Nina was a 6th grader in 2005 Now she's a sophomore
Sophia was a fourth grader in 2005 Now she's an 8th grader
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Back to school
We take pictures of the girls every year on the first day of school in front of the garage door. Also of the dog, but that's usually inadvertent. He just wants to make sure he gets to go through that door, too, for the car ride to school. Notice we have the same drawings on the garage door. I think they've been there for a good 10 years.
Nina was a 6th grader in 2005 Now she's a sophomore
Sophia was a fourth grader in 2005 Now she's an 8th grader
Nina was a 6th grader in 2005 Now she's a sophomore
Sophia was a fourth grader in 2005 Now she's an 8th grader
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
The Big and the Little
In the past week or so, I finished two pairs of socks I started earlier this summer.
One pair is for my friend Barb, who is 5' tall and can fit both feet on a single piece of paper.
The other is for my brother Carl, who is 6'3" and can fit one foot on a piece of paper.
Provided the paper is turned diagonally.
Barb's feet are 7" in circumference at the ball. Carl's are 11".
For Barb's socks, I used the Devon pattern (Ravelry link) from Cookie A's Sock Innovations. The pattern calls for a thicker fingering weight -- Mountain Colors Bearfoot, which I love, and is probably more accurately a sport weight yarn. The problem with using the specified yarn was that I would have had to adjust the pattern to lower the stitch count to fit her. So I used Cascade Heritage, instead, which is a fairly fine fingering weight yarn. (Lots of yardage, and a great price!) They are very soft after washing, and show stitch definition really well. I was able to knit the pattern as written using the thinner yarn and smaller needles, without adjusting stitch counts.
They look good on her.
She stopped by this weekend to pick them up and agreed to model them.
Good thing for her that she has small feet. I would have had a hard time parting with them if they fit me!
Carl came for a visit in July and while he was here he went to the yarn shop with me when I offered to knit him socks. I envisioned endless 90-stitch rounds in tan or grey, knit over many boring months.
He took one look at a Kaffe Fasset colorways from Regia on a mannequin leg, fondled it and said he liked that one.
"Really?" I asked, trying to keep desperate hopefulness out of my voice. Could it be true that a man would really want this colorway? While I had always considered it fairly manly, I couldn't see my husband finding it acceptable, if he ever allowed me to knit him socks, which he doesn't.
Besides which, I had socks in the same colorway in my drawer at home, as you can see here.
"You don't mind the flash of turquoise?" I asked, still not believing he liked it, and trying hard to feign apathy. Mustn't let him know I'm excited. "No," he said. "I like the turquoise."
Hallelujah. Even if the socks would take forever to knit, they wouldn't be boring!
Then I got to thinking. My socks were made from 4-ply (fingering weight). I remember knitting 9 sts/in, 64 sts to the round. This yarn is 6-ply (DK weight). Guess how many sts/round? 64! (for the leg, but a bit bigger for the foot) They did not, in fact, take me months and months of begrudging labor to make. Just a few days per sock, spread out over six weeks, of course, because I rarely knit two identical socks in a row.
A brother-sister sock photo
He lives in Michigan, and no one else I know has feet big enough to model them, so I put his on over my other sock, in an attempt to make it fit better.
Look, if I adjust my foot position, the stripes match perfectly because we have the same stitch count per round.
The last time we had brother-sister matching garments was back in 1968.
One pair is for my friend Barb, who is 5' tall and can fit both feet on a single piece of paper.
The other is for my brother Carl, who is 6'3" and can fit one foot on a piece of paper.
Provided the paper is turned diagonally.
Barb's feet are 7" in circumference at the ball. Carl's are 11".
For Barb's socks, I used the Devon pattern (Ravelry link) from Cookie A's Sock Innovations. The pattern calls for a thicker fingering weight -- Mountain Colors Bearfoot, which I love, and is probably more accurately a sport weight yarn. The problem with using the specified yarn was that I would have had to adjust the pattern to lower the stitch count to fit her. So I used Cascade Heritage, instead, which is a fairly fine fingering weight yarn. (Lots of yardage, and a great price!) They are very soft after washing, and show stitch definition really well. I was able to knit the pattern as written using the thinner yarn and smaller needles, without adjusting stitch counts.
They look good on her.
She stopped by this weekend to pick them up and agreed to model them.
Good thing for her that she has small feet. I would have had a hard time parting with them if they fit me!
Carl came for a visit in July and while he was here he went to the yarn shop with me when I offered to knit him socks. I envisioned endless 90-stitch rounds in tan or grey, knit over many boring months.
He took one look at a Kaffe Fasset colorways from Regia on a mannequin leg, fondled it and said he liked that one.
"Really?" I asked, trying to keep desperate hopefulness out of my voice. Could it be true that a man would really want this colorway? While I had always considered it fairly manly, I couldn't see my husband finding it acceptable, if he ever allowed me to knit him socks, which he doesn't.
Besides which, I had socks in the same colorway in my drawer at home, as you can see here.
"You don't mind the flash of turquoise?" I asked, still not believing he liked it, and trying hard to feign apathy. Mustn't let him know I'm excited. "No," he said. "I like the turquoise."
Hallelujah. Even if the socks would take forever to knit, they wouldn't be boring!
Then I got to thinking. My socks were made from 4-ply (fingering weight). I remember knitting 9 sts/in, 64 sts to the round. This yarn is 6-ply (DK weight). Guess how many sts/round? 64! (for the leg, but a bit bigger for the foot) They did not, in fact, take me months and months of begrudging labor to make. Just a few days per sock, spread out over six weeks, of course, because I rarely knit two identical socks in a row.
A brother-sister sock photo
He lives in Michigan, and no one else I know has feet big enough to model them, so I put his on over my other sock, in an attempt to make it fit better.
Look, if I adjust my foot position, the stripes match perfectly because we have the same stitch count per round.
The last time we had brother-sister matching garments was back in 1968.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Go ahead, Ask a Knitter
If you're a Raveler and you read This Week in Ravelry, perhaps you've seen this week's issue.
(In case you can't read that, it says, "Rox's TWiR debut with the very first "Ask a Knitter" columns)
The first column includes:
There have already been requests for an easy archive reference or index, so I'm working on the best way to do that for both the column and the blog.
You can also see the backwards knitting video here:
(In case you can't read that, it says, "Rox's TWiR debut with the very first "Ask a Knitter" columns)
The first column includes:
- Closing the hole and weaving in ends for a closed item, such as a toy
- Gaping edge stitches
- A video tutorial on "backwards" knitting
There have already been requests for an easy archive reference or index, so I'm working on the best way to do that for both the column and the blog.
You can also see the backwards knitting video here:
Saturday, August 08, 2009
Amazing Grace Dishcloth
I'm a garment knitter. Twenty-three years ago when I sat down to learn to knit, I started with sweaters, lots of sweaters, nothing but sweaters aside from the occasional hat or two for, oh, the first fifteen years of my relationship with yarn and needles. Then there was the period of Very Little Knitting ("Sweaters are too hot, Mommy!"), which ended abruptly with the 5,000 bead linen-lace shawl and immersion in the Master Hand Knitting program.
From there, I dove into socks, was forced into scarves (due to several requests), dabbled in mittens/gloves/fingerless mitts/convertible glittens, did an afghan here and there (not my favorite thing, but sometimes necessary for surviving the Minnesota winter), a few felted slippers, a felted bowl (undertaken for its moebius-ness), a felted bag (meh), and a couple of toys (excessive amounts of finishing and shaping for such small items). I once started a Kitty Pi bed, but never finished it (the recipient would never show appreciation, I'm afraid). I made a string bag this spring and hated everything about it. I could write a poem about that bag. I would call it, "Rant to a Green Shopping Bag" and it would start out, "How do I hate thee? Let me count the ways..."
So what have I learned?
I have learned that I do not typically enjoy making non-garmenty things.
I have learned that a pattern has to have enough going on that I don't stab myself with my needles (scarves have to have an interesting pattern, or else 6 feet of it isn't happening). Garter stitch rarely fills that need.
A pattern can't be so futzy that I am chained to the chart (this is where toys really fall down for me -- too much shaping, sometimes every row, too many things to sew together, and totally not a garment. Also, if it's made with a novelty yarn...well, let's not go there).
There are exceptions.
This blanket buddy is a toy, of sorts, knit mostly with garter stitch, but there were YOs to keep me alert with simple shaping, and then the head was made using double knitting (which I had never done, so I got to learn something), and there was NO SEWING UP, unless you count drawing the tail through a few stitches at the top of the head, which I do not. Also, the yarn, while technically a novelty yarn (Wendy Velvet Touch), is easy to knit with, and the stitches were easy to read. I'm just waiting for a baby to give this thing to.
Other things I have learned
There can't be too much counting.
I once made a Petal Bib that turned out adorable, but tried my patience during the entire knitting process, because the short rows had to be counted and re-counted and re-counted again, and the gauge for the cotton yarn was sufficiently tight that my hands hurt. Counting is the hardest thing in knitting. A sad statement for a former math major to make, but true nonetheless.
Finally, the item has to be for a human. (The dog booties I knit this past winter -- that's not happening again, I don't care how pathetic the dog is when he limps in from the cold, and how adamant Michael is that knitting socks for the dog is "logical.")
Given all those knitting criteria, it's no surprise that there is one item I have persistently avoided knitting.
Dishcloths.
I use sponges to wipe the counters, and if I have to wash a dish by hand I prefer the skimpiest, thinnest dishcloths I can find. I don't know why. It's probably what we could get from the grocery store (and what we could afford) when I was a kid, and that's what I got used to. Also, the thick ones tend to smell sour the next day or two because they take so long to dry.
So there are three strikes against the dishcloth: cotton, not a garment, and smelly.
My brother and sister-in-law were here for a visit a few weeks ago and my SIL Kathy mentioned how much she likes knitted dishcloths. I asked her why and she told me. I explained why I couldn't understand them. She shrugged in a suit-yourself way.
I started noticing discussion threads on Ravelry regarding dishcloths. Threads remarkably similar to the "Why knit socks?" threads that come up every so often. I may have explained why, exactly, I refuse to knit dishcloths in one of those discussions. I'm not sure anyone cared. I did learn a few things, though. Apparently, sponges are the least sanitary things in the kitchen. They trap bacteria, so while I'm wiping crumbs off the counter, I'm smearing germs all over it. Considering the amount of Clorox Cleanup I use on my white Corian counter, I have my doubts, but still, that was a surprise.
There's more news. Shocking news. It turns out that other folks use a clean dishcloth every day. I know. Who knew? Raised in a barn, that's me. Get this: if you use a new dishcloth every day, you avoid the sour smell and you avoid smearing germs all over everything. What you're supposed to have in your kitchen drawer are stacks and stacks of fresh dishcloths.
All the love for dishcloths I kept reading about got me thinking. I didn't understand socks initially, either. I remember reading comments people had online about how wonderful socks feel on your feet, and how there's no going back once you put on your first pair of hand knit socks. I also remember thinking that commercial socks weren't exactly uncomfortable, so how great could the hand knit ones be? As soon as I grafted the toe of my first sock, I tried it on, and the journey toward Commercial Sock Removal from My Sock Drawer began. My mind had been changed.
A few months ago, I decided it was time to knit a Baby Surprise Jacket, for no reason other than to see what the 40-year fuss was about. I had never cared for the look of the BSJ, but I felt that it was worth knitting in order to understand the construction and perhaps to find out what its appeal was to other knitters.
It was garter stitch, but there was enough other business going on to keep me interested.
Check out those shoulder seams.
Nice, eh?
In the end, I enjoyed the process of knitting it, but I can't see myself knitting more of them. Socks changed my knitting life. The BSJ did not.
So a couple of weekends ago I decided to knit a dishcloth, specifically the Ballband Dishcloth, because that seems to be the BSJ of dishcloths. I came to realize that it's dishonest to disparage a particular beloved knitting project without trying it at least once. Turned out it was Dollar Days at Michaels, so lots of things were on sale, including Sugar'n Cream cotton yarn. I bought 4 balls for $5, Sophia bought a boatload of embroidery floss to replenish her friendship bracelet supplies, and that was that.
That night, I cast on for the dishcloth and I finished it the next morning.
I loved the way it looked, although it was even thicker than I expected. I really couldn't imagine using it. It was just so...big. And thick. I showed it to the family. Michael noted, "It's very bright." (He finds it safer sometimes to make an observation rather than to state an opinion.) Sophia liked it, but didn't think it should be dirtied up because I had "done all that work knitting it." Nina had no comment, because she was in her room. (She's 14. She's always in her room.)
A couple of nights later, when we were cleaning up the kitchen after dinner, I sent Sophia up to my office to get the dishcloth so we could try it out and settle the matter of The Hand Knit Dishcloth: Yay or Nay?
Yay.
It goes against every knitting tenet I have, but I love it.
A few days later the girls asked to go back to Michaels to get more embroidery floss. (They're on a friendship bracelet making binge.) I obliged, because I am nothing if not an obliging mother, at least sometimes.
I may have picked up a few more balls of Sugar'n Cream. It was still Dollar Days.
And I may have knit a few more dishcloths.
I may have even knit a dishcloth with matching Swiffer cover.
...was blind, but now I see.
From there, I dove into socks, was forced into scarves (due to several requests), dabbled in mittens/gloves/fingerless mitts/convertible glittens, did an afghan here and there (not my favorite thing, but sometimes necessary for surviving the Minnesota winter), a few felted slippers, a felted bowl (undertaken for its moebius-ness), a felted bag (meh), and a couple of toys (excessive amounts of finishing and shaping for such small items). I once started a Kitty Pi bed, but never finished it (the recipient would never show appreciation, I'm afraid). I made a string bag this spring and hated everything about it. I could write a poem about that bag. I would call it, "Rant to a Green Shopping Bag" and it would start out, "How do I hate thee? Let me count the ways..."
So what have I learned?
I have learned that I do not typically enjoy making non-garmenty things.
I have learned that a pattern has to have enough going on that I don't stab myself with my needles (scarves have to have an interesting pattern, or else 6 feet of it isn't happening). Garter stitch rarely fills that need.
A pattern can't be so futzy that I am chained to the chart (this is where toys really fall down for me -- too much shaping, sometimes every row, too many things to sew together, and totally not a garment. Also, if it's made with a novelty yarn...well, let's not go there).
There are exceptions.
This blanket buddy is a toy, of sorts, knit mostly with garter stitch, but there were YOs to keep me alert with simple shaping, and then the head was made using double knitting (which I had never done, so I got to learn something), and there was NO SEWING UP, unless you count drawing the tail through a few stitches at the top of the head, which I do not. Also, the yarn, while technically a novelty yarn (Wendy Velvet Touch), is easy to knit with, and the stitches were easy to read. I'm just waiting for a baby to give this thing to.
Other things I have learned
There can't be too much counting.
I once made a Petal Bib that turned out adorable, but tried my patience during the entire knitting process, because the short rows had to be counted and re-counted and re-counted again, and the gauge for the cotton yarn was sufficiently tight that my hands hurt. Counting is the hardest thing in knitting. A sad statement for a former math major to make, but true nonetheless.
Finally, the item has to be for a human. (The dog booties I knit this past winter -- that's not happening again, I don't care how pathetic the dog is when he limps in from the cold, and how adamant Michael is that knitting socks for the dog is "logical.")
Given all those knitting criteria, it's no surprise that there is one item I have persistently avoided knitting.
Dishcloths.
I use sponges to wipe the counters, and if I have to wash a dish by hand I prefer the skimpiest, thinnest dishcloths I can find. I don't know why. It's probably what we could get from the grocery store (and what we could afford) when I was a kid, and that's what I got used to. Also, the thick ones tend to smell sour the next day or two because they take so long to dry.
So there are three strikes against the dishcloth: cotton, not a garment, and smelly.
My brother and sister-in-law were here for a visit a few weeks ago and my SIL Kathy mentioned how much she likes knitted dishcloths. I asked her why and she told me. I explained why I couldn't understand them. She shrugged in a suit-yourself way.
I started noticing discussion threads on Ravelry regarding dishcloths. Threads remarkably similar to the "Why knit socks?" threads that come up every so often. I may have explained why, exactly, I refuse to knit dishcloths in one of those discussions. I'm not sure anyone cared. I did learn a few things, though. Apparently, sponges are the least sanitary things in the kitchen. They trap bacteria, so while I'm wiping crumbs off the counter, I'm smearing germs all over it. Considering the amount of Clorox Cleanup I use on my white Corian counter, I have my doubts, but still, that was a surprise.
There's more news. Shocking news. It turns out that other folks use a clean dishcloth every day. I know. Who knew? Raised in a barn, that's me. Get this: if you use a new dishcloth every day, you avoid the sour smell and you avoid smearing germs all over everything. What you're supposed to have in your kitchen drawer are stacks and stacks of fresh dishcloths.
All the love for dishcloths I kept reading about got me thinking. I didn't understand socks initially, either. I remember reading comments people had online about how wonderful socks feel on your feet, and how there's no going back once you put on your first pair of hand knit socks. I also remember thinking that commercial socks weren't exactly uncomfortable, so how great could the hand knit ones be? As soon as I grafted the toe of my first sock, I tried it on, and the journey toward Commercial Sock Removal from My Sock Drawer began. My mind had been changed.
A few months ago, I decided it was time to knit a Baby Surprise Jacket, for no reason other than to see what the 40-year fuss was about. I had never cared for the look of the BSJ, but I felt that it was worth knitting in order to understand the construction and perhaps to find out what its appeal was to other knitters.
It was garter stitch, but there was enough other business going on to keep me interested.
Check out those shoulder seams.
Nice, eh?
In the end, I enjoyed the process of knitting it, but I can't see myself knitting more of them. Socks changed my knitting life. The BSJ did not.
So a couple of weekends ago I decided to knit a dishcloth, specifically the Ballband Dishcloth, because that seems to be the BSJ of dishcloths. I came to realize that it's dishonest to disparage a particular beloved knitting project without trying it at least once. Turned out it was Dollar Days at Michaels, so lots of things were on sale, including Sugar'n Cream cotton yarn. I bought 4 balls for $5, Sophia bought a boatload of embroidery floss to replenish her friendship bracelet supplies, and that was that.
That night, I cast on for the dishcloth and I finished it the next morning.
I loved the way it looked, although it was even thicker than I expected. I really couldn't imagine using it. It was just so...big. And thick. I showed it to the family. Michael noted, "It's very bright." (He finds it safer sometimes to make an observation rather than to state an opinion.) Sophia liked it, but didn't think it should be dirtied up because I had "done all that work knitting it." Nina had no comment, because she was in her room. (She's 14. She's always in her room.)
A couple of nights later, when we were cleaning up the kitchen after dinner, I sent Sophia up to my office to get the dishcloth so we could try it out and settle the matter of The Hand Knit Dishcloth: Yay or Nay?
Yay.
It goes against every knitting tenet I have, but I love it.
A few days later the girls asked to go back to Michaels to get more embroidery floss. (They're on a friendship bracelet making binge.) I obliged, because I am nothing if not an obliging mother, at least sometimes.
I may have picked up a few more balls of Sugar'n Cream. It was still Dollar Days.
And I may have knit a few more dishcloths.
I may have even knit a dishcloth with matching Swiffer cover.
...was blind, but now I see.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Long Tail Cast On Tutorial
This is just a little video reminder for my Knitting 101 students who may forget how to cast on after they leave the class.
Keep practicing!
Keep practicing!
Friday, April 03, 2009
Ah, Spring!
Know how I can tell it's spring in Minnesota?
The tap water smells funny.
Oh, sure, the snow is gone, leaving yellowed, dormant grass exposed, and the city winter parking rules no longer apply. In four or five weeks, we'll have tiny, tiny leaves on the trees. The daylight hours are extending, so that's another clue. Mostly, though, I can tell because when I turn on the water, out flows a stream of stink.
Here in the City of Lakes, in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, nature excretes and decomposes daily, but during the winter, all that natural goodness freezes. Come the spring thaw....mmm a winter's worth of stored up smells all melts and runs off into the Mighty Mississippi and eventually through our water pipes. Get a whiff here. (I'm all about the links today, aren't I?)
I'm all about spring, because we've been on Spring Break here at Chez Rox. We flew south, to AZ, where it's brown year round, and it was a balmy 72 during the day. We ate outside frequently. I drank iced tea and ate salads. The first evening and the second day, I was knitting all the time. (All airplane knitting had to be ripped out due to my inability to count.) I knit an entire sock in a 24-30 hour period.
Folks, I actually got sick of knitting. So I turned to my Kindle, which it turned out, was totally out of battery and I forgot to bring the recharger. Michael, my knight in shining Mercedes (borrowed from the FIL) drove to Radio Shack to get me a micro USB cable so I could use what he calls "that piece of plastic." As in, "Are you still staring at that piece of plastic?" To which I respond by clicking the Next Page button.
I spent the next five days reading Susan Wiggs's Lakeshore Chronicles (there are five books in the series so far and I read one each day, but not in order. I started with #5, then #2, 3, 4 and finally, #1) until my eyeballs were too sore to read anymore (except I also read a 6th book by a different author, the name of which and whom escapes me.) I also got to see Bonnie, my best friend from high school, twice, for hours at a time.
Then I started on the second sock and we headed for home. I'm just getting going on the gusset at the moment. Perhaps I'll finish it this weekend.
Yarn: Mountain Colors Bearfoot in the Huckleberry colorway
Needles: KnitPicks 2.5mm, 32" fixed circ (That's a US 1 1/2, although they call it a US 1)
Method: cuff down using Magic Loop
Gauge: 8 sts/in, 56 sts
The tap water smells funny.
Oh, sure, the snow is gone, leaving yellowed, dormant grass exposed, and the city winter parking rules no longer apply. In four or five weeks, we'll have tiny, tiny leaves on the trees. The daylight hours are extending, so that's another clue. Mostly, though, I can tell because when I turn on the water, out flows a stream of stink.
Here in the City of Lakes, in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, nature excretes and decomposes daily, but during the winter, all that natural goodness freezes. Come the spring thaw....mmm a winter's worth of stored up smells all melts and runs off into the Mighty Mississippi and eventually through our water pipes. Get a whiff here. (I'm all about the links today, aren't I?)
I'm all about spring, because we've been on Spring Break here at Chez Rox. We flew south, to AZ, where it's brown year round, and it was a balmy 72 during the day. We ate outside frequently. I drank iced tea and ate salads. The first evening and the second day, I was knitting all the time. (All airplane knitting had to be ripped out due to my inability to count.) I knit an entire sock in a 24-30 hour period.
Folks, I actually got sick of knitting. So I turned to my Kindle, which it turned out, was totally out of battery and I forgot to bring the recharger. Michael, my knight in shining Mercedes (borrowed from the FIL) drove to Radio Shack to get me a micro USB cable so I could use what he calls "that piece of plastic." As in, "Are you still staring at that piece of plastic?" To which I respond by clicking the Next Page button.
I spent the next five days reading Susan Wiggs's Lakeshore Chronicles (there are five books in the series so far and I read one each day, but not in order. I started with #5, then #2, 3, 4 and finally, #1) until my eyeballs were too sore to read anymore (except I also read a 6th book by a different author, the name of which and whom escapes me.) I also got to see Bonnie, my best friend from high school, twice, for hours at a time.
Then I started on the second sock and we headed for home. I'm just getting going on the gusset at the moment. Perhaps I'll finish it this weekend.
Yarn: Mountain Colors Bearfoot in the Huckleberry colorway
Needles: KnitPicks 2.5mm, 32" fixed circ (That's a US 1 1/2, although they call it a US 1)
Method: cuff down using Magic Loop
Gauge: 8 sts/in, 56 sts
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Let me eat cake. Or pie.
It's my birthday and I'm doing laundry (we're leaving for Arizona tomorrow, and packing is in progress). I had two kinds of pie for dessert, though, on top of an extremely delicious meal at Lucia's, so all in all, a very nice birthday.
Also, I've decided to look at aging in an entirely new way.
Today I'm 32. In base 15. This will work for another 7 years, until I hit 3A, which will confuse too many people, so I'll switch bases again. I'm thinking base 18 will be a good choice at that point. I'll be 30. I liked being 30, it's the age I was when I met my husband. He of course, was only 29, and he's always reminding me that I'm older than he is. But I have a plan now.
He's staying locked in base 10.
Also, I've decided to look at aging in an entirely new way.
Today I'm 32. In base 15. This will work for another 7 years, until I hit 3A, which will confuse too many people, so I'll switch bases again. I'm thinking base 18 will be a good choice at that point. I'll be 30. I liked being 30, it's the age I was when I met my husband. He of course, was only 29, and he's always reminding me that I'm older than he is. But I have a plan now.
He's staying locked in base 10.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Who needs jewelry?
I was just finishing up my chronically late update on the state of my Master Hand Knitting progress when the mail arrived inside the front door.
I opened the door. Amongst the mail was a cardboard tube, addressed to me.
Inside, another tube. This one plastic.
Hold on. What does that label say?
Oh, baby!
Inside, the most bee yoo ti ful needles I have ever had the pleasure of slapping my eyes on.
14" straights, stiletto points, Teardrop Cap in sizes 5, 6, 7 and 9
But that's not all!
set of 5 5" dpns in size 0
set of 5 6" dpns in sizes 1 and 2.
An IM to my husband, upon opening the package, received the following reply:
"Happy early birthday." (It's next week.)
Sigh.
On to MHK news (or not)...
I've totally dropped the ball on Master Hand Knitting stuff this past week. Yesterday, I knit swatches and then embroidered initials on them using duplicate stitch for no reason. Well, there was a reason. Sort of. Some of the Level III knitters on Ravelry were discussing the duplicate stitch swatch and how it's kind of tricky to do well, and then the co-chair who hangs out on the board mentioned it's the swatch most likely to need resubmitting.
So I decided to worry about duplicate stitch in Level III rather than to block my lace swatches or work on my History of Knitting report for Level II.
I really don't need to worry about duplicate stitch, mostly because I'm not working on Level III yet. Years ago, I made a few sweaters for my niece and nephew that called for duplicate stitching some motifs on them, and I don't recall it being particularly difficult. I never thought anything was particularly difficult back then. I didn't know anyone who knit, so I figured if I followed the directions and it looked all right, then I was doing it right. But I had to know -- is duplicate stitch something I do in an acceptable manner?
I think so.
I ran out of yarn while duplicate stitching my initial. Sophia took a look at what I was doing and and asked if I would make her a swatch with her initial on it that she could put up on her bulletin board. So while I watched "Life" last night, I made her this:
I didn't notice all the sewing thread bits that were lying across the swatch until I uploaded the photo. They are from my attempt to block this swatch, which actually has to do with Level II.
English Mesh Lace
A Treasury of Knitting Patterns, p. 193
I attempted to use the thread along the edges as a way to block without pins so the edges wouldn't be all wavy. I failed miserably. I can't figure out a good way of anchoring the thread ends.
The #$%@ lace swatches continue to be the bane of my existence. I don't think my seed stitch border is long enough on the above swatch. I thought I could block it so that it would be, but for some reason, the border is longer at the bottom than at the top, even though they have the same number of rows. I think it might have something to do with the direction the YOs pull the knitting above rather than the knitting below. Or some other reason. Gah. I hate lace.
How come no one ever complains about the lace swatches?
I opened the door. Amongst the mail was a cardboard tube, addressed to me.
Inside, another tube. This one plastic.
Hold on. What does that label say?
Oh, baby!
Inside, the most bee yoo ti ful needles I have ever had the pleasure of slapping my eyes on.
14" straights, stiletto points, Teardrop Cap in sizes 5, 6, 7 and 9
But that's not all!
set of 5 5" dpns in size 0
set of 5 6" dpns in sizes 1 and 2.
An IM to my husband, upon opening the package, received the following reply:
"Happy early birthday." (It's next week.)
Sigh.
On to MHK news (or not)...
I've totally dropped the ball on Master Hand Knitting stuff this past week. Yesterday, I knit swatches and then embroidered initials on them using duplicate stitch for no reason. Well, there was a reason. Sort of. Some of the Level III knitters on Ravelry were discussing the duplicate stitch swatch and how it's kind of tricky to do well, and then the co-chair who hangs out on the board mentioned it's the swatch most likely to need resubmitting.
So I decided to worry about duplicate stitch in Level III rather than to block my lace swatches or work on my History of Knitting report for Level II.
I really don't need to worry about duplicate stitch, mostly because I'm not working on Level III yet. Years ago, I made a few sweaters for my niece and nephew that called for duplicate stitching some motifs on them, and I don't recall it being particularly difficult. I never thought anything was particularly difficult back then. I didn't know anyone who knit, so I figured if I followed the directions and it looked all right, then I was doing it right. But I had to know -- is duplicate stitch something I do in an acceptable manner?
I think so.
I ran out of yarn while duplicate stitching my initial. Sophia took a look at what I was doing and and asked if I would make her a swatch with her initial on it that she could put up on her bulletin board. So while I watched "Life" last night, I made her this:
I didn't notice all the sewing thread bits that were lying across the swatch until I uploaded the photo. They are from my attempt to block this swatch, which actually has to do with Level II.
English Mesh Lace
A Treasury of Knitting Patterns, p. 193
I attempted to use the thread along the edges as a way to block without pins so the edges wouldn't be all wavy. I failed miserably. I can't figure out a good way of anchoring the thread ends.
The #$%@ lace swatches continue to be the bane of my existence. I don't think my seed stitch border is long enough on the above swatch. I thought I could block it so that it would be, but for some reason, the border is longer at the bottom than at the top, even though they have the same number of rows. I think it might have something to do with the direction the YOs pull the knitting above rather than the knitting below. Or some other reason. Gah. I hate lace.
How come no one ever complains about the lace swatches?
Monday, March 16, 2009
Monday night video
Here it is folks, the long-awaited Friday the 13th video. Hey! Maybe it was cursed because it was Friday the 13th!
I have no idea why every transition ends with a "Boom!"
Still not completely happy with the video quality as it appears on YouTube. We're still working on getting the best resolution possible for the uploads.
I have no idea why every transition ends with a "Boom!"
Still not completely happy with the video quality as it appears on YouTube. We're still working on getting the best resolution possible for the uploads.
Two steps forward, one step back
The Pink, pink, pink socks are complete!
The Car Ferry socks are marching along!
I also cannot help but start the occasional new project, despite the back log of UFOs and Master Hand Knitting work that needs work.
I made a cupcake. Which I can't find at the moment (bedside area is a bit of a mess), so you'll just have to take my word. It's for a little girl who's turning 1 year old just about now. Last year she received a cupcake hat and mittens as a Welcome to the World gift and has happily worn them all winter. So I made her a stuffed cupcake. Which I will give to her mother just as soon as I locate it.
The stinking Friday Video is finally done. And, I think, much better than the videos I made using stinking scourge of the Microsoft apps, Windows Movie Maker.
I won't go into the gory details about the delay, but suffice it to say that the problems I had after I gave up on Windows Movie Maker were the result of a bad card reader (the kind that reads the little SD Flash Cards that go into my digital camera and the digital cam corder.)
So, whew on that.
I like iMovie. It's going to make Friday videos seem more like a good idea and less like I would rather be sticking my vintage Aero 14" straights into my eyeballs.
The video will go up later. YouTube has been "waiting for acknowledgement" for quite a while during the upload process, promising me it would happen in less than a minute for about 15 minutes now. I stopped holding my breath.
The Car Ferry socks are marching along!
I also cannot help but start the occasional new project, despite the back log of UFOs and Master Hand Knitting work that needs work.
I made a cupcake. Which I can't find at the moment (bedside area is a bit of a mess), so you'll just have to take my word. It's for a little girl who's turning 1 year old just about now. Last year she received a cupcake hat and mittens as a Welcome to the World gift and has happily worn them all winter. So I made her a stuffed cupcake. Which I will give to her mother just as soon as I locate it.
The stinking Friday Video is finally done. And, I think, much better than the videos I made using stinking scourge of the Microsoft apps, Windows Movie Maker.
I won't go into the gory details about the delay, but suffice it to say that the problems I had after I gave up on Windows Movie Maker were the result of a bad card reader (the kind that reads the little SD Flash Cards that go into my digital camera and the digital cam corder.)
So, whew on that.
I like iMovie. It's going to make Friday videos seem more like a good idea and less like I would rather be sticking my vintage Aero 14" straights into my eyeballs.
The video will go up later. YouTube has been "waiting for acknowledgement" for quite a while during the upload process, promising me it would happen in less than a minute for about 15 minutes now. I stopped holding my breath.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Curse you, Movie Maker
The Friday video will be up sometime this weekend. I'm giving up on Windows Movie Maker and its infernal crashing. This means I have to learn to use iMovie and re-record a few things.
I'm sure this is some sort of growth opportunity for me.
I'm sure this is some sort of growth opportunity for me.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Thursday is the New Wednesday
Progress, people. I've made progress! (Yes, I know it's Thursday. Again. More on why this post is late down at the bottom.)
So. While cleaning up the "knitting office," to make room for the bookcases that used to be in the living room but which are now in my little office, I found my buttonhole swatches, plus my notes on how I knit them. They need to be typed up, ends woven in, and tagged, but I don't have to re-knit them. Yet.
K1p1 ribbing with buttonholes
K2p2 ribbing with buttonholes
Seed stitch with buttonholes
Here's the swatch with buttonholes evenly spaced.
I need to check the instructions. I have this nagging feeling there should be five buttonholes, not four.
The mitten. My third attempt wasn't any better than my second mitten, and actually turned out worse, because after I finished the Fair Isle portion, I saw I had made a mistake in the pattern. I re-evaluated my second mitten, and while it isn't perfect, I really think it might be good enough. I finished weaving in the ends and crossed it off my to-do list.
Here it is:
(Ack! While taking pictures, I noticed a weaving-in problem. Must fix. Blech.)
I went through my lace swatches last weekend and decided I needed another one done in lace weight. When I started work on Level II, I bought both fingering weight yarn and lace weight yarn, as either one is considered acceptable for the lace swatches. While I had knit lace before, I hadn't ever knit with lace weight yarn and didn't understand what needle size to use. Working an inch of seed stitch seemed like it would take a billion years. I didn't like my swatches worked in fingering weight yarn, though, because they seemed too dense and I was really limited to fairly simple stitch patterns. So I sorted through my lace swatches, flipped through the first Walker Treasury and found a lace pattern to knit.
Still needs to be blocked, tagged, ends woven in.
Here's one I knit last fall:
There's a mistake somewhere near the base of the lace, a mis-placed purl stitch, but for the life of me, I can't find it now. I'm not sure whether to cop to it in my notes or not, given that I can't find it.
Last night, rather than posting this blog entry, like I was supposed to, I decided I was still short on adequate lace swatches, so I knit this:
Just needs the top seed stitch border. Plus blocking, ends woven in, tags, pattern writing, etc.
Here is what else I've been working on:
My History of Knitting report.
Still haven't finished the report on Knitting Without Tears. That book is so different, and I have so many mixed feelings about it, that I'm finding it difficult to review it in an articulate and rational manner. Which probably means I should persevere rather than take the easy way out and review something more straightforward.
So. While cleaning up the "knitting office," to make room for the bookcases that used to be in the living room but which are now in my little office, I found my buttonhole swatches, plus my notes on how I knit them. They need to be typed up, ends woven in, and tagged, but I don't have to re-knit them. Yet.
K1p1 ribbing with buttonholes
K2p2 ribbing with buttonholes
Seed stitch with buttonholes
Here's the swatch with buttonholes evenly spaced.
I need to check the instructions. I have this nagging feeling there should be five buttonholes, not four.
The mitten. My third attempt wasn't any better than my second mitten, and actually turned out worse, because after I finished the Fair Isle portion, I saw I had made a mistake in the pattern. I re-evaluated my second mitten, and while it isn't perfect, I really think it might be good enough. I finished weaving in the ends and crossed it off my to-do list.
Here it is:
(Ack! While taking pictures, I noticed a weaving-in problem. Must fix. Blech.)
I went through my lace swatches last weekend and decided I needed another one done in lace weight. When I started work on Level II, I bought both fingering weight yarn and lace weight yarn, as either one is considered acceptable for the lace swatches. While I had knit lace before, I hadn't ever knit with lace weight yarn and didn't understand what needle size to use. Working an inch of seed stitch seemed like it would take a billion years. I didn't like my swatches worked in fingering weight yarn, though, because they seemed too dense and I was really limited to fairly simple stitch patterns. So I sorted through my lace swatches, flipped through the first Walker Treasury and found a lace pattern to knit.
Still needs to be blocked, tagged, ends woven in.
Here's one I knit last fall:
There's a mistake somewhere near the base of the lace, a mis-placed purl stitch, but for the life of me, I can't find it now. I'm not sure whether to cop to it in my notes or not, given that I can't find it.
Last night, rather than posting this blog entry, like I was supposed to, I decided I was still short on adequate lace swatches, so I knit this:
Just needs the top seed stitch border. Plus blocking, ends woven in, tags, pattern writing, etc.
Here is what else I've been working on:
My History of Knitting report.
Still haven't finished the report on Knitting Without Tears. That book is so different, and I have so many mixed feelings about it, that I'm finding it difficult to review it in an articulate and rational manner. Which probably means I should persevere rather than take the easy way out and review something more straightforward.
Monday, March 09, 2009
So many books, not enough shelves
First, knitting project reduction progress:
Slow but steady. And somewhat obvious that switching needles at the heel flap of the first sock has affected the matchy matchiness of the pair. I'm a little OCD about sock matchy matchiness, and thus was faced with the dilemma of what to do -- keep on knitting, or rip out the second sock and re-do it so that it matches?
When I found this project, it was on four size 1 dpns (the coated alumninum kind, probably Inox/Prym). When I use dpns for socks, I like to have five. Rarely will I "make do" with four, as the triangular formation is too rigid and causes the needles to poke me in the hands. I don't have many sets of size 1 needles (true size 1's - 2.25mm - not 2.5mm, which is really a US 1 1/2), and the fifth needle was nowhere to be found, so all I had available to switch to was a 32" Harmony circ. Turns out there is enough drag on the Harmony needles to cause me to knit just a bit looser than I would on slick metal needles, which meant my gauge shifted slightly.
It's not easy to keep this sock on the needles, rather than ripping out the second sock, buying some new needles and reknitting the leg (switching to the Harmonies, of course, at the gusset, so that the feet will match on both). Instead, I will knit on, and show them to future sock knitting classes as an example of how same-size needles of different materials can affect gauge.
Oh, but it hurts.
Otherwise, we worked on the living room this weekend, picking up some shelves and a chair that the World's Best Mother-in-Law ™ won't be taking to her fab new apartment.
There is one other shelf unit, but we haven't decided whether to put it next to these three, or find another location.
See all that decorative stuff on the top shelves? That, my friends, is the first time we've had tzotchkes in our living room since having kids. (The kids are 11 and 14 now.) I dug these things out of cabinets and off high shelves in the basement. We're starting to live like grownups again.
The new shelves are much nicer looking than the shelves we used to have, but they leave us with a problem. Where to put all the books? These new shelves are more decorative than utilitarian, as far as book storage goes.
This pile will be given away
but these two boxes are keepers
as they are either books I re-read occasionally or books written by friends.
Thank goodness TWBMiL™ gave me one of these for my (upcoming) birthday.
Which will help keep the constantly-expanding number of books down to a manageable level, as I am running out of places to store books. I need it for yarn.
And guess what? There are a few knitting patterns available to download to the Kindle. I was also able to email a Cookie A sock pattern PDF from my laptop to the Kindle. Pretty cool. The downside of the Kindle is that I do most of my reading in the bathtub. I'm not keen on having the Kindle read to me. A Stephen Hawkings-ish voice reading fiction aloud doesn't do it for me. Such problems I have.
The new-to-us chair is temporarily in the kitchen, until we can move the 4th shelf (which is lying on the across the living room floor) to wherever it will go. We also need to move an existing living room chair upstairs.
Cotton quite likes the new chair, which is why it is covered with towels. He often comes in from the backyard or the garage (both of which are accessed through the kitchen) with wet and/or muddy feet. It'd be nice to keep the pseudo-suede fabric clean at least until it makes it into the living room, where he won't have ready access to it.
In other news. things are marching along on the Master Hand Knitting front. I may actually make my goal of finishing Level II before my birthday! (March 24).
See you Wednesday!
Slow but steady. And somewhat obvious that switching needles at the heel flap of the first sock has affected the matchy matchiness of the pair. I'm a little OCD about sock matchy matchiness, and thus was faced with the dilemma of what to do -- keep on knitting, or rip out the second sock and re-do it so that it matches?
When I found this project, it was on four size 1 dpns (the coated alumninum kind, probably Inox/Prym). When I use dpns for socks, I like to have five. Rarely will I "make do" with four, as the triangular formation is too rigid and causes the needles to poke me in the hands. I don't have many sets of size 1 needles (true size 1's - 2.25mm - not 2.5mm, which is really a US 1 1/2), and the fifth needle was nowhere to be found, so all I had available to switch to was a 32" Harmony circ. Turns out there is enough drag on the Harmony needles to cause me to knit just a bit looser than I would on slick metal needles, which meant my gauge shifted slightly.
It's not easy to keep this sock on the needles, rather than ripping out the second sock, buying some new needles and reknitting the leg (switching to the Harmonies, of course, at the gusset, so that the feet will match on both). Instead, I will knit on, and show them to future sock knitting classes as an example of how same-size needles of different materials can affect gauge.
Oh, but it hurts.
Otherwise, we worked on the living room this weekend, picking up some shelves and a chair that the World's Best Mother-in-Law ™ won't be taking to her fab new apartment.
There is one other shelf unit, but we haven't decided whether to put it next to these three, or find another location.
See all that decorative stuff on the top shelves? That, my friends, is the first time we've had tzotchkes in our living room since having kids. (The kids are 11 and 14 now.) I dug these things out of cabinets and off high shelves in the basement. We're starting to live like grownups again.
The new shelves are much nicer looking than the shelves we used to have, but they leave us with a problem. Where to put all the books? These new shelves are more decorative than utilitarian, as far as book storage goes.
This pile will be given away
but these two boxes are keepers
as they are either books I re-read occasionally or books written by friends.
Thank goodness TWBMiL™ gave me one of these for my (upcoming) birthday.
Which will help keep the constantly-expanding number of books down to a manageable level, as I am running out of places to store books. I need it for yarn.
And guess what? There are a few knitting patterns available to download to the Kindle. I was also able to email a Cookie A sock pattern PDF from my laptop to the Kindle. Pretty cool. The downside of the Kindle is that I do most of my reading in the bathtub. I'm not keen on having the Kindle read to me. A Stephen Hawkings-ish voice reading fiction aloud doesn't do it for me. Such problems I have.
The new-to-us chair is temporarily in the kitchen, until we can move the 4th shelf (which is lying on the across the living room floor) to wherever it will go. We also need to move an existing living room chair upstairs.
Cotton quite likes the new chair, which is why it is covered with towels. He often comes in from the backyard or the garage (both of which are accessed through the kitchen) with wet and/or muddy feet. It'd be nice to keep the pseudo-suede fabric clean at least until it makes it into the living room, where he won't have ready access to it.
In other news. things are marching along on the Master Hand Knitting front. I may actually make my goal of finishing Level II before my birthday! (March 24).
See you Wednesday!
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