I Made A Big Mistake

The yarn for my Liberty (rav link) throw arrived on Friday & Saturday, and I spent the bulk of yesterday (when not walking and bathing the dogs) getting a really good start on it:

I'm about 20 rows into the pattern (plus the 8 edging rows), or approx. 5,600 stitches. I'm very pleased with the colors--somehow, this grey-blue combination seems less boring and prettier to me than my original grey-blue combination. Thanks to the excellent illustrated instructions in the book, I'm getting used to catching the stitches behind my work, which I've never quite learned how to do before. It's still a little awkward when I'm catching the grey behind the blue, but it's still probably faster and more consistent than dropping both yarns, twisting them, and picking them back up.

So what's the "Big Mistake" I refer to in the title? It's knitting 101--I twisted the edge when I joined the blanket into a circle. Yes, really. I noticed it after a couple of rows, but didn't quite have the will to pull out 1000 stitches. Since there's a steek, I figured I could probably just keep knitting it twisted, but that eventually the weight of the giant blanket might (o.k. would) distort the whole thing. My plan (culled from the Ravelry forums, when someone else had a similar problem) was to cut the existing steek, untwist the blanket, and cast on a new steek. I cast off the steek, machine stabilized it, and cut it. Welcome to big mistake #2:

I didn't cut in the middle of the steek, I cut to the left of the center. I had stabilized in three places, and cut between the wrong two. Yes, I do feel like an idiot. However, I think that everything will be fine. I've tacked down the left edge so that it won't fray while I keep knitting, and I will have room to pick up stitches for the edging after I'm done. The mistake is early enough that it should be totally enclosed by the edging, so I think it will be fine. NOTE: If anyone out there knows for a fact that I this is NOT going to be fine, please let me know now, so I don't have an unpleasant surprise after knitting the other 70,000 stitches. And when I get ready to cut the big steek, please remind me that maybe I should be a little careful. I don't need to panic when it comes time to cut, but I do need to cut in the right place.

Project Notes: The pattern is Liberty (rav link), from Mason-Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines. The yarn is Berroco Ultra Alpaca, in charcoal mix and pastel blue. I'm using size 8 knitpicks options needles. Excluding the sick feeling of cutting a steek in the wrong spot, I am enjoying this project very much.

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I Made A Big Mistake: Wilco, "Monday"

If You Don't Want to Take a Bath . . . .

Then don't roll in bird poop. Here endeth the lesson.

(note the death grip that Gretel has on the side of the tub--her nails have been trimmed recently, that's all panic)

It Was A Fine Idea At The Time

. . . but I'm not at all happy with the colors in my Liberty throw (rav link) swatch:

I like each of the colors individually, but here are my concerns:

• The blue is a little on the teal side, and I really think of teal as the "color of the 90's"--remember that year when 70% of all new cars were teal? Too much, too fast.
• I worry that the blue and green will look dated pretty fast--and if I'm spending all that time on this blanket, I want it to age pretty well. After all, the dogs won't destroy it, will they?
• The blue and light grey is pretty--pretty boring, that is. Good contrast, but boring.

Now that I've sunk $24 into this swatch (we won't mention the other two colors I haven't wound yet), I've picked two totally different colors with the help of E____. She's my former roommate / color guru--I have quite seriously based entire projects around colors that I've lifted from her graphic designs. She gave me a lot of helpful advice, and approves of the final choice (while recognizing that the colors on one's monitor might not be the same as in real life). Hopefully, the new yarn will arrive on Saturday or Monday, and I can get cracking. I may still knit another swatch, because my gauge is slightly off.

However, I've found another good use for this yarn, which is really, really soft:

This is the New Wave scarf from Lynne Barr's book Knitting New Scarves. I'm not totally thrilled with how it looks so far (my edges are a little messy), but it's really interesting to knit, and each row is only 28 stitches so it's coming along quickly. I'm not sure who I'm going to give a 4 inch wide scarf to, but there's plenty of time to worry about that later!

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It Was A Fine Idea At The Time: Elvis Costello, "Brilliant Mistake". You know, "He thought he was the King of America, Where they drink Coca-Cola just like vintage wine". Love Elvis.

Knitting Productivity Up, Seaming Productivity Down

Note that I tried to crop out my weirdly bulgy arm, but couldn't do it without cutting Frieda.

The new Mason-Dixon book arrived on my doorstep earlier this week, and it was hard waiting until the weekend to start a new project from it. Fortunately, the project I started was the Monteagle Bag and not the Liberty Throw (rav links, both), so it's already finished. This is a good, basic shopping bag pattern with some very interesting stitches that I haven't used before. It won't hold a million things, but I did fill it with a half gallon of cranberry juice, two quarts of tomato sauce, and three beers when I was stretching out the stitches, and it held everything just fine. I do have my doubts about how "green" is a bag made of $20 yarn that travelled here from Belgium, but I do think that it's a great idea to use as few plastic bags as possible. I'm planning to knit more--there's less than half a skein left of the original skein (Louet Euroflax Sport weight), but I have another black hank so I should easily have enough yarn for two more. Still pretty pricey for a string bag, but a less expensive cotton or linen would work fine as long as it's strong. My hands are bone dry tonight, so I probably won't start another bag right away. And on the next one, I will probably start with sock-toe cast on so that I don't have to seam the bottom of the bag (see below).

As for the rest of the book, I love it--there are several patterns that I am sure to make, and a few others that I'd love to make if mohair didn't rip the skin right off my hands when I knit with it (Cardi Cozy, I'm looking at you). Maybe a laceweight alpaca or silk would work? It could be worth looking into. I bought some yarn to swatch for the Liberty Throw this weekend, I'm having trouble thinking of alternate colors. I do like the original blue and red, so that's an option, but I have a few other combos that I'll test out first.

I did work on the Cables, Baby! cardigan today for about 10 minutes before I had to stop seaming because I hate seaming so much. It's ridiculous that it's taking me so long to seam this, it's a small sweater and it will be so cute when it's done. Here's how it looked today when I stopped:

Just one more sleeve to attach! Then sewing on buttons (after I've picked out some), and weaving in ends, and that's it. Why does it feel so far off?

Spinning Wheels & Hands That Feel

Hands that feel G-R-E-A-T in my finished Spincycle Mitts:

I think that it's probably time to start knitting some of these for Christmas!



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Spinning Wheels & Hands That Feel: Wilco, I'm the Man Who Loves You. Obviously.

I Wanna Bite the Hand That Feeds Me

Why no, this isn't a finished Cables, Baby sweater! I started another new project yesterday at knit night, using Jessica's Malabrigo Mini Mitts (Rav link) pattern using handspun from Spincycle Yarns. I only have about 120 yards of this yarn, so this pattern should be perfect even if I make the mitts a little longer--although I may end up knitting from the other end of the yarn cake so that I can tell for sure. I love this yarn, and wanted to make something out of it now so that if I see it again at Urban Craft Uprising, I'll have a better idea of how it knits up. Or at least I won't feel guilty for not using any and buying more. The yarn is pretty pricey (since it's hand-dyed and spun), so I don't want to buy more without knowing what I'll knit--but I'm glad that I bought this one without having any idea.

The mitt pattern is very simple, and it really lets the yarn do the talking, and it's fast. Last-minute Christmas gift fast (and I happen to have some Malabrigo in the stash). Plus, the short cuff shows off the very fancy Swatch watch that I bought in Paris in the spring--now I can keep warm AND tell time!

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I Wanna Bite the Hand That Feeds Me: "Radio, Radio" by Elvis Costello. Or Puppet Costello, if you prefer. I've been thinking about this version since having a conversation about it last month in Somerville. These kids today, they don't know punk rock Elvis, and that makes me sad.

Don't Blame it On Yoko . . . Yoko's Cool

Thanks, G___ E____ for the John Lennon / Yarn Craft Connection. I'm assuming that this has been posted on a million other yarnesque blogs, but I've never seen it before so I'm happy to present it here!

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Don't Blame it On Yoko . . . Yoko's Cool: Young Fresh Fellows, "Don't Blame it On Yoko". It's a song from a single that I'm not sure was ever released on a cd (at least not in the US). Please contact me immediately if this is not the case! I've got the single, but not a turntable. This song is also seemingly referenced by the Barenaked Ladies in their song "Be My Yoko Ono". Music lesson over.

Summer is Ready When You Are

I've finished all of the pieces of the Cables, Baby! sweater, including the button bands. But instead of sewing on the sleeves and putting that baby to bed, I've started something new:

It's not quite as pink as it looks here, the main color is really pretty red, and the second color is sort of salmon-y. Any guesses as to what it will be, before I enter the project details on Ravelry? I'm a fanatic stats tracker, so I'm not sure I'll be able to hold off on cataloging it for more than a day or so.

The weather this weekend was incredibly good, better than most of our summer weekends this year. In honor of that, I took Frieda and Gretel for walk (along with some long-time and recent tiny friends) around Greenlake:

Don't worry, it's only 3-ish miles!

The dogs did very well for such a long walk on such a warm day, with so many distractions--a 4 month old baby, a 3 year old girl, and a million people on a charity walk that we didn't know would be there. The baby and the 3 year old also did very well--there was a little crying, but not by either of the mothers, so I'll call it a successful outing. Especially since this is what Frieda looked like afterwards:

A glassy-eyed dog is a good dog! Much better than the barking and whining I had to put up with for 45+ minutes on the way to the city before the walk. Seriously, this dog needs to get out more.

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"Summer is Ready When You Are": Same song as yesterday's post--can't get it out of my head.

I Like All the Different People, I Like Every Kind of Fair

Mom and I went to the Puyallup Fair today, and we had a full day of fair food and activities. We managed to uphold one of my critical fair rules (No New Space-Age Mops), and we saw a bunch of farm animals with our friend J___, who also appears to love Ballard and cupcakes. Can't argue with that!

The craft sale area was a highlight (as were the dahlias, obvously), although I guess I didn't take any photos there. Which is weird, because I distinctly remember taking at least one photo of the beautiful hand dyed yarns. There were spinners spinning (nobody I knew), and a woman making lampwork beads, very impressive. There was not a large representation of knitted items in the exhibition hall, which made me a little sad that I was too lazy to drive down and enter my Olympic Orange Oolong socks. They would certainly have been the brightest entry. I've said it before, I'll say it again--Maybe Next Year! After all, there's between $5 and $10 in prize money at stake, which is almost enough to buy yarn for one sock!



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I Like All the Different People, I Like Every Kind of Fair: The Breeders, "Saints" Recommended Video here (it's a little weirder than I expected, but then again it isn't.) Note to knitters--Kelley Deal was featured on an episode of Knitty Gritty. with a felted purse design.

Two Toe Tuesday: Deadlines I Have Missed

I'm still chugging away on the Summer Sky Socks, although I started them for a KAL that ended at the end of August. Honestly, I kind of forgot about these during the Ravelympics, and I just didn't feel the same level of dedication to these. I love the yarn (Vesper sock yarn), although one of the yarn cakes keeps getting tangled, but I don't really like the 5 stitch repeat of the pattern. It looks cool, but it's somehow hard for me to get into a rhythm with it. Short row heels aren't my favorite, either, although Charlene Schurch's instructions in Sensational Knitted Socks do make them easier for me. Lots of stitch markers make it tough to get lost, which is exactly what I need. I would like to finish these relatively soon, although another deadline beckons--the Wino Juno is supposed to be finished this month, and I'm still not back to the point where I was before ripping out 15 inches. Wish me luck . . .

Baby, Baby, Please Let Me Hold Him

It's been a really busy week--so busy, that I've be pretty much paralyzed by inaction this weekend. It's 3:30 on Sunday afternoon, and I have a long list of things that I didn't get done this weekend. Some of which really HAVE to be done, ugh.

I have been working on the Cables, Baby! sweater, and although I still think that the color is a little weak (and once it's in full sunlight, maybe a little splotchy), I like the way it's coming along. The cable pattern isn't as tricky at it looks at first glance, and I've only veered seriously off course once or twice (and realized it immediately). My "artistic" photo above doesn't quite show what's done--here are some better views:

L to R: Completed back, closeup of cable, back and partial right front

I need to check my list of recent birth announcements to figure out which recently born baby will get this once it's finished, as there are several possible choices. I've got one in mind in particular, but I can't quite remember when that baby was born and if he's already 6 months old this sweater may not fit all winter. Fortunately, there is a seemingly endless supply of babies--it's a little like my weekend to-do list!

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"Baby, Baby, Please Let Me Hold Him": Stay Up Late by Talking Heads.

Bumbershoot 2008, Day 3: How to Come Home Exhausted

Did I say a full day at Bumbershoot? I meant a full day (though not also a full night), spent the way I usually spend my first day at Bumbershoot--checking out the vendor booths, wandering through the art exhibits, and seeing a little bit of a lot of different music shows. My favorites today were Langhorne Slim & the War Eagles and the Old 97s, but I enjoyed everything pictured above.

The Summer Sky Socks are a bit of a decoy, I probably knit less than a single row in the last three days. Too much moving around--and today, I stood in zero lines so no line-knitting, either. It's been a long weekend, and it's time to get to sleep--here's hoping that my feet & legs aren't (still) sore tomorrow!

Bumbershoot 2008, Day 2: How to Avoid All Lines

After a rainy morning and a day playing catchup, I only made it to Bumbershoot to see Jakob Dylan this evening. Totally worth the trip, and I managed to squeeze in a quick look at Flatstock. I found a poster (center row, far right) that I really liked, but by the time I went to the ATM and came back it wasn't on the wall and things were being packed up. I'll check again for it tomorrow, and I see that I can order it online. Other than Jakob Dylan's set, the highlight was meat on a stick (delicious BBQ pork), and not standing in any lines. Tomorrow I'm hoping to be there the whole day, so there probably will be some lines, and I'll try not to complain as much as I did yesterday.

Bumbershoot 2008, Day 1: How to Wait In Line for Everything

Clockwise from upper left: Band of Horses, Space Needle, Tim Finn, Beck

Best things I saw today: Tim Finn, and Beck. I'm not sure if I've ever seen Tim Finn solo before, but his set was great and at a small-ish stage so it was easy to get pretty close. I really prefer this type of immediate experience to the really large crowd type shows, although they both have advantages at times. I haven't seen Beck in more than 10 years (wow, that's alarming)--he played at South by Southwest after Mellow Gold came out, and I saw him in a tiny room there, but haven't seen him since. The crowd at the mainstage was huge, festive and not too pushy, and the sound was great. I was about one long line away from calling it a day before his set started, and I'm glad that I didn't.

Speaking of lines, there has got to be a better way to handle the crowds at Bumbershoot--it was totally ridiculous. Here are the things I waited in very long lines for yesterday:
1. Getting in the doors - 45 minutes
2. Getting in the beer garden - 20 minutes
3. Getting a beer - 15 minutes
4. Getting into the Mainstage - 15 minutes
5. Getting back into the Mainstage later - 10 minutes

I was only inside the gates for about five hours total, so that's a lot of waiting in line. I arrived early so that I could get in the gates, pick up a mainstage pass, and then leave to do other things, but by the time I made it through the gates, the mainstage pass line was at least an hour long. Today, I'm not planning to get there early, and it's rainy, so I hope to face fewer lines. Maybe next year I should save up for one of those fancy passes that would let me skip the line--I might be reaching that age where it's more than worth it!

Slowly Twisting in the Wind

I was out of town on a work trip for a few days this week, and although I should have my whole 3 day Bumbershoot weekend mapped out, I'm a little too wiped out to be in full rock festival mode. There are a few loose ends from the week to wrap up, and all of my clothes are dirty, and the weather is more like October than August today. Instead of handling the laundry or powering through the work last night, I started a Baby Yours sweater. The yarn and pattern arrived while I was out of town, and although I wish that I hadn't switched colors at the last minute (I had originally decided to make a red sweater), I like the way this is coming together. The blue of the Nyame is a little yellower and paler than I expected, but it's certainly baby-appropriate. It doesn't really look like the color that the sample is knitted in (although it is), but that could be light related. I'm knitting the 6 month size, which should only take up one skein. I probably won't carry this project with me, but it should still be a fairly quick knit.

Time to start on my list of things to get done before I go into the city--I'm sure that once I'm eating meat on a stick at Seattle Center, I'll be much less lethargic.

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Slowly Twisting in the Wind: "Twisting" by They Might Be Giants. Whole quote: "She wants to see you again, she wants to see you again . . . slowly twisting, in the wind". Other fav lyrics from that song: "She doesn't have to have her Young Fresh Fellows tape back now. There's not a lot of things that she'll take back".

Two Toe Tuesday: Gretel Demands Equal Screentime

The first thing I did after monogomously finishing the Olympic Orange Oolongs? Work on almost every sock WIP that I had within reach. I worked on the Summer Sky Socks, which are meant to be finished this week (maybe they'll be anklets?), and on the M's socks. Last but not least, I finished the first of the Tomato Maelstrom socks that I started just before the Ravelympics kick off. Yes, I know that only makes one toe. I may start the second right away, I really like the way this one turned out and it was relatively fast to knit. The yarn is Sundara Sock in Heirloom Tomato, and the pattern is Maelstrom by Cookie A, from the Twist Collective. What more can I say? Love this pattern!

p.s. This is really an unflattering angle for Gretel (and me, really), which isn't fair because she has lost a whole pound in the last month or so. She could still stand to lose another pound or two, but she's not as fat as she looks here.

Stayed Up All Night, But They Got it Finished Just in Time

All night? O.K., that's a stretch, it was more like 10:30pm, after which I stayed up for at least another hour or so. This was my WIP wrestling project for the Ravelympics, and I'm really glad that it's finished. I first (and last?) posted about this in my first blog post, which I wrote shortly after finishing the felting. That was over two years ago--this bag only needed a lining and handles, but I've sucessfully avoided it since then. The pattern is the Noni Carpet Bag (rav link) by Nora Bellows, and the yarn is Cascade 220.

I bought the handles is maybe March 2007, but wasn't able to locate them over the last couple of weeks. I finally decided yesterday that I would check Renaissance Yarns for another set of handles, and if they didn't have them I'd forget about finishing these before the closing ceremonies. Luckily, I found handles exactly like those I lost. All along, my plan has been to put together a photo tutorial on creating the lining. However, since I didn't really get started on this until maybe 7pm last night, I didn't take the time to photograph all the steps. I think that in the last couple of years, the void of "how to line a bag" has been more than adequately filled, so I don't necessarily have anything valuable to add in any case. Here's an outline of what I did for the lining, sans photos, in case I ever make another felted bag (and I really want another one, now that this one is done):

• draw a schematic of the bag pieces. In my case, there are five main pieces: bottom, 2 sides, front, and back. Add some seam allowance.
• cut a rectangle of plastic needlework canvas that will fit into the bottom of the bag, and baste it into place. Use thread that matches the bag, or don't baste all the way through.
• Take a piece of fabric that is big enough to use for your lining pieces, and iron on heavy-duty stabilizer to the back of it. I used a craft stabilizer, but not one of the super thick or extra super heavy kinds.
• Decide what you want for pockets, and attach them to the front and/or back. You could put a little pocket on the side lining, but I didn't do this. Make sure that the pockets are lined and sturdy enough to hold things.
• Sew the front, sides, and back into a rectangle, stopping about a 1/2 inch above the bottom of the bag on each seam. See if it fits into the bag. Mine was a little too big, so I increased the seam allowances on all four seams, and rotary cut some of the top off. Inexact? Yes. not really a problem, though, because the pockets were low enough.
• One the "box" fits into the bag, attach the bottom. The 1/2 of each seam that I left open make this a lot easier, but I can't really explain it without a photo.
• turn the top edge under to a height that makes sense for the bag, and iron it well.
• Attach the handles to the bag with fabric loops, making sure that it's all even-steven. I used the sewing machine to attach them, because I want them to stay attached.
• This is the very worst part--hand sew the lining into the bag. I know that my sewing machine could handle sewing this thick bag to the lining, but I don't think that I have the skills to make it look good, and the idea of ripping out the stitches was too much to tempt me.

I originally knit a giant red flower that will not match the lining, so I may eventually make another flower. If I really plan to use this, though, the flower might be a little over the top for my normal routine, so I'm fine leaving the bag relatively unembellished. The lining is from a collection of fabric that my friend N___'s mother was getting rid of, I think that it's perfect for this!

Done! Now I'm just waiting for my Ravelympics medal!

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Stayed Up All Night, But They Got it Finished Just in Time: "I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock & Roll)" (this is a recent version) by Nick Lowe.

Drop Me in the Water

There's been a lot of Knitting, Rock Shows, and Baseball on this blog this summer, but not nearly enough Miniature Dachshund. Here's Frieda enjoying a drink at the off-leash dog park this morning. Gretel won't drink out of the faucet, but she does like to keep a close eye on things.


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Drop Me in the Water: "Take Me to the River" by the Rev. Al Green and Teenie Hodges (but I really know the Talking Heads version better).

For Once, Devotion Is Enough

It's hard for me to believe that if I work on ONLY one project, I can finish a pair of cabley, lacey socks in two weeks. But evidently, I can. The toes are grafted, the ends are woven in, I had about 7 inches of yarn left on the second sock. Towards the end, I thought that I'd have to break into the 0 grams I had left from the first sock, but it didn't come to that.

I really like this pattern, I really like this yarn, and I'll probably post more finished photos (too dark to shoot outside) even though I've already got maybe 50 photos of these socks at various stages.

Here are the stats:
Pattern: Oolong by Mona Schmidt from the Twist Collective
Yarn: Filatura Di Crosa Principessa, which is now discontinued (per Ravelry), 330 yds (with only the tiniest bit of yarn leftover.
Needles: Knitpicks fixed Options circular, 2.25mm.

Post Titles
Almost all of my post titles come from song lyrics, and it was suggested to me by my Boston friends that citing sources might be a good idea, so I'll give that a try for awhile, semi-footnote style, until I get tired of it. I hope that's cool with you.

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For Once, Devotion is Enough: Richard Buckner, "Ed's Song", from the album Devotion + Doubt, 1997.

I'm Halfway to Crazy

Sock #1 is done! It fits well, and I didn't have to shave any length off of the toe or stripe it or anything. But it was close--see the image at the bottom of the post, where the kitchen scale indicates that I have ZERO grams of yarn left! I'm all for using up the yarn I have, but I hate to cut it this close. I'm excited about wearing these with my clogs, this sock feels really good and not too bulky. I will not be wearing them them sandals, but they do look kind of cool, for a photo at least. This will probably be the last photo I need to take until the PAIR is finished, although what will I blog about in the meantime? Maybe my WIP-wrestling project, the long unfinished Noni bag--though it's really too hot to be in the hot sewing room today.

It's much too hot for me to sit in front of this computer any longer, I'd be better off knitting, maybe in an air-conditioned coffeeshop. I'm a total heat wimp these days, and having Frieda and Gretel all over me (mostly Gretel) compounds the problem. Good thing that it's supposed to cool down a little tomorrow, and more on Monday.