Knitter Discovers Ancient, Buried Blog

Sheesh - ignore the blog for a couple of months and WordPress goes and changes EVERYTHING! I barely recognize this old place… except for the yarn everywhere.

So where to begin? I’m just going to try to throw out all the stuff I’ve been busy with since I haven’t been busy writing here. I left off with spring break…

We have been on the verge of a kitchen remodel for a very long time now and it’s finally happening this summer! Here’s a picture of my darling Dad masterminding the demolition of our old back porch, which will now be part of the new kitchen. Orestes and I raise hammer and crowbar in salute to his genius. We did the demolition, but our good friends at Kohnen Craftsmanship are doing the building. They start Monday - hooray!

It has taken an incredible amount of time to make all the choices necessary here — what kind of cabinets, flooring, countertops, appliances? What kind of lighting? A ceiling fan? What type of windows, sink, faucet? It has all become a very BIG DEAL because I know I will be living with it for the rest of my life. More on that project as it progresses.

On the knitting front, a couple of great meet-ups have occurred this spring/early summer: Stitch n’ Pitch in late May, and the Knitters Connection in Columbus the 2nd weekend in June. My friend Jill and I hit Stitch n’ Pitch sporting our t-shirts designed by Ravelry gal PinkTiburon:

We met a bunch of fun knitters, had hot dogs and beer (OK, and some nachos)(but we DIDN’T get the Ben & Jerry’s), and the Cardinals won. OH - and we KNITTED! I got most of the way through a little stocking cap I was making for charity - goes to one of the Lakota Sioux reservations in South Dakota. It was a gorgeous night at the ballpark. Our St. Louis LYS owners outdid themselves in putting together very generous goody bags — thanks, everyone!

Though I couldn’t attend the entire line-up of Knitters Connection, the all-day class I took with Cat Bordhi (yes, THE Cat Bordhi!) was well worth the trip. I met up with my Ravelry pal Darcy there and we had a great time talking, knitting, learning, and munching our way through Columbus’ North Market! I’m pretty impressed with Columbus, Ohio, I gotta say. They’ve really got their downtown area happening. We also made a pilgrimage to the Knitters Mercantile shop, the one that sponsored the whole Knitters Connection thing. It is a wonderful yarn shop — fantastic selection, incredibly warm and friendly staff. Here are Darcy and I in Columbus:

I’ve been getting some knitting done in and around all this other crazy stuff. Well, not “done” meaning “finished,” but I have several WIP’s on the needles: the Daydream baby sweater for baby Clementine (in an orange-y color, of course), a Phiaro Scarf for my friend Chris who just started chemo this month, and the Pink Mimosa top for myself, which is miles of mindless stockinette for the most part. The baby sweater is a welcome relief from the other two, as it has little lace borders and eyelet trim on the raglan decreases. How I look forward to that k2tog, yo, k2tog sequence!

OK, that’s quite enough for a re-entry into blogland.

Start-itis

I’m usually pretty good about keeping my cast-on projects to a minimum, but something went awry mid-March and I fell under the spell of Start-itis. Seemed like spring should be here soon, I’d like some springy socks for that, but it was still cold and grey, so the Pretzel Logic Cabled Vest was still teasing me to take it on. So I dove into my first big cable project. I love the challenge of the cables after being stuck on so much stockinette over the winter. Alice Starmore I ain’t, but I’m having a great time learning.

The day before I left for Colorado, I went on a frantic quest to find “Knitting Circles Around Socks,” Antje Gillingham’s new book on knitting 2 socks at once on 2 circular needles. I HAD to have that book and learn the technique while on spring break. Our wondrous newest LYS, Knitty Couture, came to the rescue and I was ready to roll… Until I realized the circs in the book are 2 different lengths and I had brought 2 same-length Addi’s. Luckily, Leadville’s charming little yarn shop-cum-pottery studio had what I needed — for 10% off! And a sale on all yarns with blue in them — 25% off! It occurred to me that at that price, I had to make myself a new ski hat. So I did, improvising wildly with KnitPicks Options tips in two sizes when I decreased down too small for the 16″ circular I knit the thing on. The nieces promptly fell in love with it and I had a helluva time getting it home. Guess I’ll be making up some “Fantasia Earflap Hats” for Christmas…

Back to the socks — I didn’t cast ‘em on till the flight home, but I love the method! It’s very easy to follow — I recommend the book wholeheartedly. Here are the socks:

The yarn is Claudia Handpainted, in “Blue Fields” colorway — nice stuff! The pattern - indiscernible at this early stage in the socks - is “Eleanor,” a MonkeyToes design by the late, great Gigi Silva. It seems important to do a memorial knit in her honor. I didn’t know her well, but she was my downstream SP for a winter cheer swap and we had a great time. Being a Michigander transplanted to Hawaii, the mere thought of winter was dear to her.

Now the question is this:  the back of the vest is almost done (maybe 10 more rows). Do I put it away till next fall and start something (else) springy? Or do I finish it while it’s making sense?

Knit It and They Will Come…

Spring break was a glorious affair this year: headed up to the mountains as usual (Leadville, Colorado - our family’s stomping - and skiing - grounds) and spent a great week with my dad (skiing like a pro at 79), brother and sister-in-law, and nieces. The skiing was fantastic, the snow perfect, nothing but sunshine, good eats, great company — but the highlight? The very highlight of the entire break? My nieces wanted to knit!

The girls are ages 9 and 10, and though I had given them each a little knitting kit for Christmas 2 years ago, they hadn’t shown much interest in learning themselves. I didn’t mention it, but I’m always knitting around them — always. So at our cozy rental house, Hannah picked up some size 9 KnitPicks Options tips that were lying around (not even on a cable) and some scrap yarn and started moving her hands in a knit-like fashion. I said, “Want me to show you how to do it? You almost have the moves down.” And she took off. Then Rachel had to do it, too. All I had left to teach her on were some size 6 dpn’s — no problem. Her little fingers grabbed ‘em and away she went. I cast on just 10 stitches for each of them, and told them they could knit till they had little squares and they’d be blankets for the tiny bears I gave them in their Easter baskets that morning. Hannah is sporting the ski hat I’d just finished.

After they knitted for about half and hour or so, Hannah was getting frustrated so I suggested a game of dominoes. She set up the game and said, “Rachel, come on. We’re ready to play.” Rachel’s reply? “Just a minute, Hannah — I have to finish this row.” She’s hooked, my friends, hooked! I couldn’t be prouder. She wouldn’t go to bed till she finished her little bear-blanket, yawning every third stitch. Hannah finished hers in the morning. Here they are:

And Hannah’s bear with his blankie:

The next evening I was working on the back of my cabled vest. Rachel was watching me like a hawk, asking what the stitch markers were for and how the yarn made the cables. Then she said, “I want to learn to knit in a circle.” So I cast on 60 stitches for her on a size 10 circ and told her that if she knit four or five rounds, she’d have a headband. (I’m doing the casting off, you understand.) So she sat there and didn’t budge till she’d done 5 rounds. My sister-in-law Liz took this shot of the two of us:

And that’s how I turned two very modern little girls into little old ladies in just two nights… I’m telling you, they ate it up.

Finishing School

In a flurry of activity over the weekend, I have some progress to share on a couple of fronts. First, the Weekend Getaway Satchel is seamed up: not finished, mind you, but the seams are done, so it is in one piece. Pretty exciting! Still quite a lot of finishing to do on it, though — sew the metal frame in the top, sew the straps on, put the feet on and the board in the bottom. Oh, and I do so want to line it. Line it AND put some kind of pockets in the lining, because the thing is so big. Have I mentioned that I have no sewing skills? I’m trying to learn to use my mom’s excellent machine (a Necchi, for those in the know), but have just had a rather humbling experience involving a needle roll I was trying to make. Such pretty fabric, too…

Anyhow - I did finish the Halfobi sweater on Saturday. Seamed it, put the crochet edging around it - even the sleeves!, and properly wet-blocked it. It dried in time for me to wear it today. Many compliments — I love that part of knitting! Here it is:

Specs: The pattern is “Halfobi” by Ivete Tecedor, available at chiagu.com. It’s very well-written and a really fun knit. I did mine in Silk Garden, color 213, and it took nearly 8 skeins because I added an inch in length. I think you could do it up in just about any light worsted weight yarn — my gauge was 5.5 stitches to the inch on US 6’s. I used an “F” crochet hook for the edging and added it around the sleeves, too.

To Cut or Not to Cut?

Shall I trim the pieces of the satchel tonight and try to sew them together? Do I have the guts, the nerve, the cahones to do the job — and do it right? Or shall I just knit serenely on with the newly-cast-on Halfobi cardigan, leaving to another day the bigger issues of measuring and cutting and not ruining a project that’s worth $100 of yarn and hours of my life that I’ll never get back no matter what? Maybe it would be better to cut with natural light. Maybe it’s better to do it in the light of day. Maybe I’m just not ready to cut yet. (And these aren’t even steeks, for Pete’s sake.) I’m pretty sure if I had some of these cute bunny scissors I’d be just fine…

Late to the (Silk) Garden Party, Think I’ll Stay

I may be the last knitter in North America to actually knit with Noro Silk Garden. I’ve been hoarding had a big bunch of it for quite some time now, thanks to one of Sue’s amazing sales at littleknits.com, and last night I felt inspired to cast on. When I bought it, I weighed 40 pounds more than I do now and was planning on making the Bettna cardigan with it, which is a long, covers-all-sins sweater. Now that I’m healthier, I wanted a less shrouded look. So the other night when I was poking around on Ravelry (yes, I do spend entirely too much time there - do not speak of this to me again - when it is less polar, I will go outside and play) - where was I? - oh yes, I found the “Halfobi” sweater. It’s a kind of shrug/bolero hybrid that just looks fantastic knitted up in Silk Garden. I’m going to make mine a bit longer than bolero length, so it doesn’t do one of those dreaded ski slope off the chi-chi’s effects… Ick!

I had made using this lovely yarn one of my 12 goals for the “Mission Possible” group I’m in at Ravelry, and after a snow day yesterday mostly spent felting the other pieces of the satchel from hell, I was ready for a change. And what a change! From knitting doubled-up strands of scratchy ol’ Lopi (love ya, Lopi, but you know you’re scratchy, man!) - the last bit all in black heather, no less — I turn to soft and delicious Silk Garden. Every row changes color slightly and every few rows I’m in new color entirely. A perfect antidote to Lopi. Will post in-progress pix when I’m further along than 3.5″ on the right sleeve.

Special Kay

Today is my oldest and dearest friend’s birthday. Kay and I have been friends for more than 30 years, having cemented our acquaintance over bleeding fingers, stuffing Kleenex flowers in chicken wire on the Latin Club float for the JCHS Homecoming Parade 1974.

I’m not even sure Kay herself knows all the ways she’s influenced my life and who I am today, but her influence has been profound. Her intellectual curiosity has always spurred me on to challenge myself to learn more, about anything really — from foreign languages to cooking to knitting to cars. Yes, cars — Kay just emailed me a blog post about a ‘72 Capri, asking, “Wasn’t this Corey’s [my brother's] car?” Kay’s father is Chinese, so hanging out at her house meant learning to eat with chopsticks way before the average Jefferson City person, not to mention yukking it up over the impossible English translations in Chinese cookbooks — Roasted Milk Egg Towers, anyone?

Her sense of humor is keen and her memory practically photographic, so she’s the perfect person to riff on Monty Python sketches with — or Mel Brooks movies or “Fawlty Towers” — or the most recent selection from Netflix. Kay’s not all retro, oh no — the girl keeps up.

A few years ago, we went to “Sing-along Sound of Music” together, and who else could have created costumes that won us 3rd place against such tough competition as a couple dressed as a mountain range (as in “Climb Ev’ry”) and a plethora of cross-dressing nuns? Only Kay would have thought of AND created a series of “Favorite Things” costume pieces: the schnitzel with noodles necklace made of Fimo schnitzels and strung with real noodles I still have and treasure.

We took up pipe-smoking for a brief moment one summer, trying to be as cool as a French AFS student I was enamoured of at the time. Our mothers put the kabosh on that little activity, once they realized we were seriously shopping for pipes at the K-Mart. We double-pierced our ears way before it was really popular, but we did it with self-piercers. (Now that’s like having a blood pact in and of itself.) Kay came to rescue me when a relationship blew up in my face when I was living and acting in Omaha, Nebraska. I was her maid of honor and she was mine. She named her second daughter after me, which is about the coolest thing that has ever happened to me. In recent years we have supported each other through some pretty horrific times, and though I wish we hadn’t had to, I don’t know what would have become of me if she hadn’t been there.

Happy Birthday, Kay — you are the specialest Kay there could ever be. Lots of X’s and O’s to you…

(In the photo above, Kay is on the right, I’m on the left. I know, I know — the eyebrows! The perm! It was 1979 or something… One of my favorite things is when people think we’re sisters (Kay’s just the sister with better taste in eyebrows and hair).

And then, things got hairy…

What have I done?!! My creation is now a very hairy, wavy mess. I’ve read that people shave felted items, but I’ll need to take this to the groomer we take our Newfie to, and take the electric clippers to it. I think the color stuff turned out OK, pretty much like the IK picture, if I could only see it for the shag… I am worried about the puckery aspects, however. Maybe I can steam it flatter when it dries? And finally — it is still really BIG, and to trim it, I’ll probably have to cut off some of the colorwork that took me 5,000 hours to do. Gak. I need to go lie down for awhile, until I regain my equililbrium…

Felting Today…

Wish me luck — I’m taking the plunge today. Well, the front of the Weekend Getaway Satchel is taking the plunge — I’m felting it today. Here’s a couple of “before” pictures:

And before you faint at the sight of a piece of knitting clipped to a skirt hanger — I would never do that if I weren’t felting it. It’s gonna be agitated within an inch of its woolly little life anyway. And I only clipped it up to photo it. I’m having second thoughts about felting it — I haven’t finished the back panel yet, maybe I’ll just keep it this way and wear it as a skirt…

Anyway — I’m very nervous about felting this, not because of the knitting, but because of the interminable EMBROIDERY. If it looks like hell, there’s no going back after felting. And I know I will not be willing to reknit another front. EVER. Under any circumstances. No. Not an option. Nuh-uh. No how, no way. What I’m trying to say here is that I did not enjoy taking up the embroidery needle after a 30-year absence. I was quite a prolific embroiderer in my youth (60’s-70’s, what can I say? Well, “embroidered work shirt” would just about sum it up, I think. And “embroidered overalls,” “embroidered jeans,” and the unfortunate memory of a gauze Western shirt that my uncle wanted embroidered with the Eagles’ logo skull… Oh dear…) My dear friend Kay is really wonderful at the stuff and I considered asking her if she would do the embroidery for this bag for me, in exchange for a lifetime supply of moon cakes or winter melon cakes from the Chinese bakery here, or whatever she likes… But then I got all muley on it — “I must do it myself! It is myyyyyyy CRREATION! (think Gene Wilder in “Young Frankenstein” here).

I will let you know if my creation is worthy in a little while. Or if it is so evil that it must be destroyed…

Socks Need to Get Gauge, Too

Though this little sock gauge epiphany thing dawned on me a while ago, it’s taken a little time and healing to be able to speak of it publicly. It is so amazingly idiotic that it’s hard to admit. Let me preface the story by saying that I am a swatching kind of knitter. I may not do a very big swatch, but I do swatch. Always. Except for socks. Because, you know, I knit socks on #1 Addi’s, 2 circ’s, and that’s that. I’ve made 7 pair of socks that way, in different sock yarns, for different people, and they’ve all fit just fine, thank you very much. Because when I knit socks, I do ‘em on #1 Addi’s, 2 circ’s, and it works. Period. End of story. (OK, OK, I confess: I’ve never even CONSIDERED swatching for socks once my first two pair fit. The thought never even crossed my mind.)

So two Christmases ago (’06), I was knitting Trillian’s brilliant “Capt. Jack Sparrow’s Favorite Socks” for Orestes. Pirate socks, how great is that? Stranded colorwork - OK, it’s for the center of my universe, I’ll do it. And it was fun watching the little skulls appear and seeing how nice and even my stitches looked. When I got to the heel turn, I had him try the first one on, being a little nervous about the floats being loose enough. He struggled and pulled and yanked and finally got it over his heel. Obviously it was too tight. So I thought, well, I’ll just turn it into a wristband or something. He can wear it when he plays music. And I’ll start all over again, this time using the yarn recommended in the pattern instead of the basic striped stuff I’d used the first time.

Fast forward to Christmas ‘07. I have the Lorna’s Laces Black Purl, I’m ready to go. These are gonna be AWESOME! Orestes helps me wind the yarn in the Denver airport (I forgot to wind it at home before we left) and I get half the pirate pattern done the first day. They look fantastic - I’m using both hands, one with each color, and it’s getting a little smoother, and the stitches look so nice and even. I check obsessively for signs of puckering or pulling - none! The next day I finish the pattern part and am ready to start the heel. I blithely offer the sock top to Orestes to try on. He’s delighted with the new improved colorway and can’t wait to try it on. Except — it won’t GO on. Waaay too tight. Too tight?! But my floats are PERFECT, there’s no puckering, the little skulls look amazing - how could this be??? I immediately accuse my love of having swollen feet from all the air travel. No, he assures me, they’re really fine. What the hell?! What the —-

And slowly, sickeningly, the truth begins to dawn on me. In slow motion, I reach for my measuring tape. I lay it on the new, perfect, pirate sock top. The gauge is 8.5 stitches to the inch. Frantic now, I grab the pattern and read, “Gauge: 7 st to the inch, on size 2 needles.” 7 to 1″ on a 2. Not 8.5 to 1″ on a 1. But I’m a loose knitter! I NEVER use the size needles in the pattern! I ALWAYS go down at least one size!!! Until now…

When we got home from the in-laws, I put the first sock top to the same test. 8 stitches to the inch. Still waaay off. Fortunately, Orestes is half-full kind of person, so he immediately stated that he’d rather have pirate fingerless mitts than socks anyway. He’d use them a lot more, he said. (Now you know why our marriage has lasted happily for nearly 13 years.)

And because I’m a half-full kind of person, too, and an incurable Pollyanna to boot — I took comfort in at least knowing that it wasn’t bad technique on the stranding, just plain stupidity. It’s also kind of a thrill to know that if I decide to knit these ever again - or to make the 2nd mitt - that it’ll go a helluva lot faster at 7 stitches to the inch, rather than 8.5. Ahhhh, nothin’ beats making some lemonade…