thing about this house?  No stairs!

At Long Last

Tangled Yoke is finally done!  It got delayed with the packing, moving, and unpacking from one house to another.  I found the project bag on Friday and got the last sleeve finished today.

DS is in Texas, meeting his newly discovered daugher, so DIL stayed the weekend with us.  This afternoon, she helped me dig through the button box to find enough buttons in the right color of green.  It's been washed and is now drying in the laundry room.  Hopefully, I'll get to wear it to knit night this week.

And here's a picture of our new nest.  It's a 1946 cottage that's been moved onto a new foundation, got new innards such as plumbing and wiring, a new roof and a new garage.

But it's not really blue; I keep changing it to gray but Picasa doesn't believe me.

Up to my neck

Yeah; I finally made it up to the neck on this danged sweater!  Actually, I made it up to the neck, knitted the neck band, folded it over, picked up stitches on the inside and did a three-needle bind off.  And got it skewed to one side.  So I tinked back the bind off and did it again.  It's still skewed a little bit, but I think it'll come out in the blocking.  And frankly, I'm getting sick of ripping this thing back and reknitting it.

I also did the button bands this week.  The pattern calls for them to be only 4 rows, but they looked a little wimpy so I made them 6 rows.  I did make the 3-stitch buttonholes using EZ's one-row method.  I hadn't done those before; it's a pretty neat trick that I'll keep using.

And yes, that is a container from blank CD/DVDs that my yarn is in.  My ball winder makes cakes that just fit inside so ToolMan cut off the spindle inside and made a nice smooth opening in the center for me.  The yarn pulls nicely from the center and the ball stays neat and clean inside no matter how much I drag my knitting from home to work to knit night. 

This afternoon, I carefully pulled out the crochet chain and picked up the stitches for the left sleeve on dpns. Then I had to make notes on reversing the tapering for the sleeves. The pattern has the sleeves knit up and joined to the body before the yoke is knitted. But since my yarn is limited, I made only the top six rows of each sleeve for joining. Now, I can knit them down until they're the right length, or I run out of yarn. I have about 2/3 of a ball plus another full ball, so I think I might have just enough for full length sleeves.

Now that I'm on the sleeves, I should make pretty good progress on this thing.  Especially now that Dancing With The Stars starts tomorrow and American Idol is in full swing.  I really like Lauren Alaina, but I think a boy will win this year.  Will it be Paul McDonald with his raspy tenor and crazy dancing, or Scotty McCreery with his country twang that's way down deep, or James Durbin with his not-so-bad boy rocker persona?  Who's your favorite for this year? 

Will Wonders Never Cease

I finally made it to the last row of the Tangled Cable chart.

I found a couple places where I had crossed the cables the wrong way but I was able to drop the stitches and reknit using a pair of dpns.

I love how the cables are mirrored.  It really isn't this color; it's a marl yarn with one ply of sage green and one of khaki.  

Next comes the short rows for the back neck shaping and the collar.  After these cables, it should be a piece o' cake. 

Bite Me

On Sunday, I made it to Row 7 of the Tangled Cable chart.

On Monday, I found that I had omitted the 5-in-1 increases 2 rows back and had to rip them out.  Much loud cursing and gnashing of teeth ensued.

Tonight, I get to knit those 2 rows again.  Hoo boy, I can hardly wait.

A Slice of Humble Pie

I've been knitting for a long time, so I like to think that I can knit anything I want.  I'm not a master knitter by any stretch, but I'm far from a beginner.  After all, there are a LOT of things I can do in knitting.  I can knit socks on dpns, magic loop, 2 circulars, and traveling loop.  I can cable with or with out a cable needle.  I can do colorwork in fair isle, stranded, mosaic, slipped stitch and intarsia.  I can knit lace, cables, bobbles, nupps, and textured patterns.  I can knit garments that are seamless in the round, or flat and seamed.  I've knit knockoffs of couture pieces from a single picture on the Internet, made improvements on a pattern by using different techniques, and written patterns.  

Then why is this sweater kicking my arse so badly? 



It took almost all week to slog through that four inches after joining the sleeve parts.  On Thursday night, I counted my stitches and was right on target.  Although I almost never use a lifeline, I decided to put one in only because this is knit on such a small gauge.  Then I knit the decrease row, counted stitches again, and was right on target.  So far, so good.  I would have the whole weekend to knit the 18 rows of tangled cable.

Friday night, I was ready for the set-up row.  After dinner, I gathered everything I needed for a few hours of knitting on the tangled cables.  There are sections of the tangled cable that are repeated 12 times so I knew I was going to need practically every stitch marker I own.  I had a large glass of iced tea, some caramel corn, the tangled cable chart, a highlighter pen, and the remote control for the telly.  I carefully started knitting the set-up row, which is on the wrong side and includes lots of five-in-one increases, putting markers between every section.  Andy Rooney interrupted me a couple times, needing either in or out of his chair, or to go outside, or a biscuit, or a drink.  I finally made it to the end of the set up row, turned to the right side and started the first right-side row of the tangled cables.  Halfway through the row, I found that I had knit half of the set-up row when I should have purled.  Ripping back to the lifeline began, with much loud cursing.

Saturday night, I was all set to go again.  This time I made it through the set-up row and the first two rows of the chart without problems.  I'm glad this wool is sticky enough to be able to cable without a needle, otherwise it would be even slower going.  Tonight I got another 5 rows done, which doesn't sound like much but I am extraordinarily proud of them.

Excuse me; I have to go eat some pie now.

Back In The Saddle

Since I got my spinning mojo back during the Seattle to Portland Yarn Train Crawl, I've been spending more time with the wheel.  Last week, Cindy (my favorite LYS owner!), asked a few of us if we'd come down to Urban Fiber Arts to spin and be interviewed about it by Neighborhood Notes.

ToolMan and I headed downtown early, but Rachel (digging in her basket) and Sari (her hands are on the right side there) were already settled in and well on their way to filling the first bobbins.

It wasn't long before Melissa from Neighborhood Notes showed up with her list of questions.  I think we probably overwhelmed her.  We talked about process versus product spinning, methods of fiber prep, the zen relaxation of spinning, designing yarns and garments, the teaching of nearly lost crafts, the history of spinning and spinning wheels, traditional garments, the industrialization of garment making, the resurgence of craft in a post-modern society, and cupcakes.

That's right cupcakes!  While we'd been talking, ToolMan had entertained himself by walking the neighborhood, people watching, and window shopping.  About the time we were winding down, he took orders for Cupcake Jones and returned with four What's Up Doc? and one Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.

Guess who wanted Cookie Dough?  That would be Rachel, of course!  ToolMan made her pose in front of the new display of his shawl pins in exchange for the cupcake.  Notice the one she's wearing on her shawl?  It's one ToolMan made just for her; it's a sea turtle made of walnut burl.

I've been slogging along on the Tangled Yoke Cardigan.  It'll be great when it's done, but at a gauge of 32 stitches and 36 rows to 4 inches, it is slooooooooow going.

Three weeks I've been working on this thing and it still looks like a lump.  A bigger lump, but still a lump.  I'm somewhat worried about having enough yarn to finish.  I know, helluva time to think of that, isn't it?  The pattern called for the sleeves to be knit up from the cuff and joined to the body then knit up to the neckline.  Because I barely have the yarn yardage the pattern calls for, I decided to knit the top six rows of the sleeves (starting with a provisional cast on), joining them and knitting up to the neck.  Then I'll do the neckline and button bands before picking up the sleeve stitches and knitting them down.  I hope I have enough for long sleeves but if I only make it to 3/4 sleeves, I can live with that. 

Excuse me, but now I have to get back to slogging up the yoke on this thing. 

True Confession

I love knitting to television shows. 

American Idol is good knitting television.

Almost as good as Dancing With The Stars.

But neither of those quite filled the bill for knitting this sweater, what with it's rows of 276 stitches in light fingering weight yarn on size 5 needles.

That calls for the best knitting television show of all time!

I must confess, I am a total Gleek!

Speed Bumps

I finished ToolMan's socks last week but he's wearing them in bed and you really don't want to see pictures of that, do you?

Dolly has been repaired and is back home on her shelf.  I'm a bad blogger who forgot to take pictures.

I need another sweater, especially a cardigan so I picked the Tangled Yoke Cardigan pattern and started swatching last week.  And then came the speed bumps.

The pattern was written to knit in one piece, flat; but I decided to knit in the round and steek.  Really, that was my plan.   I can only claim temporarily insanity because that's the only reason I can think of that I would even consider voluntarily steeking a cardigan.  I did, however, get gauge right off the bat while knitting in the round. 

But then I came to my senses and decided to actually follow the pattern.  So, I ripped out the circular swatch and reknit the swatch.  And didn't get gauge.  Crap. Switched needles and got stitch gauge but not row gauge.  Back up in needle size and hit gauge, both stitch and row with the needles I originally started with.  Go figure.  Anyway, I ripped out the swatch and cast on.

Knitted the first row and realized it was 2 stitches short.  Crap.  I added on the two stitches with a knitted cast on and knitted happily along.

Knitted about 3 inches rows and realized my markers were in the wrong places.  I had too many on one side front and not enough on the other, and just the right amount in the back section.  Which meant my side seams were all catywompus.  Crap.  I ripped out and started again.

This time, I was smart enough to put in my markers while casting on.  Checked and double checked stitch counts before knitting.  Got the right numbers in all sections, and merrily knitted for about 3 inches.  Realized there's an error in the pattern and the side seams in the garter rib are not symmetrical.  Crap.  Now, asymmetrical side seams might not be the kind of thing that might not bother you, but I KNOW it will drive me absolutely bat-shit crazy.  Double checked the pattern and realized I had mis-read the pattern.  Crap.  More ripping and cursing followed.

Cast on yet again, using stitch markers again to make certain I have the right count, again.  Knit the first row, while actually reading the pattern this time.  Knit the second row while actually reading the pattern this time.  Knitted a few more rows and examined to make sure everything is symmetrical, the right count, the right gauge (because we all know swatches are lying little bastards), and the measurement matched the pattern.  So I began actually knitting the sweater and not something that would later turn out to be crap.

So, after knitting on this thing on Wednesday night, Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday afternoon and evening, and almost the entire day Sunday, this is how much knitting I have done on this frikkin' sweater:

That's right, three inches.  God help me when I get to the cables.

Hello, Dolly!

This is Dolly; at least that's what I've been calling her.  She belongs to a co-worker, Laurie, who asked me to do a little repair work on her.  Laurie thinks Dolly might have been made by her grandmother; she's obviously handmade.  Her body and clothes are made of squares, about 4 inches square, handwoven of wool yarn.  Her body is very firmly stuffed with cotton and her features are embroidered with cotton floss. 

Unfortunately, Dolly's showing her age.  The back of her little booties and the top of her little dress have become brittle and the weaving has started breaking.  One braid has come undone and she could use a little freshening up. 

I'm almost finished with the socks that were started last week.  I've finished the first sock and only have about 25 rounds to do on the second one.  Today, I realized that I've been knitting these on US 1s and my standard formula for ToolMan is on US 2s.  So these may not turn out to be ToolMan socks after all; I may add them to my drawer instead.

ToolMan's been busy this week, too. The cold weather means he can't work as fast; pins have to come in to the house to warm up and get their finishes.  Here are a few he's been working on:

 His pins have been selling well at Urban Fiber Arts.  So well that we're closing down the ArtFire shop; the bother of getting good pictures, monitoring the shop, and shipping just aren't worth the trouble.  And there's no way to show on ArtFire just how special these pieces are; they're each unique little works of art that need to be held and tried on to find the one for you.  

This bag is something I'm working on filling up.  I signed up for a swap on Thrifty Knitters in Ravelry.  The swap has a $10 limit and has to have enough yarn for a project plus other goodies found in thrift shops. 



You can see from the bag that there are already quite a few things in the bag for the swap.  But you'll have to wait until it's delivered to the recipient before I can reveal what's inside.  I don't want to spoil the surprise!