Brave new world

Finishing things is so very exciting. I love to see items nearing 100% on my Projects list, and then get done. Of course, it doesn't always mean that the other items that are languishing will then get attention. Oh, no. It often means I give myself permission to start oneortwoorfive new project(s).

I always have projects waiting in the wings. G was waiting very impatiently for me to finish a project (yay, done last night) in order to get started on a Captain Underpants for him. His face fell when I read the materials list and thought I didn't have an appropriate yarn for it (I'll use aran in place of the DK and I think it'll be fine).

I'm headed out on a trip soon, and selecting the appropriate projects is always a bit of fun. I think I'll bring a pair of socks I just started, and a bit of lace. I live in fear of not having knitting available, when the reality is that it is certainly possible I will knit a total of 4 stitches on the four days I'll be gone. Which is certainly OK, provided that the knitting time is replaced by major fun.

This is a test

As usual, I have many things OTN at the moment. Unusually, though, many of them are close to completion. I could get rid of 3 WIPs in one evening! Wouldn't *that* be something?

I finished the second clog for G's teacher. They look great! I love that green color. And after ripping the first clog for me, I'm almost done reknitting it correctly (without the random stripe going off sideways and resultant odd shape). I may be able to take them to Vegas, which would be ironic, as they are quite Burninatoresque. Just have to get them felted and dried. I have plenty of time. Right?

I'm also working on a swatch for my Must Have Cardigan. I had someone ask if it was a scarf, which is too funny, as it is a boring Here's the test question: Does a certain Burninator actually read my knitting blog? strip of 5" rectangles of stockinette stitch separated by a few rows of garter stitch, so I can try US7 through US9 for this sweater, and maybe not have to modify it too much to fit me (as the largest size is 41" and my actual bustline is 42", and folks say it runs small). There is a set of instructions out there to size it to 49", but 7" of positive ease is too much for me. (I may modify those to have just a few added motifs on the back to make more width.) Well, we'll see, as I plan to actually go the distance and wash and block my swatch before measuring (well, I'm curious, so I'll measure it before as well).

I am using the Russet colorway of the Patons Classic Merino Wool, and it really is lovely. But a smidge scratchy. I think Cascade 220 does win on the affordable-wool-that's-not-scratchy front. Well, Ella Rae Classic might edge Cascade out, but not by much.

And the K2P2 ribbed Alpaca Brush scarf continues to grow as I wait for G to get belted in, the car to warm up, and some long red lights to go green. I am loving this yarn and wondering what a snuggly sweater in it would be like.

I finished!

About 15 minutes before midnight, I finished G's socks. They turned out super cute! He wore them yesterday afternoon... and woke up today with 'hot feet.' I hope to God he isn't allergic to wool! (Although his rainbow sweater is wool and that never seemed to bother him.)





I also finished the felted pig purse. Honestly, I think it took longer to finish than it took to felt. First, I had to cut open the top, stuff it with paper (and two saucers for the ends), and baste the top shut so it wouldn't flare. Then I had to pin the tail in a spiral.

After it dried, I put the handles on (hand sewn with ribbons to hold them on), punched the feet through the bottom, cut and sewed in both pieces of the plastic mesh, tacked the ears up (they kept flopping), cut and sewed the lining (Pink Panther fabric, with special slots for magnets for the clasp), and then sewed it in.

She seemed really happy with it. I hope she is. It is still a big purse. But it is very cute.

I'm hoping to get some more near-FO's pushed over to the FO side soon, including the Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport "Rainbow" baby hat, which has mere inches (and a curly tie) to go.

Hm, I never did hear what my stepmom thought of the Anemoi mittens. I do hope she loved them. I was very pleased with how they turned out.

Socks! And not slow!

I'm knitting some basic socks for my son in some really cute self-striping Regia yarn (scroll down to "Paris" and imagine if the stripes were deeper). Self-striping is still such a treat for me: "Ooh! What's coming next? A blue stripe!" Yes, it doesn't take much, and I wasn't even liquored up at the time. (or is that correctly spelled 'likkered'?)

I started them, hm, Thursday? And finished the first sock in like 2 days. Turned the heel on the 2nd one this morning. Whee! It is so nice to have the end neatly in sight.

This is not to say that I haven't knitted on other projects or started still others. I cast on for a hot pad mitt for Mom in some gorgeous Taos in the Mesa colorway. Simple garter-stitch rectangle on size 11 Daisy needles, which are so light and plasticky that it thrills me in a very non-serious way. "Look! I'm knitting garter stitch on huge clunky light-blue needles!"

Not a lot of progress on other fronts. It did take me a while to realize that the felted clogs I've started take a lot of concentration in the "Don't TALK to me; I'm counting" sort of way. I guess I haven't knit something like that in a while. I've finally taken to blocking off everything but the line I'm on (or the first half of it) with post-its. I do love the yarn still, though. Yummy. (Color 9926: deep red with black. Kind of hellish. Fabulous.)

Hm, I think that's it. Am hoping to finish the socks today. G has insisted that he will not wear the first sock until the second one is done, because he would hate to lose it. He is so funny. This will be my first complete pair of sock for him. I'm really glad he is so excited about them.

Almost as glad as I am that they are so freakin' quick to knit.

Gratifying

I knit my sister a Palindrome scarf for Christmas, out of very soft "superfine merino" di.Ve' Zenith wool in a soft lime green color. She opened it up, put it on, and didn't take it off till bedtime (if then--I didn't check). *Wow*.

Made my mom a pair of socks out of my hand-dyed yarn. She said all the right things and tried them on then and there. The toes are clearly too long, but after offering to pull them out and re-do them three times, I gave up.

Made my dad a reversible hat in Cal colors. He didn't mention it, so I don't know if he'll wear it. If he does, I think it'll be very warm, which is good, because it gets pretty cold out where they are.

And for my stepmother, stranded mittens, extra long for her long fingers. She hasn't received them yet, as my sister will wrap them and bring them along for their late Christmas with the kids, Sunday, I think. I said to my sister to tell my stepmom that if she won't wear them, feel free to pass them on to someone who will--that I'd rather they get worn than not. She was shocked--"I'll take them! Or you should take them back!" (shrug) They were fun to make and at this point, I'm OK with someone outside the family getting them, if she will wear them.

In any case, it was so gratifying to see my sister ("Don't make me anything; I don't like handmade stuff") really like her scarf. And then she saw some of my handmade cards and liked them so much, she wants a tag punch box like I have... wow!

I'm still reeling a bit from this, but it is nice to have these things recognized. I really do enjoy the artistic outlet in the knitting and the cardmaking.

(But I do have to fight not to say I told you so. Or something.)

What am I, the anti-Grumperina?

A while ago, Grumperina declared, in front of God 'n' everybody, that she was no. longer. interested. in knitting sweaters. They displeased her in many ways, and despite being a capable and creative knitter, she is done with them. She will stick to socks and scarves and shawls, I believe she declared.

I have recently realized that I am just not very good at knitting socks. Or I have bad luck. Or something. In any case, I can knit sweaters, scarves, shawls, and stoles, but socks stymie me just way too damned often.

Not that I'm giving up, mind you. But I do feel rather severe declaring to the world that I Am Not A Good Sock Knitter.

Fortunately, this sentiment is outweighed by my yearning for a drawer full of handknit socks.

Maybe I can get my sister hooked on knitting socks...

Anemoi Mitts are DONE.

I'll likely post a finished pic at some point, but for now, I'm just heaving a sigh of relief. From my notes, I had the new cuff ready to be grafted on about Nov 7. As I finished last night, that shows how much I was dreading it. And it was a PITA... ripping upward, and picking stitches up when the row was a K1sl1 row, is unbelievably frustrating. I finally decided to go for it, even though I had stitches that actually crossed each other (shaking head). It ended up looking odd, but you know what? I'm done. And she may never notice the extraneous purl-looking rows just above the start of the cuff (did I graft it on flipped?). I'll notice, but hell, the colorwork still looks divine to me.

This is one of the last Christmas presents to make, and it's only December 2, so overall, I'm pretty happy. Plus, Dad stopped by yesterday, in town for Big Game (boo hoo), and I shipped lots of the presents off with him. I have one more for each of my nephew and niece, these mittens, and I think that's it. (Well, except for Mom's socks, on which I have 6.5" done--phew!--and I don't know if I'll be shipping it, as she hasn't decided whether she's coming down here for Christmas.)

Heaving a sign of relief... and getting back to Charade to power on down to the heel...

Hello Frogpond, My Old Friend

I've come to rip with you again...

Yep, 72 stitches = too big now. sigh Perhaps this is why I so rarely attempt socks? (I mean, who swatches sock yarn?)

The pattern calls for 64, so by God, I'm doing 64. See you at the shoreline.

ribbet ribbet rippit rippit

Moving right along

So now I have two items done (but could stand to be washed and blocked), one so close to done (replacing the cast-on for the Anemoi Mittens was not nearly as easy as I had thought), and one with a good start. Well, it was a good start, until my son pointed out that the Charade socks for mom out of my hand-dyed yarn were rather small. My swatch came out to 6 sts/in; my sock is 7.5 sts/in. Ah, me. Frogpond city. Oh, well, I only have about 3" done of them, I'm happy with the pattern (Nancy Bush's "On Your Toes Socks" generic toe-up sock pattern from IK Summer 2007 as a basis, and Charade for interest), and I'm VERY happy with how my yarn looks knat up.

So I'll frog and restart and be even better at it (that cast-on is a bitch). I'm feeling very good about everything (oh, and I finished G's Y-Kids teacher's black fluffy scarf, too!).

Phew. Maybe I'll even pick up Clapotis again.

Steaming ahead

The four main Christmas gifts I've selected are

* A Palindrome scarf for my sister in di.Vé Zenith (in 43394)
* A wide/narrow striped reversible stocking cap for my dad (Cal colors, of course) in Elann "Sock It To Me" Essential sock yarn (no longer available)
* Anemoi mittens in Hyacinth and Ash Knitpicks Palette yarn for my stepmom
* Socks (pattern TBD, maybe Charade) for my mom in the darker hand-dyed sock yarn I did at KnitCamp in April

I'm so happy to write that the first 2 are done, and the third is mere rows from being finished. I have decided that I hate the cast-on of the first mitten and am going to snip a thread (gasp!) and graft on a better start (just the first 6 rows) done on size 2s instead of 0s. (I can barely pull it on, and she has larger hands than I do!) But they are really lovely.

I wound out the yarn for Mom's socks, by weight, and snipped the yarn at 50 g of the 100g skein. Then, out of curiousity, weighed the other ball: sigh 57 grams. Argh. Oh, well, I'll have a little left over.

I'm also considering making a Teddy for G, but he's not terribly decisive these days... we'll see. Also, his is the only gift I don't need to ship. It will be interesting working on a secret project with him around, though. Although if I can continue to stick to his 8:30 bedtime, I'll have a full 1.5 hrs each night to work privately. Aah, private 'me' time. Loving it.

KIPing brings such odd bedfellows

I have been knitting while walking to/from my kid's school, mostly on Palindrome for my sister. Folks have the funniest comments.

One guy, leaving the school with my son's classmate, says to her, "Hey, she can teach you to knit, honey!" Truth is, I'd actually be happy to, but where are we supposed to do this thing? Plopped down on the blacktop, one day when we run into each other after school and both have time? Chances are slim...

And then today, a woman and her friend, who have commented on the scarf before, commented yet again, and one says, "Maybe tomorrow I bring [sic] yarn and needles and you show me!" And at first I thought, I'll just print out the pattern; that'll be easier. Then I realize that with the language barrier, it might just be easier to show her. Anyone know how to say "cable" in Chinese? K2P2 should be easy enough to communicate.

I'm getting a lot done and haven't yet been hit by a car, so that's good.

The other group of muggles

There is the one group of muggles that sees knitting and things "ho hum."

Then there is the other group that sees a k2p2 ribbed scarf and thinks you're discovering plutonium. It is a member of this group that saw me knitting on Palindrome last week and actually thought my row counter incremented by itself.

This is not the first time I've heard this. How would that work, anyway? Would it increment when you flipped that needle around to knit the other way? When you tapped it on a surface, kind of like one of those handheld stroke counters for golf?

When I then show the questioner how I rotate one side of the counter with my fingers, they are much less impressed. But still thinking that k2p2 is rocket science. And cables? Oh, man. That must be for very advanced knitters.

I frown at them. Learn to knit, people!

Look, a shiny thing!

Yep, I have another WIP. Ravelry has my WIP count as just 7, which is pretty reasonable for me. Well, anyway...

A sweet-talker at my church managed to get me to commit to making at least one knitted item for our upcoming Silent Auction at the annual Hometown Halloween bash. (She is very good.) Thankfully, the one I chose is super quick; I started yesterday and am on the third and final ball already. It's a simple garter-stitch shawl out of a ribbon yarn I picked up at KnitCamp 4/07 from the 'free' pile. It has very pretty colors, which was what first drew me to it, but it doesn't light my fire enough to keep it for me. What I didn't realize at the time is how very soft it is. I hope it will be chosen as a lovely, soft shawl by someone at the auction.

I also took out some other ribbon yarn I had marinating in the stash, as well as a ladder yarn and a viscose blend that is lovely. Maybe I'll make 1 or 2 more things and then get back to my Christmas knitting.

In other news: I bought buttons for Bristow! I looked at quite a few at my local Beverly's, and G offered his opinions, and we settled on a set of green buttons that really match the yarn beautifully. I had been sure I'd end up with gold or antiqued gold buttons, but none of them worked well. Quite a few overshadowed the lovely patterning in the sweater. And the green is such an amazing match. I laid the buttons out yesterday to mark the buttonholes and started picking up and knitting the stitches for the buttonhole band. Then I'll have the neckband to do, and c'est fini!

I took a photo, but not of me wearing it:

Bristow, needing buttons
Originally uploaded by RenaissanceWomn

I also got a photo of the Anemoi mittens I'm making for my stepmom. I'm on row 26 and still really enjoying it.

Anemoi mitten back
Originally uploaded by RenaissanceWomn

Anemoi mitten palm
Originally uploaded by RenaissanceWomn

Finally, I'm on the 2nd ball of 4 of the Palindrome scarf for my sister. I'm finally humming along on this one. (No pic update yet.)

Good thing I knit! I spent nearly an hour at the police station getting fingerprinted today. (Story at 11.)

Hoping not to jinx things

but I'm on row 16 of Anemoi and it's going (deep breath) well.

Pix soon, I swear!

The mitten seems big, but then I put it on, and it's fine on my hand. I hope my stepmom likes the colors. Realized today that they're really *my* colors. But I never did figure out what her colors are.... They are lovely, in any case. I really like the palm and the thumb. Never knew I was so drawn to regular pattern. It would be boring if there weren't a patterned back, but it really is fun in any case.

Am hoping to get my heinie to Britex tomorrow to buy buttons.

Part V

My charted chart was fine. I am stupid. And am ripping out rows 5-8 for, what, the fifth time?

Anemoi Smackdown, Part IV

After finishing row 10 of the chart last night, I compared the pattern side to the chart. Hm, couldn't make them match. Finally decided I was comparing light to dark and vice versa. Yeah, that's the ticket.

No, it's not. I had decided that I'd charted the chart backwards, and thus must knit from right-to-left...

and had knit the entire back of the mitten mirrored from what it should have been.

Somebody pass me a beer.

The path to Anemoi

Ready to cast on, all needles stacked up, look at pattern... get up. Go to computer. Look up "tubular cast-on." Get confused, because the online directions talk about knitting the stitches, joining them up with the provisional stitches, and continuing on... and the pattern talks about knitting it 'flat.' Hm. Try it on. It's a little tight. Decide to go forward.

Join MC and knit rows 1 and 2 of Corrugated Ribbing. Hey, not so bad. Repeat 11 times, on my way to 17; realize the cuff is rather long already. Reread directions; was supposed to repeat ROW 2 ONLY for the 17 times. Crud. Rip back.

Knit the 11 rows, then start the chart. Knit up to row 5, and find there are too many stitches. Read pattern: I was supposed to be doing fancy stuff during rows 1-4. Crud. Rip back.

Take a break, and chart the chart. Realize partway through the first row that using a black pen and a blue pen isn't going to cut it: they kinda look the same. Get out pink highlighter. Highlight every other number of stitches. Realize (duh) that I can highlight all the way up the page; every other column will be the MC stitches anyway! Get up to row 24; run out of room.

Realize that all of my charted chart rows start at the left, whereas I'll be knitting them from the right. Oh, well, they're still readable. Realize I'll be knitting the palm at the same time as the back of the hand; oh, well, it's much simpler; maybe I don't need to chart it. (famous last words)

Re-start knitting, according to charted chart. Works well. Get to Row 5, and there is an extra MC stitch. Put knitting down, turn off lights, go to sleep. Email Eunny in the morning.

Nearly there!

I packed up the pieces to Bristow for the camping trip last weekend, thinking that seaming a sweater around the campfire sounded fun. Well, it was! I really zoomed along, and got all the pieces seamed together. And at a knitting meetup at the Alameda library, I got the button band stitches all picked up, and three rows done of it! Boy, picking up stitches takes me like five times as long as actually knitting, even in seed stitch. I finished the button band last night. Can't believe how close I'm getting! Next, I need to pick out the buttons and decide how many buttonholes I'll need. Then, the collar, and I can wear it! Cool that it's coinciding with cooler weather.

I also got several more inches done on my sister's Palindrome scarf (which I know Rabbitch is going to finish before me, and I'll have to drive all the way to B.C. just to kill her), and just started the chart for the right Anemoi mitten. I had honestly forgotten how much I love doing charted knitting! And I'm still loving the colors. So pretty together.

Yippee!

P.S. The Alameda library meetup will be at least monthly, on a Sunday afternoon, about 3-5PM.

More fun that should be legal

I scoured two net bags of the fleece tonight. Oh, man, that was fun. I ended up washing it in Orvus detergent three times till I remembered Mom saying to wash it once and rinse it a bunch of times. I had washed, extracted it in the washer, and repeated twice before I decided to rinse 3-4 times and then finally extract the water in the washer.

It is an amazingly different color. The unwashed fleece is actually orange. The washed fleece is the loveliest soft white. But chock-full of bugs. I think I need to skirt it better next time.

Eee! Can't wait to see what it's like tomorrow!

My sister complimented my knitting

This is huge. This is my sister who keeps saying, "You know, you can buy socks in the store" and is amazed that anyone would buy yarn to knit. Yes, that sister. She looked at Bristow drying on the couch and said it looked beautiful. Then, after I'd unpinned all the pieces, she draped them all on me and we were both very pleased. It really looks great. I was worried I'd shortened the pieces too much, but they are exactly where they need to be. Not cropped, but right at 1" below my waist. Maybe I'll get it seamed this week.

She also liked the divé Zenith yarn I chose to knit her scarf in. I already screwed it up--decided I'd done the row count wrong and needed to cable that very row and then, once I'd ripped back, cabled, and looked at it, decided I had been right the first time: I really am on row 3. Argh.

I have also chosen sanity and am not making the cardigan for my mother for Christmas. I'll make her socks with my hand-dyed yarn from Knit Camp and work on the cardigan pattern at my leisure. Phew.

Oh, and I screwed up the Anemoi Mittens like four times now. Am re-doing the currogated ribbing yet again and am hopeful I finally read the directions right this time (I had done row 1 and 2 and then repeated both 17 times, whereas one is mean to repeat merely row 2 17 times. No wonder that ribbed cuff was looking deep after 11 repeats. Oy.)

Onward and upward!