kmkat and her kneedles

Thing #4. And the beginnings of Thing #5.

  

Yarn: Noro Silk Garden #271 and 279, about 1/2 skein each.
Needle: US#7. Or maybe it was a #6. Or maybe I did the ribbing on #5 and switched to a #6 or a #7 for the stockinette. Anyone? Bueller?
Pattern: A pastiche of hat patterns. I wanted a hat that got bigger after the ribbing, sort of a slouch/tan. This is that, if I rearrange the slouch -- which is minimal -- after I put it on.

Now I have a sort-of matched set of hat, scarf, and mittens. They are all Noro, just not all the same Noro.

 

 

* * * * *

Matthew requested another hat for himself, this time in charcoal and 2x2 rib. He specifically said, No cables, no cuff, none of that stuff that is such fun for knitters. Sorry. Mom. He also does not care for the lines formed on the crown by columns of decreases, thus, the 2x2 rib that can hide the decreases. I sent him links to about a dozen different superwash merino DK yarns in charcoal. He chose Tanis Yellow Label, a yarn I had never used nor even heard of before I googled.

As soon as I ordered it I started noticing all the Ravelry projects made from it. Once the yarn arrived and I cast on, I learned why it is so popular. Nice stuff! Soft like merino but still with a bit of woolliness. The color is tonal, and it looks GREAT in ribbing -- very 3-dimensional.

What is that gap in the ribbing, you ask?

I could tell you it is for the unicorn horn at Matthew's hairline, but that would be... a lie.

Most of you already know this but just in case somebody doesn't: when knitting in the round, it is NOT necessary to join immediately after the cast on. That way lies madness twists.

Knit back and forth for a few rows, then join. You can easily see how the knitting should be joined and avoid that dreaded twist. Use the tail from the cast on to sew up the little seam; no one will ever notice when the garment is worn.

Observe:

In the case of the hat, above, the viewer will be so distracted by the jog in the stripes (does anyone have a good method for avoiding that job when the stripes are only 2 rows tall?) that they will never notice the seam in the ribbing. In the mittens, I defy you to find the seam.

* * * * *

In other breaking news, I tripped over something invisible in my office last night and fell. My can of soda and bowl of popcoarn went flying, and I smacked my hand on a chair. (I know the thing that I tripped on was invisible because after I got up there was nothing there to see.) No huge damage to myself, and Lucy The Wonder Dog was thrilled that I had thrown an entire bowl of popcorn onto the floor for her, instead of the usual few kernels, but the index, middle, and ring fingers of my right hand were very sore. So sore, in fact, that I could not knit.

Wah! It doesn't look bad -- no swelling, no bruising -- but it is sore.

The next day the fingers were still sore but not enough to prevent knitting, only to make it go a bit more slowly. Yay!

 

I made another thing.

 

Yarn: Knit Picks Sugar Bunny (worsted weight, 80/20 merino/angora), ~1-1/2 balls.
Pattern: Slip Slip Cloche, from Boutique Knits.
Needles: US#5

I started this hat in November, but because I had so many things on the needles it didn't get finished until nearly Christmas. It is adorable on Alex.

WIP Wednesday.

Still working on the dog sweater for Ser Perival The Energetic. I am at the part between front legs and neck and need to try it on him again to figure out the shaping.

.

Frogged the first Kill Bill scarf, started it again with a different pattern. Clearly, I have a ways to go.

.

Tappan Zee has not glimpsed the light of day since you last saw it.

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Cast on for a hat for BGFE. Yarn is Knit Picks Sugar Bunny, a merino-angora worsted; color (Wine) is less brick and more maroon than my photo. If you are having difficulty imagining how that strip will turn into a hat, click on the first link to look at the pattern -- it is adorable.

* * * * *

Yesterday I was a bell ringer for the Salvation Army again 3:00 to 5:00 pm in front of the local Wal*Mart. This is how it looked when I left home:

19˚ F (-7˚ C), but happily there was little wind. I wore a Calorimetry, a Noro striped scarf, a turtleneck and sweater, a down parka, leggings, jeans, and snowpants; and Sorel boots. Those of you in warmer climes probably know nothing of Sorels; those of you north of the 40th parallel probably do. They are awesomely warm. 

Lucy The Wonder Dog went with me. She charmed passersby, kept my legs warm, and prompted at least two people to donate. The last half hour of my two-hour shift was hard to get through because both of us were starting to get cold; I have to admit I left a couple minutes early. But my bucket got full. It was very apparent when the customers changed from home-all-day types to stopping-in-after-work types -- the donations picked up noticeably. Some of the earlier people probably count on the Salvation Army for help.

Please give generously to the bell ringers you see. The Salvation Army an organization that helps the down-and-out get back on their feet.

I had my 15 minutes seconds of fame.

Some of you have seen this already, either on TV or Facebook or soxanne's blog or Ravelry, but hey, watch it again! Make me feel famous good!

 

 

Ellen and I were interviewed on Wednesday for this piece, which aired on the Thursday 5 o'clock news on WCCO, channel 4 in the Twin Cities. Ellen is an awesome person whom I am proud to have met and even prouder to have helped.

As of yesterday her efforts had secured hats for all 100 heads in the Senate and a large portion of the House -- 42% of Congress in total. I certainly hope those Congresspeople take the sentiment to heart. Thanks to all the knitters who have jumped on this cause!

Warm heads, not hot heads.

As I mentioned before, I jumped into this project with both feet and all my needles. I knit one hat and plan to knit one more by next weekend. But I had several other hats hanging around in the "to be donated" basket, and what better use could they have?

I have worn several of them on occasion, but after a good soak in Eucalan -- which none of them had had before -- they are good as new. (There is one more hiding on the shelf below.)

There is still time for any of you to whip out a hat and let twinsetellen know to whom you plan to send it. As of today she has people signed up to send hats to 20% of Congress! That's a lot of hats and a lot of knitters!

Yesterday I drafted the letter that will accompany the hats I will send. It was cut and pasted together from Ellen's and Alison's examples.

February 22, 2011

Congress[wo]man The Honorable* Xxxxx Xxxxxxx
Yada yada

Dear Congress[wo]man Senator / Representative* Xxxxxxxx:

I knit this hat for you; I live in xxx in Wisconsin District 7. Many of your colleagues will also be receiving hats from knitters of all political stripes and from all around the nation. We wanted to show you that we appreciate the work you do for those of us whom you serve in the House.

I knitted it as part of a campaign among knitters for Warm Hats, Not Hot Heads (more information at http://twinset.us/?page_id=3736). We are from many political backgrounds. We want those who engage in angry and even vicious public rhetoric to stop speaking for us in those ways. We want civility in Congress. We are choosing to give hours of our time silently to be able to give you a visible, tangible, heartfelt symbol of our desire for respecting and honoring one another within our government – and to thank you for doing your best.

Why a hat? Knit hats meet a simple need for warmth. They are an every day comfort. Everyone can use a good hat. Civil political discourse also meets a simple need – the need for our government to have the best information and insights from many viewpoints. It would be an everyday comfort to me and to many other Americans if the airwaves were free of hate-filled rhetoric, and it would help lead to good government. As I am sure you will agree, everyone can use good government.

Each stitch is individual. Each stitch depends on every other stitch within that hat being present for it to be able to do its job where it is of creating comfort and warmth. I wish you the best in your work and thank you for your service to us all.

Warm regards,

 

Kathryn Xxxxxxx

P.S. If you are not able to use this hat yourself, please donate it to a worthy charity. There are many that help the homeless and underserved, and I would like to know that the hat is keeping someone warm.

* The Google showed me the proper way to address such a letter.

 * * * * *

It is melting here this weekend.

Do you know how hard it is to photograph a melting drop in the air? This is the best I got out of over 20 shots. I even investigated the "Continuous" mode on my new camera. It worked just like it was supposed to, but I still failed to capture the desired shot. You will have to settle for a drop almost ready to come off.

Hannibal was not impressed, either.

FO Friday.

I have been cranking out the small projects on a regular basis lately. Very satisfying, especially after that nearly-12-month sweater.

This scarflette has been gifted to our local librarian, who has been pestering me -- in a good-natured way -- to knit something for her ever since I started requesting knitting books.

Yarn: Koigu KPPPM, 1.75 skeins of some unknown, mostly blue, colorway (band long gone) purchased at either School Products or Purl Soho in 2007. Souvenir yarn, don't you know...
Pattern: Simple Things by Mary-Heather Cogar (of Ravelry fame). 
Needles: Addi Turbo US#4 circ.

(That swatch at upper right is something else. Please ignore.)

I followed the pattern exactly as written. If I had it to do over I would attempt to use more of the yarn and make the scarf as big as possible. As an inexperienced triangle knitter I did not feel like I could judge the amount of yarn required to finish from any given point, so I just followed the pattern.

(When I was in the library yesterday she told me that whenever she wears the scarf people want to know where she bought it and could they buy hers. She told me I could go into business making and selling them, and I reminded her of how I knit for friends and relatives and myself, not for 50¢ an hour. Non-knitters just don't get it.)

Next up, a pair of felted slippers for a friend. Bad blogger that I am, I neglected to get a photo of the actual felted FO. Here is the first one, unfelted, next to my size 9 clog; the recipient's feet are size 7.

Yarn: Reynold's Lopi.
Pattern: Felted (Fulled) Stuff by Nancy Lindberg.
Needle: Knit Picks US#11 circ.

Lopi is a scratchy, uncomfortable yarn, but it may be a good choice for slippers that will be worn with socks -- it seems like it will wear well. The slipper is really a scuff or mule. As I was knitting them it seemed to me that they were too wide for their length or too short for their width. After they went through my front-loader twice they looked sufficiently fulled. I attempted to stretch the soles so that they would fit. My friend tried them on and declared them perfect*.

I knew that this person had a birthday coming up in February and had decided that I would knit her a pair of felted clogs. I already had the pattern and yarn -- bright red KP Wool of the Andes for the top and black for the soles and trim. Then I ran into my friend earlier last week and she burst out, "I'm going to make myself felted slippers for my birthday!" To which I replied, "I was going to make you felted slippers for your birthday!" She thrust her bag with the yarn and pattern at me and said, "Well, then, you can make these!" Perfect!

*Update: I checked with said friend again yesterday and she admitted that they are a little short. I may be knitting her another pair.

The latest FO is a hat for me. Here is is, with and without flash.

   

Yarn: Bernat Lana (worsted, 100% wool; discontinued) with stripes of leftover bits of Noro Silk Garden and Plymouth Boku.
Needles: KnitPicks Options, Zephyr tips, US#8.
Pattern: Sixteen-Cable Hat, heavily modified. No cables; I just used the first and last couple inches of the pattern to create the general shape. Initially I followed the pattern but found that without the cables to pull it in, the hat hung halfway down my back. Slight exaggeration, but clearly I needed to frog back. After removing several inches (including all the decreasing and a 2-3" more) I decreased down again and found that it looked much better.

WIP Wednesday.

Today's WIP is brought to you by Twinset Ellen via Carrie K.

 

This is the beginning of a 2x2 ribbed hat intended for either Senator Ron Johnson or Rep. Sean Duffy, both of Wisconsin and two of my three guys in Congress. The previously mentioned Ellen and her friend Alison have started a project they call Warm Heads, Not Hot Heads.

Here is Ellen talking about the project:

"Pick a Congressperson for whom you’d like to knit a hat. You don’t have to agree with their politics, in fact it may be a more enriching experience for you if they don’t." 

And Alison (emphasis mine):

"Invite any and all knitters who would like to join in to knit a hat...for their own congressional representative, whether Senate or House.  Ask them to email me, perhaps send a photo or link to a Ravelry project, and let me know to whom a hat has been sent. I can track who is being covered (literally!) and if anyone wants to knit more than one hat, they can send them to me and I’ll handle mailing them to a rep who hasn’t received one yet.

"I’d like to write a standard note to go with it, to which any knitter could add her own personal message. I’m also thinking how cool it would be to design a hat for it, but I am also telling myself to keep it manageable. (Her husband) suggested that the hats be purple, a blending of red and blue, but I told him I want them to be worn!...After thinking on it all week, though, what is really compelling me is to highlight the need for civil discourse even over things we disagree on.”

Ellen's letter to accompany her hat(s):

Dear Congressperson,

This hat was hand knit with care for you.  Many of your colleagues will also be receiving hats from knitters of all political stripes and from all around the nation.

Why a hat?  Knit hats meet a simple need for warmth.  They are an every day comfort.  Everyone can use a good hat.

Civil political discourse also meets a simple need - the need for our government to have the best information and insights from many viewpoints.  It would be an every day comfort to me and many other Americans if the airwaves were free of hate-filled rhetoric, and it would lead to good government.   As I’m sure you agree, everyone can use good government.

Thank you for your service, and best regards,

Ellen

P.S.  More information about this effort, Warm Hats, Not Hot Heads can be found at http://twinset.us/?p=3732 or http://spindyeknit.com/2011/01/lets-change-the-world/.  If you can not personally use this hat, please donate it to a worthy charity.

You can find out more about the project at either of the linked sites, above. For myself, I am knitting for two people whose political views are pretty far from my own. The yarn is some lightweight worsted superwash merino I got recently from Smiley's Yarns, and, yes, I would wear it myself.

* * * * *

The other WIP that has been pending for w-a-y too long is my name-the-glass-head contest. Remember that? I didn't think so.

There were 16 entries (so much for bringing out the lurkers), each of whom suggested a dandy name.

And now... (drum roll, please)

...the winners are... (suspense mounts)

Gayle, for "Bubbles" (my favorite*)

...and...

Sophanne, for "Ida Lee." (the random winner).

 

Winners, check your email. Check your spam folder, too, since I foolishly made the subject line "You won my contest!" which is sure to be flagged as spam.

 

 

 

* "Marie Antoinette" was a close second (headless, get it?) but was ruled out on the basis of length. I couldn't see myself using a five-syllable name. Gail, you lost only because of my laziness energy efficiency.

Grrr.

On Sunday I went to a most-of-the-day potluck and knitting retreat at a lovely B&B not far away, sponsored by the LYS owner who hosts the knitting group that I attend monthly. The purported reason was for all of us knitters to finish our Christmas knitting. The real reason was to hang out and eat and, oh yeah, knit.

(No photos because I was struck by the dreaded camnesia.)

I had a hat and mittens set OTN for a local children's giveaway and planned to finish them that day. Did I? No. I knit and tinked, and tinked and knit, and knit and tinked some more. First I couldn't count, then my planned modification of the hat pattern turned out to be awesomely impossible rather than simply awesome. I arrived home many hours later having accomplished...

.

::wait for it::

.

::it's coming::

.

::almost::

.

four (4!) rounds on the hat. And nothing on the mittens.

Grrr.

But today we were out and about for lunch and some errands, and I finished the hat in the car. It is still awesome, just not quite as awesome as I had originally planned. As soon as I post this I'll go do the last thumb on the mittens.

Photos tomorrow.

FO Friday.

Time to catch you up on my knitting. First, a couple hats:

 

(left, my last hat for the homeless)
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, Thyme, and some anonymous camel-colored wool worsted. Total 56 grams, 123 yards.
Needles: Addi Turbo US#6.
Pattern: Generic, worked on 96 st.

(right, for Matthew's new-ish girlfriend Alex)
Yarn: Knit Picks Andean Silk, color Allspice, all but about a yard of 3 skeins (~288 yards).
Needles: Knit Picks Options w/ Zephyr tips, US#8.
Pattern: 16-Cable Hat. The pattern gives two sizes, one for head circumference 16 - 19", and one for 18 - 22". Alex's head is 23", so I cast on 182 st to allow for one more 26-st cable repeat. My head is also 23", so I was able to try on the hat as I knit to check the sizing.

Alex had been describing the kind of hat she wanted to Matthew about a month ago on a day when Smokey happened to be present. He immediately piped up to say that he knew someone who would be delighted to knit her a hat. What he later told me she had described sounded to me like a chullo, so I found a few examples in Ravelry and sent her links. She looked at them but, in her own words, got sidetracked to the 16 Cable Hat. So 16 cables is what I knit (although my upsizing resulted in rather more than 16 cables).

Note: this is a very flattering hat. I may make one for myself. Never thought I would want a beret-ish or slouch-ish hat, but I like this one a lot.

This hat has a lot more stitches than a typical hat. But I loved the yarn so much that it was no hardship to knit the equivalent of two hats. Andean Silk is 55% fine alpaca / 23% merino / 22% silk, and knitting it is like petting a very soft kitteh.

Next on my knitting agenda is a pair of Dimorphous Mittens for myself. Right now I am swatching to determine what size needle I need to make my yarn for the inner mitten match the pattern gauge.

 Inner mitten:                                Outer mitten, striped:
   

The yarn for the inner mitten is Frog Tree Pediboo, a very soft but tightly plied 80% merino / 20% bamboo light fingering weight that will feel lovely on my hands. The yarn for the outer mitt is two colorways of Noro Yuzen, a discontinued 56% wool / 34% silk / 10% mohair DK weight that I will stripe like a Noro striped scarf.

The weather forecast for the immediate future is cold with a side of frigid, so I need to knit like the wind on these.

Knit, knit, knit.

I have been churning out the small projects.

A pair of socks for myself.

Yarn: Trekking (XXL) in Clown Barf color 156. Toes and half of one heel reinforced with yellow Lang reinforcing thread, other heel reinforced with blue. My anal self is appalled.
Needles: US#0 (foot) and US#1 (leg).
Pattern: Wendy's Generic Toe-Up Socks, which is my current go-to sock pattern. I tried a little calf shaping on this pair: about one inch above the last short row of the heel I increased one stitch in the middle of the back, then increased again in that same place about every 3/4 inch until I had increased a total of four stitches. (The leg is 3x1 ribbing, so four stitches made everything work out.) The leg seems slightly more comfortable than the not-increased legs on previous socks, not that they were ever uncomfortable, but I suspect this pair may stay up better. Time will tell.

Two scarves (shown unblocked and blocking) for the Red Scarf Project.

(left/bottom) Yarn: 3 skeins of Berrocco Blackstone Tweed (65% wool/25% mohair/10% angora), which is a single ply, lovely soft yarn (in spite of being tweed).
Pattern: La Harlot's One-Row Handspun Scarf, worked on 36 stitches.
Size: 63" x 8-1/2".
Needles: US#7 Addi Turbo.

(right/top) Yarn: Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted, <1 skein each of scarlet and red.
Pattern: Simple stripes from the book, Knit One Below by Elise Duvekot; worked on 19 stitches. I quite love this vertical stripe look, and it knits up very quickly. If you look carefully at the third photo you can see where I reversed the colors halfway through the scarf. This is the technique the author used in the sweater on the cover of the book, but I had enough trouble keeping the two yarn colors in the right place without switching them out every 4 or 6 rows. Once was enough, just for fun.
Size: 63" x 6-1/2".
Needles: US #6 Addi Turbo.

And then there were some hats.

(1) Yarn: (MC) Knit Picks Andean Silk, color Wallaby, 40 gr (.8 skein); (CC) Louet Gems Worsted left over from my kimono sweater, color Burgundy. What the picture does not show you is how soft the Andean Silk is -- knitting it was like working with soft kitteh fur. I kept stopping to pet it whilst knitting.
Pattern: Generic but originally derived from this one, worked on 96 st.
Size: M.
Needles: US#6 Addi Turbo.

(2) Yarn: (MC)Colorado Yarns Durango in the inventively named "1"; about .8 skein (90 yds); (CC) Plymouth Boku, in the also-inventively named "6"; also about .8 skein (80 yds).
Pattern: same as above, worked on 96 st.
Size: XL.
Needles: US#7 Addi Turbo for ribbing, US#8 Knit Picks Option circ with Zephyr tips for the body of the hat.

(3) Yarn: Paton's Soy Wool Stripes, Natural Earth, slightly less than one skein.
Pattern: Clamber, v. 1.0, worked on 96 st, 4 cable crossings before the decreases.
Size: S/M
Needles: US#7 Addi Turbo. (I think, might have been 6s.)

(4) Yarn: Paton's Soy Wool Stripes, Natural Earth, slightly more than one skein.
Pattern: Clamber, v. 1.0, worked on 96 st, 5 cable cr4ossings before the decreases.
Size: L
Needles: Knit Picks Options, Zephyr tips, US#8s. (I think, might have been 7s.)

The first three hats are destined for a couple hats for the homeless projects, one in Seattle and one in Minneapolis. #s 1 & 3 were originally intended for Shanti's ship hats, but after they were done I reread the requirements and found that they should have been knit from washable wool. Oh, well, the ship's crews' loss is the homeless's gain.

The fourth will be my winter hat, I think. I bought both colors of Soy Wool Stripes late last winter when I picked up a new winter coat on sale; the jacket is dark brown nylon and the hat should go well with it, as do my older Noro striped scarf and Plymouth Boku fingerless gloves (the contrasting stripes in hat #2 are the leftovers from those gloves).

Edited to add: Don't be too impressed with my output. This is 2-1/2 months of knitting. Instead, be appalled at how little I talk about knitting on this purportedly knitting blog.

Tuque!

We have had our share of car troubles this year. I won't bore you with all of them right now, just the one that led to some knitting.

When Smokey and I were driving home from our Temperance River camping trip in August, we had a slight problem when he was turning the mini-mini-motorhome around in a driveway on a side road off Highway 61 a bit north of Duluth. It was dusk and too dim for me to get a photo, so I'll have to paint you a word picture.

Imagine the mini-etc. backed into a driveway just a leetle bit too far, so that the left back wheel is off the edge of the driveway. This driveway spans a ditch and the edges of it drop off quickly. With that wheel over the edge there was no way we could drive out of the predicament.

We walked down the driveway through the woods to find the house and see if we could use their phone to call a tow truck (cell phone = dead battery; car charger = broken).  We found the homeowner working on an outboard motor in his pole shed/workshop/garage. When Smokey asked about using the phone and described our plight, the guy, name of Harley, said he could pull us out, no problem.

"Which would be better to pull you out, do you think?" he asked. "My tractor or my dump truck?"

Moral: if you are going to get your car into a non-drivable state, do so in the driveway of a man with a tractor AND a dump truck.

Harley pulled us back up onto the road with his dump truck and refused any sort of payment.

We continued on our way.

But I had noted his head and foot sizes, thinking idly that I could knit him a pair of socks or a hat in gratitude. Socks seemed to have too many variables -- size, fit, fiber, color, preferred thickness -- so I went for the hat. Because he lives on the North Shore, land of the voyageur, I thought a tuque would be the thing.

Dale-Harriet came to my aid with an authentic tuque pattern, plus some history. I used the DK superwash wool left over from my multicolor striped raglan.

 

Yarn: Phildar Pure Laine 3-1/2 (apparently discontinued), DK weight, colorway 'Corsair', 3+ skeins (350 - 400 yds.).
Needles: Addi Turbo US#6 (I think; might have been 5s).
Pattern: (I'm not telling; Dale-Harriet said she is veeerrrrryyyy particular about who she shares her patterns with.)

Here's what I told Harley about the hat in the note we enclosed with it.

p.s. The hat pattern is from a friend in Madison who is a re-enactor in French fur trading-era stuff. Here is what she told me about it:

Regarding the Toque Pattern (as I sees it)

A sailing vessel, the Machaud, went down in the mid-18^th century in icy Canadian waters. Among the artifacts found on her (and we have a book with photos of the lot) they found a toque precisely the same construction as mine. We re-enactors call that “provenance” and it makes my toques valuable to the voyageurs!  Now, in those days most knitting was done on steel “knitting pins” – but a dear friend examined the original and said that he thought it looked like it was done on what we’d call maybe #7 DPNs!  (His wife knits; he knows whereof he’s looking). The voyageurs (being French or Canuck and therefore vain) generally go for “rouge” – I use something between a brick or burgundy or darker red, or something with an orange off-cast. The other favorite is “French bleu”, a sort of grey-blue. [like yours!]

But you’re not bound by Authenticity Hounds and so can use whatever strikes your fancy.

The vacation, part 3: the knitting.

Did I knit while we were on vacation? Why, yes! Yes, I did. Thanks for asking.

You may remember I planned to knit a Noro striped sweater during the month we were gone.

Didn't happen. Never even took that particular knitting bag out of its cubby in the van. Starting that sweater was contingent upon finishing the multicolor striped raglan that I had been working on since February. When we left home, that (top-down) sweater had a yoke, both sleeves, and three or four inches of the body. I kept slogging plugging
knitting on it all during our trip. Here it is today, rather rumpled from having been stuffed into a traveling knitting bag for the month of June and most of July.

It's nearly done, isn't it? Maybe getting it out of its bag and seeing how close I am will inspire me...

I had started a pair of socks as my carry-along knitting before we left, but I was not enjoying them. The Knit Picks Felici sock yarn, while lovely soft and in nice colors, was also loosely plied and therefore splitty. There was progress made on the socks, but it was s-l-o-w.

They are now [finally!] finished, however.

Somehow, even though I knit them on the same number of stitches (60) and the same size needle (US#0) as always, they don't fit well. See how the end of the toes sticks out from the end of my foot? That is because it is too narrow. Such nonsense is probably the result of my not liking the yarn; disgust made me knit tighter.

So.

If I didn't knit the Noro sweater, and I didn't finish the socks, and I worked on but didn't finish the raglan, what DID I knit?

Baby hats for the PIH hospital in Rwanda! At the last minute I threw my baby hat knitting bag (it's where I keep all the yarn that is good for baby hats) into the van. Good thing I did; otherwise I might have had to finish the sweater and socks. As Dale-Harriet once said, Baby hats are like potato chips. You can't do just one.

My soon-to-be-fifth-grade neighbor helped me do the photo shoot.

She was so cute.

Then I showed her my iTouch and the knitting was forgotten.

 

Let's examine those hats in detail, shall we? They are being modeled by my trusty ostrich egg sitting in its base of brass and wart hog tusks. (How fitting for hats that will travel to Africa!)

This first five were all done on a US#3 circ from one skein of Socks That Rock heavyweight, colorway Gay Pride. The striping and pooling are different because the hats are worked on different numbers of stitches, from 56 to 68. Babies come in different sizes, so I figured their heads do, too.

 

I had a few yards of the STR leftover so I combined it with some green Valley Superwash DK for the hat at the left, once again on a US#3 circ.

I decided before I started the hats that I would not put a cuff on any of the wool ones, hoping to stretch this skein of STR to seven or eight hats. Didn't work. .

.

.
.

.

This next group were all knit from Knit Picks Shine Sport in River (blue) and Cherry (red, discontinued) on a US#3 circ.

 

The second photo shows the slanting jog that results from a new-to-me way of changing colors. (The jog looks a lot better in the socks in the link than in my hat; I don't think there is ANY way to make jogless two-row stripes.) The fourth and fifth photos are of a hat I made to experiment with the knit-one-below stitch (more on that in another post).

Next, three hats from Knit Picks Shine Worsted, knitted on a US#5.

Yup, I was using up the last of that particular yarn in the last hat. How can you tell?

The last few.

The first is more KP Shine Sport, this time in Willow and with some one-row stripes of a fuzzy novelty yarn. I got from lisa. The second is Cleckheaton 8-ply County Check superwash wool  worsted (discontinued) left over from knitting mittens a couple years ago. Third is KP Comfy in Honeydew, combined with KP Shine worsted in the fourth. That last hat is my favorite of them all.

And that is what I knit on my summer vacation.

Wyoming!

 We are here.The knitting has commenced.

 

Yarn: Valley Superwash DK (100% superwash merino). Navy, plus stripes (from the top) in maroon (no longer available), teal, biscuit, grass, wild rose, forest, misty lilac, and navy.
Needles: Addi Turbo US#5 (3.75mm) circ.
Size: L
Pattern: Pattern? I don' need no steekin' pattern! Cast on 102 st in navy; join. Purl 6 rounds. Knit 4 rounds. Change to lilac; purl 6 rounds. Knit 4 rounds navy. Purl 6 rounds forest. Continue in color pattern as established, end purl 6 rounds maroon. Knit 1 round navy. Decrease for top in usual manner.

That is a chemo hat for a local Relay for Life later this month. The hats will be judged on originality, craftsmanship, overall appeal, etc. Winner(s) will get gift basket(s) from the LYS that is sponsoring the contest. All hats will go into a silent auction, proceeds to the Relay.

I started this hat in April. Why it took me until June 9th to finish it is a total mystery, but it may be related to my inability to count. I will drop the hat into the mail today and hope that it makes it to Wisconsin by the deadline on the 12th.

* * * * *

Others may vacation with/for the wine, women, and song. I do it with/for the wine, books, and yarn.

 

* * * * *

Observe, the majestic moose:

Frankly, this moose is more mangy than majestic. His coat is scraggly because he is shedding his winter coat, his ribs are showing because the grass is just greening up, and he is (I think) a yearling so is gangly and awkward. But he will be majestic...someday.

Enough with the majestic potential. Now for the cute.

Hey, you lookin' at me?

Never mind. I've got another idea...

 

Mama!

Sunny Saturday.

It was sunny and warm here all week. The temperature even climbed into the 60s (15˚C+) a couple times. Given that the average daily high at this time of year is in the 40s (5˚C+), that is AWESOME.

[digression] Definition of awesome: "Something Americans use to describe everything" [/digression]

Friday was cold, windy, and rainy, but today the sun returned and the usual sunny day activities resumed.

 

There is a tiny bit of open water on our side of the lake.

 

And Matthew's new hat is almost done. Just in time for warm weather...

 

Note: He said the one I gave him for Christmas was a tiny bit short -- didn't completely cover his ears. I think I may have overcompensated on this one.

Sunday. Random.

Claire asked where exactly that mysterious noise was coming from in my office. Here is the suspected area of origin:

There is nothing electronic or alive or capable of making a sound in that pile. Believe me, I have checked. The little black space heater, lower center, is unplugged.

Wait.

::light bulb over The Kat™'s head!!!::

I have an oil-filled heater under my desk.

Perhaps that is what makes the noise? I'd swear the sound is coming from elsewhere in the room, but perhaps... From where I sit the oil-filled heater is at twelve o'clock high; the apparent origin of the sound is at four or five o'clock.

I shall perform some experiments and report back.

* * * * *

Sun! The sun is shining today! Clear blue skies! Hallelujah!

After a week of fog and rain, the sun is very welcome.

 

At left, above, is our bathroom with its solar tube (no window). I know as soon as I open my eyes in the morning whether the sun is shining by how bright it is in the bathroom. This morning it was BLINDING! At right, the view out the solarium window toward the driveway and the woods.

It feels so mild outside one does not need a coat. (The thermometer above is in the shade; it is much warmer in the sun.)

The snow is nearly gone from our front yard.

 

The lake is still iced over, but not for long. No vehicles on it since last Sunday. Behold: rotten ice.

 

Spring fever hit Lucy today. She got away from Smokey and went for a runaround. You may not be able to tell, but her paws are wet and muddy.

...and there is a big doggy smile on her face.

* * * * *

When I set my watch forward today I set it to the second using www.time.gov.

I used to put this site up on my monitor every morning when the boys were getting ready for school. (At that time the page had a cleaner appearance, without all that text in the lower half, and the numerals were larger. The text is all about the change to Daylight Savings Time today, so tomorrow the page may go back to looking like I remember it.) The monitor was in the dining/living room and the boys could see it. I found it helped them remember to keep moving and lessened the need for motherly reminders to Hurry up! It's almost time to leave for school!

And that is my parenting tip for the year.

* * * * *

When Matthew was here a few weeks back I asked him if he had lost the hat I knit him for Christmas (STR Raven Clan, "Corbie") yet, knowing that he probably had. I was right. He was sad about the loss and told me of his efforts to find the hat. I know my boy; he has many good qualities, but keeping track of things -- even important possessions -- is often beyond his ability, so I didn't berate him for losing it.

We picked out more STR for a replacement, and it arrived on Friday.

 

Given the current weather situation he may not need this until next winter, but I am taking time off from the multicolored striped raglan to knit the hat. In my own experience, it is easier to lose a black thing than an almost-white thing; he may be able to hold onto this one longer.

Saturday sky.

This frigid image brought to you in consideration of the fact that you may be as bummed as I am by Cookie's and Squish's images of warmth and sunlight and buddin' and bloomin' trees.

The above is the first ice fisherman I have seen on our lake this winter. Usually there are several every weekend, some of whom leave their fish houses on the ice for weeks at a time. Weird, that lack of fisherman/houses. Maybe the fish have migrated to Lake Wapogasset, twenty or so miles closer to the equator.

One more photo to empathize with those of you who also are still suffering through the throes of Endless Winter. My deck, the snow carefully decorated by doggy pawprints:

* * * * *

I made the ball of yarn at left into the chemo hat at right. Hat has been mailed to the requester in hopes that it will complement the efficacy of modern medicine. Damn cancer.

* * * * *

The multicolor striped raglan progresses.

Yes, that is the same pink yarn in the current stripe as in the previous hat. I was, er, over-generous when I ordered the yarn for the stripes.

The Incredible Custom-Fit Raglan pattern is knit neck down. The knitter measures her neck and, using that measurement multiplied by her gauge, figures out how many stitches to cast on. After the neck shaping, the pattern says to increase 8 stitches every other row, two at each raglan seam, as is usual in raglan patterns.

Implicit in this instruction is the assumption that the wearer's body is in perfect proportion to her neck. Ahem.

You can see where this might pose a problem for those of us who: 1, are Amply Endowed, and B, have added more than a few too many pounds over the years. I was knitting away happily according to the stated instructions -- had, in fact, reached the end of the second colored stripe -- when this realization hit me.

Recalculate the rate of increase to allow for my different proportions.

Oops.

Frog back to beginning of first stripe and reknit.

At roughly that same point in the stripe pattern it occurred to me that perhaps my arms, and hence, sleeves, might not follow the exact same formula as The Girls.

Recalculate. Yup. Need a slightly different rate of increase on the sleeve side of the raglan seam.

Frog back to the beginning of first stripe and reknit.

I think I have it right now. (Surely hope so.) The good thing is that both yarns seem to accept frogging and reknitting quite well. The steel blue Phildar is particularly indestructible. It is also a bit scratchy, indestructibility and scratchiness seeming to go hand in hand. The merino in the colored stripes is soft and smooth, and I am hoping that there is enough of that surface in the finished sweater that I don't itch to death in it.

For the curious, the rate of increase for my body is 4 stitches in 6 out of every 10 rows. I made myself a little chart to help me remember that:

The rate of increase for the sleeves is 4 stitches every other row, so I am doing the increases on all even-numbered rows.

As long as I don't lose the row counter -- hanging from the needle in the first photo -- I should be golden.

Random Friday.

I found myself thinking in bullet points on Thursday afternoon, which led me to this post. Of course, once I started typing, the individual bullet points got longer. As #1 Son says of himself, I can't even say hello in 25 words.

* * * * *

Remember this delightful carved wooden shawl pin that I am using to close my kimono sweater?

 

As I was putting the pin into place yesterday, I suddenly realized that the corkscrew-shaped end would enable me to screw in the pin, thusly:

 

...which means the pin Stays.In.Place. That was a bit of a problem the first few times I wore the sweater.

Damn, I'm good...

* * * * *

(Oops. I seem to have forgotten the other bullet points. Hmmm...)

* * * * *

(Oh, yeah.)

* * * * *

Smokey and I are going to enjoy a free night at the local casino hotel on Thursday night, which is TONIGHT as I type this but will be LAST NIGHT as you read it. Got that? Not that it matters.

I have three four small knitting projects that I will bring to work on tonight/last night while The Bear is happily dropping his quarters into the slots.

1. Second pair of colorful socks.                                   B. Chemo hat.
 

iii. Second cuff.                                                              IV. Medical mittens. (IV = medical, get it?)
 

1. Coming along nicely. These are my fall-back knitting right now; completely mindless and satisfying. ETA: just tried on the first foot -- it fits perfectly! Unlike the first pair of colorful socks, both of which turned out to be about 1/2" too long despite my careful plotting.

B. By request for an internet friend for her friend who is going through cancer treatment for the third time but the first time with chemo. Friend, very dignified, is more worried about losing her hair than the cancer. Chemo hat to the rescue!

iii. You haven't seen these. I have a 10-year-old fleece gray and white pullover that I love, but the cheap white knit acrylic cuffs are falling apart. These replacements will give the pullover a new lease on life.

IV. Yeah, these were supposed to be for Christmas for #1 Son. But when he told me he no longer has time to go running and hence has no particular need for them, I sort of lost interest. Then I got to a slightly more difficult part of the pattern and had screwed it up and was going to have to tink back a couple rows and needed to reprint the pattern but my toner cartridge was empty and I didn't have another and beside the dog ate my homework and the cat threw up on it. New toner cartridge now installed, pattern reprinted, and it's time to finish these suckers. Plus they are occupying my #0 and #1 circs, which I might need again someday.

I predict that numbers B. and iii. will be done by the time I come home tomorrow/today, the socks will have grown a bit, and the mittens will still languish.

Digression: I tweaked the color in the photos to correct the yarn color. Notice how different the color of the chair pad is in the different photos. Also: the blue in the socks and the mittens is NOT the semi-fluorescent blue it appears to be in the photos. I Could Not Make The Blue Behave.

* * * * *

If you are unable to shower, say, if you are camping in a place without showers or are running very very late for an appointment, acne pads -- the ones with salicylic acid -- work pretty well to swab out the stinky bits. We keep the generic ones from Wal Mart on hand; they have 7% sal acid, which is pretty strong.

You're welcome ;^)

* * * * *

I had another run-in with Da Yeep last Friday. Smokey had used it the day before to plow three driveways, charging around in 4WD. When I drove -- very carefully -- to the next little town and back, the brace holding up the plow lost its hold-it-together thingie (technical term) and the plow dropped to the road surface. If I had tried to drive it like that I would have broken the plow. Smokey was in Minneapolis, his cell phone was off, and his other phone (internet phone) was not set up to ring in the room where he was sleeping after his double shift. I did get hold of Lennie The Wonder Mechanic, who sent one of his guys with a wrecker to lift the plow blade and chain it up so I could get the vehicle home.

Smokey drives Da Yeep with reckless abandon, even as far as to Minneapolis and back, and never has a problem. I drive it five miles and end up stranded or some such. I'm cursed, I tell ya...

* * * * *

Have you seen these socks, just added to the latest issue of knitty.com? I was completely smitten at first sight. Even though I generally prefer mindless knitting, these might just be worth the effort. As soon as I finish the second pair of colorful socks and free up the #0 and #1 needles from the medical mittens, I plan to make these. Stay tuned. There are sure to be some, er, colorful metaphors flying around.

Heads. And helicopters.

Three warm, post-Christmas heads.

Matthew's hat:
Yarn: Socks That Rock mediumweight, Raven Clan Corbie, ~209 yds (about half a skein).
Needle: Addi Turbo US#2 (2.25mm)
Pattern: Generic hat with six lines of decreases, 1" knitted-in hem, 108 st

Knitting something as a surprise for Matthew was a bit of a gamble -- he is VERY particular about what he wears. But I thought the Raven Clan yarn might fit his style, and apparently it did; Maggie said he has worn it every day. Score!

Maggie's Calorimetry:
Yarn: Socks That Rock heavyweight, Hot Flash, ~90 yds (about a quarter of a skein). Cast-on plus one row and bind-off plus one row, Socks That Rock heavyweight, Ruby Slippers.
Needle: Addi Turbo US#4.
Pattern: Calorimetry, 102 st.

She wore it (and the matching socks) all weekend. Score!

Andrew's hat:
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersocke, Moody Blues, a bit more than 1/2 skein
Needle: unknown 2.00mm
Pattern: Clamber by Laura Wilson-Martos, v.1.0. I had to add four or five extra cable repeats to make the hat long enough to cover his ears; he has a very large head. This is a very nice pattern for a cabled hat, clearly written and easy to knit and to modify.

Andrew is never cold, especially since he left Wisconsin to go to school in NYC. (According to him, it never actually gets cold there.) I knew making him a hat was a gamble but Darn it, I'm a knitter! I have to knit for my family! So I took the chance. He will probably wear it whenever the temperature in NYC is <20˚F. How often is that? Oh, well, I enjoyed knitting it.

* * * * *

Matthew bought himself a Christmas present, a remote control helicopter.

 

 

 

See the little red things underneath the front fusilage? Missiles... which gave me the opportunity to say:

You'll put an eye out!

2009: That was the year that was.

January.

Well, there was this (bad).

And there was this (good) (from left, Wendy, me, Chris, and Susan).

On the knitting front:


 

February.

Good intentions.

 

Snow and cold.

Knitting:

March.

Winter melted away.

Knitting.

April.

Spring arrived in earnest.

Yarnover.

End of tax season.

Taste of St. Croix.
 

Knitting resumed after tax season.

 

May.

I scored big at Macy's sale racks, I helped Norm go away, I celebrated Mother's Day in an eco-friendly way, the bears and the ticks came out of hibernation, I picked up trash, I enjoyed the Memorial Day weekend, I bid farewell to our local librarian, and Hannibal discovered the joys of catnip.

Knitting was primarily of a stealth nature, but did include scientific swatching and the F'ing of a couple of O's that had been OTN for nearly, and over a year, respectively. (I am rather proud of that sentence -- and its punctuation -- awkward though it may be.)

 

June

June was for knitting and vacation and celebrating that brief magical time that is summer in the north woods.

 

 

Lots of knitting.

 

 

July.

July was for more vacation -- the rest of the one in Wyoming and another on the North Shore.

And summer.
 

And injuries.
 

And knitting.

 

August.

It was a very good month. I turned 60, had a contest, and laughed. We went to a concert.
 

I learned the difference between eagles and turkey vultures, and I had surgery to remove some extra/unneeded bits and pieces and repair that torn cartilage in my knee.
 

Knitknitknit.

 

September.

In September I had lots of cats on the blog, it was my turn to give the prayer at the beginning of the monthly county board meeting, the county budget process blew up, and the most gloriously gorgeous month of the year was here.

 

The knitting, she continued.

 

October.

I became a biker by proxy,

more new-to-me music found its way into my iTunes, and we celebrated 35 years together

by not-camping on Lake Superior.

The kneedles continued to fly.
 
 

November.

The van that took us on some wonderful vacations met up with an unfortunate bear on the road and was replaced by an older but bigger and more customized van.

Cold weather arrived, and once more I cooked and baked.

 

Mostly, though, I knitted.




Apparently I can crank out hats like other knitters crank out... sweaters

December.

I continued to be thankful (there is a lot to be thankful for).

With the help of Matthew and Maggie, I decorated for Christmas. This decorating thing is never a given.

I showed you my ornaments, y'all showed me yours.

 

We ate well.
 

A bit more knitting* for others.

I pretty much finished my Christmas knitting. (Shhh, the Calorimetry is a surprise.)


The medical mittens are still OTN -- stay tuned.

*For someone who doesn't like pink, I sure knit a lot of it lately...

A wee bit of knitting.

A second chemo cap for my sister-in-law. It went into the mailbox earlier this week.

Yarn: Rowan Calmer, a bit less than one skein.
Needles: Addi Turbo US#6.
Pattern: Cast on 90 st, do a picot knitted-in .75" hem, work even for 5.75", decrease 6 st evenly every other round for a while, then decrease 6 st evenly around every round until there are 6 st left. Break yarn and draw through remaining st.

Cuffs for #1 son's mittens:

These are Cascade Heritage sock yarn, color 5604, 1x1 rib on US#0, 76 st.

I got the charts and instructions for the caduceus today from Colleen, the designer, plus photos of the actual thing.

It.Is.Teh.Awesome.

It occurred to me that I could tell #1 son I am knitting his mittens but not tell him about the caduceus and DNA designs. So I did and got hand measurements from him. Oh, the relief! His hand circumference is 8", exactly what I guessed after measuring my own hand at 7" around. This means that the mittens I am knitting should fit perfectly; I am planning on 1" of positive ease at the knuckles, mittens needing to have a bit of air space for insulation. The cuffs are just the tiniest bit too big for my 7" wrists, so should be perfect for his 8" ones.

The reason I knit both cuffs is because I reached the end of the first cuff at about 10 pm one night earlier this week. I didn't want to quit knitting but I knew it would be pure folly to start a new-to-me and potentially complicated design that late in the day. I knit one round of stockinette on the first mitten, using a US#1 needles and thereby freeing up the US#0 for the second cuff. I reached the end of the second cuff at about that same time of day later in the week, once again knowing enough not to start the design when my brain was not sharp.

Instead, I cast on for a baby hat for Rwanda.

 

The teal -- which is more saturated in real life -- is Knit Picks Main Line in Harbor. Main Line may be discontinued; I don't see it on their website any more. It is worsted weight, 75/25 cotton/merino blend. Of course it is discontinued -- after knitting with it for a bit I decided it was perfect for a February Lady sweater. Damn. The colorful yarn is a bonus that knitnzu threw into the package when I won her contest last spring. It is perfect for this project, having exactly the same color of deep teal as the main color.

And now it is time to attack the mittens for realz. Do I do the DNA helix or the caduceus first? Decisions, decisions...