The Trouble With Tribbles

I found something to do with the dead squirrel yarn from yesterday’s entry.  I wrapped a bunch of catnip in paper towel, sewed the piece of squirrel fur around it, and gave it to the cats.

Remember the Star Trek episode about the Tribbles?  This reminds me of one of those.  Predictably, sometime during the night one of the cats tore it up and there was catnip all over the floor this morning.

In the comments yesterday, someone asked about the heel stitch for the Strawberry Waffle Socks on my Finished Projects page.
It’s called the Eye of Partridge stitch.  There are apparently a number of variations for this, but this is the one I use:

Heel Pattern (on an even number of stitches):
Row 1: *Slip 1, k1*, repeat across from *
Row 2 and all even rows:  Slip 1, purl across
Row 3: Slip 1, *slip 1, k1*, repeat across from * until the last 2 stitches,  k2.

Basically it is the same as the “regular” heel stitch, except that on every other “public” side row, you offset the stitch pattern by one stitch.

And the back of John’s sweater is finished.  I short-rowed the shoulders, which was interesting, given that the pattern stitch is a 2 color slip stitch pattern.

On to the front.

More Work on the Blog

I have done little knitting today.  I have changed my “Finished Projects” page, and added several old projects from photos I had stored.  I have done a number of items that either never got photographed, or the photos are lost.  We’ve only had a digital camera for about a year, so anything before that was hit or miss as to whether I got it on film.  Several of these were gifts so I can’t go back and get pics.
Then there are the items for which I just do not want a photographic record.  My own “Little Shop of Knitting Horrors”.  Someday when I’m truly bored and have nothing to do, I’ll take pictures of some of them.

Oh, OK, here is one:

Knit from this:

I finally got tired of calling this a WIP today and took it off the needles.  The cats wouldn’t even play with it.  It feels a little like a dead squirrel.  Anybody have any ideas of what I can do with two and a half balls of this stuff?  It was cheap, so if “throw it away” is the most common vote, I would not be opposed to that.

I’m working on pictures of a few other WIP’s (none that are THAT butt-ugly), and will have them up in a day or two.  My goal today is actually to do some knitting…I want to finish the back of John’s striped sweater and get started on the endless front expanse.  At least it’s an easy pattern stitch so I can listen to an audio book or watch a movie.

My next blog challenge is to get pictures of my pets in the sidebar.  If they are there, I’ve succeeded.  If not, back to the drawing board.  The orange cat is Lucy, the dog is Riley, otherwise known as the pure-bred brown dog.  The 3rd pet is Willie the cat, who thinks he’s a dog.  He was not feeling very photogenic today; maybe another day.

Aran Baby Blanket

Knit from Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, pattern from “Knit Baby Blankets”, by Gwen Steege.
Finished February 2004 for John’s new grandson, Sam.

Addendum: Since I’ve had several requests to email this pattern, I’m including a link to the Amazon page for this book. It’s under copyright, so I can’t email it to you. The book has several other nice blanket patterns as well.

Baby Bear Sweater

This pattern is so cute that I couldn’t resist it. It’s from the book “Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino”, in yarn of the same name. I learned a couple of important things by making this.
1. Start knitting baby things early. Babies grow quickly.
2. I learned a few new techniques…short row shoulders, buttonholes.
The baby this ended up fitting (John’s grandson, Sam) is so cute that his parents didn’t want his picture on the internet for fear of kidnapping. Thus, the teddy bear. Her name is Sweet Pea, if you’re interested. That’s me in the second picture.

John Deere Socks

This is an old pair of socks I did for John about 3 years ago. They were sort of a joke (I had started calling him John, dear…you had to have been there). They are out of Cleckheaton yarn and are one of his favorite pairs. They rank right behind the ugly brown Woolease socks that he just loves, and has worn so much I’ve had to darn the holes.

My First Blog Entry!

Well I’ve gone and done it!  I’ve been keeping a non-web “blog” offline for several months now, and figured it was time to publish it online.  I still have to do a bit of tinkering, and I’m not at all sure what all the buttons and options are, but here goes.

I learned to knit briefly as a child (probably 4-H!) then promptly decided it was not a cool thing to do.  I taught myself again about 4 years ago and it has become more of a lifestyle than a hobby.  I’m also a doctor by profession, and to support the yarn habit.   I’m an internal medicine specialist and a hospitalist, meaning I only have a hospital-based practice.

My current main project is a sweater for John, my husband, that I have been working on forever.  It is out of an old book of sweater patterns:  A Close-Knit Family.  The yarn is Classic Elite Provence, in a deep blue and off white.  It’s actually quite nice to knit with, but the pattern is just plain boring.  I keep putting it down to start something else, and finally have promised him that I will finish it next.  Every time I order more yarn I hear “what about my sweater?”.  So it will be finished next.

I have numerous other things in the works, or in the swatch stage, and will figure out how to get pictures up in the next day or 2.

John's Sweater 002

OK, that wasn’t too difficult!