kmkat and her kneedles

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. 

That was Christmas.

We spent Christmas day with Alex and Matthew. It was delightful to see them hosting the gathering of our little family. They had clearly put a lot of thought and effort into the day -- food (tossed salad and pad thai -- yummy! I brought dessert), presents (perfect, every one!), and they even got dressed up. Not Smokey nor I nor Andrew; we were all in jeans, although I did wear a handknit scarflet to dress up my sweater.

There was festive dress.

Smokey always wears his Santa hat when he works on Christmas, and he brought it along. In the photo above, Andrew had just attempted -- unsuccessfully -- to put the hat on an attentive but uncooperative Ser Percival, so he donned St. Nick's chapeau himself.

Matthew had recently shaved his head.

Smokey was delighted to get a calendar from Alex. He has always been a big fan of Xena, Warrior Princess. (He was gobsmacked also to receive an automotive code reader, but that is not a particularly photogenic object, being basically just a black box.)

I got tags for my handknit items (sadly, they had not arrived by Christmas) and an iPod dock and a Mac Magic Mouse.

Andrew also got an iPod dock, but I neglected to get a photo. His looks approximately like this:

I had put together a basket containing a couple of beginner's supply kits for Alex. There was a knitter's kit: US#7 Dreamz needles, a ball of dishcloth cotton to learn on, and two skeins of Cascade 220 in soft yellow for a scarf once she has mastered the knit stitch, plus assorted small tools, and a How to Knit pamplet from the The Knitters' Guild of America for when I am not around to help her. The other half of the basket was a beginner's sewing kit -- shears, seam ripper, pins, needles, thread. I have found myself with three sewing machines, and one will be hers. She wants me to teach her to sew and to knit, yay!

Smokey had put together a similar gift for Matthew with assorted tools and gadgets, including a set of lighted jumper cables. Go ahead and laugh, but Matthew was pleased with them; you will wish you had them yourself next time your car will not start on a cold dark night.

Ser Percy's sweater was finally done and presented to Himself.

It fits him pretty well, considering I had no pattern and had very limited access to the actual dog's body for fitting. The next one will be better. Please note Percy's bow tie and Alex's sparkly shoes. It was a very festive day!

* * * * *

I had hoped to finish a pair of fingerless gloves for Alex by Christmas, but it was not to be.

The pattern is Vancouver Fog on Ravelry, the yarn is Knit Picks Andean Dream (alpaca, silk, merino worsted). I bound off the first one tonight and cast on the second. They go very quickly except for the idiot who crosses cables the wrong way and loses track of where she is in the pattern. That does slow them down a mite.

FO Friday.

Y'all saw the Citron when it was 99.47% done and I ran out of yarn. Well, thanks to the magic of the internet and Ravelry and family and friends, I was able to finish it exactly as written -- no fudging that last ruffle or binding off with a different color of yarn.

Behold!

btw, blocking wires -- or, in my case, welding rods repurposed as blocking wires -- are Da Bomb.

A few days after I posted about running out of yarn, I got a message on Ravelry from loftysara, who lives in western North Dakota but used to live in the Twin Cities and worked at Banana Republic with BGFE (remember her?). BGFE must have mentioned to her that I was knitting something for her and told her how to look me up on Ravelry and Sara started reading the blog. Remember, loftysara and I have never met. So I get a message from her saying she has that exact yarn and would I like it... but it is living with her parents in Minnesota. Yes, I reply, but I only need a few grams -- how can we work this out? Can I buy it/trade for it? I didn't get a reply and I kind of forgot about the whole thing. By this time tax season was whipping my ass and I had no time to knit anyway.

The next time #2 Son and BGFE came to visit, she handed me a hat crocheted from The Yarn! Turned out loftysara had gotten the hat to her but forgotten to reply to my reply.

Thank you, Sarah! Thank you, BGFE! Thank you, Ravelry! Thank you, universe!

Citron has gone to live with its new owner and I am contemplating knitting one for myself someday.

Readers, go give Sara some love and congratulate her on her engagement.

And loftysara, I have most of a skein of Misti Alpaca available for your use ;)

FO, miscellaneous (pt. 2).

Lucy The Wonder Dog has to take special doggy meds twice a day. Not that she is ill or has anything really bad. She merely suffers from a condition that afflicts many middle-aged, neutered females: occasional incontinence. As in, she pees in the bed whilst asleep.

Modern veterinary medicine to the rescue.

Lucy does not take medicine well. We were able to get the pills down her throat about twice before she wised up and refused to come anywhere near us. Then we started to give her the pills in chunks of hot dog. That made for some pretty good video moments.

  

But after a couple years she figured out how to get that annoying hard lump out of the middle of the hot dog chunk.

Hot dog chunk: eaten.

Dog: medicated and happy.

Pill: on the floor.

The next step was to crush the pill into powder and dredge the hot dog chunks in it. This worked fine and still led to the amusing sight of a dog snapping a hot dog chunk out of the air with lighting speed, but it was rather a lot of futzing around.

Canned dog food to the rescue. 

We mix the crushed pill into a couple spoonsful of El Cheapo canned dog food from WalMart. She loves it. This latest method has been working well for about six months. Wish us luck. If she ever figures out how to lick the canned dog food out of the dish without ingesting the powder that was mixed with it, we are toast. 

As vacation approached, I thought about how best to pack the porcelein mortar and pestle that we use to crush the pill. In past years I have put them each into a sock and put them and the medicines into a bag. 

Why, yes, that IS a bag from The Yarnery. Why should I get to use all the nicest bags?

This year we are getting fancy. I knitted a little bag with fancy-schmancy felted I-cord drawstrings to hold the bowl and a matching sock-y thing to hold the pestle.

But I ran out of the blue yarn.

Let me know in the comments if that, ahem, reminds you of anything...

 

FO, socks.

I finished two pairs of socks.

Yarn: ONline Supersocke 100 Nepal, the enchantingly named color 63, most of one 100-gram skein; toes and heels reinforced with red Lang reinforcing thread. I saw this yarn on eBay and had to have it.
Pattern: Wendy's Generic Toe-Up Sock, worked on 60 stitches. I consciously tried not to knit too tightly but overdid it a bit -- these socks are a bit roomy.
Needles: Addi Turbo US#0 for the foot and ankle, US#1.5 for the leg. 

I started these socks the night before I started back to work in February and didn't finish them until after tax season was well over. Hard to do anything except eat, sleep, and work during tax season.

Yarn: Premier Yarns Serenity Sockweight (50/25/25 merino/bamboo/nylon), aquamarine, most of 2 50-gram skeins. This yarn is supersoft because of the merino/bamboo.
Pattern: same as above, worked on 64 stitches instead of my usual 60 because this yarn is thinner than most sockweight. That may have been unnecessary/overkill because the socks are slightly roomy.
Needles: Addi Turbo US#0 for the foot and ankle, US#1.5 for the leg.

I started these on the subway from JFK to our hotel last month; finished the first and cast on the second on the plane home; finished the second a week or two later.

My sock wardrobe swells... 

FO, miscellaneous.

 

I got a water bottle at work.

It was not insulated.

I fixed that.

Yarn: Lamb's Price worsted, hyachinth (the bright purple). Louet Gems Topaz (worsted), grape heather.

Needles: Addi Turbo US#6.

Pattern: I don't need no stinkin' pattern, at least for something as simple as this. First I knit a 2x2 ribbed sleeve of the light purple yarn, ~28 stitches. That didn't seem thick enough, so I continued with the bright purple and added some stripes. Easy peasy.

Sadly, it doesn't insulate as well as I had hoped. But it helps.  
 

Warm heads, not hot heads.

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

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

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

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

February 22, 2011

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

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

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

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

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

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

Warm regards,

 

Kathryn Xxxxxxx

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

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

 * * * * *

It is melting here this weekend.

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

Hannibal was not impressed, either.

FO Friday.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

   

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

FO Friday Monday.

The sweater, she is DONE! Actually, she has been done for over a week, and I have been wearing her a goodly portion of that time. Warm, cozy, fits right, scratchy enough that I need to wear a long-sleeved t-shirt under it, but I have several so that is not a problem. The color are fairly accurate at left, but the neck does not do that funny thing it is doing in the photo.

I learned some things in this sweater, mainly that I am not quite as good a sweater knitter as I thought. I won't go into excruciating detail because I don't want you all to feel you need to reassure me. I know what is not quite right about the sweater and none of it is enough to prevent me from being pleased with it and happy to wear it. So there.

One thing I learned is that I need to allow a bit more ease in the sleeve length. The kimono sweater I finished almost exactly a year ago? Sleeves barely long enough, and I intend -- someday -- to frog and reknit the last six inches to remedy that. I do not plan to do anything to the sleeves on this sweater except to use them as a reminder that I really need to put at least one extra inch of ease into the length of the sleeve, amen.

The blue-gray background yarn is a bit scratchy on my skin, so instead of doing ribbed cuffs I did turned hems and lined them with the same merino as the stripes.

Knitting the hem lining on a sleeve:

The same sleeve hem turned back:

The hem being fastened down with a three-needle bind-off; I threaded a second needle -- the one at the top -- through the back side of the stitches where I wanted the edge of the hem to attach:

The finished hem:

The idea for this came from a sweater I bought a number of years ago. Its hem (this is the right side; the sweater is reverse stockinette):

It seems to have worked a bit better on the machine-made sweater :( I knit the linings on a needle one size smaller than the sleeve to ensure that the hem would not flare. This worked on the sleeves; not so well at the bottom or the neck. Also, the row of stitches where I worked the three-needle bind-off pulled in significantly. I was able to fix this -- mostly -- by a firm steam-pressing.

I am also happy that this knitting basket:

is now available for my next major work-on-it-at-home project. 

These last photos are for Heather, who requested to see the inside of the sweater. Here ya go, Heather!

That is the inside of of the side "seam" where I changed colors; since I knit it top-down in the round there are no actual seams*. Here is the right side of same:

 

FO Friday.

I finished the felted bag with the infamous I-cord bind-off.

The somewhat less-than- optimal photograph is the result of attempting to capture two of the most difficult colors and textures -- reds and fuzzy black. The latter was determined to reflect whatever ambient light there was, resulting in a black bag that looked surprisingly silverly. The bag has a few puckers and wrinkles, but those should go away once it is fully loaded.

Overall, the bag turned out well. Tragically, I have absolutely no use for it at present. The coat I made it to go with is long gone. My tote bag supply runneth over, to the extent that I donated nearly a dozen of various types to the Salvation Army last month. As a purse, it lacks any of the internal organizational features that I prefer, like pockets or dividers, plus, being black, it is difficult to find anything inside. I could line it with a light-colored print and perhaps sew some pockets onto that, but, really, what are the chances? If I can't knit it, I'm not interested...

So, for now, this will sit as an object to be admired rather than as an object to be used. Perhaps it will be a gift. Most likely we will sell it at the library fund-raising booth, probably for less than the cost of the yarn. 

::sigh::

For some reason -- primarily a lack of clear thinking -- I thought I had to knit four ropes of I-cord for the handles, even though the pattern clearly specified two. So I knit 240 miles yards inches of I-cord instead of 120. And now I have these:

They will undoubtedly become cat toys. 
Very well-made, luxury cat toys.
I should invest in some catnip with which to stuff them,
just to ensure that they are properly enjoyed.

FO Friday.

It is probably cheating a little if the FO in question is 2010, isn't it? And so I will offer these instead.

First up, the cowl for Alex, Matthew's girlfriend:

Yarn: Knit Picks Andean Silk in Allspice, to match the 16-Cable Hat I made for her last month.
Pattern: Tuesday Night Cowl. No mods, pattern is perfect as written.
Needles: Knit Picks US#7 circ.

The cowl starts from a provisional cast-on, is worked lengthwise, then the ends are Kitchenered together. That's 71 stitches of Kitchenering. Can you tell where I did it?

   
(Color in the photo at top is most accurate. Don't know why these came out so differently.)

I can't tell, either. That Kitchener stitch is magic. As many times as I have done it, I still don't understand exactly how it works. 

Next up on the finishing block were the Dimorphous Mittens. Please note the stunning I-cord bind off on the outer mitts.

Yarn: (outer mitts) Noro Yuzen, about half a skein each of #9 and #14.
(inner mitts) Frog Tree Pediboo (80% merino / 20% bamboo) in the delightfully named '1011', a bit less than one skein; 20 - 30 yards each of Knit Picks Gloss fingering weight (70% merino / 30% silk) in 'Dolphin' and 'Dusk', respectively.
Needles: (outer) Addi Turbo US#5 circ.
Pattern: Dimorphous Mittens. Besides adding the slip-stitch colorwork to the inner mittens, the only mod was a different, more rounded method of decreasing at the fingertips. It takes 12 rows, so figure out when to start based on your row gauge and how long you want the mittens to be:

• *K3, k2tog*. Repeat between *s around.
• Knit 3 rounds even.
• *K2, k2tog*. Repeat between *s around.
• Knit 1 round even.
• *K1, k2tog*. Repeat between *s around.
• Knit 1 round even.
• K2tog around. Repeat this round if necessary to get down to 6 - 8 st.
• Break yarn and thread through remaining stitches. Draw tight and weave in end.

As much as I like how these mittens look, they have two problems:

1. They are so warm that I may never actually need to wear both inner and outer mitts as intended.
2. They are so bulky that I cannot do ANYTHING with my hands except use them as paws.

And so I may end up wearing only the inner mitts. Or maybe I'll break down and buy another pair of leather gloves to replace the ones I lost at the end of last winter.

::sigh::

But at least I learned how to do the I-cord bind off.

* * * * *

Remember the wool dryer balls? They have turned out to be absolutely useless in eliminating -- or even reducing -- static electricity. What a surprise (not). Back to the aluminum foil balls...

::sigh x2::

* * * * *

Wishing you all a most enjoyable and beneficent new year!

 

An FO is an FO, no matter how small.

I just finished wrapping the Christmas presents.

Back when I was a teenager I spent two Christmas seasons wrapping gifts in the little department store in my home town. That taught me how to wrap efficiently and tidily, although our results (my best friend and I worked there together) pale when compared to the gift-wrapping you might get at Saks or Macy's or Nordstrom. It has always surprised me how long it takes to wrap gifts. It seems like once the thinking and the deciding and the schlepping from store to store (in the old days) and the internet shopping (now) and the buying is done, the last step should be over in a snap. This year it seemed to go quickly, maybe because I knew it would take a while or maybe because there were not all that many presents to wrap or maybe because I was listening to an audio book (last bit of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, then Bill Bryson's At Home: A Short History of Private Life, thanks for asking). Anyway, the task is done for another year.

Note: The Leinie's box visible in the background is NOT a Christmas gift. It just happened to be sitting in the right spot to look that way. (If you are not from the Upper Midwest, you may not know about Leinie's. Follow the link to become informed.)

* * * * *

You may have noticed the balls on the bottom shelf of my cart. They are the FO in the title, dryer balls that I made. We have used dryer sheets forever, but I heard about using wadded-up balls of aluminum foil to eliminate static electricity so I tried those. Two foil balls didn't seem to reduce the static much, and I started to have bits of aluminum foil all over the laundry room. Apparently a ball of wadded-up aluminum foil doesn't last forever -- who knew?

But felted yarn balls? Perfect project for a knitter with some extra yarn. Brown, purple, and dark green. I chose dark colors to avoid any possibility of adding lint to the dark loads. My dryer sucks at removing lint.

Three felted balls, however, were not enough -- still had static cling. So I made some more. Blue, maroon, and black, at left. 

I haven't done laundry since I made them so I don't know whether six balls will work any better than three. Stay tuned. They were fun to make, though :)

* * * * *

No word on the CT scan yet. Thanks for all the good wishes! My doc finally called me today to tell me she cannot find the results in my chart.

Headdesk.

The scan was done at a hospital in MN that is in a completely different health care conglomerate than my usual and hospital and clinics, which is probably why the information flow is less than optimal. Still, I have made numerous calls on Tuesday and Wednesday and again today to both places, making sure that the results were transmitted to the right place and that my doc was reminded to call me. Apparently the only call that mattered was the one today to ask the nurse to remind her to call. In her favor, my doctor gave me her personal cell number to call her tomorrow at home -- she is off tomorrow -- to find out if the results have been found.

As I said above, stay tuned...

FO Friday (cont.).

I put up yesterday's post, then realized I had forgotten the biggest project that I had just finished. Tonight Smokey and I are going to a baby shower, and this is what I knit for the baby boy who will emerge next month.

Yarn: Berrocco Vintage leftovers from the multicolored socks I made last winter. Colors are Douglas Fir, Chana Dai, Tidepool, and Black Cherry. The yarn is 50% superwash wool / 50% acrylic, so it is warm AND machine washable, not to mention fuzzy and soft. All that seemed important to me in a baby garment.
Needle: Addi Turbo US#6.
Pattern: Baby Brights, 12 month size.

This is a great pattern for a top-down raglan; I quite like the way she used short rows at the neck. The pattern has a pattern stitch on the lower  part of the sweater, but I thought the stripes were busy enough so I did it all in stockinette.

More on the shower tomorrow...

FO Friday.

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

 Inner mitten:                                Outer mitten, striped:
   

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

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

Knit, knit, knit.

I have been churning out the small projects.

A pair of socks for myself.

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

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

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

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

And then there were some hats.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The vacation, part 3: the knitting.

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

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

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

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

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

They are now [finally!] finished, however.

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

So.

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

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

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

She was so cute.

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

.

.
.

.

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

 

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

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

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

The last few.

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

And that is what I knit on my summer vacation.

Saturday sky.

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

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

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

* * * * *

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

* * * * *

The multicolor striped raglan progresses.

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

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

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

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

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

Oops.

Frog back to beginning of first stripe and reknit.

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

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

Frog back to the beginning of first stripe and reknit.

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

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

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

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

What? Another FO?

It's a pair of socks, though, so don't get too excited.

Not impressed? How about this shot:

 

I was inspired by the colorful socks in Kristin Nicholas's Kristin Knits, of which I tragically have no photo. Suffice to say, hers were far more colorful than mine, but I would have had little use for socks in lime and fuschia and canary yellow. The colors above are more my style.

I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille...

 

 

 

The single row of gold yarn at the cuff kinda got lost when I put them on, darn.

Yarn: Berrocco Vintage (50% acrylic/40% merino/10% nylon worsted weight) in 5182 Black Currant (red), 5185 Tide Pool (teal), 5177 Douglas Fir (green), and 5192 Chana Dal (gold). I bought one skein of each from Webs plus one of 5187 Dungaree (worn denim blue) with the idea to make several pairs of multi-colored socks until I used up the yarn. I was also curious about how an acrylic blend would wear and feel in socks. Today I found that it is not warm as the equivalent weight of wool (Duh.) nor does it breathe quite as well (2xDuh.), but it is still acceptable (Whew.).
Needles: US#2 from the toe to the ankle, then increasing one needle size every inch or so until I was using US#4; cast off with US#5.
Pattern: Wendy's Generic Toe-Up sock. I love this pattern. For the next sock, though, I am going to make the heel deeper to lessen the stretching over the top of the instep. That has not been a problem with the previous socks I made from this pattern, but the combination of worsted weight yarn and small needles in this pair seems to require it.

All in all, socks that are quick to knit and fun to wear. Stay tuned for the next pair, already OTN...

Kimono sweater. Finally.

 

(Yes, that is the Christmas tree in the first photo. What?)

Yarn: Louet Gems Topaz, 100% superwash merino worsted, 5 or 6 skeins of each color.
Needles: Knit Picks Options and Harmony circs, US#7.
Pattern: My design, based on the fundamentals of the kimono sweaters in Kimono Knitting by Vicki Square. Easy-peasy, no fitting, everything is a rectangle. I made the sleeves have snug cuffs because standard kimono sleeves would have defeated the idea of a warm sweater -- drafts, people!

Progress photos at my Ravelry page.

The Louet Topaz is a nice enough yarn, rather loosely plied and therefore prone to splitting. I suspect it will pill, too, since it is so soft. But the sweater is done and comfortable and warm and I am happy.

Shawl pin purchased from some unremembered vendor at Yarnover 2009.

Heads. And helicopters.

Three warm, post-Christmas heads.

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

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

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

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

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

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

* * * * *

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

 

 

 

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

You'll put an eye out!