The Knitting Doctor

Fifty and Fit by 50

More about that title later.

The Yarn Focus Challenge, organized by Rebekah of Knit Knack, is now over. This was an interesting challenge for me. I have found that I tend to buy on impulse, and the lure of internet shopping is always there. Being “forced” to only buy on one day a month made me think just for a minute every time I was all set to hit that “buy now” button. I plan on continuing this yarn-buying habit on my own, since it’s really not much of a hardship. In reality, I already have more yarn and projects stored up than I will ever knit before I die.

Which brings me to the title, and the new ticker.

I am seriously going to have to live until I’m about 105 to use up all the yarn I have in the stash, and to do all the projects I want to finish. I’ve decided that I need to get healthy and fit so I can live that long, in good enough shape to do the things I want to do. The first “fifty” in the title refers to fifty pounds that have crept on over the years. The second “50” refers to the age I will be turning later this year. It’s actually close enough (October) that I won’t get rid of the whole “fifty” by then, but it makes a good campaign slogan, I thought. The “fit” refers to the exercise component, sadly missing from my daily routine. Knitting apparently doesn’t count as an aerobic activity, unless you do it while on the treadmill, and I am not that coordinated.

I’m putting this out here in blogland for motivation. I figure that you all are a bit like all the regular girlfriends that a woman has in real life, except that there are more of you. Having that ticker up there will keep me honest. I’m pretty sure none of you will let me slide on this. I have a date to go to my first Weight Watcher’s meeting later today, and today was the second day in a row that I got on the treadmill before my morning shower. PJ, of Golden Oasis, led me to the American Heart Association’s program, Choose To Move, a 12-week program to encourage women to exercise regularly.

So there you have it. Don’t cut me any slack.
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In knitting progress, here are some photos. There has been little knitting around here this past week, for a variety of reasons. Here they are, anyway.

First, the STR sock. I can’t say enough good things about this yarn. It’s a good thing that I like it, as I have several more skeins of it in a variety of colors.

I like the way this is striping. Some of the socks that I’ve seen in this color have had quite a bit of pooling, and though I’m not opposed to pooling, I like nice tidy little stripes better. Watch, now that I’ve said that, it will pool like crazy on the rest of it.

Here’s the Pippa cardigan. Sleeve of a cardigan, that is. There has been more backwards progress on this one than forwards this week. I got off a stitch on one column of twisted stitches, right in the middle of the sleeve, and knit about three inches before I noticed it. I tried to just drop down a few stitches in the middle rather than unknitting the whole thing, and made a total mess of it. The result was about four inches of frogged sleeve. It then had to spend a few days in the time out chair.

Last but not least, is my Amazing Lace teammate, Langsjal Johonnu. I haven’t worked much on this since I last posted, as I’ve been distracted and busy, and this one requires at least a half a brain in order to not screw it up. Way back when, I promised a pinned-out picture so you could see what it looks like. Here you go.

Only about ninety-billion repeats to go, and it will be a stole. I really like this pattern, and the yarn. The yarn is rustic in feel, but I’ve decided that I like it. It’s definitely different than the smooth wool-silk of the Zephyr from the last lace that I did. Once I got past the mental block I had in figuring out the center portion pattern repeat, this one’s not difficult, it just requires that I pay attention. I have the other border all done and waiting on a holder, so as soon as I run out of yarn, I can graft it together.

I’m off to eat carrot sticks. And yes, I already know how many Points bourbon has.

Two Color Socks

Project Notes:

Yarn: Lorna’s Laces, in Rainbow and Bold Red

Pattern: Sensational Knitted Socks, by Charlene Schurch. It’s one of the Four-Stitch Reticulated Patterns, using a solid color combined with a multicolored yarn.

Started: way back in January. These went on hold while I did a simple stocking stitch pair during Wintergrass, then have languished a bit, as I got bored with them.

Finished: June 25th, 2006

Needles: Lantern Moon ebony, size 1. I used a pair of size 0 bamboo for the ribbing.

For: Me

What I learned: Lots of things. Two color knitting is denser than one color (duh). If I did these again, I’d do a gauge swatch and try bigger needles and fewer stitches. These practically will stand up by themselves. I also learned that it does make a difference which color goes in which hand. I held the red (background color) in my right hand, and the multi in the left. This seemed to make the background color pop a bit more. When I did it the other way, the red stood out more. I also got to practice two-handed knitting, with one color in each hand.

I also learned that two color socks take more yarn. I used about three quarters of the skein of the Rainbow, and about one and a third skeins of the solid color. Because I hadn’t planned on this, the dye lot of the Bold Red is different in the two skeins. I used the different dye lot in the two color part of the second sock, where it’s camoflauged by the busy nature of the pattern, and saved the tail end of the first dye lot to match the toes, where it would show more. You can tell the difference, but not so much when they’re on your feet.

Socks, Old And New

And they’re done. Finally. The two color socks that have taken forever to finish are in the finished pile.

Project Notes:

Yarn: Lorna’s Laces, in Rainbow and Bold Red.
Pattern: Sensational Knitted Socks, by Charlene Schurch. It’s one of the Four-Stitch Reticulated Patterns, using a solid color combined with a multicolored yarn.
Started: Way back in January. These went on hold while I did a simple stocking stitch pair during Wintergrass, then have languished a bit, as I got bored with them.
Finished: June 25th, 2006
Needles: Lantern Moon ebony, size 1. I used a pair of size 0 bamboos for the ribbing.
For: Me

Now that those are done, I immediately started on a new pair of socks. I have been jonesing to start a pair from Socks That Rock, as I have a bunch in the stash. This is the Rainforest Jasper color, which was the first skein sent out in the Rockin’ Sock Club. I’m not doing the pattern that came with the yarn, as I’m not in the mood to follow directions. I’m doing what’s developing into Lorette’s Famous Sock Pattern, which will be unveiled as this thing goes along. This is being fine tuned by taking bits and pieces of many sock patterns that I’ve seen and tried.

First step; Cast on. For this sock, I’m doing a picot hem, just because I love those little spikes on the top. They remind me of the points on a queenly crown. (My family will be well aware that this motif fits.) The cast on is a long tail cast on, because it will be turned under and won’t be seen. When I’m doing a plain ribbed-topped sock, I use the German Twisted Cast On, described here.

Here it is in the process of being hemmed.

How-to: cast on 64 stitches on size 2 mm needles, divide between four needles, knit seven rounds. Next round: YO, knit 2 together all the way around. Switch to 2.25mm needles. Knit seven more rounds. On the next round, fold up the hem along the yo-k2tog row, and knit each live stitch together with its corresponding cast on stitch. This is fidgety, and takes a little time to make sure the rows line up, but makes a nice hem. You’ll need to weave in the end of the yarn from the cast on edge before you hem it up. Use a stitch marker to mark where the round starts, if you care about that sort of thing.

Note that this is still a little experimental. I tend to just wade in with sock yarn instead of doing gauge swatches, so the stitch count may get revised if it looks too big even for Bigfoot (me). If you are going to follow along, you need to figure out how many stitches you need for your own foot. The official way to do this is to knit a gauge swatch, then measure your foot around the ball of your foot. Multiply the two numbers. So if you get 8 stitches per inch, and your foot measures 8 inches, you cast on 64 stitches. Or something like that. I prefer the trial and error method, as I hate doing gauge swatches with sock weight yarn.

Also note that my needles coordinate with the yarn. These are my Pony Pearls, some of my favorite sock knitting needles.

So far my verdict on the STR yarn: Wow. The colors are intense, and the yarn very nicely spun. I can see why everybody loves this stuff. I’m using the lightweight variety, and it feels just a bit heavier than the Lorna’s Laces or Opal.

And just because I know you guys count on me to point out stuff that you need to buy, here’s something more:

My very own Emergency Sock Knitting Kit, made by Cassie.

What’s inside, you might ask?

Extra needles, a ruler, a tiny crochet hook, scissors, darning needle pinned to the fabric, and a stitch marker pinned to the fabric.Of course, you are responsible for loading up your own kit. It doesn’t come with all that loot.

And what’s on the card, you might ask?

My instructions for kitchener grafting, for the toes. Because I can never remember how to do it.

Saturday Sky

Sandy is on a mission to make Saturdays more entertaining around blog-land. Go check out her blog for the “rules”.

Here’s my Saturday sky:

And here’s my happy Saturday dog, playing the “hose” game:

Have a happy Saturday!

I’m Bored To Death By These Socks

That’s my latest favorite picture of Riley. The box sits by our front door, and Alan the UPS man leaves packages there if we’re not home when he comes around. He also carries Costco dog bones in his truck, which explains why Riley just loves him. She hears his truck about 3 blocks away, and goes bonkers until we open the door. Then she gallops out of the house and gets in the truck with him.

Every time she goes by that box, she gives it a sniff, then looks at us as if to say, “just open it, I’m sure there’s a bone in there.” Of course, every time I go by that box, I open the lid, just to make sure that somebody didn’t leave me any yarn when I wasn’t looking. At least I don’t go out and jump in the UPS truck when he drives up.

Here’s what I’m knitting today.

I just need those socks to be done, now. I’m sick of two-color sock knitting, enough so that I’d consider getting rid of a few toes on one foot so they’d fit. I have about 15-20 pattern rows left, then the toe decreases, then I will be done with them. To make matters worse, I know that I won’t be able to wear them until fall, since they are way too heavy for summer socks. I have been so tempted to cast on for a different pair, but I know myself too well. If I do, these will be relegated to the “never finished” pile. I don’t actually have a “never finished” pile, and I don’t want to start now. So I might line up about ten hours of Law & Order or JAG reruns, and knit all night to finish them. JAG makes especially good knitting television. All the plots are the same, so you don’t really miss anything if you are paying attention to the knitting.

The next picture shows my latest knitting related purchase.

This is probably an example of why I shouldn’t be allowed to have an internet connection and a credit card at the same time. Susan mentioned this tape on her blog a few weeks ago, and of course, I had to have it. I really did not need to buy it in every color, and in all three widths, but there you have it. There is enough highlighter tape to highlight chart rows for the rest of my life right there. I bought it here, if you are interested. Though I’m not sure they have any left. Here’s an action shot:

I’m off to finish those socks.

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For those of you who comment, I added “comment verification” to the blog. I hate this, as it’s a pain in the ass, but I’ve gotten a bunch of spam comments lately. So blame “cellphone Sam” and others like him for this.

11 Days

11 days since my last post, that is. That has to be some kind of record. Let me explain. (No, there is too much. Let me sum up.*)

I’ve been on vacation in lovely North Dakota, visiting my sister. This year was her 40th high school reunion, and I came along for moral support. We’ve had so much fun here that I just haven’t had time to even think about blogging. Actually, her computer is a bit slow, so I haven’t had the patience to download pictures and do the whole blog post thing until this morning. I have been knitting this week, however.

I brought two projects with me, the orange Pippa cardigan, and Langsjal Johonnu. Most of the week we spent in Fargo, where she lives, and I alternated between the two projects. I can work on the stole when I have relative peace and quiet and can pay attention, and the cardigan is for the rest of the time. I packed both for the road trip to Edgeley, the little town that we grew up in. Of course I managed to sit on the bag that the cardigan was in, and snapped one of my ebony (sob) circular needles within about ten minutes of getting there. Let me just say that Edgeley doesn’t have a good yarn shop so I could replace it. Then I got stuck while knitting the stole, at the section where you change from knitting the border to knitting the middle part. For some reason I couldn’t make the numbers work out. The lace pattern is charted, and the horizontal repeat isn’t marked on the chart, so I had to figure out which stitches were the borders, and which stitches repeated nine hundred times across the width of the shawl. I finally figured this out yesterday morning (in a sober moment) and I’m off to the races. It looks like a mess of wadded up lace at the moment, so no pictures of the progress for now. That will have to wait until I’m home and can pin it out on the blocking mat for a proper photo.

Here is one photo however. This one was taken before I figured out the numbers on the chart.

Perhaps the bourbon had something to do with my counting difficulties. I’m not willing to concede that just yet.

In case you think that North Dakota has no cultural activities, check out this link. Make sure you look through the gallery of photos.

* Inigo Montoya, Princess Bride

Langsjal Johonnu

Or, I Can Stop Anytime I Want

Here’s where I am in the Amazing Lace shawl. I’ve finished the first border, and have gotten to the second border. Once I finish that, I can start on the center section, all eighty thousand repeats of it, and really get to the fun part. Here’s a photo:

This is just so addicting. I even get up early to get in a row or two before I go to work. Those of you in my family know that this is serious knitting addiction we’re talking about. I am so not a morning person, and there is little that will get me out of bed earlier than I absolutely have to. I’ve given up reading, as I can’t knit and read at the same time. The TV choices have been pared down to mindless drivel that I can knit to without paying attention. I’ve considered buying a lottery ticket, so I can win big, retire from my job, and knit Icelandic lace forever. The lace and I have seriously bonded. My next post hopefully will have my second entry for the Amazing Lace challenge.

By the way, I am not sure whether or not I should be proud of the fact that if you enter “nupps” into Google, mine is the first site that comes up. That is truly weird. Try it, if you don’t believe me.

The house project is coming along. The stucco guys are here working on things, and it’s looking a little more promising. Yes, I’m still under the circus tent. Oh well, soon enough, they tell me. Here are my new ground-level closets that we gained in the course of the project. There is one of these on each end of the house.

And this next one just makes me laugh. For a while there, my house resembled a Holstein cow.

I’m off to knit. I’m starting to dream in Icelandic.

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Annie of Knitty Gritty asked us all to let you know that she is taking a blog break. She had a last post composed but her bloghost shut her down a little more expeditiously than she expected. If you are a reader, she wanted to let everybody know that she is taking the summer off, and may be back later in the year in a group blog.

One Row Forward, Two Rows Back

First of all, I haven’t dropped off the face of the earth. Last week was my 7-day work week, and was just busy enough that I didn’t get much knitting done, much less blogging. This week, my internet connection has been on the fritz. We took Comcast up on the offer to switch our phone service over to cable, and it worked well, for the first week. For the past week, it has been less than ideal. Some days I have internet, some days not. To give the Comcast folks credit, they have sent guys out twice, both times on the same day that we called, and were very helpful. So far today it’s been OK, since the cable guy came out yesterday. There were a couple days when we didn’t have phone service, either, but now that’s working as well.

I thereby proclaim today an official email-blog-post-answering amnesty day. I will go through all the comments and answer questions, but being as I’m over 60 emails behind (and that’s just the blog comments), I’m not answering all of them. Thank you to everybody who has 1) said how lovely my sister’s scarf was, 2) liked my Amazing Lace post, 3)felt sorry for me because my house has been eaten away by wood rot, 4) complimented my dog, and 5) offered Icelandic translation services. There, I think I’ve covered it all.

Oh, and I was joking when I said that I had Icelandic music loaded up on the Ipod. I have listened to some songs on Rhapsody, but they have precious little from Iceland. Lots of Scandinavian artists, not so much Icelandic. Though it might help if I knew what I was looking for.

Today was sort of a loss. I have been very distracted by all the pounding and sawing going on here. The stucco guys start tomorrow (at 6:30 AM, on a Saturday), so they are definitely making progress, but the noise is starting to get to me. It’s been rainy, so we’re still under the Big Top, which is starting to drive me nuts. Normally Riley gets to go for a long walk to the park every day, but today it was raining off and on, so I took advantage of a lull in the drizzle to take her out just around the neighborhood. I got about ten minutes away from the house, and the sky just opened up. Even Riley tried to hide under the bushes, and she normally likes the rain. By the time I got back to the house, I was drenched, and soaked all the way down to my underwear.

Then I started knitting. I should have just known better, given the way the day had started. I’ve been working on those two-color socks, and have gotten the second one done past the gussets, so now I “just” have the foot to go.* As a reward, I picked up the Langsjal Johonnu, and did a couple of rows. Then I found a mistake, and ended up tinking back the same two rows. Here’s a picture that shows about where I am. The idea is blatantly stolen from Claudia.

I’m starting to like the yarn more, though some parts of it worry me a bit. It is unevenly spun, with some parts looking more like a fingering weight than laceweight. And there have been a few short sections where calling it “cobweb” would have been generous. I’m hoping that these hold up to vigorous blocking. We’ll see.

I am liking the pattern. I think I might do the two ends first. The construction goes like this: you knit one border and the center section, put it on a holder, then knit the second border and graft the two together. I’m thinking that if I do the two borders first, then I don’t have to think about how much yarn I might need for the second one, and can just knit merrily away on the center part until I nearly run out, leaving just enough to graft the last row. Smart eh? We’ll see on that, too.

Everybody think good thoughts for sunshine in western Washington. I’m just sick of rain. Even the ducks look like they are sick of rain. I’d even settle for just overcast and dry.

*”Just”. I have size 10 1/2 feet, so this is not much consolation.

Dog Tricks

I’m back at work this week, so I haven’t had much time for knitting. I’ve put the two-color socks at the top of my list to finish, as I have NEW Socks That Rock yarn to get to. Not to mention that I haven’t done the socks from the last shipment of STR. So the two-color ones just need to get done. I do like them, it’s just that I generally see socks as that easy mindless project to pick up when my brain is overloaded, or when I have to pay attention to something else, or when I only have two minutes to knit. I’m only about an inch farther than the last photo, so check a few posts back, add an inch, and you’re good. I have reached the heel, so it won’t be long.

In lieu of knitting pictures, I have good dog and cat photos to show. We got Riley (and the cats, too) from the Humane Society when she was about a four month old pup. We did the dog-training thing, and she’s probably one of the best-behaved dogs I’ve ever seen. She follows the usual commands that dogs should follow, though she draws the line at “roll over”. She did it for awhile, then when she got older she just refused. For a few months she would run in a circle when you would tell her to roll over, but then she even stopped that. This dog will do nearly anything for a treat, but rolling over is clearly one of those things that she thinks is pointless.

Her best trick is the dinnertime trick. We did not want her to be one of those dogs who is jealous and grabby about food, so from the time we got her, we trained her to sit and wait when we put her food on the floor. She has to sit there until we tell her “that’ll do”, and then she can eat. She has pretty good self-restraint, and most of the time will sit there and wait even if we leave the room. This comes in handy, as we feed the cats a little dish of wet food in the evening as well as a treat. Riley just loves wet cat food. She’s pretty sure that it is much better than even the best dog food. The cats rarely eat the whole thing, so Riley gets to clean their bowls once they are done. She has to do the same “sit and wait” thing for that too.

All of that is a very long-winded introduction to three photos. You can see that the cats (Willie in this one) don’t seem too perturbed by Riley drooling on their heads, waiting patiently for them to finish. She will sit there for as long as it takes.

“That’ll do, Riley!”

Seven Things

Tagged by Ladybean:

Seven things to do before I die…
Learn to speak and read French, so I can read Les Miserables in the original.
Learn to play the fiddle
Sail across the ocean (any ocean)
Knit Sharon Miller’s Wedding Ring Shawl
Spend a whole lot more time with my sweetiepie
Retire (really, I love my job, though ;-))
Write a novel

Seven things I cannot do…***
Become Queen (despite what I’ve led my family to believe)
Run a marathon
Sing an opera
Speak Russian
Read Icelandic
Climb Mt. Everest
See worth a damn without my glasses/contacts

Seven things that attract me to my man…
His hilarious sense of humor
He gets my jokes
He’s the cutest guy ever
He is just a sweetheart
Ahem, there are at least two or three that I can’t mention on a family blog
He makes a mean martini, and knows how I like my bourbon

Seven books that I love…
Lord of the Rings
Les Miserables
The Lymond Chronicles, by Dorothy Dunnett
Angle of Repose, by Wallace Stegner (actually, anything else by Wallace Stegner)
Time Will Darken It, by William Maxwell
Principles of Knitting, by June Hiatt
Gravity’s Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon

This list actually could be about twenty pages long!

Seven things I say…
Trust me, I’m a doctor
Common sense isn’t all that common
I’d buy a case of that
I can’t think of four more

Seven movies I’ve loved…
Princess Bride
Lord of the Rings, all of them
Philadelphia Story (Yum, Jimmy Stewart at his sexiest best)
Paint Your Wagon (how can you not love a movie in which both Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood sing?)
Last of the Mohicans (Daniel Day-Lewis at his sexiest best)
To Have And Have Not (Say, was you ever bit by a dead bee?)
Triplets of Belleville (one of the best movies I’ve ever seen)

Seven ladies I’m gonna tag…
Not a one. I think everybody else has done this. If you haven’t, and want it, consider yourself tagged.

***Yet. I was raised to believe that there is nothing that I can’t do, so take these with a grain of salt.

And I’ll add one more category, as an afterthought.

Seven favorite Google search strings that brought people to my blog…
Getting stitches from a doctor
Knitting related tattoos
Knitting bandages for lepers
Full body sock (huh?)
Rotted sill (I’m not making these up)
Lace blocking wires welding
Last but not least, my favorite, “knitting doctor”. It just gives me a giggle that people actually search for me by name.

Amazing Lace!

Challenge #1,

Or, A Very Long Post

I have indeed joined the hordes of laceknitters that have signed up for the Amazing Lace summer knitalong. After a great deal of dithering and mind-changing, I’ve chosen my trusty teammate for the summer. It was a difficult choice, as I have a multitude of lace patterns on my to-do list, and it finally came down to two:

Frost Flowers & Leaves, from A Gathering of Lace, compiled by Meg Swansen, for which I have the yarn and pattern, and have wanted to knit ever since I first saw the book.

Langsjal Johonnu, from Three Cornered & Long Shawls, by Sigridur Halldorsdottir.

I was leaning towards the former, as I wasn’t sure that I wanted to have to be able to spell Langsjal Johonnu for the next several months. Then my husband, ever helpful, made a somewhat disparaging remark about collecting patterns written in foreign languages which I don’t speak or read, when there are plenty of fine patterns written in English, which I do read, more or less.

That settled it. The gauntlet was thrown down. Langsjal Johonnu it is. I’ve collected all the parts of my team, and present them to you here.

The yarn is genuine Icelandic laceweight wool, purchased here (color number 9808). It’s actually somewhere between laceweight and fingering weight, and is not a sissy yarn. It is substantial, hearty wool, made to get you through those long Icelandic winters in style. The color is a little more purple than shown in that picture. And yes, I have already cast on and started. Once I got past row 3 (don’t you dare laugh, it’s harder than it looks), I am zooming right along.

The pattern book is also purchased from Schoolhouse Press (scroll down the page a bit). It has a number of lovely shawls and stoles, and though it’s a bit spendy, I probably will do more than one out of this at some point.

Next up, we have my “Learn Icelandic” kit.

Just kidding. The pattern book does come with a translation. Though it worries me a bit that the original book, in Icelandic, has 78 pages, and the English version only has 16 pages. There might be a few things lost in the translation.

The stole on the cover of the translation booklet is the chosen team member, Langsjal Johonnu (I just love that name). Here’s a better look.

I also just love this woman. She models all the pieces in the book, and has exactly that same “don’t screw with me” expression on her face in every photo. That’s the other reason I chose this one over the FF&L. She means business.

Here are some of the other teammates, gathered together to help out.

There is the photocopy of the pattern, my gadget bag, and my trusty Denise needles, which are honored to be chosen for the lace race. I have a little notebook and pencil to keep track of stuff, and my reading glasses, which I’ll surely need. Actually I may take this one to the copy place and blow it up a bit bigger. Those Icelanders must have good eyes.

I use a music stand to keep my pattern where I can see it. I have a large magnet board that has a permanent home here, and a smaller 8 by 10 version that slides right into the plastic page protector with the pattern page. The Ipod is loaded up with Icelandic music for the occasion. The second picture is my trusty clicker counter, to keep track of rows. I also ordered one of these to hold my magnet board:

because you just can’t have too many gadgets.

Because I’m optimistic that I will eventually finish this, my blocking gear is ready.

Last but not least, I have plenty of refreshments ready. First, a nice selection of fine tea from Adagio:

And just in case, a brand new bottle of the Knitting Doctor house bourbon:

Just in case.

Estonian Garden Scarf

Project Details:

Pattern: Estonian Garden Wrap, pattern by Evelyn C. Clark.

Yarn: Zephyr wool-silk laceweight, color Basil. The pattern called for 2 oz, I ended up using about 1 1/2 oz.

Needles: Holz & Stein ebony circular, size 3.25mm.

Started: February 2006

Finished: May 19, 2006

For: my sister, for her birthday. (Shhhhh, it’s a surprise.)

What I learned: I learned more about making lace, which I’m beginning to think is my favorite kind of knitting. I learned how to do a provisional cast on, and then to unzip it to get “live” stitches. Most importantly, I learned about the behavior of nupps. I even learned to like them a little bit. They are quite pretty once they are done; it’s the doing that’s the trouble.

Verdict: I love this one enough to do another. The pattern has two versions, the narrower scarf, as shown here, and a wider stole. I can see making this again in the larger version. The pattern is clearly written, and without errors that I could find. The lace directions are written out as well as charted, and the charts are very easy to follow. I give it 5 stars.

Opal Candystripe Socks

Details:

Yarn: Opal, #518, from the 2002 collection. I named it Candy Stripes.

Pattern: Basic top-down, flap-heel, stocking stitch. I used a picot hem on the top, which I shamelessly copied from Claudia. This is my first picot hem, and it is fun, easy, and flirty. Perfect for girlie socks.

Needles: 2.25mm dpns.

Started: February 2006 as the Wintergrass knitting project
Finished: 4-9-06.

What I learned: I love plain socks. I think all those other fancy socks are very pretty, and no doubt fun to knit, but I love the process of just knitting around and around mindlessly in plain stocking stitch, and coming up with a sock at the end. The picot hem was new, and I might put it on everything else that I ever knit, it was that much fun. This was also my first experience with Opal yarn, and it is indeed as wonderful as everyone claims.

Lead Or Follow Lace Scarf

Pattern: Lead or Follow Lace Scarf, by Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer. Her website is here.

Yarn: Richesse et Soie, by K1C2, a cashmere-silk blend; color is #9633, which is a pretty cornflower blue.

Needles: 3.75mm

Started: July 2005. Actually I started this a couple of years ago, but it sat in hibernation for awhile, so I had to restart it because I couldn’t figure out where I was in the pattern.

Finished: January 24, 2006
Who For: My sister Linda, for her birthday.
What I Learned: This is a great pattern. It’s clear and well-written, and once I figured out that it doesn’t mix well with bourbon, I did OK with it. It’s “knitted lace” instead of “lace knitting”, meaning that every row is a pattern row with increases and decreases. “Lace knitting” means that every other row is a plain row, either knitted or purled. I didn’t know that before. “Knitted lace” is really no harder than the other kind, it just means you don’t have that long easy row every other row to relax with.
The yarn is heavenly too, though spendy for anything more than a scarf. It’s fingering weight, so it’s a little easier to handle for someone relatively new to lace.

Nordic Ski Hat

Pattern: Bea Ellis, her own design, purchased as a kit here.

Yarn: Dale Heilo in red and white, and cotton sportweight for the headband lining.

Started: December 2005

Finished: January 7, 2006
Needles: size 3.5mm. (3mm for the lining)

What I learned: Two color-knitting is a blast. I practiced knitting with one color in each hand. This required that I polish up my continental style knitting, which was awkward at best.
Would I do this one again? Yes, ma’am. I thought it might be too warm to wear this where I live, but the Heilo is a sportweight yarn so it’s not too heavy. I really, really liked making the tassle!