kmkat and her kneedles

Knitting! (5)

While I was knitting that Montego Bay silk scarf I found myself experiencing an almost visceral urge to knit socks. Fingering weight yarn! Tiny needles! I wantwantwant! However, I mananged to keep that feeling in check until the scarf was f-i-n-a-l-l-y finished.

Definition of a scarf: a knitted object four to twelve inches wide and only as long as the knitter can maintain sanity.

Ta da!

Yarn: Lang fingering weight 80/20 wool/nylon. Most of a skein of Oxford gray (83.0003) and about half a skein of ruby red, plus about one-and-a-half spools of the gray nylon reinforcing thread that came tucked into the center of the gray skein. The heels and toes are the red fingering weight yarn with the gray reinforcing thread; the feet are the gray yarn; and the legs are both the gray and the red yarn.
Needles: Addi Turbo US#0 circ (foot and first four rows of the stripe pattern); an anonymous bamboo US#1.5 circ that I bought in a lot on eBay (legs).
Pattern: Toe up using Wendy's Generic Toe-Up Sock Pattern until the round before the stripes start; then a modification of the sock pattern in Knit One Below by Elise Duvekot. Her socks were knit top-down; I prefer toe-up. Details of my mods are on my Rav page.

The gauge of the knit-one-below stitch is significantly bigger than stockinette. I did some judicious decreases (trial and error, three times) to get the ankle big enought to be easy to put on but not so big as to sag, plus I used a larger needle on the leg as I always do. If you look carefully you can also see the errors in the initial rows of the pattern. I wanted to plan my stitches so that I didn't have to do the knit-one-below into a stitch that had been a decrease in the previous round and apparently that was a bit more than my brain could stand. (Note to self: If I had used pencil and paper to plot it out it would have been a lot easier.) But once I had knit two or three rows of the pattern stitch I balked at ripping it out to fix it.

You may wonder at my choice of colors that are, to put it charitably, less than exciting. Well, I have a pair of socks purchased many years ago that are light gray with red toes and heels and a stripe/ribbed pattern on the legs. For some unknown reason I have always loved them. Now they are wearing out and I wanted to replace them. When I dug into my stash of solid sock yarn I had only one skein of light gray and I didn't think that would be enough. Wrong again.

 

Knitting! (4)

Fourth: silk Montego Bay scarf.

 

Yarn: Alchemy Silk Purse, 2 skeins. DK, 100% silk single ply.
Needle: KnitPicks US#8 circ.
Pattern: Montego Bay by Amy Singer.

I originally announced that this yarn -- also souvenir yarn purchased at Knitty City last year -- was going to be a trianglular shawlette, but further thought led me to the conclusion that I would get more use from a long rectangular scarf. Several years ago I made a Montego Bay scarf that nearly drove me crazy; I simply could not keep track of the (2-stitch, 2-row!) pattern. But I wanted to conquer that pattern. I needed to conquer that pattern. And I did; this quickly became mindless knitting, so mindless that I could work on it in the evening after working on tax returns for nine or ten hours.

Have worn it multiple times, love it.

Knitting! (3)

Third: a Moebius cowl from a class on same at Yarnover, taught by the totally delightful Silvia Harding. Yummy yarn; too bad I now find the color rather insipid.

Hannibal is not sure about this. Not sure at all.

Pattern: Moebius cowl. The exact pattern is not given at the link but is simply 4 rounds of knit and 4 rounds of purl repeated until the cowl is tall enough. The whole key to making a Moebius is in the cast on, which Cat Bordi demonstrates at the link.
Needles: I think I used a US#4 circ. Either that or a #5.
Yarn: Karabella Magrite, a sport weight 80/20 superfine merino/cashmere blend. It is sooo soft and perfect for next to the skin. I bought four skeins of it in Cara's destash five or six years ago. I think I may use a couple of my skeins to make another cowl, bigger and taller.

I gave the FO to Elder Son's landlady in Duluth, a family practice resident who provided him, and a number of other med students over the years, with a lovely place to live. Smokey delivered it when he traded cars with Son, and he said she was suitably surprised and pleased.

 

 

Knitting!

I started this post with the intention of showing you everything that I had knit since the last time I blogged an FO. Then it occurred to me that each piece deserved its own post; also, that that method would relieve my conscience about not posting more often.

All that unblogged knitting is about to hit the innernets.

First up: I finished this last June.* Two skeins of souvenir Koigu purchased Knitty City last May.

Love it, have worn it multiple times.

Yarn: Koigu KPPPM, 2 skeins, color 720. This colorway has enough colors in it that it can be worn with nearly anything. Except white or beige; then one or the other looks dirty.
Pattern: Baktus.
Needles: US#4 circ.
Mods: None. The pattern is perfect. 

I never bothered to block this, so it is a tiny bit short although still perfectly wearable. Someday...

* Yes, nearly a year ago. ::hangs head in blogger shame::

Ten Twelve on Tuesday, the to-do edition.

Spring in the Upper Midwest tends to occur one afternoon in May, after which we go directly into summer. The natal season seems to be lasting a bit longer this year but I don't want to take chances. I have altered the time frame a bit.

Ten Twelve Things On My 'Do By The Fourth Of July' List

1. Finish the Big Herringbone Cowl (I haven't blogged about his yet) for Alex.
2. Knit her cabled stockings as requested. I already have the yarn and the pattern.
3. Start DNA scarf for Elder Son. I have the yarn but may need to revamp the pattern a bit.
4. Clean porch so we can eat dinner there every night.
5. Knit another Moebius cowl before I forget how to do it. The first one (not blogged yet) took roughly a day; the second will take longer because I want to make it bigger.
6. Soak some yarn I bought several years ago to see if the dye runs; if not, cast on for the sweater that is in my head. (Also, write the pattern for said sweater. It is based on a scarf/shawl pattern but obviously needs some tweaking to become a sweater.) If the dye leaks, either figure out how to set the dye or figure out a different use for the yarn.
7. Finish Tappan Zee sweater.
8. Clean the entryway.
9. Clear at least half the crappe from my desk.
10. Finish the Noro striped scarf (also unblogged) I started for myself.
11. Do our 2011 taxes.
12. Cast on for another sweater in my head using the 20 balls of Noro Silk Garden I bought for it in, er, April, 2010.

 

 

Yarn bombing!

  

Younger Son and I were on our way to dinner one night last week when we spotted this.
Happily, his cell phone has an 8MP camera, and he was able to capture what we saw.

  

Thanks to City of Lakes Waldorf School, 2364 Nicollet Ave, for providing blog fodder!

Knitting book destash.

When I started to straighten the bedroom this morning, I discovered the reason my knitting books are topsy-turvy: I have too many to fit on the shelf. 

Time to destash the knitting books.

All are in like-new condition and are linked to their Amazon page. Where there are two links, the second is to the publisher's page because Amazon did not have a picture of the cover.

Confessions of a Knitting Heretic : Tips, Techniques, Projects & Reflections by an Unorthodox Hand Knit Designer & Teacher / Annie Modesitt. $14 + media rate postage.

Domino Knitting / Vivian Høxbro. $14 + media rate postage.

Handknit Holidays ; Knitting Year-Round for Christmas, Hannukkah, and Winter-Solstice / Melanie Fralick. $15 + media rate postage.

Handknitter's Handbook / Montse Stanley (note: my copy is probably 20 years old, bought used on eBay; it lacks a dust cover but is in very good condition otherwise except for slight yellowing of the pages). $10 + media rate postage.

Knitting for Peace : Making the World a Better Place One Stitch at a Time / Betty Christiansen. $10 + media rate postage.

Knitting Vintage Socks : New Twists on Classic Patterns / Nancy Bush. $18 + media rate postage.

Mary Thomas's Knitting Book / Mary Thomas. $9 + media rate postage.

Modular Knits : New Techniques for Today's Knitters / Iris Schreier. $15 + media rate postage.

Stitch 'n Bitch : The Knitter's Handbook / Debbie Stoller. $11 + media rate postage.

Vintage Modern Knits : Contemporary Designs Using Classic Techniques / Courtney Kelley & Kate Gagnon Osborn. $20 + media rate postage.

Like I did last time, I set my prices based on cover price vs. Amazon's price. In almost every instance, what you pay over Amazon's price is more than enough to pay for media rate shipping. 

Media rates for smaller packages is at right.  To give you an idea, the heaviest book is the Montse Stanley, which tips the scales at 2 lb 4 oz. Domino Knitting is the lightest at 6 ounces.

PayPal or personal check accepted; if the latter, no shipping until payment clears. Email me if you are interested; click on "About" at upper right and hover over "Email me" to see my addy. 

 

WIP Wednesday Thursday.

Not the only thing on the needles by any means, nor necessarily the most interesting, but the one that I had a photo of. If there is interest I will write up the pattern (but only for those of us with size 8.5 narrowish feet).

Monday night bullets.

I have lots of little things to share. Tragically, many of them require photos, which I cannot upload because my camera cable is 75 miles away. Bullets will have to do.

• I have been back in Minneapolis at the salt mines* accounting job for four weeks now, which accounts for the shocking lack of real posts. 
   
• This situation will continue until some days after April 17. 
   
• Deal with it.
  
  
• My knitting has slumped to the purely mindless, a 31-stitch-wide Montego Bay scarf.
   
• That pattern gave me fits the first time I made it, but now it is just mindless enough. Really, how hard can a 2-stitch pattern be?
   
• Don't answer that.
   
• The yarn is the Alchemy Silk Purse that I thought was destined for something else.
   
• I realized since I wrote that post that I would get a lot more use out of a long skinny scarf than a triangular shawlette.
   
• Silk yarn is lovely to knit.
   
• Silk yarn is easily damaged by careless frogging or tinking.
   
• I don't care.
   
• Much.
   
• I have a nearly visceral urge to cast on some socks.
  
  
• Not gonna happen, though. I have forbidden myself to touch sock yarn until I finish this scarf.
   
• At the rate I am going that will take until sometime after April 17.
   
• Work is getting really busy. A week ago on Friday afternoon I ran out of work, so I put out an email to the managers I work for, alerting them to my availability.
   
• Guess what. I got more work.
   
• So much that I worked all this past weekend.
   
• And had to take off most of today because I had worked myself into a migraine.
   
• Silly kats never learn.
   
• The drain pipe between this house and the city sewer was blocked on Saturday.
   
• Ewww.
   
• Smokey and I spent Sunday evening roto-rootering it out.
   
• More ewww.
   
• It works now.
   
• :-)
   
• The house still smells.
   
• :-(
   
• The weather is nearly warm enough here for open windows.
   
• :-)
   
• Nearly.
   
• :-(
   
• On Sunday the only snow I could see in the city was a few scraps in places where 1, it had been piled up, and b, it was in the shade.
   
• Today even those had melted.
   
• :-)
   
• Nice weather is nice.
   
• Not for the farmers, though; we went into the winter in a drought condition and got only a fraction of the normal snowfall.
   
• Watch for food prices to rise.
   
• You heard it here first.

 Okay, enough for tonight. Morning always comes earlier than it should, imho.

* This is a joke and not at all fair to the job. I like what I do, my employer is one of the best, and, last but not least, they pay me almost as much as I think I am worth ;-) 

 

Daybreak does not always come as scheduled.

Once I finished knitting the sweater for Ser Percival The Energetic and the sweater for Melissa's baby and and the Calorimetry for Jocelyn and fingerless mitts and hat and scarf for Alex and the hat for Matthew, I can finally get back to knitting for me me Me! (Never mind that Noro hat I made for myself last month.)

The project for me was Stephen West's Daybreak (photo cheerfully snatched from Ravelry), which had been long in the planning stages.

The pattern was well-written and nearly mindless -- as always, my favorite kind of knitting. I was closing in on the last section when I noticed something.

Can you see it? Probably not. Let's take another look.

Still no? 

A hint -- let me give you it.

The increases should all have been done to the right of that line of slipped stitches. Apparently I got a little confused as to which side of that particular column was right and which was left, resulting in a wonky column of slipped stitches.

Having had some recent success in dropping back and fixing things, I decided to attempt that here. After all, if others can drop back and fix a miscrossed cable, surely I ought to be able to fix a few misplaced increases, right? Right.

The dropping back part was easy, as was fixing the slipped stitches.

The rest was not difficult, but it looked like crap.

This is fingering weight yarn on US#4 needles. Had it been on #1s or #2s I might have been able to make it look okay, but the loose gauge -- necessary to make the scarf drape nicely -- was impossible for me to duplicate neatly with a crochet hook. Would blocking have fixed it? Maybe, but I didn't want to take a chance.

I frogged back to the little brass safety pin and reknit that 4 inches. And gave a sigh of relief.

Here is how it looks today:

A bit later, still sopping wet.

Blocking (please to admire the nice straight columns of slipped stitches):

Someday, a modeled shot...

Kill Bill arrives!

I finished knitting Alex's Kill Bill scarf. (If you are reading this, Alex -- here it is!)

Yarn: Sweet Georgia Tough Love sock yarn, "Kill Bill" colorway (no longer available
Pattern: Cinnamon Grace
Needles: Signature US#3 circ

The pattern was well-written, the knitting was nearly mindless (my favorite kind), the yarn was pleasant, the Signature needle was a dream. All in all, a successful project.

The pattern has the knitter make a slipstitch along the straight edge. Early in the knitting I had trouble keeping track in my mind as to which edge that was, so that straight edge -- the one that does not get a ruffle -- was not as neat it should have been.

The bits sticking out are stitches where I did... something other than what I should have done.

So I got brave and dropped down that edge stitch.

I didn't do it recklessly; first I experimented dropping down just a few rows. When I found it was easy to pick up that edge stitch again, I got braver and dropped down farther (above)

Behold, a neat slip-stitch edge!

Fixing something right at the edge of knitting has always intimidated me. I feel more confident now. 

Great customer service should be shouted to the rooftops.

I have mentioned before how much I love my Signature circs. The points are perfect, the needle tips are smaller than many and thus fit my smallish hands perfectly, and the cables are incredibly flexible.

But not indestructible.

When the cable broke I immediately went to the Signature website to see if the needles had a lifetime guarantee. Nope, only a 21-day return policy if a needle appeared to be defective. Still, in my mind a $40 needle ought to have some sort of guarantee, so I emailed the company and got this response:

 Kathryn

Thank you for contacting us.  I have attached a prepaid shipping label for the return of the defective needle.  Please fill out the attached form and include the RMA# in your package.  You do not need to fill out the payment information as there is no charge associated with this.  Thank you for your continued support of our product and  I apologize for any inconvenience.  

Thank you

 V*** C***

Excellent!

I wrote back:

Thank you! I will mail the needle back tomorrow.

I have defended the high price of Signature needles on my blog, saying that they are made in the US, probably by union labor, so their manufacturing cost is higher than those made in China or Bangladesh or some other third world country. Was I correct? In any case, I will also blog about your excellent customer service.

Signature needles are worth every penny :-)

Thanks again,
k

 

What was even better was the email I received this morning from Cathryn Bothe, the president of the company (reprinted here with her permission):

Good morning,

I see all the emails and wanted to personally answer yours.

Signature is the “child” of our 62 year old US manufacturing company. Bothe Associates Inc (www.bothe.com) has been making high tolerance metal products since 1950.

When Signature was starting up we bought samples of many of the cheap “box store” needles and were beyond shocked to see their tolerances were horrible, that is, if you thought you were getting a US 7 needle which is a 4.500 mm size you could be off by a large amount. There were even differences from one in a pair to the 2^nd. Then we cut them open to see what metal was being used. That, too, was a real surprise.

We know what the cross section of a bar of aluminum should look like but what we saw was astonishing. We think they threw many scraps of various alloys into a furnace and came up with a mess but one that could be covered with the anodizing. We even found one that was sort of powdery. I had them stop working with that and put the pieces in a Hazmat bag.

We also know that only 1/3 of the zillions of Chinese have good drinking water. Some of that is because they just throw any excess or used chemicals literally, in some cases, out the back door. We have had people here who have traveled to the big manufacturing centers in China who say the air is so bad it looks like heavy fog.

And then..there are the workers: Being a student of history I know that many mill towns in the East in the 1800’s employed young women who came from their poor rural families with the hope of earning hard cash but were exploited along with children.  You don’t have to read much to see that is exactly what is happening in China.  Even worse is that the “low cost” manufacturers are moving to India or Thailand where they can get even cheaper labor!

Here at Signature we pay US wages and healthcare and unemployment taxes. We provide a clean, well lit, air conditioned factory. I know every person and for many a lot about their families. We even found someone to sew our bags in Milwaukee.

Our processes are controlled by OSHA and EPA. Any water that leaves the plant where the anodizing is done must be cleaner than when it came in the building. We go so far as to collect any “drippings” of coolant and oil (needed for machining metals) from the chips that are made. We then send the barrel when filled for proper disposition (at a cost of almost $1000.00) but we don’t let it soak into the ground. Actually we have the chip hoppers inside and should they have even a pin prick leak we have grates on the floor that collect the drips and pump into that barrel.

Every single needle is hand polished on the point. I know the people who do it and would [not] allow any scrimping. I

I am proud to say that our products are made here. Yes they certainly do cost more but we are making steady, secure jobs for the families of those that work here. I know that the company could make more money if the needles were made abroad but I won’t do it. They know I mean it when I say that I will go out of business before I go to China.

I know it seems like I am rambling but I wanted you to know a bit more of the background.

Cathryn Bothe

President
Signature Needle Arts
6901-46th St.  Kenosha,WI 53144
Ph: 888.656.1113   Fax: 262.656.1858
www.signatureneedlearts.com

 

In this world of often shoddy workmanship and indifferent customer service and help lines staffed by (admittedly hard-working) people who perhaps cannot speak English as well as one might hope, I cannot let this incident go unrecognized. I love a bargain as much as the next person, but products manufactured in such a way as to degrade the earth and abuse its people are not bargains.*

I salute this company, its products, and its people.

Now, to put my money where my mouth is, I shall offer an incentive to y'all. Mention this incident on your own blog and provide a link both to this post and to the Signature site and I will put your name into a hat. Winner will receive the skein of Twisted fingering weight that I got in my mailbox a few days ago. If you have ever attempted to buy Twisted yarn, you know what a sacrifice this is :-)

You can see it on the Twisted site here -- scroll down to Netherfield Self-Striping Yarn. The colors in my photo are more accurate, on my monitor at least.

Deadline is, oh, um, let's see, Sunday, February 11, midnight CST. Blog away, people, and think about buying some Signature needles!

(You might say that this contest is a bit self-serving, in that it will draw people to my blog. To that I say,  And your point is...?)

* I did a tiny bit of research. Knitters Review says that Addi needles are made in Germany, Knit Picks are made in India, Crystal Palace in Japan, and Lantern Moon in Vietnam. Hya Hya needles are made in China. Presumably the inexpensive needles found at Wal-Mart and Michael's and Joanne's are the ones Ms. Bothe refers to in her letter and are probably made in China, as well.

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.

I made another thing(s).

Yarn: Knit Picks Andean Silk (worsted weight, 55/22/23 alpaca/silk/merino; discontinued), color Allspice.
Pattern: Vancouver Fog. 
Needles: US#7.

That is Alex's lovely hand above. I made these for her from the same yarn I used for her hat and cowl last winter. Great pattern, fast to knit*, impressive result. I have plans to make myself a pair from the same yarn in my stash but in blue. These are the BEST fingerless mitts I have ever knit -- I loved making them and I will love wearing mine.

* "Fast to knit", assuming the knitters does not miscross cables -- and who among us has NOT miscrossed a cable or three? -- or lose her place in the pattern. I ended up rewriting the pattern to demarcate the cable panel from the stockinette portion, after which I did not lose my place again.

I knitted a thing.

Another blog I read regularly is written by Jocelyn, a college English instructor in Duluth. Her writing is wonderful -- entertaining and thoughtful and funny. She mentioned recently that she has had to wear a scarf in the house to stay warm. For some unknown reason I pictured her in a babushka -- don't judge me -- and promptly volunteered to knit her something to help the cause of indoor warmth (and to show my appreciation for all the hours I have enjoyed her blog). As I was weaving in the ends last week I realized that she had probably been talking about a muffler-type scarf. Duh. 

But I made her a Calorimetry, which Smokey and Andrew delivered to her on Thursday when they went on a scouting trip to Duluth. Andrew will do a one-month family practic rotation in April at a hospital and clinic associated with the University of Minnesota - Duluth, and he wanted to go check out housing, see the medical facilities, and tour the city.

A sudden attack of camnesia prevented me from taking a picture of the Cal before I sent it off, but Jocelyn blogged it today with awesome photos. Which I stole present here.

Yarn: Noro Silk Garden; #252? #270? Ball band = gone. I fiddled with the yarn, pulling out several yards of black-ish so as to have more blue and green and to make the color repeat more-or-less symmetric.  
Pattern: Calorimetry. Jocelyn measured her head for me -- 23-1/4" -- and I cast on 96 st.
Needles: US#7. Or maybe #6. Memory fails.

2011: a year in knitting.

January.

A Simple Things shawlette/scarf from two skeins of Koigu for Jen, our now-former librarian. In September she moved to La Crosse, where she manages the circulation desk at the central library.

Finished off a long-standing UFO with attached i-cord and an i-cord bindoff. That i-cord thing had kept it in UFO status since 2005; I finally found some better directions and conquered it. I gave the felted bag to Alex and Matthew as a market bag, since the red coat I had selected the colors to coordinate with was ancient history by the time I finished it.

Finished another major project that had been OTN for nearly a year. Triumph!

.

February.

There was a plethora of were eight hats that went to senators and representatives in Washington for Warm Hats, Not Hot Heads.

 

Two pairs of felted slippers for a friend's birthday. The pattern as written did not turn as well as it might have; that is why the second pair. It was NOT the Fiber Trend pattern for felted clogs, but it should have been; that pattern is a well-written classic.

Made two headbands in Malabrigo worsted for Alex: two for same reason as above, although this was my own design. This was my first experience with Malabrigo. Nice stuff.

.

March.

March = taxes = working. A lot of working, not so much with the knitting.

Worked on a Citron of Misti Alpaca Hand Paint sock yarn for our assistant librarian.

.

April.

No knitting on my blog in April. None, zero, zip, zilch. Apparently I was too brain-dead from taxes to do any real knitting, so I swatched several wool-cotton blends for possible future sweaters. The swatches made it to the blog in early May.

  

 

After I had recovered (most of) my brain cells, I cast on for my first lace project, Haruni, for Alex using Dream in Color laceweight and my new Signature US#4 needle.

.

May.

Finished the pair of socks that I had cast in back in February, right before I went back to work (left), and made another pair (right).

 

There was also a water bottle cozy that, while stunningly* and awesomely** attractive, did not insulate as well as I had hoped.

 

  * Irony.

** More irony.

 

.

June.

The Citron was finished, thanks to a second skein of yarn provided by a new friend I have never met.

Prepared for packing Lucy The Wonder Dog's meds when we went on vacation.

.

July.

Vacation, and the Haruni knitting continued. I learned the inestimable value of life lines, pattern tape, row counters, careful chart reading, and an abundance of stitch markers.

Worked on two scarves for The Red Scarf Project.

 

.

August.

Knit a whack of squares for Trailing Yarn's Blankets for Birmingham, but only these made it onto the blog in August. ***

Finished the two red scarves, which still languish -- unblocked, unloved, and unmailed -- on my laundry room table.

We spent a week on the North Shore, and I cast on for a Tappan Zee for myself.

Crocheted a case for my new Nook.

Most significantly, I began the bindoff of the Haruni.

,

September. 

Back at work in September. The blog and my knitting suffered.

Kept working on my Tappan Zee, which suffered more frogging and reknitting than any garment should. But the yarn -- Brooks Farm Acero -- came through like a trooper.

Found a couple dropped stitches in the Haruni bindoff. Sewed them down.

The shawl hit the big-time, being displayed at a one-day yarny festival nearby.

.

October & November.

Knitted constantly during these two months, although you would never have guessed from reading my blog. 

Started a sweater for Ser Percival The Energetic.

Started a scarf for Alex. Frogged it when it wasn't working (bad design, not bad knitting) and I couldn't see any way to make it better. 

Made it to the armholes on Tappan Zee after even more frogging and reknitting.

Started a sweater for a co-worker's baby due January 1. Photo of the finished sweater has vanished from my iPhoto, although I know I took one, and apparently I never blogged the FO. 

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December.

Started a different scarf for Alex with the same Kill Bill yarn and another new Signature needle.

Finished Percy's sweater.

Started a hat for Alex. It really will be a hat, even though it bears no resemblance to a head in this photo.

Started (and will finish before midnight today) a pair of blurry, cabled fingerless mitts for Alex. For extra credit, find the mis-crossed cable, which is has since been fixed.

Doing this post made me realize I did accomplish  a fair bit of knitting this year. The disappointing ratio of FOs to actual knitting resulted from more frogging and tinking and reknitting than I am used to, but that meant I was trying some new things -- my first lace, a somewhat poorly designed sweater pattern (Tappan Zee) that needed some tweaking, designing a dog sweater on the fly. So I will count this year as a win!

*** It appears that a great number of photos may have mysteriously disappeared from my iPhoto, the pictures of the stack of completed squares among them. I had noticed this a couple months ago when I went looking for the photos of the Haruni taken while I worked on it during our vacation in Wyoming. I'm not sure whether to blame iPhoto or my own faulty memory or what. 

Did I ever show you this?

After searching the blog it seems to me that I never showed you photos of Alex's lace shawl after it was blocked. How I could have forgotten to do this is a mystery, since this is a project of which I am over-proud. If pride were a sin, I am doomed. Oops.

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And now, the money shot.

Pattern: Haruni by Emily Ross
Yarn: Dream in Color Baby in 'Spring Tickle'
Needle: Signature US#4 circ, an awesome needle.
Mods: None (on purpose; a few inadvertent ones that of the type that are usually referred to as "mistakes") 

A meme! A meme!

Bold the ones you have done/used.

Techniques:
Bind off, any extra stretchy one
Bind off, I-cord
Bind off, sewn (photo, left)
Bind off, tubular
Bobbles
Buttonholes
Cables (photo, right)
Cast on, any extra stretchy one
Cast on, backwards loop
Cast on, long tail
Cast on, provisional
Cast on, tubular
Colorwork, intarsia
Colorwork, slipped stitch
Colorwork, stranded
Darning
Double knitting, reversible
Double knitting, tube (photo, left)
Drop stitch (anyone who has knit a Clapotis, stand up!)
Entrelac
Felted (accidentally)
Felted (on purpose! yay!)
Garter stitch
Graffiti knitting, aka knit tagging
I-cord
Kitchenered a sock
Kitchenered something larger than a sock (photo, right)
Knitted a sock using two circular needles
Knitted and purled backwards
Knitted Continental style, aka picking
Knitted English style, aka throwing
Knitted Portuguese style
Knitted two socks on two circs simultaneously
Knitted with beads
Lace (photo, left)
Magic loop
Short rows
Smocking
Steek
Stockinette
Swatched
Thrummed knitting
Twisted stitch

Knitted with any of these fibers:
Alpaca
Bamboo (photo, right)
Banana
Buffalo
Camel
Cashmere
Corn
Cotton
Hemp
Linen
Milk
Quivit
Silk
Soy
Synthetic (acrylic, nylon, etc.)
Wool


Projects:
Afghan (photo, right)
Alice Starmore pattern, any
Armwarmers
Baby items
Gloves
Hat
Holiday-related knitting (photo, left)
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies, etc.)
Knitted a gift
Knitted for a pet, garment
Knitted for a pet, toy
Knitted item for a bride
Mitts, fingerless
Mittens, cuff-up
Mittens, tip-down
Moebius band (on purpose!)
Purse or bag
Scarf
Shawl
Shrug/bolero
Slippers
Socks, toe-up
Socks, top-down
Stuffed toys
Sweater, cardigan
Sweater, pullover
Sweater, top-down (photo, right)
Toy/doll clothing


Designed:
Dress
Hat
Lace garment
Mitts
Published a knitting book
Scarf
Skirt
Socks
Stitch pattern
Sweater, cardigan
Sweater, pullover,
Sweater, top-down


Other:
Dyed yarn or fiber
Knitted for charity
Knitted in public
Learned a new technique on YouTube
Participated in a KAL
Spun your own yarn
Taught a child to knit
Taught a male to knit
Wrote a knitting blog (duh)

Adapted from a meme on CanaryKnits.

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.

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

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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.