It’s Here!

Now you all know what I’ll be doing today. And if you live near me and haven’t gotten yours yet, the FedEx guy said he had 14 more to deliver before 10:30.

There will be knitting in the next post, really.

And if you have no clue what that box is, you need to just get a Mac! It’s Leopard, the new operating system for Mac, just launched today. I’m off to play.

Coming Up For Air

The 16-day work slog is finally over. Due to some trades at work, I did 16 days in a row, with 2 days off about a third the way through so I could catch up on sleep. My “short” days at work are 11 hours, assuming I get the work done on time. The “long” days are 15 hours. I love my job, I love my job, I love my job. Remind me not to agree to trades again. The flip side of all the trading is that I now have 12 days off in a row. Well, 11, I was in a coma yesterday and missed most of it. My plans for today involve not getting dressed for several more hours. At least my husband, a dedicated morning person, has finally learned not to shake me at 7 AM with a “honey, honey, it’s a beautiful day, want to get up and go do something?” Honey, honey, I’m already doing something, shake me one more time, and you’ll lose a hand.

I have done a bit of knitting, but it’s all been on a grey stockinette Peace Fleece sweater with no shaping. Back and forth, back and forth. It’s boring as hell, but also very, very satisfying in a grey stockinette tweedy wool sort of way. OK, OK, here’s a photo.

Really, it is pretty exciting. You should smell this stuff. It has that wonderful sheepy smell that I just love. I’m almost to the underarm shaping on the first piece. And that’s about all the knitting news around here.

Oh, not quite, I forgot about my knitting excitement yesterday. The one thing that I did get done was my annual girlie physical, something really to look forward to when you’d much rather spend the entire day with a blanket over your head. I have a new gynecologist, and yesterday was my first visit. I was knitting away on a sock* when she came into the room, and it turns out that she’s a knitter, is relatively new in town, and wants to come to our weekly knitting fiesta at the local coffee shop. Sweet.

And the most exciting non-knitting news? November 1st is only 12 days away. Who cares, you ask? It’s NaNoWriMo time again! The crazy month where thousands of insane wanna-be writers decide to pick up a pencil on November 1st, and not put it down again until they have a 50,000 word novel done by the stroke of midnight on the last day of the month. I participated in this nutball event in 2004 and 2005, finishing in the first year, fizzling in the second. Last year I decided to sit it out, but this year I’m going for it again. Finishing the novel is of course the main point, but it’s a hoot even if you don’t. The next 12 days will be spent on nailing down some characters and a rudimentary outline of a plot (plot? you mean I have to have a plot?), then rushing headlong into the writing on the 1st. If you’re equally insane, go on over and sign up. And I don’t want to hear any sniveling  that you don’t know how to write a novel. Neither do I. It doesn’t need to be good, nobody but you will read it, it’s all about getting 50,000 words down on paper in 30 days.

Go on over and sign up. If you do, let me know. Here’s my Nano profile page.

*What, you don’t knit with your feet up in stirrups??

She’s Alive!!

It’s the same damned excuse. Work work work. I just fell out of a 9 day work stretch rabbit hole, and go back tomorrow for another 5 day siege. Then I get a little bit of a breather. So I’ll get a quick post in before I put my head back down.

There’s been hardly any knitting around here for the past couple of weeks. As a sample of how things went, I got home late one night after a long day at work. While my lovely husband made me dinner, I sat in the kitchen and said, “All I want from life right now is to be able to sit here and knit ONE danged row.”

I stupidly picked up that Langsjal Jóhönnu stole, and started across the row. About 7/8 of the way across the row, I ran into a mistake I’d made in the prior row. I messed around with it a bit, trying to fix the row below without going all the way back, then realized I was brain dead and would probably frak the whole thing up if I tried that. So I painfully unknit all the way back over the mostly done row, then the prior row, fixed it, then started forward again. I eventually finished that one row. Be careful what you wish for.

Speaking of wishing for things, last week was my birthday. How lame is that, failing to blog your own birthday? I even got to work late, as Friday, the big day, was my late shift day. 7AM to 9:30PM. Do I know how to have fun or what? I got a great present from my lovely husband though, the same one who fixes me dinner and makes sure I have plenty of wine and bourbon always available. I drive an oldish VW Beetle with the original radio/CD player. I also have an Ipod loaded with over 10,000 songs. My guy bought me a new car stereo, one that has a connector wired through the glove box for my Ipod. It is very cool. I find myself just wanting to drive around so I can listen to it.

OK, I promised you a finished knitting project a post or so ago. While we were in Idaho, we went to the yarn shop in Ketchum, and I <<cough, cough>> bought a few <<cough cough>> things. One of those things was a lovely little single skein of Synchronicity by Alchemy Yarns. This stuff is just heavenly. I’d like a whole tub full of it so I could roll around in it all day. Unfortunately, it’s also spendy enough that I decided to spring for only one skein. So I made little fingerless mitts out of it. I sort of made up the pattern, as I was in a cabin in Idaho, and couldn’t resist casting on immediately when I got back from the store. Some day if I can decipher my notes, I might post it. For now, here are the mitts.

It actually was easy to come up with the pattern, except when I got to the thumb. The first attempt looked horrible. Then I remembered, I just learned how to do an underarm gusset with the gansey class. I dragged out my trusty knitting notebook and a pencil, and in a few moments had it figured out. Yeah, yeah, I know, mittens are easy. This is just a basic mitten pattern, find one in a book and just work till you get to your knuckles and do more ribbing. But I’ve never done mittens or gloves, and I’m pretty proud of myself for figuring out how to do them all by myself.

Project Specifications:

Pattern: I made it up.
Yarn: Alchemy Synchronicity, in the color Resolution. It’s a silk/merino blend, and the photos just do not do this yarn justice. I used almost a whole skein for these, with just enough left over to let Lucy have fun with. (What? You don’t let your cats play with silk yarn?)
For: Me
Started: In September, when I was in Idaho.
Finished: Four days later. It wouldn’t have taken so long if I’d had any clue what I was doing.
Needles: Metal double points that I had with me for the gansey class. I think they were 3.75 mm.
What I learned: I learned to trust my knitting instincts and just “let the force be with me”. It’s only yarn. Pattern, schmattern, who needs a pattern?

I’m off to try to catch up with NetNewsWire. I’m 513 posts behind in my knit-blog reading. Have a great weekend everybody!

Help!

This is an interlude in my knit blogging to send you off to help a worthwhile cause. Lisa, AKA Black Sheep, is walking in the Step Out to Fight Diabetes fundraiser later this week.

As a doctor, I can’t pass this one up. John has a daughter-in-law with gestational diabetes, and his grandson carries the gene for diabetes. This is a big one, people, and affects 21 million people in this country alone. You would be helping out a lot of nice folks, many of them your family members and fellow knitters, by sending money.

Every bit helps, so even if you can only send a little, please do so. This horrid disease affects all of us in one way or another. Thanks a bunch!

Idaho! FO!

I’m back from Idaho, and have a new FO to report!

First, though, I omitted something from my post about the goodie/prize bag I received from Kim. She included a little “L” shaped notepad, and I discovered yesterday that there were also little “L” stitch markers in the bag. Here they are:

Very cute, eh? I love them and just want to cast on something that needs little stitch markers.

Next, I got a couple of requests about one of the yarns I scored in Boston. It’s the Claudia Handpainted Silk Lace, and it is divine. The color is “Chocolate Cherry”.

Click on that to make it bigger, and start drooling. I have no idea whatever to do with this, but it will be lovely to knit with. It will be a shawl or stole someday once I find the perfect pattern.

Now, the trip. I have never taken a knitting class, and was a little nervous about doing so with someone as famous as Beth Brown-Reinsel. Not to worry. She was fabulous. The class was on “knitting ganseys”, and I learned more in 2 days of classes than I have in months on my own. Beth is a very patient instructor, and managed to get a bunch of women of varied skill levels absolutely enthusiastic about traditional gansey construction. In the process, we finished (or mostly finished) a tiny sample gansey. If you have her book, it’s in there, though I’ll warn you, it’s a lot more fun knitting it with Beth alongside coaching.

Here’s my finished gansey, after a bit of steaming with my trusty Rowenta to block the edge into submission:

And a closeup:

I learned tons of cool stuff by doing this sweater. I had never done an underarm gusset, and was very surprised at how easy and intuitive it is. It’s a little like turning a heel on a sock; once you do it, you wonder why you never thought of it before. I also learned how to do a channel island cast on, which is truly cool.

Probably the best thing, though, was being at an isolated resort for three whole days with a master knitter. Beth spent a couple of hours on the second day talking us through the design process, and showed us how to come up with a gansey sweater pattern of our very own. I intend to knit a full-size gansey some day, but even if I never do, the stuff she taught me will make my knitting much better. And being around a bunch of other great knitters was wonderful. We laughed, shared, and just in general had a blast.

Here are some more photos:

That’s Beth in the middle, with her giant teaching swatch.

That’s Jennifer, who owns Isabel’s Yarn & Needlepoint shop in Ketchum.

Here’s where the retreat is:

Our cabin:

This answers the question of what kind of wine goes with Cheetos:

And the sock enjoying the scenery:

Here’s the details if you are interested in next year’s retreat. Jennifer has done this retreat for several years, and it’s at Redfish Lake Lodge, Idaho. It’s very remote, though they do now have wireless access in the main lodge, if you can’t live without internet access. The cabins range from rustic to more rustic, though we found it very comfortable and absolutely the perfect setting for a retreat. There are no phones in the cabins, and no television, which is perfect. The food was lovely, and the scenery can’t be beat. Ketchum (Sun Valley) is a little over an hour’s drive away, so this really is out in the middle of nowhere. Email Jennifer at her website if you’re interested in next year’s retreat. I certainly plan on going if at all possible.

Next time, another FO!

Project Roundup

I figured it was time for a Project Roundup, and a few other things. First, the few other things. You all might remember the Knitter’s Hunk contest that Kim had a couple weeks ago. I took second place for nominating the winner, Alan Rickman (but only because Emily evoked visions of a naked Alan in her tie-breaking entry–I should have thought of that). As a prize, I got a very cool package full of stuff from Kim.  Here are the highlights:

Note the lovely mitts, the knitting journal, and the spectacular Lavold Silky Tweed!  Oh, and the photo, in case you hadn’t noticed that. She included that as well. Thanks, Kim! Great contest!

Now the PR. I’ve still been working on that bamboo top, but am bored with it. It’s not summer anymore, it’s just miles of stockinette, and it’s going into time-out as of today. Here it is, all bagged up for now. It’s my blog, and I’ll knit what I want to.

I’ll get back to that eventually, but not now. So what’s taking it’s place in the queue?

This:

Miles and miles of grey Peace Fleece, in all its glorious sheepiness. The color is Negotiation Grey, and it will be a sweater for John. I had ordered the pattern with it, which is the Father/Son Pullover from this page, and then tried to convince him that the Cobblestone pullover from the latest Interweave would be better. He firmly likes this one though, so plain plain plain it will be. It’s a good thing I’m happy to knit plain plain plain.

Here’s where I am with Langsjal Jóhönnu. I’m about halfway done with this, and pretty much have the lace pattern stitch memorized. I have 2 more balls of the yarn left, and I have the opposite border done already, so I “just” need to knit till I only have enough yarn to do the grafting, and that’s it.

Here’s the new sock yarn, some very orangey goodness. This is Sock Hop, in the color Spirit In The Sky, one of my very favorite oldies songs.

And the sock it’s making:

You might be wondering what that big ball of yellow yarn up there is. It’s Briggs & Little Regal, another bunch of sheepy-smelling stuff. I get to use that this week. A few months ago my boss showed me a brochure from a yarn shop in Idaho. It was for a knitters’ retreat this coming week. (Click “current events” at the bottom of their home page.) Despite the fact that she didn’t know how to knit at the time, she said “Wanna go??” A short time later we were booked and ready. I’m taking this yarn, and this book with me:

Beth Brown-Reinsel is teaching a two-day class on knitting ganseys, and I am so signed up. And yes, I know I just got back from vacation. What can I say, my boss made me do this. What was I supposed to do, say I’d rather work? There is no internet access (or cellular!) where we’re going, so I’ll check back in when we get home!

Last but not least, before I forget, one of my favorite blogs is back after a summer break. Go check out the latest info on the best way to do decreases!

Sit Back & Relax,

…this will be a long post full of fun and adventure! Get yourself a cup of tea, or maybe something stronger.

But first, a Lucy picture, because you can’t have enough silly cat photos.

Let’s all hear it, “awwwww”. Her look of pure bliss probably is due to the catnip that I dump over this thing regularly.

And next, just a few photo highlights of the recent Boston trip.

These are our friends Byron & Diane, who now live in Rhode Island. We went to visit them while in Boston. You might note that Byron & John have pretty much the same facial expression in these photos.

The sock got to see another ocean:

We had lobster:

We ate more good food:

The next couple are for Kris:

We found that they tend to get a lot more dressed up in Boston:

We took the Duck Tour, which is very corny, but I’d highly recommend it if you’re a first-time Boston visitor.

If you’ve never done one of these, they go both on land and water. Click on this one to make it bigger.

We went here:

Red Sox Win!

Then we came home:

The End.

(New Projects next time! Stay Tuned!)

She Grew!

Remember way back when, I had a new grand-niece named Riley, born in March? And how I knit her a Wallaby that was several sizes too big for her? It now fits.

Here’s the photo from April, when I finished the thing. She was just a couple weeks old then.

That picture still just cracks me up. Here’s a recent photo. Her parents took her camping, and it was cool enough for her to wear the thing.

Click on that photo to get the full measure of her cuteness.

And if you want a closer view of just how cute she is, here’s another one.

Makes you want one of your own, eh?

Boston…

Or, Red Sox, Blue Sox

Indeed we have internet access from our hotel room here, though it took me longer to figure out than I’d like to admit. Other than the rainy icky day we had yesterday, we’ve been having a blast. I even got to do some yarn shopping. More on that later. First, the Sox. We have tickets to the Red Sox game tonight, and in honor of that event, I finished a pair of Blue Sox. Actually they are more purple and green, but what the heck.

Project Specs:

Yarn: Wollmeise superwash sock yarn, in Krauterbeet
Pattern: My own. 72 stitches, picot hem, flap heel and gusset
Needles: 2.00mm Pony Pearls
For: Me
Started: June 2007
Finished: September 2007
What I learned: Hmmm. I always say the same thing about socks. I still love a plain sock. There are all those lovely sock stitch patterns out there, and yet again, I’ve started another plain version for my next pair. I carry these everywhere in my bag, for those odd moments when I can knit just one or two rounds, so I like a simple pattern that I don’t have to think about. I absolutely love this yarn. It has a nice smooth finish and the colors are fabulous.

Now, about that shopping. Laurie, aka Etherknitter, arranged for a few friends to get together to take me on a knitting tour on Saturday after we got here. Julia, Claudia, and Manise (no blog) met us at Windsor Button for the first leg of the tour. We then went to Woolcott over in Cambridge, then out to Lexington to Wild & Woolly. Kathy, Martha, Lucia, and Ruth met us along the way. We had lunch and a lot of laughs during the afternoon. To me, this is the best part about blogging. There are a lot of reasons why I still do the blog, but getting to meet some very wonderful people along the way is a real treat. Thanks, ladies! Here are some photos:

The classic “we’re blogging each other” photo:

Yes, Ruth has a baby in there. Or had, as I think she’s gone into labor since our little foray.

And what all did I bring home? Here’s the evidence:

We’re off to enjoy the sunshine. Next time, new project!

The Knitter’s Hunk

In case some of you aren’t paying attention to the closest elections anywhere, get over to Hand Eye Crafts and check out the voting on the most delicious hunk around. And vote for Alan Rickman while you’re over there.

I’m off on vacation, as soon as I get the bags packed. As usual, the hardest part is picking out the knitting projects. We’re off to Boston for a week. There’s not much progress on any of my projects, so check the photos from prior posts. The camera’s already in the bag, so I’m not taking any more this morning. Laurie has graciously arranged for a whole day of playing and yarn shopping with the Boston contingency of the knitbloggers, so I’ll post photos if I have internet access. Otherwise, see you in a week!

And go vote for Alan, did I mention that?

Uh, Oh

First off, thanks for all the nice compliments on the Forest Canopy shawl. It’s reblocking as I write this, for a couple of reasons. I blocked it in a bit of a hurry, and it was a little wonky. I also soaked it in my favorite woolwash, Kookaburra Delicate, but was in such a hurry that I forgot to rinse it. I think it might have been OK to leave it, but I wasn’t certain, so I redid it and rinsed it this time. I also got a little more stretch in the process. The final size is about 74 inches across the top, and 35 inches from neck to tip.

I got a couple more questions about the blocking mats that I use. Every time I show these I get a request for info, so I should probably put the link in my sidebar. They are the interlocking foam mats that most people use in kids playrooms. I bought mine online, from Wonder Mat, and got 16 of the 2 foot squares, along with edge pieces. This makes a huge mat, way more than I need for most blocking, but I also use them when John’s grandkids come to visit. We just cover the floor downstairs and they can romp at will. The mats do show holes eventually, but that doesn’t bother me in the least.

Now it’s on to Langsjal Jóhönnu. Here’s how you do the diacritic marks, at least on a Mac. Type option-e, let it go, then the letter you want the accent mark on. For the umlaut, type option-u, then the letter. I think the option key has the same function as the alt key on a Windows keyboard, but a Windows expert would have to weigh in on this one.

Here’s a photo, very roughly pinned out to give you some idea of what LJ will look like:

I am using lifelines on this one, as it’s pretty easy to get off track on this and screw it up. There is no easy purl-back row on this, all 10 rows of the pattern repeat are full of yo’s and decreases.

Now to the “Uh,oh”. A while back, Fleegle was kind enough to post a link to a Chinese online shop selling ridiculously cheap cashmere and cashmere-silk lace yarn. Of course I jumped. It arrived this week. First of all, the service was perfect. I got a prompt confirmation with a note that the standard shipping takes about 30 days. It actually only took about 12 days for mine. I ordered the cashmere-silk, 1600 yards worth of a lovely pink.

Note the “clothing” (wink, wink) on the customs form. This didn’t fool my husband in the least. Neither did the little checkbox that says “gift”.

And just how fine is that yarn, you might ask?

That’s the green Zephyr I used for the Forest Canopy shawl. The pink stuff is 800 yards per 50 grams, and the straight cashmere they sell, at 500 yards per 50 grams, is probably a little more like a real laceweight than sewing thread. Their regular price for both varieties is $9.99, and some of the colors are on sale for $6.99. You could get a damn big shawl for cheap with this stuff. Go buy some, so I don’t feel silly buying pink cobwebs from China. I do have an idea for what this might be someday, but I’m keeping it under my hat for now.

Forest Canopy Shawl

And finally, here are the photos of the blocked shawl. This week got away from me. We’ve had a variety of visiting friends and relatives staying with us over the past 2 and a half weeks, and I worked all last week. It was also cloudy and rainy much of last week, which doesn’t make for very good photos. Those are my excuses, and I’m sticking to them.

Here’s the shawl blocking:

Sorry if that looks a little psychedelic. Here’s the taped-to-the-deck-rail shot.

And a close-up.

Project Specs:

Pattern: Forest Canopy Shoulder Shawl, by Susan Pierce Lawrence. You can buy the pattern here.*
Yarn: JaggerSpun Zephyr laceweight, a 50-50 wool-silk blend. I’m pretty sure the color is Bottle Green. At least I think it is. I bought this before I started my obsessive compulsive Access yarn database file, and there was no label with the yarn.
For: Me me me.
Started: Way back last fall. September, I think. Yup, here it is. I did the first version in the Mountain Colors Weavers Wool that she recommends in the pattern, and liked it so much I immediately started this one in laceweight.
Finished: Last week.
Needles: Holz & Stein 3.25mm ebony circular.
Modifications: I used laceweight yarn instead of the sportweight yarn called for in the pattern. I just did repeats until I was close to running out, and then did the edging. Otherwise I knit the pattern as written.
What I Learned: I just love knitting lace. The finished project also really impresses people, especially non-knitters. I also love Zephyr yarn. It has a great sheen, and comes in tons of lovely colors. This is a perfect pattern for lace virgins. Trust me, if you can knit and purl, you can do this one.

Here’s how much yarn I had left. The shawl weighs just a hair under 80 grams, and that little bit left weighs 1.8 grams.

Next up on the lace front? Langsjal Jóhönnu**, which has been in hibernation for over a year. I’ll show some photos next time. Right now I’m busy trying to figure out where I left off with the pattern.

*Oooh, oooh, oooh! Her lace patterns are all on sale! Go there now!

**I’m pretty fracking proud of myself for figuring out how to do the accent and umlaut on that word. It only took me 14 months.

Lookie Here…

It’s DONE!! The Forest Canopy shawl is done done done. It’s in the sink for a soak before blocking, then some real photos, but I couldn’t resist.

Here’s another one to tide you over until the blocking party is over. We keep threatening to get Riley in the canoe on the lake, and this is the summer. Here she is with my sweetie, out for a dog paddle.

I’m off to find pins.

How Big Is Tacoma?

I found this video on You Tube while trying to answer that very question. While we don’t actually live in Tacoma, but the next community south, I work and play there, and it just sort of runs together. This is a hoot, though not much of an enticement to move here.

How Big

And the answer, per the 2000 census data, is 193,556. Lakewood, my home town, is only 58,211. Seattle’s the big city at 582,454. Now you know.

!@#$#@^%*(&!

Whomp!

That was the sound of the knitting goddess whomping me on the head for the sin of hubris. I’m knitting the Forest Canopy Shawl, which I keep referring to as an easy lace pattern. It has 8 pattern rows, half of which are straight purl back rows, and a 5th row is plain knit, so there are only really 3 rows that you have to pay attention to. Should be easy, right?

On top of that, I’m getting close to the end, and have what I think is enough yarn for a couple more repeats and then the 8 row border pattern, which is just repeated once. I’ve been trying to think out how I could safely use as much of the Zephyr lace yarn to make the shawl as large as possible, and still have enough for the border. I finally came upon the brilliant idea of using my drug-dealers scale. I finished a row 8, weighed the remaining ball of yarn, then started in on another pattern repeat. My plan is to finish another repeat, weigh it again, then I should be able to calculate roughly how many repeats I can get out of it. There will be a little fudging with this, as of course the rows get lonnnnger with each repeat, but it should be better than just guessing. I was feeling pretty proud of myself for coming up with this plan. Even a little above average, I would say.

So I’m knitting merrily along, about 3/4 across a loooonnng row 5, and discovered I’d somehow dropped a stitch or something screwy. I haven’t been using lifelines with this one, as it’s a pretty easy pattern to tell when you’ve goofed up. (More hubris.) The only hope was to tink back, stitch by stitch, across lonnnnnggg rows until I got to where I’d fracked it up. I ended up unknitting 3 rows before I found it. Somehow I’d skipped 3 yarnovers all in one little inch long section. I probably didn’t forget to do them, but somehow dropped them on the purl back row. I apparently screwed up the “easy” purl back row. I’m also more than a little embarrassed to admit that it took me that long to figure out that it was dropped yarnovers. Those actually are fairly easy to fix without tinking back, if you know where they should go. An average knitter could probably figure that out.

There are no photos of this. A blob of knitted lace done correctly doesn’t look much different in a photo from a blob of knitted lace with mistakes. Just imagine them, OK?

This is where a knitting blog turned out to be a blessing. I had the very brief, but very definitely serious thought of ripping the whole thing out into a pile of ramen yarn, then taking it to the backyard and burning it. Except I’d have to admit to all of you that I did it. Sooner or later somebody would comment “whatever happened to that pretty green lace shawl you were knitting”, and I’d have to confess. So I tinked. I tinked three very loooonnnnnnnngggg rows. And I reknit, and now I’m back to that row 5. I still don’t know how many repeats I can squeak out of this baby. I’m off to knit rows 6-7-8.