Hey, hey, it's the Monkeys!

The Monkees were a fab phenom when I was in 6th grade. Yes, I'm older than dirt. A classmate, still unsure of what to do with her zeal for activism, tried to get a petition going to get the Monkees to come and play at our K-8 school. As if. She soon found better applications for her activist energies, and lived on a Kibbutz in Israel for a while. But I digress.



A different kind of Monkey.

I am one of the only living knitters never to have knit a pair of Monkey socks, but that is soon to be rectified. For the picot edge, a technique new to me, I used Claudia's blog post, January One's blog post, and Purlwise's blog post (but without the provisional cast-on), to help me learn this. I think I like it.

I love the Monkey pattern. It's now been memorized, for stress-free Turkey Day knitting while at my Mom's. So that hopefully I won't scream at anybody while there.

I just hope that there will be no Tofurkey. People, I've had Tofurkey. Once was more than enough.

May all of you who celebrate the holiday have a wonderful Thanksgiving, full of the foods and people that you love best.

Sonnet -- finally, some progress

I started this project over one year ago, and one of the reasons that I started blogging was to participate in a Sonnet KAL.

Alas, momentum did not yet get me to complete this project, but I did recently buy buttons for it at the TNNA show in Oakland this fall, and, more importantly, I have actually again begun to knit on it.



Here is the body, nearly done.

The pattern is Sonnet, on Knitty.com. The body is knit sideways in one piece, in garter stitch with bands of box stitch.

My first blog post ever, from May 6, 2006, shows the completed version of a Haiku, the child's version of Sonnet, that I made for my niece. Hence my blogname, Auntie Ann.

The buttons are not sewn on yet, nor have I made the buttonholes. I was persuaded that the sweater would look best with just two buttons toward the top, but I might finish the body and then wear it with a shawl clasp until I can figure out exactly where I want the buttons. Then I can put in afterthought buttonholes.



Here's a close-up of one of the two buttons I purchased for this sweater at TNNA. It is a Dichroic glass button, from Geddes Studio, Orangevale, CA. Luckily, I had some of the yarn for this sweater with me for a class. The woman staffing the booth has a great eye for color, let me tell you.

I am determined not to cast on any other projects (except socks -- must have socks on the needles for Thanksgiving with the family) until this is done. Today I will try to seam the shoulders and actually try on the body. Hopefully this will spur me on, rather than kill the momentum again. We shall see.

Moebius FO

I finished what may be the last of my holiday knits, since not everyone in the family is getting knitted gifts this year. It is by request, a short Moebius scarf:



Last year I made this Moebius scarf for my step-mom. This year her daughter requested one just like it.



Here's the stitch pattern, and a slightly better representation of the color. The yarn has blue and green plies twisted together, which I think gives a nice effect. I may make myself one like this from the "safety" skein, which I didn't need to touch.

I haven't blocked this yet. Must haul out the ironing board to do that (the twist dangles beneath, since a Moebius can't lie flat without being folded).

Just like the other one, it's based on Cat Bordhi's Arrow Lace Pathways scarf from her "Treasury of Magical Knitting", but I made it a bit short (so's the intended recipient) and left off the "fingers" that she uses in the bind-off. This was a very fast and fun knit, using less than one hank of Cascade 220.

And I had another FO over the weekend, the second Falling Water Sock. No second sock picture, sorry. Just look at the first one and cross your eyes to see the whole pair.

Look ma, I can do entrelac!

Well, what do you know, this wasn't quite as hard as I thought feared it would be:




OK, it's a little wonky, but hopefully blocking will sort it out.

The pattern is Alison's Entrelac Scarf, as modified by the KnittyOtter (with many thanks to Alison and KnittyOtter, and to Cookie, who pointed me to the pattern and tutorial). Also, I began with garter stitch squares instead of st stitch triangles, per a pattern in Knitted Shawls, Stoles, and Scarves by Nancie Wiseman. Maybe seed stitch next time, I'm not sure yet. Possibly there will also be tassels.

The yarn is Paton's Soy Wool Stripes, color Natural Plum, knit on US 9's. I have four skeins, so hopefully I can make a nice-sized scarf. I'm not sure yet who this is for, I was bitten by the entrelac bug for some reason (something going around?) and had to learn how. Actually, I think it was the other way around -- I read how so many people loved this yarn, bought a couple of skeins, and then searched for patterns to go with it. It seemed perfect for an entrelac scarf. Had to run back for 2 more skeins, it sounded as though the original 2 would not be enough.

This is so much fun, I have been distracted from two other WIP's that are so close to being done. One is the second Falling Water sock (just a few toe decrease rounds left), and the other is finishing the bind-off on yet another Moebius scarf (which is nothing but a big blob while it is still on the needles). Hopefully those will both be finished very soon.

Four Mitts

At our SnB last Friday night, friend and fellow stitcher Patty took these pix of M and me and our Stulpen. I have to say that neither M nor I are looking our best (well, I'm not, in any event), but the mitts look darn good, if I do say so myself.





Look, my 13-yo daughter will still hug me for a pic!