kmkat and her kneedles

Sundays are for posting.

I have become rather obsessed with mahjong on my computer and my iPad. 

I used to have it on my Windows box back in the day, but that was a downloaded program; this is online. Who knows what nasty stuff might be infesting my hard drive...

As I played I found I had an emotional reaction to the different pieces, usually based on how easy or difficult it was to recognize and match them. To help myself I have made up names for many of the tiles. Across the top row we have Nine Stick, Flat Top, another Nine Stick, Legs, Nine Plate, and Tee. The bottom row is Box, Three-Stroke, Box, Nine Stick, and Little Man. Weird, but it helps this non-Chinese reader. Those are all pretty straightforward. Then there is Little Bad Guy, Grace, Pointy Top, Round Bottom, and Strikethrough. And Chairlift and Birdhouse.

Enough of that. I am amusing only myself. 

Our taxes are in progress (hence the obsession with a computer game). I have a first draft of the federal return, still need to print it out and review it as though I were still at work. Then the WI and MN returns, yuk. For the past several years Smokey has had to be a MN resident (MN tax law) even though he lives in WI, and I am a WI resident. Even the fancy-schmancy professional grade tax software we had at work could not quite manage that situation, requiring me to override things in the return. Overriding was strongly discouraged because it usually meant an error. 

Because I am retired now and my time is more leisurely, I was able to take a different approach on the return: one day I did the W-2s and 1099s. The next day I did the cap gains. The next couple days were spent on the rental property. Then I took a break for a few days. Back at it to do the contributions. Next day the rest of the itemized deductions. Although this approach meant I always had the return nagging at me, it was also low stress.

On Saturday Elder Son called to ask for help on his return. He and I had gone through his situation back in early February and I had counseled him on which forms he needed, but he didn't go ahead and do the return. He did, however, manage to forget everything I had told him. His return's only quirk was an tuition credit; at work the software took care of the mechanics of that, but he and I had to wade through the form line-by-line on the phone, each of us on the IRS website looking at forms and instructions. He kept saying, Jeez, they're telling you every step without ever telling you the goal of what you are doing. Yup, the IRS is not in the business of making this process easy or self-explanatory. He wanted to know how people who are not good at math do their returns. I explained about H&R Block.

Speaking of H&R, I am using their tax software package this year and am not happy with it. I originally purchased and downloaded TurboTax, but found that it wouldn't run on my 2008-vintage computer. (Refund for it takes weeks :-( ) The Block software runs and was cheaper, but damn, there is a reason it cost so much less. I am not looking forward to reviewing the return; if what I saw going on on the screen comes through on the return, I am gonna be doing some overriding.

On the knitting front, I have another pair of double-stranded socks OTN, plus the second of another pair of fingerless gloves. 

 

I was able to tweak the color of the socks to be accurate; the fingerless gloves are actually camel-colored. The good news is that my new camera seems to be able to focus on yarn and knitwear, something my previous camera had a lot of trouble with.

There are so many things in my Ravelry (and mental) queue that I am feeling like I will never accomplish them all. And I probably won't, especially if I keep adding things. But that's part of the fun of knitting, right? Seeing all the possibilities? That is probably a part of any creative endeavor, I guess. Choices.

FO Friday Sunday.

   

Three Four more pairs of fingerless gloves for the library's sale booth next summer. All are fingering weight yarn, double stranded, 40 st, and the first three are 3x1 rib.

Pair The First: Knit Picks Felici in Mountain Stream and Knit Picks Stroll bare; US#6 or 7, don't remember.

Pair The Second: Lana Grossa Meilenweit Merino, color 2103, and Universal Pace sock yarn, 6402 pink; US#7.

Pair The Third: Lana Grossa Meilenweit Merino, color 2103 again, and Knit Picks Stroll, in African Violet; US#6.

The ones on US#6 needles are a little too snug on my smallish hands; the ones on US#7 are just right.

Pair The Fourth: notice the clever cabling at the top?

 

How about now?

Pattern: Owlings.
Yarn: Two strands of fingering weight Lang sock yarn, one pale tan and the other slightly darker; eyes are one strand of black Knit Picks Stroll fingering weight.
Needles: Knit Picks Options US#7.

Making those eyes was a lot harder than I expected. First, I tried French knots; no go. They were either too small and disappeared into the knitting or they were too big and out of proportion. Then I tried embroidering them; the owls were suddenly east Asian. My friend Colleen was here getting help with the toddler sweater she is knitting for her grandson; she told me to make little Xs. And she was right. 

* * * * *

 And... it's another pair of double-thick socks for me. These knit up so quickly I cannot stop making them. I think I may double my sock wardrobe with these.

Pattern: Wendy's Generic Toe-up Sock, worked on 48 st.

Yarn: Trekking Pro Natura in color 1508, a navy heather, double-stranded with a navy and gray twist yarn that I got when I asked for sock yarn leftovers for that sock yarn afghan I started. There was enough of that yarn that, even after using most of it for these socks, I can still make the requisite number of squares. That afghan is calling to me...

Needles: US#2.5 for the feet and first 1" of the leg, US#4 for the rest.

 

 

 

 

It's the end of the fingerless glove binge.

On Saturday the library Friends had a craft & bake sale.

 

  
The bake sale was a huge success, the craft sale rather less. 

 

           
I had eight pairs of fingerless gloves there but none sold.

 

This was a bit discouraging after the success of the gloves at the farmer's market, where I sold every single pair, ten in all, but it also means we have some inventory when the farmer's market starts again next summer.

Another Friend and I were on hand to take the money and bag people's purchases.

As you can see, I made good use of my time between customers.

 

Sunday mornin' comin' down.

Disclaimer: I am not hungover and have not suffered one of those in years and years. But the title of this post popped into my head, and how could I NOT have Johnny singing the original?

Onward.

When I started these fingerless gloves they were intended for the library's booth at the farmer's market. (btw, I made 10 pairs, and all 10 sold!) (and I have orders for more!) But they got stalled, and when I picked them up again the farmer's market had closed for the year. 

In the meantime I had signed up for Kim's TIS swap. As I finished the gloves I realized that they were perfect for the I(nitial) part of the swap. My swap partner's name is Melanie*, and these are Mitts (sort of). 

So they went off in the swap package that I delivered to the post office yesterday. I hope they fit and keep Melanie's hands warm and happy this winter!

Yarn: Filatura Lanarosa Pure Washable Merino. Color is much more blue than the photo. 
Pattern: Vancouver Fog, the shorter version.
Needles: US#7 circ.

Fingerless knitting.

More fingerless gloves to sell at the farmer's market.

Believe it or not, these are from the same ball of yarn.
I should have alternated from each end of the ball.

Yarn: Plymouth Boku that has been in the stash for so long I no longer have the label.
Needle: Knitter's Pride bamboo circ, US#7.
Pattern: Pattern? I don' need no steenkin' pattern!* Cuff, 1x1 rib; body, 3x1 rib.
Size: 32 st. 

 

There is a matching right glove. Do you know
how hard it is to take a photo of both hands at once?

Yarn: Adriafil Knitcol, 100% merino, worsted.
Needle: Knitter's Pride bamboo circ, US#6.
Pattern: (see above), 3x1 rib.
Size: 40 st.

Sunday night I frogged the fingerless glove that didn't match its mate. As soon as I add thumbs to a second pair knit from the Adriafil Knitcol, above, I'll reknit that one.

 

* Lie. The thumb gusset from Susie Rogers' Reading Mitts has become my standard.

Let's talk fingerless.

I have been knitting fingerless gloves all summer to sell as a library fundraiser at our local farmer's market. The market is sponsored by the library building committee, and the Friends have a booth there.

  
  
I knitted all summer and all I got done was five pairs? 

Clockwise from upper left: JoJoland DK superwash merino, no particular pattern; Fetchings (with a couple extra cable twists because faulty pattern reading), Knit Picks Wool of the Andes superwash; two pairs of Susie's Reading Mitts (more on these below) from some Drops alpaca left over from a Red Scarf Project scarf a couple years ago; another pair of Fetchings (more below), KP WotA superwash.

The variegated ones were the first pair I knitted. Easy peasy, I can make a dozen pairs by the time fall comes!

Then I started a pair of the red alpaca ones. Between user error and doggie interference, I probably knit three or four pairs of these in order to get two finished pairs. As much as I love the finished gloves, my less-than-stellar execution is keeping me from attempting a third pair from this pattern. The alpaca is all gone now; I am hoping that knitting a pair in a less fuzzy yarn will eliminate most of the user errors. ::fingers crossed::

The gray Fetchings are a little long because I inadvertently added a couple extra cable twists at the finger end. Pattern reading = a good thing, often neglected.

The blue Fetchings followed the pattern much better... almost.

See? If I wasn't so fond of the color I might set these on fire.

I didn't notice the longer cable section on the first one (at right) until I had knit the second glove and woven in the ends on the first. Self-disgust prevented me from frogging and reknitting. Maybe next week.

I got kind of burned out on fingerless gloves, especially given how much trouble I was having with user error. Put them aside to knit a lacy cowl. And cast on a scarf/stole ( broke my yarn fast to buy this yarn). And cast on a scarf. And cast on a shawl. More on those another time.

After working the library booth at last Saturday's market, I was re-invigorated about fingerless gloves. I bound off and wove in the ends last night on this pair; tonight I will add the thumbs.

If you look closely you can see the three sets of butterfly stitches on each one.

The color is wayyy off in that photo (bad indoor light, no time to get a better shot). Color is more accurate here.

If this is Sunday, it must time for another parade.

This was our group in the last parade. Lady in light blue shirt is
Kelly Westlund, running for Congress from our district.

Gonna drive in the Lucky Days parade this afternoon. Got a big bowl of candy to throw to the kids along the route. I tell myself all through every parade, "Don't drive over a kid. Don't drive over a kid. Don't drive over a kid." It's a good rule. 

* * * * *

Mutterings.

1. Joke :: practical.
2. Away :: game.
3. Reaction :: time.
4. High :: times.
5. Movie :: times.
6. Decide :: later.
7. Afternoon :: delight.
8. Contrarian :: Smokey.
9. Understand :: grok.
10. Zone :: no parking.

* * * * *

I continue to knit on the fingerless glove project. Four pairs mostly done, and cast on for a fifth pair last night. Only one pair is completely done; the others all need thumbs, one pair needs its hems sewn down, and most need their ends woven in.  I am saving all that finishing for some night when I am watching TV. 

In other TV-related news, we just joined the rest of the US and* got a flat TV. I think it is 46", maybe 42", plenty big for our cozy living room. Younger Son set it up for us on Saturday morning. It took me roughly 30 seconds to get used to having a bigger screen. The viewing experience changes a little -- I find I am more aware of the rest of the picture, not just the main action/actor. Our old TV, a 32" digital CRT model, will go to live in Elder Son's house. 

 

* I have found it a little disconcerting to see huge flat-screen TVs in the living rooms of pretty much every house that leaves its curtains open. Why does everyone else -- even people whom I know are on a severely limited income -- have a fancy-schmancy TV and we don't? Well, because we were waiting for the prices to come down to cheap. And they did. 

 

 

Random because I am lame.

I haven't done the mutterings for awhile.

1. Onion :: cry.
2. Greek :: salad.
3. Construct :: -ion.
4. Crunch :: time.
5. Bottom :: feeder.
6. Cream :: cheese.
7. Slamming :: crowd-surfing.
8. Jerk :: chicken. I seem to have food on the mind this morning.
9. Closed :: mind.
10. Texture :: -d stitches.

* * * * *

Younger Son sent me a photo that a friend had taken of Ser Percival The Energetic.

Look at the size of that mouth. Now imagine your leg in there. Beware the pit bull.

* * * * *

Smokey figured out that it was the 20+ year-old sunscreen I used on Saturday that had caused the allergic reaction and made my eyes swell to monster size. So much for trying to use up old stuff -- that sunscreen is going in the trash. I don't look quite as bad as I did on Sunday, but I would still scare small children. Sheesh.

* * * * *

Earlier this week I had to drive through Lindstöm. Remember Lindström? Anyway, I got myself a small Blizzard at the DQ (mint chocolate chip, thanks for asking) and looked for a shady place to park while I ate it. (I hate having to get out of the car. Drive-through, every time.) A block or so later I found a cemetary, lots of shade. Perfect.

As I drove around looking for my ideal spot -- level, shady, not too obvious -- I came across this tombstone.

The inscription says, "T-REX / Made by Frank".

 

T. Rex says, "Whachoo lookin' at, mofo?"

* * * * *

In other Lindstrom Dairy Queen-related news: last weekend Smokey gave a co-worker a ride home to Lindstrom after work. During the ride, co-worker disclosed that Robin Williams had been spotted at the DQ earlier this summer. What was Robin Williams doing in a tiny rural village in Minnesota? Presumably, the same thing as Ozzie Ozbourne, Eric Clapton, and any number of other celebs. 

* * * * *

Have I been knitting? Yes. Have I been taking pictures of my knitting? No.

I have been busily making fingerless gloves to sell at the farmer's market later this summer and fall in support of the new library. The library building committee is sponsoring the market and gets the booth fees. They also have a table to sell dog blankets and other crafts, all proceeds going to the building fund.

I finished my third pair yesterday, then discovered that Ser Percy had snatched a glove from the second pair -- 100% alpaca*, no less -- and had mangled it a bit. I grumbled and fumed as I wove in the ends on pair #3, then inspected the pair #2 damage more closely. Glove turned out not to be salvageable, but the yarn was. Frogged and 1" reknit so far. Will finish this weekend.

Damned alpaca-chewing dogs...

 

* Apparently dogs prefer alpaca to wool. Go figger. 

 

 

Knitting. FOs. WIPs.

Once upon a time I took up needlepoint. But after making several Christmas ornaments and two framed nutcrackers, I decided I didn't like needlepoint because it was... frivolous. Nothing I made had any particular use; I felt like a pampered rich bitch from the seventeenth century who probably deserved to have her head lopped off and all her possessions distributed to the starving serfs who slaved to make her useless existance happen.

Ahem.

Knitting is not like that. Knitting is useful. Knitting is functional. Sure, we can make frivolous things sometimes, but by and large, even those frivolous things are at least nominally useful.

My recent knitting has been useful.

I finished two pairs of fingerless gloves. The Kat's™ hands are safe from frostbite. Midwestern hospitals have been reporting an epidemic of frostbite this winter. Apparently, many people have forgotten how to dress for the weather.

Not me. I dislike being cold. My winter outerwear is either a down jacket or a down coat. Toasty warm but boring because both are dark brown. Boorrrr-ing.

Solution: jazz them up with bright hat(s), scarf(ves), gloves, mittens.

There was the turquoise hat and scarf I made last spring. Hat keeps me warm, scarf did, too, until I lost misplaced it. 

A casual stop at the outlet mall scored me two pairs of leather gloves. 

But leather gloves, while perfect for gripping the steering wheel, are not terribly warm. Fingerless gloves to the rescue!

I pair the blue set with the down coat, which is what I wear when it is particularly cold. Because they are stranded knitting and worsted weight yarn on US#5 needles, they are warm.

The fingertip cuffs can be extended when it is really, really cold.

Pattern: Striped Mittens from Favorite Mittens by Robin Hansen.
Yarn: Cascade 220 in the creatively named 4006, about half a skein. The blue and green tweedy bits are two strands of sock yarn held together, Online Highland colors (also creatively named) 838 and 840.
Needle: Signature US#5/3.75mm circ.

The red set is paired with the down jacket when the temp is above 20˚F.

The red set has not gotten much use this winter.

Pattern: Basic Mitten Pattern, from The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns by Ann Budd.
Yarn: More of the same Cascade 220 for the ribbing and Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Iron Ore (not currently available) for the hand.
Needles: Signature US#5/3.75mm circ.

Then there was my cowl. I liked it so much I decided to make a cowl for a friend whose birthday is this month. (She doesn't read the blog, so it is safe to show it here.) I have been thinking about knitting her something for her birthday for at least two years. I had only a week until her birthday, however; clearly, her gift could not be the Clapotis I had been thinking about nor a fingering weight cowl like mine. But I had some lovely soft DK weight that would be perfect.

Behold, the City Creek Cowl!

 

She can wear it like this to keep her nose warm...

 

...or like this and pretend she is Elizabeth I...

 

...or like this, demure like a Jane Austen heroine.

Pattern: City Creek Cowl by Susan Lawrence.
Yarn: Knit Picks Gloss DK (70/30 merino/silk; 50gr/123yd) in cream, about 1-1/4 balls. I have a couple skeins of fingering weight Gloss, and they feel like any other sock yarn. The DK, however, is delightfully soft and fluffy.
Needles: Knit Picks Options US#10.
Mods: The chart is 45 rows, then the pattern says to repeat rows 16-45 once. I omitted that repeat because I could not imagine attempting to wear a cowl that was as tall as it would have been.

Because this is DK weight yarn knit on 6.0mm needles, it has a nice soft drape. The pattern recommended blocking it on a large can to ensure that it is stretched enough to drape properly. I omitted that step, but I will tell her about it so she can do it if she wants it larger. (I have the perfect can -- maybe I should give her that, too.)

That's the FOs. Here is what I started after I rose from my sickbed last week.

That is the beginning of the sleeves for Fairfield, using the Gedifra merino/cotton that came in the mail last week. 

I will be spending at least ten hours in a car and a bus this week, plus needing to idle away a fair bit of time in the middle (more on that another day), which means lots of knitting time. Thinking that juggling two balls of yarn might be problematic -- I'm knitting both sleeves at once because if I don't they will not match, no way, ever -- I decided to cast on for the back. 

My goal is to march right through this sweater. I have made myself three sweaters since I got back to serious knitting in ~2005 and every darned one of them took me at least two years. Not this time (she said firmly).

Knitting, reknitting, mending, frogging.

Toward the end of last year I made a pair of fingerless gloves for a friend from some llama yarn she had acquired.

Her dog chewed one.

I fixed it. 

The fixed one looks a little different than the first one, but once they are on the hands they look fine.

::whew::

A couple of years ago I knit a sweater for Ser Percival The Energetic.

It tended to slide down his body, as you can kinda-sorta see above, so he didn't wear it much.

Then Mischa The Rescued Dog got hold of it last fall and chewed up a section of the bottom ribbing. Percy's sweater was embarrassing for him to wear, so Younger Son brought it back to me to fix.

Poor Percy had to endure the brutally cold winter we have had with just his red sweatshirt. Cotton is NOT as warm as wool. I felt badly for the poor pup, but I had too many other knitted projects that were promised.

Until last weekend. I finished my cowl, finished mending the chewed-up fingerless gloves, and turned my needles to Percy's sweater.

First, using some matching sock yarn, I made an I-cord* drawstring for the neck and threaded it through the knitting.

This seemed to work to keep the sweater from slipping down his body. Success!

Tragically, I didn't take any before photos of the chewed-up sweater. What you see below are the after photos.

First, I threaded a US#1 circ through the row of undamaged stitches right about the raggediness. Misha had done a perfect job of chewing ONLY the blue ribbing but leaving the white stripe above it undamaged. What a smart dog!

Then I carefully unraveled the damaged section and machine-stitched the still-intact edges of the ribbing at either side.

Then it was a simple matter to pick up the stitches from the needle onto a US#7 -- what the original sweater was knit on -- and knit an inch of ribbing. After binding off, I sewed both ends of the new ribbing to the original. Close inspection shows that there is something weird about the ribbing in that one spot, but it is almost entirely on the underside of Percy's body**, so I don't think the pooch will have to be embarassed about any other dogs noticing the repair.

 

* Vicki blogged a few months ago about an I-cord maker she had acquired, and a light bulb went off over my head. Such a device would enable me to make the long I-cord for Percy's sweater in a few minutes! I put it on my Amazon wish list and eventually ordered it. Although it took Younger Son and I half an hour to figure out how to make it work, once we got it... we got it!

** I took some photos of the repaired sweater on Percy, but because of where the mended ribbing fell on his body, they all featured his little, er, pecker rather prominantly. You have been spared those photos.

Winter!

 

At the risk -- too late! too late! -- of offending everyone who is shivering right now, I must proclaim that I am loving this winter. 

I fully admit that my enjoyment is made possible by a number of factors, none of which can I take credit for:

• No need to battle the elements every morning to go to work or school.
• I am not the one responsible for snow removal.
• I am driving an all-wheel-drive car for the first time in nearly 16 years.
• Said car has heated seats ::grin::
• My husband has tweaked our heating system and supplemental heat within an inch of its life, and it now keeps the house warm (enough) even when the power company shuts off the interruptible power.
• I have an ever-increasing stock of hand-knit accessories to keep my extremities warm -- fingerless gloves, cowls, scarvs, hats, socks. Wait, I can take credit for that one.

Now, let us take stock of the warm woolies I have added to my wardrobe in recent months.

Hat and scarf, made last May because I knew I would need them.

I seem to have lost the scarf at some point in the past week. Crap.

Added recently, a cowl.

Pattern: Willow Cowl
Yarn: Toe Jam sock yarn (that's what the label says!), dyed by Rabbitch (~400 yds.) in Bruise. She has another skein for sale in her Etsy shop with a slightly different name: Stupid Friggin' Futon Frame. If you click over to her shop she tells how the yarn got its name.
Needle: US#5 circ.

When I was making the cowl for Kiera The Teenage Helper for Christmas, I knew there were some cowls in my future. This winter absolutely demands them. So far I have worn this first one with a solid royal blue sweater and a solid orangey-rust sweater. Perfect.

There is more knitting in that cowl than you might think.

 

For my hands, a pair of fingerless gloves to wear over my leather gloves when driving.

This is the first one, in progress. I am using the Striped Mitten pattern from Favorite Mittens. The cuff is the solid brown Cascade 220; there will be a fold-back cuff at the fingertips, too. They are mega-warm :-)

What I knit in 2013.

Hover over the photos to see the comments.

Twelve squares.

 

Five baby bibs.

  

 

Four pairs of socks.*

 

 

 

Four pairs fingerless gloves of varying lengths.

 

 

 

Four hats.

 

 

Four dishcloths.

 

 

I actually knit far more than four. I was on a dishcloth rampage for a few weeks last summer to use up odds and ends of discloth cotton, and it was the perfect mindless project while I was still taking painkillers after the hip replacement. These are the only ones that got photographed, though. The others are in the kitchen rotation and are, of course, no longer camera-worthy.

 

Two scarves.

  

 

Two cowls.

 

 

 

One pair felted clogs.

 

 

One double-knit felted hotpad.

 

 

 

One pair of mittens fit for Sissy Hankshaw, if Sissy Hankshaw were eight years old.

 

One Red Quadrant.

 

One swea--, er, finished one sweater.  

...and started but didn't finish another one.

 

I also dyed some yarn...

and frogged some long cabled stockings... 

...plus any number of intermediate cowls...

...and trials...

...and errors...

...and that is why knitting is such a great hobby: if we make a mistake, we can rip it out and do it again right/better.

 

* Everything with a blue border is something I knit for myself. 

Monday stuff.

Remember those fingerless gloves I was knitting from llama yarn for a friend?

 

I finished them Friday evening, including weaving in the ends. When I tried them on, I was horrified to discover that the second one was at least an inch shorter than the first. Apparently I cannot remember what I did two hours ago.

What you see above are the remnants of the second half of the second glove. Tragically, those remnants are all less than a couple feet long because I wove in the ends so thoroughly that they were impossible to unpick. Happily, there was plenty of yarn to reknit.

* * * * *

Need a book to entice a very young knitter? Look no further.

Sunday stuff.

The weekly mutterings:

1. Jealousy :: green.
2. Twin :: sisters.
3. Logo :: -arithim.
4. Bang :: interro- (It's this t hing: ‽ .  I just heard it mentioned recently, that's why it came to mind.)
5. Darts :: good Boggle word.
6. Window :: shade.
7. Arcade :: games.
8. Sniff :: snooty.
9. Tickets :: parking.
10. Eraser :: -head.

* * * * *

My friend Kathy has suffered from arthritis in her hands for several years, so I made her something to keep them warm this winter. Behold, the Sooper Sekrit project I mentioned last week!

Pattern: Vancouver Fog. What a fabulous pattern! The finished mitts are awesome. My only mod was to use US#8 needles instead of US#7 as the pattern called for, as my friend's hands are a bit larger than the designer's.
Yarn: Filatura Lanarota Pure Washable Merino, maroon (#16). I also love this yarn. It is sproingy, completely machine washable (and machine dryable if you are not worried about the ~1-2% shrinkage in the dryer). Very inexpensive, too -- $2.99/109 yd. at Smiley's.
Needles: Addi Turbo US#8.

Color is a deep red, a bit darker than this but not quite as dark as maroon.

 I really, really need to make a pair of these for myself.

* * * * *

Another friend/neighbor, for whom I made a pair of fingerless gloves several years ago, told me she had worn them out and Would I make her another pair?

She liked the first ones so much she wore them out? I would LOVE to make her another pair!

She had gotten some yarn (free!) at a llama ranch elsewhere in northern WI and wanted the gloves made from it.

The yarn is deliciously soft. As is characteristic of llama (and alpaca), it has zero elasticity but even so it is entirely pleasant to knit. I am using a US#2 needle. Her first fingerless gloves were Fetchings, but I thought this yarn too busy for cables; 2x2 ribbing all over should make up for any inelasticity in the yarn.

* * * * *

Last Monday: two trumpeter swans on the lake.

 

Friday: eleven trumpeter swans.  (Twelve? hard to tell if that one white blob in the middle back is one or two swans.)

This morning they (finally) swam past on our side of the lake, but I couldn't get my camera quickly enough. Younger Son saw them and exclaimed on how BIG they are.

* * * * *

Very, very sad news this morning. Dr Larson was my ob/gyn for 12+ years, until we moved to Wisconsin. He did the D&C after my second pregnancy had no heartbeat, one of his collegues delivered Younger Son, and he did my hysterectomy using his minimally invasive technique. He was the only doctor, ob/gyn or otherwise, who, after completing any exam that required lying down on the table, offered his hand to help me get up. 

 

What's on the needles.

I finished a pair of socks a week or two ago.

Yarn: Trekking XXL in some unknown colorway which never made it into my stash page on Ravelry. label is long gone. the creatively named "100". The red is Lang Jawolle, color 60, bright red. Toes and heels reinforced with the matching Lang reinforcement thread.
Pattern: Wendy's Toe-Up Generic sock pattern.
Needles: US#0 for foot and ankle, US#1.5 for leg.

Looking around for some portable and mindless knitting for Saturday's lectures, I decided another pair of socks, this time knit with yarn that has been marinating in the stash since the first time I went to Yarnover -- April, 2007.

Want to know how much I can knit between 9:15 and 4:15 with a 20-minute break for lunch? This much.

The yarn is Austermann Step with Jojoba, and the needle is a US#0 from Webs, a Knitter's Pride Karbonz circ. It is a delightful needle with a very sharp point. Toe is reinforced with pale blue Lang reinforcing yarn, heel with light gray. I actually started them at knitting group on Friday night but forgot the reinforcement thread; frogged and restarted on Saturday morning.

I probably won't work on them much in the next week or so because I have another Sooper Sekrit Project. I don't think the recipient reads the blog, but I am going to keep it sooper sekrit just in case.

A photo of Sooper Sekrit proje--, er, the yarn for SSp (it is a deeper red, but we all know how difficult it is to get an color-accurate photo of anything red):

There are a couple other minor projects OTN but I'll save them for later. Also, I made a pair of mittens for Adrienne's mitten tree but totally forgot to photograph them. The yarn was Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in a soft green called Asparagus (not currently available); the mittens were totally plain and sized for an 8-yo. Use your imagination.

Mutterings. And stuff.

1. Sophisticated :: Audrey Hepburn
2. Pelicans :: fish.
3. Flat :: stomach.
4. Cheekbones :: high.
5. Possible :: possibilities.
6. England :: island.
7. Jacket :: potato.
8. Sunflower :: seeds.
9. Hungry :: pelican.
10. Accent :: French.

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I am working on a two-part post about my dyeing experiments adventures. Soon...

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The horrific cold seems to have passed on to some other locale. Our temp is at or above freezing :) So naturally, I finally finished my extra-long fingerless gloves, the ones to keep my forearms warm whilst reading in bed in our cold bedroom.

I tried to wear them last night but had to take them off after a couple minutes because they were... too warm.

I don't know, do you think it will get ever cold again?

Yarn: Colorado Yarns Durango (10-ply worsted, 50/47/3 wool/acrylic/rayon),  colorway 5, a tweedy ecru; 1.3 skeins, 138 yds.
Needles: Addi Turbos US#7.
Pattern: Cobbled together, but I used the thumb gusset from Ann Budd's Handy Book of Knitting Patterns. I cast on a couple extra stitches to allow for more room in the forearm (could have used a couple more) and decreased them away before the wrist.

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Laundry day, hand washables:

Actually, these are all perfectly machine washable and dryable except for the blue socks, upper row, at right. I found out the hard way that they will felt (Pagewood Farms, Denali Hand-dyed sock yarn). But I am *practicing* using my Hand Wash cycle.

Here is my *dryer* for the hand washables:

I took this while the fan was moving to spare you the sight of how filthy the thing is. Really need to clean it... someday.

OTN.

My own, longer fingerless gloves. First one done except for thumb and weaving in ends, the other about one-third done.

Progress interrupted because these (scroll down past the donation information).

Aqua square at right left done in brocade stitch from Barbara Walker's first book, red square at left right done in garter stitch. I have plenty of this superwash DK wool left from my sweater; this is an excellent use for it.

From the organizer:

And it's going to take knitters (and us) a while to make all of these. By the time we're done, the donations will have stopped, the media attention will have died down, and the families will be left to deal with the quiet of their homes. People who have lost a loved one often find that the hard work of grieving comes months after the actual death occurs -- long after people have stopped receiving cards in the mail and meals on their doorstep, they're still left with the weight of loss.  And they often start feeling forgotten.

We do not forget. 

If I'm feeling better, it must be Tuesday.

Let's start out with a bit of slothfulness. Sloths are slothful.

Trivia question of the day: for what delightful cartoon show on Nickelodeon did Mark Mothersbaugh compose music? (Answer buried in the linked Wikipedia article.) (I loved that show.)

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I am feeling better today, having spent most of the last two days in bed and/or sleeping. Having an iPad makes lying in bed much less boring; just another wonder of the connected age.

On the hip situation, I am now confronted with this decision:

• Have the surgery in 2-3 weeks and probably not be able to work this tax season. Although I would be recovered enough to return to work by early March, it is really, really difficult to jump into the middle of tax season. The annual learning curve is just too steep.
  
  
• Work this tax season and have the surgery ASAP after April 15. A cortisone shot this week and another in early March would ensure relatively pain-free mobility, and working would give a pleasant boost to the checking account.

What would you do and why? Discuss.

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The nurse that I talked to on the nurse line on Sunday ordered me to get a functioning fever thermometer. She wanted to know my temperature and I had to tell her our thermometer was not working properly. I bought that thermometer, an electronic one, last summer so that Elder Son and I could tell if Smokey had a serious infection or just a superficial one. Darned thing insists that everyone's temperature is in the range of 92.4˚F -- 94.2˚F. What with all the kerffluffle during Smokey's recovery, I no longer have the receipt. Damned Wal-Mart. Clearly, it's all their fault.

Yesterday Smokey went on a major errand-running and shopping trip to the Twin Cities. One of his tasks was to purchase a new thermometer. He reports that the traditional glass ones, which I had ordered him to procure, are apparently no longer available. WTF?

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And now for a bit of fun knitting.

Yarn: Colorado Yarns Durango, 50/47/3 wool/acrylic/viscose, worsted weight (perhaps discontinued?), ecru and brown.
Pattern: I used Ann Budd's basic mitten pattern from A Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns* for the thumb gusset and did the mittens in 3x1 rib. Recipient's hand is same length as mine but slightly more substantial. Ribbing makes the fit more forgiving.
Needles: Addi Turbo US#7; #6 for contrasting end row and bindoff.

These are for an acquaintance who has a coffee kiosk on the highway in my teeny tiny town. Although she claims it is warm inside her 6'x8' building, she has to keep opening the window to take orders and hand out coffee and make change. I suspect that her hands might welcome these during January. I don't know her well, but I do know her well enough to know she deserves these. (She has the best coffee EVAH!)

A side benefit of making these is that I finally figured out what stash yarn -- the ecru Durango -- to use for a pair of long fingerless gloves for myself. I want them for when I am reading in bed; my hands and forearms get cold, and it is annoying to have to keep pulling my pajama sleeves down when I'm wearing regular fingerless gloves. Yeah, it's a real bitch, I tell ya...

* Do you have this book? If not, why not? It is a great resource when you want to make a basic [thing] and just need a little help on the shaping or the cast-on or something. Or, you can follow it blindly; no shame in that.

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Last night I was on the Twitterer. I found it humorously ironic that the most plentiful tweets in my feed were, 1, Chuck Todd (NBC news) live-tweeting the Notre Dame-Alabama game, and b, Amanda Palmer and her followers tweeting about kindness and selflove and how to stop the bullying.

Maybe we should introduce Chuck and Amanda and let them educate each other. Or, really, let Amanda educate Chuck. (Nothing against Chuck Todd. He is one smart dude. But, srsly, which is a more important topic?)

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Speaking of the Twitters, did you watch the season premier of Downton Abbey? Of course you did; we all did. Want to relive it through the eyes of a highly jaded but clever sheep? This guy preserved Dolores Van Hoofen's live-tweet of the premier. What a hoot baaaaah!

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Today is the twelfth fourteenth day of Christmas so I unplugged the lights on the tree. I'd really like to make a tree cover out of a sheet and just store the whole thing somewhere out of sight until next December. But I will probably just let it sit in the *conservatory* until Christmas. Like I have done for X years.

Once the kids leave home all tradition and semblance of civilization go right out the window.

Not that anyone is counting.

Four days until the hip replacement. 

Per doctor's orders, I had to stop taking ibuprofen last weekend and instead take Tylenol until the surgery. The latter does not work nearly as well as the former for joint pain. Just in case you were wondering.

On the knitting front, I finished Scotty's mittens (New Year's Day) and Younger Son's hat (New Year's Eve) as promised. Cast on for a pair of fingerless gloves for a friend; she runs a drive-through coffee kiosk in town so has to open and shut her window all morning long. Although she claims it is warm inside the kiosk, I bet her hands get cold. Thus, the fingerless gloves.

As an added benefit, I realized that the yarn I am using -- Colorado Yarns Durango -- would be perfect for the extra-long fingerless gloves I want for myself, to wear when I am reading in bed. I have 4 or 5 skeins of the ecru -- plenty! I shall cast on for them next.

Smokey wants a tuque for himself like the ones I made for Harley and Peter. I don't have any more of that yarn, Phildar Pure Laine 3-1/2 DK, and it is discontinued. I have been searching for a suitable substitute. He desires the hat to be wooly and (probably) blue. As I am determined to knit exclusively from stash for the foreseeable future, this has necessitated some serious stash diving. But I may have found the solution: the Rowan Pure Wool 4-ply fingering weight I got when I subscribed to the Rowan magazine. If I double-strand it, it should be roughly DK weight. The tuque requires about 350 yards of DK weight, so that would be 700 yards of the fingering weight; if Ravelry is to be believed, I have a little over 1,000 yards. Score!

It has been snowing nonstop for two days, with a total accumulation <1/4". Such is January on The Great Frozen Tundra.

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.