The Knitting on Top of the World Knit-a-thon

Lacy Luxury, and Tiny Sweaters Big on Technique!

Hiya, all. 

Here's a pretty flower for you. Even the weeds in my yard have a certain charm, at this early-summer time of year.  A ray of sunlight was peeking between the leaves and showing this delicate little flower in its own "spotlight," just for us!

The big knitting news this week:  I'm so pleased to have finished (drumroll...

TA DAHHH!!!

The Edwardian Lace Coat - Project 18

This was definitely one of my favorite knitting experiences in the entire Knitting On Top of the World journey so far.  The cashmere/silk Kashmir yarn was beyond heavenly to work with, soft and lustrous.   The lace patterns were all fun, and kept my interest going (lots of nights of staying up too late because I just had to start the next one!)  And because it was on pretty big needles, the lace was really easy to do!  This project made me yearn to make a lacy shawl (although I confess, I like to knit with fingering yarn more than laceweight - my eyes are getting old, I guess.)

Sorry for the rather lame photo - my son wasn't home last weekend, and the dachshunds don't have opposable thumbs.  And after a day of hot summer weather and yardwork, I'm not feeling quite "elegant" enough to do it justice.  I'll bring it to work the next cool day and see if someone can snap a photo of me wearing it. 

Next Up - World Class Wee Sweaters!

I finished a major project at work last Wednesday, and am hoping to rev up my knitting pace a bit, as the last few coat-sized sweaters all took more than a month to do!  I'm still a bit ahead of pace, as the Edwardian Lace Coat was No. 18; at one project per month, I had until the end of June to accomplish that one.  But I'd like to see if I can do the entire book in less than 4 years, and am now aiming closer to 3.  It helps that the upcoming projects are smaller, although I'm counting all 3 World Class Wee Sweaters as a single project (to make an even 48, one per month for 4 years). 

So far, I've finished the Mini Classic Aran:

... and the Foxy Little Argyle.

As Nicky says, along with the Liten Olaf sweater, these four sweaters incorporate many classic knitting techniques, but are small enough to give you a chance to master them without investing hours and hours in full-size pieces.  As the sweaters encompass Aran, Fair Isle, and Argyle techniques, as well as some stylistic finishing techniques, by the time you are finished, you've covered a really wide range of knitting and design elements.

The Mini Classic Aran features textured stitches (seed stitch, ribbing) as well as twisted stitches (2-stitch twists and 4-stitch cables), as well as raglan shaping, and a turtleneck. 

I wanted to be able to wear it as a hat without worrying about which way to sew the seams in the ribbing on the bottom part, so I knitted the bottom ribbing in a circle, and then split the front and the back, knitting them each separately. 

This was a pretty easy knit, considering my recent practice with cables on the Celtic Hooded Coat.  With the center twist-stitch panel, and the smaller twist-stitch cables on either side, I feel like a real pro at twist stitches!  These are just like making a cable, but because they involve only two stitches you can sort of avoid having to use a cable needle by just working the second stitch on the left-hand needle before the right.  I usually "pinch" the base of the stitches so that I can slide this second stitch off, and not accidentally unravel the first stitch. 

The Foxy Little Argyle was definitely more of a challenge.  I had to think a bit about which technique to use, to produce the different colored diamonds - Fair Isle, or Intarsia.

Intarsia, where you have different shapes in the knitting, seemed to be the right choice at first, but then I realized I would need to use a separate ball or strand of yarn for each vertical column of white between the colored diamonds to make it work.  Why?

Well, intarsia works, because as you come to the edge of a motif, you twist the two different colored yarns together, so that they link like people walking with their elbows intertwined:

Fair Isle, on the other hand, usually only has two colors per row, and you don't need to twist or to "lock elbows" as both yarns run the entire length of each row (see black and red diagram at the bottom, below).

 But here's the challenge.  you can't "combine" Fair Isle and Intarsia very successfully.  If I were to use one ball of white yarn and separate strands for each diamond, carrying the white yarn in floats behind the diamonds, there wouldn't be any "elbow" of white with which to lock the edge of the diamond to the edge of the white background.  In effect, the stitches end up just sliding along that white float, almost like the rings on a shower curtain rod (see drawing at top, below):

And, further complicating matters, since there are two different diamond colors per row, each row of the Foxy Little Argyle front would have 3 strands to, were I to carry each color all the way across.  And the background I chose was white, which would mean the darker-colored floats would likely show through...

And since the Foxy Little Argyle has 4 rows of colored diamonds with white ones in between and on the edges; that would be nine separate strands or balls of yarn hanging off my needle and driving me nuts.

For an answer, I turned to Sally Melville's The Knitting Experience Book 3: Color to check what she recommends in these situations, and learned that you can in fact get intarsia motifs to work with a background thread running behind, if you twist the two yarns with every stitch.  This sounded crazy, but I decided to try it. 

When knitting the sleeves (which have just one square, so intarsia worked, with a separate ball of background yarn for each side of the diamond), I measured how much yarn it took to knit a single diamond.  Then, I cut strands for each colored diamond.  A good trick Nicky taught me is to just let yarn strands hang loose when doing intarsia knitting - any type of bobbin or holder will be like a little "weight" and swing around and tangle with the other bobbins, but if you just let the yarn strands hang long you can untangle them much more easily by just pulling each length of yarn through any tangle periodically, or combing the strands with your fingers to detangle them. 

So this is what the back looked like:

Another important trick when doing intarsia knitting, is to "anticipate" where the first colored stitch needs to be in the row below, and then catch the colored yarn behind the background yarn under where that stitch will be.  In these diamonds, as they increased in width, I would twist the motif yarn with the background yarn after the first white stitch at the edge of each motif.  This makes that edge stitch lie much more smoothly when you knit (or purl) it on the following row.  I don't know why, but it is true.  And if you forget (which I did a lot while knitting this, as I was watching Ghost Hunters and getting distracted and scaring the bejesus out of myself the whole time), it is worth going backwards and fixing it. 

This makes your intarsia (or in this case, sort of hybrid Intarsia/Fair Isle) patterning look more smooth and even on the front:

I guess the diamonds are upside down in this picture, but you can see that the edge stitches line up pretty nicely without any "tug" from being skewed by yarn pulling at the diagonal from the row below.

I did the white contrast stitches with fair isle, since I was dragging the white yarn behind the colored diamonds anyway, but I did the blue contrast stitches across the white diamonds in duplicate stitch after the knitting was done:

And I seamed the edges together with mattress (?) stitch, where you pick up the little "ladder steps" between vertical rows of stitches, first from the ladder just inside the edge stitch on the front, and then from the ladder just inside the edge stitch on the back, working upwards rung by rung, alternating each side. 

This sweater had a double band of ribbing on the bottom.   I decided to knit both bands in the round, and then combined them by knitting them together, kind of like when you do a 3-needle bindoff, but without binding off.

Because I am not coordinated to actually knit stitches off of two needles at the same time, I actually slip alternating stitches onto a new needle, and then when I'm done, I do a whole row of "k2 tog".  This just makes it easier for me to make sure I don't inadvertently drop any stitches when trying to control 3 needle tips, instead of just two:

You can see the little pairs of stitches all lined up here, ready to be knitted together into single stitches.

 
Progress on Petite Fancy Fair Isle

I was really hoping to get this one done this weekend, but alas, there was a house to clean, etc, and pie to bake:

and doggies to walk:

But next week, I will tell you all about it, as this was my first encounter with the DREADED STEEK!!!

I fought the battle bravely and learned a lot, but still have to clean up the battlefield - loads of thread ends to weave in (sigh.)

Then I need to make leaves and flowers for the neck edge.  (I made one flower so far, but lost it in my commuting this week- darn!) 

Yikes!

May your week be a bit less tangled.

XOXOXO, Mar.

P.S. Next week - More KOTOTW Books to give away!!!!  (THANK YOU, SOHO PUBLISHING!!!)

 

 

 

World's Best Sister; Lots of Stash For Cash; and Waiting For Ms. Nicky!

Happy Easter!

Hellohellohello!

I hope you are all enjoying a lovely Easter morning!  Minnesota looks the part, indeed.  The weather is in the 70's, the sun is shining like a smile, little are birdies hopping about in the forsythia bush outside my window, the grass is turning green, and actual rabbits are hopping about just outside myfence, much to the annoyance of "the girls," Maddie and Libby, who bark and run around like insane banshees every time they see one.   I even saw a duck couple out taking a stroll through a neighbor's yard, contemplating a good place for the little missus to lay her eggs.

Here's Madeline, looking sheepish, as I caught her trying to make her way under the neighbor's fence:

It has been a whirlwind around here!   Work is crazy busy, but also (I must confess) kind of exhilarating.  After some pretty lean years, my particular set of legal skills is in demand again.  I try to bill about 95 hours a month (I'm part-time, 70% attorney hours), but I was already over 100 on Friday, and there is still a week to go!  It should be an exciting week this week - 3 big closings, my first presentation to the real property section of the Hennepin County Bar Association, and a major meeting on Friday for a brand-new client. 

Fabulous Fiber Fest!

On top of all that, Nicky is coming to town on Wednesday, April 27 for about a week, for the Fabulous Fiber Fest that my friend Steven Berg is throwing at his two yarn stores.  You can click the link and hear all about it!  Nicky and two other designers will be teaching classes; the other knitting designers  are Annie Modesitt, a wonderful and creative designer who lives in the Twin Cities, (and author of Romantic Hand Knits); and Julie Wiesenberger of Coco Knits, a designer of cool patterns that remind me of Eileen Fisher elegance. 

On Saturday, the Minnesota Knitter's Guild holds its annual "Yarnover" event at Hopkins High School, with over 25 famous designers coming to teach, and a yarn market (someone confiscate my credit cards, NOW!).  Mary-Heather and Sarah of Ravelry will be there at noon for a meet-up at the Yarn Garage booth, handing out Howdy buttons; and Nicky will do a book signing at 2 PM.  I'm going to go visit Steven's booth, and give Nicky a big smootch, and try to not. buy. anything.

Then, on Sunday, I get to spend the day with Nicky at the Yarn Garage, Steven's store in Rosemount (which is maybe 3 miles from my house!), and help her teach her class on the Creative Block at 10, hang out for her book signing at 1, and at 5 we will head downtown to the Steven Be studio, for a book signing and to play dress-up with all of the KOTOTW garments!  She is going to bring all the ones that I haven't knitted yet, and I'll bring what I have, so that people can touch, try on, check them out and figure out sizing, etc.  (Hmmm.... Not very far on that cover sweater, and not likely to finish it, considering my work schedule - YIKES!) 

Then we will be part of the finale party, and I get to steal Nicky away for a slumber party with me, my sister and the dogs.

On Monday, I'm playing hooky so that I can spend the day with La Nicoletta, who doesn't make it out here to the frozen tundra NEARLY often enough (hint, hint, Divine Ms. N, hope you are reading this!)

I will take Nicky to Amazing Threads in Maple Grove, where she will be teaching a class from 10 to 1; and then at 5:30 or so, I have invited a bunch of my knitting buddies to join us for a get together at Pardon my French in Eagan, so that she can meet all the people I'm always telling her about, and vice versa! 

And then on Tuesday she has to go home, and life will seem somehow less colorful.  Good thing spring is here to supply some of the excitement that will leave when she takes off.

A Visit From My Sis

My much-beloved sister, Susan, made an all-to-brief appearance last weekend, flying in on Thursday night from San Francisco, and leaving on Sunday afternoon.  We had dinner and an evening at the Minnesota Orchestra with some friends:  Eva (who just finished her first sweater a few posts ago!) and her husband, Dick, and Richard and Melissa, who is another partner in my department.  We all got on so well at dinner, that after the concert Richard suggested we go right back to the same restaurant for coffee and dessert!  (I ordered a caramel walnut dark chocolate tart with sea salt crystals, with a side of home-made dulce de leche ice cream OMGOMG sooooo good!)  My sister has been a real estate attorney for 25 years or so, and she, Richard and Eva traded stories of their experiences. 

(Can I just say, that I am having a love affair with extreeemely dark chocolate, especially when accompanied by sea salt?  They make this candy bar at Godiva right now, $10.00 a bar(!), which is hand-made in the store, with dark chocolate, fresh cashews, sea salt and caramel.  And strangely enough, it is worth the price.  I have been so busy at work that I ate almost an entire bar for lunch one day.  Hmm, all the food groups represented?  I think not...)

On Saturday, Susan and I went shopping at the Mall of America, and then came home and made one of our favorite recipes (a meatloaf from the New Basics cookbook) and had a cozy dinner.  Why didn't I get my camera out?  I should have taken pictures of this weekend.  But that is just how rushed and distracted it felt, to try to say and do everything you wanted to do with someone you love, but see only once a year, at most.

The Great De- of Stash:

On Sunday, Susan helped me go through my stash to figure out what to keep, and what to sell.  This was extremely helpful, and I'm so grateful she took the time (although, frankly, Susan was a bit freaked out that my tendencies to accummulate stuff have ramped up quite so many notches...)

Part of it is living in the midwest, banging around in a big old house with just my son.  Unlike in San Francisco, space here isn't at a premium, so you don't have to think twice about where you will put something.  Until, of course, you realize that all the space is filled up to the point where there isn't a spare inch of space for one more book on any shelf, one more hanger in any closet, or one more plastic bin filled to bursting with yarn along the entire back wall of your garage..

Susan is afraid I will end up like the old ladies on that creepy Hoarders show, and that some day people will find dead dachshunds buried in my house under piles of yarn and books.  So, I'm getting on that, and trying to seriously find ways to sell, donate, repurpose, de-clutter, simplify, let go, organize, etc. 

It is interesting to remember that 25 years ago, almost everything I owned fit in a car (a small hatchback, actually).  I want to be footloose and fancy free some day again, and don't want to have my life choices regarding travel, or where I can afford to live, dictated by mountains of books (that are likely also available on Kindle), or towering stacks of yarn bins.

So, Susan and I set aside some projects she'd been coveting, and since then I've been listing things in my "sell or trade" portion of my Ravelry stash, which seems to work more easily than eBay.

 - On the plus side:  No eBay fees on top of Pay Pal fees; you get to set your price; and you don't have to wait until the end of an auction to be done.

 - On the negative side:  No bidding wars ensue on the juicy stuff, (although I suppose you could request offers to buy...)

I just tried to figure out what my costs were, then figured about 75% of that, and offered free shipping  (Because it is too much of a pain in the butt to figure out what someone is buying, pack it up, weigh it to calculate postage, etc.)  After all, my goal here is to lighten my stash with brisk efficiency. 

And, it is working really well so far.  It is so much fun to trade messages with fellow knitters (one woman teaches dancing on cruise ships for a living, so she travels the world and knits in her down time!), and really satisfying (although hard) to let go.

Also, some of your readers have taken a look at my "Projects" page on Ravelry and told me what you might like to buy; many, many thanks to Jeanine, who bought $400 (!) worth of things, and to Ann, who is just figuring out which of several things she might like.

It will be extremely satisfying to put those funds toward my debts; I think as time goes by it may also help me to let go of that need to have more than I need... of everything. 

On Sunday, my brother Geoff, his son Aaron (Wonder-Neph, my former downstairs neighbor!), and his wife Mary came over with a wonderful Mexican dinner in tow, complete with fresh strawberry pie!  My Uncle Jack came to visit for a while; and after dinner we watched a Mystery Science Theater 3000 movie (available on Netflix, you can watch right through your kid's X-box!) and laughed ourselves to tears.  When I was little, my brother and I used to watch horrible old low-budget sci-fi and horror movies on Friday nights, and he would do this continuous "color commentary," supplying extra dialogue for the characters, etc., just like Joel (or Mike) and the robots on MST3K.  So it was like a trip down memory lane.

It was hard to put my sister on that plane; I miss her so.  And it is hard to stop typing and telling you stories!  But I was up until 2 framing out my presentation, and now I need to do the powerpoint and find nice graphics, go to work and get ready for 2 closings, and figure out my strategy for the summit meeting with my client's adversaries for Friday... oh, and fit 5 loads of laundry in there somewhere...

A few more photos:

Here is what is left of that towering "snow mountain" in my cul de sac, that completely obscured our view of the neighbor's house:

(Buh-bye, now!)

And here is the completed first side of the Edwardian Lace Coat:

This Kashmir yarn is like nothing I've ever knitted; shiny, soft, easy to work with.  I had to re-do the

front edge (forgot to change to the smaller needle, duh), but I like the fact that you do the edgings as you finish each piece, and then 3-needle-bind off the shoulder seams and knit on the sleeves.  The only finishing will be to knit on the collar, and sew the underarm seams!

Here's hoping all the pieces of your busy lives are somehow coming together, and that you are maintaining your sense of joy.

XOXOXO, Mar.

 

 

 

A Very Special Guest Blogger - Addie!

This week, we welcome a VERY special guest blogger, Adeline.  You might recall her as the recent wearer of such classics as the Turkey Hat and Bear Hat, and  as the focus of a certain knitting night baby shower last year, although at that point, she was still "doing time on the inside." 

Well, here she is, to tell all. I'm relatively sure her mom, Kristin, had nothing to do with this, but I'm very grateful that she was willing to allow her daughter to write for us this week!

"Hey pretty ladies,

Baby Addie here.  There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.  Well, I’ve been trying to tell you for ages, but given that I’m not so great with words yet and Mom has strict rules against internet access (not to mention TV, video games, and basically everything fun), I had to do some serious sneaking in order to send you this message.  So when Mom and Dad got into the wine the other night, I got stealthy.

 First of all, I’ve been enjoying all of your amazing gifts for over five months now.  I love them.  They make me feel all special and pretty inside.  I’m so grateful for all of these beautiful presents that one day I asked Mom whether we ever properly thanked you all. 

 She said, “Yes, of course, honey, I sent out thank you notes promptly after the gifts were received.” 

 I was skeptical.  I didn’t witness this.  Granted my perspective was a little obscured at the time, but she’s stretched the truth before.  (Like every day when we’re driving home from day care she says “we’re almost home, honey” even though we’re like four entire minutes away.  Don’t worry.  I punish her for this deception with four minutes of screaming.  Let me tell you, when you’ve got a baby screaming in your car, you stop making silly mistakes like thinking four entire minutes really constitutes “almost home.”)

 So anyway, I asked her how she sent these alleged thank you notes and she said she used the ultra reliable United States Postal Service.  Great.  I asked her how she got your addresses and she started to look a little sheepish. 

 “Um…. Google?” she replied. 

 Right. 

 “So,” I asked, “do you really think all of your thank you notes made it to the ladies?” 

 “Um… yes?  I put them in the mail?  To the addresses I found on the internet?”  Again, the sheepish look.  Good grief. 

 That was all it took.  I totally freaked her out and made her think she never properly thanked any of your wonderful selves for your incredible generosity and graciousness.  She was super worried.  I had to help.

 On Sunday I had an idea.  I told my mom I wanted to play dress up.  She agreed to photograph me (she’s always looking for an excuse to pull out her shiny new camera) and in exchange I agreed to practice my modeling skills and super huge smiles.  Because what could be better than a letter filled with pictures of me, right?  (I have a healthy ego.)

 We started off easy since Mom was kind of tired.  (And by tired I mean delirious.  I’ve been working for months to train her to survive on less sleep, but she’s a slow learner).

 

Here I am with the incredibly snuggly blanket from Eva.  I love this blanket.  As an added bonus, I find yellow to be a very slimming color.  (Hey, when you have cheeks like these, you take what you can get.)

 
I love this blanket so much I asked Mom if I could sleep with it.  My bedroom is drafty.  Mom said blankets in cribs are against the rules.  So while I’m sleeping she insists on putting me in this ridiculous sleep sack that resembles Grover from Sesame Street. (That Sesame Street reference is something my mom filled me in on.  The no TV for babies rule precludes even educational programming.)

  
Anyhoo, due to the draftiness, beautiful sweaters like this one Karen made are a necessity.  Usually mom makes me wear a bib to prevent drool from soaking this lovely garment, but she made an exception for the photo shoot.  (By the way, do you see my mad standing skills here?  Mom is always trying to support me, but I don’t need it.  All of this talent and yet she’s still a bit disturbed that I am nowhere near sitting on my own.  I often have to politely explain to her that sitting is for babies.  Obviously big girls stand.)

 

 Here I am smiling at my awesome mobile from Mary.  Can you believe she actually knit each of those teensy mice!?  I love my mice.  Sometimes when my hands are immaculately clean, Mom even lets me touch them.  Also, I regret that while my daddy is hilarious (as evidenced by my giant grin here), his photography skills need work.  He cut off the top mouse.  It’s too bad because the top mouse is my favorite.  I call him Edward.  When I say “Edward,” somehow it comes out sounding a lot like “agoo,” but trust me, Eddie knows where it’s at.

 

Next, we moved out into the living room where I decided to show off this beautiful quilt from Renay.  As you can see, this quilt makes me feel like an airplane.  For purposes of the photo session, Mom let me practice my airplane skills directly on the quilt (usually there’s a bib barrier involved here too). 

  
I took advantage of this unprecedented quilt access to examine Renay’s work.  As you probably know, the quality of her quilting is rather amazing.  And I consider the little kids in the fabric to be my buddies.

 

 Once I was satisfied with my inspection, I went back to practicing my airplane skills.  Mom says I better keep practicing because it’s going to be hard work to get these cheeks off the ground.

 

 Here I am snuggling the super cool elephant that Renay made me.  Based on this picture, I’m pretty sure my second word is going to be “mine.”  (Obviously my first word was agoo.  I’m very advanced.  My killjoy mother tells me all the time that agoo is not a real word, but she is WRONG.)

 

This is my super friendly tutu bear from Pam.  I was getting a little tired at this point, so it may be hard to tell, but those beautiful sea foam green washcloths on my legs were made by Pam, too.  One has a sailboat knit into it and the other has a butterfly.  I love to snuggle with the washcloths, but I have to admit that when they get wet and Mom rubs them on my nose, I am not a fan.  On the other hand, they’re nothing compared to the nose frida.  Someday I will tell you all about this baby torture device employed by my crazy parents.

  
Anyway, in addition to being super friendly, Tutu has a scarf that is fun to play with.  I also like to talk to her.  She doesn’t talk back, but that’s probably for the best.  I have a lot to say, and I don’t really think there would be enough time to get it all out if we were both trying to talk.  Tutu is a really good listener.

  
 Tutu also doesn’t seem to mind that I’m learning how to suck my thumb.  I thought my parents would try to nip this habit in the bud given the orthodontia risks, but they don’t seem to mind.  I’ve seen pictures of them when they were little, and they both had crazy teeth, so braces are kind of a foregone conclusion for me.

 

At this point in the photo shoot, I started feeling a bit française, so I slipped into this lovely ensemble from Kim.  You should see the detail that went into this dress.  French seams and all.  It’s a touch loose now, but I am growing like a fiend, and I eat like one too, so I think it will be perfect this spring.

 

 As you can see, there is something about this outfit that makes me feel incredibly surprised.

 

Here I was surprised by the fact that Mom didn’t notice the horribly clashing socks I’m wearing.

 
I got over my surprise when Daddy started singing.  His voice is hilarious.

 
This rocking green M&M shirt came to me all the way from Ann's trip to New York City.  Mom tells me they have a store completely dedicated to M&M's.  That sounds amazing.  I was super excited about this discovery until Mom broke the news that I don't get to go to New York and I sure as hell will not be enjoying an M&M any time soon.  So this is my sad face.

As if that weren't enough, she then casually informed me that this gift included two packages of specialty M&M's.  Which she ate.  All by herself.  So this is my pissed off face.

 
 Luckily, I have a short memory and was back to my smiley self in no time.  In conclusion, thank you all for the awesome presents.  I love you all and am so lucky to have you as honorary aunties!

Adeline."

I have to say, I love that girl.  Especially because she allows her parents to put on multiple outfits without apparently exploding. 

I'm hoping that if I knit some more for her, she'll come back and visit us again!

XOXOXO,

Mar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This rocking green M&M shirt came to me all the way from Ann’s trip to New York City.  Mom tells me they have a store completely dedicated to M&M’s.  That sounds amazing.  I was super excited about this discovery until Mom broke the news that I don’t get to go to New York and I sure as hell will not be enjoying an M&M any time soon.  So this is my sad face.

 

 

 

As if that weren’t enough, she then casually informed me that this gift included two packages of specialty M&Ms.  Which she ate.  All by herself.  So this is my pissed off face.

 

 

 

Luckily I have a short memory and was back to my smiley self in no time.  In conclusion, thank you all for the awesome presents.  I love you all and am so lucky to have you as honorary aunties!!

 

I Get By With a Little Help From My (Knitting) Friends

I love the first week of the month; for me, it is filled with knitting groups!

On the first Tuesday of the month, I usually join some friends at the Hennepin County Title Examiner's office for a little knitting.  One of the regulars there is Mary, who is the most unselfish knitter I know.  95% of the time, she is making baby booties or a hat or something for a charity; I think I've only ever seen her knit something for herself once!

Here she is, nearly finished with a beautiful shawl for a chemotherapy patient:

I love the colors of this one.  (I also love Mary!)

Also present on Monday (besides Matthew, who showed his amazing colorful scarf in last week's blog), was Suzanne, working on a blue beaded lace scarf on very tiny needles.  Here is a picture of it unblocked:

And here is a picture of Suzanne, wearing her work in progress:

The hour we spend knitting together always seems to fly by way too quickly.  But it puts me in a better frame of mind for work.  I've been tootling away on the second long panel of the Aran cabled coat, and by tonight should be past the half-way point.  I'm hoping to have both the coat and the fairy tale socks finished by the end of the month, but I guess it depends on work; it has been fairly busy lately, with lots of work trying to woo new potential clients. 

Renay finished her wonderful Argyle socks, in the color of her family's clan, the Wallaces:

Yaaay!  They look terrific!  (And she also finished a completely AMAZING present for someone we all know and love, but I can't show you the photos yet because she hasn't delivered it yet!)

On Thursday night, my knitting girlies from the "First Thursday Knitting Night" got together.  As always, some of us couldn't make it, but some of us could.  We welcomed two new friends who knit to join the gang; Regina, who is working on her first pair of socks, and Barb, who is working on a really nice blue cotton cardigan with an eyelet pattern.  Regina is a multi-talented person, who was kind enough to host me last weekend at that lovely home with the cardinals at the deck.  She can actually fly a plane, so learning to knit should be a snap.

I didn't get a non-blurry picture of Regina, but here is Barb, knitting with Karen.  Barb mentioned she had one of those long-unfinished knitting projects in the back of her closet, and that in fact she can't finish it, because the yarn isn't made anymore.

Just in case (and I know this is a looooong shot) any of you might have some, the yarn is Classic Elite Sand, a somewhat textured 100% cotton, in cream (color 6416, Lot g2094).  I'm going to ask her to bring me a sample so I can see if I can find something similar.  I did a search on Ravelry and emailed a few people who looked to have used cream Sand yarn, but to no avail; they either didn't have any left, or had long since sold it on eBay.

A few weekends ago I was in the mood to crochet something, and picked up some yarn I had bought in my pre-new-year's last-minute yarn splurge (4 balls of Lion Brand Cotton-Ease), out of which I made the Waterlily Shawl.  It was an easy pattern, and I really like the yarn.  Soft and a bit more giving than 100% cotton.  It was just the right amount of warmth and comfort over my shoulders during our lingering cold weather.  Here I am showing it off with some similarly-patterned yellow striped socks:

And here is a better photo.

Also recently finished - my Morehouse Farms chevron scarf:

Now I have the scarf and the beret finished; all that is left is to ake matching mittens for a full set!  Something tells me that won't happen until next winter, though; I want to focus on the Knitting On Top of the World projects! 

Although that means it will take me 3 years to finish a simple matching set.  The Yarn Harlot's daughter pointed out to her once that her mom made hats, and mittens, and scarves, but none that necessarily went together, which got me thinking that I wanted to make more complete sets of things.  (I know, I can hear the fashion mavens go, "Oh, no!  Too matchy-matchy!"  as if that were a bad thing.  I like matchy matchy.  And I don't care who knows it.)

More baby photos:

Here is the wonderful Adeline; she and her mom, Kristin, are really enjoying their silly bear hat:

Oh, those cheeks!  (I think I might have to make some more entertaining hats, since she seems to be such a willing model, although after the turkey hat and this one, I'm going to have to really hunt for something funnier!)

Kristin promises that if we have knitting night north of the river, that she will ask her husband to bring Addie by so we can see her in person. So in April, Knitting Night will just have to travel northwards. 

And here is Baby Noah, the grandson of my friend, Barb:

I think Noah looks very dapper in his darker version of the bear hat!

I hope spring is drawing nearer, wherever you are in the world.

 

XOXOXO always,

Mary

 

 

More Scarves, More Babies...

First of all, you guys are so kind to me... thank you all for your kind words about how I look in my Highland Fling Cardigan.  I feel less awkward about wearing it now, even though it is a lot more colorful than my usual garb.  I appreciate it so much when my blackberry light goes on, and instead of a work message, it is one of you sending in a comment!  It never fails to make me smile. 

Remember how I was complaining noting that there were so many ends on the Highland Fling Cardigan to weave in?  Well, Steph mentioned that she keeps hers in a vase and that they look pretttty.  So I decided to gather all of the mohair-y end bits, and they filled an entire glass pitcher:

They do look sort of atmospheric and cloudy, although not very thirst-quenching.

Even when my job gets really busy, and I feel isolated, up there in my office tower like Rapunzel (but with a haircut), I realize that even if I don’t have as much time as I would like to spend with my friends or with my hobbies, that in a way, I am always “talking” about knitting now online, at least, and that the conversation may not be in real time, but it is every bit as welcome and meaningful as sitting down to knit with my friends. 

I may have taken on more than I can accomplish today… I was in the midst of cleaning the kitchen, after doing the bathrooms (finally – I talk a good line, but I bet my house gets a thorough cleaning, at best, once a quarter).  Anyway, it suddently seemed like a good idea to hit the “clean” button on my oven.  Now my house is filled with smoke.  Luckily, it is unseasonably warm today, an unbelievable 45 degrees!  I put the ceiling fan on, opened the sliding door and all of the windows on the first floor, and now I’m hiding in the office and peeking in the kitchen every 5 minutes to make sure flames aren’t shooting out of the oven. 

I don’t know if I should be entrusted with home ownership.  I am a danger to myself and others.

Not to mention, I'm sort of wondering why my wired-in smoke alarms are not all going off.  One would think… oh, never mind, best not to think too hard about this, and be grateful that airing out the house seems to be doing the trick.  And I can also be extremely grateful that I didn’t decide to push the “clean” button on the oven last weekend, when it was 15 below.

Olympic Scarf-a-Palooza!

My at-work knitting group gathered Friday to get our scarves ready to ship; the Minnesota shipping deadline was Friday, and the arrival deadline is next Friday, so we might be sending a few stragglers next week.  But the grand total:  24 scarves (including some Jenine sent separately)!

Here they are in all their wonderful multitudes:

And here we are, modeling them!  From left to right, we are Jenny, me, Pam and Nancy.  Nancy made five (!), and I think Jenine did, too, although unfortunately she wasn’t available for the picture. 

 

My own total:  7!

I really like the one knitted on the diagonal; I increased in the first stitch, and knitted the last two stitches together every right-side row.  I also tried doing one in two ribbed panels that I stitched together; not sure if that was as successful.  I wanted the two panels to be mirror images of each other, but since the stripes are only 2 rows long, instead it looks like I sewed them together crooked.  Oh well.  Nancy gave me some extra yarn, but I resisted the temptation to make more scarves this weekend; I figure 7 is probably enough (!)

BTW, the sweater I am wearing is one of my favorites.  The pattern is from an old Vogue Knitting - Winter 1991-92, pattern 10, by DKNY.  It is old - I made it before Nathan was born, when I was still in law school.  But it is really special to me.  When I was in law school, the apartment building in the Oakland Hills where I had moved with my friend Wardo just before the start of 3rd year burned down in October; Wardo and I didn't have time to get anything out, as the fire covered many miles of the surrounding hillside, was engulfing the buildings before we even knew what was happening, and burned the entire complex down to the ground. 

In the following week, our friends threw a sort of early Christmas for us, to give us presents that were the sort of impractical things that they knew we wouldn't be able to afford to replace for awhile, as we were focusing on replacing all the basic necessities we had lost.  They bought my friend Wardo things like beers from around the world; and for me, they bought earrings, and a gift certificate to Straw Into Gold, a yarn store in Berkeley that doesn't exist anymore, owned by the people who make Crystal Palace yarns.  I bought blue and cream Lopi yarn, and made this cozy sweater with it.  I don't wear it very often; but it is really wonderful for those below-zero winter days.

More Babies!

Good thing I made an extra bear hat; Barb, an assistant who works with some of my clients, had not one but TWO grandbabies on the same weekend, at the same hospital even!  A little bird told me about this, so I quickly knitted up one more hat, and sent both to Barb, to keep these little heads warm:

 

Here are Noah and Kendall—so sweet!  Those little noses, those little lips… sigh.  HOW I love babies.

And now, after another interlude of gift and special olympic scarf knitting, it is time to get back to my KOTOTW journey!

Celtic Aran Coat - Got Gauge, Good to Go!

After knitting the first ball of yarn for the Celtic Aran Coat, I decided it would be a good idea to wet-block the piece, just to make sure the gauge was right.  After all, it would be a disaster to knit an entire coat, only to block it and realize the size was all wrong!  For me, it is always hard to tell with cable-y patterns.  The knitting tends to scrunch in so much, I just can't tell for sure what the width will be once it is off the needle and properly blocked.

Luckily for me, the partial piece blocked perfectly to gauge - 17 stitches and 20 rows to 4 inches.  So, now I just have to wait for it to finish drying, and I can merrily knit away knowing just what the finished pieces will measure!  I'm not sure it will make for very good commuting knitting, though.  Hate to get cream yarn dirty, and the 40-row pattern is kind of befuddling to follow.  Which reminds me - I found this GREAT new invention, see-through sticky highlighter tape!

It looks just like highlighter, but it can be lifted up and re-applied multiple times, just like a Post-It Note!  I had forgotten that I had some of this from when I was knitting (a still unfinished) Mystery Shawl project from the Pink Lemon Twist blog.  It is REALLY helpful, if not a necessity, for someone like me whose knitting is often interrupted - makes it much easier to find where I was when the phone rang/dogs wanted to go out/dogs wanted to come in/son wanted dinner/laundry loads needed switching, etc.  I have used the magnet-y kinds, too, where the board is behind the page and you move the magnet bars row by row, but this system is less bulky and less apt to rearrange itself if you have to put the pattern and knitting away for awhile. 

Jeff Dunham Tickets!

Nathan and I are so excited; for Christmas this year, I bought us tickets to go see Jeff Dunham, the comedian-ventriloquist, and the show is this evening!   Nathan is a really big fan; he has a few of Jeff Dunham’s DVD’s, and I also just bought him Jeff’s autobiography (it is hard to get him to read anything other than Calvin & Hobbes comics and books about Halo).   The show is at 5, which means I have only one more hour to finish cleaning, get myself fixed up, and get us downtown!  I will tell you all about it next week – I’m sure it will be a blast!

So – off to vacuum.  (And to hope my oven won’t start the house on fire…)  Thanks for keeping me company while the smoke was at its worst!

 XOXOXO, Mar

Essay: What I Did On My Winter Vacation

Ah, it is so sad to see my vacation week dwindle down to the last few hours – hard to believe that you can take 5 days off of work, with a weekend on either side, and not get more accomplished.   As my sister Susan points out, being a mom and taking care of a house is in fact a full-time job, in addition to that other full time law job I also have.   I did check in on e-mail from time to time, and luckily, it appears that I chose a good week to disappear; nothing major came up that I can’t deal with in the upcoming week.

It was really lovely to be off the clock for awhile; it has been a long time since I've had a break like that.  I feel calmer, well-rested, and less harried and overwhelmed by all the responsibilities coming my way this year.   (I think I said “yes” a few too many times, and find myself on more than a few committees, and with a hour-long presentation to put together – oi.) 

I am tempted to see if I can’t do this again later on in the year, perhaps for a week in the fall, just because it was so nice to just be away from the phone, and the email, and to be peaceful and quiet for awhile.

So, what did I do for the past 9 days?

I went to see two movies – The King’s Speech, which I adored, and True Grit, which was so compelling and realistic; it seemed perfectly attuned to the time period.   In both movies, the casting of every single role was just flawless, and I could easily go back and see both movies several more times.  (Hmmm… that doesn’t look right.  I guess you underline book titles, but not movie titles.  Oh well, at least you get the idea!)

I went to a MN Commercial Real Estate Women (MN CREW) meeting to hear my friend Eva speak on a panel about the past year in commercial real estate, and what the next year might bring; she did a lovely job, and gave such thoughtful answers to all of the questions.  I always feel like I learn a lot when she talks about her experiences in managing her company's real estate portfolio.  She is just a really good thinker, and an excellent explainer.   Afterwards, I had coffee with my cousin, Michele, an engineer who is also a member of MN CREW, and who talked me into joining the newsletter committee (See?  There I go again…)

I read a lot of magazines in my too-tall reading pile, although there wasn’t time to crack any new books (sigh).

But mostly, I cooked my little heart out.  Cooking always helps to ease my anxiety.  Frankly, I am at a point in my life where I feel at such loose ends; and when I feel this way, first I go to the grocery store, and then I cook.  Lather, rinse, repeat, for as many cycles until I feel a bit more calm and in control of things.

I think one of the reasons I find cooking so comforting, is that there is a simple set of instructions to follow, and you know that if you just walk through them, step by step, everything will come out all right.  I wish life had a recipe book to it.  Maybe it does, but I seem to have misplaced my bookmark—I am just not sure if I am on the right page lately.   Or worse, some days it feels like I must have dropped my own cookbook along the way, and picked up someone else’s by mistake!  I'm sure I already have gathered all of the right ingredients for a happy and successful life, but I just can't figure out how to put them together at the moment.

Oh well.  Onward, to the cook-a-palooza!

First, I bought a wonderful KitchenAid covered sauté pan, which I LOVE; it has sides tall enough that you can stir stuff around without accidentally spilling it out of the pan, as well as a nice, well-fitting top to catch spatters!

Next, I found some nice containers and carefully organized my growing curry spice and ingredient collection:

And then I cooked; and cooked.  I cooked until all the space in my freezer and fridge was full.  And then I started storing food in my grill on the patio, as it has been minus 0 degrees lately. And then I cooked some more, and some more…  I must REALLY be at loose ends, because I sort of went nuts in the cooking department.

I made chicken curry, lamb curry, red lentil curry, spinach paneer curry, and rice and raita, all from recipes out of my much-loved 660 Curries book.  YUMMMM!!!!  Fun and really just excellent. 

I gave half of everything to my brother, Geoff, so that he and Mary can try those particular recipes to see if they like them, and because Nathan is not as adventurous an eater as one could wish (ahem).

I also made roast chicken with carrots and potatoes, chicken satay, this wonderful Lidia Bastianich recipe my sister found with bucatini pasta, onions, and tomatoes, and that comfort-food standby, macaroni and cheese:

And then I commenced baking again, and finally made tons of cookies for my nephew, Eric  (you might remember his wonderful modeling job last summer on my July 11, 2010 post, of KOTOTW works in progress!)

I use powdered sugar when I roll out cookies instead of flour, because the cookies don’t get too tough, like they can when you roll them out using flour.  I was making a bit of a mess, actually, and spilling powdered sugar onto the floor.  Of course, Madeline and Libby stay by my feet whenever I cook, in hopes of catching some falling food ; after rolling the last batch, I realized that I had inadvertently decorated Madeline!   (Isn't it funny, how she has adopted my rather lame crocheted T-shirt rug as her very own?)

 

 

I also finally bought myself a little blue teapot, to go with my mugs:

Isn't it cute?  I find it odd, considering that tea is such an integral part of my life, that I haven’t actually owned a ceramic teapot before now, but they are sort of hard to find!  I feel an urge to knit a tea cozy for it.  Someday I will have a whole collection of blue and white teapots.  And time to learn to quilt, so I can make lots of blue and white quilts.  And I'll paint my living room shelves white, with periwinkle on the very back walls, like a picture I saw in a Martha Stewart Living magazine once...  Hey, maybe next time I take a week off, I can do some painting!

No time for knitting tea cosies at the moment, however; I’ve been kind of busy in the knitting department, too.

My wrist is fully healed, and I finished my baker’s dozen teddy bear hats:

The pattern is from an old Debbie Bliss paperback book called Kids' Knits for Heads, Hands and Toes (pictured).

It is filled with lots of cute hats, booties and mittens, but somehow this teddy bear hat has become my go-to hat whenever I need a quick baby gift.  I must have knitted over 50 of these since I was in law school.  In Minnesota, finding a baby hat that covers a baby’s ears is really important for those cold, windy days.  And the button under the chin makes it less likely that Baby will toss it aside when Mom or Dad aren’t looking.

I convinced Libby to model it for you; she looks quite droll, I think!  (Note the little swirly cowlick on her chest - I love my dear dogs.)

I mailed most of the finished hats off, and also mailed one to Kristin, our knitter friend with the beautiful baby Adeline.  And the very next day, I received an email from Kristin, saying  “Cutest. Baby. Hat. Ever.” With the attached photo!

I don’t know about the hat, but she is certainly one of the world’s cutest babies.  (And much cuter in the hat than Libby; she also seems to enjoy wearing it more than Libby did!)

I have made two Special Olympics Scarves so far:

I just did a garter stitch swatch, counted my stitches per inch (4), multiplied by 60 (240), cast on 240 stitches and knitted 4 rows in one color, and then 4 in the other, carrying the unused yarn up the side.  For the next scarf, I did one color in garter stitch and the other in stockinette, and "caught" the unused yarn at the edge in between rows 2 and 3 of the stockinette stripe.  The scarf with stockinette stripes between the garter stitches was curling a bit, as stockinette tends to do, so I steamed it thoroughly, ironing  it through a wet tea towel (I think the Yarn Harlot calls this “Killing Acrylic”).   Unlike wool, which will bounce back (just like curly hair when you get it wet), acrylic really stays in place.  I guess it sort of melts a little.  You have to be REALLY CAREFUL to only do this through a tea towel, or a pillowcase; if you touch the hot iron to the acrylic, it will melt and get gluey and stiff.  But if you keep the towel or pillowcase wet and move it around as you iron, you can get your acrylic knits to flatten and stay that way.

Just 1 skein of each color made both scarves, and I even have enough left over for 2/3rds of another scarf; I think I will pick up some leftover yarn from my knitting buddies and see if I can’t make another scarf or two during my commuting time between now and Feb. 11. 

This week I also finished a scarf I had started on New Year’s Day, for my brother’s first wife, Nancy.  She once asked for a scarf with pockets, and I found a really simple pattern to make one in Lion Brand Homespun on the Lion Brand website.  Nancy has a horse of her own, and keeps a few others for friends; I bet the pockets will come in handy to hold horse treats!

And finally, I made some more progress on the Highland Fling.  Both sleeves are knitted; I am still putting the crocheted vertical stripes on the body, and I need to do stripes on the separate shawl collar.  The pattern calls for a sewn-on I-cord, but since I learned how to do an applied I-cord for Laurie’s chullo hat, I think I’ll try that again.  I am not going to put stripes on the sleeves until I have the fronts and the collar done, and can ensure that the sleeves are exactly the right length, as the mohair is so difficult to unravel. 

* * * *

Well, there you have it.  I guess I did get quite a bit done, even though it doesn’t feel like it.  Maybe relaxing isn’t my strong suit.  Some day, when I’m feeling a bit more financially secure, I’d like to take one of those vacations somewhere near the ocean, and sit on a chair in the sand under a beach umbrella and a big straw hat, and read 4 or 5 books while sipping a cool iced tea…   Of course, I think I will need a LOT of girllfriends to come with me and keep me company!  :D

Wish me luck on re-entry into the working world!

XOXOXO, Mary

A Chance to Use Your Knitting Powers for Good!

Hiya, everybody!

This week, as we were sending around emails at work to confirm our Monday knitting group was meeting for lunch, Jenine sent an email with a link to the 2011 Special Olympics USA Scarf Project, and mentioned that she and a friend were knitting scarves.  She asked us if we would like to join in the effort!  Then Pam, another member of our group, emailed to say that her son Alex (see below - Alex recently modelled his hand-knitted scarf for us, one of Pam's first finished projects) was participating in the Special Olympics this year and was really excited about it.  So now Jenine, and Pam, and Jenny, and Candee, and Nancy and I are all making scarves in Alex's honor!  (YAYYY ALEX!!!)

And then, it occurred to me that my First Thursday Night Knitters might want to participate as well, so I sent the link to the Scarf Project page to them as well.  As turns out, that my friend Renay's niece, Janelle, is also participating in the Special Olympics!  So then Karen emailed, and my other knit-buddy Pam, and Kim, and now it turns out that a bunch of the First Thursday Night knitters are also making Special Olympics scarves in Janelle's honor!  (YAYYY JANELLE!)

(Here is a picture of Janelle, wearing her Xmas present from Aunt Renay - a beautiful green scarf knitted in soft merino, mmmm...)

I am going to make 2 scarves, one in honor of both Janelle and Alex.  But then again, it is easy for me to do; as I knit really fast.  I'm just really impressed that so many of my newly-knitting friends are going to give it a go; for someone who has just learned how to knit, it will take some real effort to get an entire scarf done in just a few weeks!

I checked out the Project Guidelines page, and learned the following:

 - Scarves must be made in two colors of Red Heart Super Saver Yarn - 886 Blue, and 512 Turqua.

 - Finished scarves must be approx. 6" wide, and approx. 56 - 60" long.

 - Minnesota needs to collect 1,000 scarves; but as of Jan. 8, they had only 99!!

  - The deadline to receive scarves is Feb. 18!

Luckily, you can order your yarn directly from Coats & Clark on a link on the website; it makes sense to order once for your group, as there is a volume discount, and we spread the cost of 2-day shipping so we could get started.  I tried to find the yarn locally, but my JoAnn's was out of one of the colors.  I ordered 10 skeins for my work knitting group, and I am guessing that each pair of skeins will make a couple of scarves. 

If you have the time, check out the 2011 Special Olympics USA Scarf Project website; your state may need some help to reach its scarf goals, too.  The website has some suggested easy-peasy but really nice patterns, but you can pretty much make your scarf however you want (check out this dizzying array on Flickr -- some are for a previous year when the colors were blue and white, but you will get some idea of how creative people can be!).  When your scarf is finished, you just place it in a zip-lock bag, and mail it to the address for your state (I figure we can mail all of ours in one big box).  I'd love to post photos of your Special Olympics scarf creations here.  I'll be showing you what my knitters come up with as well. 

Oh-oh!  KNITTER DOWN!

You know how it has been so snowy and icy here?  Well, us locals eventually learn to take it in stride.  We are used to shivering at bus stops, stamping the snow off of our shoes when we get in the car, shoveling paths through the back yard so our dogs will have someplace to run. 

If you are somewhat (ahem) clumsy, like me, you also gain a certain amount of experience in falling on slippery ice.  I actually am quite good at it at this point, and generally fall with enough grace not to do too much damage.  However, for my first fall of the season, I must have been a bit rusty...

Last Wednesday night, I was rushing in from a snowy parking lot into a shopping mall, to have dinner with my friends Regina and Keith; having navigated the icy sidewalk just fine, I guess I let my guard down, because when my boot heel hit the mall tile floor, my leg just slid away from me.  I dropped my keys, which dropped and skidded across the floor, making a loud, jangling noise, and attracting the attention of everyone sitting at the Starbucks, so I had a pretty good-sized audience to watch my graceless wipeout (don't you hate that?)  And I put my left hand out to break the fall.  Ouch.

... which is all a long way to go about telling you, I don't have much progress to show you in the knitting department this week, as I'm on the knitters DL (disabled list, for those non-baseball fans).  No worries; I didn't break anything, just jammed my wrist and sholder pretty good.  I thought it was OK the next morning but it felt worse as the day progressed; my friend Nancy brought me an ace bandage and an ice pack, which was so kind. 

As of today, I'm getting a bit of knitting done again (which is a good thing -- we're on a schedule here, people!!!)  (Oh, and I just promised to make two Special Olympics scarves, too!)

So, I'm sorry this post is short on knitting progress and photos.

On the other hand...

I'm Taking the Week Off!

I'm in a slight lull between projects and meetings at work, and my office is closed on Monday to observe the Martin Luther King holiday, so I decided to take the entire week off.  (Except for maybe 5-8 hours of legal work that I can do from home.) 

WHEEEEE!!!!!  I'm not going anywhere, other than maybe to the movies a few times.  I plan to cook, organize my closet, and get the house straightened up.  But mostly, I plan to relaxxxxxxxx.... knit, read, enjoy not being on-call for a few blissful days. 

And now that my arm is feeling better, maybe I can get a certain Highland Fling Cardigan finished to show you!!!

I hope you all have a lovely and calm week as well!

 

XOXOXO, Mar.

A Very Happy Weekend of Celebrations!

WOW, this was a fun weekend! 

First of all, on Friday at work, my friend Carmel came do show me this great poncho she had found at an arts and crafts fair; each little circle is a crocheted medallion, connected with a lacy stitch to all the others, with this great swingy fringe on the sides.  Just wearing it made me think it was time for Carmel to go to a party and dance it up!  (The firm Christmas party was Friday night, but I had another far more important engagement, which I will discuss below…)

Then, at lunchtime, Karen’s daughter, Lettie, played her French horn with the Greater Twin Cities Youth Orchestra in the Crystal Court lobby of the IDS Center where I work; I was bobbing about, trying to get a good photo, and finally went upstairs and barged my way past all the people in line at the Wells Fargo Bank to get a better picture of her:

 Well, so much for my (dubious) photography skills.  Lettie is charming and enormously talented.  GTCYS is nothing like your average youth orchestra; they are very professional.  It is easy to imagine these kids going on to careers as professional musicians.  And besides that, she loves to read, and knows how to crochet, and is very smart and serious; none of the sillly teenage frivolity or shallowness about her at all.  If I had a daughter, I would want her to be just like Lettie.  And if I could go back in time and be in high school again, I would want Lettie to be my best friend.

A Very Big Birthday!

My friend Renay celebrated her 50^th birthday in style, thanks to her enterprising husband, Gerry, who organized a gala party on Friday night which was the culmination of 7 years of careful top-secret planning.  Eva and I were in on the secret since this summer, when Gerry asked us to assist him in finding contacts for some of Renay’s friends, and to help set things up on the big day. (I should mention that Gerry is an artist in his own right.  He builds model train railroad layouts and is a recognized master at this; just check out pictures of his Bona Vista Railroad at this website.  With Renay quilting in her studio up under the eaves, and Gerry working on the railroad in the basement, their house has more creativity per square inch than many museums...)

I know I’ve told you a bit about Renay in the past; besides being my bestest friend and confidante, she is a master gardener, a master quilter, and a really accomplished knitter.  Oh, and she is also a really good cook, a very talented lawyer…  There isn’t much she can’t do, actually.  She would be horribly intimidating if she weren’t so soft-spoken, thoughtful, and kind.  It was an honor to be asked to help Gerry in his maneuverings to get this party together.

Renay had mentioned at to Gerry years ago that she’d love to have a one-woman show of her quilts someday, and from then on, an idea began brewing in his head.  He reserved space at the Textile Center, a gallery on University Ave. in Minneapolis where textile artists of all sorts display their work, hold meetings, and generally revel in their shared love of the textile arts.  The Minnesota Knitter’s Guild meets there (but on Tuesdays, when I have my son, so I haven’t been to their meetings, yet.).  There is also a weaving guild, with a room full of floor looms.  OOOH, how I would love to learn how to weave someday!   

Gerry got us together at the Textile Center after lunch on Friday to set up for the party, and to hang the quilts on the walls; this was a daunting prospect, to say the least.  None of us felt like we had the skill set required to choose which quilts to hang where, or even to tell if we were hanging them right-side up or not!  But I think we did a pretty good job, even though Gerry was sure Renay would walk in and be appalled that a particular quilt was upside down, or should be hanging by these quilts instead of by those quilts, etc. 

Here are pictures of some of her beautiful quilts.  The amazing thing is, that she started quilting in 1984 or so, and this is just a SUBSET of her output – she is amazingly prolific.  We managed to get all of the quilts Gerry brought hung up and distributed about the room, but didn’t account for the fact that many guests brought their own quilts – armloads of them, in fact!   So we displayed those on additional tables around the room.

As we were hanging the quilts, guests to the Textile Center would wander in, assuming that we were just setting up another gallery show.  People were awed by Renay’s artistic skills.  One woman asked what quilting group had produced these fantastic quilts, so I told her, “The Group of Renay,” actually, explaining it was just a fraction of one woman’s prolific quilting talents.

 

I also brought the quilt that Renay made for me a few years ago.  I had decided to give up on quilting, as I never have really had the space to leave my quilt stuff out, and my few tries at getting it right were so fraught with frustration.  Quilting certainly can’t be rushed – you need to stitch the fabrics together with the right sides facing, and getting the corners of squares and points of stars to line up correctly just seems to be beyond my skill sets.  I also don’t much like working at the sewing machine – it seems to run away with me, or the fabric beneath ends up getting a tuck in the seam, or I stitch over a pin and break the needle, OY!  By the end of 3 hours or so I’m so tense and annoyed I have an urge to throw the sewing machine off the roof and set fire to the quilt in progress.  NOT exactly the soothing, comforting experience I’m looking for when I craft.

I also have negative associations with sewing, from back when I was a teenager living in London, where the clothes in the stores didn’t fit my 36” inseam legs, and long arms and spine.  I sewed most of my clothes in high school; so I associate the whole process of cutting out fabric, and measuring, and pinning, and getting fabric sewn together to be a chore rather than a treat.  I bought one of those fancy Elna computerized sewing machines about 7 years ago, thinking that maybe it would be more fun, and gave my basic model to a friend.  But now I wish I’d kept the simple model, as the new one is so intimidating and overwhelming I rarely venture to take it out of the box. 

Anyway, among the fabrics and half-started projects I asked Renay to take (and for which she insisted on paying me a lavish sum, being Renay and all), was all of the materials for this quilt I had had my heart set on making.  It was just beyond my skill set, and would have taken me the rest of my life to finish.  And less than a year later, she gave me back a finished quilt.  Check this out!

Just imagine, ALL of those tiny, 1” squares, AND the embroidery.  And then, note the ribbon edging – every little bow has 5 separate appliquéd pieces to it!!!  AND, then she hand-quilted it!  I just burst into tears when she came to my office to give me this gift, realizing all of the time and love she had put into it.  I keep it carefully stored away for when Libby my mental rescue dachshund goes to dog heaven, as she has this anxious tendency to chew up all of the blankets in the house; so it was a rare treat for me to be able to bask in this gift, in all its glory. 

All those teesy squares - amazing.

Perfectly appliqued curves, and bows, and perfectly even quilting stitches - the mind boggles.  This quilt is just beyond priceless to me.  (And it came with a matching pillow, and even a bag made by wrapping the extra fabric around clothesline and the coiling it and sewing it together - amazing!)

There was (of course) a big snow storm that started around 2 in the afternoon; Gerry had finagled it so that Renay was out of town for the week, and was going to fly in that evening with a friend who would “drop by” the Textile Center to see the very last night of a show at the gallery. We were so worried that her plane would be late, or even worse, be diverted to land somewhere else.  Gerry had sent out 110 invites, and 76 people accepted; but invitees started emailing their regrets around 4:30, especially those who were coming from a distance, as driving conditions worsened.  Luckily, the majority of the invitees still made it (a testament to how much we all love Renay, I think).  Even our friend Kristin ventured out in the snow, with tiny Adeline, now 2 months old!  I loved her little candy cane outfit, with the mitten-shaped pockets on the back.  I had the unexpected bliss of getting to hold her for a while, so that Kristin could relax and eat dinner, and mingle with friends.  The baby loved the pretty colors of the quilts – I could see her little eyes just taking in all the bright colors and shapes. 

 

Lookit those cheeks!  (And note, the baby is of course cozy under a quilt made by Renay...)

Adeline giving an adoring look at Krisin, her momma...... 

and receiving a blissed-out cuddle from "Aunt" Mary...

Renay’s plane landed late, but eventually, she walked into the room – and was shocked and surprised!

An icredulous look at Gerry...

Cutting the huge birthday cake...

Gerry was so pleased that all of his planning resulted in a perfect evening.

A well-deserved smooch!

The party was a huge success; I was so happy for Gerry, after all his hard work and planning, and so proud of and happy for Renay, reaching a milestone in her life and having accomplished so much, surrounded by friends and love. 

On the next morning, the snow had finally stopped, which was a good thing, as there was plenty, as evidenced from my porch:

So Renay, Eva, Kim and I met in Stillwater, a lovely town on the eastern edge of Minnesota along the St. Croix river that separates Minnesota from Wisconsin. 

Stillwater has this wonderful old main street, with older buildings, including this interesting little building built into the edge of a cliff, with caves that are used by a local brewery.

We met at this great yarn store called Darn Knit Anyway, and knit for awhile. Renay brought some of the 5 pounds of M&M's decorated with Renay's image and birthday wishes that didn't make it to the party (I think having 5 pounds of chocoloate at home isn't necessarily a bad thing...)

At one point, while Eva and Renay were shopping, Kim and I, just sitting on a comfy couch in the back of the shop, were unexpectedly serendated by some carolers in Victorian dress:

Renay picked out some lovely Rowan Cocoon yarn in a heathery rust/cognac tone, to make a bobbled shawl collar wrap sweater.  Here she is wearing a wonderful recent creation, a sort of cap-sleeved jacket with a round yoke, made from yarn purchased right in this shop!

Then, we ate lunch at a restaurant called The Dock, with a lovely view of the river and the bridge:

 

Sigh – a perfect and fun weekend with people you love – what could be better than that?

Hope you are approaching the holidays with equal amounts of joy and fun!

XOXOXO, Mar

 

Thanksgiving, Socks, Russians, Parades -- WHEEE!!!!

Gobble, Gobble,Gobble…

Happy belated Thanksgiving!   Among everything I have to be thankful for this year, I have all of you to thank as well; writing this blog and working on the KOTOTW knitathon project have been such a huge part of my year, and the source of much happiness.  I thank you all for keeping me company and being so kind and friendly.

Speaking of Thanks, and giving, I finished my adult-sized turkey hat for Uncle Jack in the nick of time Tuesday night:

Fetching, huh!

Nathan and I brought it to my Uncle Jack on Wednesday afternoon, and helped with the Thanksgiving Meals on Wheels program at Cretin –Derham High in St. Paul, MN; Nate made and stacked boxes, and I peeled (countless) potatoes.  All together this year, 15,200 meals were made and delivered(!)  I was proud of Nathan for jumping right in and helping independently  while I peeled in the kitchen (Note to Self:  Buy a dozen new peelers as a gift to the charity; the ones they were using were circa 1970 and about as sharp as a butter knife.)  My Uncle has been doing this for over 20 years now; they won’t let him retire.  I wish I had gotten a better photo of him in his turkey hat:

Especially because Jack took it off when it got too hot and left it by his coat,  but when went to pick it up in the wee hours on Thursday when it was finally time to go home, he realized it had been stolen!  (Who steals hand-knit turkey hats, anyway?)  But, actually, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, he was very thankful that I wouldn’t ever ask him to put it on for a photo again, and when I asked him if I should make him another one, he blurted out, “Oh, NO!”  So we both decided that someone must have really, really liked it, and hope that that person will wear it and find delight in it.  (And not eat it by mistake.) 

My family celebrated Thanksgiving on Friday, instead of Thursday, because we all work and it is too hard to get the house cleaned and the cooking done and have a relaxing day without a day for prep, and also because we don’t stand on ceremony for those things.  (And to let Uncle Jack have a chance to sleep after his all-nighter!)  My much-beloved new sister-in-law Mary outdid herself, cooking not only a perfect turkey, but also a blueberry cranberry pie, complete with lattice top, that will live in memory forever.  She also made stuffing, and cranberry sauce, which was really good.  (Mine came out dreadful, although I loved making it; I love the popping of the cranberries as they begin to boil!  It had orange juice and grated orange peel in it, and I guess I just don’t like orange flavor that much.) 

Lest you think I was a lady of leisure letting her do all the cooking, I did clean the house, make pumpkin pie (Nathan’s favorite) and sweet potato casserole, and peeled the potatoes (my brother Geoff did the mashing).  I used up all my Gladware containers setting up leftover packages for everyone to take home.  I didn’t feel like any more turkey at that moment, but regretted not keeping enough for at least one turkey and coleslaw sandwich the next day.  We all decided we are going to do an extra Thanksgiving meal in late March, because we all enjoy it so much and turkey once a year just doesn’t seem like enough.

Yarny Goodness Giveaway – Update

So far I have several of the yarny goodness packages whizzing their way to recipients; Still need to get an email from Cai and Tiffane with address and yarn preference info.

AND, a concern:  I didn’t receive an email from one recipient, although I did get her first entry email; so now I’m worried that maybe it came into my spam folder, and that I might have erased it!  (I confess that I do erase my spam folder periodically without checking, as I really don’t need to increase the length of my  . . . well, anything, really…)  SO, two new rules for contests:  I’ll make sure to give prizes for actual blog comments, instead of emails, in case I miss any.  AND, I will do a better job of weeding through my spam folder to make sure I don’t miss anybody, too! 

Also, my apologies to Marion, who I accidentally called Miriam (where did that come from?) 

Project 14 – Hunter’s Argyle Socks – DONE!

YAAAY!  Another project completed!

Here are the finished socks.  I am really happy with how these came out, and the color combination as well. 

My friend, Renay, finished sock No. 1:

Isn’t it cool to see how entirely different they look in another colorway? 

As promised, here is a tiny tutorial on the art of Intarsia:

To knit Intarsia, instead of carrying two colors of yarn all the way across, hiding one behind the other as you knit along, you actually knit each area of color with its own separate ball of yarn, twisting the two yarns around each other where they meet each time the colors change in a row, to sort of link them together and avoid making a hole. 

However, you can make that joining place a bit smoother, if you anticipate where you will need the dropped yarn to be, when you are knitting back along the next row!  This is especially true if you are knitting along on the next row, and that other color you need to pick up is still 3 or 4 stitches away when you get to the point where you need it; if you just yank the yarn over, this “jog” can cause some lumpiness, because the yarn sort of pulls across the intervening stitches, and the first stitch in the changed color just doesn’t want to stand up straight, which means that the edge of your motif might be a bit bulgy or bumply.

Therefore, when you are knitting the edge of each diamond in these socks, when you are at each edge that slants upwards and to your left, each stitch of the diamond shape will be one stitch further to the left on the following row.  So, you need to check the graph you are following when you do intarsia knitting, and when you drop Yarn A and start Yarn B, you need to anticipate where you want the end of Yarn A to turn up in the next row, in order to knit the first Yarn A stitch you encounter.  Ideally, you want that Yarn A end to be ready and waiting, right below the next Yarn A stitch you will need to knit!

I twist the yarns together where the two yarns meet, picking the new yarn up from below the one I’m going to drop; this avoids the hole where the two colors join.  (If you knitted along with 2 balls of yarn, and didn't twist them at the place where the colors meet, you'd just end up with two different pieces of knitting on your needle in two different colors!). 

But then, I also do an extra twist of Yarn A and Yarn B, after knitting 1 Yarn B stitch, so that when I’m purling back along on the next row, and need to pick that dropped Yarn B up again at the edge of the diamond, it is waiting for me directly below the stitch I’m about to knit, ready to come straight up, instead of pulling across the back of the next stitch.

So, here I am, knitting along on the front side, and the diamond yarn (A) is pale teal, and the background yarn (B) is dark spruce.  I knit the first stitch of the B yarn, and in the next (purl) row, the stitch directly above this stitch will need to be yarn (A), pale teal.

So, I wrap the pale teal yarn over the dark teal yarn, to "trap" it in the float between those two dark teal stitches.  And when I purl back, it will be waiting for me right below where I need to pick it up!

When you are working a purl row and the slant is from lower right to upper left, the same process applies, although here you are trapping the pale teal yarn on the purl side so it will be ready to go on the next knit row.

This is what it looks like on the purl side, as I'm approaching the edge of a diamond.  On the last row, I twisted the spruce and rust yarns so that the rust yarn would be right under the first rust stitch (you can see how it is caught between the first and second spruce stitches, waiting to be purled).

And there it is, purled.  You can see the yarn carried straight up from the row below, not slanted; so there won't be any of that sideways pressure to skew the fabric or alter the way the stitch looks on the front.

  This is a picture of the seaming process; The needle has one of the "ladders" between the edge of the first and second stitches caught, and laces back and forth between these ladders on each side.  You can see how this creates a pretty invisible seam.  Also note that, although I'm seaming with the dark spruce yarn, it doesn't show on the front, so I can stitch the whole seam with one color and not have to switch as I go along to match the colors of the diamonds.

I don’t know if this makes much sense; just let me know if you’d like me to try to show you more clearly.  This is such a helpful thing; now that I've figured this out, I no longer dread intarsia projects, or end up with the edge stitches being unusually large (I used to tighten up the entire area of intarsia, pulling up the excess yarn stitch by stitch; life is just too short for such endeavors.)

Also, sometimes the "jog" between colors is a lot more than just one stitch wide; for instance, when I was knitting Nicky’s Skull Hat from Knitting A Kiss in Every Stitch,sometimes the white yarn used for the skull image had to be a dozen or more stitches to the left of the last white stitch on the row below; so you really had to anticipate where the first skull stitch would appear on the following row, and carry it behind to that point by wrapping it with the black yarn every 3 stitches or so, or you would have to have this long, unwrapped floating piece of yarn sitting behind your knitting.  This might get stuck in fingers, and might pull the knitted image out of shape, etc.  Not pretty. 

A Visit From a Russian!

Nathan has chosen to study Russia in his Global Studies course this year.  And, as luck would have it, my friend Karen (a former co-worker and one of my First Thursday Knitting Night buddies) has a Russian exchange student visiting this school year!  Anastasia, a beautiful 16-year-old, was willing to come and be interviewed by Nathan a few weeks ago.  We love Karen, and her beautiful daughter Lettie, and it was great fun to meet this new temporary member of their family.   Here is Anastasia with Karen:

 

Nathan and I really took a shine to her, as did Madeline the dachshund.

 She is fluent in English (and is also learning Chinese and Spanish), and hopes to be a translator some day.  She is also just relaxed and poised, and really fun to hang around with. 

Anastasia gave Nathan this great powerpoint presentation on Russia (it is part of her exchange student assignment to give this presentation to as many people as possible), and Nathan’s teacher thought it would be great if she could come to Nathan’s class and share it with the other students.  So we went to fetch her for a Monday-night sleepover.  We had dinner at Ruby Tuesday (yum – fresh salads and mango iced tea with chopped up mangoes in it!), made chocolate cupcakes for Anastasia to take to school and share with friends for Thanksgiving, and then Nathan showed her that iconic movie of American culture (ahem), “Undercover Brother”.  (I wanted to show her “It’s a Wonderful Life,” but was out-voted.)

Nathan, looking full of consternation.

Me and my new girlie-pal.

Then, Anastasia went to Nathan’s class on Tuesday, did her presentation, and answered questions for an hour and a half!  (There were lots of questions; it isn’t every day that you get to talk to someone from half-way across the world!)  Needless to say, it was just fascinating to hear what was is like to grow up in Chelyabinsk, a city south of St. Petersburg and East of Moscow almost on the border with Kazakhstan, and to hear a bit about her parents’ lives and her grandparents’ experiences living in the USSR and under the KGB, etc.  I’m going to bring Anastasia back to Nathan’s school some time in February when all the 8^th-graders do a formal unit on Russia, so that the other students can see her presentation and have a chance to chat. 

By the way, while at the school I saw these great sculptures on display - I think the assignment must have been to make gargoyles:

Anyway, Anastasia is missing Russian food, and wants to try my borscht; she also brought a bunch of Russian recipes over which she’d like to teach me how to make, including the Russian version of apple pie, and some soups.  Anastasia is a huge fan the Harry Potter books, and of the Twilight movies and books; we discovered we were both “Team Edward,” and were chattering on like a pair of tweens at dinner, while Nathan was smacking his forehead in dismay.  So I think I need to have Karen, Lettie and Anastasia over for a movie night when Nathan is at his dad’s house, as he is not a fan of vampires or borscht, so that we can paint our toes and make popcorn and swoon over Edward without driving Nathan nuts.

Project 15 – Highland Fling Jacket  Lessons Learned (Again, and Again, and Again…)

There is an old maxim, “Anything worth doing, is worth doing right.”  And another one that goes something like, “Act in haste, repent at leisure.” 

I should have both of these tattooed on my hand where I can see them at all times. 

I was feeling behind on the KOTOTW projects; work has been so busy I actually had to pull an all-nighter last week, and there are some things I’m knitting for Xmas gifts as well.  I was knitting at such a furious pace, I was sure I’d be done with project 18 by New Years, and now I’m only on 15!   So, I dashed right into knitting the Highland Fling Jacket on Friday night.  And into a rash of mistakes.

First of all, I knitted the fair-isle band along the bottom edge of the back in the wrong color.  The graph in the book says to knit the background in Barley, but it should be in Pebble.  I simple glance at the photo would have made this immediately clear, but I just kept knitting along, rushing to get the 9 rows done, ignoring that little voice saying, doesn't this look wrong?  Why, there isn't a very noticeable contrast between these two colors... I don't remember that from the photo..., but did I stop knitting?  No. 

So, on Saturday morning I unraveled the edge and started again, whizzing right along, watching the latest episode of Boardwalk Paradise on Tivo.  And somehow as I blithely knitted along, on the first cream stripe, I dropped not one, but TWO stitches, and didn’t even notice until I was almost through the first band of colored stripes, and counted stitches along a row as I knit, realizing that I had only 89 stitches, instead of 91! 

I haven’t knitted in mohair in awhile; I need to be extra-vigilant because this yarn (Classic Elite La Gran Mohair - YUM!  Lush and fabulous.  There is a reason that classic yarns stay around for so long), is so fuzzy, it is harder to “read” the strands as they wrap around the needle into stitches.  Sometimes the fuzzy halo is thick enough to look like a whole stitch, which means you can accidentally add a stitch; or sometimes, what you think is just a fuzzy bit between stitches is, in fact, an actual stitch.  Dropping one stitch is one thing; but TWO???  In just one row??? And when your gauge is only 15 stitches for 4 inches, 2 stitches is a lot, people!!!  More than half an inch! 

I set it aside; I had to get ready to go to a concert with my friends, Laurie and Christie (more on that later), and thought I would sleep on it and see if I would just mend and fudge it, or rip it down and re-do it.

Here is what it looked like this AM:

 

Lo and behold:  when I took a more thorough look in the cold, hard light of day, two additional problems came to light!

First, even though I faithfully do a gauge swatch, it is important to note that a small inaccuracy on a 4” gauge swatch can really multiply across the 24” over the back of a sweater.  Although I was pretty sure that I was getting 15 stitches to 4 inches on my tiny swatch, the full sweater (even BEFORE I droped two stitches) measured only 23” across!  I want my final sweater to be 24” wide, so that there is an actual “peplum” effect, so the loss of 2” around just wouldn’t work. 

Then, I looked at the garter-stitch edge.  When I do garter stitch, it comes out wider than stockinette stitch over the same number of stitches.  I should know this by now, by heart, having only learned by making, oh, about 100 sweaters with garter stitch edges.  If my garter-stitch edge isn’t tighter, or firmer, than the stockinette stitch body of the sweater above it, it will roll right up (you can see it doing this at the left side of the photo). 

I know that being a perfectionist isn’t always healthy.  In fact, I generally make myself so miserable by setting high standards that I can’t possibly meet,  I have decided to adopt as my new mantra:

“Not perfect, but better.” 

So every time I need to get a memorandum out to a client by 5 PM, and by 4 PM realize I can’t revise it a 3^rd time to refine it yet more; or when my family is about to arrive and I haven't finished vacuuming (which always gets left to the very last because I hate vaccuuming, even though I bought one of those stupid schmancy vaccuums from the guy with the British accent but now wish I'd waited because his next design is so much better and maneuverable and wouldn't hurt as much when I accidentally bang it into my foot); or when I’m 5 minutes late to a meeting instead of early -- instead of beating myself up for the rest of the day for being a failing loser-pants, I try to take a deep breath, and remind myself that:

 - the memorandum isn’t perfect, but that the information in it will put the client in a far better position, than if they were totally unaware of its contents; and

 - that my family loves me just as much, even if there is a dust bunny or two in the hallway; and

 - that 5 minutes isn’t really significant in the scheme of things, especially when the meeting went so well. 

As long as I can make things better than they were before, my efforts haven't been wasted, and I can allow myself to take some satisfaction and pride in that.  Even if I can't make everything perfect, every time.

HOWEVER:  I also want this sweater to be right, so I ripped it. (Today's score:  Perfectionism - 1; Mary - 0.) :D

I’m going to re-do the garter band in a smaller-gauge needle, and use one needle larger to do the body so that it comes out to 24” in width instead of just 23”.  And I’m going to check my stitch count periodically so that I don’t suddenly realize that I’ve either missed or added stitches in the fuzzy cloud of mohair that surrounds each row. 

Holidazzle and Concert

Minneapolis has a custom that might seem strange to those who don’t live on the frozen tundra.  Every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we have a parade down Marquette Avenue called “Holidazzle”, with lighted floats, marching bands, all lit up like the night parades at Disney World.  Of course, the weather between Thanksgiving and Christmas isn’t exactly ideal for parades, either marching or viewing.  But we are apparently hardy enough to take whatever the winter dishes out, laugh in the face of icy winds, and bring our tiny children out into the howling gale to witness this parade.  Minnesota – we love it here.  Because if we don’t, who will?

My friends Laurie and Christie have had a subscription to the Minnesota Orchestra for years now, and have graciously invited me to join them this season; so we went out to Lotus A Go-Go, a favorite Vietnamese restaurant that serves lots of vegetarian food for Laurie, watched the Holidazzle parade, and then enjoyed the an “Inside the Classics” presentation of Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copeland.  (Inside the Classics is a great program where Sarah Hicks and Sam Bergman have a discussion and share insights about the piece in the first half of the concert, playing excerpts and other works to illustrate their point and to put the music into a historical and music-theory context, and then they play the full piece uninterrupted in the second half.  Sounds geeky but it is actually funny, fun and fascinating).  We had a grand time, and I’m really looking forward to the next concert!

I leave you with some pretttty Holidazzle parade photos:

 

 

Stay warm, everybody!

XOXOXO, Mar

Happy Hallo-wieners!

Hi, guys!  Madeline and Libby got to dress up in their special costumes last night:

 

(I was merciful and didn't parade them around the neighborhood like this, though.)  We actually had some snow last week (not the sticking kind, but still...), so I was worried about it being too cold to trick or treat.  But the weather was clear, if chilly. 

We had about 40 trick-or-treaters; my son, Nathan, trick-or-treated between his dad's house and mine, dressed up as a zombie hunter.  (He drew a surprisingly realistic scar on his face using my eye and lip liners).  His loot filled an entire soup pot, and I have quite a bit of chocolate left, but I have a feeling it won't go to waste, considering Nathan is now 6' 3" and hungry more or less constantly.

The two baby girls next store were dressed up as Thing 1 and Thing 2 from the Cat in the Hat - I wish I could have seen them with their hair all blue, but that evidently was too messy.  And they were in their winter coats.  However, I think that was about the cutest costume idea I'd heard of for sister toddlers in quite a while.

(For those of you who don't recall Thing 1 and Thing 2...)

I've been knitting, and knitting, and knitting yards and yards of fabric to complete the Cowl Collar Jumper; I actually blocked it last week, and thought I would buzz right through the armholes and cowl collar this weekend (which is why my Hallo-wiener dog photos a a day late - I kept on thinking I would be able to get this post done!  However, that cowl collar took some time to finish - that quite a bit of ribbing!

I just finished it tonight, however (YAAAYYY!)

So, I give you...

Project 13 - The Cowl Collar Jumper!

I didn't make it quite as short as the model in the book (we actually have a dress code at work), and I made it a bit less form-fitting.  But it feels GREAT - I am going to reallly enjoy wearing this jumper all winter long.

After some fits and starts, I've also begun Project 14, the Hunter's Argyle Socks. 

I'm making these in lovely colors of Knit Picks Stroll, solids and heathers.  I picked a really dark, dark teal color as the main background. 

The cuffs are knit in an intersting "tuck" stitch pattern.  After knitting 8 rows of stockinette, on a purl row, you reach down and purl the next 4 stitches together with loops of the 4 stitches which are 7 rows directly below them, purl 4, and so on.  Then 8 rows later you "stagger" the 4 stitches you connect, so there is sort of an alternating pattern of little wavy tucks:

Here is what it looks like from the back:

It is kind of hard to do this on size 2 needles, and in such dark yarn, especially when I get home at night and my eyes are pooped.  I also got about 2 inches in the first time, and realized I was using size 1 needles! (duh)  So not only was it too hard to see the rows, the sock would have come out waaay to small.

It is hard to figure out which stitches are exactly 7 rows below; and when you pick up the first of the 4 stitches, it tends to distort the fabric and make it really hard to figure out which stitch to pick up next.  So, I figured out a solution:

When it is time to do the "tuck stitch" row, I pick up all the loops I will need to knit into onto a separate needle (it is easier to do this if you pick a needle in a smaller gauge).

Then, I have two choices; I can either purl 4, and then pick up the stitches from the lower needle one at a time as I purl the next 4 stitches together with these lower picked-up stitches; or, I can just slide them all onto the needle, first 4 stitches, and then the next stitch, the next lower-needle stitch (alternating 4x), and then the next 4 stitches, so that I have them all lined up on a single needle, and can purl 2 stitches together 4 times when I get to the tucked stitch part.

I like to do this sometimes; I find it easier than controlling 3 needle-tips.  I use this technique a lot when doing a "3-needle bindoff," just slipping the stitches from the two needles alternately onto a single needle, and then knitting them together 2 at a time and casting them off. 

So, now that I have a game plan, the cuffs should come together relatively easily.  The argyle part shouldn't be too tough. especially because I'm going to do the thin line of contrast stitches that bisects each diamond in duplicate stitch.  I hate using bobbins, though, and the squares are pretty big; so I'll be juggling either 3 or 5 balls of yarn at a time.  I'm going to try to re-create this cool system that one of the Texan wonder-knitters was using to knit two socks at a time; if it works I'll show you in pictures next post!

My buddy Renay is actually knitting these along with me (YAY!), in her family's tartan colors; we have a knitting night scheduled this week, so I'll see if I can take a photo of her progress as well.  This should be a really special knitting night - Kristin is bringing baby Adeline to meet us all (yay!), so I'm hoping to have some great photos to show you.  (Babies; sigh.   I love babies.....)

What else is up?  Hmmm.  Work is busy; I had the first annual family fall Sunday supper last weekend (mom's classic meatloaf recipe and mashed potatoes, and my brother's Key Lime Pie, yummm...).  I am still working my way through my endless stash, putting yarns with patterns, and posting them all on my "projects" page on Ravelry (mtaylorknitter).  I hope that the sheer overwhelming abundance of it all will help me curb my yarn purchases somewhat.  (But I'm not known for my self control where yarn is concerned, ahem...)

So, speaking of having too much yarn...

That can only mean... that it is time for another:

YARNY GOODNESS GIVEAWAY!

There are several prizes this time (good thing I've been going through my stash, huh!):

First up:  A skein of Soxx Appeal yarn to make the "Faux Fair Isle Fairy Sox" coming up a few patterns from now, in the color "Chocolate Cherry," just as used with the socks in Knitting On Top of the World!

   Second, a skein of Rio de la Plata 100% merino wool sock yarn, in lovely self-striping fall colors:

 

And third, 5 skeins of Elann Peruvian Pure Alpaca, a lovely soft soft yarn, that I had purchased originally to make the Sanquhar Bonny Socks with (until I found the Alpaca With A Twist Baby Twist in colors that I sort of fell for...)  Each skein is 109 yards; two would be enough for a lovely cowl or soft hat...

 

So, three presents for 3 lucky winners!

All you need to do to enter, is to send me a photo!  (I'm hoping that frequent commenters will participate; I want to know what Barb Outside Boston looks like, and Barb who isn't outside Boston, and Cai, and Marion, and Norma, and Katebee!)  If you want to get really creative, send a photo of yourself and your current knitting project!  If you give me permission I will post your photo here so that other readers can meet you face-to-face as well. 

If you are technologically challenged (I count myself among you - I still can't figure out how to do any of the cool stuff other people do with their blogs at all), ask a friend at work to snap a photo of you with their cell phone, and then email it to you.  Then email it to me, at maryp55124 at yahoo dot com!

You have until midnight Central Standard Time on Sunday, November 14 to enter! 

Miss you guys!  I'm going to try harder to blog shorter but more often; somehow I have it in my head that I shouldn't sit down to write you all unless I have a true opus, but that is probably just silly.  I follow lots of blogs that have less words in them than this paragraph.  And besides, I get such joy out of getting comments, so I have to have more blog posts to inspire more of you to check in!  Your comments on my overwhelming stash just delighted me; I especially enjoyed hearing that Cai and her husband tend to organize their lives on spreadsheets, and that seeing how much yarn I have caused her husband to realize that her stash was really nothing to complain about :D.

XOXOXO, Mary