Espresso is Good

There hasn't been a lot of knitting this weekend, or at least not a lot of interesting knitting. Mom and I went to the Mariner's game on Friday (Ichiro Bobblehead night!), and the game was too exciting to knit at. Yesterday I had a few other things going on, and although I started a new project that I'm sort of excited about, there's not enough of it yet to bother photographing. Maybe later today, since the weather is nice! The most exciting thing this weekend, though, is that I bought an espresso machine. Not a super fancy, price-of-a-used-car machine, just an entry level home model. I'm still figuring out how to make the best coffee ever, but the results have been pretty delicious so far. I've tried Illy grounds, and Starbucks pods. The pods are 100% reliable and super convenient. The grounds are a little more difficult, but I think will be worth the extra effort so that I can brew two shots at a time. If anyone has some coffee brand suggestions, leave it in the comments!

In other food news, I would like to present . . . .

A Tale of Two Sandwiches

Given my poor dietary habits and my sheer laziness when it comes to cooking, I really don't feel like I have a leg to stand on regarding the blogging of food topics. However, this weekend I've experienced two sandwiches that stand on the polar ends of acceptable restaurant food.

Sandwich #1: The first sandwich was the biggest culinary disappointment I've had at Safeco Field ever. Worse than paying $8.75 for a beer, worse than a day-old reheated corndog, worse than ice-cold fries. The name of this disappointment? The BBQ Pork sandwich.

A little background: at Safeco Field, you can download software for your Nintendo DS that lets you look up stats, follow other games, see video replay, and order food to your seat. Ordering food to your seat is a great feature if you're stuck in the middle of the row, or if the lines are really super long. The main reason I've ordered from the Nintendo in the past, though, is because it offered a pork sandwich that is only available in the Bullpen Pub, which is three full levels and half-way around the park from our seats. This sandwich is terrific--it's got slices of bbq pork with chipotle mayo topped with coleslaw on an onion Kaiser roll. It's a huge sandwich, so Mom and I can split it and still feel like we had a meal. It's arguably the best food item in the ballpark, and it's the sandwich pictured on the Nintendo DS menu.

On Friday, when I ordered the pork sandwich from the DS, what arrived was a small, microwave heated roll with a few slices of overcooked pork drowning in a really boring bbq sauce. Really bad--completely not delicious, totally not worth even 1/3 of the cost. And although this disappointment was assuaged by the M's 5th inning comeback, I have a creeping fear that the most delicious sandwich at the ballpark may not even be available at the Bullpen Pub anymore, and that I'll have to spend all season trying to find foods to carry into the park instead of eating the same (delicious) hot dog all the time.

Sandwich #2: On Saturday, I went to the Fiber Gallery's Anniversary Sale, and I had planned to stop by Red Mill Burgers for lunch. When I drove by, though, the place was crammed full and there were maybe 15 people out on the sidewalk, so I decided to try a place across the street from the Fiber Gallery called Picnic. The menu was small and simple, and I ordered a ham and cheese sandwich to go. This is a $9 sandwich, and when they handed it over to me I thought that I might have made another sandwich mistake because it had no heft to it. It felt like maybe there was no filling to this sandwich. I was totally wrong--this sandwich was perfect. The bread was crusty and flaky without being chewy, the ham and cheese were perfectly proportioned, the only condiment that I could detect was dijon mustard, which is the only condiment that this sandwich needed. There was no flavor-diluting lettuce, anemic winter tomatoes or other unnecessary ingredients. If Picnic was on my way to Safeco Field, I would take this sandwich with me to the games, and never even miss the pork sandwich. Next time I might not eat it in my black-upholstered car while wearing a black shirt, but maybe I still would.

Just to bring this non-food blog back to yarn, I did pick up new yarn yesterday although my plan was to not buy any more until I'd paid for Sock Summit. There are only so many things I can resist, though--I've passed by the Webs sale, and the Jimmy Bean's Wool sale, and a couple of sock clubs that I really think I'd enjoy. Anyway, in the spirit of full disclosure, I bought a sweater's worth of Classy at the Fiber Gallery's sale (20% off!) because the more I knit with it, the more I like it. Then on the way home, I stopped at Renaissance Yarns and picked up yarn for the new project I started last night (which I'll likely blog about tomorrow). Let's hope that I can straighten out all of my knitting problems sooner rather than later, so I can make some stuff (rather than just knit the same thing over and over, fixing mistakes).

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh

Now that's more like it! And it'd much easier to knit this way than the spirally way--but maybe that's just because I'd had all of that DPN practice with the first square. I haven't used DPNs for anything in a long time. The yarn is a ball of Koigu that I bought at Madrona this year, and then I decided that I didn't like it for the project I had planned for it. I think that it will make a good square, and will blend in with a lot of different colors. I may make a few in this yarn, but I've also got one or two other bits of leftover sock yarn I can dip into . . .

Where is My Mind? Where is My Mind?

Larissa over at Stitch Marker is organizing a Barn Raising blanket fundraiser for Sock Summit 2009, and what with my inability to knit patterns I thought that starting a square might be just within my grasp this evening. How wrong I was:

It's a lovely pinwheel, but it's not going to look good when combined with the strong, straight diagonals of the other squares. Fortunately, this isn't really that much knitting, so I'll just start over and try to follow the pattern this time. It's really not a hard thing to do--I just winged it a little.

If you're planning to attend Sock Summit (or will just be there in spirit) and are interested in contributing a square or two, the full details are here. The pattern for the square is in Larissa's book Knitalong (which I highly recommend, and not just because my skull meathead is in it), but there's also a link to it from her blog post.

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Where is My Mind? Where is My Mind?: The Pixies, "Where is My Mind"

I Can't Believe They're 6 and 2

The M's home opener was great--really good game, great crowd, sunny (but freezing cold) weather. The only downside? I'm exhausted and will have a looooooooooooong day at work tomorrow to make up for taking the afternoon off. Totally worth it. But I need to go to sleep now.

What's in the photos? All L to Right (though I'm sure you could have figured that out yourself). I've shuffled them up, they aren't in chronological order.

Top Row: Ichiro is introduced, Sunny Safeco Sign on the third level, Griffey is introduced
Middle Row: Grounds crew dance, the only knitting I can be trusted with these days (3 x 3 rib, the second Northern Lights cuff), Opening day painted on the field
Bottom Row: Victory!!!!, Felix is introduced, Griffey's first at bat (this was a strike--I didn't get a good photo of the hit).

My favorite photo was from my iPhone, which was otherwise totally useless at the game:

I don't know what the problem was (other than a large crowd), but for most of the game I didn't have phone service or internet connectivity. I'm sure that my Facebook friends were disappointed not to receive updates on my status every five minutes (i.e. "Griffey got a hit!" and "What a corndog!") while they were at work. Plus, the constant search for service meant that my battery drained in only a few hours. Booooooooo, AT&T wireless.

The next game for us on Friday, it's Ichiro bobblehead night. Free toy = Maximum Value!

The Note Would Say "When It Rains It Snows"

A friend came over on Sunday to watch the M's game (Hi, V____!), and while the game was good, the knitting was not. I was feeling all virtuous because on Saturday I finished seaming the Cables Baby sweater and fixed & finished the Green Chill sleeves. I even wove in the ends and lightly pressed the pieces of the Green Chill. And although I thought about starting a new project, I decided instead to carry on with knits already in progress.

Here's how the day went: I'd start knitting, then look down and see a mistake. So I'd put that project aside, knit for a little while on the ribbing for the Northern Lights socks, get bored, then pick up another project and start the cycle all over again. Note that with each of these mistakes were made the mistake recently, not all in a single day--I even picked up a pair of socks that I haven't worked on in a couple of weeks, with the same result. Here's a pictoral review of the carnage:

Purple Graffiti Cables

Started last weekend in DK weight yarn, the Purple Graffiti Cables seemed to be coming along quickly for 2 at a time socks. I wanted to NOT be tied to a notebook or sheet of paper while knitting, so I tried marking the cable row and then counting up from it. Bad idea--there's an extra row before the cable crossing. I will likely pull these off the needle and rib, as tinking back cables is not my idea of a good time and it should be fairly easy to get these back on the needles. That being said, if I find out that the first cable crossing was early (instead of the second one being late), I'm going to knit to the shorter length or rip out the whole sock and put the yarn away.

Blue Sea Socks

Next up-the Blue Sea Socks from the first Loopy Ewe Sock Club shipment. These haven't received much airtime because it took some time to decide what I wanted to do with the heel. I've opted to do the gusset increases on the bottom of the sock ala this pattern (PDF link) from Wendy Johnson (whose new book should be in my hands later this week). However, those increase are coming out now since I repeated some rows there at the top. The cable turns instead of waving. The loss will be about six rows, which isn't really so bad, but I'm not sure why I screwed this up because I can't even remember when I last worked on it.

Black Diamond

Lest you think that all of my knitting issues involve cables, behold a simple knit/purl mixup. Or two of them. In the larger circle, you can see that I missed a purl on the left side, so there's a break in the diamond pattern. Evidently, I put it a few stitches over. This is a pretty simple fix (akin to the problem with the Green Chill on Saturday), just ladder down and back up. In fact, it took just a couple of minutes, and then I noticed the problem in the top circle, which isn't clearly visible. Two purls on top of one another, so again off pattern, but again an easy fix.

Maybe a new project, something extra extra simple, isn't such a bad idea. Or maybe I should stick to weaving in ends and sewing buttons on the Cables Baby sweater? How much more damage can I do?


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The Note Would Say "When It Rains It Snows": They Might Be Giants, "When It Rains it Snows"

When I'm Two Rows From Casting Off . . . .

. . . this is not what I want to see:

About 10 rows down, stockinette instead of garter--hard to see close up, but from a foot away it would be obvious to even the least observant, non-knitter among us. Time to take out the crochet hook.

I Just Got Lost

It's amazing what kind of forgotten works-in-progress I've stumbled across while cleaning up and looking for bag ingredients in the sewing room. There are a couple of cardigans that are so old that I never logged them in Ravelry. One needs to be ripped out (there's only a few inches knit, with a couple of full-row pattern errors). The other is so old that the yarn was discontinued in 2004. If you're like me, and that sounds like it wasn't so long ago, it was FIVE years ago, and since I bought the yarn in Cambridge, it's likely much older. If only I could find the pattern or my notes, I could think about working on this again. I think that the Rowan book that the pattern is from may be in Somerville, and there's a high likelihood that I also have misplaced a skein of yarn. Yikes.

Anyway, among the really old stuff, I found a project that needs so little work to finish that I'm embarassed that I haven't really worked on it since the fall. It's the Cables Baby sweater, using Socks That Rock Mediumweight in Nyame & Stephanie Pearl McPhee's lovely Baby Yours pattern. Here's how it looks:

Somehow, when I even remembered that I was making this sweater, I thought that there was more left to knit. I thought that it needed another button band, or i-cord edging (which would involve learning), or something other than just seams. But seams and a light pressing is really all that's left. So maybe I should get on that, instead of just blogging about it?

Also, solved is the mystery of the missing darning needles--I've been looking for the Chibi in the photo for quite awhile. It was with the sweater that needed sewing up. Makes perfect sense!

I'm going to try and wrap this up this weekend (if I say it here, it must be true, right?). I've been feeling some burst of "finishitis" lately. Spring Cleaning, and all.

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I Just Got Lost: "Lost" by Coldplay. Oh, Coldplay, why did your G/A seats at the Gorge have to sell out so quickly?

Quick Update: Goth Socks

An update so quick that I didn't have time to "sharpen" my slightly fuzzy photo! The first plain Gothsock that I started on Oscar night has been finished for a week or so and toe #2 is almost done. If all goes according to plan, this will be teed up as the new plain, boring knitting right when the Northern Lights sock goes from boring rib to interesting lace panel.

I really love the stripes--I would definitely use this yarn (Gothsocks) again.. The black is surprisingly black, and the stripes are nice and crisp. I am also really glad that I used plain black yarn for the heel, toe, and ribbing. Once I weave the ends in (and they aren't bunched up around my toes), these socks are going to be super comfortable, thanks to the cushy garter stitch toe and heel. Now if only I had written down how many stitches I short-rowed to on the heel and toe, I'd be in really good shape!

Still working away on a ton of other projects, and thinking about the final design of the project bags I've been talking about. It turns out that the talking is the easy part--the sewing is going to take more actual labor!

Two Toe Tuesday: Are You Freaking Kidding Me Right Now?

Another day, another bag, another pair of socks. That's right, I am not freaking kidding right now, I did start a new pair of socks on Sunday. I had to do an authentic product test--one using socks knit two at a time from two balls of yarn. So far, so good--I mean, I took the photo moments after finishing the bag, I did the actual knitting from the first bag. This bag is a little bit bigger, with a pocket on the front instead of decorative applique. The pocket is more useful, but more important to keep centered and even and whatnot. And I think that I prefer the smaller size, but maybe I just like the bright handle and buttons better. I am taking all three bags with me to knitting tonight, for some knitter's feedback!

The socks? Oh, yes, the socks. The pattern is the 2/2/2 Right Ribbed Cable Socks (Rav Link) from the Little Box of Socks. The yarn is Duet DeKay in the "Courage in Grafitti" colorway. I'm not sure it was the best choice for this pattern, the cables may be totally lost in the color. I'm willing to chance it, though--I really like the colors. I hope that the cables look o.k., because even though knitting two socks at once is great, there's nothing worse than ripping two socks at once.

To See the Frog Eat the Goggle-Eye Bee

Clockwise from top left: Frieda can't keep her eyes open for this photo, Frieda with bag, Sweater sized bag, sock sized bag

Despite the dull, steady headache associated with staying out super late and getting up super early (the rock show on Saturday night was totally worth it, but I have no photographs), Sunday was a pretty productive day. A friend is planning to have a booth at Sock Summit in August, and I've been trying to come up with a sock project bag that she could sell. This is a proposition with a lot of "ifs", in my mind--if I can make more than one or two, if she does have a booth, if I will more than break even on the deal, etc. Then there's the obvious "will anyone buy this" question, of course.

I can sew pretty well, but my quality threshhold for things that I make for myself is decidedly lower than my quality threshhold for things that I would buy, and that's a contradiction that may mean trouble. Producing multiples of something that is sewn well enough that I would buy it myself may suck the joy right out of the creative process for me. Also, I think that my design idea is pretty good, but I've been mentally overcomplicating it and even my simple attempts today have some issues.

My basic idea is a bag that will keep two balls of yarn from tangling (as in two socks at once, or colorwork socks), but will let me remove the yarn without cutting it, and will hold the project and the yarn. No velcro, no zippers--I maintain that these are the enemy of yarn, just as mohair yarn is the enemy of my skin. I've decided to try button closures, so that the yarn can thread out the sides, but will tuck into the center & be buttoned up. Future enhancements (the part that I'm overcomplicating mentally) include inner dividers, pockets, etc., but I'm trying to remind myself that this is just a project bag--it's not a purse, or a full-on knitting bag, or a means to create world peace. Two balls of yarn, with room for one or two socks. That's it.

The prototype bag is made of denim with a little stretch that I had lying around, embellished with some Japanese frog canvas & a couple of scraps. I didn't line the bag, but am still on the fence about that--it's a balance between excess weight and better finishing. I zigzagged the raw edges so there won't be any fraying, but lining would still look neater. Also, I put in the buttonholes before sewing the side seam, and it would look neater to sew the side seams first and then turn the top edge down and put in the buttonholes (assuming that I could still mark the buttonhole positions straight). The embellishment took a long time--too long, really. A cute pocket (maybe big enough to hold a pattern) might be a better use of the space.

So what do I like about the bag? The craftsmanship is reasonably good, and I think that the size will work well (but I might make it slightly wider). I like the clutch-style handle, and I like the look of the different buttons. Denim is super durable, so needles shouldn't poke through. It will stand up (though is a little floppy) when empty, which means that if loaded properly it will stand up when full.

The only project I'm working on now that uses two balls of yarn is the Black Diamond (look at how big it's getting!), and this bag will hold two 100g balls of classy but not the yarn and the sweater. So why not sew a larger version of the bag? On the larger bag, I put two handles to the top of the bag, and a mermaid pocket on the front. Wider opening = 5 buttons, which I was too lazy to dig out and sew on before calling it a day. I'm not sure I'd want to make many of these, it takes longer and a lot more fabric, and getting the pocket square is tricky. If you could see it closer, you would notice that--trust me.

So now that I've made a couple of bags, I suppose I need to test them out--I have this fear of the yarn getting all tangled up on the buttons, and the only way to put that fear to rest is to knit a little!

I Forgot to Mention Yesterday

. . . that I couldn't hold out past April 1 on starting a new pair of socks from Sock Innovation. What can I say? I am weak. The pattern is Kai-Mei (Rav Link), and the yarn is Sundara Sock in Aurora Borealis. I've grown disenchanted with the Sundara buying experience (stalking the site, buying blind, and then selling what I don't love is too time, energy, and $$ intensive for me right now), but this skein is soooo beautiful. Since this pattern starts with a ton of 3 x 3 rib, it's perfectly portable--all of my other "mistake-proof" socks are at heels or toes or bind offs that I can't work on at train crossings or drive-thrus. The yarn is dark, though, so it's not that good for knitting in bars (though I could probably manage it, if forced to spend time in bars . . . that's soooo unlike me)!

Green Green Rocky Road

I've been trying to think of a way to make knitting these sleeves sound or look interesting, but even Frieda isn't all that interested in them. I've been working on a lot of other projects in the meantime, but have been trying to get through a minimum of four rows (that's one set of increases) per day. It's paying off--I'm only a couple of increases away from the widest part of the sleeve, and then I can stop counting rows until the sleeve is long enough. These should fly by after that, and then it will be time to make the final zipper vs. button band decision and finish this puppy off. That's when it will get interesting again, I suppose.

The spring cleaning that I semi-started last weekend in the sewing room continues. I realized this week that my car is unacceptably dirty on the inside, and that I need to do more work in the sewing room before I start messing it up with new projects. Oh, but you know how I love new projects . . .

You Probably Didn't Think that I was This Classy

Remember that birthday yarn binge I mentioned? The worst of it involved getting very, very Classy. I ordered blue Dream in Color's Classy from the Loopy Ewe for a February Lady Sweater on the Friday before my birthday, knowing full well that I wouldn't have it in time for the weekend. Since I stayed in the city overnight, on Sunday morning I went to a few Seattle yarn stores that I don't get to frequently enough, and ended up with another sweater's worth of Classy at the Fiber Gallery. I swatched on Sunday, and started Laura Chau's Lucy in the Sky cardigan the next day. I really like the way it looks so far, and love the feel of the yarn. Like Smooshy, it's sock-weight counterpart, this yarn is very smooshy and springy. The fronts, back, and button bands are worked at the same time, so the rows are really really long and the progress feels slow, but it will be really nice not to have a lot of seams to deal with at the end. I love the seed stitch borders, and I like that there isn't any pesky waist shaping in this sweater. I've been trying to alternate between this and the Green Chill sleeves, and yesterday I worked on the Blue Birthday socks and Blue Sea Socks in addition to both sweaters, but really it's the Black Diamond that's getting the bulk of my attention.

The yarn for the February Lady sweater arrived later in the week, and it's really pretty. The color is Midnight Derby, which is a dark, purpley blue. It's a little less dark that I expected, but that's probably because there's so much variation between batches of this yarn. Here's how it looks:

Pretty! But now sealed in a space bag in the garage, along with a lot of other yarn, in an effort to get the sewing room under control. This should also keep me from casting on a new sweater when I've got another one barely started and one very close to completion. I'm completely cool with 2009 being the year of the sweater, but I'd rather that it didn't turn into (another) year of starting and then abandoning sweaters.

Sock Summit News

Just as I was seriously considering signing up for another sock yarn club, the new Sock Summit website went up. Class listings, prices, and some non-class event info is up, and it's really going to be an incredible event. There isn't enough info yet to select classes and slot them into my own schedule, but it's enough to do some bare-bones planning & budgeting. Budget item #1: stop buying yarn until registration in May. You don't need it. That goes for patterns that you don't need immediately to start a project, too.* Budget item #2: watch other discretionary spending, too. It can't hurt.

Sock Book News

Cookie A's new book Sock Innovation arrived in the mail on Friday. It's really great--the first section talks about how she designs, and there are a ton of patterns. You can preview (and then immediately queue) the patterns in the book on Ravelry. The first pattern I'm going to knit is Kai-Mei, and I set aside this yarn for it yesterday when I was vaccuum packing yarn. Cookie is teaching at Sock Summit, and her class is high on my priority list. Although I should admit that right now the list is very non-hierarchical--it's basically just "classes I want to take" and "classes that I've already taken or that involve spinning".

Time to get cracking--I want to do more work in the sewing room, because I had an idea yesterday for a new project bag that I'd like to prototype!

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* exclusions apply, particularly if I get really stressed out. Wollmeise is always a free pass, as is yarn purchased with my Christmas gift card from Renaissance, and yarn that I've already committed to purchase (final Sundara seasons shipment, and next Loopy sock club).

Hey Man I'm Making Moves

Clockwise from top left: Birthday sock start, Young Fresh Fellows, My Birthday Book, Robyn Hitchcock & Peter Buck

How can it be Thursday already? Then again, I thought it Thursday on Tuesday, so maybe it's Thursday all week this week. Do I sound existential? Do I sound like I'm just making stuff up? I think that it's due to the heavy influence of the Robyn Hitchcock show I went to on my birthday. I'm hoping that L____ DID go home and write down some of the things he said in between songs, because there was so much of it that it has all vanished. I attended the show with two friends (E__ and L____) who I've known for about 25 years each, and we were seated at a table that sat up against the stage. How great is that? Great show, great time, great birthday.

E___ put together the book above with pages from a dozen or so friends, some featuring photos that I definitely don't remember seeing before. Or being in. Some of the photos are from several years' worth of Christmas parties from the 90's, where I look a lot better than I remember looking. And my hair isn't big or crazy, so I could conceivably pass off those photos as being from the modern age (as long as there's never any real life comparison). There's also a photo from college featuring Dennis Miller where he looks like he's about 18 years old, even though he would have been in his late 30s at the time. Seriously, the photo has two men and eleven women, and I was racking my brain to figure out whose boyfriend that would have been. I'm so lucky to have all of these memories in one place (especially the memories I'd completely forgotten), and I really appreciate all the effort E__ took in getting this together and that my friend put into making pages. Plus, my Cookie Monster mug-shot-style photo on the cover could not be more perfect. I sure wore a lot of fancy makeup that Halloween!

There was also some knitting--I started a new pair of socks on my birthday, in The YoYo CashSport String (same as Hulk Smash) from the Loopy Ewe. The pattern is Duckies (Rav Link) by Samantha Hayes. It's super straightforward, although I'm thinking about doing a different heel so now I'm stuck here:

Let the record show that I've been stuck here since Sunday due to other projects that will have to wait until another day. Suffice to say that there was a LOT more yarn purchased in the days around my birthday, and some of it is gettin' knit up now. Poor Green Chill's sleeves are jealous, though I've been working on those a bit too.

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Hey Man I'm Making Moves: "Future 40's" by Syd Straw. A beautifully depressing song that feels more fitting today than when it was first recorded, it in no way reflects my feelings about my birthday or my knitting. I just picked it 'cause it's got "40" in the title, and because I've been thinking about Syd Straw lately.

Down on the Main Spring Listen to the Tick-Tock

The Green Chill sweater is coming along so quickly that I haven't had time to write a series of repetitive "I've got three more inches now!" style posts--the first front was done on Monday (I started it before the Spring Training trip), the second front was done on Wednesday, and the sleeves are well underway. I'm knitting both sleeves at once so that the increases will go on the same row for sure--for some reason, I wasn't worried enough about the fronts to do both at once, probably because there's not a lot of shaping to keep straight.

I'm hoping to get this finished before it gets too warm for a wool cardigan (though this may not happen for months yet), and before I start another new sweater. This project has come along so well that starting a new sweater feels imminent--even though it would make more sense to go back to sweaters that are already started.

The biggest issue that I forsee with finishing this sweater is that I keep mentally picking out buttons for it, even though the pattern calls for a zipper--I may end up adding button bands, or if not I will need to find the right zipper and install it (or have it installed) which could take as much time as it's taken to knit the thing! Opinions, advice? Buttons or Zipper? Let me know what you think in the comments.

Note in the photo above a guest appearance by the Hulk Smash socks, which I've been wearing around the house all week. They turned up when I was packing for AZ, and as soon as I put them on I ordered more of this yarn (Cashsport String by The Yo Yo from the Loopy Ewe, this time in a pretty light blue) because it's so comfy. I'm hoping that it arrives today--it's my birthday (which one? It ends with a zero, and it's not 30) and if I want to start some birthday socks I will. Startitis has free reign today--I'm hoping it will quash the urge to buy a sweater's worth of yarn when I'm in the big city later today, but I'm not convinced that it will.


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Down on the Main Spring Listen to the Tick-Tock: "New Amsterdam", Elvis Costello. This video version is poor quality but hilariously "of it's time" (while the song itself holds up really well)

With the Sky Blue Sky

Left: A Blue Sock at batting practice, Right: Manny Ramirez in blue shoes

Another hot day today in the greater Phoenix area! We spent the morning at the M's training camp watching the team practice, and I worked a little on a new sock. It's from a sock club, and as you know the first rule about sock clubs is do not talk about sock clubs. I think that it's pretty safe to discuss, but there may be people who don't have their package yet, so I'll hold off on naming the club / pattern / yarn. But isn't it pretty? And close to the M's colors, too.

The main M's squad played in Tucson today, so we went to the new Dodger's training facility instead. It's really nice, and our seats were terrific, but we sat in full sun all day which is a little much for me. One of the highlights was seeing Manny Ramirez get his first hit of Spring Training (this was his first game)--I didn't photograph the actual hit, but the photo above may be from the same at bat. I was eating ice cream during that at bat, so I wasn't paying quite as much attention as I should have.

Tomorrow we head back to Seattle, where it's going to be at least 30 degrees colder than here. Brrrr. . . . it's hard to even imagine that after sitting in the sun all day!

Here Comes the Sun

clockwise from top left: Ryan Rowland-Smith signing autographs, proof that Summer Sky Socks are done, Griffey takes a look, Goth Socks

Having a great time in AZ, the weather has been perfect (and our seats have been mostly in the shade), the beer has been cold and the food delicious. The baseball? Well, so far we've been to three Mariners blowouts (the M's on the losing end), and one World Baseball Classic exhibition game in which the Korean team was soundly defeated by the Padres. Tomorrow, we're going to see the Dodgers play the Rangers--two teams that I have no real opinion of, so maybe it will be closer?

In knitting news, I did manage to finish the Summer Sky Socks (which have been lingering since last summer) the night before we left. I didn't have a chance to get a good photo at home, so I wore them on the plane and took a photo today at the ball park. They were knit from Vesper sock yarn in Summer Sky, and they were knit toe-up using the beaded rib pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks. They were meant to be finished by the end of August, but when they weren't done they moved into the car-knitting rotation which meant that they were worked on a few stitches at a time. They fit nicely, and I'm glad they are done--I didn't really like using a 5-stitch repeat, for some reason it was hard to get into rhythm with.

I brought the Goth Socks that I started on Oscar night, and have worked a little past the heel. I used the Lucy Neatby garter row heel, and am a little concerned that I didn't write down how many stitches I left unwrapped at the bottom. I want to say it was around 10, but that may not be precise enough to end up with two roughly matching heels. I really like the even stripes that this yarn produces, and I like the solid toe & heel really well. There are other socks that I brought with me to work on, but these are by far the easiest to work on while waiting for the action on the field to start, or while drinking beer in sports bars.

We have a couple more days in AZ, and then it's back to cold Seattle. I wish that I hadn't left my everyday coat in the overhead on the plane, I think I'm going to need it when we get back! That being said, at first I thought that my Spincycle Mitts were in the pocket, and I found them in my bag, so it isn't a big deal that I may not get the 8 year old raggedy jacket back.

Two Toe Tuesday: Winter on Monday, Summer on Tuesday Edition

For the record, the Seattle area doesn't usually have snow in March, but I took this photo this morning. For the other record, it is Monday, even though the title says Two Toe Tuesday. It happens.

I finished the Red Hot Chili socks (pattern: Empoisonnée by Yarnissima, yarn: Wollmeise Sockenwolle 100% superwash) over the weekend, only a week late for the Sock Knitter's Anonymous January challenge. In my book, that's not so bad, but the second sock was a bit of a slog at the end. Underneath the cuffs are 30-ish rows of twisted rib ribbing, which is a bit of a snooze after the enlarging cables that run up the sides. These socks were a lot of fun to knit, and I can assure you that Wollmeise is worth the hype. O.K., it twisted up on itself a bit and I had to periodically unwind it, but these are not a giant sweater--it's easy to untwist. And I've got about 30 grams left from the 150 gram skein--wouldn't this color look good striped with black yarn? I think that I may have some black yarn . . .

The socks feel like they will be very durable, and the pattern is very well put together. Even though the pattern is charted, the cables & construction are straightforward enough that I didn't feel like I was constantly trying to figure out which row I was on and following the chart line by line.

I'm looking forward to starting another pair of socks by this same designer (maybe La Digitessa), but in the meantime I've got to pack for Arizona--we leave tomorrow morning! I'm not a giant fan of the sun & heat, but it's going to be really nice to get away from this snow. By noon tomorrow, I expect to be at the ballpark in Peoria to see the M's face the Cubs. Griffey vs. Pinella--I've got no complaints.

If That's What You're Into

I'm running around like crazy, trying to finish everything that has to get done before Mom and I leave for Spring Training on Tuesday. You might wonder why I think that I can finish as many as three pair of socks (two of which are really almost done), weeks of work backlog, months of cleaning backlog, and a book about Louis XIV between today and the crack of dawn on Tuesday. You would be right to wonder--that's only the short version of the list, which extends to packing, selecting new knitting projects, collecting the travel info in one place, making gifts for a bunch of babies born in the last 6 months, and spending some quality time with Frieda and Gretel.

One thing that's been on my list for awhile is to mention something that my friend Mara is doing next month. She's riding a leg of the Tour d'Afrique bike tour though Botswana & Namibia as part of the Lonely Planet team. The Tour 'Afrique runs from Cairo to Capetown by bicycle. Yes, bicycle! It's like the Tour de France, but FOUR times longer. I'm both 100% jealous, and 100% incapable of the training she's undertaking. All the flurry and hub-bub that's been killing me over the last couple of weeks pales in comparision to the work she's had to do to prepare for this trip (and in a New England winter, to boot). Go, Mara!

She's also raising money for the Bicycle Empowerment Network (BEN), an organization that repairs bicycles for use by healthcare workers and schools in Namibia.

You can read more about Mara's trip on her website, and if you're interesting in lending your financial support, you can make a donation to the Bicycle Empowerment Network here. I mean, if supporting African development & health care is what you're into.

____________
"If That's What You're Into": Flight of the Conchords, If You're Into It.

Long story short . . .

. . . I didn't run to the finish line on the Red Hot Chili socks on Saturday, so they're closer to being done but still not quite there. I did work on them, but there were other things on the agenda as well, and 45 rows on size 0 needles does take a bit of time.

Somehow, it was easier to work on a project I started a few days ago, Chill by Sarah Dallas, from an old Rowan magazine. I'm using Louet Riverstone Chunky that I bought a month or so ago when Webs sharply discounted it--less than $5 for a 100-gram skein. I was planning to knit this Vine Lace Cardigan with it, but it would have required either a lot of recalculating, or using a gauge that felt too "holey" for this yarn. I've had my eyes peeled for a 14-stiches to 4 inches gauge sweater (and went through hundreds of patterns on Ravelry) before realizing that this sweater would work. It's from Rowan 32, which was published in 2002, so it's not a very "Ravelable" project. There's one other project in process on Ravelry (or maybe it's finished), and mine is the only project with photos. In fact, I only pulled out this magazine after reading about Pearl from the same issue on the Mason-Dixon blog--without that prompting, I might still be looking!

The pattern has an intarsia design option, but the photo that really sold me on it is the plain grey version that Sarah Dallas is wearing in a photo in the magazine. It's cozy, it's got a zipper (which I may replace with button bands, and I've got more than enough yarn for it. So far, it's coming along very well--I'm almost to the armhole shaping on the back.

I know I have a bad track record with finishing things (see aforementioned socks), but I'm feeling pretty good about this sweater. I don't think that I've finished a sweater since before the turn of the century, but if I could just finish and wear one that either fits well or at least doesn't look ridiculously bad, then maybe I'd turn over a new leaf. There are soooooo many inspiring patterns and yarns available now, it seems a shame not to give it a try!

So Close But Yet So Far

Today is the last day of the Sock Knitter Anonymous (Rav Link) January Sockdown, and although I'm pretty close to finishing the Red Hot Chili Socks, I'm not sure I'm going to make it. I've got about 45 rows left to go on the second sock, and there are some things on my agenda today other than finishing this.

Of course, I sabotaged my chances by:

1. Forgetting that these socks were supposed to be for the Sockdown
2. Forgetting that February is short
3. Starting new socks instead of working on these
4. Starting a new sweater (as yet unblogged about) two days ago, even though by then I remembered #1
5. Not working on these during Madrona
6. Worrying about and blogging about this problem on a pair of socks that don't need to be finished until the end of March.

Happily, even if I don't finish these socks today, I'm not very far off and I'm still in love with the pattern. I am at the plain-ish stretch that goes under the cuff, so I can carry this around with me and work on it. Hmm . . . I'm starting to talk myself into finishing these today . . . but why do I think I'm forgetting something else that I really have to do?

A summary of this socks' stats: The yarn is Wollmeise 100% wool in Red Hot Chili, the pattern is Empoisonee by Yarnissma (who will be teaching at Sock Summit--can't wait to see what her class will be!) from Twist Collective.

Two Toe Tuesday: Black and Blue Edition

I started a new pair of socks on Sunday, and I feel like I don't have a lot to show for all the work that I've done so far.

A couple of hours before I left for my friend L____'s famous annual Oscar party, I realized that I was running out of projects that I could carry around and just knit for a couple of hours. The Leyburn socks are on the verge of being ripped out and re-heeled, the Red Hot Chili socks require chart reading, and the long-anticipated Summer Sky Socks are within and inch or so of needing a beautiful tubular bind-off. What a great time to start a new pair of plain, self-striping socks! In this case, I decided to use the Gothsocks yarn that I picked up at Madrona, figuring that goth can be glam, so it's Oscar-appropriate. That, and I don't think I have any sparkley sock yarn in my stash at the moment. Anyway, the Gothsocks yarn feels really good to knit with, and I love the black-black stripes alternating with the variagated blue stripes.

It took me awhile to find the yarn, then I spent some time searching for my handouts from Lucy Neatby's class so I could knit a garter stitch toe, then I gave up and put in her "Sock Techniques 2" DVD. Then about halfway into the toe, I realized that self striping yarn would very likely look strange in a garter stitch toe that starts at the widest point of the toe, then narrows to the tip, and then expands. So then I ripped it all out, put the yarn and needles in my bag, and left for the party.

I really don't blame the wine, but I came home unhappy about the toe that I'd knit (shown above, on the bottom). The striping looks great, but this is a toe with problems. Problem number one: too wide. I thought that I needed about 72 stitches, but that was clearly too wide, so I ripped back and tried 64, which still felt to wide. Problem #2: I picked up those black stitches in un-bright light after a couple of glasses of wine, I did something that pull a stitch or two out of whack. Maybe I twisted it, or maybe I picked it up on the wrong row, but it bothers me. I do like the fabric of the yarn at this gauge (8 st to the inch, I measured it today), which is great because I wouldn't want to go down a needle size to 00s.

Today, I tried option B, seen on the top of the photo. It's the Lucy Neatby garter stitch toe in plain black sock yarn. I like this toe a lot (even if it might be slightly lopsided). There aren't any holes, I didn't have to pick up any wraps, and it's as cushy as all get out. I think that this is a much better option, and I should have plenty of the plain black yarn (Louet Gems fingering) for heels, toes, and cuffs.

The next challenge: making sure that I finish up the socks that are past the point of easy-knitting!

Someday, My Luck Will Change

It's been awhile since I posted an update on these socks, and although I've been working on them on and off, I have to admit that they're giving me some trouble. The short row heel is a little sloppy looking to my eyes, and I started it a bit too late--the foot, which otherwise fits beautifully, has a little gappiness on the bottom that is problematic. Also, the pattern calls for extra stitches at the top of the instep / bottom of the leg to compensate for the lack of stretch in the slip-stitched rows, which made the leg far to big for me. I tried decreasing down and then continuing, but the ankle area is a mess of increases and decreases, and I really don't like the way they look.

I'm going to rip back to before the heel, I think, and try a different heel. The Lucy Neatby garter stitch heel that I learned at Madrona, as a matter of fact--I think that will feel cushier on my heel, and look a little nicer. It's going to involve some calculatin', which means that I'll have to keep better track of what I've done so that Sock #2 will end up like Sock #1 . . .

____________
"Someday, My Luck Will Change" - song of the same name, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. Try listening to it here (not sure if link is permanent or not!).

Purple Rain, Purple Rain

As a follow-up to the Elsebeth Lavold class I took at the Nordic Heritage Museum a few weeks ago, I started a pattern that she put together as part of her exhibit there. I bought the pattern from the gift shop, stopped on the way home to pick up the yarn (Silky Wool, of course), and finished this up earlier in the week. It's a fairly narrow neckwarmer, and as you can see it doubles as an earwarmer (which is easier to self photograph, too). Very straightforward pattern, and a good project to demo the Viking cables without committing to a big sweater. It took about half a skein of Silky Wool, which may leave me with enough to make the matching cuffs that were in the last Nordic Knitting Conference booklet. Although I'm also anxious to work on some socks that I started right after the Lucy Neatby class at Madrona, and to finish up some other projects so I can use tubular bindoff I learned in Jean Wong's class. Too many projects, too little time . . .

Speaking of knitting classes / events / socks, I'm assuming that everyone who lands here as heard about this:

If you haven't heard (or if you haven't already seen the instructor list that was posted earlier this week), go there now and read all about it. Seriously. I'm already getting worried that I won't get into any classes, or that all of the teachers I'd like to take classes from will be teaching at the exact same time, or that I will get into some classes but be woefully underqualified. Or that I'll have to steady my nerves with vodka-based drinks, which will limit my learning potential. But I'm trying to think positive . . .

Madrona: Most of My Photos are of Swatches

Madrona was a lot of fun this year (as expected), but I don't have a lot of photos this time. I had two full days of classes, plus events in the evening, and then I just came back for a few hours on Sunday, so I didn't have a lot of time to think about photos, or to take them. But I'll run the mostly-swatch photos in chronological order (rather than numeric order).

Photo #5, The Hotel: This is the first year that I've stayed at the Murano Hotel during the retreat, and this is my room. I had full day classes on Friday and Saturday, and even though I live close enough to drive back and forth I decided that I'd stay over the one night. The room was very comfortable, the staff was great, and they only charged me for one day of parking even after I told them that I would be parking for the whole second day. I wasn't really sure what to expect (last year, they were still renovating much of the hotel and it was a mess), but I will definitely try to stay there again next year. I wish that I lived in a room that looked like that.

Photos #2, 8 & 9, Lucy Neatby's Even Cooler Socks: My Friday class was "Even Cooler Socks" with Lucy Neatby. We started with a tubular cast-on that was much more intuitive than the methods I've used before, and also involved my first ever successful crochet chain provisional cast on. I love tubular edges, but they're usually so fiddley that I skip them--this method felt much more straightforward. You can see the edge on photo #9, which also features a striped quilted pattern that can be used for a strong heel flap, and a twined chain bind off, which is just cool looking. We knit a short-row garter stitch heel that does not involve picking up wraps or excessive counting, and we knit a sideways garter cuff and used a "no kitchener instructions" method of grafting together the ends.

I really enjoyed this class, especially seeing the techniques up on the big screen. Lucy's DVDs illustrate many of the techniques we used, so she projected videos of the tricky parts and talked us through them. This was very useful--the class was reasonably large, and having an easily visible visual aid made a big difference. Many of the techniques we used are part of Lucy's Fiesta Socks (Rav Link) pattern, so I've started a pair of those.

Photo #7, Cat Bordhi's Friday Evening Talk: The talk featured a skit illustrating how yarn may have been made and knit in pre-historic times. This is the Yarn Harlot as a cavewoman inventing finger knitting. This talk was 100% pure knitting entertainment gold, and not just the skit--Cat's a very inspiring speaker with a LOT to say.

Photo #4, Yarn: I don't even want to discuss how much yarn I bought this year, I came home with a lot more than I intended. For instance, I've got a sweater's worth of yarn on the way from Black Water Abbey. I'm excited about the yarn, but I had planned to check out their booth but NOT to buy sweater yarn until I've finished one of the sweaters I have in hibernation. But I won a door prize (yippee!) gift certificate for their booth, and it covered about a quarter of the cost, so it made sense to order it now. I ended up with some great yarn (the yarn above is from Blue Moon Fiber Arts), but there were a few things I brought home that I probably didn't need (like more needles). I am hereby implementing a yarn moratorium until at least April 1, with a couple of exceptions for yarn that I've been planning to buy that is only available in March, or that will be purchased with a Christmas gift card. And really, I might rethink that March yarn altogether.

Photos #1, 3, and 6, Jean Wong's Fine Finishing Techniques: More tubular finishing, but this time it was cast offs. Jean showed us how to use a tubular cast off for 1x1 rib and 2x2 rib in any number of different configurations--when you're knitting flat, when you're knitting in the round, when you're knitting a piece that will be seamed, etc. It was very detailed work, and a little brain scrambling, but it's really something that I think is worth doing (except on Swatch #5, which nearly sent me over the edge). Jean brought several sample sweaters, and the tubular finishes look just lovely. We also covered Japanese short rows (very neat looking, and no wraps), joining a shoulder seam, and weaving in ends in the middle of a row with no gap (very handy). Most of these techniques are related to sweater knitting, which I really don't do much of, but it's easy to see how these can be applied to smaller projects.

Event Without Photo #1, Elsebeth Lavold's talk at the Banquet: Elsebeth's talk was very interesting, she discussed how she became a knitting designer, her work with Viking Knits, and her plans to research the use of knotwork motifs in other (non-Nordic) cultures. The food was better than expected--the choices are always salmon or vegetarian meals, and this has kept me from attending the banquet until this year. I'm a picky eater, I chose what was for me the lesser of two evils (the vegetarian meal), and reminded myself that I could always pick up a sandwich on the way home. I was expecting over-cooked pasta, or slimey tofu, but instead the meal was a mushroom risotto that was genuinely tasty, and not too mushroomy. The meal was somewhat beside the point, of course, but I would have been embarassed to just pick at my food at a table full of strangers.

Event Without Photo #2, Fair Isle Class Reunion: On Sunday, Janine Bajus arranged a get-together of students who had taken her color class at Madrona or her three day class last summer. Although nobody showed up with a completed sweater (which would have made me cry), it's got me thinking about next steps for my long-forsaken swatches. I think I need to get organized again, and try to make some progress on these. Maybe next year, I'll have a hat to bring for show and tell. Or maybe at least another swatch!

It's really nice that today is President's Day, and I've been able to lounge around a bit today instead of getting right back to the office. I do have a few things that I need to take care of today (unpacking, catch up on e-mails, make sure I'm prepared for my week or at least tomorrow), and it's going to be hard to get back to the non-knitting regular world. But I've got a lot of inspiration (and new yarn) to fall back on!

Panic on the Streets of London, Panic on the Streets of Birmingham

O.K., it's 7pm on Thursday, and I have to leave for Madrona in about 12 hours. I know that it's only about 20 minutes away, but I've still got quite a number of things to do before bedtime (but not homework, yeah!), like spend some time on Facebook's Pet Society, pack some clothes, and thank E__ for sending (sorry, single) me AWESOME Valentine's Day chocolates. In any case, this post might not be as comprehensive, readable, or spell-checked as well as I might like, but I'm afraid that if I wait until after Madrona I'll skip it altogether.

Last weekend, I took Elsebeth Lavold's Viking Knits: Creating Cables class at Seattle's Nordic Heritage Museum. I snuck in as a last minute substitute, and I'm really glad that I went. I've knit a number of cabled projects over the years, and I'm pretty comfortable with them, but it turns out that there is a LOT to learn about cables. We spent the morning talking about Elsebeth's work designing with Viking cables, which are inspired by artifacts from the Viking Age, and Elsebeth gave us a tour of her work that is now on exhibit at the Museum. We worked a small cable from a chart, then applied the cable principles she taught us to a chart-free cable based on a drawing. Then I attempted an interlocking cable, that I didn't get very far on but turned out sort of interesting anyway. Here's those three swatches:

One thing that is interesting to me is the way increases are added to start the cable, and stitches are decreased at the end of the cable to compensate for the fabric pulling in. I didn't block this as perfectly as I could have, but it really doesn't pull in for the cable. It's also neat that the motifs are suspended in the reverse stockinette--they just emerge from the background, without the need for vertical or horizontal connections. Neat!!!!

The afternoon was all about trying out our own cables. Based on my experience with the cable on the far right hand (which doesn't follow the rules, and only approaches (rather than achieves) the intended result), I decided to go for something asymmetrical. If you're not going for symmetry, then you don't have to worry about symmetry. However, you still have to worry about the limitations of the technique (pointy starts, for instance), and the results might still not be ready for a giant project:

The top swatch was my in-class attempt, with my detailed, work-of-art showing what I was going for (highlighted in orange for better visibility). The swatch itself is somewhat different--pointier, and also even wobblier than my lame doodle. I kind of like it though--it's unrefined, to be sure, but I think it shows some potential.

After I got home from class, I decided that I should try a simpler version, and actually chart it out. The chart is flawed in that I didn't map out the increases and decreases, and clearly there's not enough space between the bottom edge and the cable that lines it. But I still kind of like it, and I look forward to exploring these types of cables further. I wish that I'd also taken Elsebeth's mitered cables class the day before--I saw some of the work that people had done for the class, and it was amazing.

I think that I have accurately represented my enthusiasm for this class, without even having to mention that Elsebeth is a great teacher and that she was wearing a sweater that I wanted to start knitting immediately (unfortunately, the pattern's not out yet). However, just in case I'm not being totally clear, I bought her Viking Knits book and a hat & neckwarmer pattern she designed for the Nordic Heritage museum, and I stopped on the way home from a full day class to buy the yarn for it, and cast on as soon as I finished the swatch above.

Whew! Next up--dispatches from Madrona (or more likely, from home after I get back and recover from Madrona).

Pink Swatches are Taking Over!

Finishing requires a lot of swatching

This past week has been incredibly busy, and the next couple of weeks look like they'll be more or less the same. I'm not sure why I always forget how one day it's New Year's and I'm sooooo glad that the holidays are over, and the next day it's mid-February and my schedule is jam-packed with both work and non-work stuff. It's the non-work stuff that throws the biggest wrench into the works, because it eliminates the buffer that I usally have to take care of things that I haven't been able to get to during the week (laundry, anyone?) or to get organized for the next week. I'm not really complaining, because I could opt NOT to do some of the things on the schedule--for instance, I added a full day knitting class (Elsebeth Lavold at the Nordic Heritage Museum) to my weekend schedule on Thursday, even though my week had already been really, really, really long. I'll write more about the class (which I LOVED) once my swatches are dry and photographed. Maybe I'm just a little cranky because Frieda woke me up at 4:30am, which is very early for her and even earlier for me.

So! What's up next? Next weekend is the Madrona Fiber Arts retreat, and I'm taking a couple of classes that feel like they're on the opposite sides of the brain. I'm taking Lucy Neatby's "Even Cooler Socks", which I expect to be fun and creative and inspiring, and Jean Wong's "Fine Finishing Techniques", which I expect to improve my skills in my weakest area of knitting. I'm never quite sure which seaming technique to use when, and I no longer have a great reference book for guidance. Remember my "Baby Yours" sweater? I put it into hibernation rather than finish it, and now it won't fit the baby it was intended to fit. I'm hoping that Jean Wong's finishing class will help me finally get this done, before I lose the yarn that I need for the button band. As you can see in the photo, there's a lot of swatching required for this class--eleven swatches in total. I hope that I did them right--as I was working on them, I was acutely aware that there are different ways to interpret instructions, and although I am pretty confident when choosing a direction for a project, it's a lot harder to be sure that I'm doing what's correct when I'm not sure what will be done with the swatches. Here's hoping that I'm not re-knitting them during lunch!

Two Toe Tuesday: Black & Bright Orange Edition

Haida Leyburns and Red Hot Chili Empoisonnée socks

I'm not quite sure what it is about the new year that makes me want to join knitalongs. My success in these ventures is horribly mixed--for every Ravelympics success there is another Sock Knitters Anonymous failure. Sometimes, a KAL starts up right when I'm thinking about knitting something that fits the criteria anyway, or it involves materials that I already have onhand, as with the Red Hot Chili socks. Sometimes, you think that it involves what you already have onhand, and then you go out and buy new yarn anyway, as with the Haida Leyburn socks. Either way, it's a good excuse to start something new and join the global knitting community. An excuse I don't really need, obviously, but an excuse nonetheless.

Last week I finished the first of the Red Hot Chili socks (which is why there's another toe in progress), and I'm very pleased with the result:

The toe-up-sock-with-gussets construction is fairly new to me, but I tried to just follow the instructions and believe that it would all work out. That strategy worked out just fine--I was genuinely surprised that I had the right number of stitches before starting the heel turn. I love the twisted stitch ribbing on the gusset & the expanding cables up the leg. At the same time, I really like that there's a lot of plain knitting to show off the yarn and keep the knitting speedy. I knew that the yarn for the Haida Leyburns was on the way, so I tried to get a good start on the second sock.

I'm glad that I did, because the Leyburn pattern is also a lot of fun to knit and it would have been easy to stop thinking about the orange socks once the black sock was on the needles. I'm knitting the Leyburns using the stitch counts in the pattern so far, but I substituted an Easy Toe (from Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks) for the short row toe. It's much easier for me to remember "increase every other row" than "wrap, turn, pick up wraps, double wrap". The toe is fairly wide, in keeping with the designer's preference, and I like it that way--it feels comfortable so far, anyway.

I'm taking both of these to Boston next weekend, and leaving the bigger projects at home this time (though maybe I should sneak in another project, just in case). There should be enough variety in between these two to keep me occupied on the plane. I can knit the red socks if the light is bad (provided I can see the charts), and knit the black socks if it's too bumpy for chart reading.

The Only Thing That's Different is Underneath My Hat

Due to the snowy / icy conditions in December and my recurring fever / cold, I only exchanged the last of my holiday gifts last weekend. This gave me a little extra time, and I whipped up this Owl Hat out of some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran from my stash. Although J____ was too hopped up on goofballs (or whatever it is that sends a 4 year old into crazytown) to try it on when I gave it to her, her mother sent me the photo above, and it looks pretty cute! 90% of the cuteness is J____, but the hat is a good color for her pretty blue eyes and it's big enough to accomodate her giant head of hair, so I couldn't be happier. J____, on the other hand, may have liked the cotton dishcloth with a mitten (Rav project link) on it better than either the hat or the felted slippers. Good to know, J_____, good to know.

____________________
The Only Thing That's Different is Underneath My Hat": They Might Be Giants, Purple Toupee.

Should I Be Worried?

(or, How Worried Should I Be?)

I've been sucked into another KAL, this time via the Socks that Rawk group on Ravelry. The pattern is the Leyburn Socks, and the group is trying to knit it in as many different colorways as possible. This pattern was already in my queue, and the deadline for finishing isn't until the end of March, so it's a good fit. About 150-ish people signed up before me, so all of the colors I already have were taken. I ordered a skein of Haida that I've had my eye on. When I wind yarn at home, I always hold the yarn over my finger so that I can feel for knots and get a slightly tighter ball of yarn. Here's how it looked when I finished:

The yarn looks great, but my finger? Normally there's not a black ring there, so really--how worried should I be? All that dye coming out isn't going to leave me with weird brown socks instead of richly blue and black socks, is it? I'll have to remember to give the socks a vinegar bath once they're all knit up. On the plus side, the color is just what I was looking for (assuming that it doesn't fade), and if it really sheds a lot of dye once I start knitting it, I know that Blue Moon will exchange it.

Twisting, Twisting in the Wind

. . . or No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

The Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat is coming up next month, and while knitting swatches for one of my classes I realized that it's been a long time since I worked on my Vickie Cardigan (here's the Rav Link). I bought the pattern at Madrona in mid-February from Black Water Abbey, got the yarn in mid-March, and finished the first sleeve by mid-April. Not a bad pace, considering that I usually have a lot of projects going at once and that I didn't take it with me when I was travelling in March. However, once spring really rolled around, I put it away and haven't taken it out again. My original intention was to finish it before Madrona 2009, but now I'd just like to get back to it so that I have a shot at Madrona 2010. That's a good goal, right? Work on a WIP instead of buying more yarn, add more variety to the projects that are currently in rotation ('cause it can't all be on size 0 needles, or plain stockinette, or stranded colorwork), and eventually end up with a really nice sweater.

So I pulled out the second sleeve, found my notes and the pattern, and got right back into it. After knitting a couple of inches, I realized that I'd made an error before putting this into hibernation. An error that I could have fixed without ripping if I'd seen it a few days ago, but now:

Now it needs to be ripped. You can see the error, right? There should be an additional twist between the diamonds. This may have been the reason I stopped working on this sweater, but I don't remember seeing the mistake, and I definitely didn't make any notes about it. It's not that bad, really--it's still the cuff edge of the sleeve so it won't take that long to get back to where I started. The photo above doesn't show that I'm barely past what's shown of Sleeve #2--the photo below shows better how much needs to go:

Note to self: examine dormant WIPs better before restarting. And maybe before putting them into hibernation, look at them first and make a note if anything is wrong. Or better yet, rip back before putting it into hibernation--there's barely enough vacant space in my brain to remember to look at notes!

You're Trying My Patience, Try Pink Carnations, Red Roses, and Yellow Daffodils

A friend at work mentioned that she'd like a felted flower pin a looong time ago, and after checking out "Nicky Epstein's Knitted Flowers"at the library and returning it overdue without knitting, and then buying it and forgetting about it, I finally cranked out the posy above in maybe a half hour. The pattern is the "Five Star Flower", and I used Cascade 220 in a few different shades from my stash. This flower pattern knits up very quickly, and there are several other patterns in the book that I have my eye on. The pin has been all but assembled since mid-December--the weather and holidays made my schedule a little erratic, and then it took some time to remember to buy pin backings. I still can't quite believe that I didn't already have any pin backs, but lesson learned--assemble all supplies at once! I finally got it together, and my friend likes it, so all is well. And finishing it has made me want to knit more of these things, maybe to embellish a bag, or make a garland (I don't know what for), or just for the sake of felting some stuff.

The reason I finally remembered the pin request is that I needed something to embellish these felted clogs, and thought felted flowers would be a good way to go. I considered needle felting something, but I have zero experience and I wasn't able to locate my needle felting supplies (I'm still looking for them). Also, since the clogs are likely to be washed at some point, I wanted to avoid things like beads and sequins (which would have looked awesome) that might fall off in the wash. I knit a large flower and a leaf for the pin, and then I knit a pair of smaller flowers for the clogs. Here's what they looked like unfelted:

And here they are felted:

I felted them possibly a little too much, because I wanted them to be firm. You can see that the small flowers are basically just the center of the larger flowers. The pattern is very adaptable.

Here are the finished clogs sitting on the back of the couch (with mild dachshund intervention):

The slipper suspense is mounting--I haven't given them away yet (yes, it's mid-January), so I'm not sure whether they will fit J____ or whether she'll like them as much as Frieda and Gretel do. Fingers crossed I can deliver them this weekend--can't wait too long with a growing kid, or the "it fits" window may pass right by!



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"You're Trying My Patience, Try Pink Carnations, Red Roses, and Yellow Daffodils": Wilco, Forget the Flowers

I Have Got to Start Reading More

This is the stack of books that I'm trying (though not hard enough) to get through. All but "Twilight", which I started but haven't gotten very far into, have been added to the stack in the last two or three weeks. It's a pretty wide selection, though maybe a bit heavy on European royal history/ I think that both the Antonia Fraser book and Alison Weir books recently came out in paperback, and I'm a big fan of both authors (and not a secret Royalist). Time to get cracking, even though all I can think about are the Red Hot Chili Socks & other knitting projects.

Any suggestions for after I get through or abandon these books?

A Tale of Two Gussets

So the fever that I had a couple of weeks ago went dormant, and then came back as a continuing mild cold. First it was a stuffy nose, then it was a slightly scratchy throat, then it was coughing, and now it's runny eyes & nose accompanied by intermittant sneezing. Tomorrow? I predict more nose running, and chapped lips. I share this not because I want your pity (except for the fever, and yesterday's hacking cough, it hasn't been that bad), but because it's possibly to blame for my gusset knitting blunder on my newest sock pattern. Behold, the gussets:

See the nice right triangle in the top photo? And the bad, broomstick-looking triangle in the bottom photo? I was trying to be so careful about increasing on the top of the foot to maintain the triangle, but I totally missed the error on the right side gusset until I'd finished the whole gusset and was trying to figure out where to start the heel turn. I'd taken a laissez-faire attitude towards top and bottom of the toe and stitch marker placement, and so I had to take a break to read the directions to figure out where to start, when I finally saw the mistake. Urgh. Slightly weird beginning to side cable at the toe? I can live with that. Weirdly assymmetric gussets? No can do. I've ripped back to the good old days, the days when both gussets had right triangles, and I'm going to fix it. I'm hoping I don't end up having to rip back to the beginning of the gusset, but I can live with it if I have to.

Even though I lost a lot of work (which I blame on being very cough-y while knitting), I love these socks. The pattern (Empoisonnée by Yarnissima) is very nicely written, with enough usual detail to keep me moving along, but not so much that it overwhelms the yarn. I love the detail of the cables running up the side of the stockinette foot, and I'm very pleased with the stripes in the yarn. This is the first time I've knit with Wollmeise (this is Red Hot Chili - Medium in the 100% superwash base), and it is really nice to work with. It's a little tricky to pick up the stitches without catching one of the fine strands, but that's the case with any yarn I knit on size 0 needles.

Although I'd love to be further along, I'm not at all sorry that I'm reknitting part of this sock. It's that interesting. I can't wait to find out what happens after I get to the heel--I hope my brain can handle it.

Two Toe Tuesday: Hulk Angry! Hulk Smash! edition

It's been a really, really, really long time since I finished a pair of socks in less than two weeks, and I have to say that it's a pretty nice feeling to have finished these Hulk Smash (Rav Link) socks. The yarn (CashSport String in Hulk Smash) is super cozy, and since it's a sport weight it knit up quickly and will be warm. The cashmere content makes the yarn super soft, too. I only had one skein, and wasn't so sure how far it would go, but there was plenty for these short socks. I used about 85% of the skein, which was fine by me--I prefer not to start freaking out about running out of yarn when I'm knitting a new pattern or new yarn, and the length of these is very comfortable as-is.

I know that I've been over this before, but the pattern is Berry Season (Rav link) from the book 2-at-a-Time Socks. The pattern was very easy to follow (although it took me a while to memorize the stitch pattern, because I was spacing out instead of looking at the very very simple chart). I am relieved that I now have an offline source for clear kitchener stitch instructions--I'm so tired of having to kitchener in front of my desktop computer while reading the directions in Knitty. Seriously.

A big problem with living in the Seattle area this time of the year is that the days are dark--on a rainy day like today, there may have been a 15 minute photography window at some point, but if there was I didn't see it. As a result, the color in the photo above is a little dull, and doesn't lend full credit to the socks. It is more accurate than the super saturated version below that really makes me think of the Hulk, and reminds me that I need to start running more if I'm going to run this year's St. Pat's Dash:

I Got the Chills, They're Multiplyin'

Brrrr . . . it's cold outside today. The downside is that I was hoping to take the dogs for a long walk or go for a run, and the upside is that I don't feel bad about doing neither. Instead, I've been finishing Christmas Cards (just looking for a few missing addresses now), running errands, packaging up the Green Buzzbee, and knitting. I finished the Red Tune Cap, and although it is too small for me (my head is Large, I knit size M as a gift), I want to wear it around the house because I love it. I love the shaping at the top, I love the yarn (Malabrigo, in Ravelry Red from Webs), I love the idea of a secret iPod and headphones pocket. I used about 54 grams of the 100 g skein for the Medium, so there's no way I'll get a Large hat out of the remainder, but I may have some leftover Malabrigo that I could stripe into another hat. This is the first time I've knit a top-down hat, and it makes so much sense to knit hats this way because you can try it on as you go. That didn't help me a lot, since the hat is for a smaller-headed person, but I did try it on a few times anyway. The pattern, as I mentioned in my first post about this hat, is available here.

In other knitting news, the Red Hot Chili socks are a lot slower work, but they are starting to look awesome:

I love the way the Wollmeise is striping, even though I know that it won't last once I start increasing for the gussets. I'm knitting these on size 0 needles, and the fabric is nice and firm (but not too stiff to knit).

What I really should do, on this cold winter day, is finish the last several inches of the Hulk Smash socks, and put them on my freezing cold toes--but it's more likely that I'll take a nap right now, and use dachshunds to warm up my feet!

Out With the Old, in With the New

Presenting on the left: the last finished item of 2008, the Green Buzzbee hat. I knit this hat in a few days, and I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. I used Cascade 220 superwash in a heathery evergreen, and the color has a ton of depth. In addition to the evergreen, there's yellow, and copper, and more--as I learned while cutting off the tip of the hat and reknitting it because I didn't like the way the point looked. The end knot made it look asymmetrical, and weaving in the end (which is why I had to cut off the top) made it look worse. On the second attempt, I turned the hat inside out before pulling the yarn through the last three stitches, and the result looks much better. The hat didn't look as awesome as I'd hoped on my Godzilla nightlight, but I might try it again now that it's been washed and blocked--although I'd like to get it in the mail tomorrow, if it's dry.

Presenting on the right: the first new project of 2009. The pattern is Empoisonnee from the Twist Collective, and at long last I'm using the Wollmeise sock yarn that I've had for several months. So far, so good, but it is early days. It's not bad luck to abandon the first new project of the year is it? Hmmm. . . maybe I should check to see if I've done that before.

Happy New Year everyone! I don't know about you, but I was pretty sick of 2008. I've been mulling over some "best of" lists from 2008 to post, and maybe I'll get around to them, but probably not. I've been really behind on everything for the last several months, so there hasn't been a lot of time for reflection. Maybe my goal for 2009 should be to let stuff go . . .