Auntie Ann Knits

Pride 2011

2011-06-27T09:59:00.000-07:00

Things I learned (or was reminded of) yesterday at SF Pride:

1. Always arrive earlier than you think you need to for public transportation.

2. Cheap feather boas are a bit itchy, and shed a lot.

3. Most people look better with clothing on.

4. It’s generally more fun to be in the parade than watching it.

5. Don’t underestimate the importance of sunscreen.

6. It takes a lot of planning and work to throw an enormous party. Don’t neglect the safety personnel and precautions.

7. Don’t skip the voluntary donation at the gate. See #6.

8. It takes a long time to get anywhere through an enormous crowd. Keep calm and take your time.

9. Big parties can be lots of fun!

10. It takes a while to get all of the feathery bits out of your other clothing after wearing a feather boa.

More actual knitting!

2009-12-08T16:08:00.000-08:00

I've made loads of things I haven't blogged about yet. Some I have even forgotten to take pictures of before giving them away. Bad blogger!

I made two Shedir hats (the PDF of the pattern is here), one for my cousin and one for a friend, both of whom lost their hair to chemo, and both of whom are doing much better now. I have no pictures, though, so I'm going to cheat and use a picture I have of another one I made:

This one was for Lisa, who is now also doing well. The two I don't have a picture of are a denim blue color.

A while back I took an evening and crocheted this water bottle holder:

This gets used often.

I used to crochet a fair amount. Usually I insist on using a pattern for something -- not so with this one. It seemed like more bother to use a pattern than it would be worth. I grabbed a hook and some cotton yarn and away I went. I take this to my exercise class, and it makes the bottle much easier to hang onto on the walk home, when I'm also wrangling the dog. Ginger has never met a smell she didn't like. I should make another, though -- DD swapped me her red water bottle for this blue one, and I'd rather have something that went with the bottle better.

OK, I realize that is getting really picky.

This one is still around, but in a completely different form! I wore it only once in this form, which is the Slouchy Copy Cat Hat. There's nothing wrong with the pattern, I think I chose the wrong yarn for the pattern. I didn't like the drape I was getting with this yarn (Plymouth Yarn Encore Worsted, an acrylic/wool blend) and thought it was most unflattering. There's nothing wrong with the yarn, either, it was just a mis-match. I re-knit the yarn into a Koolhaas Hat. Much better! I love this pattern, and at last count I think I have made 7 or 8 of them. DD stole this particular one. Here are four more:

Did I mention that I love this pattern?

I made a green one for Dad, a green one for Tim to replace the denim blue one that Ruth swiped (more on that later), a turquoise one for sister Laura, and denim blue ones for Tom and me.

I also love this one, but so far I have made only one:

This is the Grace Lace Beret in Jaeger Extra Fine Merino DK. I really like how this came out and want to knit one for myself. This one was a gift for Ruth. Ruth and Tim are friends of ours in England. We met them decades ago, when they were in our area on a one-year teacher exchange. We've stayed in touch ever since -- they've visited us here, and we've visited them there.

I saw them last summer when I took our Girl Scout Troop (yes, both girls and me -- that's our Troop!) as part of a larger group from the area to a huge Scout and Guide encampment in England. Here I am with Tim and Ruth:

I knit the Grace Lace Beret as a thank-you for Ruth, and a denim blue Koolhaas as a thank-you for Tim.

By the end of the day Ruth had stolen Tim's Koolhaas hat! It wasn't that she didn't like the beret -- she kept that one, too. So I knit him a new one and sent it over. I hope it has arrived all right. Oh, the joys of international shipping.

As for what I'm knitting now, I've got three projects going -- an Apres Surf Hoodie in a pale blue alpaca blend yarn, which will be for DD. This is yarn I got in one of our group yarn swaps. I seem to be the queen of getting free yarn at these things, because I always see possibilities in yarn that others don't want.

Either that or I'm nuts. The Apres Surf Hoodie is knit with fingering weight yarn on 2.75 mm needles. In a lace pattern. And this yarn is grabby -- frogging is difficult. I hate to think what the seaming is going to be like. On the other hand, it's gorgeous, if I do say so myself. I have done the body, now it needs to be blocked and seamed, and then the hood will need to be knit. This is a very long-term project -- I began it in the spring. (It's not the project that I've taken longest over, though -- at least not yet.)

I'm making some scarves for the Red Scarf Project. I'm making them in a color called Plum Heather. So sue me.

And of course, socks. Actually, I didn't make any socks for a while. Isn't that odd? It is for me. I guess I got a little burned out on them for a while. But now I want more hand-knit socks for myself, so I'm knitting more. Mom has also requested another pair. Red scarves first, though.

I made something else in red (free yarn, too!) and shipped that off to England just yesterday. It's lovely, if I do say so myself.

More on that later, though. Watch this space!

Boy, oh Boy -- Booties!

2009-10-25T11:29:00.000-07:00

I made booties for a friend recently:

She's having a baby boy.

This is mostly based on this pattern. I didn't do the garter stitch sole, but I probably should have. I knit them seamlessly in the round, though. I also found that I needed 24" of shoelace for each bootie. Instead of making i-cord laces, I just did a chain stitch with a crochet hook. I cut the circle and star out of craft felt. I glued the red stars to the white circles the night before the baby shower, and stitched the white circles to the booties and re-made the longer laces on the ferry on the way into the city that morning.

Whew! The mom-to-be seemed very pleased.

Fun with Zucchini

2009-10-16T15:23:00.000-07:00

I didn't manage to grow any zucchini on our patio this summer. Maybe I'll have to do it next summer, so that I can make this handy little item.

Celebrate Banned Books Week!

2009-09-25T12:54:00.000-07:00

Each year, the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom records hundreds of attempts by individuals and groups to have books removed from libraries shelves and from classrooms.

According to the Office for Intellectual Freedom, at least 42 of the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century have been the target of ban attempts.

The titles in bold represent banned or challenged books. For more information on why these books were challenged, visit challenged classics and the Banned Books Week Web site.

1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
3. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
5. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
6. Ulysses by James Joyce
7. Beloved by Toni Morrison
8. The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
9. 1984 by George Orwell
10. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
11. Lolita by Vladmir Nabokov
12. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
13. Charlotte's Web by E. B. White
14. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
15. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
16. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
17. Animal Farm by George Orwell
18. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
19. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
20. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
21. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
22. Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne
23. Their Eyes are Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
24. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
25. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
26. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
27. Native Son by Richard Wright
28. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
29. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
30. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
31. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
32. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
33. The Call of the Wild by Jack London
34. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
35. Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
36. Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin
37. The World According to Garp by John Irving
38. All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
39. A Room with a View by E. M. Forster
40. The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
41. Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally
42. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
43. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
44. Finnegans Wake by James Joyce
45. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
46. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
47. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
48. Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence
49. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
50. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
51. My Antonia by Willa Cather
52. Howards End by E. M. Forster
53. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
54. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
55. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
56. Jazz by Toni Morrison
57. Sophie's Choice by William Styron
58. Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
59. A Passage to India by E. M. Forster
60. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
61. A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor
62. Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
63. Orlando by Virginia Woolf
64. Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence
65. Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
66. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
67. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
68. Light in August by William Faulkner
69. The Wings of the Dove by Henry James
70. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
71. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
72. A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
73. Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
74. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
75. Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence
76. Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe
77. In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway
78. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein
79. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
80. The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
81. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
82. White Noise by Don DeLillo
83. O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
84. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
85. The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
86. Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad
87. The Bostonians by Henry James
88. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
89. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
90. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
91. This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
92. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
93. The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles
94. Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis
95. Kim by Rudyard Kipling
96. The Beautiful and the Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald
97. Rabbit, Run by John Updike
98. Where Angels Fear to Tread by E. M. Forster
99. Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
100. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

Celebrate! Read a banned book!

Rest in Peace, Mary Travers

2009-09-17T11:58:00.000-07:00

I grew up singing PP&M songs. I sang them with my friends and at camp. I became a camp counselor, and we sang their songs at camp.

I was so sad to hear that Mary had died. I spent yesterday evening watching YouTube videos of her singing. What a beautiful, melodious voice she had, and how she used that voice for peace and justice.

RIP, Mary. You are missed.

Oh, baby!

2009-07-11T12:38:00.000-07:00

Next door they're expecting another grandbaby any time now.

Clearly that calls for another baby blanket.

This is the Star Doily Blanket (that is a Ravelry link -- there used to be a non-Ravelry link but it's been changed). It's an adaptation made by Alexis Layton of a vintage doily pattern.

I knit it with Cascade Sierra, a worsted weight wool/cotton yarn on US 9 needles. It's knit from the center out, so that it's ideal for a knit-'til-I-run-out-of-yarn type of project. I knit until the point that I thought it was 'big enough', yet enough yarn was left for a baby sweater for a baby to be named later. I used about 2.5 skeins. I added a picot cast-off, and it's about 36" across.

Knitting the center star was fun, and the stockinette portion was of course pretty darn mindless knitting. Sometimes that's just great, although lately I don't seem to enjoy it so much. Give me lace or cables any day! Stranded knitting now -- I still don't seem to have mastered that. Good thing there are always knitting challenges yet to come, huh?

This is for the younger sibling of the baby (now age 2 and a half) for whom I made the Log Cabin Baby Blanket. Since they had a larger blanket for the older sibling, I thought the new baby could use a smaller and lighter blanket. I gave it to the mom when she was going through some rough patches in the pregnancy, hoping to cheer her up a bit, and apparently big brother really likes the blanket, especially the center star.

#2 Tries Harder!

2009-07-08T17:12:00.000-07:00

Our local County Fair ended Sunday, and I won a red ribbon! I won second prize in the "knitted shawl" category.

Half done, with some help showing what it might look like blocked.

Blocking.

Half blocked. What a difference.

Moi, modeling my stole

I love this! It's the Twinings stole by Anne Hanson. The yarn is Karabella Lace Merino, a lovely, slightly heavier laceweight yarn. Is that an oxymoron? I used about 3.5 skeins. It blocked beautifully.

I knit it on US 7 Addi Lace needles. Love them.

The pattern is very clear. I made fewer repeats than called for since this is slightly heavier yarn on a needle one size larger than called for. It's plenty long.

There were a lot of knitting entries at our Fair this year, partly owing to Judy ~~flogging us harshly~~ gently encouraging us all to enter our items.

I think a lace binge is coming up. I can feel it. Just having trouble picking out the next item.

Meantime, I'm knitting the Apres Surf Hoodie for DD. No pics yet, though. I'm too busy basking in the glow of my red ribbon.

Incremental backwards . . . progress?

2009-07-03T08:19:00.000-07:00

Can I get away with calling this progress of a sort?

I mentioned before about my sun-damaged Falling Water scarf.

Adios, scarf!

Now I'm a tiny step closer to being able to re-dye it.

Lois's Shawl for Lisa

2009-06-22T09:06:00.000-07:00

I never met Lois, but Lois has touched my life, and now Lisa's.

Lois lived in our town, but I never knew her. When she passed away, DH was hired to help clear out her home. The family lived far away and wasn't interested in most of her 'stuff'. Clever man that he his, DH salvaged all of Lois's needles, hooks and yarn for me.

I know these things about Lois: she loved her tools and cared for them with love. She hand-sewed a sweet little case for her collection of crochet hooks, which range all the way down to a tiny size 15. She had a number of good quality scissors, and on each one she had crocheted yarn around one handle and affixed a needle threader.

In going through Lois's yarn, it became clear to me that Lois had meant to knit a prayer shawl for someone. There it all was: the needles, the pattern, and four skeins of Lion Brand Homespun yarn. One of the skeins had been hand-wound into a ball. Had she begun it, only to rip it out for some reason? Had she never started? I'll never know.

To pay the universe back for letting me have all of Lois's tools and leftover yarn, I decided to knit the prayer shawl. I am not exactly a praying type, and I wasn't sure who the shawl would go to. I figured the answer would probably come to me as I was knitting it.

When the shawl was nearly done, our neighbor and friend Lisa was hospitalized with pneumonia. Lisa has had a rough several years in terms of her health. She has undergone treatment for breast cancer, which (knock on wood) so far seems successful. She had an extremely painful bout of shingles. Her liver failed. She was in the hospital numerous times. Now she seems to be doing better on many fronts, but has just had cataract surgery on top of everything else.

Obviously the shawl should go to Lisa, it seemed to me.

And here is Lisa at our last knit night, wearing the shawl and knitting away.

Big enough for two!

When I took it around the corner to Lisa's, her husband's reaction was, "she'll wear that every night". It seems like a perfect thing for cuddling in front of the television. This is knit just like a big Grandmother's Favorite Dishcloth pattern, on the bias -- very simple.

I have to say that at first I didn't like knitting with this yarn. It's highly textured, making it a little splitty and grabby. I had to very deliberately knit much more loosely than I normally do (a good lesson for me, perhaps?). But the more I knit with it, the easier it became to do, and I do really like the result.

To Lois: I feel as though I did know you just a little after all, and I thank you.

We Won't Back Down

2009-05-26T13:08:00.000-07:00

I am sad beyond belief at the expected, but still very disappointing, ruling today by the California Supreme Court upholding Proposition 8, and so denying marriage equality to all same-sex couples, present and future, in the state, except for those 18,000 couples who married during the brief period last summer when they were legally allowed to marry.

This wouldn't have been the end of this struggle no matter what the ruling was, and now our path is clear -- we must put a new ballot initiative before the electorate to undo this wrong. Hopefully enough people will now see sense. The demographics are ever changing toward marriage equality.

The arc of the moral universe is long,
But it bends toward justice.
-Abolitionist Theodore Parker, c. 1850's

Upcycling!

2009-03-19T20:44:00.000-07:00

Here is a beautiful container of our daughter's favorite yogurt. Yum!

But what's that sticking out of the top?

Yarn, of course! The beautiful, naturally-dyed superwash merino fingering weight sock yarn from Tactile: A Fiber Arts Studio that I used for my Lace Ribbon Scarf, as I mentioned in my last post.

It certainly helps manage the yarn and keep it neat.

This is step one in creating your very own yarn holder. In my case, I used half a bag of leftover dry kidney beans from the pantry.

Step two? Use a pair of scissors and cut a slit and hole in the lid, natch.

Knit on!

Good News: Lace Ribbon Scarf; Bad News: Sun Damaged Scarf

2009-03-14T12:19:00.000-07:00

First, the good news!

I had a lot of fun knitting a Lace Ribbon Scarf.

Alas, I have become addicted to Addi Lace Turbos. So pointy! So fine! Well, it's better than a crack addiction, right?

The yarn is a beautiful, naturally-dyed superwash merino fingering weight sock yarn from Tactile: A Fiber Arts Studio. It's dyed with indigo, which means that it "crocked" (vocabulary word of the day) dye all over my hands as I knit. It's very interesting to have blue hands, and dark blue lines showing the precise path that I wind the yarn over my fingers to tension it. I should have taken a picture of my hands, but I was a bad blogger and didn't think of it.

This is the scarf in progress on ~~crack needles~~ Addi Lace Turbos, size 3. Also, you can see some beautifully purpley stitch markers from JL Yarnworks, and one of my own row counter stitch markers.

And here she is blocking. Pretty, yes? I love it, it's a lovely little decorative accent to spruce up my otherwise drab wardrobe.

And now the bad news.

Some of you with very long memories will remember that I started knitting a Falling Water Scarf a while back with some purple sock yarn that I just loved. I blogged about it here.

This is the "before" picture.

I finished the knitting, um, about 18 months ago? I'm not sure. And I stuck it in a bag to await blocking. At the time the household was rather unsettled, in the sense that we were doing a major remodel on our house. All three of us slept in the uninsulated, bare-studs living room for months, and for a couple of weeks we had to remove all of our belongings from the house and live at a motel. So -- I had a wee bit of trouble finding an area where I could block my scarf without insulation bits raining down on it or sawdust coating it. I should have borrowed a friend's spare room or something, but -- OK, I'll say it -- I got lazy. I stuck the scarf in a clear ziploc bag and let it sit on my desk in my home office, one of the relatively unscathed rooms during the remodel.

This is the "after" picture.

It was hard for me to photograph properly, but there is bad sun (or desklamp?) damage to this scarf now. It looks really crappy, to be blunt.

I am thinking of attempting to over-dye it with purple food coloring or Wilton's food color paste, both of which I have purchased. Again with the laziness and procrastination, right?

Any tips for me on dyeing? Help kick-start me into dyeing this, already!

More Row Counter Stitch Markers

2009-03-11T15:42:00.000-07:00

Yet more row counter stitch markers:

Two of these were a gift for someone in my Stitch 'n' Bitch, and the third is mine because I love purple (had you noticed?). Alas, the purple beads in the ring were a little smaller than the black ones I've used previously, the ring was too tight and it broke.

I will re-do the ring with black beads. Meanwhile I'm using it, but I have swiped a ring from one of my earlier efforts.

I might be over-doing it with the dangle on the bottom. As much as I like the look, it can tangle in the yarn a bit. We'll see, I can snip it off if I get too tired of it.

Boom-de-a-da, boom-de-a-da, boom-de-a-da, boom . . .

2009-02-12T09:37:00.000-08:00

Remember this song? Of course you do! Sing it with me!

Dragonfly socks

2009-01-06T10:51:00.000-08:00

I'm still catching up on FOs that I haven't yet blogged. This is the last of them for now, at least the last that I have taken pictures of but haven't blogged. I have two more pairs of socks and a hat that need photo sessions so that I can blog them.

And, for those of you with very long memories, I am this close to finishing my Sonnet sweater, which is about the same vintage as this blog -- that is, about two and half years old. Sad, ain't it? But the Sonnet is another story.

Today it is about the Dragonfly socks. The free pattern is here. It is designed to work well with hand-painted or variegated yarns or even self-striping yarns, and it does that very well. The designer cautions that it won't look good with the faux-Fair Isle type of self-striping yarns, and I have to agree with her on that. Then again, in general I've decided I'm not very fond of that type of yarn patterning.

Here is a close shot of one of them. The lace pattern is simple and elegant.

I love these! I will make them again, but I will either use smaller needles (I used 2.5 mm) or take a stitch out of the pattern repeat somehow, since I like my socks a little bit snugger. Also, the heel is a bit deeper than I need it.

Overall, though, a very nice and lovely pattern.

Spring Thaw Socks

2009-01-05T15:29:00.000-08:00

I am shocked, shocked, I tell you, to find out that ~~there is gambling going on here~~ I neglected to post any pictures of my Spring Thaw Socks.

This was one of those patterns that I knew I had to knit as soon as I saw the pattern. And I wanted to make an awesome gift for my friend Barb, who gave up a week of her life to come over every day and nurse me through recuperation from my ACL reconstruction (last May - ahem).

The pattern is from the Summer '08 Knitter's magazine, and you can see their pictures of it here. It is supposed to resemble leaves floating down the little rivulets that form in the spring thaw, or some such. I just thought it was beautiful.

Here's mine in progress:

You can also see my much-loved and much-used bead row counter. I think I need to make some more of these, for myself and as gifts.

Somehow I gave these away without taking any pictures of the finished socks themselves (how can this be???), but here are two of the almost-done sock:

ETA: I had to go back to Ravelry to look up the yarn, which luckily I had posted there. It is Lana Grossa Meilenweit, which comes in 100g skeins.

I think this is a beautiful, beautiful pattern, and I love the construction with the ribbing on the sides of the foot. I have actually made two more pairs sort of based on the construction (but without the fancy leaves and with 2x2 ribbing instead of 1x1 TBL ribbing), and they are the best-fitting socks I have, bar none. I'll post them -- but first I have to take pictures of them. (I may have to launder them first -- I wear them all the time.)

And Barb seemed quite delighted when I was finally able to give her these last month. I finished them way before that, but somehow we were never able to catch up with each other until December. Yes, I know I could have mailed them, but I selfishly wanted the pleasure of seeing her receive them.

And we were finally able to return her ice-cube machine, which was quite handy during the recuperation.

Thank you, Barb! Love ya!

Actual knitting content right here!

2009-01-03T14:24:00.000-08:00

I've been knitting a lot, but obviously I have fallen out of the habit of blogging my knitting. But earlier today I updated our knitting group's blog, and it felt good. Time to update some of my own knitting projects!

I made two helmet liners for the brother of a colleague. I don't support the war, but I still can support our service members.

Helmet Liner I

Helmet Liner II

~~Sorry, I didn’t save~~ I found the ball bands. It is ~~Regia or Opal or something similar~~Patons Kroy Socks – wool and nylon self-striping yarn, in colors that say “Desert Storm” to me and that Patons calls "Buckthorn Stripes", from Dharma Trading Company.

Each hat took one 50 gram ball of sock yarn. There’s some left over from Helmet Liner I, and none left over from Helmet Liner II.

Helmet Liner I seemed to me to be a little pointy and a little short, so I made a few mods so that Helmet Liner II is a little less pointy and one inch longer. The stripes worked out really well with this pattern, through sheer serendipity.

I heard back from my colleague's brother, who reports that, as I feared, Helmet Liner I is too short, but he says that Helmet Liner II is long enough and fits well under his helmet.

The pattern is Jamie's Helmet Liner, by Robin DeWeese. The pattern was inspired by a striped short-row hat in a heavier weight yarn. You can read what she has to say about her pattern on Ravelry.

I made some stitch markers for a neighbor and friend who has just completed her treatment for breast cancer. We're all keeping our fingers crossed for her.

And I made a set of row-counting stitch markers for a stitch marker swap on Ravelry. I'm not sure I ever blogged my own set of these, but you can see them here and there in various project pictures. I love these and use them all the time.

Hopefully, more actual knitting content soon. Happy New Year, everyone!

Best. Christmas. Present. Ever!

2008-12-27T16:55:00.000-08:00

Not to brag, but we (DH and me) got the Best. Christmas. Present. Ever!

Bar none.

I'm not kidding.

Ahem:

Ode to Parents

I am a voice you brought into this world of love and joy,
and for that and much more I thank you with the gift you have given me

You have given me a great gift,
this voice I have.
This home I have.
This life I have.

This body of flesh and bones
with a heart of love
and a brain of wisdom.
I still have much to learn.
But I trust you
to teach me well
passed the time I leave the nest.

Your guidance I will cherish always,
and your happiness and smiles
I will try to copy.

This is because I love you.

We love it.

sniff

Singing Claymation Camels!

2008-12-26T16:46:00.001-08:00

I missed them for years, but today it occurred to me that they must be on YouTube.

And they are!

Mothers and Marriage Equality

2008-12-08T15:58:00.000-08:00

The following came up in a debate on a Ravelry forum by member Farfalla (note: you have to be a member to view it), which I found to be wonderfully eloquent and moving.

"An argument has been coalescing in my mind recently, as more and more religious people are making me understand that their definition of marriage is “a specific type of union that is sanctified by God according to their beliefs.”

"I draw your attention to an adoptive mother. She is not, biologically, a mother. But she is legally (and socially and practically) a mother. But none of that will ever make her biologically a mother.

"Let’s say a group of people, for some reason, decided that it was patently ridiculous for someone to be legally allowed to use the term ‘mother’ and have all the rights & responsibilities associated with motherhood when they were clearly, factually, not a mother biologically. They decided that the definition of a mother was a female who had borne a child, and to that child, or children, she was now a mother. Well, that’s impossible to argue with, right? I mean, that’s the biological definition of mother.

"To those religious people who believe that a marriage is any union between any one man and woman and therefore sanctified, that definition is as true to them as the biological definition of mother is a true definition. But that’s the key–it’s only one definition of mother. Legally, mother has another meaning. You can be an adoptive mother without having to call it “civil parenthood” or “nonbiological parenthood” or some other weird word whose rights were not clearly defined already and may not be recognized even if legal. You’re just a mother – a different type of mother.

"So why can’t we do it this way with marriage? To be a biological mother or a legal mother you don’t have to fulfill the same criteria. It should be that to have a (sanctified according to some religions) marriage and a (legal; has nothing to do with religion) marriage you don’t have to have the same criteria, either.

"The stranger who swats the cat away from eating my hair at night pointed out that in Connecticut, the reason they wound up with gay marriage was that they tried separate but equal (the civil union thang) and people weren’t recognizing it. Like, they passed a law saying they were supposed to be treated equally, but people weren’t. It’s not just a word. It’s over a thousand individual rights. That’s one definition of marriage. The one some Christians talk about is clearly another one. We don’t need another word, just like we don’t need to call someone a life parent or some other contorted phrase when they’re a mom of an adopted kid."

In other news, I have knitted two helmet liners for a colleague's brother in Iraq, an 8" square for a group charity afghan, a beautiful pair of Dragonfly socks for myself, and a very simple, plain vanilla sock that is probably going to have to be frogged, boo.

Radical Knitting Exposed!

2008-12-04T15:58:00.001-08:00

OK, no pictures of my knitting, yet, but here is some knitting content at last!

The Colbert Report exposes dangerous radical knitting:

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Nailed 'Em - Radical Knitting

Colbert at Christmas
Colbert Christmas DVD

Green Screen
Bill O'Reilly Interview

Love will Prevail

2008-11-14T11:02:00.000-08:00

Someday I will post knitting pictures for you, I promise. I have even made some stitch markers that I think are very cool, and that I use to count rows and pattern row repeats. They are similar to those row counter bracelets, but they're stitch markers.

But for today, I think it is more important that I show you this short film, titled "Love Will Prevail", featuring my brother and BIL, about the aftermath of the passage of Proposition 8 here in California.

Tomorrow, November 15th, 2008, at 10:30 a.m. PST / 1:30 p.m. EST, there will be simultaneous protests against Proposition 8 and the other anti-marriage equality propositions that passed in Florida, Arkansas and Arizona on Nov. 4th

Most protests are at your local City Hall, or you can check http://jointheimpact.com/ for more details.

And remember -- Love Will Prevail.

Keith Olbermann on Prop. 8 and a new spinning wheel

2008-11-11T07:24:00.000-08:00

I promise, this is still a knitting blog. I have some pictures to post and everything.

At the moment, though, I am still extremely disturbed over the passage of Proposition 8 here in California. I went to one protest last weekend, and intend to go to another this coming weekend. On Nov. 15, there will be coordinated protests across the nation, from California to NYC. If you have any interest, check here.

Keith Olbermann of MSNBC had this to say on the subject of Prop. 8's passage:

The only thing that would have made it better would have been if he had said this before the election. Well, can't have everything.

In other (knitting-related!) news, I won a spinning wheel. The Knitters for Obama group on Ravelry had a contest to promote donations to the campaign, and I won a Louet S51 Double Treadle (DT) Finished Spinning Wheel. Is that awesome, or what? As soon as I figure out how to put it together, I'll be able to take on the challenge of learning to spin.

Just what I need, another hobby! The wheel is quite beautiful, though. DH, the woodworker, admired the lovely maple of the wheel and the workmanship. High praise, coming from him.

Please Vote No on Prop. 8

2008-10-29T22:26:00.000-07:00

Some of you have seen the photos I've posted here of the wedding between my brother and his partner of many years. That was a very, very happy day for the entire family. It was a wonderful day, not only because of their wedding, but because it seemed that everyone at San Francisco City Hall that day was filled with joy, whether they were there to marry, to attend a wedding, to show support for those marrying or to work at City Hall that day.

I imagine that most of you know that there is an initiative on the ballot in the election that is now less than a week away. Proposition 8 is aimed at eliminating the right that same-sex couples now have to marry in the state of California.

I have been donating time and money to the campaign to defeat Prop. 8 -- I don't understand why someone who doesn't want to marry a same-sex partner feels that they should try to take that right away from anyone else.

The most recent No on Prop. 8 ad features our senior US Senator, Dianne Feinstein:

I urge you all to vote No on 8 and to donate money to No on Prop. 8 if you can. It is coming down to the wire and more ads are needed to counter the flood of ads funded by the other side, the ones who want to take marriage away from only a specific group of people.

Please help.

Finally!

2008-08-21T18:19:00.000-07:00

Finally, my BBFF (best blog friend forever), Liz, and I met up! She was in our area for a national fencing competition, and I went to meet her. I missed her fencing, but together we visited The San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, where they had an interesting exhibit of very untraditional knitted items. Downright political, some of them. I took a few pictures, then realized I wasn't supposed to, so those won't appear here.

But here is a picture of Liz and me, taken in front of a display of crocheted coral reefs:

Finally, I have actually been pretty single-minded in my attention to a knitting project -- to the extent I have been finding time for knitting, that is. Things have been pretty crazy around here this summer, what with the remodel and actually moving out for a couple of weeks and everything. We have finally moved back into the house, although it is far from done. It will be months before I find some of my stuff, I'm sure.

But as I said, my knitting time has been going toward just one project, this one:

That's only part of the back, so it's not very exciting to look at for you, I suppose. I actually have the fronts and sleeves done already, so if I don't run out of yarn, I should be done soon. I could run out of yarn, though. It's going to be close. I got this yarn at Stitches in 2007, if you can believe that -- a 10-pack of DK merino in a lovely red color. I have to admit its not my favorite yarn, though, it has what to me is an unacceptable number of knots and flaws in the spinning, resulting in an enormous number of ends still to be woven in.

The pattern is the Refined Aran Jacket from the cover of the Winter 2007 Interweave Knits. I sure hope it turns out.

I also made more stitch markers. Apparently I am a magpie -- if it's shiny, I am drawn to buy it.

This is another adjustable pattern row counting marker, similar to this one.

I'm pretty happy with these.

And -- I finally have found a great knitting bag! I actually got this at the running shoe store, on sale.

The bottom is yoga mat material! Supposedly it was saved from being tossed into the landfill. I figure it will make the bottom water resistant -- and it makes the bag stand up.

Look, it has a built-in ~~water bottle holder~~ yarn bra and ~~key fob~~ yarn guide!

Freedom to Marry!

2008-06-19T12:27:00.000-07:00

Just married!

At 9:00, Tuesday, June 17, 2008, my brother Stuart and John, the love of his life and partner for over 21 years, were finally able to legally marry!

Stuart and John (my BIL!) are a bit famous in the marriage equality movement, plus they had one of the first appointments of the day, and the press were mobbing them – I couldn’t get any pix of the wedding itself because of the camera lights in my eyes. So the press got many more pictures than I did (better ones, too, I'm sure). Here are a few links:

Before the ceremony.
Exchanging rings.
From overhead.
A hug.
During the ceremony. You can even see me in this one, in the blue sweater.
Descending the central staircase. You can see me in this one, also.

This interview contains still pictures and audio of the entire ceremony, which was lovely, and performed by a judge for whom John used to clerk. It's about 5 minutes long.

This video is only about 2 minutes long, and is also lovely.

Two grooms

These were our wedding favors. Cute, yes? Sorry the picture is so blurry. Now you know why I am not a professional photographer. I could have gotten a better one by kneeling, despite my knee injury, but I am no Tiger Woods. In fact, I'm better. I already had my left ACL reconstructed.

One of the happy things Tuesday was that it was NOT all about the two of them – over 200 licenses were issued Tuesday at San Francisco City Hall, and dozens of ceremonies took place. Every 10 or 15 minutes, cheers would burst out as another happy couple walked down the grand staircase.

I have really come to expect to see the two of them on the news whenever there is news about marriage equality – but now, there are hundreds of couples involved, and it is wonderful.

We had a rehearsal dinner Monday night, then Tuesday we were at City Hall right after they opened (slight delay – they had to wand me due to my post-op leg brace setting off the metal detector). They had their license appointment at 8:15, and their ceremony appointment at 9:00. A judge for whom John once clerked performed the ceremony, and did a beautiful job.

The press mobbed them – sigh, a lovely small wedding, surrounded by dozens of photographers, a few of whom were disregarding their wishes and blocking out family and friends. However, we tried to be understanding – it was not just a family wedding, it was a historic occasion.

We were there most of the morning. A couple descending the grand staircase was invariably applauded by everyone in the rotunda. There were women there from a Unitarian church handing out cupcakes, people outside were singing and handing out flowers. All the protesters were missing Tuesday, having spent Monday evening vigorously protested the wedding of two octogenarians who had been together over 50 years. Don’t you think they’d all have something better to do??

Then we had a reception lunch. It was great fun, and exhausting, and energizing, too.

The current poll numbers seem to show that the marriage discrimination proposition won’t pass, but it’s a near thing at this point. Legal experts are divided on the effect of the proposition on existing marriages if it does pass, but I think most of the experts think it wouldn’t affect the legal marriages being performed now.

However, it was all about the joy and love on Tuesday. Hooray for marriage equality!

Four Finished Objects and a Knee

2008-06-01T16:15:00.000-07:00

Does that sound like the opening to a bad joke, or what? "Four FOs walked into a bar, see . . . .

Kyoto V-neck Cable Shell by Zukii Design.

The last will be first because I love it so much. I think this is the best thing I've knitted so far.

I love this sweater. It’s for my DD, and I might have to make one for myself as well. She fell in love with the pattern at Stitches West 08 and, although she knits, this is still beyond her. I wish the pattern had charts, but other than that it is well written and very detailed.

No mods, except for doing short-row shoulders and a three-needle bind-off instead of binding off and seaming per the pattern instructions. I guess I do have one small quibble there -- in this size the front shoulders are reduced down to 12 stitches and the back shoulders are reduced down to 9 stitches, plus a small back neck treatment that adds just enough room to pick up the three stitches to make up the difference, but it never tells you to do that. Overall, though, I'm very pleased with this pattern.

Berroco Comfort was recommended by the store for its washability and range of colors so that’s what we went with, although what I was really after was a cotton blend. The yarn was splitty to work with so I had to use a cable needle, even though these are only 4-stitch cables and normally I wouldn’t use a cable needle for those. Other than the splittiness it was very nice to work with.

Lisa's Shedir

My neighbor Lisa is currently struggling through breast cancer treatment. This Shedir is for her. It's in Rowan Calmer. Yes, it's almost the exact same color as the February Baby Sweaters I'm making. I never said originality was my strong suit.

When I gave it to her we got to chatting and mostly as a joke I mentioned to her the Knitty pattern for knitted prostheses. She has some cashmere, she tells me, and she might want some! I'm standing by to knit Tit Bits for her if she wants. Lisa has a great sense of humor and a wonderful family and a whole bunch of support. If you'd like to add your good thoughts for her, please do.

Gauge kicks my butt, again.

As in, I measured my gauge at 9 spi and the first sock came out huge. Over the course of things my gauge changed to 8 spi. I ended up frogging it back to the toe and re-knitting it.

However, all is now well and mom says that they fit. Interesting flashing with this yarn, which is what it’s designed to do. As long as mom likes them, which she does.

The yarn is Regia Galaxy, color Jupiter Blue. They are based on the
Riverbed Master Pattern by Cat Bordhi.

Carina's February Baby Sweater

Look, I already told you I'm not very original, and that I was making two February Baby Sweaters for two baby girls. Here's the second one. It is just like the first one, but a bit longer in the body and arms. I think I love the buttons (from JoAnn’s) even more than the buttons on the first one, which I also love.

When I told the new parents that the buttons aren't functional but have snaps underneath, they were ecstatic. It's a happy synchronicity that lack of foresight in planning buttonholes can lead to contented parents, that's all I can say. EZ's pattern tells you to make buttonholes every 8 garter ridges, but it doesn't tell you this until the yoke is completely done. Yeah, I'm not much of a one for "read the whole pattern before you begin." Now you know.

Now, as to the knee part of the bad joke -- the punch line is that I had knee surgery May 19th. I have a picture of my post-operative knee, but I'm not sure how to post it so that those of you who are squeamish don't have to see it. I'm not even sure I want people on Flickr to accidentally be subjected to it. Not that it's that bad, the wounds are closed already, but not everyone would want to see my leg with five holes punched in it plus an incision, so I don't think it's going up.

I tore my left knee up while skiing in February, and it took until May for the surgeon to find the time in his schedule for me. Not that it was that bad, mind you, but it sure cut down on the exercise. Maybe that accounts for the stream of FOs. And some of the flab.

Now it's fixed, so it's sort of an FO, too. I had meniscus repair and ACL reconstruction, so there's sewing and a couple of screws inside my left leg now. I still have a long way to go with physical therapy and must wear a big honking brace on my left leg until 6 weeks post-op. My friend Barb came over every day the first week to help take care of me so that DH wouldn't have to take off work. Isn't she a sweetie?

Clearly I need to knit her something.

Marriage Equality!

2008-05-15T16:18:00.000-07:00

No knitting in this post either. I do have knitting to share, I just haven't gotten to posting it quite yet.

This is just to say -- in 30 days my brother and his partner of over 20 years can legally marry in California. I am so thrilled. Can't wait for the wedding, in fact.

Stuart and John get the happy news.

Here is a story on the subject, and you can see my brother Stuart and my BIL-to-be in a video on that page.

They were in fact married in 2004 in San Francisco City Hall, but, along with several thousand others, had their marriage declared void by the courts.

Now they can do it again, with a party and everything, and it will be legal.

Much as I hate to add a down note to this joyous announcement, I must. Those who favor marriage discrimination are trying to qualify an initiative for the November ballot that would write discrimination into our state constitution.

I for one plan to do all I can to oppose those efforts. Let us move toward less discrimination, not more.

This is just to say

2008-05-02T08:44:00.000-07:00

Full disclosure -- there is no real knitting in this post. Only some fake knitting in one of the parodies. One of the very bad parodies, penned by myself. Forgive me.

Many of you would probably recognize the poem "This is Just to Say", by William Carlos Williams, from high school English. The one where the guy eats the plums from the ice-box that his wife was probably saving for breakfast, and fails to apologize, but peremptorily says, "forgive me". I hadn't thought about this poem much at all, in high school or since, until it was read and parodied on a recent episode of This American Life. TAL is one of my favorite shows, BTW, and I highly recommend it.

Go ahead and click on the first link above to read the poem. It will take you all of about 10 seconds to read it. We'll wait.

Back already? OK.

Ira Glass, the host of This American Life, says that this is probably one of the most parodied pieces of poetry ever. He also takes the poet to task for never apologizing for eating the plums, for BS-ing us with "you were probably saving them" (oh, he knew, he knew) and for peremptorily commanding her to "forgive me". Ha! I can see that Ira would not forgive, not with this sort of flimsy excuse for a note.

Ira suggests that an internet search for "this is just to say parody" will bring up many, many examples of parodies of this poem, and he was right, of course. Here are a few of my favorites.

Ahem. So I have taken the liberty of writing a few parodies of my own. Please feel free to add your own in the comments. It's not hard, and it's fun, in a sick kind of way.

This is just to say

I burned the scarf
you gave me
for my birthday
last year

and which you probably
thought I would love
when you spun the yarn
and knit each stitch

Forgive me
it was hideous
so scratchy
and so orange

This is just to say

I have run away
with my
personal trainer
from the gym

the gym you bought me
the gift membership for
including
the personal training

and you were
probably hoping
I’d become
more fit

Forgive me
his six-pack abs
are so perfect
and his pecs so hard

C'mon, give it a go. Release your inner poet!

A trip to the bead store

2008-04-20T11:36:00.000-07:00

I went to the bead store yesterday. A trip to the bead store (or JoAnn's, or Michael's) invariably results in new beads or other materials for stitch markers. Do I need new stitch markers? I do not.

This, however, is much more than a stitch marker. It is an adjustable pattern row counter, seen here in the 6-row pattern repeat version. I started using it last night, and I love it.

In my first attempt at stitch markers, I made a two-row pattern row counter. Yes, I do sometimes have trouble counting to two rows, why? C'mon, most of my knitting is done while multi-tasking in some way -- listening to an audiobook or podcast, watching TV, watching soccer, etc. Isn't yours?

I've been using the two-row counter for toes of socks and such, and I actually find it very helpful. It wasn't helping me, though, with my Sonnet sleeve, which needs increases every 6 rows. I was ending up with somewhat random increases, and hoping they would average out properly. Well, that's no way to run a railroad, as the saying goes.

Enter the 6-row counter. As before, the idea is that on every round I move my needle down into the next loop closer to the bead, until I got to the loop closest to the bead. When the marker came around again, I knew it was time to increase again, and to move the needle up into the first loop again. For me, this works like a dream.

And to steal yet another idea from Turtlegirl's blog, this one is adjustable for different numbers of rows. Genius! One bead, one head pin, six split rings and six lobster claw clasps, and I have a 6-row counter. In fact, I should have made this with only five lobster claw clasps -- I attached the bead to a lobster claw and could have attached it straight to the split ring. This way, however, it can do double-duty as a row marker if I want it to.

If I need fewer rows for my pattern repeat, I remove some loops. I can add more just as easily.

While I was at it, I tried various other types of stitch and row markers:

The marker from my first batch is there for comparison, and the Clover openable marker is there for scale.

They are: two more two-row (but now adjustable!) row markers made with head pins, a single marker made with bead wire, a crimp bead and a split ring, and then one of my first batch of markers. You can see that I made the same ~~mistake~~ design feature with the one on the far left that I did with the 6-row one. The lowest lobster claw clasp is not necessary, unless I want to use it for a row marker (the kind you attach to a stitch instead of hanging on the needles).

The trick with the lobster claw clasps and split rings can make any of your existing stitch markers into row counters. I bought packs of 25 of each for about $13.

Thank you, Turtlegirl! Check out her Etsy shop for more genius creations.

My First February Baby Sweater

2008-04-15T09:20:00.000-07:00

This is my first February Baby Sweater, but it’s certainly not the last. In fact, the second one is more than half done. I thought three skeins would be enough for two sweaters, but no, it’s pretty clear it won’t be.

This was a fun knit, although I had some confusion where the pithy pattern says to start the sleeves “at 4-1/2 inches”. At first I thought this must mean, 4-1/2 inches from starting the lace pattern, but no, it means 4-1/2 inches from the beginning. I added a little length to the body and arms (about 1”) since this worsted weight yarn is giving me a larger size than a lighter yarn would. I’m adding even a bit more in the second sweater.

I love this pattern and would make it again in the future. I especially love the buttons (from JoAnn’s), which in real life match the sweater more closely than in this picture.

The yarn is mostly cotton with some merino. I liked it better than knitting with 100% cotton, which tends to hurt my hands. I didn't like it as much as knitting with all wool, though, but this baby lives in St. Louis. Although cotton was the "obvious" choice, I tend to think most every fiber is improved by blending it with wool, but that's just my personal bias. Wool wicks, you know. My LYS owner, Warren, said a yarn rep had told him she was much cooler on a vacation in Italy in cotton/wool blends than in all cotton.

I shamelessly procrastinated on wrapping and shipping this sweater so that I could show it off at knit night.

The next one is well under way.

Details: Cascade Sierra (worsted weight), more than 1-1/2 skeins, size 7 KnitPicks Options metal circs.

Size: I don't really know. EZ famously says, "Babies come in a variety of sizes." I just hope that at some point the size of the baby and the size of the sweater match up.

Pattern: "Baby Sweater on Two Needles", commonly known as the "February Baby Sweater", from Elizabeth Zimmerman's "Knitter's Almanac".

Modifications: Knit sleeves in the round and picked up the underarm stitches when re-joining the body, for a completely seamless sweater. There are no buttonholes, the buttons just cover metal snaps.

All future baby girls coming into my life just may receive this sweater.

Sock Lobster Love!

2008-04-07T12:17:00.000-07:00

The Crazy Conservative Socks are done. In fact, they have been finished for some time, but I have fallen out of the habit of blogging regularly.

No apology from me, though, because I have taken the pledge. The Blogging Without Obligation pledge. Personally, I think you should thank me for not blogging daily, because you would all be bored senseless, but whatever.

To the knitting!

To those of you who have been knitting socks for even a short time, this should be a pretty familiar sight. No doubt those of you who don't knit socks have seen similar sights, but in this case, this is entirely fingering-weight yarn left over from socks I have knit. Which means I have tiny balls of yarn in other weights also sitting around somewhere, just not in this picture. Some of this yarn was just too nice to let sit around this way. It deserved a better fate. (Some didn't, and it is still sitting around.)

More importantly, I had sufficient quantities of some of it to actually justify doing something with it. I picked just these:

Not only are there more than just scraps here, but I love most of these yarns.

The pink is leftover Dream in Color Smooshy, which I won in a contest and used for my Flow Motion socks.

The purple is hand-dyed by J.L. Yarnworks, and I love it! I used it in my purple monkeys, which I loved so much and yet gave away. This was traumatic, and I asked Ms. Yarnworks to dye me some more purple sock yarn, which she very obligingly did. I have been meaning to post a picture of that new yarn, but the light was so bad for a while there, and I haven't taken a picture of it yet. I love the new yarn too, and I might have to make more Monkeys to commemorate the others.

The blue yarn on the left is from my Waving Lace socks, and the blue yarn on the right is from my Stanfield 196 socks. (BTW -- I now own Leslie Stanfield's excellent stitch pattern book, and it is beyond me why she is referred to in so many places as "Stansfield", with two letter S's, when her name has only one S. It could be because her book is out of print, but that's not much of an excuse, really. But I digress.)

I ended up not using the Waving Lace yarn at all, so I still have that. The only commercial yarn in the lot is a solid, and had to stand in for some of the Purple Monkey yarn. I wish I had had more of the Purple Monkey sock yarn left, but alas I didn't.

You can see here that the purple on the legs of the socks doesn't match. Ah, well. Bonus -- you can see that the Purple Monkeys sock yarn is very gorgeous. The scanner can't get its color right at all.

They look too big in the photos, don't they? But now, after a trip through the wash, they fit ju-u-u-ust right.

They are very Harlequin-esque. One might even say, ugly. But a pair is somehow so ugly they're cute.

These socks do fit well. The areas of the picked-up stitches between areas of color feel a bit odd when I first put the socks on, but after that they are not noticeable.

For those of you who might be interested, here are the yarn amounts used (I tried to make a pretty table, but I don't know how to get blogger to display it correctly):

Pink Smooshy: starting weight 1.9 oz.; Sock One used 0.6 oz.; Sock Two used 0.6 oz.; total used, 1.2 oz.

Purple Monkey: starting weight 1.0 oz.; Sock One used 0.3 oz.; Sock Two used 0.6 oz.; total used, 0.9 oz.

Solid purple yarn: starting weight 1.0 oz.; Sock One used 0.2 oz.; total used, 0.2 oz.

Stanfield 196: starting weight 1.1 oz.; Sock One used 0.2 oz.; Sock Two used 0.1 oz.; total used, 0.3 oz.

Total for each sock: 1.3 ounces.

These amounts were all weighed on our handy-dandy electronic postal scale. The socks are women's size 8, knit on a KnitPicks 2.5mm 32" circ., magic-loop style, as always.

And here are the leftovers (of the leftovers). The blue yarn there (from the Waving Lace socks) wasn't used, but the other blue yarn was pretty much used up.

Modifications: the original pattern is a men's, I re-sized for my feet. The on-line picture is too dark and seems to show the colors arranged as I have them, but I now realize that the pattern is written with the colors arranged differently.

Would I make these again? Actually, I might. The design is interesting to knit, although I have some quarrels with the way the pattern is written -- it could be a lot clearer. But now I know how it goes, so that's no longer a problem. It's a pretty good way to use up leftovers of solid or semi-solid yarns that go together, and turn scraps into socks -- what's not to like about that? There are a lot of ends to weave in, but that wouldn't be enough to stop me. It can also be easily adjusted for different sizes. Now that I know more precisely how much yarn of the various colors I would need, I just might be able to use this again to turn scraps into socks.

Recycled Sweaters live on!

2008-03-31T11:29:00.000-07:00

In case you're still in suspense over my lobster claw / sock, I did in fact finish it and have even worn the pair a couple of times. I have pictures, too, that I will put up.

But for today, we are all about the recycled sweater love.

My friend Thek, who lives in Chicago-land, picked up some thrift store sweaters and a belt and made this cute teddy bear, sweater and bag:

Thek says: I would just like to add that the bag cost $2.90 to make. $2 for the sweater and $.90 for the belt from Salvation Army. The sweater the bear is wearing came out of the same $2 sweater. The bear was made out of felt from another $2 sweater from which I have lots of other left-over felt. If you know how much yarn it takes to make a felt purse, you know what a savings this is.

And here she is, showing off her creations.

What great projects! I have to say, though, that thrift stores in the Chicago area are probably better treasure troves of feltable sweaters than those around here. I'll have to keep looking.

The Top Ten Five Ways I am Exactly Very Much Sort of Kind of Like the Yarn Harlot

2008-02-26T07:57:00.000-08:00

Yep, that's me.

~~Exactly Very much Sort of~~ Kind of like the famous Yarn Harlot.

And I'll tell you the top ~~ten~~ five reasons why.

5. I like to knit. A lot.

4. I like to knit socks, and almost always have one on the needles.

3. I'm a famous author and speaker.

3. Zillions of people read my blog and in fact my every word.

3. I knit all of my socks on DPN's.

3. I take pictures of my "traveling sock" everywhere I go.

3. OK, I'm female, and short, all right?

2. Um, I live in ~~Canada~~ North America.

And the number one, top reason that I'm kinda sorta like the Yarn Harlot:

1. I was knitting this very fiddly sock, see, and I had gotten to the very tip of one of the points in this weird sock construction and was just reaching for the scissors to cut the tail, when -- I dropped the sock.

And I was still holding the tail.

I think we all know from reading Stephanie's account of this very thing how heart-breaking this can be.

Mine may have been just a tiny bit easier to recover from, though.

And now I have this:

Doesn't that resemble a lobster claw much more than a sock?

Yeah, I thought so, too.

Crazy Conservative Socks

2008-02-25T12:07:00.000-08:00

As far as I can tell from Ravelry and the internet, the only other pair of these in existence is the sample for the pattern. Maybe there’s a good reason for that!

These are actually a lot of fun to knit (once I figured out the pattern instructions, which IMO could be clearer and more detailed), but I’m not sure yet how the finished sock will be. The pattern is by Gerdine Crawford-Strong, and can be downloaded free here.

BTW – the name I have given these socks is not a political commentary – the published pattern name is “Conservative Socks”, but mine are pink, purple and bright blue.

Ms. Crawford-Strong originated the “Strong Heel”, not named for its strength but for her. I don’t know all of the details of it, but it is supposed to make more attractive socks with self-striping yarn, with less interruption of the stripe pattern for the heel. There are a number of examples in blogland and on Ravelry. It reminds me a bit of Cat Bordhi’s “Cedar” construction, although again I don’t know the details of that.

Picture 1: Cast-on, ribbing, and most of Section 1 triangle. It will be decreased down to a point, then the next section begins in the “V”. Section 1 is Dream in Color Smooshy, last seen in the “Flow Motion” socks.

Picture 2: Section 2, mostly done. It starts with a triangle at the bottom, then parallelograms up each side of the Section 1 triangle (nearly done with second parallelogram), and then there will be a triangle on the top tying together the two parallelograms. Section 2 is the J.L. Yarnworks yarn, which is much, much prettier in person, but the scanner doesn’t seem to like it as much as I do, which is lots. It last starred in my “Purple Monkey” socks.

Picture 3: Section 3 done, heel turn done. Section three includes all of the increases, sort of like the gusset of a traditional sock pattern. The heel turn is done over all of the heel stitches (blue triangle at the back of the heel) plus all of the increased “gusset” stitches (that is, over enough stitches to be the equivalent of the sock circumference). The pink is the Smooshy, of course, and the blue is Trekking yarn, previously seen in my “Falling Water” socks.

The pattern picture that downloaded looked as though Section 1 and Section 3 should be the same color, although that's not how the directions read. I decided to make them the same color. I ordered the back issue this was originally published in (hoping for clearer instructions, and there were some other interesting patterns in it), and the magazine picture clearly shows that indeed Section 3 was knitted in a different color than Section 1. Well, I still like my choice. Also -- the pattern is actually not even in the magazine -- there is some background explanation and a template for designing your own crazy socks, but you have to go to the website for the actual pattern. Crazy, no?

Anyway, this is a fun way to use up some yarn leftovers now that I've figured out the techniques for this sock. One of the reasons I started looking for sock patterns for bits and bobs of leftover sock yarn is that I had a lot of the Smooshy left over after the Flow Motion socks -- nearly half the skein -- and probably 1/3 of a skein of J.L. Yarnworks yarn left after the Monkeys -- and I could not let them just sit around. I just had to turn both of those beautiful yarns into more socks.

I'm weighing all the leftover yarns used in these socks both before and after knitting so that I can have a good idea how much I used of what, and which other leftover sock yarns might be combined into future Crazy Conservative socks.

If I'm crazy enough.

In other news, DD and I took a trip to the Gold Country in the foothills of California over President's Day weekend. We toured a working gold mine and two caves, one of which we took a 165-foot rappel down into. Big fun! Both she and I are experienced rappelers, but even the inexperienced rappelers had a great time and it is set up to be pretty much idiot-proof, as it should be. We also continued on for the crawling part of the tour, and once back above ground we did the zip line. I got back in touch with my outdoorsy, adventurous side, which has been somewhat dormant of late. If you're ever in that part of the world, I recommend this. Check out their website.

Alas, on our one day of skiing I fell clumsily and twisted my left knee pretty badly. I'm seeing the orthopodic guy Thursday. Hopefully a little PT and maybe a brace will be all that is in store for me. I tore my right ACL skiing about 6 years ago and have managed to avoid surgery for that so far, and hopefully won't need it for this tear/sprain/whatever.

The knee slowed me down only a little bit at Stitches West, but that's a story for another day.

How to Knit a Single-strand Flow Motion Sock

2008-02-13T20:04:00.000-08:00

At last, I have a decent portrait with a blocker and everything.

Maia suggested I should write up my mods for the single-stranded Flow Motion socks, and I am incredibly flattered by this. Maia is a fiber goddess, being spinner / dyer / knitter / designer and possibly weaver (have I missed anything, Maia?) all in one. Me, I just knit.

Since flattery of this type will clearly motivate me, I will now explain my mods. If you do not happen to be interested in knitting a single-strand Flow Motion Sock, you might want to just look at the pic and skip the numbers-blah-adding-blah-charts-blah-blah-blah below. I won't be offended.

First of all, the original pattern by Cat Bordhi (to be found in Vogue Knitting's Ultimate Sock Book as well as in Vogue Knitting, Fall '06 I believe) is written to be knit with two strands of yarn (Trekking sock yarn is the recommended yarn) held together and knit on size 6 (4mm) needles. Clearly this will result in a thicker sock than if knit with a single strand of yarn in the usual way.

I wanted to knit these socks, but with a single strand. What to do? I was somewhat at a loss until New Pathways for Sock Knitters: Book One came out. The Flow Motion sock is based on the "Upstream" sock architecture in that book.

I used the Upstream Master Pattern and cast on to knit from the toe up, per the instructions (using a pretty ordinary toe instead of one of Cat's), using a 2.25 mm KnitPicks circular needle. My yarn, by the way, is Dream in Color Smooshy sock yarn. The gauge I was getting was 8 SPI. For my 9" foot length and 8" foot circumference, the formula in the book called for me to increase to 56 stitches around and then to knit to 4.33 inches before doing the instep increases.

Now, the chart for the instep increases is 26 rows, increasing from 2 to 33 stitches, meaning it has 31 increases. This was not going to give me enough stitches to match Cat's Master Numbers for me for this sock, and I knew that at the smaller gauge there would not be enough rows to give me the right length. I needed to knit more rows, and to increase from 56 stitches to -- well, there was a little confusion at this point.

The chart would have me increase to 96 stitches, but at the same time said that "the arch expansion total is nearly always equal to the midfoot total plus half the midfoot total", which would give me 84. I went with 93, somewhere in the middle but much closer to the chart number. An even larger number might have worked a bit better -- the socks are a little hard to get on, but they fit alright once on.

So, additional rows and increases needed to be worked to get the midfoot stitch total (56) plus the increases from the chart (31) to the desired stitch count (93). Six additional increased stitches, in fact, in my example.

I can't really explain how I decided how many additional rows to do. Guesswork would probably be the most honest answer. I worked 6 extra rounds (a few more would have been better), increasing two stitches every other row, before beginning the chart. These extra increases began on either side of the center instep stitches, and moved outwards as I went. Place markers on either side of the 2 center instep stitches and increase in the stitch before the first marker and the stitch after the second marker, every other round. I used Cat's LLinc and LRinc increases. YO's would be interesting, too.

ETA: I realize now that's not how I actually did it. It would work, with increases spreading out of the two center stitches. What I did, though, to echo the "V" of the instep chart, was make a right-leaning increase in the first stitch after the first marker, and a left-leaning increase in the stitch before the second marker. That way, the markers keep moving outward as you make the increases.

After the last plain round I began the instep chart. Move the two markers back to either side of the center two instep stitches, and then begin.

Once my instep chart was done, I worked a plain heel using Cat's instructions, decreasing per the toe-up heel decreases until I had 64 stitches. The leg chart is 16 stitches across and the original pattern calls for 3 repeats around the leg (48 stitches around the leg). Four repeats and 64 stitches around were appropriate for this size sock in this gauge.

I have two important tips for you here --

The first is that there is an error in the leg chart (the written instructions for the leg pattern are correct as written). In row 5, stitch 10 is shown in the chart as a plain knit stitch, but it should be a YO.

The second is -- where do you start the leg chart? The instructions only make sense if you are knitting the original pattern.

After careful reading and scratching my head and thinking about where the beginning of the chart would have fallen if I were knitting the original pattern, I came up with the answer.

You begin the leg chart on top of the 5th stitch of the last row of the instep chart.

That's a pretty bland statement there, isn't it? But at the time it seemed like a major breakthrough.

Knit (plain knit stitches in the plain ones, KBL if the stitch below is KBL) until you have knit the 4th stitch of the last row of the instep chart, then place a marker and begin the first repeat of the leg chart.

I changed to a 2.5 mm needle when I began the leg, since the instep and heel were a little tight -- I sure didn't want the lower leg to be so tight I wouldn't be able to get the socks on.

And now you're home free, nearly. Work the leg chart four times around, four times, do the top edging of your choice (I chose a plain picot edge instead of the seed stitch picot edge in the pattern), et voila.

And in the timeless tradition of completely pointless instructions everywhere, let me add: Make second sock.

Other pics of my socks in my previous posts are here.

Questions? Bouquets? Rotten tomatoes? Let me know.

Socks for Nicole

2008-02-12T15:25:00.000-08:00

You know how sometimes you give hand-knitted socks to someone and they're ho-hum about them? Or how someone might scorn the idea of hand-knitting socks at all, since you can buy them at the store?

Not Nicole.

Nicole is my neighbor and good friend. Her son is in DD's grade at school. I wish I saw her more often. We are very comfortable together and always enjoy one another's company. Once in a while one of us will call up the other and say, "we need to go for a walk right now because there is something one of us simply needs to vent about, or else explode.

I happened to mention to Nicole that I am hooked on knitting socks. That I knit more socks than I can wear myself. She promptly said, "I'd like some". In a way that I quite liked.

So after I finished my then-sock-in-progress, I rounded up all my sock yarn and most of my sock knitting books (scary, that), and all of my own hand-knitted socks, and headed over to her place (mine being full of construction dust and debris and all).

She seemed to quite understand about having so much yarn and so many books. Of course, I was offering to knit her socks, but I really think she gets it -- that if you have a hobby, of course there are shows (I told her about Stitches), and books and supplies that you collect.

She selected a yarn that I was no longer crazy about, and a simple ribbed sock was what she wanted. Perfect! I didn't steer her to these choices -- but she's not crazy about purple, so my nice hand-dyed purple yarns didn't appeal to her, and while she seemed to understand that I get all excited about things like Cat Bordhi's new sock book, she just wanted ribbed socks.

Admire our matchiness, please.

Darn! Try as we might, we can't both fit on the scanner at once.

I can't find my home-made sock blocker. The disorder caused by our remodel is staggering. I've ordered inexpensive sock "stretchers", but they're not here yet.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

After writing the portion above, I had to attend to some (ahem) actual work for awhile, woe is me. Meantime, the mail came! With my sock blockers!

Yay, I have a proper portrait now! The other sock is jealous!

These sock blockers are, no kidding, $1.88, plus shipping. Go, get them here, now. With shipping, they came to $7.17. These are size small and are maybe 1/2 inch longer than my women's 7.5 foot, but that's just fine. I can't remember now where I first saw the link to these -- whoever it was that posted it, thank you, thank you! If you click the link and click on the product picture, you can see a picture without the socks on them.

They are plastic and very similar to the lovely wooden ones you see many places, but thinner. They might need just a little bit of smoothing out the edges, but otherwise they're just right for me. I know they're not as pretty, but I never could justify spending the money for the lovely wooden ones. And if DH makes me lovely wooden ones using these as a template -- well, that would be just fine and dandy, too. After the remodel is done.

OK, the details:

Lost the ball bands. Some nice self-striping and self-patterning sock yarn with nylon content.
60 stitches around on size 2.5 mm KnitPicks circ, magic loop-style. Plain heel, basic toe. 2x2 ribbing on leg and instep. Long-tail cast-on.

ETA: The link has now been fixed. Give the sock blockers a try, what have you got to lose?

Second Flow Motion Sock -- now with markers!

2008-01-23T11:03:00.000-08:00

I'm making progress on my second Flow Motion sock. The second one is going to fit better, I think -- my half-baked plan, rather than re-knitting the heel, instep and leg of the first sock, is to try wearing it on my left foot (which is a tad smaller), and the second sock on the right. Must mark them somehow. If all else fails, well, if I have to re-knit it, now I can use these fab stitch markers I made:

Stitch marker in action!

This was a very inexpensive project and a lot of fun. I used this tutorial and this one. Apparently the "tiger tail" referred to in David Reidy's tute is the same as the more generic "nylon coated beading wire" referred to in the other tute. JoAnn's had "Beadalon" brand "bead stringing wire", and that is what I used. Bead wire, some crimp beads, hematite beads and shell (?) beads, all very inexpensive at Michael's and JoAnn's, and very simple to put together. Here it is in a nutshell -- cut some bead wire, double it, put on a crimp bead, put on decorative beads, put on another crimp bead, use pliers to crimp the crimp beads, trim ends, and voila.

I like having no jump rings (which can catch on the yarn) and I like that the bead wire is so thin, so no gapping is created by the marker. The weight of these is nice, they hang nicely without flopping around and are not in the way. And if you are like David Reidy and into binary code, you can make bead markers with messages!

This one was a little more complex. I was trying to combine the bead-wire type stitch marker with the idea from this tute. The idea was to have a two-row row counter (what?! sometimes I have trouble counting to two).

The top part was double-ended, with a loop at each end for the knitting needle, and only 3 small beads. The bottom, intact part, is made with a head pin and some beads. It was harder than I thought to make the loop at the top. Yes, I am a klutz.

The general idea is that as you're going along making toe increases / decreases or gusset increases / decreases, when you get to this marker you slip it by putting your right-hand needle into the other loop, not the one your left needle is in. This should make it easier even for me to keep track of whether I'm on an increase / decrease row, or a plain row. OK, I should be able to read my knitting and not need a row counter, but sometimes I mess it up anyway. Plus I just like this idea.

The problem, I think, was that one of the crimp beads broke for some reason. Must try again. If it works, I can make row counter markers for various projects, with the number of rows for the pattern repeat reflected in the stitch marker. Whee!

ETA: I don't know why I didn't just fix that broker marker before posting, because it took all of about 10 seconds.

ETA - there is now an updated link above to the row counter tutorial.

Single-Stranded Flow Motion Sock

2008-01-08T14:08:00.000-08:00

I have wanted to make Cat Bordhi's Flow Motion Sock since I first saw it in Vogue Knitting (Fall '06, if I recall right). It's also in Vogue Knitting's "Ultimate Sock Book".

But I didn't want to make it holding two strands of yarn held together, as the pattern calls for. I didn't really care to have a lacy sock in a heavy weight.

So recently I set about figuring out how to knit the same sock with a single strand of yarn. I used the Dream in Color Smooshy that I won as a prize a while back. Yum.

After a good deal of knitting, figuring and head-scratching, this is what resulted:

Sorry for the crummy pic, it's raining, raining, raining, and I have yet to build a light box or anything so fancy. The house is still very much in a construction mode and there is no room. DD, DH and I are all sleeping in the living room, and have been for several months. I can't decide which it reminds me of more, The Waltons or Little House on the Prairie. At least we still have our regular beds, and a working kitchen.

BTW, there is an error in the leg chart. Row 5, stitch 10, should be a YO. It's correct in the written instructions, and yet I first turned to knitblogs to solve my puzzlement over the chart error. Instead of just reading the darn instructions. Didn't even occur to me at first.

Naturally this pic, taken at my desk, doesn't do justice to the yarn. I love, love, love this yarn. It seems to have color changes / variations that would never pool or flash. Just lovely variation.

And here's a pic with flash, showing the stitch pattern a bit.

At first I didn't like the way the fabric was coming out -- all those twisted stitches. But it grew on me. I've cast on for the second sock.

Mods: Single stranded, knit on 2.25 mm circ Magic Loop style through the first repeat of the leg chart, then on 2.5 mm circ. Plain picot edge instead of seed stitch. 56 stitches around the foot, 64 stitches around the leg, with necessary fudging of heel turn and flap. I began the increases as indicated in the "Upstream" master pattern in New Pathways for Sock Knitters (this turned out a tiny bit too short for this particular pattern, which I have decided I can live with) and increased 3 times (6 stitches, 9 rows) before beginning the instep chart.

Then after the heel was done I had to match up the leg chart with the instep chart. This would ordinarily be clear if you were knitting the sock as written, but of course since I was throwing in 4 instead of 3 repeats of the leg chart, I had to work it out for myself.

I like this sock, but I don't think another pair is in my future. Knitting all of those twisted stitches in the charts is too troublesome. I had to really concentrate on loosening up my knitting, which no doubt would be a good thing in general.

I did very few holiday knits after the craziness I put myself through last year, and got through the holidays relatively sanely, for me. It helped that for me, my Mom and my brothers, we decided not to exchange gifts, but to spend a morning helping out at a center for the needy elderly. Before you think too highly of me for this, remember that I traded off a couple of hours of charity work for hours and hours of shopping and wrapping and returns. I think it was a heck of a deal, and we all had a nice time.

And we got very lovely knitted gifts from my buddy Liz --

Tiny sweater ornaments for the three of us with our first initials! They were perfect for the tiny tree we had this year, and will be great for years to come! Thanks, Liz!

Monkey Business

2007-12-11T20:31:00.000-08:00

And here's my first Monkey Sock:

I love this sock. Yet I'm sending it out into the world as a gift, to someone who I have no idea whether she will appreciate it. I'll never know, either, so all I can do is hope. At least I won't have the disappointment of knowing that she doesn't.

With its mate, of course, as soon as it's done. I've knit the heel and done the gusset decreases, so it's not too long now.

I loved this so much that I begged J.L. Yarnworks, the source of this yarn, to make me some more, and she graciously agreed to try to duplicate it, which I realize could be a tricky business with hand-dyed yarn. Yay! Thanks, Jackie! I love the subtle variegation of this yarn, which doesn't show up so well in the scans, the somewhat muted colors, and the twist, which is just right.

Pop quiz, hotshot -- what makes this Monkey different from most other monkeys? What is the "twist", so to speak?

Anybody?

Extra geeky points for recognizing the quote above.

And by the way -- there was indeed Tofurky at Thanksgiving, but no one even suggested that I should have any. Which is good, because I was prepared to say that it was against my religion.

Hey, hey, it's the Monkeys!

2007-11-20T08:28:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-18T09:03:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-12T10:51:00.000-08:00

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!

2007-11-08T10:04:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-06T13:41:00.000-08:00

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!

Stulpen

2007-10-18T08:29:00.000-07:00

These are my favorite FOs lately:

Close-up of the cables:

Our house is freezing (well, not compared to what it could be in other parts of the country, I suppose, but still -- right now it's reading 50 degrees here in my office). Our remodel has progressed to the point where we have no heat. The furnace is still here, and probably works, too, but there is no ductwork. The old ductwork was all rusted and falling apart under the house, so it is gone (and good riddance) and the new ductwork will go in the attic. After the roof is done. Priorities, ya know.

I work at home, and I use the computer a lot. So I knew it was time for some fingerless mitts. All other WIPs and holiday knits were abandoned for this cause.

A while back I had seen this post on Criminy Jickets' blog, and I really liked the pattern Dave chose. The pattern is found here (scroll down for the English version).

(Note: I believe the key to the chart is not quite right -- switch the instructions for the left 4-stitch cable and right 4-stitch cable and you should be alright. If you're good at reading cable charts, just ignore the key completely. [ETA: by "4-stitch cable" I mean the ones that are all knit stitches; the crosses that are knit/purl combos all seem correct.] [Further ETA: I have been in contact with Petra on Ravelry and she is going to fix the chart key. Yay! Thanks, Petra!]

As soon as I had finished the left mitt, DD declared that she wanted some, so as soon as I finished mine I cast on for hers. Once in a while I lend mine to her (when she practices her flute, or when I'm doing the dishes), but clearly we need to each have a set.

Mine are made from Lana Grossa Merino 2000 (DK), rather than the yarn called for (6-ply sock yarn, which I believe is about sport weight), so they are very plush and warm. The colorway? It glories in the name "483". They don't normally appear quite so bright as in the pictures.

DD's will be "Lane Borgosesia by Zegna Baruffa". Why yes, it is Italian yarn, how did you know? Hers are merino and silk (yum), mine are merino. Her yarn is a bit finer and lilac or pale purple in color.

Mods: I used DK weight yarn on US 2 (3.0 mm) needles, and I ribbed the thumbs instead of doing them in stockinette per the pattern. The increases for the thumbs were done in the center of the gusset instead of at the edges, so that the ribs could make "vee's" in the center of the gusset. I'm not explaining this very well, but here's a picture:

The gusset increases with the ribbing did not come out completely as I would have wished, but they'll do.

Rant warning -- so many people speak of the thumb technique used in Fetching on Knitty as a "gusset". People, you may like that thumb, to each his or her own, but a gusset it ain't. As it happens, I don't care for it and wanted an actual gusset in mine. End of rant.

Another mod I am making in DD's -- the wrists don't need to be quite as long as specified, IMO, which is 30 rounds before the beginning of the chart. I am making DD's to be 20 rounds. The cables at the wrist are functional, too -- they pull the mitt in a bit at the wrist, to snug it up and keep out that chill.

Both yarns, for my and DD's Stulpen, were snatched up by me in the SnB yarn swap a while back, and I believe were contributed by Carin. Thanks, Carin!

The Coriolis Effect

2007-10-16T08:39:00.000-07:00

I finished my Coriolis socks (from New Pathways for Sock Knitters, Book One) a little while ago, and have worn them a couple of times, too. I guess it's about time I blogged about them.

Per the pattern, I made these lovely Whirlpool toes:

I think I still want to do a pair where the toes whirl in opposite directions, but we'll see. Could be too dizzying for me, what with the Coriolis effect, and all.

The colors in the yarn don't display the spiral effect to full advantage, but these socks fit very well and are very wearable -- I expect to get a lot of use out of these.

I didn't use any of the very fancy sock bind-offs that Cat Bordhi had in her book, opting instead for a basic 2x2 rib and EZ's sewn bind-off. The spiral does turn into one of the ribs, but unfortunately I don't have a pic of that.

Lisa was done with this yarn and gave it to me while I was in Minneapolis in August. Thanks for the yarn, Lisa!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch . . .

2007-10-15T11:41:00.000-07:00

When we left our story, I was expecting some prize yarn that I won in connection with the Red Scarf Project. Yay!

The yarn was generously donated by Ronni, who spoiled me a little in addition to sending me the yarn. This is why I don't do swaps, people -- I just can't keep up!

Me, I'd have just stuck the yarn in the box and figured I was lucky just to make it to the post office with it. Ronni wrapped it up in very pretty tissue paper, with a yarn bow, of course, and even a card:

And what's that tied in the bow?

It's a beautiful stitch marker that she made especially to go with the yarn:

And the yarn itself is so lovely:

It's Dream in Color Smooshy, colorway "Wisterious". I'm looking forward to knitting with this, let me tell you.

Thanks again, Norma and Ronni!

More Purple Sock Yarn!

2007-09-20T14:20:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in my last post that I won purple sock yarn. It's on its way to me even as we speak.

I stole this pic right off of Norma's blog.

I feel so lucky!!!

I've got a Cool Sock Project Bag!

2007-09-20T11:11:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to blog about this ever since it arrived, and here it finally is:

Darn it, my pic came out a bit blurry. Let's see if my pic of the bottom is any better.

OK, that's a little better.

It's reversible, too, but I was a bit too rushed to dump everything out to take a pic of the other side. You can see a glimpse of the inside fabric in the first pic, and the bottom of the inside is the same as the main outside fabric.

These are by Knitting Ewe on the Go, and you can order one here, although I see on her site that she is taking a little break after pumping out a ton of these bags. She made these in conjunction with Sockapalooza 4, but having actually participated in Sockapalooza 4 is entirely optional. I didn't, as it happens.

Knitting Ewe gave great service! First of all, everyone gets to pick all four fabrics that go into these bags, and she has a great selection, all either sock monkey themed or colorful dots.

Then, when my bag didn't come out to her satisfaction, she ripped it all out and did it over, and emailed me to explain the delay and give me the option of picking a different fabric (she had to get some more in of one of the ones I had selected).

I love this -- she really cares about the quality of the bags she's pumping out for $15, and communicated with me every step of the way if there were any hitches at all. Go, Knitting Ewe!

What's in the sock project bag, you ask? Why, my current sock project, of course. This is a great bag to carry what you need for your sock project and is still small enough to go everywhere with you.

This is my second Coriolis Sock. If you're following along at home, in the book this is actually Sock 1. Yes, I knit Sock 2 first. I had some delusion that the direction of the whirlpool toe would match Sock 2 better, and that when I knit Sock 1, I would figure out how to reverse the whirlpool. That plan is out the window. But in this pic you can actually see the beginning of the spiral, which goes in the opposite direction of the other sock. I love it.

What else? Well, my knitting notions that I need for a sock, of course. To which I have recently added these:

They are from J.L. Yarnworks. Love them! I have yet to actually use them, though.

Cat Bordhi's new sock book has started a craze for lettered stitch markers, since she makes liberal use of stitch markers that she refers to by letter in her instructions. Now, it has been pointed out to me that a Sharpie and some openable stitch markers are all you really need. Or you could hang some cardstock on your regular stitch markers using some yarn. All this is quite true. In fact, I made my first Coriolis Sock (which is actually Sock 2, if you'll remember) without benefit of lettering my stitch markers at all, because I didn't find it necessary. But these are purdy, and I gave in.

While I was there, I happened across this:

She even winds it up for you if you just ask. At first I mis-read the gauge specs as "7.9", which freaked me out because it was so darn precise. "7-9", that I can deal with.

Purple sock yarn. Somehow a lot of it is ending up in this house. Couldn't be me.

I even won some purple sock yarn at Now Norma Knits from a drawing she had for people who donated to the Red Scarf Fund for Foster Youth. Yep, purple sock yarn. Thank you, Norma! Thank you, Ronni, for donating the yarn.

So you see, it isn't me. Really.

Proud Knitting Scout

2007-09-09T22:40:00.000-07:00

I was listening to Cast On tonight and knitting. This combo has to rate as one of my all-time fave pastimes. I was listening to Episode 54, being one behind the most current one.

I had seen and coveted the Cast On Knitting Scout badges, but hadn't yet swiped any. I wasn't sure I had really met very many of the requirements.

Then, during the podcast, Brenda commented that she had seen someone who had earned the “I Will Crush You With My Math Prowess” Badge ("The recipient has applied the principles of higher mathematics to knitting including, but not limited to hyperbolic planes, Fibonacci sequences, Klein bottles, Moebius strips, fractals and Flying Spaghetti Monster hats.") by reverse engineering and knitting a Klein Bottle hat.

Well, heck, I've done that.

And so I hereby proudly award to (ahem) myself the coveted "I will Crush You With My Math Prowess" Knitting Scout Badge:

Of course, there is also the Proselytize Knitting badge, a requirement for all Knitting Scouts:

("A requirement for all Knitting Scouts, the recipient must do his or her bit to present knitting in a positive light, whilst at the same time avoiding all references to “hipness”, grandmothers, and yoga.")

I think this blog qualifies, myself. Also my attempts (futile, so far) to teach my fellow SnB'ers the joys of sock knitting. Two of them begged me to teach them, then showed up without any of the stuff I told them they would need. Well, maybe next month.

This one, I think, needs no description or explanation.

Pass the wine, please.

A Whole Lotta Nothin'

2007-09-05T13:06:00.000-07:00

I took pix of my Coriolis-sock-in-progress, and they came out awful. I didn't even want to put them on the blog, they are so bad.

However! I have nothin' else to show you, so I am going to make you suffer through these:

My model was DD, who was not the most cooperative. I usually get better pix with no flash, but as you can see these uploaded way too dark. I swear they looked good in the camera and on my hard drive.

And I hurt my wrist. Not on the computer this time, but knitting. So I took a break from knitting for a couple of days, plus work has been really, really busy, ditto my fund-raising campaign for the school, DD has started playing soccer, making me a soccer mom, and I am supposed to be getting the GS troop cranked up for the year. Whine, whine, whine.

I have promised myself that next school year? Zero school volunteer work. Something's gotta give.

Crap-tastic photos notwithstanding, I really like this sock. Interesting to knit, and it fits well, too. When I do the other sock, it will spiral the other way. I know you can barely even see the spiral in these photos, but bear with me. There is a spiral, from right to left across the top of the foot. There is something I find very pleasing about the reverse spiraling planned for the other sock, despite the fact that I usually like my socks to match, and couldn't be bothered to, for instance, reverse the cabling on my socks so that one goes one way, the other goes the other way.

And Mom is about to buy mattress #4. Mattress #3 was determined by the factory inspector to be defective, so she gets a store credit! Whee! I have encouraged her to run down to the store today. Well, she did call me up to whine about mattress #3, after all. Of course, I am only slightly motivated that if she orders a new mattress before the weekend, I won't have to go with her.

What does a knitter use for packing material?

2007-09-02T20:10:00.000-07:00

Wool, apparently.

DD left a pair of flip-flops behind on our visit to Lisa and her family. Lisa kindly shipped them back, in this box.

Now we can play with some felting!

Falling Water Socks

2007-08-31T15:56:00.000-07:00

Apparently I'm in love with Stansfield 196.

On my recent vacation, I knit a sock using the chart for that pattern from "More Sensational Knitted Socks". It's a very pretty pattern, easily done and easily memorized. There is no cabling, just simple increases and decreases.

And here it is, in Trekking XXL, color "77". Love the color name, don't you?

It's for someone with feet a bit smaller than mine, hence the petite leg on this sock.

I kept thinking it looked familiar. I had long wanted to knit the River Rapids Socks, a free pattern by Sockbug, but hadn't gotten around to it. (BTW, that's a link to the main site and not the pattern itself since I don't like to link to PDF's, it causes havoc with my browser when I click on a link to a PDF, and yet, do I ever learn?).

Guess what? Sockbug's pattern uses the exact same chart.

Anyway, I took a scarf project along for travel knitting, also. It's the Falling Water scarf, free on this blog. My friend Lisa saw me musing about it on my blog, knit it, entered it in the Minnesota State Fair, and won a ribbon and a small (very small) cash prize to boot. I would demand a finder's fee for having the idea, if not for the fact that Lisa just ~~put up with me~~ put me up, along with DD, for a week. And the fact that the cash prize is (ahem) $2, or so she tells me.

Here's the wonky, unblocked beginning of my version.

Isn't that a lovely stitch pattern? I started mine on the plane home using the lovely purple wool / tencel sock yarn I got at Stitches West, and it's partly done (haven't decided exactly how long to make it yet), and -- wait just a gol-dern minute!

You guessed it! Stansfield 196 strikes yet again. Imagine my surprise on the plane home to unfold the scarf pattern I had printed out so long ago and look at the chart, only to immediately put it away again, having memorized that chart a short way down the leg of the sock.

Now, a question for you all -- is Trekking thinner than other sock yarn? I don't notice that the yardage is significantly more than other sock yarns, at least per the label, but on the first plane ride, after grafting the second toe on the Sunday Socks, I accidentally cast on one entire extra pattern repeat on the cuff of this sock.

And didn't notice it until I had knit the entire leg and heel flap and was ready to pick up the gusset stitches. Because apparently I am even more of a moron than I had previously thought possible. But somehow the sock is the right size, and I measured my gauge at about 10 freakin' spi, which is the only way I could be such a maroon and still have the sock come out the right size.

The knitting goddess was smiling on me when I knit this sock, that's for sure. I just hope she smiles on me again when I go to knit sock #2, because I have taken what notes I can and set it aside for now, being completely captivated by Cat Bordhi's new book.

I'm off to the ball game tonight with Coriolis sock in hand, hopefully I will put up a pic over the weekend.

Sunday Socks

2007-08-29T18:32:00.000-07:00

Here's the second Sunday Sock:

What, you don't believe me? Just because I didn't show the other one? If I stuck them both on the scanner it would be a bit crowded and nothing would show, and I was just too lazy to pull out the camera.

I finished the second sock on the plane on the way to Minneapolis (no knitting needles were confiscated, although I had put the sock onto my less-favored-circ, just in case), and promptly cast on for another sock. Which I will try to show you Friday.

The second sock of that pair really might have to wait a bit, because I started a sock from Cat Bordhi's new book. So far, I like the toe (yes, that's as far as I got, wanna make an issue of it?). It's going to be a Coriolis sock when it grows up.

I have decided to give the Sunday Socks to one of my brothers, the one whose feet, happily, are just a bit bigger than mine. I just did not feel like re-knitting the first sock. It's true that I do this for fun, but re-knitting a sock I had already knit does not count for fun, in my book. This puts me at odds with EZ, I guess, who said we should welcome frogging as a chance to do even more of our favorite hobby.

Where does this put me in the process vs. product knitter divide? I guess this is a point for being a product knitter.

ETA -- Dee, since you asked, my favorite Earl Grey is Twinings, loose in the yellow tin. I have been getting my fix at Cost Plus, but they may have stopped carrying it. There was none last time I was in, and no one could help me find any.

Fun Fur Hat by DD

2007-08-28T11:10:00.000-07:00

Sometimes DD really surprises me, and in a good way. Like the time she just up and taught herself long-tail cast-on out of a teen knitting book. Or the scarf she whipped up, using elongated stitch. Something I've actually never done, and consequently did not teach her.

Or this hat, which she whipped up by herself on her Knifty Knitter one day out of some sort of novelty yarn from my stash. Not very warm, but cute.

If I can keep from pushing her too hard, she might just become a life-long knitter, hey?

Hello, Minneapolis!

2007-08-27T11:55:00.000-07:00

Any guesses as to who I met while in Minneapolis?

Readers of the blog that the Rainey Sisters co-author will recognize the screen name of the Minneapolis half of that dynamic duo.

I went to a knit night to meet Susan and some of her knitting buddies, bringing my knitting friends Lisa and Nancy:

Lisa, Nancy, and me.

Why do I look taller in these pictures than I am in real life? That is a mystery. I am 5'4", and I believe that both Lisa and Nancy are taller.

Adding to that mystery, here is a pic of me with Susan, who is definitely taller than I am:

Anyway, we all had a wonderful time, and saw some amazing knits!

Here is Emily's amazing shawl, which I believe is the "Heere be Dragone" shawl, available here.

And a fabulous scarf and a cardi-in-progress, by Mary:

We went canoing and kayaking in Minneapolis, visited a waterpark and outlet mall in the Wisconsin Dells, and the Mall of America, once back in Minneapolis. Also, a couple of yarn stores in Minneapolis, where I bought Cat Bordhi's new sock book. I love this new book. So many new possibilities for socks! It is also the first sock book I have ever read that discusses negative ease (she doesn't use that term, but the stitch counts for her socks are all reduced 10% from the actual foot measurement so that they will fit better). Having said that, however, I don't find that the measurements by shoe size given in this or any other sock book I have seen bear much resemblance to the actual measurements I get from friends and family.

I promptly took my book to have it wire-bound at Office Depot, but the person behind the counter was neither competent, helpful or friendly, and so I will wait for another day.

Alas, I had to return home before the Minnesota State Fair opened. Time for back to school and everything that entails.

Vacation!

2007-08-14T13:33:00.001-07:00

No, I'm not gone yet. I will be leaving tomorrow for a visit with some high school friends, still dear friends despite living several thousand miles away.

One of them is the mom of this lovely girl.

They will be putting me and DD up for a couple of days, and we will all be going to the waterpark for a few days.

And I hope it was cooler when she took that picture. Those are all the items she submitted to the State Fair this year. Hopefully she'll win some blue ribbons!

Back in a week --

Sunday Socks

2007-08-07T09:09:00.000-07:00

I started out to make the Undulating Rib Socks from Favorite Socks.

Wrong pattern for this yarn. It just looks lumpy.

That was on a Friday. This is another story a bit like the High Anxiety Socks. You will all think I am a hopeless bundle of anxiety and nerves, and perhaps you will not be far wrong.

Saturday morning I ripped out the Friday sock and began a plain sock, with an inch of ribbing.

I was intending this sock for my BIL for Xmas. So it was 72 stitches around (mine I usually make at 64 stitches), on a US #1 circ.

I knitted on this plain sock every chance I got on Saturday. It was another form of anxiety sock, because I had promised my mother to take her shopping for her new mattress on Saturday. Her previous mattress? She had had it for all of about a week.

We spent 4 hours in the mattress shop Saturday, with a short break for lunch. Every mattress that she was interested in, I had to lie on as well. By the end of this time, I knew by heart the coil count, coil gauge, coil construction and padding make-up of all the ones she was primarily interested in.

She finally made a decision about 4:00 (if you order by 4:30 they deliver the following day), and I left. I knit on the Saturday Sock all through Dreamgirls that night.

On Sunday, I decided that the plain 72-stitch sock was ugly and it kept freaking me out because it looked so large to me. I ripped it all out and started a sock with 2x2 ribbing on the leg and instep. And here it is:

Alas, it is too short. I did the end of this sock in the car, on the way to drop DD at music camp, and although I did measure, I started the toe decreases too early. DH tried it on and declared that both the foot and the leg are too short. Now, his foot is a bit larger than BIL's, but still.

This sock actually fits me pretty darn well, because of the ribbing, I suppose. But I'm not crazy about the colors. If I'm going to wear hand-knit socks, they should be brighter, prettier ones, it seems to me. It might fit one of my brothers who has small feet pretty well, his feet are not much larger than mine. But he lives in San Diego, and these are wool socks. Last year I made him socks from the same cotton / wool blend as my High Anxiety socks, which he liked. Then again, he was also the very most enthusiastic recipient of all my hand-knitted socks last Xmas, so maybe they are destined to be his.

So, dear readers, here is my dilemma -- do I rip this sock back to the top of the heel flap to make the leg longer, and knit the foot longer? Or keep them? Or give them to my San Diego brother? The second leg is almost to the point where I must decide.

I'd love to hear your suggestions.

As to the new, new mattress, first she liked it, then for some reason she put on the pillow top from her old mattress, then she hated it and wanted to return it, then took off the pillow top and loved it, then she wasn't so crazy about it. The saga continues, but at this point I'm afraid to ask. I really don't want to spend another 4 hours in a mattress store any time real soon.

High Anxiety Socks

2007-08-06T14:10:00.000-07:00

You might remember that a great many of my family took part in the SF Pride Parade this year. And it was a lot of fun!

But not completely without a downside. You see, spending a whole weekend packed with family dinners, etc., has its effect on me. And I don't mean a good effect.

And on this particular occasion, to make matters worse, my mother and my father had not previously seen each other in nearly two decades. This was not entirely by accident, either. At one of DD's toddler b-day party weekends, in fact, we went to great lengths to make sure they never met. It wasn't easy and involved some half-truths. Or white lies. Whatever. Mom just did not want to see Dad.

Not long before the weekend of the Pride Parade, I finished a pair of socks. I believe it was the Waving Lace Socks.

So the prospect of facing all this family togetherness without a sock on the needles was too much for me to bear. I had to cast on a sock, and immediately.

Lo and behold, the "High Anxiety Socks" were born. I knitted them in the car all weekend on the way to and from these various family events, which helped ease my poor nerves.

They're very matchy matchy, cuz that's the way I like them.

And just this last weekend I made myself this sock blocker:

I used this tutorial, and an inexpensive, thin plastic cutting board, one of a set of 4 that I had gotten a while back, probably from Bed, Bath & Beyond. I don't see the exact ones on their website now, but they are supposed to be color-coded to avoid cross-contamination. Something like green for veggies, yellow for chicken, red for red meat, and blue for fish. We used them for whatever, and this one has certainly had its share of use. But we didn't really need to have all 4 as cutting boards, so this one was sacrificed, because I like blue better than the other colors. Maybe I'll make mini-sock blockers for my mini-socks from the scraps.

I traced one of my socks on it, then expanded the shape to be closer to the measurements of my foot and leg. This was too big, so I made it a little smaller. It is probably still a little too big, and I might cut it down more sometime. But it doesn't matter much, as it's only for taking pix.

Sock details:

Yarn: Regia Cotton Surf, 41% superwash wool, 34% cotton, 25% polyamide, color 5416. Nice stuff, I like this blend of wool and cotton.

Pattern: Adapted from Slouch Socks in Not Just More Socks, with (guess what?!) eye-of-partridge heel flap. No surprise there.

Needles: Knitpicks 32" circ, size US 1 (2.5 mm).

Again? Sure, I like this easy pattern and this yarn.

Oh, and the family? Not too bad, actually. Let's see, my dad was his usual hyper-critical self (upon showing up unannounced at the house, first he commented that our dog was getting fat, then after listening to DD perform for him on her flute, he went over to examine her sheet music because he thought he had caught her in a mistake). Guess what? We're never asking her to play for him again. I can't believe that even the poor dog caught criticism.

And whatever the reason was that had led Mom to avoid Dad for so many years (possibly the criticisms might have had something to do with it?), she had gotten over it, and that part went fine. It was downright anticlimactic. You'd think they could have made more drama over it, for my sake, after all my anxiety.

At least I have my socks.

Running Away to Join the Circus

2007-08-04T20:18:00.000-07:00

Can you do this?

I used to be able to, and as you can see, DD now can:

That is "toss" juggling.

And this is "contact" juggling.

Here's the finale of the Big Show at Camp Winnarainbow for DD's session earlier this summer:

Everyone sings:

Ever tempted to run away and join the circus?

Giant Bag Tamed!

2007-08-03T15:06:00.000-07:00

Remember that brave girl who was nearly devoured by a gigantic knit bag?

She has now tamed it. Felting helped, no doubt.

It even goes with her shirt.

Embossed Leaves Socks

2007-07-31T09:02:00.000-07:00

I wrote before about the cast-on and cuffs and needle sizes for the Embossed Leaves Socks I was making for Lorri to give her as a gift.

Well, done and done, and now they can be shown.

I happened to have this lovely green ribbon, and presented them thusly. She seemed pleased.

The drinking glass models the leg of the first sock.

I'm trying to show off the cool cast-on for this sock, but I'm afraid this photo only gets part-way there.

Here are the heels. This is probably closer to the true color, also. I only just noticed that hole by the gusset and heel flap. Oops! This is not the pattern heel, BTW.

On Lorri's feet.

And those cool toes.

Details:

Yarn by All Things Heather. A bit underspun, it seemed to me. Nicely dyed if you like green, which fortunately Lorri does.

Needles: KnitPicks 2.5 mm, 2.75 mm, and 3.0 mm. This is the newest one of my many oddities, multiple needle sizes for a single pair of socks. No doubt 2 sizes would be enough for any normal person. The ribbing is on the 3.0 (or you could just do non-twisted ribbing), the first repeat or so is on the 2.75, and the rest on the 2.5.

Mods: I used the pattern cast-on, which I blathered about at great length here, then went down to smaller needles since I like my socks snug. I didn't use the pattern heel, but what is becoming my standard eye-of-partridge heel flap. I used the pattern toes, but didn't decrease to quite what the pattern called for, since so few stitches always makes weird pointy toes for me. Oh, yes, I made the stems of the leaves with Ktbl to give a bit more definition to them. I think this worked well, although I'm not sure you can see in the pix.

Time: I can't say, since between sock one and sock 2 I knit another sock.

Again? Maybe, but all in all I prefer the Waving Lace Socks. Also, I think I'd try to jigger the pattern to have fewer purl stitches if I did these again.

But that's just me.

I've been a bad blogger

2007-07-30T10:17:00.000-07:00

I've been a bad blogger, it's been over 2 weeks since I blogged. Oh, wait, I was away for one of those weeks, without internet. Well, still.

Before I went away, I went on a yarn crawl with Maia. We had a blast! Here we are at the end, flush with yarn fumes:

I was a bad blogger on the yarn crawl. I got no shots of yarn, buttons, ribbons, or yarn shops. Of course, I did get some yarn, buttons and ribbons. And this surreptitious shot, which is probably the most interesting shot I got the whole day:

What does this signify? Anybody know?

I got this when we stopped for coffee (for Maia) and tea (for me) here:

I will try to do better at blogging! I have some shots of finished socks, circus camp, and family camp to tempt you with. All in good time, my pretties.

Rated PG

2007-07-10T15:08:00.000-07:00

I got nothin' to show you, so when I saw this over at Norma's, I had it rate my blog. You'll never guess.

It's because I said "crap" twice and "sexy" once (in the link to the Sexy Knitter's Club). Ooops, there goes the ol' rating. Good thing I didn't post everything that I saw at the Pride Parade, I guess. And I'm not talking about the LGBT folks, I'm talking about the float sponsored by the strip joint.

The Embossed Leaves socks are almost done, but they are picture-less because they are a surprise. I think I'm safe to blab about them but not show them. I don't think Lorri reads knitting blogs, and if she does (hi Lorri!), well, if there are no pix there is still an element of surprise. Right? Of course right.

Now that I'm here, I guess I can tell you that I started out to knit them on US 1's. This despite the pattern instruction to knit them on US 2's. Yep, living on the edge. But it's a 64-stitch sock, and I've never met a 64-stitch sock yet that didn't fit my feet when knit on 1's, my preferred sock needles for the tight gauge.

Until now.

Actually, everything would have been fine if not for the fact that I wanted to try the twisted ribbing specified in the pattern. Not to mention the 1x1 two-strand cast-on (despite the fact that Mona Schmidt, the designer herself, commented on the Blue Blog that she did not choose that cast-on. In fact, she says she has never even tried it.

And a further note of interest (to some): The book describes this as "a smooth two-stranded tubular cast-on". I'm here to tell you that it is all those things, except tubular. I mainly tried it because it was advertised as tubular, and you may remember that I have been wanting to learn tubular cast-on. I jumped in, thinking now's the time.

Only it ain't. Don't get me wrong, it's a very nice cast-on, one that I intend to use again and again. But it ain't tubular cast-on.

But I digress. Back to the ribbing. 64 stitches of 1x1 twisted rib is too darn tight on me. I actually had a night where I tossed and turned, wondering how to resolve my aversion to knitting socks on #2 needles and the too-tight cast-on. Yeah, I'm weird like that.

Some time in the middle of the night, I had an "aha!" moment. I needed a 2.75 mm needle, something in-between my KnitPicks size 1 (2.5 mm) and size 2 (3 mm). And as I was going on a yarn crawl the next day with my good blogger-friend (and now a real-life friend!) Maia, spinner and knitter extraordinaire, I would be able to snap one up. Which I did.

When I was able to think about this wide-awake, I decided to frog what I had done, knit the twisted rib cuff on the 3 mm needle, the first repeat on the 2.75 mm needle, and the rest on the 2.5 mm needle. This seems to have worked, as they say, like a charm. Quite possibly the 2.75 is even an unnecessary complication, but since I had bought one, what the heck.

I know, I know, if I had been thinking about this properly while wide-awake I should have been able to quickly leap to the conclusion that a different needle for the cuff was all that was needed. A sleepless night could have been avoided. But I've never knit socks on more than one size needle before. That's my pathetic excuse, and I'm sticking to it.

Warn the kids.

Giant Bag Devours Girl! Film at 11!

2007-06-29T09:35:00.000-07:00

Oh, no! Can this girl be saved? She is struggling with an enormous knitted bag!!

Whew! She appears to be unharmed by this traumatic experience.

My friend Lisa is knitting a Modular Felted Tote, inspired by Susan Rainey's tote.

The pattern is available at The Yarnery in St. Paul: 651-222-5793, and is designed by Theresa Gaffey (who is probably a long-lost relation, or at least I like to think so, since my maiden name is Gaffney).

I'm sure we'd all like to see the bag in its felted state (probably it is less likely to devour her kids now), and perhaps Lisa will send me some pix.

Waving Lace Socks

2007-06-28T08:43:00.000-07:00

They're done!

I love these socks.

Eye of Partridge heel, with stitches picked up "the pretty way" (oops, blurry photo, sorry):

Hooray for this great pattern!

Notes:

Waving Lace Socks, from "Favorite Socks"
Fleece Artist Merino yarn, "Marine" colorway. This is a very pretty combination of mostly blue, with purple and green (which don't really show in the pix but give it a rich tone).
Knitpicks #1 circs, Magic Loop-style
Eye of Partridge heel, stitches picked up "the pretty way" (thanks, Grumperina!)
"Rescue yarnovers" (thanks, June)!
Toe -- I did NOT go down to 6 stitches per needle before grafting, since that results in elf toes, but to 10 stitches per needle, and per Cat Bordhi, I lift each end stitch over the next stitch on the needle as I go.

These are the socks that Lorri saw me knitting and that inspired her to ask for socks. But for Lorri, I plan to make the Embossed Leaves socks in a nice green variegated colorway. I can't wait!

Pride 2007

2007-06-27T09:02:00.001-07:00

My whole family took part in the 2007 San Francisco Pride Parade last Sunday! My brother and his husband were Grand Marshals! Everyone in both of their immediate families was there in spirit to support them. Most everyone was there physically, also. Lots of cousins, too!

Here I am with my Mom, ready to take part in the Parade! My cousin Wes is here, too.

Here's DD with her younger cousin, sitting in as grand marshals while everything gets set up:

And here are the Grand Marshals themselves! That's my brother Stuart on the right, his husband John on the left:

Subtle outfits, huh??

They are two of many grand marshals, actually, but they are the ones who were elected by the community:

Here are two other grand marshals:

Lots of others were getting ready:

Nice knitted scarf, dude!

Last minute adjustments to the Marriage Equality float:

And we're off!

Here's the grand marshals, with another of my brothers and DD walking alongside:

Our sign -- there were indeed 4 generations of my family there (but my camera ate my pix of the very youngest generation):

This was my view for a lot of the parade:

See the giant pink triangle on Twin Peaks, way in the background? They put that up every year for Pride weekend.

The crowds were enormous!

More interesting costumes:

The TV interview:

And it's all over:

The end:

Because.

2007-06-17T08:44:00.000-07:00

Well, I didn't win the drawing for front-row seats at next year's 8th grade graduation. Darn.

But in other respects, the 8th grade graduation dance chaperone gig was a hoot. I think (knock on wood) I have escaped catching my friend's cold, despite the fact that the noise level required us to lean over and talk loudly into one another's ears in order to converse. And we always have lots to talk about.

The adult chaperones worked in pairs, rotating through various stations around the middle school gym, inside and outside. There were more than 20 of us, quite enough to prevent any nonsense. Although none was really in the offing. These are generally pretty good kids.

The principal, in our pre-dance briefing, assured us that the worst things that had happened during his 5-year tenure were that they had once, during the pre-dance "sweep" of the school, confiscated alcohol hidden in the boys' bathroom, and he had once had to tell a slow-dancing boy to move his hands above the girl's waist.

The worst thing that we had to deal with was a couple who clearly wanted to go in the corner and neck. I simply moved a lot closer to that corner and gave them a big smile. They went back to the dance floor. The principal had his eye on them all evening also.

Overall, the kids were cute and innocent and sweet. The DJ had a lot of ways to get them having a good time, such as tossing beach balls onto the dance floor, with a small volleyball-type net being held up, so the kids could bat the balls back and forth over it. A lot of the dancing was solo or group dancing rather than couples, and for the majority of the evening, the majority of the girls were on one side of the floor and a majority of the boys were on the other.

A cute slide show had been put together with pix of a lot of the kids when they were much younger, and pix from this last year. They were all given CD's of it to keep at the end of the evening. Good thing my DD was only finishing 7th grade, I would have been bawling if those were her class-mates.

All in all, much more fun than I thought, and a good glimpse into what middle schoolers are like at a dance. I'm glad I did it.

Why??

2007-06-15T17:58:00.000-07:00

I'm off at 8:00 p.m. to chaperon the 8th grade graduation dance. They recommended that we bring earplugs, fer heaven's sake. After we signed up, of course. I didn't think to ask when I volunteered how long the dance lasted. It only lasts until 11, but that is past my bedtime, if I can help it.

Note to self: Quit volunteering for stuff, already.

Self: C'mon, your friend asked you to do this, and we might win the drawing for front-row seats for next year's graduation. Which we want, right?

Me: Let the 8th grade parents do it.

Self: Ri-i-ight, the 8th graders really want to go to a dance chaperoned by their parents. As if.

Me: And you know I don't really like the company of some of these other parents.

Self: Yeah, but you get to be buddied with your friend around the corner.

Me: Who emailed me today to tell me she has a bad cold. But we can't wimp out or risk the wrath of the 7th grade organizing parent. And she is terrifying.

Self: C'mon, it could be fun.

Me: In your dreams. Whine. And I can't even knit. Whine. And I am NOT volunteering to stay and clean up afterwards.

Self: Fine. Whatever.

I just hope I don't see anything too scary. Vomit. Freak-dancing. Necking 8th graders. Ick.

Red Scarf Red Alert!!

2007-06-13T17:40:00.000-07:00

The 2008 Red Scarf Project is apparently going to be held in 2007. Interesting choice, but they have good reasons.

Stay tuned here for more.

Would you, could you, in a box?

2007-06-11T09:19:00.000-07:00

Here, scrunched up on the scanner bed as if jammed in an invisible box like a mime, is my nearly-done first Waving Lace Sock:

It looks much better on, and I don't think it looks half bad here. I love this sock. This is going to be the best-looking sock I have made yet, if I do say so myself.

Last week was Crazy Week at our house, but I didn't read the memo announcing that until late the week before. I looked at my calendar -- meetings or school concert every night, followed by a weekend of camping with the Girl Scouts. Yikes!

Well, we got through it all just fine and while there's still some clean-up yet to do from the camping trip, everything went great.

I nearly had to cancel this camping trip. Four girls were going, and the parents of the other 3 girls (and my DH) all had obligations that prevented them from coming. I needed another adult to go. Not just because this is the GS safety rule and generally a good idea -- but I couldn't even get the girls and our stuff there by myself, even in our SUV. There's just a leetle too much stuff involved in cooking and camping the GS way, sometimes.

We were rescued at the last moment by the leader of another Troop. Her girls are older and don't like to camp so much any more. She misses it. She was happy to come along. Yay, Lorri!

Lorri saw me knitting this sock while we were there and admired it greatly. She even offered to pay me to knit her socks like this. I was very flattered, but politely declined -- that would take all of the fun out of it, I said.

Later I thought through the math -- thanks to the Sock-in-a-Day Challenge, I now know that it take me about 13 hours to knit a single sock. That would make 26 hours for a pair, since I know for a fact that Lorri has the full complement of two feet. Let's say, just for grins, that I would knit these socks for $10 an hour. (Let's not drag my day job and what that pays into this, that doesn't really have much bearing.) The yarn cost about $20. Let's see, $20 for materials, plus $10 an hour times 26 hours = $280. What?!! No one in their right mind would pay that for a pair of socks! Not, I have to say, even for socks as beauteous as these are going to be.

Would you knit socks for pay? And if you would, how much would you charge? What about sweaters? Hats? Scarves? Face it, any of these things we knit can be bought for less than we make them for (if we disregard their unique character and craftsmanship for a moment), and when you cay buy socks for a few dollars or less, why would anyone pay hundreds?

On the other hand, Lorri did save this trip in a very real sense. And I think the time may well come when I would happily knit her a pair of socks as a gift. Because that is a different matter entirely. Don't you think?

Waving Lace Sock

2007-05-30T09:05:00.000-07:00

After the fiasco and general PIA that I experienced with the 2x2 tubular bind-off, I was not ready for anything too tricky or new, but I needed to cast on for a new sock right away. I felt as if I would go through withdrawal if I did not get another sock on the needles immediately, one that I would actually be able to knit steadily on.

So I took the Fleece Artist yarn I bought at Stitches West and immediately cast on for this:

This is the start of Waving Lace Socks from "Favorite Socks".

I love the colors of this yarn. Love them! Even the green. My famous aversion to green is tempered by the blues and purples. Green, especially the dark emerald green, is just fine for me in small doses next to blue and purple, apparently.

Now, the very astute will notice that this sock starts with a 1x1 rib, but no tubular cast-on is apparent. Wouldn't this have been the perfect opportunity to learn tubular cast-on?

Yes, and no. Yes, I want to learn to do that some day. And no, I think that if I, in my battered mental state as a result of my epic struggle with 2x2 tubular bind-off, had attempted to do that, my head would have exploded.

Tubular Bind-off -- Part 2

2007-05-29T14:10:00.000-07:00

After having done the 1x1 tubular bind-off on one sock, I tried, mightily I tried, to do a 2x2 tubular bind-off on the other sock. Tubular bind-off is a lot like grafting. I get grafting (having had a grafting epiphany of my own, similar to Nona's. I carefully read the instructions in the Stanley book, did two set-up rounds (which requires both some extrapolation from the stated instructions, and 4 times round the sock), then bound it off.

It would not go over my foot.

I loosened it up, forcing extra yarn through the tortuous route that the yarn took in such a bind-off. Several times. By the time I got it loose enough to go over my foot, it looked like crap and was still a bit too tight on my calf.

I did some research in knit-blog-land. Great resource. I undid the bind-off (by now, this was almost harder than sewing it in the first place since the yarns didn't want to let go of one another). I undid the set-up rounds. I had read somewhere that they weren't all that necessary and that the slipped stitches make it a bit tighter. I didn't really think the primary problem was the set-up rounds, but I undid them anyway, and re-knit them in 2x2 ribbing.

I re-read the instructions and followed them even more carefully this time. The second time I followed all the instructions to the letter, dropping stitches off at the time stated, even when that hadn't seemed necessary the first time. This did make for a better bind-off.

But it still didn't work.

I ripped it all out again, and re-did it with two rows of 1x1 rib followed by 1x1 tubular bind-off. After all of the above, this now seemed like such a piece of cake. I can practically do 1x1 tubular bind-off in my sleep. 2x2 is not twice as hard, it's at least 4 times as hard. It's exponentially harder.

I was happy with my socks now. I wore them all day yesterday.

At the end of the day I said to myself, let's just see what Ms. Wiseman (what an apt name) has to say about this.

Ms. Wiseman says of tubular bind-off, "Can only be used for knit one, purl one ribbing."

And her book comes already wire-bound. 'Nuff said.

Tubular Bind-off

2007-05-27T16:31:00.000-07:00

I finished the mate to my sock-in-a-day sock with a tubular bind-off:

I decided I should learn a new technique from this sock. Now, I did do a Baudelaire heel for the first time on this sock, but was that enough for me? No-o-o. I figured that if I wasn't all that fond of the yarn, I could at least get some more value out of this project by using a new technique. This not very logical, but I did learn a new technique, and you know what? This sock is growing on me, so it's all good. If you spot the mistakes in this bind-off, please don't tell me.

This is a 1x1 bind-off, which I decided I wanted to learn after reading this post of Claudia's, and which I learned from this excellent book:

I undid the bind-off of my sock-in-a-day sock and am trying to re-do it with 2x2 tubular bind-off, which at the moment looks like crap and is going to have to be re-done.

What's that you say? Where did I find my copy of Stanley's book in a wire-bound version? At Kinko's, that's where. For about $7.50, and in about 5 minutes, while I waited, they removed the original spine and wire-bound it, and I couldn't be happier with it. If it were only a little bit cheaper I'd have all of my knitting reference books wire-bound.

Ohio Star tote

2007-05-25T14:30:00.000-07:00

The knitting is done on the Ohio Star tote:

I know, it's been a long time since I put this up. It's been a long time since I worked on it, until the other night.

I joined the front of the tote to the EGSGOD weeks ago, then for some reason put the project aside. When I went looking for it, I realized that DD was using that project bag as a pillow for tv-watching on the couch.

I joined the back to the EGSGOD, and I actually had to frog a number of rows of the EGSGOD. Either the project instructions are wrong, or I threw my gauge way off by knitting or purling backwards while making the EGSGOD, and the knitting goddess will get me for it when I felt. We'll see.

I had been intending, ever since I got the Embellish Knit! and realized that I actually could make worsted weight i-cord with it, to make the project with braided i-cord handles, per the pattern, even though I had purchased suede handles at a LYS for this project. But now I am thinking I will go with the suede handles. And so, I declare knitting on this project to be done.

That is a ways from the project being done, however. I have to felt it, for one thing. Then wait for it to dry.

And I really think I want to line it, maybe use plastic canvas to give some rigidity to the bottom, maybe put a pocket in the lining, and add a magnetic snap. Oh, and sew the suede handles on, of course. None of these things are things I have much experience with. In fact, most of those things -- zero experience. But they all seem do-able.

So I have a ways to go on this project. But hey, the knitting is done.

Moooo!

2007-05-23T10:25:00.000-07:00

I've got no knitting for you today, except a second sock, and how bo-oo-oring is that?

So here's something I've been meaning to post -- I got this gal at a garage sale a few weeks back for $3, maybe $4, I forget. She's been loved before, one leg has been carefully mended and there's a chip at the opening on the top, but I love her just the same. Aren't the little cornflowers precious?

We have yet to use her -- there's seldom any cream in this house, or occasion to put milk in a creamer (not when the carton will do), but I just like having her around. My uncle, who lives in an old farmhouse in Vermont that has been in the family several generations, has a similar one (without the cornflowers), and so when I saw her at the sale I brought her home.

Sock-in-a-Day Challenge -- Done!

2007-05-20T09:46:00.000-07:00

The sock for the Sock-in-a-Day Challenge is done! And within the time limits! Woo-hoo!

Here it is almost done:

And -- done!

The colors are a bit more true in the first picture.

I kept this log of my time:

I didn't add it up, but it's about 13 hours.

This was a good exercise to do, for a couple of reasons. Now I know about how much effort goes into a sock with a stockinette foot, "Baudelaire" heel, and garter-rib leg, and I never have to time it again. And I decided that I'm not fond of the way this yarn looks knit up, so it's a good thing I had the Challenge to spur me on.

I like the wider stripes I got on the heel flap much better than the skinny stripes, and if I were really a crazy person I would re-knit this sock using both balls to create wider stripes. And that would result in ends to knit in approximately every other row, and I'm not quite that crazy.

I also learned that garter rib (or something very much like it) results in this yarn when you decide to knit the entire round where the yarn changes color and k2, p2 the other rounds. And this is a fine thing.

So I'm very glad I did this, but I never intend to time my knitting again. It makes it seem too much like work, and I like to airily tell muggles who ask how much "work" something took to knit, "none, I do this for pleasure". That is much harder to do with insouciance if I know exactly how many hours are in a project.

Bee-Swarm-ectomy

2007-05-18T17:15:00.000-07:00

Bee-Swarm-ectomy

We had a swarm of bees land in a tree in our back yard the other day. We were surprised when thousands of bees began flying around in the back yard. And then they all landed:

That is a pile o' bees larger than a basketball. Solid bees.

What, you don't believe it's as big as a basketball? Neither did the beekeeper, and he lived to regret not believing me.

Those are honey bees swarming.

We called a pest guy, who said not to worry, they would fly away on their own when they had rested. They weren't bothering us, so that's what we were going to do. But I mentioned it to Maia, who suggested that because honeybees are vanishing, that someone might want these bees. So I looked for a beekeeper.

(Little hint -- if you google "bee swarm removal" you get a lot of pest control guys. If you want a beekeeper, google your county "beekeeper association".)

This is Mike. He's a beekeeper. You can tell by his beekeeper suit.

This is Tom, my DH, helping Mike. Tom's not a beekeeper. You can tell because he has no beekeeper suit.

They cut that branch and got it into Mike's "traveling" bee box.

Mike is passionate about bees. He wanted as many of the stragglers as possible to make their way into the box, through the small opening on one side. He was going to come back in the evening, when it would be cooler and most of them would have gone in. But that evening he got tied up with something (bee-related, no doubt) and couldn't come until the next day. Before he could come it got warm, and suddenly the box looked like this:

The dark end of the box? Solid bees.

But by evening they had all gone back in again, except for a few stragglers. Mike sealed the box and put it in his truck. Bye-bye, bees! Work hard!

Sock-in-a-Day

I am nearly done with my Sock-in-a-Day Challenge sock. What, you want sock pix? After all those bee pix?

Next time. I'll just say this -- it's a good thing I made this sock for the Challenge, or I'm not sure I would ever have finished it. This yarn is in colors I like, but I really don't like the patterning. Good thing this is sock 2, and sock 1 is half done. No, wait -- how can that be? Oh, I get so confused.

Tagged!

2007-05-17T08:06:00.000-07:00

I was “tagged” by the Rainey Sisters. Here are the rules and my random facts!

Rules:

1. Each player starts with 8 random facts about themselves.

2. People who are tagged write a blog post about their 8 random things and post the rules.

3. At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and post their names.

4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Eight Random Things about Me:

1. In high school, I won the Betty Crocker Award. This was all about the multiple-choice test-taking and nothing about cooking. I'm still no gourmet cook, but my family hasn't starved yet.

2. I used to think I was 5'4". Nothing to brag about, but I need every inch I can get. Years ago DH told me there was no way I was 5'4", more like 5'3" and barely that. I believed him because he has a better vantage point at almost 6'. The other day DD measured me in the doctor's office (to see how close she was to overtaking my towering height). I am indeed 5'4". In fact, 5'4" and 3/16". Don't leave off the 3/16".

3. I once took part in a log-rolling contest. It was one-at-a-time on the log, for time. I did poorly.

4. We just had a bee-swarm-ectomy. Pictures at 11.

5. One summer I went to mountaineering school for 5 weeks, the last 3 or 4 days of which we didn't eat and had to find our way out in teams.

6. I am no good at all at any sport involving a ball. However, I can canoe, bike, rock-climb, kayak, ski (cross-country and downhill) and do yoga. Oh, and knit.

7. DH and I once traveled by bike from New York to St. Louis. It took two weeks. At one point we were nearly arrested for camping illegally near a reservoir.

8. Canada, France, England and Scotland are the only foreign countries I have been to.

I swear this thing keeps growing -- last time I got tagged it was 6 weird things, then recently I saw it was 7 things, now it's 8 random things. So I'm tagging Liz, Deepa, AngelaRae, Erica, Anne, Da Gu Ma, Maia, and Cookie. Y'all can thank me later.

Sock-in-a-Day Challenge

2007-05-16T11:14:00.000-07:00

I'm doing the Sock-in-a-Day Challenge (see button in sidebar). Liz has challenged us to see if we can knit a sock in one day, as the Yarn Harlot had to do before her appearance on Knitty Gritty a while back.

Fortunately for my famously fragile hands, the rules Liz set up let us choose to knit a sock in 18 hours over the week of the Challenge.

I began the Challenge on Sunday night. Knit for over 2 hours. And this is what the results of my efforts looked like:

Isn't that rather pathetic? Of course, when I especially want my sock to go right, I have to cast on 3 times, drop stitches, etc.

Not that it excuses that patheticness, but there are some distractions around here. This is what my backyard looks like:

Panning right:

And the Mound o' Rocks:

That thing is taller than I am! Which is not saying a heck of a lot, but still.

Wouldn't you have thought that my deer friends would have been scared away? Me, too, but no-o-o-o:

Can you tell they are a little older? The antlers are a bit bigger now.

My poor tomatoes. Last year I grew tomatoes in the general location currently occupied by the Mound o' Rocks. A location protected from my deer friends by a tall fence.

This year I have to make do with a location in the front yard, unprotected by a fence. So I went to the nursery for one tomato plant (instead of two, like last summer), the better to protect it inside its cage with deer netting.

(Note for future reference -- no need to make that special trip to the store with "deer netting" in stock, rather than "bird netting" -- it's the same darn thing, just more of it.)

After I took the pic of the tomato in its little cage, I turned right and took this:

Yep, heavy equipment in the front and the back yards. Woo-hoo.

By now the Sock-in-a-Day Challenge sock has grown, and indeed, over 7 hours into my Challenge knitting, it is past the heel turn and almost done with the flap. This is why I hate to keep track of how many hours it takes me to knit something -- doesn't that seem like a lot of time for about 2/3 of a sock? I haven't even included swatching time or pattern researching time.

But more on that later. In my next post, I want to tell you about our bee-swarm-ectomy. For now, let me just say this -- don't try this at home, kids.

Meet Sharron Elliott

2007-05-08T09:08:00.000-07:00

This is Sharron Elliott.

Sharron's name is the name I was given by The Mother's Day Project of a female Coalition casualty in Iraq.

I volunteered to stitch the name of a female Coalition casualty on this piece of muslin. It will be made into a tote bag with the names of each of the 79 (as of that date) female Coalition casualties in Iraq, and we will each in turn carry and use it, to help us remember the gaping holes left behind by each of these women.

Just reading what information there is that is easy to find on the internet about Sharron's life was very moving. She left a huge, gaping hole behind. I'm sure that is true of each person killed in war, on each side of the line. Even a former pen pal who knew Sharron when he was 9 left a tribute on her page at The Iraq Page. And of course, those who survived may be terribly scarred, physically and emotionally, and they and their loved ones suffer also.

The Mother's Day Project is the brainchild of Anne of ThreadingWater, who organized it, stamped the names on fabric and mailed them out to each of us. Enough people have volunteered for there to be a second tote. Alas, the second tote will require 80 names.

Bad socks, no cookie!

2007-05-03T10:30:00.000-07:00

I have some self-striping yarn in colors I like, but I had a dilemma. What sock pattern to use? I could, of course, have made stockinette socks, and I hadn't ruled that out, but I was thinking of -- something a little different, a little more, well, interesting. Myself, I'm not so fond of the feather and fan stitch pattern, which I know a lot of people like for striped yarn.

On a previous pair, I tried a stitch pattern that was sort of a mash-up of the popularJaywalkers pattern and a chevron stitch pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks. You can see them here, where I am still pleased with them, here, where there is no pic but I post about giving them away, and here, where I took them back again. I can't call those a big success.

I unvented a stitch pattern a bit like the Odessa hat pattern, which I liked so much in hats. I have made many an Odessa, although with the ones I made for chemo caps I substituted a raised bar increase for the YO's, so as not to have a hole. They don't like holes in chemo caps, they tell me. I am such an idiot, it is only recently that I have figured out that this substitution is why the caps came out a bit small around, which I had compensated for by adding an extra pattern repeat. Doh!

Anyway, here is my trial "Odessa"-type sock leg:

Stitch pattern (over multiple of 5): SKP, K, raise bar increase, K2. My terminology may be wonky, but SKP = slip, k1, PSSO. Raise bar increase is that increase where you lift the bar between the stitches with the left needle and knit into it without twisting.

Close-up:

I really like the patterning, how each color, which would be a narrow stripe in a stockinette sock, becomes a series of diagonal bars. And how the faux-Fair-Isle bars happen to line up diagonally, more or less, to make a pattern in another direction. I kept thinking this was coming out too tightly and with a 65-stitch sock, it didn't seem as though it would fit over my heel. After marinating in the UFO pile for a while, somehow that problem has disappeared. And so, after having initially rejected this as being too dense and non-stretchy, I actually think it would work. Except for the PITA factor.

It's just too much of a Pain in the Ass to knit this stitch pattern. To try to pick up that bar every 5 stitches, with some of the yarn being black.

While this knit leg was marinating, I got Lucy Neatby's book, Cool Socks, Warm Feet, which is supposed to be tailor-made for my problem -- what to do with my stripey yarn that's not stockinette? I'm not quite so thrilled with this book as many seem to be, although I have to admit there are many heels, toes and cuffs in there that I haven't tried yet. I already ~~whined~~ expressed my opinion about the gauge instructions for the Mermaid Socks here.

I wasn't happy with the beginning of my Mermaid Sock, or the Odessa sock, either. I decided to try some different things. So I present to you now the world's largest and most ridiculous swatch:

I had intended, when I first began writing this post several days ago, to go through and explain what each stitch pattern is and what I like and don't like about each one.

But suffice it to say that I frogged both the swatches last night and have put the yarn in time-out to think about what it has done. A line I am stealing with reckless abandon from Maia.

I will probably let the yarn out tomorrow night for knit night, when it will commence becoming mindless stockinette socks. Nothing wrong with those, now, is there?

The Mother's Day Project

2007-05-02T16:29:00.000-07:00

I first read about this at Franklin's blog, and jumped right in to participate -- it's The Mother's Day Project, to honor the servicewomen who have died in Iraq. This is the brainchild of someone from Milwaukee, where I spent most of my growing-up years (if one can say that I'm grown up). Click on over if you're interested, more helping hands are needed. There'll be a button and all those good things, in good time.

How cute can you get?

2007-04-30T08:49:00.000-07:00

Look what Liz sent me for my birthday!

These arrived late on Friday, and then a houseguest came for the weekend, so I am just now getting around to posting. But these really made my day!

She even suggested I can use my Chibi to block them if they need laundering after all that carnage from the "knunchuck" use gets on them, LOL.

Only after the mail arrived did I realize why Liz had casually started a conversation on google chat earlier that afternoon. Our mail comes late, what can I say.

Aren't these the cutest? They are perfect little socks in every way, with a heel flap and, presumably, grafted toes. It makes me faint to think of grafting the toes. Love the card, too. Thanks, Liz!!!

p.s. -- apparently I am the only one who cannot hear or see the words, "oh, dear, what can the matter be?", without responding, "seven old ladies got stuck in the lavat'ry". Yes, I spent way too many years at camp. And loved every minute.

Oh, Dear

2007-04-26T08:52:00.000-07:00

Oh, dear, what can the matter be?

This deer and his pal were in our yard the other day. They'd better not come back after I put in my tomatoes!

I think they came by to wish me a happy birthday. Yes, today is my birthday and I'm dang old today.

But there are compensations. DH made me a swift!

Isn't it fabulous? This is based on Anne's pattern. Thanks, Anne!

Within minutes, that 475 yards of sock yarn became this:

Yarn cake, yum.

Happy ANZAC Day!

2007-04-24T09:35:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is ANZAC day in Australia and New Zealand. ANZAC stands for Australia and New Zealand Army Corps, and we celebrated early by eating this package of delicious cookies we found at the grocery store. But wait, isn't it already tomorrow there? I'm so confused . . . .

As you can see at the bottom of the package, part of the proceeds go to the VFW. Support the vets by eating cookies! Now there's a concept I can get behind.

You can read more about ANZAC and ANZAC day here. Me, I'm off to look for more cookies. G'day!

Falling Water Scarf

2007-04-18T14:27:00.000-07:00

A while back, I posted that I was thinking of making the Falling Water Scarf with some lovely purple sock yarn I got at Stitches West.

My friend Lisa (who never comments here -- ahem) did that very thing! And here is her lovely daughter modeling said scarf:

Lisa sez:

"When I read your blog a month or so ago, you had just brought some very cool yarn and you were contemplating what to do with it. You pointed to a few patterns for a scarf that you were considering. I loved one of the patterns, so used it on some yarn of mine. Once I made the scarf, I realized it probably would look better as a solid color, rather than this Koigu thing I did, but trust me, it looks absolutely gorgeous with my light blue winter jacket. I finished up the scarf in Hawaii and thought I would just block it, then put it away til next fall. Little did I know we would get an inch of snow a few days ago, and it came in handy while I was walking the dogs (in my winter parka) at 6:00 am."

Lisa lives in Minnesota. 'Nuff said.

I guess I'd better get busy turning my own yarn into this scarf, now.

EGSGOD!

2007-04-16T12:33:00.000-07:00

The front and back panels for the Ohio Star tote are done:

The stitches on the top of the pic are being held on a piece of yarn, because eventually they will be part of the top of the tote, which will be bound off with an i-cord bind-off.

I threw a short row in at each corner, because otherwise the width of my first picked-up edge panel doesn't quite match the width of the center motif panel:

I don't think it's just me, because if you look very closely at the picture that was in the mag with the pattern here, you can see that the top edge dips slightly in those locations, just before the left and right corners. At least, that's what it looks like to me. Anyone know a better way to pick up stitches to avoid this problem?

As I said, both the front and the back panels are done, which means it is time for the -- EGSGOD!

The directions for the knitted piece that makes up the left and right panels and the bottom are as follows:

Cast on 16 stitches.
Knit 408 rows.
408 rows.

GAAAHH! It's enough to make you want to poke your own eyes out with your needles (except the Denise needles are, you know, so blunt).

I have dubbed this piece the Endless Garter-Stitch Gusset of Doom. EGSGOD for short.

I think I'm a little over 1/3 done:

In desperation (and because I'm something of a geek), I decided to figure out how to knit backwards. I thought it would be awfully hard for me.

You know what? I just wish now that I had done this sooner! It sure would have made those pointy little segments easier. Almost all of the EGSGOD so far has been knit backwards every other row. This makes for no turning, no putting-down-the-needle and re-settling-yarn-in-hand. I can't say I knit backwards quickly, smoothly, or well, but the whole process flows better. And any wonky stitches will felt in the wash.

Right? I hope I'm right.

Colors!

2007-04-13T09:11:00.000-07:00

Posts like this one by Maia and this one by Scout sometimes make me think my palette of choice is too limited. I will adamantly say that I don't like green, but I do seem to like it when it is combined with blue. Pink and brown together didn't sound so good to me, nor some of the other combinations listed in Scout's post, if you just list the colors. But when I look at her skeins -- yummy!

So next time I buy yarn, maybe I should deliberately broaden my palette and go for some sock yarn in colors I wouldn't normally wear or knit with. Just to try it. If I really don't like the results, I'm sure I can find someone else who would.

Yesterday we had a family field trip to San Francisco. It's been a while since I've been to Japantown, and I didn't remember this:

This is a cool fountain with water flowing over a number of flat slabs, so that you can walk right through it without really getting wet. The birds love it, too.

But the main goal for me and DD was to visit Ichiban Kan, as Freecia and Cookie did. And try to duplicate some of Cookie's sheepy purchases, which I loved. Am I a copycat? Yes, but I copy from the best.

At first we couldn't find them and I was afraid Cookie had gotten them all! But we did find them, and I got:

A couple of magazine files for my knitting mags and patterns (and it's filled with gift bags, each only about $1).

Some ~~pencil~~ knitting pouches and notebooks.

A ~~water bottle~~ yarn tote.

This cute sewing kit, with lots of needles, a needle threader, tape measure and tiny scissors, for $1.

This lightweight nylon totebag (part of my ongoing quest to use fewer shopping bags), one of our more expensive purchases at $2.

These sauce dishes ($1 each) to catch the drips from my tea strainer. Oh, yes, the pig? Press a button on its head and light shines from the nostrils in the snout. No keychain should be without this safety device.

Then we had sushi at the sushi boat restaurant (yum!), where I forgot to take pix, before leaving to see Picasso at SFMOMA. But that's another story.

All in all, the three of us had a monstrously good time.

Fickle, Fickle Me

2007-04-11T11:54:00.000-07:00

I liked these socks when I first finished them. And then I wore them a bit, and rats! they are actually a bit loose on me. Very disappointing, and I blame it on the biased stitches. Or really, on my inability to figure out proper gauge for biased knitting. I washed them and put them through the dryer (quel horreur!). Still too big.

So I gave them to DD, who at age 12 has slightly larger feet than me. (Yes, she's going to be taller than I am, but that's not saying a whole heck of a lot.)

She politely accepted them, but never wore them. Not once.

So I asked for them back, since even if they are a bit loose I still will wear them, and besides these I had only one pair of hand-knitted socks. Most of the socks I have made were Xmas gifts for last year.

Meantime, I had acquired these shoes from REI specifically for the purpose of showing off my hand-knit socks. I was inspired by Chris's Keens, although hers are "Seattles" and mine are "Calistogas".

I have to say I love these socks with these shoes.

Oink!

2007-04-05T09:09:00.000-07:00

This is a little late, but so was our family Chinese New Year pot luck.

This is the year of the boar. Or the year of the pig, if you prefer.

As you can see, I mistakenly let the frosting get too soft and runny while we made the sushi (yes, I know sushi is not Chinese, but it always gets gobbled up and there's no last-minute heating -- the perfect pot luck food). Still, I think it's cute.

And so is my assistant chef, don't you think?

Pride

2007-04-04T11:43:00.000-07:00

This is my brother and his DH on their wedding day in 2004:

They have just been elected (with the help of some of you -- thanks!!) as the "Individual Community Grand Marshals" for the San Francisco Pride Parade, which will take place Sunday, June 24, 2007!

I'm so proud!

Ohio Star gets a background

2007-04-04T09:28:00.000-07:00

More progress has been made:

The background color will be the solid blue ("New Denim"), and I think the white ("Aran") will make the star just pop. I am loving this project, it is very fun to knit and at this stage I still get to imagine that any little mistake or unevenness will just felt away.

Want An Exciting Career? Be A Firefighter!

2007-04-03T15:32:00.000-07:00

I just got this in an email aimed at us GS leaders:

"Want An Exciting Career? Be A Firefighter!

12th International Conference of Fire Service Women
Everyone Welcome

Hands-on and lecture workshops on a variety of Fire Service topics, such as Forcible Entry, Ventilation, Command, Grant Writing and . . . ."

OK, I don't mean to make fun of firefighters -- I love firefighters! We go every year to our local fire station to sell them cookies (they buy lots), and I have taken CERT (community emergency response training) at the fire station. We go to Fire Extinguisher Day every year or so to practice using our fire extinguishers and then get them recharged. So let's just say I don't think this ended up being distributed to the target audience they had in mind when they wrote it. Take my troop to a presentation on Forcible Entry? I don't think so.

Ohio Star

2007-04-03T08:40:00.000-07:00

Lookie what I've been making:

This was like the proverbial potato chip -- once I started, I just had to keep going. You start at the center square, and each section is picked up and knit from there. I believe this traditional quilt motif is called an "Ohio Star". I have two.

They are for this felted tote:

I think this is so cute. It's from Knitter's magazine, Fall 2006. Can you see why I was eager to see if I could machine-crank worsted i-cord? However, the pic in the magazine is so not my colors. I'm allergic to green, and beige-y colors do nothing for me at all.

Mine is Paton's Classic Wool. The solid blue is "New Denim", and the other is "Denim Marl".

And under the heading of "lessons learned", we have this:

Ever heard that some white yarns do not felt? I'm here to tell you that it's quite true. Paton's Classic Wool in "Winter White" has been bleached in the processing and, well, apparently what it did is considered slightly felted (fuzzy, lost its stretchiness), but the different shrinkage rate from the blue? Not good.

The white will go in the places the green went in the pattern photo, so it has to shrink at approximately the same rate as the blue, or -- I shudder to think. So despite the label that says, "Ideal for knit, crochet and felted projects"? Not true of "Winter White". But new swatching has been done, and "Aran" shrinks just fine. Onward and upward.

A Dark Little Secret

2007-03-28T20:20:00.000-07:00

I am going to let you all in on a dark little secret. That i-cord machine? It's a terrible yarn snob! It does not like dishcloth cotton at all.

However, as you can see from this:

the machine has seen the light. Sort of.

My eye pillow that I made looks as though it is in bondage, no? It is doing duty as a sandbag of sorts. The weighted clip that comes with the i-cord machine isn't hefty enough to make the machine behave nicely with the dishcloth cotton. Hence, the additional weight. It wasn't quite enough, and each stitch required a firm ~~tug~~ yank on the cord coming out from the bottom. That would make the loop on the right pop over the top of the hook when it should, and the loop on the left pop down below the latch when it should. Trust me, I have spent a lot of time watching this happen.

Was this worth it? It was nearly as much trouble as knitting it with DPN's, but still faster. And the result is much smoother and more even than I could ever create, especially with this ~~twine~~ yarn. See?

So instead of the traditional Mason-Dixon bib straps that button, I decided to make i-cord ties for this:

Isn't this pattern cute? Thanks, Nicole, for the cute pattern! Hmm, Nicole must have steamed hers or something before her photo shoot. Must try that after the ties are sewn on. I'm kind of allergic to irons, but maybe I can make an exception in this case.

It's a Mashup!

2007-03-27T08:12:00.000-07:00

I am knitting a mashup combining this:

(pattern found here)

and the famous "baby bib o' love" from this book by the Mason-Dixon ladies.

It's for my internist, who is becoming a grandmother for the first time this summer. I was going to knit booties, but I thought a bib might have more lasting usefulness. One size fits all, and all that. I still haven't decided if I will do the traditional "Mason-Dixon" style button closure or crank out some i-cord ties (if I can force that dishcloth cotton through the machine). I sense another living-on-the-edge experiment coming on.

Free tips on being a juror

2007-03-23T11:08:00.000-07:00

1. Before you go, search your bags for those things you can't take on an airplane (although you don't have to worry about gels and such). I remembered not to bring scissors, but imagine how silly I felt having to check my knife (which is all of about 1-1/2" long) and return a couple of days later to retrieve it. Yes, I'm so-o dangerous and bad, I carry a knife.

2. Sad to say, after my experience I have to recommend that you leave your knitting at home. Bring books, magazines, iPod, snacks and water, but not your knitting. Say, maybe you can crochet in the jury assembly room! But do not read, crochet or listen to your iPod during court. It makes the judge cranky.

3. Do not bang your head on the desk, no matter how boring the proceedings become. Nor should you offer advice to the judge, counsel or witnesses on when they should just shut up. Perfect example of when to just shut up helpfully provided by defense counsel: "There is no evidence that my client did not pay his taxes." Why on earth did he want to get us thinking about the odds (slim to none, in my view) that his client did in fact pay his taxes?

4. You might as well go ahead and volunteer to be the foreperson if no one else does. The sooner you select someone and get on with deliberating, the sooner you will be done. And you get to get up and say, "Yes, Your Honor, we have reached a verdict." Eventually.

5. When you realize you are down to one holdout juror, do not say, "What in the world are you thinking?". Try, "Perhaps you'd like to share your thoughts on that with us."

6. When you are done, go home and celebrate the fact that you don't have to do this again for 12 whole months!!! I recommend red wine. But then, I always recommend red wine.

These tips have been provided to you free of charge as a public service announcement. You can thank me later.