Knitting – Page 22 – The Knitting Doctor

Update

Catchy title, eh? What can I say, at least I’m posting.

First up, work. I started the new job this past week, and I couldn’t be happier. (Happy, Happy, Happy, that’s the new motto around here.) I think it will be a good match all the way around. Of course, so far it hasn’t been particular grueling. The first day was “on-boarding”, or assimilation* as we call it around the Knitting Doctor household. I learned all sorts of stuff essential to the new practice group, and got a nice gift basket at the end of the day.

Notice the wine. I think they’ve heard about me.

The next two days were computer training. The new practice is all computerized, so I had to get up to speed quickly with their electronic medical record. Fortunately I’m a nerd and can play on the computer for days without getting bored, so that’s been easy so far. Thursday and Friday was more orientation in the local office where I’ll actually be practicing, and I got a warm welcome from the nursing staff that was quite encouraging. I actually saw a few patients, and that went well. Next week is more of the same. I’ll spend the first few weeks seeing just a few patients a day in the office, so I can get comfortable with the computer stuff, then I go into the regular rotation of both office and hospital work. I’ll be at the same hospital that I’ve been at for the last nine years, so that shouldn’t be too much of an adjustment. I’ll keep you all up to date!

On the knitting front, I’m not posting any photos. I’m working on those Peony socks, but slowly. This past week hasn’t been particularly busy, but I have been distracted by the job change. I’ve also done a few more repeats on the Faery cable, but it really doesn’t look any different than the last time, just a little longer.

Shopping update: I went to the office supply store today to get a few things for my new office desk, and found these.

I don’t have the receipt in front of me, but they were under $10 for the stack. They are about 3 or 4 inches across at most, and lock shut, so you can put little knitting gadgets in them. I’m sure they were intended for paper clips or something.

Finally, the spinning update. I haven’t burned the wheel and spindles in the back yard in frustration, though there was a bit of alpaca a couple of weeks ago that made the thought cross my mind. Then I made this. It’s still wet from the finishing process, so looks a bit bedraggled, but I think it turned out OK.

It’s about a worsted weight, and the fiber is Barrister Lane Fiber Rococo, I can’t find the band at the moment, but John has dubbed this Squashed Frog. I got it from Kris at Sonny & Shear. Click on that to make it bigger. I’m getting better at this, really.

Last but not least is a purchase I made in Ireland that I forgot to show you. Click on this one too.

Seamus the wheel got his own sheep. Doesn’t every spinning wheel need a good-luck sheep?

I’m off to rescue the sweet potatoes from the oven.

*”We are Borg, resistance is futile You will be assimilated.”

8 Repeats!

Before I get to the knitting, let me show you one of the things I cooked this week. I love fall for cooking, all the turnips and beets, and pumpkins! They’re not just for jack-o-lanterns anymore! I’ve had a couple of small sugar pumpkins in the pantry, waiting for the right moment (get the pie pumpkins, not the field pumpkins grown for gigantic size). We made pumpkin curry with it. Here’s the details and photos. This isn’t a recipe as such, but if you know how to put together a stew, you can figure this one out.

First, whack up the pumpkin, the hardest part. I generally get it cut up into big sections, then about two-inch squares, then cut the rind off. It’s pretty hard to peel the thing whole. I keep the pieces rather large, since they tend to melt into the curry when fully cooked.

Once you get that part done, you’re home free. Slice some onions and garlic, and saute, then add your curry blend.

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I buy curry spices whole and grind them. I’ve made my own blends before, but now I just buy them locally here. They’ll ship, too. This particular blend was the Sri Lankan curry blend. I don’t think we’ve ever tried this before, and it was very good. Here’s everything cut up and ready to go. This process makes all the world of difference in a dish with lots of parts. If you get everything chopped before you start cooking, it’s a piece of cake. Mise en place, the French call it.

After I added the spices, I tossed in some chicken stock, a bit of white wine, part of a can of chopped tomatoes, 2 cans of garbanzo beans (rinsed), and the pumpkin, then cooked it till the pumpkin was done. This really doesn’t take long, and if it’s overcooked it turns to mush, so watch it. At the end, I threw in a bunch of baby spinach we had lingering around. Oh, I also added one chopped hot pepper in at the same time as the garlic, it was a yellow pepper that looked like a serrano and had some heat. And salt to taste.

Serve over rice, and dinner is ready.

On the knitting front, I have 8 repeats of that True Blood Faery band done. I thought I had royally screwed up my gauge, but it turns out I was wrong. The bottom cable chart is 40 rows, and the pattern calls for knitting 20 repeats of chart A. I finished what I thought were 4 repeats, meaning 160 rows, measured, and was horrified to find that the piece was twice as long as it was supposed to be. After I calmed down, I searched Ravelry, read the pattern (now there’s a novel thought), and discovered that each chart repeat is two pattern repeats. It measures out perfectly. Whew.

True Blood

No, not the books or the TV show of the same name. I’m talking about the newest WIP, that Red Faery sweater. I have started the thing, and here’s where I am. Click to super-size it so you can see the beauty of the cable!

I’ve been calling this color “lipstick red”, but in reality, it’s blood red. So, True Blood Red Faery it will be. The color on my monitor is pretty danged close to the real thing.

The construction of this sweater is different than anything I’ve knit before. It’s a hooded long cardigan, with a bottom cable that is knit from side to side; i.e. center front around in a long strip. You then pick up a gazillion stitches along one long edge, knit some, then hem it, then pick up another gazillion stitches along the other edge, and knit upwards for the body of the sweater. Ingenious! That photo up there is two repeats of the bottom cable. Only 18 more!

If you’re on Ravelry, here are the project pages. Note that there are two separate pattern pages for different size ranges, just in case any of you want to join us in the KAL.

And don’t forget to go vote if you haven’t already. John and I always vote by absentee ballot so we have time to carefully read through the voter pamphlet, and the saved newspaper clippings. Do your civic duty!

Red Faery Time!

Well, tomorrow, anyway. It’s finally here! Jennifer, AKA Major Knitter, and I are starting the big Faery Ring KAL November 1st! Of course, in true Knitting Doctor fashion, I’m not even close to ready. She’s been over there, madly finishing up WIP’s, and I think she’s even done a swatch. Me, not so much.

I did get all the sewing done on John’s True Blue sweater. I’ve picked up the neckband stitches, and plan on finishing that hopefully tonight. Does anybody else hate knitting neckbands as much as I do? I can do mattress stitch seams till the cows come home, but if I could pay somebody to finish the neck for me, I’d be there.

John says “thanks!” for the birthday wishes, by the way. We went out to celebrate last night. Our local performing arts company is trying something new this year, and is showing a series of old movies. They chose three Cary Grant screwball comedies for this coming season, and last night was Arsenic and Old Lace. I’ve seen it on the small screen, but it was truly hilarious on the big screen in a theater full of people. We went out for a nice steak dinner afterwards. It was a nice way to celebrate the big day!

Here’s the yarn, with the first hank all wound up and ready to go. It really is that red!

I’m off to finish that neckband.

They Say It’s…

Your Birthday?

No wait, I did that already. But it’s my sweetie’s birthday today. It’s sort of a special one, and there’s a You Tube video at the end of the post just for him. First, here’s where I am on True Blue, the plain blue sweater I’ve been knitting for him for decades*.

OK, never mind. My camera is being recalcitrant, and won’t upload the photos. Just imagine it, OK. I’ll try to post it later.

Updated. Here are the photos:

And Lewey, supervising the sewing.

I’ve finished all the knitting except for the neck band, and have the sleeves attached. I’m sewing up the first side. I’m hoping to have this finished by Sunday, since that’s November 1st, when the big Faery Ring Knit-a-long starts!

And here’s the video. Note that there is knitting content in the song.

Happy Birthday, Sweetie!

*OK, it only seems like decades. Whatever, it’s almost done.

Project Update

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, so here goes with where I am with the knitting and spinning. I dragged everything out this morning to take photos of it.

But first, a few housekeeping chores. I’ve been getting hit with a lot of spam on some older posts and photos since I moved the blog. I’ve installed an anti-spam plugin, and we’ll see how that goes. I may close comments on posts past a certain vintage if it keeps up. I really don’t want to go to moderated comments, as it won’t fix the problem. WordPress marks the vast majority of them as spam so they don’t hit my email inbox, but I still have to go through them to make sure they are real spam, and not a real knitter who happened to fall into the net. As a hint, if you use the name of a prescription drug in your comment, or if you talk about certain male physiological processes, it will be likely marked as spam. I do scan through them to catch the real comments, but I might miss some. If you’ve commented and it doesn’t show up, don’t take it personally. Come back and try again, or email me directly (link over in the sidebar).

I haven’t given a recent progress report on the state of moving the blog. I’m still happy with that choice, despite the spam. For those of you thinking of making a switch, I’d highly recommend WordPress. I have about half of the older posts updated with the new photo locations, as well as tidying up the few individual posts that didn’t transfer over correctly. I’m fixing most of the internal links back to my own blog posts, but leaving everything else as it was. On a few posts, not all of the comments made it over, but I can live with that.

Here’s a photo that I found in my email yesterday.

Apparently John took this with his cell phone one night last week after dinner. Monday was my last day in my old job, and it was another of those fabulous eighty hour weeks that I’m so fond of. This is mostly what I look like at the end of the day, whether I’ve had wine or not. Sleep, eat, work, that’s pretty much it for the week. I have no idea how long I was like that, he finally woke me up and told me to go to bed.

I start my new practice in November, so I do have a couple of weeks to regroup in between now and then. I’ll be at the same hospital, which is a good thing, but also will be able to do a little outpatient work as well. I was in private practice as an internist for about a dozen years before I left that to be a hospitalist, and I’ve done hospitalist work for over a dozen years, so this should be interesting going back to the office. The internists in the new practice do primarily consultative internal medicine for the other doctors in the group, rather than carrying a panel of their own primary care patients, so that I know how to do. About a third of my time will be in the office. Yes, I’m a bit nervous about that, since I haven’t done it in awhile. The real upside will be that I’ll be working generally a forty hour week. I won’t get the big blocks of time off that I’ve had in the last several years, but I also won’t have those work marathons that turn me into such a sparkling dinnertime conversationalist.

On to the projects. You thought I’d gotten sidetracked and forgotten, hadn’t you?

First up, True Blue. This is the sweater that I’m making for John. It’s a plain crew neck pullover, and this is the second sleeve. I have all the other parts done, and am just a few rows from the armhole decreases. I have to finish this soon, as I need to have needles at the ready to start the Faery Ring KAL that Jennifer and I are doing starting November 1st.

I’m knitting this in Beaverslide Dry Goods yarn; the color is Lake Josephine.

Next up is lace. I haven’t shown this in awhile, because I hadn’t worked on it in awhile. I set this aside to finish knitting the big baby blanket, but recently pulled it out and figured out where I am. This is the Froot Loops wrap, actually Morning Glory, by Anne Hansen.

As usual, photos of unblocked lace look like crap. Have faith. This will turn into a beautiful swan someday.

Last but not least are socks. I have two pairs on the needles, both plain-vanilla socks, in anything but plain-vanilla colors.

That’s Shalimar Zoe Sock yarn, in Peony. I’ve finished one sock and am partway to the heel on the second.

And that’s Wollmeise sock yarn, in Lowenzahn. I started those on my beloved Ivore needles so I would have an airplane-appropriate project for the recent trip. While the Signature double points are lovely, I am pretty sure they wouldn’t make it past airport security. These will be in a holding pattern until I finish the Peony socks.

And that’s it. I’m saving the spinning updates for another day.

Blogging From 35,000 Feet

Who knew? You can get the internets from an airplane, and our new Mini Dell takes photos. Here you go.

We’re on our way to Chicago, then we change planes for Dublin. As you can see, I started the new sock. John has changed the color name to Squashed Frog. Who knows, maybe Lowenzahn means Squashed Frog in German!

And We’re Off Again

This time we’re off on a two-week vacation to Ireland. We leave tomorrow morning, so I’m frantically going through all the knitting bags to get stuff sorted out. Of course I have nothing else packed, but damn, I have the knitting ready. Here’s what I’m taking with me. This will also serve as sort of a mini-Project Update as well. Cool! Two posts in one!

First, here’s the spinning portion of the blog. If you don’t give a hoot about spinning, scroll down. I finished some pretty pretty yarn this week. A few months back, I scored a couple of Abby’s Batts. Here’s one of them all spun up. As usual, click to embiggen.

The fiber is 69% merino, 30% tussah silk, and 1% firestar (aka sparkle!). This is roughly a light fingering, and there’s about 600 yards of it, enough to make a pretty shawl. That’s not coming to Ireland with me, though. The color name is Green Green Grass.

I’m still working on John’s True Blue sweater, and am partly through the first sleeve. The front and back are both done. This will come with me on the trip. I transferred it from straight needles to circulars, to make stuffing it into a travel bag a little easier.

And I’m still working on the Peony socks. These will go in checked luggage, because of those wicked sharp Signature double points. I’m not crazy enough to try to get those on a plane.

Last but not least, some green yarn for another pair of socks, just in case I finish the Peony socks. This is one of my treasured Wollmeise skeins, in the color Lowenzahn.

And I have a suspicion that I might find some yarn while I’m there. At least I can hope. If not, I’ll drink lots of Guinness to drown my sorrows. We leave in the morning, and will have a mini-computer with us, so there might be an update or two along the way. Otherwise, I’ll see you in a couple of weeks!

The Next Big Thing

If I ever finish that True Blue sweater for John, here’s the yarn for the Faery Ring sweater that will be next.

This is Black Water Abbey yarn, in the color Haw. I think it will be perfect for this cardigan.

And what’s that little green velvet bag in the middle? Why, buttons, of course.

Those are just the most perfect thing for this pattern. They cost more than the yarn, but I could not resist. If the sweater wears out, I’ll cut the buttons off and re-use them. The goldsmith who make these is Carolyn Kent, though she doesn’t have her website up and running yet. These are silver, with real garnets in the center.

I’m off to the farmers market for provisions. Don’t forget that it’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Arrrr!

Miles & Miles of I-Cord

Hey, that could be a country-western song!

I’m nearly done with that endless baby blanket. I have to say that I almost wienied out on doing the I-cord that this pattern suggests. By the time I got to the last pattern row, I had 544 stitches on the needle, and the thought of doing I-cord around all that was enough to make me want to drink bourbon.

Wait, I already drink bourbon. Oh well.

Here it is. I’ve almost finished three sides, so don’t have too much left to go.

I really like this yarn. Since it’s taken me so long to finish this thing, I’ll forgive you if you’ve forgotten what I’m doing here. This is Knitpicks City Tweed, in the heavy worsted weight. It’s very soft and squishy, and I just hope it holds up well. It’s soft enough that I’d worry a bit about pilling and wear, but we’ll see. Baby blankets don’t need to last forever, after all.

I’ll be glad when I get this done and off in the mail before the intended recipient is old enough for college. I need to finish John’s True Blue sweater next, since the Major Knitter and I have just committed to a knit-along starting November 1st. Here’s what we’ll be knitting. We were planning on doing a Rogue knit-along, then saw this, and fell hard. Within about thirty minutes, we’d both changed our minds and ordered the Black Water Abbey yarn for Faery Ring. Mine will be in Haw, which is a lipstick-scarlet red. I believe the Major will be knitting hers in Wine.

Here are the Ravelry links for the pattern. There are two versions, but the only difference is the range of sizes. The pattern is free, which makes up a bit for the fact that I just bought a couple thousand yards of yarn for the danged thing. There’s even a Ravelry group, of course. Anybody want to join us? We’ll see if either the Major or I can hold off on casting on until November 1st!

Half FO

I actually partly finished something today! Actually, it’s one sock of a pair, but that’s something, right? Everything else has sort of taken a back seat lately to 1)Spinning; 2) Feather and Fan baby stuff; and 3) Finding a new job and getting all the ridiculous paperwork done that is required, even though I’m not changing states or moving to a different hospital. And I haven’t even started with the HR stuff yet.

Anyway. Today was such a nice day, that I got to do a little knitting outside. The heat wave that we’ve had has passed, and I’m not sure it even hit the mid-70’s today, but it was nice and warm out in the sun. We went to the Steilacoom farmers’ market, which is only about ten minutes from our house, and found a lovely spot to have lunch on an outside deck. Knitting in public ensued.

After we got home and put away all the veggie loot, I sat down and finished the first sock. Here I am, trying it on to make sure it’s long enough before I close the toe:

And done.

Pretty, eh? That’s Zoe sock yarn from Shalimar, in the color Peonies. You can get your very own at the same place I did.

And second sock started.

There was more knitting loot that arrived at my house today. I have a set of the Knit Picks Options needles, and a set of the Harmony wood tips. They came out with acrylic Zephyr tips, and I had to have those as well. A lot of people despise plastic needles, but they have their place. They are a lot easier on my hands than metal needles, for one thing. Those lovely Signature sock needles up in that photo are beautiful, but they really make my hands hurt if I work with them for hours on end. They also have lethally pointy tips that I would not try to sneak on an airplane.

Here are the Zephyrs.

I’m off to make pizza. Sunset magazine had an article about making grilled pizza recently, and the dough is all done and ready to go (made in my brand spanking new bread machine). We have all sorts of options for toppings, but I think tonight’s version is going to be white cheese, basil, and perhaps some of those heirloom tomatoes from the market. I’ll take photos!

Ooooh, Shiny!

Here’s my second handspun yarn. This is a merino-tencel blend, though I don’t know much else about the fiber as it was in a big bin at the only LYS in town that sells spinning fiber. I think it’s from Ashland Bay, but I’m not sure.

I keep reading that merino is hard to spin, and not for beginners. Bah, I say. I just waded right in. I figure the only thing I have to lose is my dignity. It looks better than my first yarn, so I think I’ll count it as a success. There are about 260 yards of that stuff, and it’s roughly a bulky weight, though I haven’t swatched it yet. It’s just dreamily soft, and I think it will make a lovely winter scarf.

I promised a better photo of my first yarn. Here it is. This is Colonial Top, about 112 yards in all.

The wheel now has a name. Meet Seamus:

Yes, I went ahead and bought the silly wine glass holder. It just had my name on it, don’t you think?

In knitting news, I’m still working on the stealth baby project. It’s coming along, but I still can’t show photos. Oh, OK, here’s a teaser.

Big and grey, that’s all I can say. It’s much prettier in real life.

Last but not least, we’re leaving for an Alaskan cruise in the morning. It was sort of a spontaneous thing that we signed up for just a month or so ago. It’s a round trip from Seattle, so didn’t require an airplane ride, and if you can book close to last minute, the deals are pretty good. What’s not to like? Work has been a bit of a drag recently, and it’s been somewhat of a difficult early summer around here, so a cruise seemed just the ticket. No, I’m not taking the wheel. Yes, I am taking the Bosworth spindle. I’m also taking the laptop, so hopefully there will be a post or two.

Another FO

No, I haven’t been knitting like a maniac. This one is frogged, not finished. I started this sweater knit from SWTC Bamboo two years ago (Ravelry says July 2007). I worked on it during the summer months, finishing the whole back. It sat in hibernation for the winter, then I dragged it out last summer and hated it. I hate the color, I hate the pattern, and I really despise the little hem thing I did on the bottom. It went back in the UFO pile for another year. So last night, for Frogging Friday, out it came.

Yes, there was a martini involved. We have a house guest who was horrified that I’d rip out half a sweater’s worth of yarn.

RIP

Specifically, what is it that I hate about this? The color is just not me. I can wear all sorts of jewel tones, and even pastels if they are clear and bright. While I can get away with some yellows, this just makes me look consumptive, not a good look.

The pattern was one I made up using Sweater Wizard. I did a picot hem with a little cable-cross detail, and in this light, drapey yarn, it just doesn’t work. The ball band calls this a DK weight, with the suggested gauge of 22 stitches per 4 inches. The fabric I got with this stuff was perfect at 28 stitches per 4 inches on 3.75 mm needles. I also designed a v-neck for the front, which I think would have been pretty droopy.

I’m not sure what I’ll do with the yarn yet. There are 1500 yards of it, and I could do a stole or shawl of some sort, but that doesn’t get around the fact of the color. This might go in a give-away at some point.

What do you have in your UFO pile that needs to go? I dare you to frog it!

Pin Forest

The Peacock shawl is washed and blocking. It’s cotton, and a bit heavier laceweight at that, so it’s taking forever to dry. Here are some photos.

I think I used about a million pins on that border. This is the part where I’m really glad that I have my blocking tools. I soaked the whole thing in soapy water for awhile, then threaded blocking wires (welding wires bought in a large tube from Airgas) through the top and down the center. The bottom scalloped border is pinned. The mat underneath is a whole stack of those kiddy play mats, which I love. I can crawl around on them on my hands and knees without getting bruised up, and I just pin right into them.

This thing is huge. It’s about 84 inches across the top, and 42 from back neck to tip. If you are a shorter person, I’d think twice about making this one in a heavier weight yarn. More details and photos once it’s dry.

Peacock in Progress

I’m finally to that point in this shawl where it’s getting exciting again. You know how it is. You start a big lace project, you’re all enthusiastic about it, and you can’t put it down. Then it gets to that point. All you lace knitters know it. The shawl gets big enough that it just looks like a blob on the needles, and the rows keep getting interminably longer and longer. It seems like you’ll never get to that last chart.

Well here I am. At the last chart.

I have 22 rows to go. The rows currently have around 450 stitches, and are getting longer and longer and longer. Now that I’m seeing the end, though, it’s getting fun to knit this again.

Here’s how much yarn I have left of the first hank.

I’m pretty sure it won’t make it through the last row. Fortunately I bought a second hank of this. I won’t have to use much of it, but this is one of those shawl patterns that is a little hard to adjust by adding or subtracting rows.

Our other big project is the kitchen remodel. We now have cabinets and sinks, and the granite counters will be installed today. The rest of the finishing work should be done by next week.

We’re also remodeling the “powder” room off the dining room, since the cabinets and counters were the same as in the old kitchen.

Now we just need to decide what will be the first thing we cook in the new kitchen!