A Case of Mad Cows

Check out these peachy keen Mad Cows I won! They fit me wonderfully and I love them. Thank you so much, Stephania! I don't recall which day they arrived, but I was so excited when they did.

You remember that achy back of last weekend? It got worse. I spent Monday evening at the ER and left loopier than I have ever been. They shot me in the behind and gave me an assortment of pills. The last week is a bit of a blur. I did not get much done, and should have attempted even less. My advice to everyone: Seam Sober! I somehow thought it was a good idea to sew my Arwen after taking those silly pills. Now I must undo those seams before I make another attempt to put my Arwen together. Anyway, I am way behind on everything. I'll get caught up eventually.

Long Weekend

The weekend seems to have dragged on forever, but I did not accomplish much of what I had hoped to do. I had hoped to finish knitting Arwen. It was not to be. I put in a good bit of time on it, but ripping out those twelve rows set me back more than a bit. I have made it to the point where I am just knitting back and forth on the long sleeve rows. Then it is the complementing set of short-rows, and I am nearly through. I am not knitting the hood on this because I do not want one. I have also lengthened the cardigan a bit. I was not sure how much longer I would make it when I finished the back. I did not bind-off the back in case I need to knit more or rip back some. I will probably knit on Arwen after I finish writing this.

Completion of my cardigan is not the only thing I was unable to do this weekend. I missed a birthday celebration of one of the Skanky Knitters on Saturday. Weather was lousy. The wind blew, the rain poured down, and the thunder rumbled. We did not even turn on the computer until Saturday evening. It would have been a good time to knit furiously on Sock Madness socks, but I would have been rattled to not be able to obsessively check the competitors' progress. In this way, it was a relief to have been knocked out of play. Still, the weather was not all that stopped me from participating in the festivities. What has given me the biggest grief this weekend has been my back. It has not been as bad as other times, but it has seemed that at any moment I could be in big trouble. I spent much of the weekend brewing herbal tea to help warm me while I applied cold packs to my back. Once or twice, I was able to stretch my back using my stability ball. If I had felt a bit stronger, I would have done a gentle, beginner yoga dvd. However, I could tell that I was not up to it, so as I worked to achieve the proper balance of not sitting, lying, or standing for too long, I knit. After I had done as much Arwen as I could stand, I knit a new chemo cap.

I used a stitch pattern from Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks. I knit this hat using Plymouth Dreambaby DK. I love this hat. It is soft and stretchy. I think it will be a good fit for just about anyone. I can see myself knitting more of these. I am unsure of my next hat pattern. Maybe I will choose another stitch pattern from this book.

I have been flipping through many sock patterns lately. I am in search of inspiration. I will be engaging in some super-secret knitting soon. I have joined Sockapalooza 4. This is my first time participating in Sockapalooza. I hope to do well and not be a Sockapaloozer. We will get our matches soon. Then I will do more research, and begin knitting. I want to complete these well ahead of the deadline just in case life happens later. I also have some more super-secret knitting to begin. It is unlikely that the intended recipients read this blog, but I will not show you until much later, just in case.

Because I am preparing to knit so much for others, I must definitely have some things on the needles for myself. I have Arwen near the finish line. It will be a race to see if I can finish her before the weather turns so blazingly hot that I cannot wear her. For warmer weather wearing, I have Festive on the needles. I am knitting this top in Cotlin in the Moroccan Red color. It seems that many people are interested in this yarn. I want to finish this shirt and wear it so I can share more of my experiences with this yarn with all of you. So far, I give this yarn a positive score. I liked knitting with it when I used it last month to knit an Odessa. It held up well to the abuse of the beads. There is not much point in taking a picture of the knit at this point. I am working my way up the back. I have worked the waist decreases and am now increasing again. The fronts will be interesting to knit. If I follow the pattern as written, I will be knitting the seed stitch bands using smaller needles at the same time as I knit the stockinette portions on larger needles. I think my Balene II dpns will work perfectly for this. I may knit the sleeves a wee bit longer than what is written in the pattern. My greatest worry for this shirt is that I did not choose the right size. It will not be such an ordeal if I need to rip the whole thing out and knit it again, but I would rather get it right the first time.

Share a Shedir

Shedir is the most beautiful chemo cap I have knit. I would knit this pattern for a loved one. I think it is very special, and I love including it in the rotation of patterns I knit for Caps for a Cure. In fact, here are some pictures of my latest that I neglected to include in my last post. I knit this one using Sinfonia. It is a 100% mercerized cotton yarn. I liked using it, and love that it is a readily-available, economical option.

I could go on and on about the ways I adore this hat, but instead I will get to the point of this post. I would like to challenge you to knit a Shedir to be donated to Caps for a Cure. Knitting this hat makes you feel like a Knitter with a capital K. It is a bit more complex than other hats I have knit, but the pattern has clear, well-written instructions. In conjunction with the challenge, I am offering prize-y goodness. I have been compiling goodies for this, and I think you will be pleased. Not only can you have the good feelings from knitting a challenging pattern and donating it to a worthy cause, you could be a winner. So, go ahead and knit a Shedir. You can send it to me or directly to the sponsored center. This round goes until the end of May. Just email me when you finish knitting your Shedir, and I will send you the details.

Eeew! Stinky

These are the words of my niece. She would be making this declaration if she were here. Right now, my home is definitely stinky. The odor of hard-boiled eggs and vinegar lingers. I am thankful that we dyed only the eggs. My nephew did a great job. He is a bit disappointed by the fact that his creations will be cracked open and eaten. The next strike against these eggs is that they are filled with egg, rather than candy. He assures me that he has a stash of plastic eggs ready for candy. I wonder if my sister knows about them.

I have a long overdue fo waiting for better weather to show you. I have begun something in Cotlin. Arwen is about have long rows again as it is time to add the sleeve. I could actually finish her soon. I will fill you in with some more details. Oh, and before I forget, I have another Shedir completed. I have some ideas about more of those. Do not be too afraid. It is something good.

Madness the Third

Kristi’s birthday coincided with the release of the Round 3 pattern for Sock Madness. She posted the photo of her completed socks about twelve hours after we received the pattern. Quite a fast knitter has knocked me out of the competition. Perhaps this is proof that the birthday wish is powerful.

I will admit to feeling a bit bummed. Sock Madness was fun. At least I was brought back down to earth, and no longer feel the need to sign up for the 52 Pair Plunge. I suppose it is just as well. I told the Skanks that this pattern makes my ankles look fat. I do not know if this is true, or if my mind is just trying to find ways to cope with my failure. Don’t worry kids; I am okay. I can now move on to the next adventure, whatever it might be. Still, I may need to frog the socks for therapeutic purposes. I also have the rest of the patterns to look forward to without the strain of competition. I might not have been ready for the pressure. I am still glad that I joined in on the game, though. Best of luck to the remaining competitors!

Too Twisted for Words

We have reached the end of the Twisted Knitters Dye Spin Knitalong. It has been quite an adventure. I did not engage in the dyeing portion of the adventure. Instead, I used dyed roving to spin and knit a shawl. I began with a bag of fluff. Then I spun and plied and spun and plied. I ended up with my two skeins of yarn. It took me a long time to spin it all. I have read more about plying and color and how to achieve different yarn. Of course, I am a beginner. I have learned as I have gone along. This explains a bit why when I laid out my two skeins to photograph them I saw such different yarn. I admit that I was quite disheartened. I pressed on towards my goal of knitting a shawl from my handspun.

I decided to knit the Shetland Triangle. To compensate for the differences in the two skeins, I alternated rows from each ball of yarn. It worked. I knit two additional repeats of the main pattern before working the edging. I had nearly used every bit of my yarn. This is what I wanted, though I did have some stressful moments as I bound off the shawl. Then I looked at it in its unblocked state and felt a bit ill. I did not care for it one bit. My husband loved it. He especially liked the back with all of its bumpy texture. While it was nice that he could see beauty in what I had done, I was still disappointed. I told myself that no matter what I ended up with, it would be a special shawl. I put the shawl in the sudsy water and walked away. Then it was on to the clean water. I carefully lifted it out and pressed out the excess water. I spread out towels and got down on my hands and knees with the blocking wires, pins, and tape measure. Blocking really is magic.

It's Madtini Time

I made it to Round 3 of Sock Madness! Sorry to knock you out, Sandy. I had another fast finish. I barely slept, just enough so that I could knit again. If I had slept more than three hours the night before, I might have been able to knit straight through. Once I got up and began knitting again, I obsessively checked the Flickr group. I had to limit myself to refreshing the page no more than every five minutes. Therefore, I timed myself against the clock on the computer and kept making predictions as to the time I would finish. I had a small moment of panic when I realized I had gone straight from knitting the heel flap to picking up the gusset stitches without turning the heel. I remedied this error quickly and knit on as fast as I could. When I finished knitting, kitchenered, and wove in the ends, I grabbed the camera, went outside, leaned back, put my feet in the air, and took the picture. I rushed back inside with a promise to the cats that I would feed them once I posted my picture. I was so nervous as I uploaded and then sent my email.

I like this pattern and these socks. I knit them using some of my precious Wool Ease Sportweight (discontinued) in the Autumn colorway. It was odd to use these colors when spring is all around and the temperature reached the eighties. I will knit this pattern again, but I will not use sport weight yarn next time.

I need a few days to rest before the next round. I wonder whom I will go up against next. I also wonder what the next pattern will be.

Head to Toe

I am getting ready to box up the chemo caps for this round. I messed up and missed mailing deadlines for the furry caps, so some will go to Caps for a Cure. I will save more for other rounds. I knit a simple cap from some Bernat Handicrafter, but none of my pictures turned out well. Today I am showing off my seventh Odessa. This might be my favorite pattern for chemo caps. I have knit them both with and without beads. For this one, I used the new yarn, Cotlin, from Knit Picks in Fiesta Pink. I like this yarn. The only negative I can offer is that there were some linen bits I felt the need to pluck out as I knit, but they really were not a big deal. The yarn is soft, pleasant to knit with, and can be tossed in the washer and dryer. I believe it will be great for more chemo caps, especially in the summer months and when we donate to a group located in a warm climate. I want to knit at least one more chemo cap before I package up this round's contribution and go to the post office.

As promised, here are my Traveler's Stockings. I do love these socks. I wish this photo showed the color as well as my other progress photo did. I even waited for a nice, sunny day. I am in the midst of the Sock Madness, but perhaps after that ends, I will begin another pair of socks from Knitting on the Road. I do enjoy flipping through it just to look. I can hardly believe this is my first pair from the book.

One Round Down

I made it through the first round of Sock Madness. The pattern for Round One is called Mad Cow Socks. I knit this pair in less than twenty-four hours through stresses I gladly admit I am already beginning to forget. It is nothing worth mentioning, especially when I consider one of my fellow participants persevered through medical messes. Still, it was a stressful weekend for me, and I am glad to have had knitting to see me through it. It is also nice to have the self-imposed strain of a knitting competition. It is fun, and beats the real-life stuff. It reminds me of soap operas. There is no need to take it seriously. I am quite pleased with the pleasant way people are conducting themselves in this event. Helpfulness and encouragement abound.

I finished plying, skeined, and the new yarn is soaking. After it dries and I check my yardage, it will be time to decide on a pattern. I am trying to choose between the Swallowtail Shawl from Fall 06 IK and Shetland Triangle from Wrap Style. My yardage may be the determining factor. If you have any thoughts, please, feel free to share.

It's a Ply, I Tell Ya

However, it's just a single ply. I finally wound the spun single from my drop spindle into a center-pull ball. I used my ball winder. I also used my super amazing shoebox creation. I cut some holes in a shoebox and used that to hold the drop spindle so I could wind. I need to make a small modification to the box, and then maybe I might even decorate it. I transferred the cake of wool to the nostepinne. I will ply from the nostepinne, just as if I did the first half of this project. Then I will wind, skein, tie, and wash. Maybe I'll skein straight from the drop spindle.

My latest Knit Picks order has arrived. I have such plans for much of the yarn. A niece will be spending a weekend with us for the sole purpose of knitting. She wants to knit a felted purse. She wants turquoise with lime green fun fur accents. We will have to carry her wool to a craft store to select the fun fur. The King of One Skein Knitting (of the Skanky Knitters) wanted some sheepy note cards and one skein each of Moroccan Red and Key Lime Cotlin, and I have set those aside for him. I think I'll also give him a new Chibi, as his has gone missing.

I also purchased some more sock yarn, just because. That is not completely true. I have the beginnings of Sock Madness on Saturday. We shall see how long I last in that adventure. There are already some people panicking and complaining. It would appear some did not read all of the information, or misunderstood what they had read. For the first round we need two, 50g balls of fingering weight yarn. It is recommended that one ball be solid and the other variegated. That being said, you can choose two different solid colors or two different variegated yarns. I believe I will be using a couple of lonely, lovely skeins of Lorna's Laces that have sat in the stash waiting for such an opportunity. I had picked up one variegated skein from a clearance bin, and a friend gave me the solid as part of her stash reduction. Now, I hate to think of knitters being upset and giving up, but if it increases my chances of winning the lovely prizes, well, perhaps they can soothe themselves with wool fumes. It's a game, kids; relax.

In preparation for the big event, I have finished my Traveler's Stockings. I'll show them off later. My husband thinks they are the best pair of socks I have knit so far. This means my sock needles are all empty. I think I will go ply, or knit on Arwen for a bit.

Travels with the Traveler's

The heels are turned on both of my Traveler's Stockings. I finished turning the heel on this one while my husband was test-driving cars. I had been knitting away, semi-conscious, when he asked if we had passed the Toyota dealership. We were on our way home and still had about two more hours to drive. I had no idea where the car lot he sought was located. We passed it, took the scenic route, and arrived. I stayed in the car hoping to get in some more knitting or a much needed nap. I require more sleep each night than the half-hour I had gotten the previous night. Sleep was not going to happen, so I knit. When the heel was turned, but I was not ready to put both socks on the circ together, I decided to stick my foot out the window and take pictures. I would like to finish the pair this week so that the needles are cleared for Sock Madness. This ought to be a good week. My Knit Picks order has shipped and they predict it will arrive by Friday. I won (their word, not mine, but don't get me started) a new drop spindle on eBay yesterday. I think it is reasonable to expect to receive it sometime this week, too. Also, on the spinning front, I finished spinning that last bit of fluff. Maybe I will get it plied this week.

Secrets

Margene's third blogging birthday is here. I went to wish her well and saw that she is having a contest. I have enjoyed reading all the little and big secrets that people have shared. All day long, various secrets have been running through my head. It is another round of the familiar blogging-balancing act. The post also has that old Conan O'Brien Celebrity Secrets bit running through my head. It has provided comic relief for some of the blechy feelings I have when I think about other secrets.

My love of ice cream is not a secret. That means I will be one of those crazy pajama people pursuing free ice cream this weekend. I am spreading the word about this to everyone I can think to tell. If the predicted bad weather does not get us, we will be eating free ice cream in our jammies.

Just a little more fluff to go.

Divide and Conquer

I am not operating under the delusion that I will be the ultimate winner of Sock Madness, but I have been checking out the competition. I see that I have been placed in Cat's Soaring Sock Division, but also noticed in the URL it reads Newbie East Division. I emailed to see if I had been assigned to the wrong group. Hillary let me know that I am indeed in an experienced group. I guess it's time to clear the sock needles. That means it is time to finish those Traveler's Stockings. I'm going to make some changes. I won't be making the legs as long, and I won't be continuing the traveling stitches down the feet. With the modifications I have in mind, I'm set to turn the heels. Then it is just mindless stockinette to the toes. I did manage to knit a mini sock yesterday. I knit it from my own handspun. I spun up a bit of the Alpaca/Vicuña mix Annette gave me. I used my Little Si. It may not be much, but it gave me a thrill to knit with what I had spun.

Little Si

I just want to show off the new drop spindle Bruce got me for Valentine's Day. It arrived yesterday and I gave her a spin with the included fiber. I love my Little Si. Today was all about the spindling. I spun another three grams. I only have ten more to go before I ply. Then I will wash it, wait impatiently for it to dry, and my knitting can begin.

Muppet Murder

Ah, but it's for a good cause. I've been knitting away on the chemo caps for the kids. This is what I have managed to complete. Time to add labels and go to the post office. They were quick and easy to knit. I will need to vacuum the living room a few more times to rid myself of the leftover furry bits I snipped as I wove in ends. Now I can get back to knitting regular chemo caps for Caps for a Cure. I may dig out the beads and knit an Odessa.

The knitting is complete for Mom's vest. I just have to embroider, add buttons, and perhaps a light steaming. I have been thinking about making buttons for the vest. I used to play a bit with polymer clay, and I may look at the old clay stash and see if I can create some nice buttons. It has been a while since I've made a millefiori cane, but I have some ideas for designs.

I believe I signed up correctly to join Sock Madness. The 128-place roster is full. I hope I'm part of the insanity. The sock pattern previews look interesting.

Happy Valentine's Day

Valentine’s Day is good stuff. We passed it in our usual low-key fashion. I bought Bruce the mega-pack of microfiber cloths from Costco that he has wanted for so long. He ordered me a Cascade Little Si drop spindle. The arrival of the Little Si is something I eagerly anticipate. I am excited about having two drop spindles. Actually, I have three, but the first two do not count. The first was a cd drop spindle, and the second was one of those Louet sheep head ones. I never really got very good results from either. I used to think I was the problem, that perhaps spinning wasn’t my thing, and that it was good I had not invested much in my endeavor. Then my mom bought me my Maggie. Having the proper tools makes all the difference. Spinning regularly is key, too. I have given the old spindles a go now that I have more experience. I can only say that they are deficient. I don’t have enough spindling experience to tell you what is wrong with them, but I know they are not top-quality. My journey in spinning is ever so wonderful. Last week I had an adventure creating some yarn using Navajo plying. I even tried to do a thing I saw where you ply as you go. I was not terribly successful with any of it, but I definitely will revisit the technique. I think this would be good for creating sock yarn, and I definitely want to spin some of that.

The Snowmen & Skates vest is coming along. The blocking was wonderful. I like blocking more than anyone should. I have worked one arm band. At this rate, I am sure Mom will have her vest by her next birthday (December 5^th, for those of you keeping track).

I need to take a progress shot of Arwen now that there is something to show. The back is finished. I am working the short-row shaping on the arm of the left front. The reversible cabling is lovely. I’ll try to take a picture tomorrow. A local weatherman says that winter may be over for us next week, but the cold weather now has me ready to wear Arwen now. Knitting that lovely, warm wool is just the thing to close this lovely day. Yeah, yeah, I know I still need to exercise.

It's Not Just Me

Knitting Mom’s vest has been a bit stressful. She is wonderful, and deserves good things. That added a bit of pressure. I meant to give this to her for either a birthday or Christmas gift. I missed those deadlines. Then I began to think that there could be some problems with the pattern. I was more worried that I had been the one to mess things up and could not see what I had done wrong. I did not know of anyone else knitting this vest. Then the other day I was using a different search engine and came across this blog. It seems that the problems I have run into knitting Snowmen & Skates are not mine alone, but they can be overcome. I busily knit away last night and finally bound off the vest. We had snow, so I had to lay it out on the front porch and take a picture at 2:30 in the morning. I hope this works out well. I ran out of the cream. I did a lot of fudging on the neckline decreases. I think I was supposed to have made a couple more decreases, but I decided to try my luck. Then I worked the crochet reinforcements on one armhole. I cut. I went on to crochet reinforce the rest of the steeks. I cut some more. It looks like this might work. Next I will block it, and then sew the shoulders, work edgings, embroider, and sew on the buttons (that I have yet to purchase).

Red Scarf Away

I sent off this red scarf and gift card the other day. I just doubled some mystery sock yarn and worked in seed stitch until I ran out of the yarn. This is such a great project. Encouragement for young people who are making good decisions is important. I think I'd like to knit more for next year. I have a few ideas for good patterns I'd like to use.

I'm also making progress on my Arwen. I completed the back and have begun the left front. I ripped back my cabling as I did not care for the looks of my initial backwards loop cast on. It looks much better now. This reversible cable is lovely. I also re-wrote the charts. I wanted to make them larger and make one change. I wanted the uniformity of reading a blank square as a knit stitch and a black dot as a purl stitch no matter which side I am working. Since doing this, I'm moving along more quickly and smoothly. I also made the charts without the set-up row. Again, it is not a big change, but it just simplifies reading the chart for me.

I've been getting in a bit more spinning. I'm considering trying my hand at Navajo plying. I'm going to search for videos and written instructions. I think I'll play around with my old Louet sheep head spindle. I do not love this spindle, and want to investigate why. There may be some adjustments I can make to improve it.

Well, the shoulder seams to the vest are not seaming themselves. Time to get to it.

You Load 13 Pounds

Whaddya get? In my case, you get two skeins of Louet Gems in Navy. If you had some unwanted stash (full skeins with labels only, please), you could trade it in for $1/pound in credit to be spent that day at a yarn store not too far from me. It only cost me $3.13 after my credit was applied. I do believe I will receive more pleasure out of knitting these two skeins than I would have with what I brought in to the store.

Most of what I traded in was not yarn I had purchased. The majority of it had been gifted to me over the years. You may have had this experience. Someone knows you knit and knows of a stash of yarn that belonged to someone somewhere. You accept the bags, sight unseen in the hopes that it will be one of those fantasy scenarios. I know I am not the only one to have these types of daydreams. Instead, it is usually a lot of easy-care, synthetic yarn that needs airing out. I have knit my share of this yarn for appropriate gifts. My niece was the recipient of several blankets and hats for her baby dolls last year, and it all came from these unexpected gifts of yarn. I have also donated multiple bags to people seeking yarn with these characteristics. In fact, I read of just such a request the other day. If they are open to receiving yarn that has lost its label or is not a full skein, I will pass on the remaining bag I had planned to trade in at the store. Otherwise, it will go back in the other room until it is needed. This adventure has helped me to organize my yarn a bit better. Elisabeth mentioned that she has a database organizing her stash. I like the idea, but I don’t quite see myself doing it. Still, I know I can better organize the stash and all it entails, and will give it more effort.

History

Not long after I began knitting, I found the Yahoo! Group, northalabamaknitters. Intensely nervous, I found my way to one of their meetings in a conference room of a local city hall. I was warmly accepted into the group and have enjoyed knitting with them ever since. There have been a couple of changes in the meeting locations. People have come and gone. One lady who no longer attends informed us of another group organizing to knit together through Meetup. It was a bit shaky for a while there. Then the service changed and began charging fees. We moved on over to Yahoo! and became part of NAKG. We had also changed meeting times from the third Thursday to every Monday. Not many people attend both the regular NAKG meetings of the second Tuesday afternoon and fourth Friday evening at Books-A-Million and the Monday night meetings at Barnes & Noble. I attend both whenever I can. Still, we found many times when we had email messages we wanted to pass amongst the Monday night people that had little or no relevance to the regular NAKG list. One evening, I checked my email and saw the subject line of a message welcoming me to the Skanky Knit list. I thought it might be spammers and nearly did not open it. One of the Monday Night Knitters had set up a separate mailing list for us. Skanky Knit was born. I do not know if we’re truly any wilder or weirder than other knitting groups. We jokingly refer to ourselves as The Skanky Knitters. It is funny. Still, there are times when it is not easy to call them Skanks, even in jest. The group, as a whole, is special, and each individual is very dear to me. They are more important to me than they might know. I missed three knit-togethers with the Skanks last week. It was a very difficult week. It meant so much to me to receive the warm greetings and to hear that I had been missed. Truly, it was a medicine. As if that were not enough, Christina had brought me a copy of Wendy Knits. She is so sweet. She is a great wife, mom, knitter, and friend. I like to read her blog. I don’t tell anyone I know about my blog. I’m pretty sure Christina knows about it, but senses my insecurities and never mentions it. Not only did I leave Monday night with a new book, but also two skeins of Soy Silk. Elisabeth needed some dark sock yarn and I had a couple of skeins of Knitpicks Essentials in Pine. I gave them to her, and I hope they work out well for her. She asked what I wanted in return. I said that it wasn’t necessary. However, she promised to bring me some yarn. This soft, lovely yarn is what she gave me. I am blessed.

Hanky Time

Nah, I’m not going to cry about my knitting woes. However, if I need to, I am prepared. Behold, the lace-edged handkerchief I knit. The handkerchief itself originally belonged to my great-grandmother. I like this simple piece. I believe that I will knit more lace edgings on handkerchiefs. The next time I knit one I will try to work the corners differently. I have some ideas that could work.

While you like viewing my lace, I know you’re most interested in my knitting sorrows. I have frustration with Mom’s vest. You knew this already. I knit through the Cream that I purchased per the pattern’s instructions. It got me through my second time knitting the little houses. I have now unraveled my swatch and am preparing that yarn to use in the vest. I hope that it will be enough to complete the vest. I still need to decrease about twenty stitches on the fronts. The decreases are meant to be worked every-other round. The math on this is simple. What baffles me is how there could be forty more rounds in the body of this vest. Is there an error? Is this just a row gauge issue? If so, what do I do? I’m considering working my decreases more frequently. I so want this to be nice. I do not like the unkind, common adjectives that keep popping into my mind when I think of this vest. Oh, great and wise Kathleen Taylor, what has gone awry? What would you suggest? If I continue to follow the pattern as written, I think it will be longer than the target twenty-three inches for the length of this vest. The largest size measures 23 ½ inches in length. The other possibility that occurs to me is that I am not getting any kind of accurate length estimation due to the drawing in of the garment because of the decreases along the various steeks. Does this make any sense? Am I just grasping at straws? I again worry about Knitpicks leading me down the wrong path as another of my Options cords has shown itself to be defective. I also believe I found another set of possible errors in this pattern, but I’m not sure. Even if I am correct on this discovery, it is only a difference of two stitches. It should not matter much. It does not matter to what I am having trouble with presently. As we return to the issue troubling me so much, I desperately seek your advice. If the problem is not an error, but rather a difference in row gauge (the pattern does not list this) between my knitting and the author’s, how would you suggest I fix this problem?

In Lieu of a Half-Picture

Would you accept five hundred or so words? There are days I can knit for hours and not have a need to take a picture. This is not to say that I have not knit well, nor accomplished anything. It’s just how it is some days. Yesterday was one of those days.

I retrieved the US 0 circular and placed it in the last correct round of the vest. Then I ripped back eight rounds and knit one round with the Cream. I set it aside for the night even though it was not as bad as I had made it in my mind. This is good. I needed something to not be as terrible as I had imagined. Something else that I had thought would only be a bit stressful turned out to be more than I had predicted. Teenager. Need I say more? This drama still has another act or two. I pray for wisdom, and I knit. Actually, the situation is not difficult because she is a teenager. That is just a complicating factor. I am so glad to not be teenaged.

After the encounter with our daughter, I did the vest ripping. I thought that knitting it would be a good way to keep my mind off the situation, but I could not capture the proper mindset to work on it. Instead, I reached for the soothing, simple stockinette of the back of Arwen, and read knit blogs.

When I set aside Arwen, I could have gotten out the Brea Bag and knit on it for a while, but I knew it would lead me back to thinking about the situation with our youngster. I could have begun a square for the V-Day Community Afghan, but I did not feel like working with dishcloth cotton. I could have cast-on for the second Traveler’s Stocking, but I did not possess the requisite capacity to focus. Instead, I began work on a lace-edged handkerchief. I bought the pattern quite some time ago. I’m not using the pattern. This is nothing against the pattern; however, I wanted to try something different. I got out Stahman’s Shawls and Scarves, and looked at edgings on the different shawls. I settled on Alberta. I had already worked the foundation of single crochet around the handkerchief. My plan is to knit the edging onto the handkerchief as I go instead of sewing it on later. I worked several repeats and thought it looked pretty good. Still, I had wondered whether it might be better to attach to every-other single crochet rather than to every one. I worked another repeat attaching every-other, and I liked it much better. Therefore, of course, I then had to rip out all of my work. I didn’t mind. I like a lace-edged handkerchief, and I want this to be right. This is a nice project. I like the contrast of the white cotton against the brilliant blue aluminum needles. I find it quite pleasant and soothing to just look at. Although each repeat consists of twenty rows, the stitch counts range from just three to eight stitches. It is so simple to memorize that I did not need to watch the chart for long.

Yes, knitting is good. It is therapeutic. Be it the healing and comfort of wool or the magic of lace, there is power in what we do.

Uh-oh

Today, I feel stranded. I don’t quite know how I missed the mistake. I know that if you had been able to see it, you would have considered how and whether to gently inform me of the error. I sat down to knit on the vest today and as I neared the end of the round, I discovered my blunder. I blinked hard and looked again to be sure I was seeing correctly. I counted and compared knitting to chart. I carefully examined to see if it was something I could duplicate stitch or somehow otherwise fix without ripping back eight rounds. It is not. The problem is with the little houses you couldn’t see in the picture the other day. Even if I had uncurled the top of the knitting so you could see the houses, the error would not have been visible because it was on the other side of the vest. I’m not looking forward to this, but rip I will rip back. However, I will wait to do this until after I’ve gotten a decent night’s sleep. I didn’t catch much shuteye last night. Isn’t that something? It was when I was bleary-eyed and tired that I found the error.

I’ve knit four fuzzy, furry hats for the kids. They don’t take long to knit. I get the feeling of accomplishment from completing the caps and the nice feeling that comes from helping others. I know that I will feel good when I can finally give Mom her sweater, but I’m trying to stay relaxed about that.

I still have been unable to accept my invite to the Arwen knitalong. Blogger is having difficulties. Truth be told, there isn’t much to show on the cardigan. I’ve passed the hem and have knit it together with the body. It isn’t much to look at, but I already love it. Straight stockinette for another seventeen inches or so appeals to me right now. Of course, I’m looking forward to the cabling on the fronts. The weather is turning back into winter here, so I know that I will have a longing to wear this soon. Still, it is also nice to knit along on a wooly project while the temperature drops. I can focus on that pleasant feeling as I rip back the vest and knit it again. Yes, that sounds like a plan.

Challenges

I swatched for Arwen. I knit four chemo caps. I began Traveler’s Stockings. I knit the back and front of my daughter’s purse. I put in some quality time with the drop spindle. I needed to do all of these things to return to the challenge. Yes, I can now go back to knitting Mom’s vest. I had just become so frustrated that I had to give it a break. I really have made a lot of progress on it since you’ve seen it last. How about a peak? There you go. It curled at the top and you cannot see that I'm halfway through another repeat of the little houses. I’m closing in on finishing the body of the vest. If I need to buy more of the Cream, Knit Picks says that they will waive the shipping fees. I cannot say that I’ve regained my enthusiasm for the project, but I no longer dread it. I will get excited again when I am closer to finishing it.

Of course, Stranded is not my only challenge. I have again enrolled in Discovery Health’s National Body Challenge. It kicks off this weekend. Seeing as how this is the beginning of the National Body Challenge, this seems like the right time to post a picture of my exercise space. Rather than showing you my living room where I workout, I decided to share a picture of my exercise stuff. I have been an in-home exerciser for a few years now. This is what works best for me, and it is what I have been able to stick with. I put in a dvd and get moving. It does not matter what the weather is like outside. It does not matter what time it is. I don’t have to worry about bugs, animals, or traveling time and traffic to a suitable destination. I can don whatever attire is best suited to exercising without concern to how it will impact others. When I’m done, I can peel off my sweaty clothes and head straight to my own shower. I can choose from a variety of workouts just by pulling a different dvd from the shelf. I can make a big change to my routine with a modest investment in a new dvd. Like I say, I still don’t love working out, but I can do this. The best exercise is the one you’ll do.

Since I’m committing myself (shhh, be nice) to challenges left and right, how about one more? I will go 100 miles by April 1st.

Arwen Along

I wanted to knit this from the first time I saw it. I received the yarn for Christmas. I'm using Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in the color Hyacinth. I've seriously swatched. My first attempt was not to gauge. My second try looked much more promising, so I washed and treated the swatch as I will the finished garment. Much to my delight, I have gauge. Next step, is casting on for the back. I'm considering knitting this without the hood. I don't yet know how I would make this work, or if it would work. Suggestions, anyone?

Today was an NAKG Tuesday afternoon knit together. I was showing my yarn for this project when one of the Monday Night Skanky gals asked what weigh the pattern requires. It seems my incessant yammering can be positive sometimes, and I may have company knitting this beautiful cardigan. This is an anomaly. I will try to not let it go to my head, nor detract from the fact that my run-on mouth is usually a source for trouble. Besides the prospect of companionship on this project, I am also excited because Margaret is a genius at knitting and changing garments. She would probably be able to see how I need to make the changes to Arwen that I would like to make. Time to cast-on!

Happy Roc Day

Was your Distaff Day delightful? Did you have a rockin’ Roc Day? I managed to get in a few minutes of spinning. My copy of The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook is due to arrive tomorrow. I am excited. I’m also getting The Knitter’s Almanac. Can you believe that this is my first EZ book? I checked Knitting Without Tears from the library when I first began knitting, and found it very helpful and interesting. Perhaps one day I will have my own copy.

In the meantime, it has been Caps for a Cure knitting all the time here. I need to send off the five I have completed. Two more need to dry before I can get them in the mail. I also need to attach the tags. No pictures this time. Christmas knitting got in the way, and I got behind.

Speaking of knitting the chemo caps, have you seen this? I’m gathering up the Fun Fur and its cousins and knitting some of these. If I run out of what I have and there’s time, I may look for donations. I’ve knit chemo caps from the eyelash yarn before for Caps for a Cure. They’re fun, easy, and quick. C’mon, it’s for a good cause.

Buh-bye 2006

It’s been quite a year. There’s been plenty of the good and there has also been the not so good. I look forward to the new year, but I won’t even begin to guess what my adventures might be. You never know where life is going to take you, or what it will bring. This is one of the things I’ve learned in life, and I sometimes receive reminders of this fact. They can be pleasant surprises or dreadful shocks, but both leave me thinking, “I never would have guessed.” You might guess what variety the most recent of these reminders has been, but we’re moving on from that. I’m choosing to laugh and shake my head.

I am still working on my mom’s Snowmen & Skates vest. It would be reasonable for me to be finished by the end of January. I have set it aside temporarily because I have been getting frustrated with it. I think I’m going to need to order another ball of Knit Picks Palette in Cream. I don’t think the rest of this ball is going to get me through. I must say that I feel a bit frustrated that I bought what the pattern calls for and might not have enough. I’m concerned that there could be a problem with the pattern. My sense that it could be something on Knit Picks' end was magnified when my first attempt to try out my new Options set (Christmas present) resulted in the discovery of a defective cord as I attempted to cast on my first stitch. I’ve already contacted them and they are sending me a replacement. My bigger worry is that I have made some error and this vest is going to be all wrong. It looks alright, but I wondered if my vision is clouded by all the things that keep a knitter from seeing that she has made a terrible mistake and continuing on to end up with a horrific mass of wool and sorrow.

While I’m taking my break from the vest, I’m swatching for Arwen, and have begun a couple other projects. I need some socks on the needles, and I decided that Traveler’s Stockings from Nancy Bush’s Knitting on the Road would be a good choice. I’m past the lacy cuff portion and onto the first chart. Flipping through my current IK, my daughter (who had the audacity to turn 18 on Christmas Eve) saw a picture of a purse she wants. This made me happy, so I have picked up the yarn and cast-on for this project, too.

I am again signed up for Discovery Health’s National Body Challenge. It changes up a bit each year. I liked the program best that they had when I enrolled for the first time three years ago. I wonder what it will be like this time around. You might want to check it out for yourselves. There is good information, and it usually helps to inspire me to change up my exercise routine. The fact that I have given exercise a permanent part in my life is another one of those things I never would have guessed. It still isn’t my favorite thing, but I’ve stopped treating it as an option and accepted that this is what I do. I have yet to take a picture of my exercise space and stuff, but I’ll get on that soon.

I’m so glad I gave spinning the time it needs this year. I’m still spindling along on the same spinning project that I’ve been engaged in for several months now. I’m okay with the fact that I’m slow at spinning, and that is another big step for me. I enjoy it, and have many new fibers to explore. Just think, soon I will be knitting with my own handspun.

Thank you for being part of my life in 2006. Happy New Year!

What's in a Name?

What did we really expect to happen when we began calling ourselves The Skanky Knitters? Did we believe there would be no consequences? It was A Very Skanky Christmas this past Thursday at Margaret’s house. Laughter, knitting, food, and fun filled the festive occasion. The Skanky Santa (think White Elephant or Dirty Santa) exchange was entertaining. We laughed, ate, knit, and there was even a Wii. I arrived home late and obsessed about weight gain from all of the wonderful food. I vowed to return to sensible eating and continue to exercise. As it turns out, my worrying was all for naught. Yes, The Skanky Knitters all came down with The Plague. I told my husband I had a slight case of death. Not everyone had recovered for Monday Night Knitting, but most of us were able to laugh about it. The experience left me weak, tired, and fearful of all foods. Even after the big symptoms had died down, I could only sit next to my knitting and try to imagine that I would one day be able to pick up the needles again. It is unknown whether the illness was foodborne, or just that nasty bug going around. Because I was out of commission, the Christmas celebration at my mom’s, which had been planned for the 17th, has been rescheduled for the 26th. The upside of this is an extended deadline for Mom’s vest. Could I actually finish it in time? The rounds are now getting smaller, I’ve added in my armhole steeks, and have begun the decreases for the v-neck. The snowmen have returned. It seemed like they would never end the first time I knit them. Even after the body of the vest is done, I have to work the crochet reinforcements and steeks, the edgings, buttons (which I have yet to purchase), and embroidery. Oh yeah, I also need to block the thing. So, probably not going to be finished by the 26th. I did manage to finish a mini sock for JJ to clothe a stuffed sheep he wants to give to a co-worker, and I knit a decorative stocking pin for Brittany as part of the Skanky Twist to Skanky Santa. Those were both completed on Monday. So, I’m trying to keep a balanced look at what is getting done rather than looking at the things I still need to do.

Speaking of balanced, I’ve still been spinning. My friend, Annette, a local knitting buddy and fellow Twisted Knitter gave me some lovely gifts last Tuesday. Amongst the many timely gifts that promote relaxation and refreshment were several lovely fibers to spin. I’ve not yet tried Angora rabbit, Shetland wool, yak/merino blend, or alpaca/vicuña blend. This very generous lady gave all these to me. She is a wealth of fiber and spinning knowledge. She’s also facing challenging days, so please pray for her. I am hunting down a special prize to give her the next time I see her. I hope it will be Friday night. We take things one day at a time, so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens. In the meantime, that vest isn’t getting done while I sit here and type, and my body still insists I sleep. After the recent battle, I’m not brave enough to argue when it says it needs something.

Stranded

I enjoyed the Norwegian Knits-Along so well last year that I decided to join in on this year’s Stranded: The Colorwork Challenge. So, without further ado, here are my answers to the opening questions:
What are your projects for this knitalong?
I’m currently Stranded in the Fair Isles as I work on my Mom’s Snowmen and Skates Vest from Knit Picks. I’d love to complete it in time to give it to her as a Christmas present, but that remains to be seen. I’m doubtful about making that deadline, but stranger things have happened. Please pardon me as I mention once again, that this project involves steeking. I don’t have a planned colorwork project after this, but I am thinking of hats or mittens as a possibility. Those Star Wars charts have me inspired. I have long admired many of the colorwork patterns in Folk Socks and might try my hand at a pair of them.
Is this your first colorwork project? If it isn't, what was your first, and has it survived the test of time?
Nope, I’ve done colorwork before. My first was a lone mitten from Folk Mittens. I’ve never finished that pair, and I don’t know if I ever will. I’ve since read that the pattern had errors. I love the mitten, but it has been years since I knit it, and I doubt that it will gain a mate. Two hats knit last year went to Alaska. I had knit a hat for my husband a year before using that same pattern from Hats On! It is still going strong and we've even gotten enough cold weather for him to wear it a couple of times this year. I’m trying to regain custody of one I knit last year that no longer fits a nephew to pass on to a niece for whom I think it will work, but that may be a lost cause on many levels. Such is life. It's time to get back to Mom's vest. I had begun to believe that I was closing in on reaching the armhole steeks, but each time I measure, well, I'm sure you can all relate.

Votive and Vest

I’ve knit a second wire and bead votive cover and am need only to graft the third. I keep mentally adding potential recipients to a growing list of people for whom I’d like to knit these. It remains to be seen how many I will actually complete and gift. They are so simple and lovely. I simply string a bunch of beads on some 26-gauge wire and cast on nine or ten stitches with some US 8 straight aluminum knitting needles. Then I work in stockinette, knitting in the beads on the knit side until the piece is long enough to go around the candle holder. Then I graft or sew together the ends of the piece together. I finish off the ends, and I’m done. The process is a bit harsh on the hands and fingers, and the set of knitting needles used for the process are now solely dedicated to wire knitting.

I want to knit hats for the young nieces and nephews. One already made his way through the Knit Picks catalog and let me know which blue he would like. He was quite specific about which would be acceptable, and which would not. I need to get an order off to Knit Picks. For one thing, Mom’s vest needs a ball of orange and one of black in Palette to work the embroidery. I didn’t know that when I placed my initial order, but could have figured it out if I had been thinking more. The vest is coming along nicely. I’ve worked my way through the first chart, begun the second chart, and woven in all of my ends. At nearly four hundred stitches to a round, this is taking a long time. It isn’t something I pick up and work on when I have a few spare minutes. It takes some time to sit down, get the two colors organized, find my place on the chart, and get knitting. Still, if I intend to complete this anytime soon, I need to get to it.

We Fit Knitters have been encouraged to share photos of our exercise places. I read that after I had been fitness walking at a local mall. I could have snapped a picture of my stalker. Yeah, I had a creepy guy follow me about as I walked. He first suggestively flicked his pierced tongue at me when I passed him. I thought he was with a significant other and their child. As I continued to make my way through the mall, I saw that it was just he and the little boy in a stroller. Yeah, he’s a class act. At first I thought that perhaps I was being paranoid, but after changing directions, taking shortcuts, and winding my way through a department store and still spotting him behind me each time, I knew I was being followed. About the time I was ready to seek out mall security, he decided to end his little game. I didn’t want to make a big deal out of things or scare the small child, but I was certainly not going to head out to the parking lot while this continued. This is a long-winded way of letting you know that I don’t have a picture of my exercise area for you yet.

Back At It

Long timey, no bloggy, eh? I’ve finally caught up on many things, just to find myself at a time of year when I’m never caught up on things. It looks like we might have three Thanksgivings to attend, and I think I might make a S’more pie for each. I made three of those last week for my stepdaughter. Those went to school. I have a feeling that at least one-third of my efforts went to feeding the high schoolers, rather than the teachers. I don’t mind. I just wish that I had added a bit more chocolate. I’ve never tried making three at once.

I have been knitting the Fetching a bunch lately. Unfortunately, one experiment did not work out the way I had hoped. I read the yardage on the yarn label and knew it would be a long shot. It’s not a big deal. If I want to try again with that yarn, I can just add in a stripe of another color. I’ve seen it done on other pairs of Fetching, and it looks nice. These are Christmas gifts. Too bad most of these folks need easy-care type yarn. I’ve been knitting the pairs right along, but I still need to work the thumbs. One pair has already been gifted for a November birthday earlier this month.

Speaking of the holiday gifties, I tried my hand at knitting with wire to make a beaded votive sleeve. Nope, I don’t have Handknit Holidays, so I just made it up as I went along. I like what I have created. I might like to make a few more of these, but I definitely want to give my hands a break between sessions.

Mom’s Seasonal Fair Isle Vest is coming along, but I don’t think she’ll receive it for her birthday (December 5^th), and maybe not even for Christmas. I’m past the first set of snowmen, and nearly through with the first set of snowflakes. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens. In the meantime, I may be helping her out with a crochet project. I know, I know. She came across a Leisure Arts magazine from years gone by which contains the pattern for a blanket she crocheted for my younger brother. She wants to make it again for him. She’s having a little trouble with it, and I may end up crocheting it. I’ve tried helping, but between the years since either one of us has crocheted regularly and an issue of Mom being a lefty and me being a righty, well, I think I will be crocheting this. At least it is worked with double-stranded worsted weight yarn on a large hook. It should work up pretty quickly. Maybe Mom will stick with it. I tell her that whatever she keeps doing over-and-over becomes a stitch pattern.

In the meantime, it is all baby doll knitting all the time here; at least for a few more days. It has just been decided that we will combine Thanksgiving and Kaitlyn Olivia’s 2^nd birthday celebrations on Saturday. I’ve nearly completed two little blankets. Hats and socks should be quick and easy. The dolly blankies have me feeling compelled to knit larger blankets for children. I’m sure the feeling will pass soon.

Playing Catch

No, I’m not out engaged in some athletic event, nor am I inappropriately using balls of yarn. I’m in catch-up mode. Not much was accomplished last week, even though there was much to be done. Then it was the excitement of a hospitalized husband Saturday through Tuesday evening. We’re fine. I cannot decide which sounds better and which sounds worse. I could say that they did not find any reversible ischemia, or that they just could not do anything to help. In truth, the former is truer than the latter. Not everything can be fixed. We were taken care of very well, and everyone was wonderful at the Birmingham VA Medical Center. It is an excellent facility with excellent people, and we are blessed to have it. We even had a visit from Birmingham television personality, James Spann, bearing Veteran’s Day cards drawn by students in Carbon Hill.

I knit all I could, and it helped the time to pass and worked to calm my nerves some. I was stuck in some sort of anti-progress time warp, as I do not have much to show for my efforts. I suppose I got just the right amount done to get through the experience. Knitting is a great help to me, and I thank God for it.

Thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes. I think I wrote back and thanked everyone personally, but in case I did not, here are my thanks. I will show off my treasures soon, including those acquired in Murfreesboro. I’ll also share my tales of adventure at the fiber festival.