kmkat and her kneedles

Muttering through Mother's Day.

1. 537 :: is more than 400
2. Horizon :: line.
3. Episode :: seizure.
4. Character :: -driven.
5. Crossed :: town bus.
6. Shipping :: charges.
7. Jump :: Whoopee Goldberg.
8. Bowling :: Lebowski.
9. Grumpy :: Old Men.
10. Them :: Us.

 

I celebrated my own Mother's Day yesterday -- spent pretty much the entire day in my recliner reading, watching Netflix, drinking coffee/soda/wine (as the day progressed), and knitting. This is Smokey's weekend to work (always with the night shifts) so when he is home he is tucked up in his bed with two dogs and a cat and a box fan for white noise. Today I might be productive. Hard to say, really. 

 

Reading: 
A few weeks ago I read a piece in The Nation by Deborah Kopaken Kagan about her experiences as a woman author and how she was demeaned by the publishing industry. I was so inspired/enraged by her experience I clicked over to bn.com and bought all four of her books to read on my iPad. (I also clicked over to her website and sent her an email telling her what I did; she emailed back that it made her cry.) Anyhow, I want to recommend her books. She came from an ordinary middle-class background, graduated from Harvard, moved to Paris, worked as a photojournalist covering a lot of gritty stuff (ex., she went into Afghanistan alone during the Soviet-Afghan war), eventually married, had three kids, started to write. The woman has lived more in her 40-odd years than a dozen other other people put together. I highly recommend her books, especially Shutterbabe (memoir) and The Red Book (fiction). Her collection of essays, Hell Is Other Parents, is pretty damned good, too.

Yesterday's book was Odds Against Tomorrow by Nathaniel Rich. I had read the first 60+ pages in fits and starts and was not particularly engaged by it, but yesterday I decided to give it a chance to pull me in. Which it did, in spades. Protagonist is a quant who specializes in the odds of disasters; the 3-person consulting firm he works for makes him rich. Then a real mega-disaster hits New York City -- essentially Hurricane Sandy plus Katrina -- and his life changes. Some of the scenes were lifted straight out of the news stories of Katrina. Good book, four out of five stars.

Last night I startd NOS4A2 by Joe Hill. Creepy as hell, that one. I follow the author on Twitter. He is currently on tour for the book and every day posts photos of readers attempting to kill him in various ways.

 

Knitting:
I am enjoying having several projects to hand at all times. A hat, a pair of socks, the top-down set-in sleeve sweater, a scarf of the same yarn as the hat. They are strewn about my chair in various stages of doneness. When I sit down there is the delicious feeling of What shall I pick up this time? Project monogamy, begone!

Stuff:
Remember the humungous external hard drive? I have moved most of my data files over to it and gone into my most-often used programs to direct them to that drive for files. Two programs have me stumped, though: Excel and iPhoto. I can deal with the former, but iPhoto is being a bugger. I have searched through all its menus and preferences and cannot find a place to tell it where to store its files. My internal 160GB hard drive has 76GB of photos. It would be nice to get them all moved and backed up. All suggestions welcome. (I started to email Younger Son yesterday to ask him but got distracted, had to reboot, lost the email, yada yada. So I'm asking y'all.) 

No photos popped into my head to illustrate today's post. Here, in honor of Mother's Day, is a gratuitous one from 1984 of me being a mom to Elder Son.

Summer knitting.

Note: I found this post in my draft folder, waiting for a picture of the socks. Finally took one.

At the beginning of the summer I came upon a pattern that begged to be made in profusion and sold for benefit of the local humane society, on whose board I sit.

Doggie poo bag dispensers.

Pattern here. Great fun to make and a good use of leftover sock yarn. I made 29, gave one to Matthew and Alex for Ser Percival The Energetic, and we sold...one at the county fair booth. I have hopes for better results at the September dog walk, an annual fund-raiser for the shelter.

Last winter I made myself a Noro hat that I like so well I made a scarf to match. My old Noro scarf was dark, which was fine with my old red coat but too dull with my current dark brown one. This scarf is a bit livelier.

 

The hat and scarf are gone now. A few days ago I got an email asking for something for a silent auction fundraiser for a local candidate whom I support. Not much time to knit right now, so the hat and scarf set went to a good cause. Now I'm wondering if I should recreate them or if I should move on to another scarf and hat for which I have half the yarn I need.

I made a pair of socks.

Please ignore the funny-looking ears on the toes.

Yarn: Online Supersocke Nepal found on eBay.
Pattern: Wendy's Generic Toe-Up Socks.
Needles: Addi US#0 (feet) and US#1 (legs). 

And earlier this month I made baby hats for The Purple Project (or whatever it is called).

1. Valley Yarns Superwash DK in lilac;
2. ditto;
3. ditto with a stripe of Knit Picks Andean Silk; 
4. Lamb's Pride worsted in clematis; 
5. Knit Picks Andean Silk (discontinued) in hyacinth;
6. Knit Picks Swish DK in clematis heather (color discontinued);
7. ditto.

Still have two different socks OTN, frogged the cowl and need to cast on a different (easier) one for Alex. And that is what I have been knitting. (I wrote this on September 3. Alex picked out an easier pattern and it is nearly done. Photos soon.)

Knitting! (6)

Younger Son's fiance asked for a cowl.  Not just any cowl, but the Big Herringbone Cowl from the Purl Soho website. (That link worked when I needed the pattern a few weeks ago but doesn't seem to work today. Maybe it will be working by the time this post goes up.)

The image at right is from the Purl Soho site; you will also find it on Ravelry. What is difficult to get from the photo is how soft and thick and squishy and cuddly the cowl is.

The yarn is Blue Sky Alpacas Worsted Hand Dyes in ecru. The name says worsted but I would consider it more of an aran weight. The fiber is 50/50 merino/alpaca and is like buttah through my hands.

Above is the cowl the first day I worked on it. Below is the cowl a few weeks ago. The project is about half done but currently on hiatus while I work on something else. After all, she won't be needing it for... a while.

The stitch pattern is interesting. It makes a herringbone pattern on the right side and a sort of ribbing on the other. Either side could be the right side. It is kind of a tricky stitch, though; when (not if) I make a mistake, I have no idea how to fix it other than rip back. Which I have had to do a couple times.

 

And although the yarn is called worsted and I think it is aran, the pattern calls for -- wait for it --

a size 17 needle!

Such huge needles are not my favorite but the resulting fabric is lovely. This is a fun project.

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! (2)

Second: Daybreak, last seen here. All done, love it, worn only once. Spring came rather early this year and thus ended wool-scarf-wearing season.

Pattern: Daybreak by Stephen West. Nearly every one of his patterns appeal to me. I love this one so much I am planning a sweater based on it.
Yarn: Most of a skein of Universal Pace sock yarn in linen (06) and half a skein of Marks & Katten sock yarn in color 662.
Needle: Signature circ US#4. 
Mods: The original pattern had the final border done in stockinette interspersed with single rows of garter stitch. It seemed to me that that border might be prone to flip up so I did it entirely in garter, and I quite like the way it turned out.

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::

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. 

Minnesotans are crazy. Knitters.

You have got to go see this over on soxanne's blog.

I could show you, but then I'd have to kill you.

Back in the days of novelty yarns, I made a scarf for my SIL. She asked for one in red and purple to wear to her Red Hat meetings.

I obliged.

 

 Did she ever wear it? I don't know (she lives 400+ miles away). Would you?

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!

 

Friday fun, with scarves.

Found via zippiknits.

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.

.

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.

Knitting 101.

 I know you all have already seen this, right? Because it was on Mason-Dixon Knitting a few days ago, and you all read Mason-Dixon Knitting, right? If you don't, that's rude and I don't even care any more.

Out of nowhere... the next project.

Interweave is offering a download of Knit Accessories 2009 for 10 cents until August 29. Never one to pass up a bargain, I jumped on that bad boy immediately. Paging through it just now, I came upon this little lace shawlette/scarfy thing.

 

Given that I am now a lace knitter, this one appealed to me -- small, quite open so it wouldn't take much yarn nor take forever to knit. Idly I perused the pattern. Hmm, Halcyon Yarn Silk Gemstone 2/5. I wonder is that is laceweight or what, I thought. 

Ravelry to the rescue.

Guess what I have in my stash, just waiting for the right project?

Just in case you are not familiar with that yarn, here are the deets.

I don't necessarily believe in kismet or karma, but this just seems... foreordained.

This yarn has always been intended for a lacy scarf. I had been considering Amy Singer's Montego Bay. And that would have been a lovely scarf, too. But this is better. We are leaving tomorrow for ten days on the North Shore, and a lace knitting project requires some uninterrupted knitting time at the beginning. Perfect.

::scurries off to pack the silk and needle and a tool /notions pack into its own special tote bag::

Weighing in.

Remember this?

It came to me that I had swatched this yarn a few month ago. That swatch had enough yarn in it to knit another row and a half! That would certainly help, but would it be enough?

Then I hit on the idea of weighing my remaining ball of yarn before and after one of those 500+ stitch rows.

Before: 11 grams

After: 9 grams

Assuming that the bind-off row takes a bit more than each of the other rows -- which is what I have noticed in the past; when I run out of yarn during a bind-off, ripping back exactly one row doesn't give me quite enough yarn (YMMV) -- and assuming that I used exactly 2 grams (scale doesn't go to tenths of a gram) I would be able to knit 8 of the remaining 11 eleven rows called for by the pattern, plus the bind-off row.

That might be satisfactory, but I thought I should at least explore the possibility of using ALL the Misti Alpaca Hand-Painted yarn and doing the bind-off in a solid color.

At left, all the solids I considered; at right, the finalists.

I am leaning toward either of the ones on the left side of the finalist photo, with a slight preference for the one at upper left.

Opinions?

As promised, knitting!

That, my friends, is a nearly finished Citron, knit from Mista Alpaca fingering weight. It is a bit scrunched up; know that when it is properly blocked it will appear less blotchy. (I hope.) I have knitted 2 of the 11 rows of the final ruffle. Each of those rows is >500 st.

And this is how much yarn I have left.

That ball is about the size of a golf ball. It will not be enough. The final ruffle, she will be... narrower than called for in the pattern. And the bind off may be a solid color. But it will be done. It is a gift, and when it has been finished and blocked and presented to the recipient, I can knit something for memeME!

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.

Making a Simple Things Shawlette for a non-knitting friend who doesn't read the blog. I hope. 

I'm using a couple skeins of Koigu I bought at Purl Soho in May, 2007, when we were in NYC for #1's graduation from college. The knitting you see is the first skein plus a few yards from the second. I think I wound the yarn into center-pull balls early in 2009 with the intention of making a pair of socks from Knitting Socks From Hand-Painted Yarn but it never quite happened. After having been wound for so long, the yarn is not as delectable as it would have been in the skein. But I am suffering through it ;-)

* * * * *

 

I did a quick spreadsheet and discovered I knit 5.8 miles! of yarn in 2010. I even impressed myself. Now for the 25+ miles remaining in the stash...

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.

Home again, home again, jig jig.

We took a mini-vacation last week, five days at Temperance River State Park on the North Shore of Lake Superior.

It is always a good thing to bring all one's knitting tools along on vacation...

...because one never knows when a delightful yarn shop -- or two! -- may appear on the horizon*.

 

Before we left I had read Erika's post about her Red Scarf. I had already decided that I was not going to participate in the Red Scarf Project this year (forgive me, Norma!) because I had declared 2010 to be The Year Of Knitting For Me.

But that post kept lurking in the back of my mind.

First, I ventured into That Little Red House, a lovely yarn shop in Grand Marais that does not have a website and of which I tragically did not take a photo. The owner was friendly and chatty and I found the perfect yarn for a red scarf.

 

The yarn is a 2-ply blend of wool, superkid mohair, and angora -- lovely cottony soft. How handy that I had brought along my nostepinne and all my needles! I immediately cast on for the scarf, using La Harlot's One-Row Scarf pattern (I knit two scarves and several afghan squares from that pattern last year, so it is pretty well embedded in my brain).

Tra la la, a day or two later we found another yarn shop! This is the one whose sign is pictured above and is in Tofte, right across Hwy. 61 (yes, that Hwy. 61) from Blue Fin Bay resort. Guess what, that shop had some very nice red yarn**, too!

 

Now I have two red scarves OTN and my conscience is a happy camper.

I finished the pair of socks that was in progress when we left and wore them. That means they are currently in the laundry pile so I'm not gonna model them for you right now. As soon as that pair was done I cast on for another pair from a skein of Trekking I bought last year.

 

See that hole in the ground beyond my foot? That is a chipmunk burrow, and the chipmunks kept me constant company while I knit by the lake. Mostly they scurried about and scolded me for being in their territory. Eventually I had the clever idea of keeping a bag of trail mix handy and tossing them the occasional raisin. That kept them quiet.

* It may have helped that I did some serious googling for yarn shops in the area before we left. I even took screen shots of the Google maps showing the location of each one and loaded them onto my iPod. Always prepared, that's my motto!

** In case you cannot read the labels, this red yarn is Lamb's Pride Nature Spun worsted, and a more delightful and affordable 100% wool worsted I have never encountered. How come none of you told me about it? Keeping it all for yourself, eh? Well, now I know about it and it will be every knitter for herself. This yarn is soft and fluffy and knits wonderfully and was $6.95 (or $7.95, don't remember) for >200 yards. The skein on the right is a true bright red, the one on the left dark red. We all know how difficult it is to photograph anything red.