The Knitter's Journey

Short Row Heel

2011-08-30T15:09:00.000-04:00

Completed short row heel

I've always made socks with a heel flap, but I need to know how to do this because I have a plan for some really nice sock yarn. I get this, but it was a little aggravating.

Hat Bath

2011-06-09T12:27:00.000-04:00

It feels good to finish something, even if it is a hat.
Pattern is of my own creation. Yarn is Patons Classic Wool in Natural Mix.

How do you know you're done?

2011-02-25T16:40:00.000-05:00

This is a WILNTBIPAM. That stands for Work I'd Like Not To Be In Progress Any More.

I seriously (at current plan) have two more rows to do on this. I've had two more rows to do on this for three weeks. Evidently wishing for it to be done is not the same as it actually being done. The pattern, which is more like a guide on how to do a simple triangular shawl (with some nifty texture and some stripes) is great. I decided to do the bigger version of this before starting because I was afraid of ending up with some pretty little kerchief that I wouldn't wear. The bigger version requires about 800 yards of fingering weight yarn as opposed to 400 yards. I don't regret the choice. At the 400 yard mark, I had a nice little triangle. I think that it might have made it around my neck. Maybe. This is an unscientific guess at it and it wasn't blocked. Clearly, I could have been wrong.

At the 800 yard mark (or so) when I was finishing up balls three and four of this yarn, I could not stop because I was in the middle of on of the garter stitch sections. I could not see stopping in the middle of it and then it would be narrower than the other garter stitch sections. I had more yarn, so onward. Now, I am trying to make the cast off edge look like the other two. I did a little row of YO K2tog to make some holes and now I just need a little edge. And a cast off.

My fear is that after all of this knitting, large amounts of television-worthy knitting, I will end up with something I don't like. Which is perhaps what is holding me up. Is this thing going to block out to a size that will make me look like I'm wrapped in a blanket?

It is tonight's TV knitting.

Simple Yet Effective Shawl. Will it be?

Details:
Pattern: Simple Yet Effective Version 2.0 by Laura Cha u here or on Ravelry (great first shawl pattern)
Yarn: Patons Kroy Sock FX in colorway 57242--Clover Colors (does not resemble any clover I've ever seen), approximately 900 yards (I guess I could weigh it)
Needles: Knitpicks Options 36" circular with US size 6 Harmony wood tips. (Awesome!)
Other aids: Knit Minder App on iPhone (Love this!)

Blogging The Super Bowl

2011-02-06T19:19:00.000-05:00

What you do if you are not a Packers fan or a Steelers fan. I'm in it for the food, the commercials and the knitting. Not necessarily in that order.

Basic sock in Patons Kroy Sock, colorway Paintbox.

A Salute to the Ballband Dishcloth

2011-01-24T21:45:00.004-05:00

The main color is Fiesta, one of my favorites.

One of my regular, everyday knitting project is the humble dishcloth. I haven’t devoted blog time and space to dishcloths because it seemed like a knitting cop our and that I should be working on something with a little more technical merit, Right? (Do knitters need street cred?) While this isn’t all that I knit, I do have one of these in progress most of the time. You know, just for when you need to knit on a little something to take the edge off. The beauty of these things is that I use them every day. I can’t think of anything else I knit that gets as much use as a dishcloth. And not just any dishcloth, either.

My absolute favorite is the ballband dishcloth, created by Pisgah Yarn and Dyeing Co and made famous by the gals from Mason Dixon Knitting in this book. They are my guilty knitting secret. Here's why (in convenient list form):

1. They are easy. I've done enough of them to memorize the pattern and work on them while watching TV.

2. Snack knitting! There is no real commitment here. Each one if finished in a few hours. Lots of FOs.

3. Each one is a study in color. They can be as bright as you want them to be. In fact, the more colorful, the better. Lighter ones get dingy looking faster.

4. Low cost. Two balls of yarn at $1.69 per ball makes two dishcloths. The pattern is included on the ball band. Most folks have a pair of size 7 needles too.

5. They are actually useful. The construction makes them perfect for the task at hand. Very scrubby.

6. Gifts! I've given several of these away, usually as hostess gifts.

A faithful dishcloth ready for a trip into the sink.

I've made a discovery along the way. First, whenever possible, use the real McCoy--the Peaches and Creme yarn from Pisgah Yarn and Dyeing. If you buy two balls (in nicely coordinating colors), they will make two complete dishcloths. I tried doing this with Lily Sugar and Cream, which ran a few yards short on the second dishcloth. Unfortunately, I might have to deal with this some time soon.

Pisgah Yarn and Dyeing, Nirvana to a dishcloth knitter. Photo taken on a detour on my way to the dentist.

The absolute worst sign of the times is the loss of small, local businesses. I've said goodbye to two nice yarn stores in the last year. Now, it seems that Pisgah Yarn and Dyeing Plant is closing. I stumbled across this article on Ravelry today, which confirmed my suspicions (which were sparked by a 50% off sale on their website). It is particularly sad since they make some of my favorite yarn and they are located right here in North Carolina.

I wandered in and inquired about the outlet store.

I took a notion to visit the factory about a year and a half ago. I'd just bought and read the first Mason-Dixon Knitting book and begun knitting ballband dishcloths like crazy. The address and the store hours were posted on their website and, hey, I was going to be passing by anyway. I wandered into the office and asked about the outlet store. An employee showed me to a room with shelves that had every single color and type of yarn. You could fill out a little card with what you wanted and they would pull it for you. I made my selections and wandered into the office to check out.

The room full of yarn. You could hear factory noise, but tours were not possible due to safety and insurance reasons. Plenty of yarn, though. Colors I'd never see before.

The bargain bin--hours of dishcloth knitting fun. I did discover that a cone is not a very portable amount of yarn. Unless you wear it as a hat.

About the time I wondered how many cones of double worsted I'd need for a bathmat, I saw this.

I had a great talk with Flo, who offered me helpful advice, color cards and samples as she rang up my purchases. I really would have enjoyed spending the entire afternoon if I didn't have an appointment to make with my dentist. I'm glad I had the chance to visit.

I'm sad that they are closing. They made great cotton yarn in beautiful colors. I hope for the best possible outcome for the 81 people employed there.

Nice weather for a hat.

2011-01-11T14:40:00.000-05:00

Knitting one, that is.

Hat of my own invention.
Patons Classic wool
Colorway: Natural Mix
Size 8 needles.

I hope everyone is enjoying the snow as much as I am.

Alas, poor Leonard.

2010-02-17T12:10:00.000-05:00

Key West

2009-10-05T21:07:00.000-04:00

I miss it already.

Happy Birthday Evan!

2009-09-10T08:50:00.004-04:00

Today I am celebrating having a nephew named Evan for ten years. Even if I have to go to work.

Evan with his dad and his brother, 09 10 99.

Evan wearing the family christening gown. Already a handsome fellow.

Evan wearing a sweater made by The Goddess of All Things Wool and Then Some.

(It's a knitting blog, see?)

Evan these days.

I hope your day is great! Love, 2T

P.S. I sent you something. Did you get it?

Memory vs. Reality

2009-09-04T10:39:00.003-04:00

Some time after I started knitting but before my mother died, I asked her about a knitting project of hers and why she did not continue to knit. My mom took a stab at the whole knitting thing in the early eighties. I am pretty sure that I was still in high school and that The Goddess of All Things Wool and Then Some was in college--so, sometime between 1981 and 1983 my mother briefly tried knitting. She had one finished object--a dishcloth. Which I remembered to be regular in shape, a rectangle or a square, and made of orange and white cotton. Most of the time that I saw it, it was being used for washing dishes. I think she also began a pink mohair scarf for The Goddess, but that was a UFO, lost somewhere in their house. The only thing I remember otherwise about my mother knitting is that she hated purling.

So sometime, in the last year of my mother's life, I asked her about her knitting, and I mentioned the little dishcloth that she'd made. And she said, "That ugly thing?" and then, "It isn't even square." Which seems odd to me in a way. My mother was pretty artistic and crafty. This would be the only thing I can think of that she couldn't do well. But, it wasn't that bad, was it? I didn't remember it being odd looking.

I found this at my dad's yesterday while I was putting away aprons and dishtowels. Buried in the bottom of the drawer was one cotton dishcloth, stained and faded, in orange and white cotton. It is absolutely a study in beginning knitting (I personally have one of these too, full or neat little twisted stitches) . There are two color sections of stockinette, which would account for the rolled end. Then one section where she switched to garter stitch with a few guilty looking pieces of stockinette in it and then the she continued on in garter stitch to the end. This made is sort of a trapezoid shape The stitches are super tight and they were likely done on metal needles. A beginning knitter using cotton (which does not stretch or cling) on metal needles (slick). It is no surprise that she didn't do more. It was sweet to find it, though.

Happy Birthday Susan (one day late, sorry)

2009-04-13T20:54:00.022-04:00

This is a guest post. A birthday present post by Britomart's sister Teresa (Pink Purl). I am listed as a contributor to this blog but Angel the dog has contributed more than I have. This is a sad state of affairs. This post would have occurred on Susan's actual birthday but a very inconvenient (and lengthy) power outage ruined my planned blogging opportunity. I have been planning several guest posts for Susan's blog as I do not have a blog of my own or the time to post very often. I have a 16 month old and two older children (all boys), need I say more?

Susan just celebrated the anniversary of her 29th birthday on April 12th. Her birthday actually falls on Easter every now and then, as it happened to this year. How swell is that? Our brother's birthday is often the first day of spring. Also neat. My birthday did end up being the last day of school once or twice when we had a great many snow days to make up but that didn't seem quite as special. It could make the birthday get overlooked in all the hub bub as a matter of fact.

Since our mom died in the past year and couldn't call Susan on her birthday and tell her what a cute baby she was (it was her yearly tradition) I decided to post a few pictures so everyone could see how cute Susan was. Here is how cute Susan was at 3 months:

This is Susan, age 7, in her second grade picture:

Cute pigtails, cute freckles (lots), big new teeth. Very adorable. This was in the early 1970's when little girls still wore dresses to school almost every day.

This is a knitting blog but this is not a knitting post. It is a post about a very clever self-taught knitter who happens to be a daughter, sister, a fabulous aunt and a friend to many. She is considered by my children to be much cooler than I will ever be. She is hilariously funny and smart. If you were a member of our family you would know that Susan is one of Santa's helpers. She spends as much time on stuffing a stocking as she does purchasing the actual gift. If it were not for Susan, many years my stocking would hang lank and limp. My husband is nearly perfect in almost every way but he will never come as close to being Santa Claus as Susan does.

She finds great gifts for all occasions really. Here is a picture of a recent gift from Susan in use for Easter.

See, the perfect, funny yet useful gift.

If you know Susan, make sure to send her birthday wishes. I am dreadfully sorry it is so late. The state that my brain is in now is causing Blogger to kick my butt. I have never blogged before, but for you, Susan, I will stay up late and get this done.

I promise to post something about knitting, but not tonight. My brain is fried. We are all looking forward to visiting you this week. The boys have been asking when we were leaving since they got out of school on Friday afternoon. Apparently employment is not a good excuse for being denied an immediate visit. They have requested "home made" french fries and an egg hunt. I should mention that Susan is the master of egg hiding. Brennan, Evan and Alexander look forward to seeing Angel, as does Winona. Winona has a special Easter gift for Angel. She would like to help her demolish it.

Winona and her current squirrel wishing Susan a happy birthday.

Here is a sneak peak at a future knitting post. Hint, it is from The Best of Lopi by Susan Mills and Norah Gaughan.

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Lopi-Susan-Mills/dp/1893762041

You would think I lived in a much colder climate than Piedmont North Carolina to like this kind of sweater. I'm just cold natured and love the patterns (genius) and color work.

I hope you had a happy day Susan!

Happy Easter

2009-04-12T13:24:00.003-04:00

I've documented a few submissions from the Easter Bunny This morning. I've dyed an obscene number of eggs and will be eating deviled eggs for a long time. I did some new stuff this year, which may (at some point) translate into yarn.

Some of the eggs I dyed were brown eggs. It has the same effect that using dark primer before painting a wall would have. All colors do not look good on brown eggs. Red, however, looks amazing. Next year, Evan and I can do a batch of NC State eggs. I've got it down.

I also did some speckled, tie-dyed looking eggs (white ones) using oil in the dye. Some of these were extremely cool as well. I also did the traditional pastel colors because I love them too. Off to do some deviled eggs...

Testing, Testing 1-2-3

2009-04-11T23:39:00.004-04:00

Amazing what batteries can do for a camera. I did get a few photos of my azaleas before they got pummeled by the torrential rain yesterday. Most of them still look OK, but a few of the big ones were drooping after their weather workout. Some of them are taller than I am. They are one of my favorite things about my house. Looking back on the post where my house was hiding sock yarn from me, I did seem a bit negative. So, here are some of the best things about my house:

This funny azalea is MOSTLY white, with a couple of magenta blooms and several striped and spotted ones. I've always thought it was neat.

These are of my absolute favorite.

The white ones look unreal.

This is a picture from my backyard. Right behind my house, looking toward my property line. See the neighbor's house off in the distance? Me neither.

Back to knitting soon.

My Camera is Not Working

2009-04-02T22:23:00.005-04:00

I really did take some nice (for me) high resolution pictures. Instead, you get an example of what I spent April Fool's Day doing...

My Brother, The Dread Pirate Roberts.

P.D.Q. Bach (Peter Schickele) - "New horizons in music appreciation" (Beethoven)

2009-04-01T22:03:00.001-04:00

I heard this on Sirius on the way home--a perfect April Fool's classical selection. It was almost as good as Google's joke today.

P.S. A long tune, but worth it.

Maybe this has happened to you...

2009-03-30T21:03:00.002-04:00

I could go on and on about the undesirable qualities of my house. Built during an era that did not encourage charm or style , I present my 1970's era brick, ranch house. Which is what you can afford on my salary.

Skip forward to today. It is Monday. Irritatingly busy. Strangely unproductive. I devote my evening to delivering luggage. I wrap my brain around the fact that I will not be off either of my days off this week. Note to my boss: I am a damned jewel.

Anyway, since I am going to have to spend some time languishing around the mall to meet with some grand high muckety mucks and doing a packing demonstration, I decided that I needed a traveling sock, as I don't have one right now. (My week is beginning to sound like one giant dorkfest and it is only Monday.) When I got home tonight, I began looking for some sock yarn. Which I could not find. There was no real shortage of yarn, mind you. Just not the sock kind. I looked all of the likely places, making some interesting finds, but none of them were sock yarn. Note to The Goddess of All Things Wool and Then Some: I found the missing Christmas Stockings. You can stop looking.

I finally came to the conclusion that my house ate my yarn. I labored under this delusion until I found the yarn in an old suitcase. Maybe the house only hid the yarn.

I think I am tired.

Knitting Goes to Work

2009-03-29T21:10:00.003-04:00

It has been a while since I had something really good and knit-ish to talk about, and a bit of a stretch even today. But today gets a post because it is my blogiversary. The current economic climate has put me at work more than usual, so it is good that I like my job, but my hobbies tend to suffer. Below is a recent attempt to compensate for lost knitting time:

Knitting goes to a manager's meeting.

The cabley Irish Hiking Scarf is just complicated enough to be interesting, but not so complicated that it wouldn't be a good work project. As much as I loved the one I did for my dad in alpaca, this scarf is more fun to do in wool. I am using Patons Classic Wool in Natural Mix, which is light enough in color to show off the cables and soft enough to wrap around your neck. Or Drew's.

Meet Drew:

The result of one conference call and several lunch breaks.

Drew works for me. He is an ardent admirer of my knitting. Which is, in my opinion, unusual for someone who is 19. Almost 20. The scarf is for him. I do about four rows every day during lunch, which occupies the last little part of my lunch break. I can get 8-12 rows in during a conference call. I feel nicer on days when I work a little knitting in. Anyone else have to get a little fix just to get by?

Cable needles are funny looking, aren't they?

I'm Having a Knittiversary Celebration

2009-02-21T21:53:00.003-05:00

I've been knitting for two years today. For fun, the sock and I went to Wingate University for a basketball game with my dad. Both teams were victorious today, against Newberry, another small school with a pretty good basketball program. Also, very cool, this game was a fund raiser for breast cancer. (I can't help but think of Kay Yow.) Even cooler--look above in the women's picture. Those pink shirts on the right are on the women's team from Newberry.

The sock enjoyed the game right up to the end of the men's game--when I dropped a stitch doing toe decreases. I think I have fixed it, but it was dark in there. Perhaps I shall model it for the blog later.

The Black Hole of Time

2009-02-16T21:06:00.004-05:00

I haven't wasted so much time since I discovered Ravelry. My usual bad influence is The Goddess of All Things Wool and Then Some, who has convinced me that I should be on Facebook. Which, evidently, is not just for people in high school and college anymore. I had my concerns about the whole social networking website thing (fear of running across those involuntary referrals from my last career or maybe even The Devil or his evil minions). Still do. Also, it does involve a lot of be my friend, check yes or no. However, if you are the type of person who just never seems to get that Christmas letter composed and mailed out, it is a nice way to keep up. That would be me. I spend more of my awake and off work hours driving than any other task. I need things that are easy.

Lisa Souza Sock!, which is also destined for something good. Another big idea from The Goddess.

I have gotten in some knitting this week. None of it represents exciting progress. I knitted on Big Red all the way through The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe. It is longer. It just doesn't look that different. I am in the home stretch on the sock that has been my purse knitting for way too long. I would probably be farther along if I had a conference call every Monday. It also went for a haircut with me today. I have conquered the dishcloth. My giant goal for tomorrow is to get off work in time to go to knit night at Close Knit. Too much solo knitting.

A note for The Goddess: You can't really expect for me to be on Facebook and blog too. Can you? Let me send you a virtual beverage. Or some Flair....

A Small Discovery

2009-02-11T21:46:00.002-05:00

Ball-Band Dishcloths

I decided, a while back, that I'd just love to have a drawer full of hand knit dish cloths. I could give them as gifts. I can afford to make them. I have the attention span to finish them (oooh, snack knitting). All stars had aligned so that I could be the dishcloth fairy. Except that I ended up hating the actual knitting of them. Which I have ignored. Until recently.

Now, I am a process knitter. I get off on the actual act of knitting. It makes me feel good. This however, is project knitting. Which I have had some challenges with, no matter how small the task. This does not mean that I don't want to finish stuff. I do. I just enjoy the whole journey. Except with these things. And it did begin to hack me off that I was not able to just do this easy, beginner project.

There are a few problems that I have noticed:

1. Cotton has no sproing to it. None. Zip. Nada. It is just not like wool. It never will be. However, zillions of people knit with it every day. With no problems.
2. Cotton yarn slides right off metal needles and plastic ones too. Some kind of wood is optimal.
3. 14" long needles (and slick ones) seem to make me grip really hard to control the project, resulting in really tired and sore hands, forearms and elbows. It feels a bit like knitting a flag.

I have lots of 14" size 7 needles. In every possible fabrication, it seems. I have exactly one set of size 7 10" needles. Bamboo. Which corrects most of the problem. It does not make cotton yarn springy, but it does make it workable. Easily so. At some point, I wouldn't mind trying it out on a short circular, just for kicks. I think it would probably work at least as well.

The other upside to this is that I have also completely ignored almost any project that used any fiber other than wool. Avoidable deprivation. Another little lesson in correct tools for the job.

Mmmmmm

2009-02-07T09:49:00.002-05:00

I fully believe the adage that everything is better with bacon on it. I even used to have bacon wrapping paper. Now I've discovered THIS!

Resolute

2009-01-28T10:51:00.004-05:00

The Knitting Lab Log Cabin Blanket this morning.

Funny how this little project that I started to practice picking up stitches has progressed into more. I have certainly mastered the initial task, but picked up a few more skills and added new ones to learn from it. I've learned to pick up the ends while picking up the new row of stitches, so I have fewer ends to weave in. Also that there is a neat way to do it (and a sloppy way). Unfortunately, this does not cover the ends that already needed weaving in. Just fewer going forward. This was also a real journey into the land of color planning. I've looked longingly at other log cabin projects on ravelry, making plans for future blankets. Many have a planned out color scheme, some use scraps, all are neat looking. I personally had to have six colors on this one, so that no block of any color would ever touch a block of the same color. It is roughly half as big as I think I'd like it.

Things I'd like to learn from this project that I haven't learned yet:

1. Applied I-cord. I love the way it looks. It seems to go with this. This includes going around corners.

2. Provisional cast on. So I can kitchener the ends of the i-cord together when I'm done.

I've already started watching video on YouTube to get started. Here is a great one.

Which leads me to the 2009 list of knitting resolutions:

1. Complete log cabin blanket in desired fashion.

2. Complete big red sweater.

3. Learn to work from a chart. I already know how to do this in theory, but I have not actually done it. The Goddess of All Things Wool and Then Some and I have a project in mind.

4. Make yarn. Make enough yarn so that I can make something from it. This means that I must either be able to do it with a spindle or I must have obtained a spinning wheel.

5. Expand my knowledge of sock making. New heels. New methods. I love making plain little socks, but I'd probably love to make other kinds too.

6. To make someone a knitted present that they really love.

The Goddess made these perfect tiny socks as a thank you for a knitted gift that she loved.

2008, A Year in Review

2009-01-20T13:43:00.009-05:00

Not exactly enough for a snowman.

Knitting resolutions for 2008:

1. Complete current WIPs. I have neglected all other WIPs of late to focus on the maximum scarf made of that beautiful Malabrigo. My current goal is to do at least 8 rows per day (which I've actually been doing for a few days), rather than not touching it for weeks and then feeling like I should knit until I am very tired of it. 8 rows makes it 1"longer each time I do it. Ultimately, I'd like to have some cold weather this year and to wear this scarf for it.

A narrow window of opportunity--snow this morning.

Holey purpleocity Batman. I finally finished it! On September 18th. And now I have cold weather and a tiny bit of snow and an opportunity to wear handknits, perhaps. I think that the lesson that the scarf offers is that there is a carpe diem mentality that you must embrace as a knitter. That was the first "nice" yarn I bought. Even though I had very limited skills at that point. I cannot imagine that I would have liked (or finished) the maximum scarf if it had been made of a lesser material. In short: Carpe yarn. Use it. Now. Your skills are always good enough for some "nice" yarn.

2. To complete a pair of green Cascade 220 socks and then to go on to make many more fine pairs of socks.

And I did. The whole thing about the green socks was my fear about screwing them up. Which seems silly now. It's not like I have ever shown any fear of frogging something that didn't look right. I finally had to learn to pick up stitches, my big stumbling block), and get on with it. While I am not zooming through the current sock, I always have a sock in progress with me. Waiting in lines, for appointments, sitting at a bar--all of them are good times to do something productive while I wait. I am currently toting around the second sock of my fifth pair of socks.

3. To create a beautiful and dog-friendly throw for my couch.

I think that the Log Cabin blanket is going to be this. Except for the dog-friendly part. It is regular worsted wool, so it isn't machine washable. But it is fun enough for me to want to do it again. And again. And again. I have to put this project away sometimes just to get things done. There are limitless possibilities for this, so I can't wait to finish this one so I can think up the next one.

4. To make the Knitting Pure and Simple Rollneck Sweater (Neck Down Pullover for Women #9724). This will mean that I will have to make a decision about color and commit the time to actually do this project. I have had the pattern since February.

No snow left.

For anyone who may share my issues with commitment to yarn choice and fear of messing up lots of "nice" yarn. This is absolutely the first sweater you should do. In Cascade Eco+. My nice red color is #8450. Which is a really beautiful red. Which I cannot capture with a camera. Go fondle some at your LYS. The pattern is smart and idiot-proof. And error free, as far as I can tell. I wish I'd begun this earlier. I am about one third done on this one. I did stop working on it to do Christmas knitting. I'd like to wear this before it gets warm.

5. To do at least one charity project. Charity TBA.

By my count, I did 9 hats for Hats for Alex. It was fun to do something for someone else AND learn how to do hats. I hope to do more in the future.

6. To knit every day, even if it is just a little bit and to blog at least twice a week, even if it is during Back to School and Christmas. It is not like this isn't fun.

Knitting every day, just a little, was a big calming force in 2008. I spent a fair amount of lunch breaks on random mall sofas knitting little bits of socks. I had 90 blog posts in 52 weeks, a little shy of the twice a week average. I can't seem to apologize for it, though. It is still my hobby. My BIL did ask me recently if I enjoyed blogging. I certainly do. But there is a why attached to it. It is sort of a thinking-out-loud process and I can't imagine that I am the only person that thinks of these things too. It was a little hard being a new knitter, self-taught and on the trial and error plan for absolutely everything. There are plenty of things that you need to discover yourself--like what kind of needles you like. There are other things that is was nice to have some guidance. Like socks. And picking out good yarn for a sweater. The Internet was good for some things, but having a sister who knits was better.

On Looking Ahead

2009-01-19T15:59:00.004-05:00

Alexander shows us how it is done.

While living the life of a retail manager, I often misplace the time from Thanksgiving to Christmas, and some of the better lessons that it has to offer. We had our store holiday party last night, at a local restaurant. Among the folks in attendance were some people from our corporate office. Our waiter asked us what we were celebrating and our VP of Merchandising said, "We sell luggage, we've survived the holidays and we still have jobs." Enough said. We have a lot to be thankful for. And I do. Here are some of the things that were great about Christmas: (Better late than never)

I think my father liked his present. It has actually been cold this week and should snow tonight. I was afraid that this would be like getting a new sled for Christmas--a sure fire guarantee of global warming.

My Dad models his Irish Hiking Scarf.

Someday soon.

One of my absolute goals this year is to acquire a spinning wheel. Ultimately, I'd like to see an entire project from sheep to finished object. Everything in stages. Anyhow, I have a nice start on purchasing a spinning wheel.

My dad is manly enough to have his own LYS. He got me an umbrella swift. This is a really good way to keep your name at the top of the knitted gifts list.

A Custom Needle Case. Just for me.

And did I mention that I had a knitter working for me? Who just happened to be my Secret Santa?

Angel wanted me to mention that she also got a fine present from The Goddess of All Things Wool and Then Some. She liked it so much, she immediately ripped open his pants to remove his squeaker.

Perhaps someone should have removed his squeaker a long time ago. Did I mention I actually got a divorce for Christmas as well?

I've taken two weeks off from work and my feet feel almost normal again. I had a nice visit with The Goddess and her family. For fun, The Goddess and I bought pashminas in hopes of becoming more sophisticated. I am not sure how well it is working for her, but I feel very chic and cosmopolitan in mine. During my sabbatical, I've heard the term "staycation". Which I guess is mostly what I've done. And I've enjoyed it.

While I wouldn't pass up a chance at warm weather and blue water, this has been a fine break. The big red sweater has seen a lot of action. I had gotten about halfway through the yoke of it when I started logcabining and could not stop to save myself. And then I had to actually commit to finishing my dad's Christmas present. All three of them were started within about a week of each other. At any rate, I completed the yoke while I was visiting The Goddess. I started the body right before I left. I am now about halfway (by my calculations) between the armpits and the hem. The cleverness of this particular pattern amazes me. It is easy enough. It has just been cool watching all of the parts of the sweater appear. Strangely, I haven't taken a bunch of pictures of it....

January is a time of reflection. I do need to go over my knitting resolutions from last year and make new ones for this year. 2008 has been a year of fearless knitting for me. I hope that 2009 will be the same.

Happy Birthday Brennan

2009-01-09T21:52:00.003-05:00

Fifteen minutes ago, it seems, The Goddess of All Things Wool and Then Some was calling me to let me know that I had a nephew. Except that it was more like fifteen years ago.

I have much to share in the way of Christmas news and knitterly presents. And I am officially on vacation. More soon.

Uncle Jay Explains: Year-end! 12-22-08

2008-12-31T21:36:00.001-05:00

Oh, my!

Peace on Earth, The mall is closed

2008-12-25T21:13:00.003-05:00

Angel enjoying a sheep squeaky toy. She later creates her own "snowstorm" by spreading fluff all over the floor.

I had a most unexpected Christmas. My original holiday dinner plans were cancelled when my hostess fell ill. This is a terrible way to spend any day, much less Christmas, so we have planned an alternate holiday day when she is well. For the second time in my life, I've put together a Christmas dinner using only things that I had on hand in my pantry. I am both grateful (that I am able to have such a well-stocked larder) and I am proud of my ability to improvise, adapt and overcome. It was a MacGyver holiday, indeed. Joe gets the Elf of theYear award for hanging out with me for dinner and producing lots of presents and fun.

A stocking for Angel

Completed in the eleventh hour was the only knitted gift I gave this year. This is the Hello Yarn Irish Hiking Scarf by Adrian Bizilia. It is made of Joseph Galler Superfine Prime Alpaca Yarn 3-ply, which I doubled to get close to the right gauge (Hey, it's a scarf, OK). I did it on size 9 straight needles. It feels yummy. This was for my dad, who would probably like to score a nice sweater, much less a scarf. Not everyone in my family would want a knitted gift. But, this one is for sure not ending up in the Goodwill box. Yay!

Irish Hiking Scarf Pictured on Aerobed before being stuffed into gift bag for transportation to the intended Christmas destination by it's unwitting recipient.

I am sure that there will be much time to describe all of the wondrous things that transpired here today. Later. For now, there is the peace and happiness of Christmas.

Silent Night. Angel "shares" the couch with Joe.

The return of order to the universe, or at least this little corner.

2008-12-17T23:17:00.003-05:00

I'm off today. Here's a good sign--hand knit socks drying in the spa. Still knitting.

I can see light. Is it the end of the tunnel?

2008-12-17T17:44:00.007-05:00

I'm trying really hard to remember the reason most folks turn out and shop for Christmas is to buy presents and make their loved ones happy. Some folks should just stay home. If you somehow think that it is OK to demand a 30% discount on merchandise in a store in a mall, and to argue when you are told, "no", it's not OK. Who does this? Bartering is best left for flea markets and shore excursions on Caribbean cruises. We have price tags. Ahhh. Nothing like celebrating the birth of Christ with a little bad behavior in the biggest, swankiest icon to commercialism in all of Charlotte.

But, I digress. There are joyful things of this season. I have a tree up. It is again the artificial one from last year. I know. You tell yourself that you'll just do it the one year and then...it is Christmas again. There is nothing like a fifteen minute setup, minus the scratches and the sap and the needles and the hours of wrapping lights on a tree to get one light on absolutely every twig. Despite the small size of my tree, I'd like to point out what a fabulous tree it is. It has both Jesus and Santa Claus on it. This used to drive my mother crazy. Also on the list of lessons not completely embraced from my upbringing, my house is only mostly clean, but decorated nonetheless. I am just a little too exhausted to be worried about that or a whole lot of other things.

My feet are really tired. I wish it would snow. A whole lot. Enough to close the mall. For at least a day. Not just the mall. I want enough snow to close the Harris Teeter. What would folks do at home in the snow without a ten day supply of beer, milk, bread, eggs and toilet paper. Why do they buy those things when the forecast has snow in it? Maybe, they are making french toast and washing it down with beer. And then they need the toilet paper, and a lot of it. It is 58 degrees here. I'm thinking snow is a dim possibility.

Gifts I really should be thinking about (but I'm not):

1. Saving money and time by buying my nephew Alexander and Winona the dog joint gifts because they play with the same things.

2. Finding the biggest box in the store for my nephew Evan to play in.

3. A whole lot of marshmallows for my nephew Brennan, who is going to eat them all anyway.

And speaking of nephews, here's an ornament that they gave me and a peek at a few others on the tree that the might like. (a la Sandra Boynton)

Ornaments Smooth

and Ornaments Spiny

Tato Heads Big

And Tato Heads Tiny

On the Merry Little Christmas Tree

Love, 2T

And secret knitting is still going on and on and on....It is a knitting blog after all.

'Tis the Season

2008-12-03T01:19:00.002-05:00

to feel a little panicked. I work a lot this time of year AND I am determined to finish a knitted Christmas present on time. Which is not so bad if I work on it--it goes fast. Mistakes, however, are a big pain to fix. Reckless frogging is not among my options. Tinking anything with cables just bites. I may have to hide the log cabin blanket to save myself from working on it instead of the top secret knitting project. It is addictive.

On the upside of all of this are the lights of McAdenville, which went on last night. They are as beautiful as ever. You really have to admire a community who gets together to pull off decorating the whole town for folks to come and look at it. If you are running a little low on Christmas spirit and you happen to be in the neighborhood, you should definitely cruise on through. Hot chocolate wouldn't be bad either. The photos were taken with my cell phone, which wasn't ideal. Virtually everything in town is decorated in white lights with a few red and green ones mixed in. It does look enchanted.

McAdenville, NC 12-01-08

I love this time of year. Christmas anticipation. It's cold here. I spent my day making soup, knitting and enjoying a fire. Now, if it would just snow...

Has it been a year?

2008-11-20T22:44:00.004-05:00

Action Shot of Alexander in the Fuzzy Dino Jammies

It seems like just a few days ago that my mother called me at work and told me that The Goddess of All Things Wool and Then Some was at the hospital producing another masterpiece. It was two days before Thanksgiving and The Goddess wasn't due until Christmas Eve. She says she's got a fast oven. It wasn't just a few days ago. It was one year ago today. Happy birthday Alexander. I'll see you at your party.

I am busy with some top secret knitting, which needs a Ravelry update, but I can't post it here right now. Instead, I am showing off the beginning of a Santa hat for Alexander that is not a birthday present. He just happens to be in a family that wears Santa hats a lot.

Some funky craft yarn carried with regular white worsted superwash (names forsake me at this time, details to follow). It is absolutely impossible to frog this. It is like The Cliffs of Insanity.

Thank You

2008-11-11T11:11:00.001-05:00

Come Little Leaves

2008-11-07T18:44:00.002-05:00

Do you remember that song? Singing it in first grade, with your first grade teacher playing it on the piano in your classroom, with everyone singing along. And trees outside in unreal colors under a bright blue sky? And today was one of those days, that remind me of some of the best parts of being a kid. Here are a few things that were the best about being that age:

1. Your first grade teacher was like some kind of celebrity. It was cool to see her in ordinary places, like the grocery store.

2. Most activities you did involved fun things, like singing or crafts.

3. Even school.

4. And Brownies.

5. I was an expert on being in the Brownies, because my mother was the leader of Brownie Troop 167. The troop leader was a little like, say, your first grade teacher. You know, famous and very important in your little world. Also, I was in Brownies for a very long time.

My mother decided to be a Brownie leader when The Goddess of All Things Wool and Then Some was in second grade and seven years old. Back then (1970), that was the minimum requirement for official Girl Scout participation. There were no Daisy Scouts back then. And The Goddess, prior to her importance in the world of fiber, had one pesty little sister--me. I was five.

The wisest solution in the way of time management was for my mother to dress me in a tiny Brownie uniform and take me along. And I had a title. Mom told me I was a "tagalong". Which was a very important title to me. I was like the special assistant to the Brownie leader, who just happened to be my mother, a very important grownup. I am pretty sure that this was my explanation to my friends as well.

In a small aside to this whole tale of browniedom, I found out in college that this was not an unusual experience. My friend Sabrina was a Blue Bird, and her mother was the troop leader. Not surprisingly, her little brother Rob was given the title "Blue Jay", but was later made sorry for his association...

So anyway, (can you tell I'm off today?) I'm walking around humming "Come Little Leaves" and enjoying this nice fall day, and doing some mindless knitting on the log cabin blanket which is pretty colors. It's like a Brownie craft project. Really. And I talk to The Goddess on the phone while she is doing child management and transportation. And shopping for groceries for a Boy Scout trip for Brennan this weekend. So I throw out, "Hey, do you remember Campfire Stew?" And she did. Ah, memories.

Here it is, whether you wanted to know it or not, Campfire Stew according to Mary Jeanne:

2 large cans of vegetarian vegetable soup, undiluted (4 small will do if you can't find the big ones)
1 smallish canned ham
hamburger buns

Cut ham in cubes and place in large pot and add both cans of soup. Heat until warm, stirring when necessary. Toast hamburger buns and serve soup mixture atop open bun--eat with fork.

Google provided me several variations of this recipe, all of which contained hamburger. My mother was a scouting renegade. She designed her own sit-upon (so clever that it would require a separate post), she had a tagalong (me), and she questioned the sanity of carting around ground beef and all of the things that would make it safe (cooler, ice) while herding seven and eight year old girls through the woods. Hence the can 'o ham. This may sound vile to the inexperienced palate. But I had some tonight, minus the campfire. Ah, memories.

When....

2008-11-06T14:14:00.003-05:00

do you finally have to decide that you cannot compensate for weeks of slovenly behavior with one morning of housework?

A hand knit something that can help me...

I'd begun to experience more than the usual amount of guilt for writing a blog that is allegedly about knitting without actually mentioning knitting at all. Or taking a photograph of some of it.

I have relevant thoughts. There is a ball of yarn on almost every horizontal surface in the house. And dust. And cobwebs. And my dad is on the way here.

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T17:08:00.003-04:00

I have taken the appropriate steps to indicate to local children that I have candy. See below.

Note to The Goddess of All Things Wool and Then Some: Weep with jealousy.
It is a gen-U-wine Mr. Potato Head Jack O' Lantern.

On a more serious note, the sock and I went to vote early today. It is much better to stand in a line of your own choosing than to have to plan absolutely nothing else for the first Tuesday in November in order to get to vote. Tuesdays are for knitting anyway. I was the only person knitting in the line. In my two and a half hours, I got a good two and a half inches of sock done--plus I met a bunch of people. Socks are just good for that.

Now, this is the thing that just slays me. In the good old US of A, on a good year, only about half of the folks who are eligible to vote register to vote. In the same good year (generally speaking, years with presidential elections), only about half of the registered voters actually go out and vote. If you haven't been yet, take your sock (hat, mitten, whatever) and go get in line.

A sock of extremely good citizenship.

SAFF And Other Adventures

2008-10-29T22:47:00.010-04:00

First there was SAFF. And it took me forever to get my act together and get out of town and get to Asheville. No clean clothes, packing at the last minute....And then I'm there. And I saw:

Functioning antique spinning wheels. Cool.

Cool functioning new spinning wheels. That I wished I owned. This one is by Baynes, and it was nifty.

Funny buttons.

And I bought a few new things--Some beautiful merino silk from The Sanguine Gryphon. Some sock yarn that I bought from Miss Babs, who probably thinks I am some scary online stalker. (I accidentally met Charlene Schurch, who probably thinks I am at least a dork too.) I also got a cool new charm for my bracelet and some stitch markers and a cool swift. I spent the weekend mostly with The Goddess of All Things Wool and Then Some and her merry band, with a brief interruption during the Saturday activities to attend a funeral.

There was lots of art.

And Delores.

The Goddess demonstrates our familial talent at finding the most expensive thing in any given situation...

We met some bunnies.

And sheep.

And llamas.

And alpacas.

And there was a pile of other things that we saw and did. How exactly did all of this go on (even while I lived like two miles away) and I had no clue how fun it was?

Anyhow, I came home to these apples, and finally had to stop ignoring them, so I made some applesauce today. There is a bunch in my freezer and some to eat now.

On the autumn holiday schedule, October 30Th is NATIONAL CANDY CORN DAY. Mark your calendars.

And since I live in a town where Halloween is a bigger deal than Christmas (I have some theories about this...) the preparations are underway for the 2008 Halloween extravaganza at the House of Squalor. Below are the possible costumes for Angel.

The old "dachshund in the hot dog costume", classic or overdone? Dachshund as lobster--innovative or just weird?

And the breaking news from The Goddess' household is that she has decorated her home for Halloween with Mr. Potato Heads. It is my own personal ambition is to make sure that The Goddess, et al. have EVERY SINGLE MR. POTATO HEAD EVER INVENTED, SO HELP ME GOD, because they are just hilarious. And she has small children. And more square footage than I do. My mother warped us by not getting us any Mr. Potato Heads when we were little because she thought he was a really dumb toy. Which lasted until my oldest nephew Brennan took a liking to the versatile spud. Check out the muscley arms of the Tool Time Mr. Potato Head and the web slinging Spider Spud. And is it, could it be---Optimash Prime? It's for their own good. Really.

Happy Halloween!

My Idea of a Public Service Announcement

2008-10-23T22:40:00.003-04:00

My weekly challenge involves how I will survive without a debit card. Most of us would not die over the loss of fifteen cents. We wouldn't make a big deal out of it. It is a meaningless little amount of money. And that is how somebody hopes it will stay.

Every few days, on the average, I go online and check the activity on my bank accounts. This week I found a charge on my debit card for fifteen cents. The merchant was not one I recognized. Even I am not sorry enough to drag out a card to pay amounts less than a dollar. So I called the merchant at the toll free number listed on my statement. Not in service.

So I called the bank. And a spoke to a polite young man and related my perplexing tale. "That's really bad," he says. Evidently, dishonest folks will test out card numbers to see if they work. If they are valid, they go back and use them later. So the charge is reversed, I get my fifteen cents back and my debit card is rendered null and void. Until the new one gets here. In the mail. Probably next week. I feel naked.

Not as big of a pain as it could have been, but, still a pain. Try going a day without a debit card and buy gas and get groceries... Check your bank account frequently.

See you at SAFF.

Autumn Colors

2008-10-20T06:26:00.004-04:00

For whatever reason, I have azaleas and rhododendrons blooming right now in my yard. These are not the fancy-schmantzy bloom for months breeds that you can buy now. Mine are like that because nothing works at the House of Squalor like I would expect it would. This is just sort of a bonus.

The other colorful thing going on right now is the log cabin blanket that I can't put down. It is even bigger since taking this picture. I do believe that the satisfaction of knitting this is that you can see tangible progress immediately. Also, you could be finished at any time--it'd be a pillow if I finished it now. This would also be awesome felted--maybe a tote bag...

Speaking of finishing, now that picking up stitches has become easier to me, I might want to practice weaving in ends.

My week is a little out of whack so that I can go to SAFF this weekend. I'm sure it will be worth the inconvenience.

Knitting Lab

2008-10-14T13:30:00.004-04:00

The sweater is not so very much bigger due my return to work and the ultimate business that follows. I have made myself a little sign so that I know if I'm increasing or just knitting on a round. This is a very satisfying knit and it has been fun to watch the parts of the sweater forming.

When I don't feel like doing serious knitting, there is always the knitting lab here at the House of Squalor. Most knitting lab projects are not blog worthy, like the day I made calamari loops with grocery bags and knitted them. But, sometimes the knitting lab generates a masterpiece like the House of Squalor Calamari Spa Mat. While knitting lab does not always produce a tangible (translation: documented) result, it is always fun. I have had some pretty good knitting lab time this week.

Now, knitting projects generate scraps. And what to do with them? Heaven forbid I should dispose of them wastefully. Behold, the beginning of the Traveler's Life Afghan--as outlined by the Yarn Harlot here. It is basically the same method as Sally Melville's Have Fun Scarf (found here), only wider. I have committed an inexpensive size 8 circular to the project. It is meant to be a long term commitment. Translation: Having a work in progress go on for an extended period of time needs some rationalization.

After finishing and frogging a number of lingering projects, I began logcabining and could not stop. Mondrian meets farmhouse meets Partridge Family meets Crayola. Because I am really a Mason-Dixon knitter deep down inside, here's my beginning on How to Log Cabin. I needed the practice on picking up stitches (really) as this is my least favorite thing to do knittingwise even now. Not because I don't want to do it, but because I spent enough time wondering if I was doing it right, picking up in the right place, etc. to have a complex about it now. Better to develop the skills here and now than to mess up a whole sweater later. I do have that in my future.... This is also a fun way to use leftover bits and stash. Rationalization #2: Throws for my couch were in this year's knitting resolutions.

Because I really needed another project

Vacation Accomplished

2008-10-08T09:45:00.001-04:00

Despite a lack of exciting venue, I hereby declare my vacation a success. I slept late some days. I knitted whenever I wanted. There were some video games. I cleaned the spa. My shrubbery no longer resembles something out of a Dr. Suess book. I lost two pounds. I did not, even once, have to buy gas. There was no commuting, which is one fine vacation attribute.

On the knitting front, I made some Hats for Alex, did some Christmas knitting, finished a sock and worked on the big red sweater. I took Big Red to guild last night for show and tell even.

Some Hats for Alex completed

And I bought a car. For anyone that knows me, this is a little outside of my regular habit. Dawn was actually incredulous. "When the old one is still running?" I do not care what people think of my car, ever. I do not choose automobiles for style. I did have the choice of sticking money (lots, with a shovel) into my high mileage SUV, the relic of my marriage to The Devil, or getting a new car. I now own a car that is just a little more like me. I have synced my phone with my car, so now I can talk and drive without moving my hands from the wheel. Also, there is a place for lip balm in the console. Photo below for The Goddess of All Things Wool and Then Some.

A useful new feature for automobiles. The lip balm holder.

And a sweater

Greetings from the Mecca of Knitting

2008-10-02T15:45:00.015-04:00

Boy, I hope this starts to look like a sweater soon.

I've come to a few knitting conclusions. While everything that I take to knit night is perhaps not cursed, it is not a good and quiet place to do things like count and practice new skills. I cast on the Knitting Pure and Simple sweater on Tuesday night and knit away, with regular interruptions of people asking me for help. Which is like the blind leading the blind. Needless to say, I lost count and didn't have a good way to cast on some more stitches at the end of a row. Basically, I spent three hours knitting a gauge swatch. I didn't touch it yesterday, but I did do some brief consultation with The Goddess of All Things Wool and Then Some about what would be the best way to add some stitches onto the end of a row of knitting. Enter the backwards loop. Good directions found here.

Project Details:

Knitting Pure and Simple

Neck Down Pullover for Women #9724

by Diane Soucy

In Cascade Eco+ in Colorway 8450

So anyway, I cast on again today. got the same distance and then added those little stitches and joined it all in a circle like a pro. I do feel smarter.

The other thing that you do on this pattern is make lots of new stitches. If you weren't a master of knitting in the front and back loop before, this is some fine practice. So far, mine all look okay. I actually learned to do this little technique while making my first Ken's Dulaan Hat.

So far, this is turning out to be a pretty good first sweater. I do need to have a look at those knitting resolutions to see where I am on them.

And speaking of hats, I frogged (hard to believe, I know) that little yellow hat. It was very blah. Then something went wrong with the decreases in the crown (counting, perhaps) and I just couldn't feel bad about making it into something else. I combined the Yarn I was using for the yellow hat and mixed it with some leftover Plymouth Encore and the mystery yarn from Sheri and came up with a really fun hat.

Another Ken's Dulaan Hat, made fun by the magic of stashbusting.

Low Rent Knitting Retreat Planned

2008-09-27T21:17:00.005-04:00

I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my yarn to cast on my sweater. I am due to go on vacation on Tuesday, so I have planned The Low Rent Knitting Retreat. This is where I spend my approved vacation time at The House of Squalor, knitting and maybe spinning. This is probably a good choice since I gladly paid $4.19 a gallon for gas last night rather than push a Ford Escape (it's heavy). All that was left was premium, but it was gas, and I had begun to wonder how far I could go on the contents of my tank. This hasn't been a regular concern, but since gas stations all over Charlotte are out of gas, I did start to worry.

It did occur to me that I have a guild meeting coming up, so I started a hat. This is the first one this month. I've also scored some thrift store yarn stash for the charity hat habit.

Below, Angel shows her excitement in my current sock. The colorway is even prettier than I thought it would be. I was actually expecting something with a lot of black in it. It is Berroco Sox in colorway 1425. The sock is plain vanilla. I can do a fingering weight sock in my size from memory now. I have a big idea, so I'm looking to expand my sock knowledge. I want to learn how to do some different heels and I'd like to spend a little time doing socks on circulars, toe up, etc.

Then, yesterday I saw this, the sign that I need to get away from the mall:

Does this bother anyone else, or is it just me?

Fear of Commitment

2008-09-22T20:15:00.003-04:00

The yarn is purchased and ordered. And Sheri was having her official Grand Opening-type sale. It is Cascade Eco+, color #8450, which seems like a nice red to me. I spent a lot of time wondering exactly how much I was going to like red after I devoted a couple of months (hopefully) knitting on a big, red sweater. I have a red car, red dishes, a red sofa and a bunch of red clothes. And red wine. I'm sure that this is not a passing fancy.

I bought the pattern almost as soon as I learned how to knit, thinking that I would be casting that on right away. Every time I had a notion to do something BIG, I would feel like I wasn't a good enough knitter to do something BIG, like a sweater. Also, there is the lingering fear that I would create a horrible thing that I regretted making, spending time and money on, and wouldn't be able to wear in public. Or worse, make something that looked really bad, but blindly wear it around thinking how cool I looked in it. Based upon a bunch of old photographs, this is a pretty regular habit with me.

I hope this works as well as the sock thing. Only faster.

Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day!

2008-09-19T08:06:00.003-04:00

Shiver me timbers, it's one big purple scarf and Captain Spud

Aye, me hearties! I've finished that everlasting gobstopper of a scarf, the Maximum Scarf by that saucy wench Sally Melville. Alas, woolly scarves are not good pirate gear. Arrrr!

One more WIP off the list! This really did become the knitting-into-a-black-hole project. You know, where you knit and knit and knit and knit and knit and knit and knit and knit and knit and knit and it never seems to get any bigger or any closer to completion. I ran out of yarn yesterday, so it is done. I have no idea of the length, which is supposed to be 78 inches. Also remaining is weaving in ends and blocking. Perhaps this weekend. One of the four balls of yarn had much more color saturation than the other three giving rise to the notion that you should alternate between balls of hand dyed yarn to get a more uniform finished product.

Completing this puts me one more step closer to Knitting Pure and Simple Sweater. I probably need to look back at my knitting resolutions and see how I am doing for the year.

BTW, International Talk Like a Pirate Day is a very real holiday. Read about it here.

Quisp to the Rescue

2008-09-17T15:04:00.001-04:00

Quisp and knitting. Remember? I stumbled upon this while remembering McDonaldland and Freakies Cereal.

Swatching

2008-09-17T09:12:00.003-04:00

I have inadvertently hired a knitter. So now there are two of us at the store. One day I walked in and he was knitting on his lunch break. He usually makes long Doctor Who type scarves, knitting just for the relaxing feeling of it. On that day in particular, he was knitting some self-striping eyelash yarn and he said, "It looks like I've skinned a Muppet, doesn't it?" Sunday, he brought me a present. Glow in the Dark Yarn. Which I marveled at. It really makes me wonder if I can do some neat little skull pattern, and what I could do it on (and what I can do it with). So anyway, I took my present yarn home and put it on the coffee table , meaning to play with it after dark, just to test the glow-in-the-darkness of it. And I forgot. So yesterday I find my new yarn, in Angel's lair, where she has removed the ball band, and hidden it in one of my Dad's old shirts. I did manage to rescue he yarn, untangle it and roll it into a center pull ball.

Angel's "Stash"

On the knitting front, I have come to the decision that the Knitting Pure and Simple sweater is going to be 1. Red and 2. Cascade Eco+. It will have to be ordered, so I need to make a final decision about which red. I am doing that this week. I have also been swatching, to rule out yarn possibilites on the sweater, but also to try out some stitch patterns for other projects. This really does not seem like me at all. However, I did decide that if I was going to invest real money into a big project that I would have to do it the right way so that I wouldn't ruin it, waste yarn, etc.

Good Planning

Also in an unusual move on my part, I have limited my Diet Coke intake to not more than one a day. Some days I don't have any. If you ever take notes on this, a lot of people who drink diet sodas, drink a whole lot of them. Like nothing else. I could do it. I could forsake coffee, tea, water, scotch and water, and even beer for Diet Coke. Scary. I've often wondered if it was possible to be addicted to it. Anyway, water has become the replacement for soda. The upside: More money for yarn. I think this is how I'm paying for the sweater.

For what I've spent in water bills I think I could be making a qiviut blanket for my bed

Speaking of water, I've had another visit from the water department. I wasn't home for this one. Evidently, when they put in my new water meter three months ago, they broke something. On my end of the line this time. Which doubled my water bill. The city did not believe that this could have possibly been the problem the first or even the second time it was pointed out to them. It must just be my imagination. Just like the new imaginary mudhole in the front yard.

Or Maybe

2008-09-13T22:22:00.001-04:00

This. That would make it about a $60.00 sweater, but I think that it may be spot-on for gauge.

The Quest

2008-09-13T08:28:00.002-04:00

Project completion means that I'm going to cast on that Knitting Pure and Simple Rollneck Sweater soon. I have cleared out some WIPs to make room for the big project. Now the problem:

1. Heavy worsted weight yarn. It's just not everywhere.
2. You actually find some. Sweater costs exceed car payment.
3. Fear of hand dyed yarn being too different from skank to skank. This has been a problem.
4. Cannot imagine knitting entire sweater of acrylic. Knitting giant acrylic sweater sounds more like torture than hobby.

It is down to this or this. Yarn cost would range between $27.00 for Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool to $50.00 for the Knitpicks Shamrock. Hmmm.

Hard to believe

2008-09-10T00:08:00.001-04:00

That this good looking fellow is nine today.
Happy Birthday Evan. Love, 2T.

News from Hanna's "Eye"

2008-09-08T12:55:00.006-04:00

I Think these would come out better if I found someone to take the picture.

Despite dire warnings from friends and co-workers, we hopped into the car and embarked on the annual Bad Girls Budget Beach Trip. I met Dawn in Charlotte and we moved along to pick up Dee Dee in Columbia. Our group got a little bigger this year, when other people began saying, "I want to go...". This moved us from freeloading in the guest room at Mike and Pam's to a rental house. If you want a good deal on a vacation property, rent one for a weekend during hurricane season.

We ran into some rain and wind on the way down, which slowed us down considerably. What slowed us down even more was a girl in a Honda Accord who decided to make some time passing all of the slow traffic after the rain started. She buzzed by Dawn's brother Brad and his wife, Margie and then by us. Zip. Then the hydroplaning began. She fishtailed all over the road (barely missing us), spun out of control into the median and crashed into a bunch of trees. We stopped and dialed 911 while Brad crossed the road in the pouring rain and waited with her until the police and ambulance arrived. Her car looked like a crushed soda can. She will survive her contusions and she will probably be really sore. If things had gone any other way, she would have been dead. She was lucky she didn't harm herself or anyone else on the road. We were a little shaken up from the experience. We stopped after the big accident at grocery store to get food and drinks, as stores on the island were closed already.

Action shot of sock on coffee table

At the house, we had snacky food and relaxed. Dawn's cousin's Sherry and Darryl arrived before us and helped us unload. We ate and relaxed. I took a number of knitting action photos, which were a real source of entertainment. Even funnier, Margie confessed to having When Harry Met Sally Tourette's Syndrome. Darryl sang in spontaneous bursts. We went to bed, slept like rocks and woke to a beautiful day.

Margie demonstrates her talents with sock yarn

WWKIP Socks. Completed. Yay. Note Sunlight in top left.

Saturday consisted of more relaxing, more eating, more knitting (actually, that was just me) and going to the beach. It was all sunshine and blue sky. We did not have the traditional spaghetti casserole. Instead, we had a low country boil, which was amazing. I finished the second sock in the pair in the afternoon and did more sock action photography before casting on a new sock.

An acceptable substitute for Spaghetti Casserole

After gorging ourselves on shrimp, sausage, corn and potatoes, we went to take in some live music from a band we like and stalk whenever possible. Mike and Pam joined us and so did some more friends of ours from Key West, Buck and Connie. We went back to our house, had another night of blissful sleep and drove back yesterday. A perfect vacation is one that you think is too short. This might have been better than that.

Berocco Sox: A new sock on the needles

Trying to Reason With Hurricane Season

2008-09-03T21:49:00.002-04:00

I had to replace my shoes today. It seems that I'd walked a hole into them. I was in my office with my new shoes looking at daylight through the old one and I had to consider whether or not I was going to toss the old pair. There is something truly wrong with me.

The annual Key West trip is cancelled. I just can't pull it off this year. Neither can Dawn. I did look into my wallet today when I was getting gas. I saw two forgotten dollar bills, which I immediately converted into lottery tickets, seeing as how I am so good at statistics. Should I win (big), the Key West trip is back on. And Brennan, Evan and Alexander can go to college where ever they want. Even if it is Duke.

Even a job you like will get on your nerves after a while.

I called my dentist to cancel my appointment. Again. The receptionist said, "How's your mom?"

I think a divine force is holding Hanna back. The Bad Girls have plans for the season, even if it isn't in Key West. I'm not sure if there will be knitting involved.

Some Tuesdays Are For Guild Meetings

2008-09-02T21:46:00.004-04:00

Lessons from Guild: Bisoxual--a person who can knit top down or toe up socks.

Blocking: How to keep seaming from being a living hell. Also, how to buy blocking wires at your local welding supply store and the secret code language involved.

Baby's First Hat by Mary Ann Hammes

I barely got my third hat done before the meeting tonight. Based upon the photo below, you might imagine what I did on my lunch hour.

Neato

2008-08-30T23:49:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I found out about Hulu. Today, I worked on my sock while watching Nanny and the Professor. There are some pretty good television shows and movies on there. Bonus: It is free! I'm almost ready to do the heel flap on the sock (again), the giant purple scarf is almost done and I need to finish a hat by Tuesday for guild. I'm thinking My Name is Earl might be some good background TV for knitting...

Multitasking

2008-08-27T11:00:00.002-04:00

I spend so much time at work. And commuting. It would be nice to get something domestic done while all of this is going on. So today, I stumble upon this. I wish I'd found it sooner. I could park in the Macy's parking lot (no shade) and bake up a batch of cookies while I work. Maybe not. I'd probably eat them all on the way home. As hot as it is here in the summer, I imagine that I could bake a turkey in my car most days. The slow cooker by Ford. LOL.

Too Funny...

2008-08-26T16:21:00.001-04:00

Demetri Martin.

Wicked Fun

2008-08-21T20:09:00.002-04:00

I just had to make this. It is a charity had for Hats for Alex. The pattern is pure Yarn Harlot--Ken's Dulaan Hat. I did modify it to knit it in the round, and changed the gauge to use yarn and needles that I have in the house. It was wicked fun to start and finish something in about an hour. Thanks to Jorah, who has done a couple of these now and shared his findings.

Where we left off...

2008-08-20T21:23:00.003-04:00

Like the retail holiday season, I am also glad to see Back to School season come and I am glad to see it go. Since I lacked the discipline/time/energy to blog this time last year, I am impressed with my stamina this season.

Last week at Close Knit, I ran into Shirley and did a little spinning and plying. (I cast down the cabled square I was working on to do so...) My drafting skills are much improved, which allows me to control the thickness of the yarn. This leads me to one of my favorite pieces of wordplay. My friend Joe simply combined the words skein and hank, into the word skank. It mattered not, to Joe, that that word was already in use with another completely different meaning. Below is one little tiny skank with Angel, the reluctant yarn admirer. My biggest challenge is coordination. Doing the whole spindle and drafting thing in a good rhythm is a little tricky.

It doesn't look like any skank I know

Further, I lack concentration. I took the cabley square to knit night again last night and talked so much that it has a few "design elements" in it. I am trying to decide to frog, or not to frog. I am wondering if I am doomed to knit anything of substance in solitude and work on garter stitch scarves at knitting events.

This has not been an extraordinarily productive knitting week, but project organization has gone well. I have gone from 6 to 8 WIPs. Looming project #1, The maximum scarf is about midway through the last ball 0f yarn. The washcloth has taken a ride in my knitting bag this week and the sock has done a little more than ride (not much more). The Lion Suede Scarf is yarn again as is the baby blanket. I knit about four rows on the Friendship Shawl, before I remembered how much I needed a lifeline and then I think I wandered off and flossed my teeth and forgot what I was doing before that. I know that the purple wrist warmer is in a baggie. In a suitcase. In the green bedroom. I just did not see the point of dragging it out to add to the guilty stack of WIPs.

Public school starts here on Monday. The stock drivers are hauling off my backpack kiosk at 6 am that day because my boss is a filthy sadist. There is light at the end of the tunnel.

The Big Plan

2008-08-11T12:21:00.008-04:00

These are not even Ravelympic projects. It just seemed to be a little messy at home, so I'm trying to make sense of the mess. I am thankful that I don't have a lot of stash--it could be worse. I am trying to make the commitment to not start anything else until I've dealt with the works in progress. I have a sweater pattern that I have wanted to do for over a year. I just didn't feel like I could start it if I had so many other things going on. Christmas will be here eventually. I'd like to be able to commit to some gift knitting before all hell breaks loose at work.

I began the cold, hard assessment of WIPs this past week. Did you ever wonder how many pairs of size 7 and 8 needles (or insert size that you use all of the time) you would have if you didn't have them all tied up in WIPs? There are enough that I haven't bothered to list them all on Ravelry. I've seen lists that are far more shameful but probably not for someone who has been knitting for about 18 months. My current goal is to make decisions about each project and either finish or frog them. Ultimately, I'd like to have only 2 or 3 things going at any given time. Two or three things that I liked, that made sense to me. Not 8.

Angel showing her interest in the Big Purple Scarf

1. The largest looming project in hibernation is the maximum scarf in beautiful worsted weight Malabrigo. It seems almost shameful that this has taken more than one year. It is approximately 65% finished. The largest problem, boredom. It is one giant garter stitch monster. It has been a good project to practice garter stitch, but not (especially in later stages) a great take-along project. I knit a whopping 5 inches on it last night while watching a movie.

What is truly sad about this languishing project is that it is the very thing that taught me how amazing it is to knit with wool. Prior to this, I tortured myself knitting cotton washcloths (freakishly tight) and acrylic scarves and suffered from varying degrees of tendonitis. Further, this project involved much more of an expenditure than others (nice yarn, a book, long needles...)

This project made this year's knitting resolutions. Goal. Finish it. Perfect for TV watching at home.

Angel Finding Washcloths just as interesting

2. Various and sundry washcloths. The pink one was so unsatisfying, I just stopped--it wasn't worth frogging even. I was knitting it like a heel flap. Which makes it small and thick and hard to work with. I cast off in purl, which is too loose, and looks funny. It will likely be committed to scrubbing something really dirty and living under the sink.

The multi-colored one, I used to practice double decreases. The variegated yarn shows off the pattern. Bonus: It gets smaller every other row. Goal: Finish it. Nobody spends that much time on a washcloth. This should take an afternoon.

Obviously not as interesting as I once thought

3. This scarf. In Lion Suede Waterlily, a testament to my attraction to novelty yarn. Materials purchased last September when I left the house without my knitting bag and got the shakes and needed a fix. Scarf pattern is on the ball band. I would liken this to going to the grocery store after fasting for 24 hours.

Goal: I like this yarn. I don't need another scarf. Which has not been an issue before, but I am already trying to finish a mammoth scarf right now. I'm thinking that I'll frog it and stash the yarn and see how I feel about it later.

4. Square in progress. I had this one almost done. A neat one with cables. Which I abandoned as soon as I figured out how to do socks. I picked it up last Tuesday to finish it off, maybe 16 rows or so left to do (it is important to know this) and knitted rows 1 and 2 an extra time. Frogged and restarted it.

Goal: Take this to knit night tomorrow and finish it. These only take a few hours.

I don't really care if I have a stack 'o squares in a baggie. They are destined to become a throw, but could easily become a pillow or something smaller if I tire of the project. They are also an excellent way to learn new stuff. I think I would consider assembly of squares a separate project.

Is there a curse on this?

5. Friendship shawl. I am a sucky friend. Or a bad knitter. Or both. This was not a good anxiety project. Ability to count is evidently essential to a lace pattern. Knowing what a lifeline is is also important. This is my "at home" project. Only I am not at home much. I am not sure if my concentration skills are adequate to work on this in a group of people. I may start scheduling days to work on it. It currently needs a new lifeline. I'm starting to get nervous.

Goal: Finish it. It's not much of a friendship shawl if I can't finish it and give it away.

Sock 2. Again.

6. Socks. I frogged my sock in progress last week when I dropped and lost a stitch in the heel flap and watched it run down the leg. I feel like Poor Old Michael Finnegan. Begin again. Socks are usually my "away" project. My zeal for tiny hats has overrun my enthusiasm for socks.

While being a little embarrassed that I have taken two months to knit half a pair of socks, it doesn't seem to overshadow my pride in being able to do this. Knowing how to make socks is like being in some kind of secret society of smart people--a knitting kind of Mensa, maybe.

Goal: The sock stays in the knitting bag. What would I do on my lunch break without a sock to knit on. I think I'm going to have to accept the amount of progress that I can make 10 and 15 minutes at a time.

7. Baby blanket. Window of opportunity missed here. I had one false start on this which needs to be frogged. The rest, I think can hibernate a while. It may get frogged ultimately. Or it could be a charity project or a gift for a future baby. Who knows. It isn't tying up a pair of needles I need. I was testing out Knit Picks Options, which come with an extra cord. They're slick like Addi Turbos. It is just part of the whole appropriateness of tools and materials thing I get into every time I start a project. These needles work best with this fiber, blah blah blah...

8. One purple, fingerless wrist warmer. Minus a thumb. At this point, I could do the mate at one knit night--perhaps next week. Bulky yarn, simple rib pattern. Behold--the hand version of second sock syndrome.

The other thing that I've tried to focus on doing is to gather up the knitting flotsam and jetsam from every flat surface in the house and put them into Plano boxes--which are perfect for sorting fishing tackle, beads, sewing notions and now knitting stuff. They are cheaper if you buy them in the fishing tackle section of a Mart-store than if you purchase them in a craft store (the difference between $3.00 and 12.00--go figure).

Not exactly a fiber artist yet, I'm afraid

Then, there is the practice of making yarn. Ugly yarn, I'm afraid. I'm better if I don't try to be fast. This week I'm trying the bottom whorl spindle to see if I have any preference at this point. I think I am in the market for some classes. Evidently there is a very active fiber guild locally. At some point I'd like to check them out. I'd like to have more time to devote to this. Then I could have a stash management problem to post about (what to do with fiber, large amounts of handspun yarn...).

Blue Like Water Hat on Rustic (translation: rotting) Deck Rail

Charity projects don't really count, do they? One completed hat for Hats for Alex. Two left to do for next guild meeting.

I must be like...

2008-08-09T00:42:00.000-04:00

Your result for The Princess Bride trivia Test...

Inigo

Inconceivable!

Fibery Pursuits

2008-08-05T22:21:00.006-04:00

The Hats of August

It's the first Tuesday of the month. Above is one completed guild project for Hats for Alex. Ends woven in while sitting in the carport right before the meeting. Notice wool hat basking in today's 98 degrees in the shade temperatures.

Enjoying the shade

I think the hat thing is going well enough, so I already have one in the works for next month. This is a bad representation of the color of this yarn. The red background is not doing much for it either. After correcting a small error in the pattern, I am learning to love this little hat. Sock yarn will produce a preemie hat, but all of my sock yarn is so radical that the lace pattern would be lost. I am not sure if I want plain sock yarn. I may do a plain hat with sock yarn in a preemie size, for some fun and to use up some yarn butts.

Stick 'o Felt, destined for button greatness

Today's guild presentation was much fun. Stephanie from Hanzon Creativity showed us how to roll up fiber and make felt buttons. She is a recent transplant to NC from NZ. Additionally, she was hilarious.

Then, this arrived, from here. I'd really like to eventually see a project from absolute beginning to the very end. Before I knit a sweater with wool from a sheep whose name I know, I think I'll have to figure out how to make yarn. I'm going to have a crack at teaching myself first, but I may take a lesson or two.

The Cutest Thing

2008-07-31T20:08:00.002-04:00

Is this little hat right here. Which I finished this morning, after messing around with it since Tuesday and frogging it several times. It has eyelets in the ribbing and in rows up the hat, followed by decreases made by passing a slipped stitch over that swirl right up into a knotted i-cord at the top. It was fun enough to do it again now that I know my butt from a hole in the ground. Since today is the last day of July and I imagine that I'll be doing more hats in August I might as well begin again.

I have been out knitting for two nights in a row (and still only managed to finish a tiny hat). I frogged all I had been doing on Tuesday night at Close Knit, to improve upon the original pattern, then re-did it on Wednesday night with the BAM group at the Arboretum.

The BAM group was a new event for me, and a fun one, which I can likely do around my work schedule from time to time. I got to see this in person. Even better up close. While we all speculated on how Turtlegirl gets so much knitting done, I think it is because she spends more time actually knitting than looking at Ravelry and thinking about knitting. Or she may have trained her cats to knit. Angel? Here Angel...

Did you ever notice...

2008-07-26T23:22:00.002-04:00

Names of yarn and fiber colorways? I want the job where you get to name them. (I think this means that I am destined to create yarn someday). I could read colorway names all day and not get bored. There are things like party dress and sky blue, which are relatively normal and arouse memories of happy times. Flower names are abundant--pansy blue or lilac hill. Then there are the bunch of colorways named after food--like chocolate covered cherry or peach sorbet or even Indian Chili Pickle.

I am trying to decide what I've seen or eaten today that would make a good colorway, just for practice. My diet may not be the ultimate inspiration for a colorway. The first thing that sprang to mind was "cheap pink weenies". This may be a very short career.

Star Wars according to a 3 year old.

2008-07-22T22:30:00.001-04:00

This was great. If you don't have time to watch the whole movie, here are the high points.

The Other Kind of Calamari

2008-07-22T14:38:00.006-04:00

I had to have the Mason-Dixon Book after I saw the Potholder Loop Rug. It has been out of the library for a very long time. Then there was the Knitpicks 40% books sale. As of yesterday, it is mine. I worked thirteen hours yesterday but that didn't stop me from destroying a few old t-shirts....
Et voila--the beginnings of one Calamari style Mason Dixon Rug. For the "Spa" at The House of Squalor. Of course, perfect for the uninspired decor in my hall bathroom. Below, the finished object. I'm pretty sure I can make some improvements on this, so I'll probably be doing more of these later. I put notes on my Ravelry page about it. Also, there is such a thing as #35 circulars, if I want to make bigger mats. They're Addi Turbos...

The first sock from WWKIP Day is done and number two is on the needles. Photo quality leaves a little something to be desired, but the sock is excellent. It is thick and soft. Combined with the local weather, it makes me crave winter. I could actually wear socks.

On the upside of things, this is the first year that my crape myrtle is actually blooming properly.

And then there is the pink hat, which is ready for decreasing and then it will be done. Which reminds me that it is Tuesday--knit night at Close Knit. I should finish it there.

Thursday begins my month in diligent service to selling backpacks. Didn't school just let out for summer?

Dust on the Lens

2008-07-14T22:23:00.002-04:00

I can't manage to photograph anything this week. I completed the first sock in the pair that I began for WWKIP day. And cast on the second. It is still tiny. I have tried to work on the friendship shawl as much as possible. It is once again reaching a record size. I bought more dental floss tonight for good measure. Finding a moment of total quiet, that does not involve sleeping, is a challenge. Which is what I need to work on that shawl. And this cute hat that I am working on in hot pink Cascade 220. It is going to knit night tomorrow with me. No photos.

I've wasted a gracious plenty of time with my Meez this week. It is the modern adult version of a paper doll. The fact that I can make a Meez that goes with my Speed Racer Lunch box is extra entertaining to me.

Then, there was this weird craving for Seven Layer Salad. If you remember having an avocado green kitchen (or something like it), then you probably ate some of this. It was a layered salad, served in a big glass bowl, that had layers of things like lettuce, peas, cheese, bacon, mayonnaise (Miracle Whip, Salad Dressing, whatever). I went here looking for recipes. And found a bunch. I could only recall from memory six specific layers. Were there tomatoes or carrots? If there was a green pepper layer, I'm glad I skipped it. I made some tonight. It has to sit overnight in the refrigerator. Or something bad will happen. I remember that part. There must be a whole uninterrupted layer of mayo/dressing/miracle whip that touches the edge of the bowl. Also, I remember that the lettuce has to be dry. What did we do before bag 'o salad? Since my mom was the keeper of arcane 1970's recipe trivia, I feel a little lost. I finally decided a few things:
1. There are no salad police. Nobody will be making a report if there are only six layers instead of seven. Or if the layers are wrong. I am not sure about the carrots. Were there tomatoes? There are no green onions at the WTI. There are strange elongated red onions, though. There may or may not be a specific order to this. I guess I will know tomorrow. It is in the refrigerator right now.
2. I do not own an appropriate big glass bowl. The devil owned a perfect one. He took it when he moved out. Maybe I should have just gone a bought a good bowl instead of getting married. Hmm. Anyway, I used my popcorn bowl. I will invest in an appropriate vessel if it turns out that I start getting lots of invitations to potluck dinners.
3. Mayonnaise, all by itself, gives me the willies. Even hidden on a sandwich. Ham is the worst. Disgusting. So is Miracle Whip. Blick. Mayonnaise disguised with other food (potato salad, chicken salad, deviled eggs, ranch dressing) is ok. I made ranch dressing with sour cream instead of buttermilk and the required mayo (Duke's) for the dressing layer. There are advantages to adulthood.
4. That pre-cooked bacon costs less money than the kind you have to cook. I counted slices. I think I just discovered something I am never doing again. (Never, never, ever attempt to cook bacon naked. Just a friendly warning.) Also, anyone who says they only cook twelve slices when there are fifteen slices in the pound is pulling your leg. There are three test pieces.
5. Here's the line-up: Lettuce, julienned carrots, peas, red onion, dressing, shredded cheddar cheese and crumbled bacon. Does dressing count as a layer?

Here it is

2008-07-06T19:45:00.001-04:00

Of course, I forgot my camera when I went in, so I have nothing visual to add, but there is a nice article in the Charlotte Observer about Close Knit.

Discoveries

2008-07-06T09:03:00.003-04:00

The hot Dr. Kelly Brackett on Emergency!

Wednesday was fun too. I spent several hours working on a charity hat. Knitting is all about discovery, so here are my observations and conclusions:
1. Knitting a hat is fun. And easy. It is even more fun to watch old episodes of Emergency!, knit and see the love of my life after Speed Racer, Randolph Mantooth. I think David Cassidy was somewhere in there too, but that's another story.

2. This was a perfect use for some minty green Plymouth Encore that I'd bought for a class. I was not a big fan of this yarn (loved the color, hated the way it felt to knit with it). I heard Lion Brand Homespun being described the same way. But I had to have something machine washable, so I decided to use it. It is sized for a teenager (I figure there are lots of teeny hats) and it turned out perfectly. I used The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns, which is one of the most useful knitting books I own.

3. I made some discoveries about yarn and needles. The needles I'd bought with the Encore were these little Bryspun circulars, light, plastic with a very smooth transition between the cable and the needle. I'd hated them during the class because the yarn moved so badly on the needles that it was like a chore to knit with them. I then decided that both the yarn and the needles were bad. So I put them away until I had to come up with some machine washable yarn for this hat and it was what I had on hand. And the only set of appropriately sized needles were...

Then I had this thought, "I'm a much more accomplished knitter now, and this should work fine." And it didn't. The combination of that yarn and those needles was like ketchup on french toast. The Bryspun needles work fine with wool yarn. The Encore yarn works fine with wooden needles (I had some big DPNs). So there. I did the whole hat on four DPNs and it worked fine.

I've had this conversation at WWKIPD, at a guild meeting and with The Goddess of All Things Wool and Then Some. About some of the things you do learning to knit that actually make it harder and less fun. For example, two months elapsed between my learning to knit and actually knitting with wool yarn. I used all kinds of mostly acrylic blends and made a bunch of cotton washcloths. I had a sore right elbow most of the time from the strain. When I bought some wool yarn and started knitting with that, then I knew what all of the hoopla was about. I wish I were smarter.

4. I made my way over to Close Knit in Gastonia and prowled all over the store and had a nice chat with Sheri. And bought some sock yarn. So I'll be racing on over there after my meeting on Tuesday for knit night. It is a really neat store.

5. Knitting is always better with a glass of wine. Pinot Evil. Too funny.

You can't judge a book by its cover, but you can judge wine by its label. Pinot Evil, a perfect wine for smart-aleck knitting

Fun Tuesday

2008-07-01T21:27:00.006-04:00

There are the things that I should be doing and then the things that I am actually doing. It is my day off and I had no particular place to be so I was messing around with the magic loop business. It got all strange and tangley with two socks going, so I switched to one. Which was easy, except I was trying different kinds of ribbing and I didn't like any of them. I will probably mess around with this some tomorrow as well.

What I should have been doing is putting away this folded laundry, folding that bottom sheet, etc. Instead, I was pretty happy to prop a knitting book up on top of the mess and fool around with the idea of magic loop.

One useful thing I did was put a lifeline into the friendship shawl. I am sure that my dentist will be pleased that I am using floss more.

Nothing is better than an unexpected delivery from the UPS man. Not just because I like a man in a brown uniform either. He brought me a present from The Goddess of All Things Wool and Then Some (and her progeny, specifically Evan, I believe). Now, I have had some fine lunchboxes in my time. As a testament to their high quality and enduring tastefulness, I would like to mention that my brother used my Partridge Family Lunchbox to win a scavenger hunt and it was gone forever. This, however, completes me. It is a Speed Racer Lunchbox. Just the right size for a Lean Cuisine and representing one of my all time fave cartoons. I've loved Speed Racer since I was six. More than Trixie could ever love him. I've also recently acquired some cars to go with it.

Then I attended the Charlotte Knitting Guild meeting and saw folks I met at WWKIP Day and met a few that I stalk online. I took yarn with me because we were going to have a presentation on Hats for Alex. I am prepared to be a charity knitter. It is on my knitting resolutions for 2008. I have the stuff (see yarn below) I have the skills (I can do ribbing and decreases. I can count if I try really hard.) I simply have never made a hat before. We're all going to try to make three this month. Behold the minty freshness (and machine washability of some Plymouth Encore). I also have some sock yarn remnants that will make good caps for little tiny babies. Here's one of my models. And the best news on the Frontier of Knitting was from Jane who happily reported this. There is now a yarn store in Gastonia.

Boobie Sock monkey dress

2008-07-01T11:27:00.001-04:00

Boobie Sock monkey dress
Originally uploaded by thomasina

I must get in shape so I can have this and look good in it. I still love the internet.

I'm going to a Guild meeting tonight. More later.

How Cool is This?

2008-06-29T21:35:00.002-04:00

I actually got a little sock knitting in today. Ahhhh. I also ate dinner here, which was insanely good. The red cabbage is a must. So is the spätzle.

Also, instead of surfing You Tube, today I was browsing Ravelry. One of the neat things I saw today was the Superfancy Potholder Loop Rug by those Mason Dixon Ladies Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne. Then, I saw one made by a Ravelry member (creativegal42) who'd made her own potholder loops using old t-shirts. I have about a thousand of those. Then I found this. I love the internet.

There are just days

2008-06-28T21:56:00.003-04:00

and today was one of them. Some folks just shouldn't be allowed out in public. I understand that it is a commonly held belief that if you work in the mall you must be stupid. That may be so, but we may not be the stupidest among them. For example:

1. Please go and drip your ice cream somewhere other than here. Maybe it is not the best idea to eat a greasy pretzel, lick your fingers and then want to handle $90.00 wallets. Just a suggestion.

2. There is no $70.00 Mont Blanc Pen. There hasn't been one for a really long time. Decades. You did not see one at another store. And, yes, that case is locked.

I did not knit a stitch today. I can feel the tension....

On the upside of things, I was on the news again last night (and this morning too, I think) packing a suitcase. I am slightly famous. My chin looks bigger than Jay Leno's on TV.

Also, you just can't beat You Tube for an endless array of funny stuff. LEGO Bohemian Rhapsody was a howl. There is a lot of stress relief (and time wasting) in watching LEGO videos.

The Seventh Circle of Hell

2008-06-25T22:17:00.001-04:00

I heard this on the way to work today. Celine Dion sings AC/DC. Play at your own risk!

Having Fun Where You Are

2008-06-23T11:16:00.010-04:00

For $26.00, Amtrak cannot be beat in the transportation department. Also, it is a mode of transportation where I can knit. I landed in High Point, where Dawn and I used to work. They've renovated the station since we were here.

The first place we go after the train station is to Lowe's so that Dawn can get the stuff to rewire a lamp. And then we see this amazing thing! It is an outbuilding/tool shed/storage shed, which is probably larger than my first apartment. Also, more expensive than my first new car.
However, I so totally want to own this. (Dawn says that it's good to have some goals.) The House of Squalor is on a large lot, surrounded by other small lots. Each one with a dilapidated storage building. I am thinking that I would be the toast of the neighborhood with a beauty like this. It may be nicer than my house...

We spent part of the day Saturday with Dawn's mom moving things from storage.
As a result of a recent and successful "diet", Dawn lost 185 lbs. of ugly fat. She just moved into a cool house. It has this swell front porch, good for knitting. And this Japanese Maple tree that I love. The orchids are liking their new kitchen window.

And she has some "recycled" cats, Abby and Dottie, who used to live with her in Atlanta and Key West. Below is Abby, destroying a chair.

And Dottie, prowling amongst some interesting stuff.

It will be a sad day when Dawn and I discover that we are not as funny as we think we are. It was a great weekend, even if we didn't do anything that would appear exciting to the casual observer--just ate and drank and laughed. Then back to the station for the return trip.

On the way home, I turned my heel and learned how the Walkman part of my new phone works. I am definitely loving this yarn.

I plan to be doing this again sometime soon. All aboard.

Lost Luggage

2008-06-18T10:03:00.003-04:00

Sick humor if you work in the luggage industry. Sick but hilarious.

I don't seem to want to knit much more than socks. The red socks are now finished, so I can focus on the ones I started on Saturday.

I am going to see Dawn this weekend and I am going by train. It is cheaper than driving. Bonus: Time for knitting. Maybe I should worry about my luggage.

Roadside Attractions:

Everyone has seen Dairy Queen signs like this.

But have they seen ones like this? This one is on Wilkinson Boulevard in Charlotte. There is another old one in Gastonia.

Representing the Frontier of Knitting at WWKIPD

2008-06-14T19:11:00.005-04:00

The Plymouth Happy Feet Sock at Freedom Park Today

As expected, I had an excellent time today. Above is how much sock I got done while talking nonstop to the person next to me, a patient fellow named Jorah, who was trying to count with the incessant babble going on. I did plop down with the folks from The Peace of Yarn in Matthews, who were very entertaining.

I met a bunch of folks from the Charlotte Knitting Guild. I should definitely go/join. They had actually heard that there were knitters in Gaston County, they just hadn't seen one before. The most commonly asked question was, "Are you on Ravelry?"

I met some drop-spindle spinners and got to watch BFL top transformed into single by a person who had taken one class and had been hand spinning a couple of months. I announced that was the next thing I planned to spend all of my money on. I am so going to get this. Someday. Soon I hope. Is it July yet?

I bathed in sunscreen, so I am still pasty, and not burned. Also, the thing in my the scary green bedroom closet is not a lawn chair. It is a cot. I have a lawn chair now (a really cheap one from CVS). My ticket did not win any prizes in the drawings but I did get a tasty scone, which was better than my planned snack (a granola bar). Also, there was this knitting bag scavenger hunt game going on. You know, where you look through your bag and produce, say, A Whole Set of Denise Interchangeable Needles, or a swatch, or a kacha kacha counter. It reminded me of Let's Make a Deal. Some of those things I actually had in my knitting bag. I am just not fast.

Sum total: It was the perfect day. There was a little breeze coming off of the water, not too hot, not raining (it did later) and much knitting going on.

WWKIP Eve Strategy Planning

2008-06-13T23:49:00.006-04:00

I really had planned on a productive morning today, but switched with one of my assistants at about 10:30 last night so she could devote her morning to teenager management. Not that going to work is UNproductive, but I was seeking a different kind of productivity. Like figuring out my new phone that I've had for a month and can barely answer. I am seriously considering reading the instructions.

This is my big plan for tomorrow:
1. The red sock lacks a toe and that is all. Discretion being the better part of valor, I have decided that I will not be reinforcing the toe of a sock at the park tomorrow, or grafting it shut. I can do that at home. Probably tomorrow night.
2. Moreover, I would rather be beaten with a sock full of hot nickels that attempt to cast on a sock sitting in a lawn chair in a park. Translation: I do not want to look like a dork in public. At home is fine.
3. I have not managed to grasp knitting socks on two circulars yet. Not that it is evading me either. It is awkward. That is all.
4. I am casting on a sock at home with the Plymouth Happy Feet that was acquired on the journey to Hickory, which I will take with me to the park. As long as I have a few rounds on, I will be fine. If I speed knit (if I shut up and concentrate), I can probably turn the heel in five hours. I am not betting on this. This yarn is soft and slides easily off the Addi Turbos. It will, however, feel nice on my feet. I'll be sticking to wooden DPNs for the day.
5. I think I will roll the Kroy Sock Yarn into balls. All of it. The directions recommend using two colors to learn. So I will knit a red sock and a green sock. Twice. They also suggested learning with worsted weight yarn, which I am not planning on doing. So far. I don't think it is as slippery as the Plymouth yarn. Not that this project is leaving the house right now. It is just the objective.
6. I need to remember my camera, my lawn chair and some lunch. And sunscreen.

The Usual Compulsive Behavior

2008-06-08T22:18:00.009-04:00

The current state of affairs at the House of Squalor:

This hilarious Wild Turkey Squeaky Toy from Target

The sophisticated process which turns a cute toy into bits of fluff in the floor. They look like cousins to dust bunnies. They will not be lonely here.

Angel responding to my suggestion that she "go outside and pee pee"

The second red sock nears completion.

Now that I actually grasp knitting socks, it seems that I can't make myself do much else. Additionally, I seem to have the sock yarn bug. This is a somewhat hellish obsession if you live in a place that has very little sock yarn to sell at any price. Since everyone seems to have an opinion on Kroy Sock Yarn, the old kind, the new kind, country of manufacture.... I had to acquire some of that. There is no known location in the greater Gaston or Mecklenburg county area that actually sells Kroy Sock Yarn. There are three options to get this: Option one is to pay some shipping. This turns a $12 pair of socks into a $20 pair of socks. For that amount of money, I might as well buy something in the luxury sock yarn category (which I am not above, keep reading). Option two is to buy enough stuff to qualify for free shipping. Option three is to wait for the free shipping coupon (which usually involves a qualifying purchase too). April's yarn budget (excepting souvenir yarn and birthday yarn) went to getting what was behind door number two. I bought a mini kacha kacha counter to get me where I needed to be.

Patons Kroy Sock Yarn in Krazy Stripes Colorway

Patons Kroy Sock Yarn in Paintbox Colorway

It isn't like I am turning out socks like a hosiery mill or anything. I think I took a record amount of time to mentally grasp the skills to make a basic sock. So in May, I receive a promotional email announcing that Lion Brand Sock Ease is out. If it's good enough for the Yarn Harlot, it's good enough for me (she had hers on March 26Th). May's yarn budget went to the purchase of two skeins of sock ease. I paid enough shipping to buy a third. I am dying to try this out, simply because this would make an $8 pair of socks. Besides, it does come in some fun colors. Somebody must have this in a store somewhere. Somewhere close to here.

Lion Brand Sock Ease in Red Hots

Lion Brand Sock Ease in Taffy

Then there would be this week, when I am determined to make it to City Hall to pay my water bill before work, and not be late. This doesn't sound like a big deal until you have driven (under time) in Charlotte traffic and missed the magical window of opportunity. I figured that ten minutes early was plenty and got ready, did my errand and went on towards work. I have a 35.5 mile commute each way. At about the 22 mile mark, I look at the clock in my car (and then my watch, and then my phone) only to discover that I was ONE HOUR EARLY. Which absolutely never happens. I even called the store to make sure that aliens had not reset every timepiece that I own. Nope. Early. So I stopped by Charlotte Yarn to pick up some #2 circular needles so that I may teach myself magic loop and knit socks faster. Also, behold the remainder of the June yarn budget:

Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn, in a colorway that looked so good I could have eaten it. What self control.

This is just crazy. At my current rate of knitting, I have nearly a year's worth of sock yarn. Just socks. Below are my initial efforts at magic loop and knitting socks two at a time. A few things to note: First, Addi Turbos are slick. The cord rocks, though. Secondly, this is about as easy as knitting with my feet. I'd really like to be able to do this for WWKIPD. So I have say, two days.

And then there is the much abused Friendship Shawl. It is underway again with a few minor modifications. More about this later.

HAppy BiRthDay!

2008-06-08T22:11:00.002-04:00

I heard you were 29. Please come and pet me.

Finished!

2008-06-04T22:23:00.002-04:00

Well, not the usual sort of finished object. I started this book in April and used my one renewal just to finish. This is not the sort of reader I am. Usually. This was not a hard read. Big print, kind to those of middle age. Good subject. I worked to finish it off today because it was due tomorrow. I thought. It was due Monday. Crap.

A Winner for Sure

2008-05-31T23:21:00.003-04:00

For June, we have a store display contest. We have to arrange/display all of this nice leather luggage better than any of our other stores. Our store must prepare our display and then photograph it and send it to our corporate office for judging.

We started early, as we would like to be the prize-winning store. Friday, one of the big cheeses from the office came by the store. He later told me my display was "nice". Nice does not win contests. He suggested I put some exciting things in my display. So I am trying a few things out.

Lifelines are for wimps

2008-05-27T12:26:00.003-04:00

or maybe for pessimists. Maybe they should be for me. After reaching the record length of eight inches, I hopelessly fouled up the friendship shawl. Again. I've frogged it enough so that it is not much of a surprise to anyone. I actually did consider putting in a lifeline. I just figured that I'd get a few more inches on it before I did. My primary frustration with this project is that it is a way easy pattern. And I can't seem to do it. It came close to hibernation. Here is Angel, posing with this morning's handiwork.

I did change gauge on this go around. Maybe it will go faster this time.

It is also sock-washing time.

WWKIP Day is June 14th 2008

2008-05-25T21:21:00.002-04:00

I am so going. Probably here:

United States, North Carolina, Charlotte
Hosted by: Charlotte Knitting Guild
Location: Freedom Park (Shelter #6/Ampitheater) - 1900 East Blvd Charlotte 28206
Time: 11AM-4PM
Date: June 14, 2008
How to get there:
From I-77S to West Blvd Exit make a LEFT off the ramp, go approximately 1 mile and cross over South Blvd. West Blvd now becomes East Blvd. Continue straight for about 3 miles and the park is located on your RIGHT! It is at the corner of East Blvd & Kings Drive. We will be at Shelter #6/Ampitheater.

Please bring:
Your needles & hooks of course! :o)Spindles & wheels too! Folding chair/blanket, light snack/picnic lunch, water, sunscreen, and your smiling face!! There will be raffle prizes! Fun Games! Spin Off (12-1PM) Destash Swap (1-2PM)

The backup plan is:
There is a shelter there just in case it rains!

This KIP is not knitting exclusive
There are free bathrooms available nearby

Or maybe here:

United States, North Carolina, Mooresville
Hosted by: Maria Campagna
Location: Three Goats Coffee Shop
Time: 10:00
Date: June 14, 2008
How to get there:
Three Goats is located in the Byers Creek Shopping Center on Hwy 150. Three Goats is on the same side as Harris Teeter.

Please bring:
Bring your own chair or you would like to sit outside or we run out of room inside! Sunscreen or a hat might me useful. Don't forget your fibers and needles-hooks. We are working on offering classes during this time. Contact Maria for further information.

The backup plan is:
If it rains then we will be inside. Space is limited indoors.

This KIP is not knitting exclusive
There are free bathrooms available nearby

You could come to. If you don't live around here, not to worry. Find a spot here.
See you there.

Happy Memorial Day

2008-05-25T11:16:00.034-04:00

I believe that it is worth noting that Memorial Day has more meaning than just, "Hey, I get a long weekend" or "I forgot the bank is closed". I spent yesterday here.

In honor of memorial day, the park had local folks in period military dress:

From the revolutionary war, where the only requirement to serve in the military was that you had to have at least two opposing teeth (one on the top and one on the bottom) so that you could tear open paper packets to load your weapon. Many rifles of this era had a smooth bore, which basically means that they would have been more accurate as a club. Military strategy of the period relied heavily on bayonets. Militia did not have uniforms. At the battle of Kings Mountain, Tories wore a sprig of pine tree in their hats, Whigs wore a piece of white paper. There were many people, including women, in period dress. I used up the whole memory card on my digital camera at the park and still didn't get everything. Not even close.

A dress uniform from 1812.

Civil War soldiers and an artillery demonstration. Uniforms are still optional and often improvised at this point.

A Rough Rider .

A WWI Soldier describing his '03 Springfield.

A Navy Corpsman attached to a Marine unit.

82ND Airborne Soldiers, with M-1 Carbines.

M-1 Garand with grenade launcher.

Garands and most other WWII surplus still being used in Korea.

And from the Vietnam era, with M-16s, which sound like popcorn popping in comparison to the rest of the booming reports from the day.

Followed by a walk on the 1.5 mile trail through the battlefield, which is chock full of monuments due to the efforts of a very active DAR chapter and with a little help from the Federal Government. It is also very steep in some places, not your average 1.5 mile walk.

I even saw some mountain laurel, which is rare in these parts.

While I was packing a bag to leave, I really wanted to bring along some knitting, probably a sock. Which I would not have touched the entire time. I looked for historical examples of knitting while I was there. I saw some kilt hose that looked suspiciously machine made and several women in period clothing had on sandals and tennis shoes under those long dresses. I could hardly blame them. It was warm and buggy out there. Probably the funniest things I saw were people in period costumes carrying around digital cameras or the civil war cannons being loaded onto pickup trucks.

Lesson learned: Soldiering can often be a crappy job. Those folks have made it possible for us to live in a society where we are free to do what we want (within reason) including worship (or not), vote and protest. So, while everyone is enjoying a long weekend, take a moment to remember that the possibility of our good life has been made possible through the sacrifices of many others. Happy Memorial Day.

The Gonkulator

2008-05-22T08:53:00.004-04:00

Ahhh. Creativity. What can you spell in seven characters or less? And still be understood. Maybe. We have this joke at work about a Gonkulator. Humor borne of old TV watching. Or maybe just of being old. It doesn't help that we are plagued with frequently broken office equipment. We were entertaining ourselves with this.
Our boss has upped our required weekly hours to 45 instead of 40. I am getting even by actually taking a lunch break instead of eating like I am in boot camp and getting back to work. It is hard to shake the boot camp eating habit, but it does usually leave me about 20 minutes to knit. The new trend in mall furnishings is to put little groupings of furniture all about the mall, like little living rooms. They are a fine place to sit and knit. The sock of anxiety has made a few trips to work this week. I should finish the toe today.

The map will change tomorrow, and I will start all over again. Onward.

Home Sweet Home, Squalor and All

2008-05-14T12:20:00.003-04:00

My return to my regular life has been strange. I was off yesterday (and today) and kept feeling like there was something else I should be doing. It did finally occur to me that I'd spent the better part of the last month driving back and forth to the hospital, and later to participate in the local funeral customs. I had absolutely no place to go yesterday. It felt amazing.

Then, there is this:
The friendship shawl, that may have a curse on it. It is about 4 inches long. It has been frogged so many times that everyone was beginning to look concerned about it. Evidently, I have about no attention span. It has a four row repeat, and rows 3 and 4 are the same as rows 1 and 2, only offset.
Then there is the current sock of anxiety. With an eye of partridge heel. Which I am so proud of. It only needs a foot and a toe (and a mate).
I have planned for today:
1. A trip to the library to see if there are any more knitting books. My branch has three at last count.
2. A trip to City Hall to pay my water bill.
3. My walk. This will be my third one this week. I am tired of my fat clothes being tight.
4. Some housework. I haven't seen the top of my dining room table in a while. I think it is bad when I achieve some level of discomfort from the filth in the house.
5. Some knitting. With measurable progress.
6. Some ridiculous movie watching. There are some old TV shows on Netflix that are available for instant viewing--perhaps a reward for progress and a break from the action here.

And speaking of ridiculous movie watching, I saw this in Target last night.

Angel is Seven!

2008-05-09T20:42:00.003-04:00

That's 49 in people years. Wow. Last year, we were the same age.

The Birthday Girl Gets a Giant Rawhide Bone for Her Birthday

Oh yeah. I finally started to knit again. I turned the heel on the current sock of anxiety today.

In Memoriam Mary Jeanne

2008-05-05T12:38:00.004-04:00

Mary Jeanne, circa 1936

It's been a tough couple of weeks, with a sad ending. We've spent as much time as possible with Mom, with the largest part of the standing (or sitting) by done by my father, although I think we all are just a little too familiar with the hospital. Daddy called me at about 5:30 this morning to let me know she was gone.

Though largely undocumented, I've spent a lot of time knitting the socks of anxiety, which are part of two different pairs and knitting and frogging the same three inches of friendship shawl over and over. Not because it is hard, but just because you have to pay some attention, even if the pattern is easy.

The Best Laid Plans

2008-04-21T09:57:00.003-04:00

I just had one of those weeks that just didn't go as I had planned it. I planned to have jury duty, which I did, and that is where the plan stopped. I did take the sock to jury duty and got about two inches of leg done sitting in the jury assembly room waiting. I was not selected for a jury. When I got out, I turned on my cell phone, which nearly exploded from the morning's message load. My mother was in the hospital. I went to sit with her and my dad, in the ER for about eight hours while waiting for a bed. I turned the heel on the sock right before leaving for the night. All days weren't so productive, but I clung to the sock (or the knitting) as sort of emotional ballast, while waiting. I grafted the toe this morning, so now I have a second pair.

In preparation of future events:

Oh My!

2008-04-14T20:28:00.002-04:00

It is way cold here for mid-April. Mid forties. I am wearing the green socks. I now know why I knit.

I Stand Corrected

2008-04-12T12:39:00.004-04:00

In my previous post, I reported that A Strand of Purls was the closest yarn store to my house. And in truth, it is the closest pure yarn store to my house. But there is more. I was lurking about in Books-A-Million, in the knitting section, when I hear a voice saying, "That's a good one". It was Pam, who was on her way home from Knit and Stitch that was here. The store, Things Remembered Custom Framing And So Much More, was originally a frame shop with some cross stitch stuff and gifties that just branched out into yarn, too. So I went by there yesterday and met Joy, who owns the place, and found out about the Thursday night fun. And scored some sock yarn.
Other fun vacation things I have done include a visit to a local museum that I kept driving by but never did manage a visit before. I got myself a library card and checked out two of the three knitting books at my little tiny branch of the library. I also have some on request that are on the way.

I finished my sock. With the bulletproof toe. And then cast on the next one.

I found a new use for some Cascade 220.

I got some cards and presents, because today is my birthday.

The Mosh Pit of Knitting

2008-04-10T00:48:00.005-04:00

I am on vacation. The not-so-glamorous kind of vacation where I stay at home (there is a budget involved) and have so day trips and do my taxes. I did devote the opening days of my vacation to housework. I did know that this was coming when I laid in bed one morning and entertained myself by watching Angel attack a dust bunny. A large one. A worthy adversary for a dachshund. The best sort of reason for such a cleaning project: A visit from The Goddess of All Things Wool and Then Some. And she brought Alexander.

Rather than a nice relaxing visit, we load up my car like the Beverly Hillbillies with knitting stuff and baby stuff and we head into the big city of Charlotte for a visit with The Yarn Harlot. One of the best things that I've been in on lately is to show up (as if on cue) to a bookstore at the same time as a bunch of other people who knit and appreciate the comments and the looks of relative astonishment that there are actually this many people who knit. There was this employee (male, mohawk) who was just agape.

The Goddess with Alexander and the beginnings of a very yummy sock.

First sock of second pair, well underway. I sucked it up, got a life and did the gusset stitches before I left the house. The actual process of me doing this looks uglier than my golf swing. Not exactly something I should be doing in public. Also, I did my hair with an egg beater for the occasion.

Not exactly a room full of gray haired grannies. Harlot way up front with red sign behind her. Not pictured was a bunch of folks in the balcony, including at least one person spinning.

Since is live about in Hell (it is close to here, I just know it), I am not exposed to many people knitting. Any that I know of, really. Not that live here. LYS is a relative term. Local means a drive of more than 30 miles. Imagine my delight to see more than a hundred knitters in one place at the same time. And, most of them were wearing knitted things! (I would have spontaneously combusted had I worn those green socks, or the wrist warmers, so I did not)Amazing things. Scarves and shawls and sweaters and socks. I was in the presence of greatness. The Goddess and I even found Sue.

What a discovery! The Goddess and I run into Sue, who hails from our Alma Mater and we're all sorority sisters to boot.

Now, even if I weren't a knitter, I would or should want to hear Stephanie Pearl-McPhee speak. Her talk was extra clever and I did realize that some of the things that people say to you while you are knitting are acutally quite common. It is disturbing that I heard most of them last week at the manager's meeting. BTW, I did know that you can actually buy socks.

Alexander was good for almost the whole time. There was a little snack at the end. The goddess did not get a large amount of knitting done, but kept me on the straight and narrow. I got a lot of sock done. And a signed book. And some sock mojo. And a famous sister and nephew. They got blogged today. I am the roadie with the diaper bag. Sigh.

Now, no visit with a knitting sister would be complete without an outing. So today, I went and stalked one of my customers (whose sister is a customer too) who just so happens to own THE YARN STORE CLOSEST TO MY HOUSE, which totally rocks, too.

Should you find yourself in Hickory NC, this is a place you should go. Tell Laura that the crazy woman from the luggage store sent you. She'll know exactly who you mean.

Alexander ready to score some yarn. Don't let the passy fool you.

The Goddess and Alexander at A Strand of Purls

Above and below: New stash! And Fred, the voodoo toothpick holder, who reminds me of someone...

Sock completion slated for tomorrow.

I did have some worry that these amazing socks that I am making will not fare well under the pressure of my long, finger-like toes. Quite a visual, isn't it? And that long second toe. I have destroyed socks I like over and over again by wearing a hole that my long toe just pokes right through. So, I did a little research and discovered that the thing that I need is called Woolly Nylon. It is nylon serger thread (springy, like yarn). No way was I going to cast aside the sock (I really have done that enough) to wait for mail order. I can get it here. I am so on my way.

Woolly Nylon--Stuff to reinforce toes

More Progress

2008-04-04T11:13:00.005-04:00

I started the heel flap yesterday and turned the heel this morning. I have some vacation time coming, with few definite plans. Except to finish this pair of socks and to see the Yarn Harlo t. Who is coming to Charlotte. Tuesday. I am going with The Goddess of All Things Wool and Then Some. It is our (my) evil plan that we (I) shamelessly use the ever cute baby Alexander (who must come, as The Goddess is his source of food and his fave person in the whole world) to get to meet the Yarn Harlot. We will be in the mosh pit of knitting.

I did call Border's to see if we would need a reservation for this event. No, just come a little early. I even asked if they knew that a lot of people would come. I got the audible version of a smirk. Oh well, they were warned. See you there.

Avoidance

2008-04-02T19:38:00.003-04:00

I've spent the last two days in meetings (not really being all that happy to go to today's, but that is another matter entirely) and in between presentations, I have been working on my sock. One of the conversations that I have had with The Goddess of All Things Wool and Then Some is my need to develop skill in fixing mistakes. Like dropped stitches. Which I did today. And managed to save instead of frogging half a sock. Again.

Yay! Avoidance of frogging.

Another grand accomplishment is that I knit a washcloth at this meeting last year. A sock is a noticeable improvement in skills. I was amazed that anyone noticed.

Ravelry Invite

2008-04-01T06:59:00.002-04:00

I got my Ravelry invite yesterday. Amazing. Look for britomart. Later. I've done very little with my notebook so far. I have the socks in it and a few books. Most of my time was spent stalking more ambitions knitters.

Blogiversary!

2008-03-29T20:09:00.004-04:00

I've been making obscure blog entries for a year now (with the help of a reluctant dog). March has not been the most productive writing month ever, but the knitting has gone on in between regardless. Above, you will note my newest knitted block from the Jan Eaton book. I'd give the book an A+ for ideas, and an A+ (or better) for quality of directions if you need to learn to do new stitches like yarn overs, double decreasing and cabling. I learned all of the above from this book. The drawback: all of the patterns that have yarn overs in them need some correcting. I'm pretty sure of it. There are only two corrections on the publisher's website, which are not necessarily ones that I was interested in right now anyway. However, I have had a great deal of fun with this, so I'd give it at least a B+ overall (I would certainly buy it again). It is sort of fun "snack knitting" where you can do a lot of tasty knitting in a small space and finish segments quickly. Ultimately, these things are going to make the most rockin' blankie.

I am doggedly re-doing the sock.

I spent Easter with The Goddess of All Things Wool and Then Some. And my cute nephews. Note that one nephew is not as happy about being photographed as the other two. We had a massive Easter Egg Hunt. Evidently I am a good egg hider.

Alexander in a better mood.
My accomodations at the Goddess' house. Sofa beds are way more fun than regular beds and seem to attract children and small dogs.

It's been a fun year. The knitting, the messing up, the frogging and the learning. What comes next?

Journey Update

2008-03-18T21:52:00.003-04:00

The sock didn't make it to heel flappiness. It is awaiting resurrection. I did finish the Arrowhead square. Correctly. Square total is at 4 with 5 on the needles. I think I am almost ready to learn cables.

I finished a secret scarf. The scarf diet has begun. While I am going to finish what I have on the needles right now, I resolve not to start another scarf project until cold weather. At least. It does not seem to be doing much for my knitting skills.

Ooooh! But look. Is it a secret design project?

More Sockiness

2008-03-12T10:51:00.004-04:00

OK. I took the green socks to work on Sunday and put them on for my assistant Kimberly, who wisely looked at me and smiled and nodded. You know, sort of in a way that says, "I'm glad the voices didn't tell her to stay home and clean the guns today". THEN I bring out this:

Which is my fabulous new sock in Schoeller Stahl sock yarn in a colorway that is a number. One that I don't remember. Sorry. It is wound into a nice center pull ball, which means I can't really tell what the next color is going to be, knit knit knit, ooooh. More smiling and nodding.

My sock yarn stash (including this one) is an anemic four balls. I chose this color because I'd knitted a gauge swatch for it--months ago, when I thought I'd just be doing one sock after another. Well, maybe now I will.

In which I make some socks

2008-03-08T00:28:00.003-05:00

Well, Thursday was a bit optimistic for sock completion, but Friday was doable. I did find myself mired in my usual apprehension about picking up gusset stitches. Having done this from start to finish without assistance on one sock, I think I could (and shall) do this again. I do fear the limitations of my pitiful middle-aged eyesight.

A few things that I have noted:
1. The body of the second sock is a little neater.
2. The stitches that I picked up by myself were a little looser than on the first sock, where I had adult supervision. It seemed very awkward.
3. I cannot watch television and Kitchener stitch toes. I have tried.
4. I am glad I finished. (I still need to weave in ends.)

I can knit socks. I was beginning to feel a little stupid about the heel gusset business. It is nice to be able to do something other than a garter stitch scarf.

This seems to be going faster

2008-03-04T10:46:00.004-05:00

This whole sock knitting thing, that is. I knit the rest of the leg of the sock on Friday, with the goal deadline in mind. The weekend turned out a wash for sock knitting, but I fooled around with the maximum scarf and some secret knitting just to fulfill yarn lust. Monday, I had all of the best intentions, but got a chance to see Dawn, so I ambled off to see her. Since she is usually in California, it was a worthwhile diversion. Tuesday was spent with other WIPs, much like the weekend.

Anyway, I don't want to be the person who is always working on a scarf or a washcloth. These are both fine things. I just don't want that to be all I can do. This has been a regular thought with me for a while. So I got up this morning and knit my heel flap and turned my heel. I may or may not be able to knit tomorrow (this is sad) due to my work schedule, but I am off Thursday. With any effort at all, I shall finish right on time.

If I have the green socks out of the way on Thursday, that leaves Friday (my other day off) for other knitting. I am absolutely going to cast on another pair of socks and I am probably going to redo the arrowhead square.

I Knit a Sock Empowerment Day

2008-02-28T19:26:00.003-05:00

I went in for work today after my fine two day knitting holiday and one of my employees asked me what I'd done on my days off. "I knit a sock," I replied proudly. Obviously, he was not as impressed as I had been. I also tried this on female employees. "Oh," and smiles and nods were their replies. I even showed a picture of the sock in question to the employees--"See, and there is the toe shaping.."

Clearly, what I need to do is to finish sock #2 and wear the pair of them to work, so that everyone will understand. I wonder what I have that goes with green socks.

Progress update: I have two inches of ribbing on sock two. I heard once that you have a 74% better chance of achieving goals if you write them down. Since this worked with sock number one, I think I will try again. Goal: To finish sock number two within a week. And wear it to work.