A Blanket for Baby

Last weekend, I was given the gift of a wonderful handmade blanket from my friends in the South Bend knitting group. The blanket arrived to my house close to two weeks ago, but I wasn't allowed to open it. I confess that I tried poking my finger into the box to feel the blanket, but fortunately the person who sent it, Amy, knew me well enough to use enough packing tape to secure Fort Knox! The reason I had to wait was that my friend, Kristine, organized a Skpye reunion of the knitting group. We all got to sit and chat -while knitting- just like the old days. It was such a wonderful afternoon and I loved getting the opportunity to catch up with everyone.

The other highlight of the meeting was obviously the blanket. A tradition has arisen within our group that we collectively, and secretively, make blankets for members of the group that are pregnant. While many of us have moved away from South Bend, the tradition is still going strong (though involves an increasing amount of coordination via email), and is a lovely connection to a knitting group that we all held so dearly.

Prior to the gift opening, I had received a Knit Picks catalogue in the mail and was contemplating ordering some yarn to make a blanket for my daughter, to replace a recently frogged effort. It occurred to me that I should to wait to see what the girls had made for me, and I am lucky that I did because I would have picked the exact same colours they chose. My true luck is having friends that know me so well, they can pick colours I would buy myself! The blanket is now packed away in the hospital bag in anticipation of the arrival of its rightful owner (though I do take it out to peek at it every so often).



Thank you, South Bend knitters!

Cold Feet

In lieu of doing actual work whilst at work the other day -because that isn't going to happen- I was perusing Ravelry.com. My friends have been stubbornly refusing to keep me entertained with new project pictures or blog entries recently, so I resorted to reviewing my own projects. I have my projects sorted by category (Sweaters, Accessories, Babies, etc.). I was looking through the entries in my "Sock" category, when I rather depressingly noticed that the mortality rate for this particular type of knitted item is disturbingly high. I have completed eleven pairs of socks (I thought it was more), and a scant six pairs are still with us. One of the surviving pairs are the Earl Greys that I made for my husband. He wore them the day of the wedding, and has kept them in a ziplock bag ever since. I would like to think this protective measure was an act of sentimentality, but he informed me that they make his feet too hot, and that is why he doesn't wear them. Another surviving pair are the Universal Toe-Ups, which were the first pair of socks I ever made. The fact that they were made from the virtually indestructible 25% Nylon Magic Stripe yarn renders their survival somewhat less than triumphant. Also, as they hail from my earlier days of knowing how to measure gauge, they are a little on the baggy side and rarely worn as a result.

Alas, my favourite socks were invariably the ones that fell victim to early demises, which, while sad, stands to reason. All is not lost, though. While I have loved and lost, I have also learned. After the nascent phase of using man-made fibre heavy chain store yarns (e.g. Magic Stripes), I became consumed with hand-dyed, entirely natural fibres. While an important part of the learning curve, I have since developed a more balanced world view, where small amounts of nylon serve the greater reinforcement good, and superwash wool can protect from the heartbreak of surprise-feltings. Nonetheless, I wanted to bid adieu to my erstwhile footwarmers.

In Memoriam

2010-2010, felting accident

2009-2011, hole

2010-2010, lost

2010-2010, felting accident

2008-2009, felting accident

Knit-Knacks

I've decided to get back to the original point of this blog and talk about the random goings-on in my knitting. After all, as I am three weeks or so away from my due date, there may not be much knitting to discuss for a while once the baby gets here!

1. Ribbit
A friend of mine is a huge fan of raglan sweaters, citing the lack of seaming as a major factor in how fast they can be done. Having slaved through several seamed sweaters, I decided I wanted something that would go faster and cast on my first raglan sweater using Addi Turbos, and my newfound competency with continental knitting and purling, to expedite the project even more. That was a year ago.

The yarn for this project was purchased in a co-op, from which I purchased ten navy and five undyed skeins of Malabrigo worsted. I dyed three skeins with Kool-Aid to make an argyle using the navy as the main colour. After completing a long and difficult argyle pattern around the torso, I tried on my nearly knitted creation only to discover that my tension control in colourwork is terrible. It was so tight around my waist that I couldn't breathe and needed help getting back out of the sweater. Through tears of frustration*, I pulled out the argyle. I decided to knit to the bottom, and work 6-10" of a fancy cable pattern in place of ribbing. After a few repeats of that pattern (which involved 48 cables per round every 4 rows), I decided it wasn't what I wanted, and pulled that out. A few inches of K1P1 ribbing (which had to be done twice as I forgot which size needle had been used for the neck ribbing) later, and a very plain stockinette body was complete. I had really wanted to make something interesting with this yarn, so it seemed an awful shame to make the whole sweater in boring stockinette. To try and get some patterning onto it, I am doing XOXO cabling down the arms. So far, I am happy with it and hopefully it makes the sweater a little interesting.

I estimate that I will have four skeins of navy and a few skeins of Kool-Aid dyed Malabrigo left, so I will make a sweater with that, only this time I will plan ahead. I have come to the conclusion that while raglan sweaters are infinitely faster than their seamed counterparts, knowledge of their speed can lead the more impulsive among us into COing without thinking. More haste, less sweater.



2. The Kindness of Strangers
I received this blanket in the mail. It's a beautiful embossed leaves pattern in white baby yarn. It was given to me by a friend of my mother, whom I have never met. It matches a beautiful white cardigan that the same lady sent to me. It really makes me happy to know that there are people out there who are so considerate, they would take the time to make a baby blanket for someone they have never met.



3. The Future Tense of Ribbit
I should have frogged this blanket a long, long time ago. It's meant to be a crocheted Care Bear blanket, but I decided to knit it after I figured out that I am not very committed to huge colourwork crochet projects. Once I switched over to knitting, it started to go a lot faster, but as I got into the pattern, I realized that the Care Bear (Wish Bear, if you're interested), looked a tad squished. I decided to soldier on, reasoning that it wouldn't look so bad. The colours I chose for Wish Bear's rainbow that shoots out of the star on his tummy (they don't teach meteorology over at the DIC studios) were terrible and the star is a bit of a mess too. I decided that the embroidery called for in the pattern will fix the star, and some clever duplicate stitching could remedy the rainbow, and persevered. I am now about two thirds done, and it looks worse than ever. I have, however, gotten to a point where I have put so much work into it that I can't bear (hehe) the idea of undoing it all. I wanted to make this for my daughter by the time she was born. I can safely assume that isn't going to happen, and my time would be better spent making a Baby's Texture Blanket or Great American Afghan for her, but being oddly superstitious or ritualistic as I am, I can't quite detach myself from the self-imposed chore I have turned this project into. Clearly, my daughter is far less likely to say "What the heck is that meant to be?" if I present her with a blanket of squished bear who has a malformed stomach tattoo, than "You don't love me because you quit making a blanket of a defunct cartoon, neither of which I knew about because I wasn't born yet!". Reading this, I see how crazy I am. I am going home to frog this stupid project right now!!



* a slight exaggeration, but I was pretty peeved.

Here Comes 100

It's a very important time in my life as a needle-worker. I am about to start my 100th* needlework project. I wanted to do something special, but then got all flustered when deciding what that special project is! So, I decided to outsource the decision making. I have quite a few WIPs under way (see right) that I will finish out before starting on this landmark project so there is time before I CO. Thanks for helping!

What Should My 100th Project Be?
	Bunny All In One by Debbie Bliss
	110-41 socks by DROPS design
	Torreyana Shawl by Elizabeth Freeman
	Maze by Charlene Schurch
	Cable Clock Socks by Ann Budd
pollcode.com free polls

Links to the patterns:
1. Bunny-All-in-One
2. 110-41 Socks
3. Torreyana Shawl
4. Maze Socks
5. Cable Clock Socks

*as documented by Ravelry

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Update

Torreyana wins!

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A Tale of Two Mitties

It was the best of times, it was the worsted of ti... sorry. I am a slave to even the most belaboured of puns. Besides which, the knitting project I am going to speak about was made from sock weight yarn!

I made some mittens for a design collaboration with my friend, Kristine. Thankfully, I test knit the adult size, because they do not fit quite as well as I would have hoped. There is too much room above the fingers and not enough room between the cuff and the thumb, meaning they always feel like they are just about to fall off. I corrected the pattern and sent it off, but that left me with a pair of slightly ill-fitting mittens.

I was finally motivated to make a new pair when I started cycling, and was given the gift of an iPod (Thanks Ben!). Both activities necessitate the use of my hands, so I set about making a pair of Broad Street Mittens using the 100 Purewool Merino Fingering I purchased quite some time ago. The pattern has some gaps in the instructions, but I was able to improvise and I was really happy with the end product. The last part of the project was completed in Ireland, where my brother, Sam, saw them and asked that I make him a pair. I adapted the Knucks pattern, which has a child's size, and made him a pair in Noro Silk Garden Sock.

289 reprazent!

I got back to the US, and wore my mittens all of twice before losing them. I searched high and low for them. I phone-stalked the Olive Garden I had been to that day, ransacked a friend's house and even had my realtor search her office for them. They were gone. I don't deal with loss at all, and found this particularly hard to cope with as I was homesick and they were a memory of a fun time with my brother.

I tortured myself with the idea of finding them for over a week before deciding that I had to come up with a more productive way of forgetting about them. I have more of the yarn I used to make them, so decided to reknit them in time for my Father and Brother's upcoming visit in February. I prefer the colourway of the new mittens and once I repose the silly photo of me and my brother in our matching FOs, I will be chock full of closure.



I just hope that someone out there is enjoying my orange mittens.

21 Miles to Redemption

Just as cheerleading on the sidelines of football has become its own sport, so too can collecting yarn become a bona fide hobby, distinct from that of knitting. There is so much to the world of yarn. The different weights, colourways, fibres and blends. Once you venture out of the chain stores and into the LYS's, there are so many unique and rare yarns that you have to pounce when you see them.

Then there's the dye-lot issue. You can't risk buying a mere 200 yards of a yarn you like the look of. What if you later decide to make a sweater? A few months from now, you may reach the end of the skein only to find out that your dye-lot is nowhere to be found. Better play it safe and buy ten.

And the chain stores pose their own pitfalls for your wallet. As your husband is rounding in on a straight hour of looking at Guitar Hero games*, you're four aisles over, boredom-talking yourself into buying yet another cone of Lily cotton.

The subject of yarn stashes has been featured in two of my friends' blogs over the last week. EMoaOG decided to put a halt on her yarn purchases until she knits her way through some of her stash. I remember thinking that I too buy faster than I knit, so it may not be the worst idea in the world for me to consider making a similar promise to myself. But that thought proved fleeting as I was passing the time in Joann's while my husband was doing whatever it is that men do at Best Buy. Buy 1, Get 1 50% Off on Patons Merino? Sold!

Then I read Unravel Me's post about her yarn stash. A friend challenged her to calculate her stash yardage. It turned out to be a whopping 19K yards! Hmmm, seems someone's addicted to adopting yarn. I wonder how many yards I have...

I have documented my stash at Ravelry so tried using that information to determine the yardage on a calculator. That proved unsuccessful, so I turned to an Excel spreadsheet and worked it out one row at a time. Some yarns didn't have yardage available and were excluded from the calculation. Similarly, yarns that haven't yet been entered into my Ravelry stash were also omitted. I have one more than one occasion bought 10 skeins at a time (see above for pertinent rationalizations), and each time I came across one on my alphabetically arranged Ravelry stash (the C's were particularly nerve-wracking), I could see the total climbing. I was, however, still taken aback when I typed Sum() and then dragged the cursor over the cells only to find that my stash was 37,868 yards!

Wow! When did that happen? I can, and did in the initial draft of this post, make justifications such as the fact that friends have given me yarn, I picked up a number of skeins in bargain bins and yard sales, a yarn crawl or two have been bankrolled for me as gifts... But none of that explains the ludicrous amount of yarn I have accrued. It wouldn't get to the moon and back, but I could climb it halfway into the stratosphere!

So, I too will enter a vow of woolly poverty until I work through, or donate away most of my stash. Oh, and that Patons deal in Joann's? That brings the total to 38760 yds. Yeah, I got two.

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*Yes, Nick. I am directing this at you! It's absolutely ridiculous that you own no less than nine of these fricking cacophony-generating collections, yet you are somehow completely incapable of walking past an electronics department going through their entire collection on the off-chance they have something you don't!!!!!

Sideline Call: Substitution!

My 10 things challenge has stalled recently. I approached the projects in descending order of preference, and easiness. The unfortunate, yet painfully predictable, consequence of this approach is that, with each successive FO, the projects are becoming less and less appealling.

After finishing the Deborah cardigan, I looked at the remaining books. There was nothing I had any desire to make, nor was there anything with an acceptably low time burden in order to get through the necessary number of projects. It occurred to me to "suck it up" and make the smallest possible size of something I don't like, and for which I would have no foreseeable use. But it occurred to me that this was a self-imposed challenge, and it would be ludicrous to turn my beloved hobby into such an abhorrent chore.

That said, I don't want to give up on my challenge altogether. You may have guessed from the title what my solution to this conundrum is. Instead of admitting to my failure, I am opting to reclassify it as a deferred success. I have four other knitting books from which I am yet to make anything, so I am calling them my alternates. In penance for this light cheating, I promise to sell or donate the books from which I cannot bring myself to make anything.

The Rejects:

The Replacements:

Pattern: Euphorbic Hat and Mitten Set

Poinsettias, better known as Euphorbia pulcherrima to us botany nerds, are standard fixtures of the Holiday season. Unfortunately, so is bitterly cold weather. This set is designed with heat-retention as a primary goal to keep your little flowers cosy and warm over the Holidays. Smaller needles with worsted weight wool and the use of ribbed cuffs on Nordic-inspired mittens keeps cold air away from little fingers. The mittens are held together by an I-cord that is built into them instead of just being tacked on, so they are unmisplaceable! And the snowflake edging on the cuffs will remind the wearer of the cold they are not feeling!

SIZE
Child [Adult] (shown in size Child)

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS

Mittens: Hand circumference 6[9] inches.
Hat: Head circumference 18 [22] inches.

MATERIALS
Cascade Yarns Cascade 220, 1[2] skeins of main colour, less than 50 yard of contrast colour #1, less than 10 yards of contrast colours #2 and #3.
Main Colour: Shown in #8010

Contrast Colour #1: Shown in #2413
Contrast Colour #2: Shown in #7270
Contrast Colour #3: Shown in #4002

1 set of 3 US #3/3.25mm double-point needles
1 set of 3 US #2/2.75mm double-point needles
1 US #D/3 / 3.25mm crochet hook

About 6 inches of waste yarn
Tapestry needle

GAUGE
6 sts/8.5 rows = 1" in stockinette stitch

SPECIALISED TECHNIQUES
A step-by-step tutorial of the magic cast on can be found at:
http://knitty.com/ISSUEspring06/FEATmagiccaston.html

Instructions for basic crochet stitches can be found:
http://www.craftyarncouncil.com/?q=node/28

Instructions for the Backward Loop Cast On can be found:
http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall05/FEATfall05TT.html

INTARSIA PATTERN:

PATTERN

HAT
With larger needles, CO 8 sts using the using the backward loop cast on method in MC. (3 sts on each of needles #1 and #2, 2 sts on needle #3)
Round 1 (and all odd rounds): Knit. (8 sts)
Round 2: Kfb eight times (16 sts)
Round 4:[Kfb, Knit 1] eight times (24 sts)
Round 6: [Kfb, Knit 2] eight times (32 sts)
Round 8: [Kfb, Knit 3] eight times (40 sts)
Round 10: [Kfb, Knit 4] eight times (48 sts)
Round 12: [Kfb, Knit 5] eight times (56 sts)
Round 14: [Kfb, Knit 6] eight times (64 sts)
Round 16: [Kfb, Knit 7] eight times (72 sts)
Round 18: [Kfb, Knit 8] eight times (80 sts)
Round 20: [Kfb, Knit 9] eight times (88 sts)
Round 22: [Kfb, Knit 10] eight times (96 sts)
Round 24: [Kfb, Knit 11] eight times (104 sts)

Adult size only:
Round 26: [Kfb, Knit 12] eight times (112 sts)
Round 28: [Kfb, Knit 13] eight times (120 sts)

Both sizes:
Knit next 3.5” (5.5”) even.

Switch to smaller needles, Start Ribbing
Row 1: (K1, P1) repeat around.
Row 2: (K1, P1) repeat around.
Row 3: (K1, P1) repeat around.
Row 4:(K1, P1) repeat around.
Bind off in K1, P1 pattern.

MITTENS
Using the larger needles, CO on 20[28] stitches using magic cast on (10 sts on each of needles #1 and #2).

Round 1 (and all odd rounds): Knit.
Round 2: [Kfb, Knit 8[12], Kfb] twice (24, 32 sts)
Round 4: [Kfb, Knit 10[14], Kfb] twice (28, 36 sts)
Round 6: [Kfb, Knit 12[16], Kfb] twice (32, 40 sts)
Round 8: [Kfb, Knit 14[18], Kfb] twice (36, 44 sts)
Round 10: [Kfb, Knit 16[20], Kfb] twice (40, 48 sts)
Round 12: [Kfb, Knit 18[22], Kfb] twice (44, 52 sts)

Adult size only:
Round 14: [Kfb, Knit 24, kfb] twice (56 sts)

Both sizes:
Knit next 20 [30] rounds even.

Thumb placement:
Knit the 22[28] sts of needle #1. Knit 1 (left mitten) or Knit 14[17] (right mitten). Knit next 7[10] stitches using waste yarn. Move these stitches back to the left needle (assuming right-handedness). Knit the 7[10] stitches again with MC. Continue to end of needle.
Knit next 10[25] rows even.

Cuff:
Switch to smaller needles. Work K1, P1 ribbing for 20[30] rounds.

Left mitten:
BO to last stitch of needle #2. [Kfb] twice into last stitch and first stitch of next round (48, 58 sts).

Right mitten:
Work 21[27] stitches in ribbing pattern. [Kfb] twice. BO 42[54] stitches. Both mittens: Use the remaining 4 stitches to form an (optional) I-cord for 12[30] inches. Keep the 4 live stitches on a holder.

Thumb:
Carefully remove waste yarn. Pick up 7[10] stitches from above and below the thumbhole (14, 20 sts) and knit 12[24] rounds.
Round 13[25]: [SSK, Knit 3[8], K2tog] twice
Round 14[26]: Knit
Round 15[27]: [SSK, Knit 1[6], K2tog] twice

Adult size only:
Round 28: Knit
Round 29: [SSK, Knit 4, K2tog] twice
Round 30: Knit
Round 31: [SSK, Knit 2, K2tog] twice
Graft remaining 6[8] stitches together.

FINISHING
Weave in all loose ends. Graft the two sets of 4 stitches from the I-cords together. Work an optional picot edge around the cuffs as follows: Attach MC, *work sc, ch3, sc in the same stitch. Slip stitch across next 3 stitches. Repeat from * around. At the I-cord, discontinue the picot stitch and instead, work the inner side of the cord in slip stitches.

For the mittens, the poinsettia intarsia is worked by duplicate stitching along needle #1, on rows 14 - 41, between stitches 2 - 20 for the Child size, and on rows 26 -53 between stitches 5 - 23 for the Adult size. It is easier to work it before starting the ribbing on the cuff. For the hat, the intarsia is worked by duplicated stitching along the front of the hat from the 1st row of stockinette above the ribbing to the 28th row.

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A PDF of this pattern will be available on Ravelry as soon as possible. In the meantime, please email requests to e.j.hooker@gmail.com

Corrections and comments welcome!

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A Day in September: Home Delivery!

Wow, this one has been sitting in Drafts for a while! We invited our friends -my colleague and his wife -over for dinner back in September. They will probably go down as the best guests we have ever had, on account of their arriving with a big bag of yarn for me. My colleague's mother gave his wife all her left-over yarn, and she passed on they yarns she didn't want. Luckily, she doesn't really care to knit baby stuff, so I inherited a large amount of baby-appropriate yarn. More excitingly, a lot of the yarns seem to be from the 80's, and are completely unavailable now.

The pièce de résistance is this blanket. There are three and a half skeins of the yarn it is being made with remaining. My colleague's wife suggested that I simply frog it and use the yarn for my own project, but I was able to figure out the pattern. I thought it would be fun to finish it out, and to honour the person who indirectly plumped up my yarn stash.

That's "Shawl" She Wrote

I know, I'm very droll. Now that I have you roped in with my superior wit, I'll continue with this entry. Despite a relatively long absence, I am going be brief. I blended my thumb and it hurts to type.

The big news is that I finished my first bona fide lace-work project, the Aeolian Shawl from Elizabeth Freeman. I love how it turned out, a myriad of mistakes notwithstanding. My only regret is not discovering the Alternative Narrow Edging option, as that is the only part of the pattern that I didn't care for.

Kitten Approved!

A user on Ravelry, via project comments, basically informed me that my next lace-work project will be Elizabeth Freeman's Laminaria. Instead of being defensive, I thought it was as good a selection method as any for a knitting project.

I bought black Misti Alpaca from Webs and pink from a Ravelry user. Continuing the trend of taking orders on this project, tell me which you think I should use!

A Day in July: Husband Edition!

My husband and I went to Northampton last weekend. It's a little town North of where we live, and between its lack of chain stores, beautiful architecture and fantastic restaurants (honourable mention to the Thai food), it's fast becoming one of my favourite towns.

We didn't go to Northampton for any particular reason. It was a nice day and Nick had heard on the radio that Northampton was holding its annual Sidewalk Sale, so we wanted to go see what it was all about. It was a lot of fun. There were a lot of people out, and the whole town just had a really great energy. All the vendors along the main street had set up stalls along the pavement, and there were some great deals. We found a place to print off some pictures of our wedding at a really great price.

On our way back toward the car, I decided to stop into Northampton Wools, the place where I picked up my Pom Pom yarn. I loved how my Baby Surprise Jacket (BSJ) came out so much, that I decided to see if they had any more on sale to make a hat, or some booties, to go with it. In a $5 bin, there were two skeins of pink and some other colours. I grabbed the pink ones and went to pay. The lady rang them up as only $3 each. I asked if she was sure, and she told me it was an extra reduction, because of the town event. I told her to ring up the rest and grabbed the remaining two skeins.

Now I have four skeins of Pom-Pom yarn. I haven't quite figured out what I am going to do with it, but it will definitely be used to make a set to complement my BSJ. Yippee!

10 Things #6: Debbie (Short for ....)

I chose to do the pattern, Deborah, from Hot Knits. On a yarn shopping trip with Faith, I picked up some Cascade Ecological Wool, from under the bulky weight section (as the pattern called for). I thought it looked a little worsted, but who I am to argue with shelf labels? I started knitting, but the gauge seemed completely off. The number of stitches didn't come close to making the measurement predicted, but I was a couple of rows in and it's a drop-shoulder pattern, so I figured I could rework on the fly.

The pattern was originally for a big baggy cardigan, but with all the gauge excitement, I decided to make it hip length, as I was concerned that it being more "form fitting" make make it bunch if I had made it longer. I had to alter the sleeve stitch count, but other than that it was mostly painless. It also flew off my awesome new Addi Click set needles (thanks Faith!).

I then decided to post-CO dye it. It sat in my knitting bureau for a few week, until got a bee in my bonnet one Saturday. Unfortunately, I already had plans which left me about 30 minutes free to get everything set up and do the actual dyeing! In case you were wondering, that is not enough time!

Okay, so it's a little patchy. I prefer to call it "kettle-dyed-esque". It's not quite as garish as it looks here. I took the picture in my lab under fluorescent lighting. I may re-dye it someday, but, for now I am happy with the way it looks!



And more importantly....

That's Six!

A Day in June

I love yarn shopping weekends! This past weekend, my friend Aubrey drove down from her new home in New Hampshire, and we went to my favourite type of Mom and Pop, the locally owned yarn store. Aubrey actually grew up in the area, so was able to navigate around and come up with suggestions for where we should shop and eat.

We started the day having Thai for lunch at the Siam Square in Northampton. Then we headed off to Webs. Aubrey told me that it was bigger than it looks from the outside, but I had no idea to what extent she meant! The main floor was huge, and had all types of yarn. I was a little overwhelmed, but nothing compared to how in awe I was of the adjoining yarn warehouse, housing all the sale items. It took us about 30 minutes, maybe more, of wandering up and down the warehouse aisles to decide what we wanted.

I finally settled on some undyed Happy Feet sock yarn (guess who found her acid-dying materials!), some worsted weight Araucania and, being inspired by the stole Aubrey wore to my wedding, some Misti Alpaca lace weight yarn. I also picked some Noro Silk Garden sock yarn. I know this is a climbdown on my Noro Sucks position, but I have never used any of their silk-containing products. I also loved the colourway, so decided to keep an open mind.





After Webs, and a quick caffeination pit-stop, we headed back to Northampton. We dropped into Nothampton Wools and Northampton Wools Too. We were a little yarned out at that point, and I wasn't looking for anything in particular, with the exception of perhaps some confettied cotton yarn which I have been in love with ever since I saw how Jessica's dress turned out. They didn't have any so we headed out, after browsing around for a while. On the way out we passed some sale bins on the outside steps, only to spot exactly what I was looking for!!!

We got some ice-cream from Herrell's, where I discovered No-Moo Ice Cream to fit in with my new faux vegan (or "Faux-gan", if you will) lifestyle. After that, we headed to my place where I started a Baby Surprise Jacket with my Pom-Pom yarn, which I am pretty close to finishing now.


Awesome day!

A Day in April

I just turned... ahem... let's just say "an age" and leave it at that. I had an awesome time over this year's birthday weekend. My very good friend, Faith, came into town for a yarn shopping trip! We headed out to the Twin Cities at what I would consider the crack of dawn on Saturday, and went to the Three Kittens Yarn store in Mendota Heights, and Borealis Yarn and The Yarnery, both in St. Paul.

I had been to the Three Kittens before, where, for some unknown reason, I decided against buying the yarn made from milk. I had since come to regret that act of woolly thinking, so this time, I picked up two skeins of the 80% milk sock yarn. Our next stop was The Yarnery, where we were delighted to find that everything was discounted by at least 20%. I ran a amok in that store, buying three skeins of Cascade Ecological Wool for a sweater I have wanted to make, a skein of Alpaca Sock yarn and two skeins of black Cascade 220, which, while I have no particular project in mind, is always useful. Finally, we went to Borealis Yarns. I was also able to pick up some Snuggly Bubbly, which I will probably make into a Baby Surprise Jacket. Finally, I found some navy Hempathy, which I will use to make some socks for my fiancé.

My main objectives, other than getting to spend time with Faith, were to pick up yarn for my cardigan pattern, buy yarn made from unusual or interesting fibres, and find some nice baby yarn. All in all, the trip was a complete success! I even found a cute clasp for my Butterfly cardigan, and locking stitch markers to finally finish my Ben sweater!

Despite this bounty of yarn and yarn accessories, the best thing I received this weekend was, instead, an early wedding present from Faith. I was just so grateful that she bought me the Addi Click set! I have been having so much fun with it and repaid her generosity by making silly sound effects every time I switched out the needles. I was so excited to be the proud owner of interchangeable Addi Turbos, that I instantly set them to work on the Deborah cardigan with my new Ecological wool. These needles are truly amazing, and I was able to finish the entire back panel over the weekend! I also finally learned how to do the continental purl stitch!

My only regret from this trip was that I forgot to charge my camera! I had this very wonderful idea of having various pictures of us outside each yarn store, inside the stores staring pensively at potential purchases, beaming gleefully with overflowing bags of wool and cotton.... But alas, it was not to be. Luckily, Faith had more photographic wherewithal than I, and took this picture:

A Day in March

This weekend was a lot of fun. My boss's wife, Gretchen, and I went to Minneapolis on my second ever yarn crawl. We started off the day at the Three Kittens yarn store in Mendota Heights. The sales assistants were really friendly and extremely knowledgeable about a number of aspects of the yarns they carried. They had a great selection of yarns, and more importantly, a large selection of yarns that I had never seen or heard of before. My favourite was a yarn that was 50% milk! I initially assumed this just had to be a typo, and so I asked the sales assistant. Nope, it was milk! I never ceased to be amazed what can be spun. I didn't buy any because I was specifically looking for yarn to make a sweater than I plan to make and monochrome yarns to make lacy socks with. I picked up some Fresco by Classic Elite Yarns which I think will become a pair of Monkeys or another pair of Hederas. If or when I visit them again, I may take a less regimental approach to shopping and come home with some milk yarn!!


Our next stop was Borealis Yarns in St. Paul. They have a huge range of yarns spread throughout 3 different rooms, which make for a lovely atmosphere. They had a good mixture of the mainstays as well as more novel yarns. Again, the staff were really friendly. I picked up some Cascade 220 which I intend to use for a sweater and some Cascade sock yarn which I had never come across before.




Finally, we went to Depth of Field yarns, which is obviously very important to visit as a microscopist! This store had a much more laid-back feel. The selection was great and they also carried a wide range of acid dyes. I am definitely going to visit them again when I give dyeing another go. Unfortunately, we shopped through lunch and by the time we got to depth of field, the hypoglycaemia had taken hold! I was completely indecisive, but managed to select some Shirley by Kraemer Yarns which I converted into a pair of newborn size Sheepy Pants on the drive home.


I then dyed them with some acid dyes I picked up in Kansas. The yarn is half cotton and half wool. I love how the yarn stained the fibres in different ways!

A Skein of the Blahs!

My friend and I have a light-hearted back and forth about colour choices. She attributes my love of quiet neutrals to my inner "boring Brit", where I see her love of loud primaries as a reflection of her gaudy Brazilian tastes. Xenophobia aside, we have been reasonably good influences on one another and I have, over time, begun to buy yarn in colours other than " light dusty pink".

I was an especial glutton of the visible spectrum when I decided to buy Noro Kureyon sock yarn while in San Francisco. Noro is known not for the softness or durability of its yarns, but solely for the use of colour. I picked a skein that had bright pink on greens and yellows with light and dark versions of each contrasting against one another. I have found this colour-way on colour cards and also seen how it knitted up in projects by other Ravelry users. In both cases, it is always vibrant and diverse in the appearance of colours.

I picked a pattern that wouldn't compete with a bright, multi-coloured yarn and started knitting my sock. The cuff came out dark green and then became more of a pastel green before turning into a slate colour. But that was okay; the most interesting yarns have some dull colours off which the brighter ones can play. Halfway down the leg a very dull salmon colour and greenish-yellow appeared before reverting to a mucous green at the heel. I am now well into the instep, and the yarn is still predominantly green; no sign of the bright pink that initially convinced me to buy the not-so-cheap yarn. I would never have dreamed such a visually boring sock could come out of such a brightly coloured skein. I couldn't have picked a more boring set of colours on purpose, English blood notwithstanding!

Adding to my woes, I made a major, and deeply stupid, mistake on the heel and so gave myself the chance to knit the sinusitis-fabulous green section twice. This was made more delightful by the fact that the yarn itself has all the tactile qualities of an emery board.

I shouldn't whinge too much. I am promised that once I knit up the yarn and hand wash the sock, it will magically convert from feeling like a fitted loofah into something I would want near my skin. And as for the colours, the socks may come in handy if I ever need to visit an otologist - "My snot was this colour, but now it's more like this one."

A Series of Serendipitous Mishaps

Jess and I went to Erica's today (during work.... shhhh!), and spurred by her wonderful hand-dyed yarn that she used to make a skirtie, I bought two skeins of Fisherman's yarn. I ran to Walmart, and despite being told by Jessica that knitty has a guide to the results you can obtain using Kool Aid, I randomly grabbed a variety of 20 cent sachets with no forward planning.
True to form, I half-read the instructions and then launched into microwaving my yarn in vinegar and kool aid concoctions. Whilst meaning to do only one color scheme this evening, I used both skeins and made three different color schemes with matching trims. The upstairs reeks of vinegar and Kool Aid, my kitchen table has a weird green hue to it now and my left hand looks like that animate pitcher got sick on it.... totally worth it!!!
It turns out that I didn't quite use enough Kool Aid, but I am in love with how the white adds something to the color-schemes. I also love how my grab-bag combos all came out; I am particularly proud of the one on the left.
I am going to let them dry and then picture them individually. I am planning to come up with pompous names for the colorways that have nothing to do with the colors or, indeed, knitting itself. I can't wait for them to be ready to knit up!!!

Pattern: Basket Case Socks

Pattern Notes
I called these the Basket Case Socks, on my friend’s recommendation, because I was a little stressed from working on my thesis when I designed them. I love the basket weave pattern, but I couldn’t find a pattern for socks that used it in both the instep and the cuff. I have included an optional ribbed cuff on smaller needles, because the yarn I was using was terribly elastic and the socks wouldn’t stay up. The pattern here was designed for a 9” circumference foot (a sock circumference of 8.1”). For a different size, adjust the gauge by changing the needle size or yarn weight (so that sts/inch x foot circumference in inches x 0.9 = 48 sts) , or if you’re familiar with the basket weave stitch you can adjust the number of repeats. The yarn used here is worsted weight, as it really makes the pattern pop.

Size
Woman’s foot.


Materials
2 skeins/300 yds of worsted weight yarn of your choice (Bernat Soy Blends shown here).
Set of five US Size 3 needles and a set of US Size 2 needles, or size needed to obtain gauge
Darning needle
2 different colour stitch markers.

Gauge
6 sts/inch in stockinette stitch

Abbreviations
K = knit
P = purl
K2tog = knit two together
Sl1 = slip one stitch purlwise
SSK = slip, slip, knit
RS = right side
WS = wrong side

Leg pattern
Row 1: Knit
Rows 2,3,4: *P5, K3; repeat from *to end
Row 5: Knit
Rows 6,7,8: P1, *K3, P5; repeat from * to last 4 sts, P4


Instep pattern
Row 1: Knit
Rows 2, 3, 4: *P5, K3; repeat from *to last 5sts, K5
Row 5: Knit
Rows 6, 7, 8: P1, *K3, P5; repeat from * to last st, P1

Instructions
Cast on 48 sts, and close round without twisting.
Arrange 12 sts on each of needle 1, needle 2, needle 3 and needle 4.
Needles #1 and #2 will form the instep; needles #3 and #4 will form the heel.

Cuff
Work 1.5 to 2” of K1-P1 ribbing, ending after needle #4.

Leg
Change to larger needles. Starting on needle #1, K1 (left sock), K2 (right sock)†.
Place marker #1.
Begin Leg Pattern from first stitch after marker #1 for desired length.
End after needle 4, after row 8 of leg pattern.

Heel Flap
You should be at the beginning of needle 1. Knit the stitch(es) before marker #1.
Slip marker to working needle and K21. Place marker #2.
Knit the remaining 1 stitch (right sock) or 2 stitches (left sock) on needle #2.
This will count as row 1 of the instep pattern, so after the heel flap and heel turn are complete, you will work from row #2 of the “instep pattern” onward.

The heel flap will now be worked back and forth over the 24 sts on needles #3 and #4. Use a row counter to keep track of how many rows are worked over the heel flap.

Row 1: Sl 1, knit remaining stitches across needles #3 and #4. Turn.
Row 2: (WS) Place yarn to back, Sl 1 purlwise. Purl to end of needle #3. Turn.
Row 3: (RS) *Bring yarn to front, Sl 1 purlwise. Move yarn to rear, K1. Repeat from * to end of row.
Row 4: Place yarn to back, Sl 1 purlwise. Bring yarn to front and purl to end of needle #3. Turn.

Repeat Rows 3 and 4 for heel flap until desired length is achieved. (Shown here is a heel flap of 24 rows, including rows 1 and 2)

Heel Turn
You should now be ready to start a RS row.

Row 1: K14, SSK, K1. Turn.
Row 2: Sl 1, P5, P2tog, P1. Turn.
Row 3: Sl 1, K up to last stitch before gap. SSK using last stitch before gap and first stitch after gap. K1. Turn.
Row 4: Sl 1, P to last stitch before gap. P2tog using stitch before gap and stitch after gap. P1. Turn.

Repeat Rows 3 and 4 until all stitches along the heel flap have been used.
On final 2 rows of heel turn there will not be enough stitches to K1 or P1 at end of row. Simply complete the SSK or P2tog and turn.
After heel turn is complete, you should be ready to start a RS row.

Gusset
Knit along all heel turn stitches.
Using what will now be needle #4, pick up and knit selvage stitches along side of heel turn.
Pick up one stitch from between the heel flap and the instep to prevent a hole from forming. Shown here, from a heel flap of 24 rows, 14 stitches were picked up (not counting the extra stitch picked up between the heel flap and the instep).
Knit along instep, working in pattern between the markers. You should be working Row 2 of the instep pattern.
Using what will now be needle #3, pick up and knit a stitch from the between the instep and the other side of the heel flap.
Pick up and knit the selvage stitches down this side of the heel flap.
You should pick up the exact same number of stitches from each side of the heel flap.

At this point there will be 44 stitches (or a similar even number) on needles 3 and 4.
Divide these evenly amongst needles 3 and 4.
You should now be ready to work needle 4 (you may have to knit a few stitches to get to the end of needle 3).
You will now begin the gusset decreases.

Round 1: K to last 3 stitches of needle #4. K2tog. K1. K along instep on needles #1 and #2, working instep pattern between the 2 markers. On needle #3, K1, SSK, K to end.
Round 2: K along needle #4. K along needles #1 and #2, working instep pattern between markers. K along needle #3.

Repeat Rounds 1 and 2 until there are 12 stitches on each of needles #3 and #4. (A total of 48 sts).

Repeat Round 2 only until the length from the back of the heel is 1.5” shorter than the desired foot length. Finish after needle #3.

Toe
Once you have begun the toe decreases, remove the markers and discontinue the instep pattern. The remainder of the work will be worked in stockinette stitch (i.e. K only).

Round 1: K to last 3 stitches of needle #4. K2tog. K1. On needle #1, K1, SSK, K to end. On needle #2, K to last 3 stitches, K2tog, K1.On needle #3, K1, SSK, knit to end.
Round 2: K along all of needles #4, #1, #2, and #3.

Repeat Rounds 1 and 2 until there are only 24 stitches left (some people like to decrease by more stitches for a pointier toe, do so if this is your preference - just remember to make a note of how many decreases you did so you can do the same on the second sock).

K along row 4.
Organise the stitches from needle 1 and 2 onto a single needle.
Do the same for needles 3 and 4. Cut a tail of at least 9” of yarn.
Graft stitches together.
I really like Knitting at Knoon’s video for this technique at http://www.knittingatknoon.com/kitchenerst.html They also have great videos for other techniques used in this pattern.

Make second sock with the same number of pattern repeats, and picked up stitches as you did for the 1st.

The End

Please email pattern corrections/comments/questions to e.j.hooker@gmail.com.
†This offsets the basket weave pattern so that it can be continued along the instep in a seamless manner.

Day 24: Hole habits die hard

I am making a mock cable cloth, which I started last night. It's a very pretty pattern, although using variegated cotton seems to be masking the cabling texture to a certain extent. Nonetheless, I think it will look fine when it is completed, and, as it is designed to catch a baby's throw-up, I'm thinking the visibility of the pattern may not be the user's main concern! My main gripe is that, having tried in a triumph of vain to avoid unwanted holes from appearing in another project, I am apparently incapable of using yarn-overs to make gaps where they are meant to be, and so have gone to a lot of psso-ing trouble to make something that is indistinguishable from a mindless junket through k2p2-land. The cotton I am using is slightly too bulky for the needle size I am using, but the main issue is that a combination of yarn-overs and cotton now evokes a Pavlovian-like compulsion in me to hide holes. I noticed the problem after the first pattern set was complete and did the yarn-overs in the other direction for the second set. Instead of pulling it all out, I am just going to do the final set the same way that I did the first. I have an unflappable faith in the ability of symmetry to emulate intention...

Bestitched

My friend told me a very entertaining story about how a famous knitter (yes, they exist) called the “Yarn Harlot” was speaking about how knitting is really a form of magic. This was exemplified for her by her nephew bringing her red yarn and asking her to make him blue mittens. It’s neither the process nor the product that makes knitting such a compulsion, but it’s the mystery of how it all works. I never cease to be amazed with what complicated, three-dimensional objects can be achieved with two sticks and some thread. Despite having made hundreds of items, I still don’t really believe that patterns are going to work when I start new projects, even though there is a photo of the thing right at the top of the page. We can safely assume that these instructions have worked at least once.

I’ve come to understand most of the mechanics of knitting, but every so often, something new crops up that just blows my mind. I just finished my first top-down sock, which ends by grafting stitches at the toe together. I used the video from knittingatnoon.com as a guide and grafted the 28 stitches together. It was my first time ever doing this, so I was amazed at how it worked. I had set aside enough time to do it once, pull it out and then redo it correctly. But no need; I got it first time! Only that the yarn is variegated can I even tell which row is the one that was grafted using one darning needle rather than knitted on four double-point knitting needles! It is stunning to me that the same stitch can be achieved either by sewing or by knitting – magic! It’s probably not that great being my first attempt, you be the judge. I still think it’s amazing.