finally some FO's

Can you tell what book I've been reading?
Yes, Mason-Dixon Knitting has been here. Expect more dishcloths soon.



I love how complicated this looks and how easy it was to make. The only thing I don't love about it is that the other side isn't nearly as pretty.

And the long scarf - this was actually finished over a month ago but it's taken me a while to find the little cord to connect the camera to the computer.....

As modelled by Amelia - who is not the recipient, btw - it's the Mock Kilt Scarf.

It's a wonderful stitch pattern, and it's reversible. I love, love, love a reversible scarf. Esther Bozak is the lady behind this pattern. Check out her article on reversible scarves. You'll find the pattern there.






Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, color 101, 5 balls
From Jannette's Rare Yarns - one of my fave online yarn vices.

Knits nicely, doesn't snag or split. One ball had a knot in the middle. This yarn is soft but still feels substantial & the finished product has some heft and drape. As you can see from the photos, it does bloom. You can see the fuzz in the close up & this scarf was photo'd au naturel - no rinsing or blocking;I strongly expect pilling to occur in the future. I wouldn't knit a sweater out of it but for a scarf or a hat, it has a glorious, luxurious feel and not a hint of scratchiness.

Hey, Christmas is coming!!!

I'm sure you've all noticed how not only are all the holidays large commercialized festivals, but now they all crowd in on each other, so we barely have time to catch a breath.

Cupid came in on Santa's sleigh, and he hasn't even finished slinging his arrows around, and already the bunnies are filling the store aisles. There used to be a bit of a lull after Easter, but now Easter comes along with a flurry of patriotism – maple leaf flags on mugs, cups, hats and beer coolers for Canada Day, and the stars and stripes on similar items for Independence Day.
And then, sometimes before school is actually out, the wooden rulers and posters of shiny apples proclaim the back to school sales. Quickly followed by turkeys, ghosts and goblins, with Santa bringing up the rear, dragging cupid behind him.......

The solution to all this is to rise above it, stay out of shopping malls, don't watch TV commercials, drop newspaper flyers directly in the recycling bin - slow down and enjoy the season you're in. Don't get all crazy about what's coming around the corner – enjoy the now.

EXCEPT, if you've gone all handicrafty, antispending, I'll make my own presents, so there.

Which sounds like such a good idea unless you're like me - rich in ideas but impoverished when it comes to time. In that case, you need to think about Christmas 2007 now. In fact, you need to do more than think. All those knitting magazines seducing you with summer knits, breezy tank tops, lacy shawls? Put them away. Dig out the warm wool and cast on for all those mittens, scarves, socks and sweaters which you plan to give as presents next Christmas.

Otherwise, you may find yourself in this situation:


February 19, 2007.

Scarf intended to be a present – no, not for Christmas 2006.
Worse.
A birthday.
In November 2006.
See those sharp metal things sticking out?
Yup. Still not finished.
This may not seem so tragic to those of you out east, but we already have crocuses and the daffs are poking up.

By the time the recipient gets this scarf, she will have absolutely no need for it.

Oh, and another thing. When making a scarf for a person, do NOT ask them how long they like scarves. They will always say “LONG, if you don't mind”. And then you will slowly go crazy knitting a very long, late scarf.

(Scarf details will be posted when I complete the sucker. Soon. I hope)

Hugo's socks

One good thing about sitting at a lactation conference all day - you can knit! Hugo's socks are done.

2x2 rib & generic sock pattern
1/2 a ball of Lana Grossa FUN and STRIPES Sock Yarn (approx size 3 boy foot)
Knitted on size 1 DPN's

My verdict on the yarn - OK but a bit too itchy for my taste.

is this cruelty to yarn?

I have this lovely hand-dyed merino which I'm trying to knit into socks for Amelia. The poor stuff has been knitted and ripped 5 times now.




First, I tried knitting them from the toe up. I finally got the 8 loop cast-on thing & was cruising along, but then I couldn't find a toe-up heel pattern which didn't involve short-rowing and I 1) didn't like the holes & 2) didn't understand the instructions for getting rid of the holes if you don't like them.

So I retreated to my comfort zone of top down socks. (this might be a good time to mention that these are only the second pair of socks I've attempted to knit)

I kept dithering over the gauge. This stuff seems to have a fair bit of stretch and Amelia does not like baggy socks. I swatched in the round on dpns to really get a feel for it & then I decided to make it a tad smaller than I thought I needed. Then I decided to make a little eyelet detail on the cuff which we both thought would look cute on the cuff of a short ankle sock. Breezing along, feeling just fine, & then discovered I had missed a yo. And got a sneaking suspicion that this would be too narrow a sock anyway. So I took it off the needles and got Amelia to try it on. Yup. A bit too snug. And I didn't like the appearance of the stitches pulled apart. And there was the issue of the missing yo. So ripped it again.

Cast on with bigger needles this time and cast on 4 extra stitches. The yarn is still looking miraculously good after all this mistreatment but I decided to start a little bit away from the end. Everything is going really fine, except now the yarn patterning has gone all weird. See above how the stripes are all nice and cool looking? This time, I have light colored stripes on the front and dark colored stripes on the back. Argh.

I've only been getting little bits of time to knit as we have been in the midst of painting and decluttering. The painting is all over now and I have just (sheepishly) realized that I didn't touch a paint brush or roller even once. The kids helped with the painting. I was in charge of filling boxes up with stuff so that we could unbolt furniture off the walls. (when you live with a geologist, in an earthquake zone, have 9 foot ceilings and tall furniture - everything is bolted to walls)

On Sunday, I was at a summer picnic put on by my local chapter of Romance Writers of America. It was a lovely break from all the painting and chaos and boxes all over the place. There was an optional anonymous critique and for the first time, I participated. We were invited to bring the 1st three pages of a work in progress. They were read aloud, and then people offered comments and constructive criticism. It was fun and I got great comments. It was awfully hard to try to stay anonymous, though. I think I turned red when mine was being read, and I know my hand was shaking because I almost spilled my drink. A kind of weird, suspenseful excitement got hold of me. As usual, hanging around with writers was inspiring and energizing.

We're off to the lake to camp tomorrow morning. The rain is apparently coming as well. Rain and I are such good friends that when it heard where I was going, it came back from its 2 week holiday and bumped glorious hot sunshine out.

I have to get back to the boxes. (this time, filling camping boxes up with supplies; hopefully I won't mix the boxes up with the crap from our bookcases or we'll be camping with a collection of lego pieces, ancient maps, snapshots of other people's babies, and mysterious pieces of things which look like they might be an important part of some appliance....)

Back on the weekend! (& comment, will ya? I know you're here, you might as well wave and say hello!)

Finally the photo upload thingy relents....

(though not before screwing up & posting the same damned photos over & over again. Sorry to all of you on RSS feeds.)

Here is just one of the things I'm successfully growing on the balcony this year. Yes, it's felis domesticus. Generally prefers a real garden, but in a pinch can be potted. Don't prune. Water gently but regularly. Remember to bring indoors if frost is forecast.

Knitting. I promised knitting. But before knitting, we must have ripping. The very hungry blanket (which I have no time to knit) has grown and I finally ran out of all the loose yarn I had. So it was time to rrrrrriiiiip. Here are Amelia & Hugo, my very handy helpers. Amelia is wrapped in the hungry blanket & Hugo is holding the last piece of the front of the sweater. Say good bye to seed stitch ribbing!

(yikes, I'm getting a little scared of all those loose ends on that blanket. I hate weaving ends......)

This is my Knitwear Architects yarn: 100% cotton, 6 ply, hell no - it's 8 ply, likes to split like crazy, weighs a ton. I made 2 children's sweaters out of this a while ago (OK it was a long time ago. When my kids would have fit in them. But I have nothing else to show and all these knitting blogs are giving me feelings of FO* inadequacy, so I'm digging through the knitting archives)

This was about a size 2/3. Weighs about 2 lbs. dry. If a child fell in the water with this on, they'd be sure to drown.

This was for a size 2. Ditto to above. Useful as weight training tool for toddlers.

And these. These are my socks. Not history but a current project, just finished last week. First pair ever made. Mistakes abound. One rather huge mistake (can you say 'dropped stitch'?) which I'm sneakily hiding with the fancy foot pose. I think I have enough yarn left for a 2nd pair so I'm casting on again - this time hopefully sans errors.

*FO=finished object

sock saga + G&S

Well, the sock saga is almost at an end. I've been knitting both socks at once (to avoid the apparently dreaded 2nd sock syndrome). The first sock is done. I'm just doing the toe decreases on the 2nd. There are tons of mistakes on them both but I still think I'll be happy with them. And, because I made them ankle socks, I'm pretty sure I still have enough yarn to make a 2nd pair. I plan to do it right away, using the same pattern, and this time, work on not botching so many things. Kids are both putting in requests for socks so this may become an ongoing thing.

Amelia is having a bout of barfiness again. I suspect she has a much more sensitive tummy than the rest of us. Since Sunday Roo & I have both felt a bit 'off' - not quite ill but not quite itching to tackle big projects and eat big meals, either. Hugo feels fine; he has a steel gut, I think. Amelia heaves - apparently at the slightest viral or bacterial provocation. So it's been the "popsicle, ice cube, jello, bucket, facecloth, laundry" routine here.

On the educational front, I've introduced the children to Gilbert & Sullivan. I don't know why it hasn't cropped up before but it just hasn't. First we had The Mikado and now we have Pirates of Penzance. Both Stratford, Ontario productions. It took time but the kids are really starting to get it. They were laughing hysterically once the realized that it was supposed to be funny.

We've also got a couple CD's, including the VSO's Gilbert & Sullivan gala so we'll be reviewing some of the songs. Already, the "list" song is starting to enter the family dialect.

Sock saga begins

Isn't it lovely? I love the colors, and the way it knits up.

Unfortunately, I had to rip. It was too wide & baggy.

I had picked a pattern and checked the gauge & thought I was ready to go. But then I realized that the pattern was for 5 dpns & I only had 4. I panicked. If I had stayed calm and thought it through, I would have realized that it was easy enough to adjust from 5 to 4. But this is one of those detailed patterns, on which every other line seems to read, 'you'll have X stitches on needle 1, Y stitches on needle 2, Z stitches on needle 3, and ZZ stitches on needle 4. Using needle 5 do this fancy thing I'm going to describe now'

As I say, I panicked and quickly found another pattern, this time written for 4 needles. I also decided to alter any pattern I made because I wanted a fairly short sock.

Which is all to explain why, even though I had done the gauge twice, I still ended up with a sock that might have fit me when my ankles were obscenely swollen during my summer pregnancy eons ago, but that just looked like saggy elephant now.

I realized quite early that it was too big (I had cast on 56 on #3 needles) but I decided to keep going & do a trial run of the heel. I botched something along the way (I dropped a stitch and when I picked it up I did something wrong) but generally it went ok so I feel more confident about doing it right next time.

The worst of it now is that I'm not sure whether I should just cast on the smaller # of stitches, or whether I should drop needle size as well. I'm tempted to do both. These socks seemed to have an awful lot of stretch sideways.

Don't make this for yourself

If there is an ice age coming, and Chocolate Bear happens to be in Hawaii at the time, he'll have the perfect thing to wear. It's like a lei made into a hat. Hugo is thrilled. (Rachel is happy because she's near a warm boy and is covered by a down quilt.)

I am apparently doomed to be knitting bizarre projects in weird yarns for my kids' toys. I keep trying to work on my own stuff; I dream of nice, soft natural fibres in beautiful, gentle hues. The kids have other ideas.

Chocolate Bear is happy and I think Hugo picked very smashing colors for a bear hat. The fit is hard to get right because Chocolate has rather large ears but still, I think it's ok. (the real hats at the store which I refuse to name have slits for the bear's ears. Yeah, right.)

But consider this: this hat comes from a pattern for humans. Yes, someone thought this would be a smashing look. Even if you don't have ears stuck high on your head, which distort the shape of this garment, I beg you, please don't make this for yourself.

Not only is it really quite ugly but it's also completely not functional, unless you're just wanting to generate static electricity on your head.

***

More butterflies have hatched. We have 7 able-bodies, and 3 not quite properly made ones. The weather has turned rainy and cold so I think we'll be keeping them for a bit.

Boa Poncho finished

Well, here it is. You can see that it knitted properly in a point (something that worried me when it was on the circular needles because it didn't show). What you hopefully can't see is that there are a million errors in this thing. I knitted it loose - maybe too loose. There is a deliberate openness to the stitches but I'm also finding some absurdly large holes. Ooops. I found Bernat Boa hard to knit with. It has no stretch to it, the stitches tangle, and it's very hard to tell if you've dropped a stitch.

I wrestled with the trim and finally succeeded. The trim is Patons Cha Cha. It's purple (though my digital camera shows it a bit blue).

The way this poncho knits up, it's very stretchy vertically. It grows after wearing it a while. Luckily, Amelia is tall and wanted a long poncho.

The good and the bad

The good:
1. Last Tuesday night was the last night of the Douglas College breastfeeding counsellor course. It was a great class filled with wonderful people & I received lovely flowers & a thank you card from the class. It's nice to be appreciated.
2. AHA weblogs reviewed me. Yay! Thanks Kim.

The sort of good:
The poncho for Amelia (the one to stump David Attenborough - see a couple days earlier) is finished. It's lovely but waaaaaaay too big at the neck.

The bad:
I hate long eyelash yarn.

I wanted to cinch in the neck of the said poncho with the eyelash trim yarn. I picked up what I thought was a reasonable # of stitches, threw them on my circulars & purled 6 rows. I increased every 2nd stitch on the last row, thinking to make a loose, floppy thingy at the top. Cast off as loose as I could.

And discovered I had converted the poncho into a veil like thingy. Yup. Too small. No way would anyone's head would fit through that opening.

The worst:
Long eyelash yarn doesn't want to rip. It tangles, and mats, and makes a weird tight little ball of crap but it does not want to rip. An added complication was that I knitted with double thickness so there was a lot of the goopy yarns. At one point, I thought I'd have to take scissors to the thing. But patience persevered; I plucked it all out. I think I'm going to knit a long skinny snake thing & baste it on. Don't tell.

Bear poncho

Fresh off Amelia's needles! It's the Build a Bear Fab Poncho!

The pattern was conceived by Hornblower & tweaked by Amelia.

Materials: 1 ball of Patons allure *
6.5 mm needles

On 6.5 mm needles, cast on 20 stitches. **
1st row, knit across.
2nd row, increase by 1 at each side.
3rd row, increase by 1 at each side.
4th row, repeat row 1
5th row, repeat row 2
6th row, repeat row 3.
And so on. Cast off when your material is about 5 inches long (to fit a 16 inch Build a Bear)

You'll have a trapezoid.
Do it again so you'll have 2 trapezoids. Sew them together, so that the 20 stitch rows are the neck opening & the pointy 'trapezoidy' parts are the pointy poncho parts at the front & back.

*(One ball is just right. If you happened to use some of the yarn to make a small poncho for a little mermaid earlier in the week, you may find that you end up doing weird cast-off maneuvers because you run out of yarn......)

**We started with 20 because Cleopatra has a fat head but the fit would probably have been a bit nicer with 15. It's a bit sloppy on the neck & Amelia is considering putting some fun fur trim to gather it a bit tighter.




Here's a close-up of Cleopatra, the Build a Bear in her fab poncho.

To stump David

Can David Attenborough identify this rare furry creature sprawling on my deck chair?

I thought not.

Yes, it's the almost done Bernat Boa poncho for Amelia. Just an inch or more in length, and the trim left to do.

I'm making this up on a pattern of my own creation and it caused me a bit of uncertainty for a while because it didn't seem like the front & back were increasing in length the way I thought they would. However, a closer examination (with measuring tape in hand) of the furry blob strung on my circular needles has reassured me somewhat. Of course, we won't know what it really looks like until I cast the animal off.

I already know that casting on 64 stitches for a poncho for a 10 year old girl with very narrow shoulders was a mistake. I'm hoping to cinch it in a bit when I put on the trim. Otherwise, it will slide right off her. Ooops.

Off the needles!

A finished her current project! That Build a Bear is called Cleopatra and she is modelling a lovely, fringed scarf done in a funky German cotton blend with a slight sheen. Lavender, the mermaid, got a smaller version as well.

Sort of like puffed sleeves

Anne Shirley coveted a dress with puffed sleeves.
The A that lives in this home covets a poncho.

Two of her friends have new ponchos and she wants one too. So why shouldn't Hornblower make something useful instead of working on a green blanket for which we have no real need?

We went yesterday to look at yarn, to ponder color combinations, softness, and the dilemma of 'to fringe or not to fringe'.

Originally I suggested something like the Yarn Harlot's poncho. (see the free patterns in the sidebar). I thought of making it in something with a bit of fluff, perhaps a tad of mohair.

The first store we went to is this divine little shop in Edgemont; it's a book store - a real book store, not just craft books - and has yarn in the back. I could spend a whole day there. We found some yarn we liked but at $15 a ball, that would make this poncho a little too financially stressful. And they didn't have enough in the color A liked, so I was off the hook.

We were driving by Zellers and decided to check out their yarn stock. They have piles of Bernat's eyelash and boa for $5 a ball. Much more my budget. Unfortunately, we couldn't come to a decision about colors, trims etc. The whole pattern also came into question because the YO's won't show in eyelash & I thought an eyelash fringe would look weird. Actually, I thought a fringe wasn't even really possible with eyelash but I've since seen a crochet poncho pattern with a fringe. I can't say I really like the look. We both think maybe a boa border would be cool. Perhaps knitted separately and sewn on? A is adamant that a plain edge is too boring so we need something on the edge, especially on the bottom; she's not sure about the neck yet.

Knitty has a poncho pattern similar to the Yarn Harlot's, but without the YO's, which I think might do the trick.

It seems most of the really good yarn stores are closed for the Victoria Day holiday so we're off to the not so good yarn stores. Probably healthier for my pocketbook anyway.

Baby Blocks blanket

This is the blanket I'm working on. Even though I have no time to knit.

It all started with those Mason-Dixon gals and the button hole purse. Yes, I know this isn't a button hole purse. That's because this is cotton, and even I know that you can't felt cotton. (you can't, can you?) This cotton has been living in my closet for about 7 years. Some of it is a front and 2 sleeves of a sweater I can't imagine anyone wearing. But it's lovely 8-ply 100% cotton from Knitwear Architects in Vancouver (who afaik have gone out of business, perhaps because their customers collapsed from the exhaustion of wearing their very heavy cotton sweaters; but you still can get yarn like this here). In real life it's a pretty nice shade of sage. Can't believe I ever thought I'd actually wear it though....

I have been meaning to revamp it into a lap blanket for some time now & you know how it goes, you have no time, you're homeschooling 2 kids, you have 2 website design and maintenance contracts, a part-time job at a college, and several very unfinished novels on the go (as in writing them, not reading), and that's, like, the perfect time to start knitting again. Especially a really large project like a lap blanket which is about 41 inches wide and will be as long as it takes to use up the yarn.

At some point in time I'll have to start ripping the sleeves and front to liberate more yarn. I can't decide what to do with it. Should I wash it? It weights a ton when it's wet & takes forever to dry lying flat. Of course summer is around the corner so what better time to have yarn drying for a week on the balcony. Someone suggested winding it in a skein on a frame and then steaming in lightly to loosen the kinks. Ideas, suggestions are welcome.

Oh, and the pattern is Ann Norling's Baby Blocks, published in Debbie Macomber's novel The Shop on Blossom Street.

I do find knitting relaxing and it lets me think. I think it might help with my plotting. Yeah, well, it might.

There's only 1 knitting problem on the horizon. I've been surfing some knitting blogs, reading some funny stuff, and I'm noticing a scary trend: the weird lacy dental floss triangle shawl thing. It's this small thingy, that some people appear to be wearing over a plain cotton knit top, and which just kind of looks like some yarn climbed on you and is doing an imitation of seaweed. Yikes. What is that? I hope this fashion dies out fast.

Socks, now. There's a lot of interest in socks lately in the knitting world. That I could get into.